From Fame to Shame (12 page)
Read From Fame to Shame Online
Authors: Veronica Blade
My eyes narrowed. “Did it mean something to you?”
He exhaled. “Would I be here if it didn’t?”
He’d come all the way out here for
me
? Not possible. “But… guys like you don’t go for girls like me. The real me, I mean.”
His brows rose. “And why’s that?”
I hesitated, shifting my weight from one leg to the other. “Because I’m not like those other girls that you know. I get a little nervous in crowds, especially in the spotlight. And I’m not exciting like the Jackie you thought I was. I may be boring by Hollywood standards, but I like myself the way I am.”
“Guess what?” He inched toward me. “So do I.”
Dallas had to be experiencing a moment of insanity, because he couldn’t possibly like me back. “Why are you
really
here?”
Dallas blinked, then his words slowed. “For you, Maddie. It’s only been one day and I miss you already.”
“Really?” I asked, still skeptical. It’s not that I didn’t think I deserved to be liked. But how could he trust me after I’d deceived him like that? “Even though I pretended to be someone else?”
“Out of loyalty to your sister. Family’s important.” His voice softened. “And if you hadn’t switched places with Jackie, we wouldn’t have met.”
Relief washed over me, but my smile faded. “You’re still my sister’s ex. Isn’t that… weird?”
Dallas gently grasped my shoulders. “I hardly count as an ex. Two dates, one kiss and it was over.”
“According to the magazines, you guys dated for weeks.” I scoffed. “How could you only kiss her once after dating all that time?”
“Weeks, huh?” He shook his head. “Did you read that in the same rag that said Jackie was pregnant? We go places together, just as friends. You know, it’s convenient since we’re neighbors.”
“Whether it was one date or twenty, there are unwritten rules about that kind of thing.” I couldn’t cross that line again. Jackie hadn’t made a stink about it before, but she might if it went further. And I couldn’t blame her if she did.
He kept his grasp on my shoulders. “But if you and I being together doesn’t bother Jackie, why should it bother you?”
“How do you know she doesn’t care?” I asked.
“She gave me this address and shoved your car key at me.” He released me, but inched closer. “She also told me that the way to your heart is through jasmine. In pots, not bouquets, otherwise they die.” He stuffed his hands in his jeans pockets and shifted his weight. “She warned me to make sure you had time to read every day or you might get grumpy and that you’d rather curl up with a good book than watch a movie. Then she said ‘Good luck, stud. If you break my sister’s heart, I’ll have to hurt you.’”
I wrinkled my nose, unable to picture my sister playing matchmaker, especially with Dallas. “She really said that?”
“Promise.” Dallas made the cross symbol over his heart.
So much for her soap boxes on being young and free to make mistakes. That would be kind of hard to do with a guy like Dallas who’d be in it for the long haul. But I had her blessing to date him, which meant that nothing stood in the way. “I can’t believe she told you about our identity fraud when
she
was the one who insisted on not telling anyone.”
“Oh, uh…” He turned away from me.
“What?” I asked.
“I kind of ambushed her in the hallway, thinking she was you, and demanded to know what the hell was going on. I told her it couldn’t have been one-sided and that…”
I swallowed, not quite believing the words coming out of his mouth. “And what?”
He lifted a shoulder. “That I’d fallen for her. You, I mean. It was weird though. I was standing there in front of her door spilling my guts, but I couldn’t figure out why we suddenly had zero chemistry.”
Fallen for me?
“And that was when she showed me a picture of you guys together and told me you were twins.”
“Then you drove all the way out here just for
me
?” I had to be sure.
He freed his hands from his pockets and looked like he might reach out to me, but he let them fall to his sides. “Maddie… I think we can be good together.”
My eyes misted and I bit my bottom lip. “You and me?”
“Yeah, why not?”
Why not indeed? I’d gone from fame to shame, but now where did I belong? I glanced up into those eyes and knew my place was with him. “Will you stay in town for a while?”
One side of his mouth curved up. “Well, seeing as it’s kind of a long drive back…”
“Speaking of driving, why did you bring my car and not yours? If things hadn’t worked out, what would you have done?”
He entwined his fingers with mine. “I believe in us, Maddie. But the way you left, I wasn’t sure if you did too. What if you bolted when you saw my car? So I brought yours, knowing you’d assume Jackie was driving.”
I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. Not that I wanted to. “Make me breakfast in the morning?”
“So long as you don’t leave my sight until then.” He grinned.
I laughed. Sure, I was crazy about him, but spending the night with him? “Oh, really?”
“We’ll rent a bunch of movies and fill up on popcorn. Maybe snuggle. If you’re lucky.”
“I’m feeling very lucky right now.” I leaned in and wound my arms around his neck.
He pressed me closer, his arms wrapping all the way around me, and buried his face in my hair. “I have to be back the day after tomorrow for that guest spot on
Love and Loathing
,” he said.
Oh, right. We lived a two hour drive from each other. “Dallas, if you’re there and I’m here, how will this work?”
“We’ll figure it out.” He brushed his lips against my forehead. “Jackie’s got an audition next month for that role in
Winter’s Edge
. Henley is finishing up another project, which gives Jackie time to research the role. She wants to rough it on a ranch — milk cows, rope steer, shovel horse manure — so she can give the character more authenticity when she tries out for it.”
“Rough it on a ranch?” Jackie’s idea of roughing it was skipping the limo and driving the Tesla herself. “You’re serious?”
“She said you don’t start college until the fall. Why don’t you stay in her condo while she’s gone? We can drive back together in the morning.”
Dallas Bines, my dream guy, had just made a two hour drive in a girly car to take me back to LA. Me, not Jackie. I grinned. “This was
her
idea?”
“Yeah, well, she also wants you to pretend to be her for a while longer.” He snickered.
I laughed. “I knew there was a catch.” I wouldn’t complain though. Jackie’s request made it very convenient for me to date Dallas without moving to LA. Yet.
He grinned. “You know, UCLA is a great college. And LA has some pretty good photography schools.”
“I’ll have to look into that.” I stretched up on my tiptoes, melted against him and kissed my fantasy guy.
THE END
Acknowledgments
I have so many people to be grateful for! Thank you to all my beta readers — Sara, Sausha, Danette and a few others. A very special thank you to author Susan Hatler for all her work on
From Fame to Shame
and her suggestions to make it even better. Susan, you rock!
Thanks to the team at Crush Publishing — editors Robin Haseltine and Sarah Billington and a very special thanks to Rose Nomura for her FABULOUS cover design!!!
Please keep scrolling for sneak peeks of other books by Veronica Blade.
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