Hollywood Husbands (72 page)
Read Hollywood Husbands Online
Authors: Jackie Collins
The moment Lucky entered the restaurant conversation stopped and people stared. They couldn’t help themselves, Lucky had a magnetic charismatic quality about her. She radiated a presence full of beauty, power, passion and strength. A lethal combination.
Danny relished every minute of the way people reacted when they saw Lucky. She deserved the attention. She was a true star, an incredibly smart business-woman who could achieve anything she set her mind to. The thing about Lucky was that she needed to be collaborative, but she also needed to be in control. Nobody told Lucky Santangelo what to do. Her motto was—“
If I’m going to fail, I’ll fail on my own mistakes, not on someone else’s
.” Her other motto was—“
Never fuck with a Santangelo
.”
Danny had both mottos engraved on two coffee mugs that sat in the kitchen of his L.A. apartment along with his somewhat mangy cat, Ethel.
They were lunching at
The Asian
, because although most meetings took place in the boardroom, other times Lucky liked to see for herself how efficiently everything was running. Danny could just imagine the panic taking place in the kitchen.
Ms. Santangelo is in the house, everything has to be perfect
.
Lucky strode through the restaurant, unaware of the buzz of excitement she was causing. The two men and the one woman she was meeting with jumped to their feet as she approached. Danny detected much nervous tension.
Lucky immediately put them all at ease. “How’s everyone today,” she asked, flashing them a dazzling smile.
Everything about Lucky was dazzling—from her wild mass of long dark curls, her deep olive skin, and her black as night eyes. Lucky was ageless, she exuded sex-appeal, she always had.
“All the better for seeing you,” one of the men managed. He was balding and nervous, a trait many people exhibited when meeting Lucky for the first time.
Directing her attention to the female of the group, an attractive black woman in her early forties, Lucky said—“You must be Nina, I’ve heard many positive things about your work. In fact, I should tell you that you’re the main reason I requested this meeting.”
Danny watched the men shrivel. He knew what they were thinking—Nina worked
for
them, not alongside them. She was a junior partner in their firm, but Lucky had insisted they brought Nina to the meeting. Ah yes, Lucky was all about female power—it pleased her to see other women succeed.
Nina blossomed, she was full of ideas that Lucky seemed to be into, and the meeting went well once the two men realized that Nina could turn out to be an asset, not a threat.
“If we get together on this,” Lucky announced at the conclusion of lunch, “then I expect Nina to head up your team. How do you feel about that?”
The men nodded. This could be an enormous project, and if Lucky Santangelo wanted Nina, that’s exactly who she’d get.
Danny escorted Lucky out of the restaurant, reminding her of the agenda for the rest of the day. She had more meetings, a drink with her friend, superstar Venus, who was currently shooting a movie in Vegas, then a late night flight back to her other home in L.A.
Lucky divided her time between her Vegas penthouse and her Malibu beach house. In Vegas it was mostly work. In Malibu she could sit back and relax—especially when Lennie was home—which wasn’t always the case. Like his wife, Lennie was a workaholic. Once a stand-up comedian and then a movie star, his current passion was writing, producing and directing his own independent movies.
Lennie spent a lot of time on location.
Lucky spent a lot of time in Vegas.
Time apart boded well for their marriage. They had never been happier—for when they were in the same place things were as steamy as the first time they’d gotten together. It helped that Lennie was a master of Tantric sex, and that Lucky had always maintained a wild streak in the bedroom. It amused her when married people complained about their sex life being boring. Didn’t they realize that it wasn’t their sex life—it was them—allowing themselves to fall into a state of lethargy and disinterest? Nothing like disinterest to put the brakes on adventures in the bedroom.
After more meetings, Lucky felt in need of a drink. She was looking forward to seeing Venus, once so close, over the last year they’d kind of lost touch. Lucky understood why. First of all, Venus had abandoned her latest toy-boy and hooked up with Hugo Santos, a Venezuelan avant-garde filmmaker who obviously saw the platinum blond superstar as much more than a luscious world famous sex symbol. He’d moved in on Venus big time, and taken over her career. She was currently playing a drugged out whore in his gritty movie “Woman.”
Venus viewed Hugo Santos as her intellectual savior, while Lucky considered him to be a grasping opportunist who saw Venus as his ticket to conquer Hollywood.
The second reason they’d drifted apart was because of Max, and her fleeting thing with Billy Melina—Venus’s ex-husband. Max making out with her best friend’s ex was more than awkward.
Lucky had never discussed it with Venus, and fortunately the burgeoning romance between Billy and Max had fizzled—with a little help from Lennie—who’d visited Billy and told him in no uncertain terms to stay away from his teenage daughter or there’d be big repercussions. Coupled with pressure from his team of advisors, Billy had complied, and Max had taken off to London where she now resided. Lucky missed her, although not as much as Lennie did. Lennie was way too protective, while Lucky knew it was good for Max to be out on her own experiencing independence.
Lucky waited for Venus on a secluded terrace overlooking the golf course. Usually Venus liked to make an entrance, but today she’d requested that they meet somewhere quiet. Lucky had agreed, and now she was sitting on the terrace sipping a Campari and orange juice. Closing her eyes for a moment, she imagined the new hotel complex she was planning. A hotel attached to a movie studio. How fantastic! How innovative! And even though it would take at least two or three years to build, she was excited. It occurred to her that maybe she’d even start producing movies again, she’d always enjoyed the process. It could be fun, another challenge. Perhaps she and Lennie could work on something together, although if they did that they’d probably kill each other.
She smiled at the thought of two incredibly stubborn people working side by side. No. It was never going to happen.
A woman was walking toward her. A dark haired woman wearing frumpy clothes and horn-rimmed old fashioned glasses. There was something vaguely familiar about her, but Lucky wasn’t sure what it was until the woman pulled out a chair and sat down opposite her.
Oh my God
, Lucky thought, her mind spinning.
It’s Venus!
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