Idolized (Hollywood Stardust Book 3) (13 page)

(Looks down at her resume and then crumples it in her hand)

I’ll take the streetwalker, it seems to fit me better.

KAREN

(Laughs and types into the computer)

It’s all yours.

Chapter Six

ONCE AGAIN, RYDER had been summoned to the office of one Cora Caine after waking up in her bed alone. All he had to guide him was another reminder note not to touch her espresso machine and a cryptic text that she wanted to see him at eleven sharp to discuss a proposal. Of course, that came after the not so cryptic text from Glen reminding him that he better be making some progress on the movie.

He chose to delete the message from Glen and focus on the task at hand, so to speak. That task being that if he and Cora were going to continue on like this, he didn’t want to have to use his hand in the morning. She needed to get with the program. Yes, she might be running the Internet or whatever she did, but his morning glory needed attention, then she could go do her thing.

“Do you think you can sort of skirt around the traffic?” Ryder clenched his fist and called to Ben from the back seat of the car in a forced singsong voice. Something told him he couldn’t be late for this meeting. That something was Cora yesterday when she told him not to be one minute late.

“How would you like me to do that?” Ben scooted the car up like two inches to be stopped by a red light. “We’re in Los Angeles.”

“Well, Los Angeles is the land of magic. Transport us there that way.” Ryder barely got the words out between gritted teeth. He ran his hand through his hair. “Seriously, as a professional in the transportation area, a cornerstone in making this great city what it is, can’t you do anything to make sure I show up at this very important powwow during my lifetime?”

“I’ll get you there.” The second the light turned green Ben hit the accelerator. “How was the event last night? I saw you on the Internet.”

The event. What struck him most about the event was the copious amount of checks written. Cora’s check alone was five figures. The rich loved to give money as long as there was a photo opportunity and tax write-off attached. He chose to focus on the woman by his side rather than the utter waste of monies. Hell, he should start a charity for his movie.

“Let’s get a move on.” Ryder sat back as his minion wove through traffic, ran yellow lights, honked and cut off a pedestrian. The man was nothing if not dedicated.

“We’re here, boss.” The car bounced when Ben skidded to a stop in the underground parking of the building that housed Cora’s corporate headquarters.

Lights flashing, a police motorcycle pulled up behind them.

“You did a great job.” Ryder glanced at his watch. With minutes to spare, he opened the door himself and got out. He nodded to the police officer getting off the motorcycle.

“You’re Ryder Scott.” Pen in hand the officer pointed to him.

“I am, and I’m sorry about my driver. He’s a little enthusiastic to make sure I get where I need to be.” He flashed the man a smile, plucked the pen out of his hand and found a piece of paper in his pocket. After checking the paper didn’t have any sort of incriminating evidence, he signed his name. “I take it I can get to my meeting?” He returned the pen to the officer and handed him the autograph.

“Go ahead.” The officer clipped the treasure to the clipboard and made his way to Ben’s side of the car.

“Boss!” Ben cried out.

Checking his watch once more, he figured he could spare ten seconds. He leaned back in the car. “If you can talk your way out of this one, I’ll get you an even bigger part in my movie.” With a wink and smile, he patted the top of the car, made his way into the building, and snuck through the crowd of people sliding ahead into one of the elevators.

People stopped and stared, but because this was a building used for high-end deals in the entertainment industry, people didn’t bother him, only pointed and whispered. At least the ride up gave him a moment to collect his thoughts. No doubt this would be the so-called meeting where Cora admitted her feelings for him.

The elevator doors opened and he smiled. Miss CEO and he made a true power couple. Compatible in bed, mind, and prestige, if they put their energy together, they could light up a city. In truth, he wouldn’t mind taking her out on a non-business related function and showing her off.

He would let her blush and stutter, but in the end he would give her what she wanted, because hell, he wanted it too. For once in his life, he wanted it. Sure it was fast. He blamed it on high-speed Internet access and he was on the fast track.

A spring in his step, he made his way inside CC Enterprises.

Instead of the spinner at the door, he was met with a man around his age, tall, with slicked back brown hair, who he sort of recognized from the night before.

“I was instructed to lock the doors at one minute past the hour. Good job, you’re thirty seconds early.” The man held his hand out. “Rodger, Cora’s secretary.”

Ryder shook the man’s hand. “Don’t you mean assistant?”

“Is there anything wrong with being a secretary? That’s what I am.” Rodger led him through the office.

“No not at all. It’s sort of refreshing.” Ryder filed that little tidbit away.

Rodger knocked on the Cora’s door, opened it, and tilted his head.

Ryder gave Cora’s secretary a nod and went inside the inner sanctum.

The door closed behind him.

Talk about refreshing. His mouth watered at the sight of her behind her desk with all her monitors, her hair flowing down around her and in a tight, low cut, but work appropriate, knit top. Strange, as powerful and smart as this woman was, he never felt like more of a man these last couple of days.

“Come here.” Without glancing at him, she held her hand up and motioned him over.

“You know, one of these mornings it’d be nice to wake up with you.” He crossed the room, took her hand and kissed the back.

“Well, I’ll take that under advisement.” A small laugh actually escaped her throat. Who knew the woman had it in her? “I want to show you something.” She pulled him down.

He knelt by her chair. On the screens were Chargge.com as well as the sites of two top competitors to the massive website. All had stories about Ryder and Cora.

“We have been trending two days in a row.” She clicked to another site that showed a graph.

“The movie star and the money star, what isn’t fascinating about us?” Though he didn’t really get all the bars on the graph, it seemed impressive, and he nodded. “Seems the public likes us together, I must say I concur.”

“For once, Mr. Scott, I must say I agree with you as well.” She slid her hand away from his and pointed to the chair on the other side of her desk. “Sit down.”

Fine, she was going to play it cool. He could follow suit. Rather than complain, he decided to remind her why she conjured him and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek, grazing the corner of her mouth, before taking his seat.

She continued studying the computer screens, clicking her mouse hither and yon, and right before he was about to clear his voice, or say something, she slid her chair over and stared at him.

It seemed fitting he stared back, only he added a wink and crossed his legs.

With her eyes slightly narrowed, she picked up a letter opener on her desk, twirled it in her fingers and rocked her chair back and forth.

He raised his eyebrows. “I did a movie once where the heroine killed the bad guy with a letter opener.”

“I promise you I would never use such a messy weapon.” A low chuckle escaped her throat.

“What would you use?” Watching her was better than any action-adventure flick, except for
Working Title
when it finally made it to the big screen.

“My mind.” She put the letter opener down and leaned forward. “I can see why you’re a star.”

The first break in her armor appeared and he could hardly wait to see her crumble. “Aw shucks, ma’am I may make a fan out of you yet.” He used his best southern drawl.

“So, let’s get down to business.” She never faltered from her hard facade.

Here it came. He waited. At last his tough chick would crack her shell.

“Tell me exactly how it works.” Rather than the letter opener she picked up a pen.

He opened his mouth to tell her he wanted to be with her too, calm her and soothe her, then realized he had no idea how to respond because she didn’t follow the script. Was this her way of saying she wanted an afternoon delight? “I have to tell you that you’re a master of how it works, but if you need a little refresher I’m happy to demonstrate.” Grinning, he stood. Pushing her right over her desk should do the trick.

She held up her hand, stopping him. “I already know how well you do in that arena, and while you’re phenomenal, I don’t need a reminder at the moment. What I need to know is how this works. Is it a formal arrangement with a contract, or do we do the civil thing, discuss what we want and go on the honor code?”

Was she asking him to marry her? He looked up at the ceiling. Her text did say proposal, and he considered the possibilities. Gorgeous home, gorgeous girl, great sex, lots of money. He already wanted to date her and be with her, so they might as well go for it. At last he found a match. “What do you think?”

“I would rather not go into contract negotiations, that smacks too much of a job. However, I do need a man and the public loves us together. On my end, I want you to take me to my events…satisfy me.” She stood and paced along the back of her office. “What do you want on your end? Clothes, credit cards, country clubs?”

And now he understood. A sick calm overtook him. Apparently his reputation preceded him. Before reacting, he weighed his options, whether to walk out, jump like a kid a Christmas as he had done so many other times, or take advantage as he had done more times than jump.

First, he took a moment to mourn the woman he wanted to ask on a date and actually pay for the meal. The one he almost considered taking a walk on the beach with, and doing those things simply because he wanted to. In fact, she did him a favor because he would get to do what he wanted and benefit as well.

“How much time do you need?” He chose his path, the most obvious route.
Why did everyone always make it so incredibly easy?

She stopped her trek back and forth across her office, blinked, took a breath and returned to her desk. “Do you have a menu of services?”

“You’re a special woman, so why don’t we create a deluxe package for you?” He put his hands behind his head and his legs up on her desk.

“All right.” Once more she got up, this time coming around her desk, sitting at the edge and pushing his feet off. “I want it all, with two major rules.”

He kept his eyes on her, waiting to hear her conditions.

“First.” She held up one finger. “No philandering, flirting, or anything else with anyone else. The second I suspect or prove a suspicion, all bets are off.”

If she only knew what he thought he was coming here for. If she only knew that yesterday he walked away from a pretty sweet deal all because it felt wrong to sleep with Ms. Tuttle and her at the same time. If she only knew… Rather than speak, he lifted his chin.

“Second.” A second finger joined her first. “You will do nothing that will hurt my chances of becoming CEO of Ultracom. Don’t think I won’t know. I’m a technology goddess with thousands of people, the best of the best, at my command. You are duly warned.”

Her words sent a slight shiver down his spine, but he preferred to call it a tingle of excitement, a challenge. “I thought my job was to help you get your job.”

A smile lit her face up. Dare he say she looked gorgeous?

“I have no problem with everything you want.” Though he wondered how good her technology really worked. Good thing for him people like Glen lived beyond technology. “Especially, since I’ll be so busy with
Hollywood Stardom
and the fact that you’ll be funding my magnum opus.” His father always said things just happened to him out of nowhere, and once again, his father was proved right. Things were happening all over the place.

“Your movie.” She nodded. “Is that before or after the clothes and the country club?”

“Sweetheart, I know you want to dress me up, and we both know the country club is for you as well as compensation for my help in fixing your…” he motioned toward her, “fixing you.”

Her jaw jutted out, but she didn’t argue.

“It will be after the car.” If he smoked, it would be the time to take a long drag and relaxed.

They stared at one another, after quite a pause, she put her hand out. “Does a shake suffice?”

He took her hand and pulled her to his lap. “This is more than a gentleman’s agreement.” He curled his arm around her and kissed her. His erection swelled when she kissed him back, took the lead and slipped him the tongue.