Summer with a Star (Second Chances Book 1) (2 page)

“Can I help you?” he interrupted.

Both women pivoted to face him. Both sets of eyes went round. The blonde’s mouth dropped open, but it was the brunette who stopped his heart in his chest. She was petite, with short, pixie-cut hair, bangs slanting across her forehead. Her t-shirt and jeans were faded and comfortable and fit her curves well. Her cheeks were rosy in her round face and her brown eyes sparkled. No, not sparkled, she was on the verge of tears. She took one look at him and sobbed.

“Spencer Ellis?” The blonde gaped as she threw an arm around her friend.

So much for no one knowing he was there.

“Yes.” He nodded, stepping closer to the weeping brunette. As badly as he wanted to help, he wasn’t sure what to do. “Is something the matter? What can I do?”

“Spencer Ellis,” the blonde said again.

“
You’re
the person in my house?” The brunette sniffled. She wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands and made a valiant effort to pull herself together with short, gasping breaths. Her watery eyes stayed fixed on him, as though she didn’t quite believe what she was seeing.

An awkward itch spread across his back. “I’m staying here for the summer,” he answered as simply as he could.

Apparently, it was the wrong answer. The brunette’s bottom lip quivered. “No,” she spoke in a strained voice, “
I’m
staying here for the summer.” She buried her face in her hands and moaned. “Of course. Of course they would give my house away to somebody famous and perfect instead of letting me catch just
one tiny break
.”

The way she drew out the last three words shot straight to Spence’s heart. He hummed and ran a hand through his hair, glancing around the porch and off across the beach as though an explanation would appear or a director would shout “Cut!”

“There must be a mix-up somewhere,” he said, stepping closer to her, arms itching to hug her and make things better. “My agent took care of all the arrangements and booked this place last month.”

“Last month?” the brunette asked. She was tense from the top of her head to her flip-flops, as if battling to keep anger at bay and hold herself together. “I’ve had this house reserved for the last three years. How could anyone walk in just last month and swipe it out from under me?”

Yvonne. Crap.

“Spencer Ellis.” The blonde growled his name this time. She jerked her phone up and tapped on the screen “I should have known. Celebrities. You think you can wave a little money and a few movie tickets around and the world will fall at your feet.” She held her phone to her ear.

“I’m so sorry,” he told the brunette as the blonde stomped away. “If I had known, I would have—”

“She’s just over-protective,” the brunette apologized, sagging. She squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her fingers to her temples. A moment later, she huffed an ironic laugh. “The universe sure does like screwing with me. I should give up and lay down.”

Guilt and anger on her behalf hit him at the same time. That and the awkward thought that she had an excellent rack.

“I
am
sorry,” he said, blushing over where his thoughts had gone. He pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Let me see if I can figure out what’s going on here.”

“Please do,” she replied, weak with frustration.

He hated that. Boy, did he hate that.

He hit Yvonne on speed-dial as the brunette wandered to the edge of the porch and leaned on the railing. Spence watched her closely. She had a nice butt too, enough to get a good handful if—

“Spence, sweetheart,” Yvonne’s cloying voice cooed through the phone. “What’s up?”

“Hi Yvonne. Was someone else booked into this house when you found it for me?” He cut right to the chase.

“The house?” That was all it took. Spence could tell from the false innocence in her voice that she’d pulled strings and worked her so-called magic again. “I’m not sure, sweetheart. Possibly.”

“Yvonne.” He grimaced and rubbed his forehead with his free hand. “I told you to stop doing stuff like that. I wanted to find a nice summer house away from things so I could think. I didn’t ask you to evict the rightful renters.”

“I didn’t think they would mind, whoever they are. The real estate broker said they would send a nice fruit basket with a note of apology and a full refund.”

Spence shook his head. “Unbelievable. This is exactly why I wanted to get away for the summer.”

“Is there a problem?” Yvonne’s voice turned a shade more serious. “Those other people didn’t show up there, did they?”

“She did.” Spence said and ended the call. He growled and shoved his phone in his back pocket. It immediately started vibrating, but he ignored it.

The blonde ended her call at about the same time. “I don’t believe they would actually do it,” she muttered, shaking her head. “I don’t believe the Cavanaros would let them do it, but they’re in Florida. Dana says that someone was supposed to tell you and refund your money.” Her heels clicked as she walked over to smooth a hand across the brunette’s shoulders. It was a gesture Spence thought he should be making.

“This is my agent’s fault,” he said, joining the pair.

“It’s all so unreal,” the brunette said, blinking so fast Spence worried she might start crying again. “Twenty years, down the drain.”

“I’m sorry?” he offered.

She glanced up at him, frustration knotting her shoulders. “Some people are meant to get the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and some aren’t,” she said. “You’re one of the gold ones, I’m not. I like your movies, by the way,” she added with a surprise shy look.

“Thanks,” Spence murmured, more impressed with the soulfulness in her eyes than the compliment.

She swallowed and rolled her shoulders, standing straighter. “I have dreamed of staying in this house since I was ten-years-old, I guess I can keep dreaming. I’m sorry I bothered you.”

Her words might not have been intended to wound him, but they did. She pushed away from the porch railing and started to leave.

“What’s your name?” He stopped her, brain scrambling to figure out a way to clean up Yvonne’s mess.

She stopped and turned back to him. “Tasha. Tasha Pike.”

“I’m Jenny Young,” the blonde said, thrusting out her hand to shake his. “I can’t believe I’m meeting you in person. I’ve seen all your movies. You’re great.”

“Thanks,” he said as graciously as he could, then turned his attention back to Tasha. “Let me make this up to you somehow, Tasha. I feel terrible.”

“Oh no, I couldn’t ask you to do that, Mr. Ellis.” Tasha’s cheeks flared bright pink with shame, and she looked down.

“Call me Spence. And I insist on doing something.”

“Dinner?” Jenny suggested.

Both Spence and Tasha blinked at her.

“Hey, I’m just saying.” Jenny held up her arms in defense.

Tasha inched close to her friend and whispered, “Let’s go. I’m so embarrassed. We shouldn’t bother him.”

“No, please, bother me,” Spence said to stop Tasha from leaving. “You have no reason to be embarrassed.”

Maybe dinner wasn’t such a bad idea after all. Any woman who could send every last one of his protective instincts into overdrive in less than five minutes was a woman he wanted to buy a drink. And more. He’d do just about anything to make up for Yvonne’s meanness and help Tasha to hold onto her childhood dreams.

The solution to both of their problems hit him like a ray of sunlight. “Why don’t you stay here for the summer too?”

“What?” Tasha balked.

Her friend stood a little taller, a wide smile spreading across her neatly made-up face.

Tasha wasn’t wearing any make-up. She didn’t need to. Even with a cry-face, she was gorgeous. Spence caught himself smiling at the thought of spending the summer with her, at the whole grand idea unfolding in his mind.

“I’m here by myself,” he said. “The house has six bedrooms. It’s huge. I don’t really need it all. Why don’t we share?”

“Share?”

Spence nodded.

“Share the house?” Tasha’s shoulders loosened a fraction and she shifted her weight to one hip as if considering.

“Share a summer house with Spencer Ellis,” Jenny breathed in wonder.

“I wouldn’t mind if you wouldn’t,” Spence said, keeping his eyes on Tasha. “Look, I’ll even pay for everything. It’s the least I could do. My agent is a little over-eager when it comes to pampering her clients, and I’m afraid I’ve made her a lot of money in these last couple of years.”

His words had the opposite effect from what he’d intended.

“I wouldn’t feel right taking your money,” Tasha said, dropping her arms and shaking her head. “The one thing I can hold my head up about is that I’ve always paid my own way.”

“All right.” He held up his hands in surrender. “You can pay for whatever you want.”

She softened from wary suspicion to worry. “You aren’t planning to throw any wild celebrity parties, are you?”

“Definitely not,” he answered.

“I’m not going to wake up to paparazzi outside my window, am I?”

“I sure as hell hope not. I came here to get away from all that. Nobody knows I’m here.” He glanced pointedly to Jenny.

“Right,” Jenny whispered. “My lips are sealed.”

“Jenny’s lips are sealed,” he told Tasha with a smile. It was, admittedly, a practiced smile, designed to weaken her knees.

Instead, she chewed her lip and picked at one of her nails, clearly nervous. “You’re willing to leave me alone to read or walk on the beach or whatever I feel like doing?”

“I am.”

Tasha drew in a breath. She glanced out over the beach below the cliff as she let it out. Her doubtful expression melted to a sadness that grabbed hold of Spence’s gut. It was early summer still and a weekday. The beach was only half-filled with sunbathers and kids playing in the waves. Their laughter and happy calls drifted up to the house along with the soothing roll of the waves. Tasha closed her eyes as if letting it all sink in, as if she needed it to sink in.

“Okay,” she said at last.

“So you’ll stay?” He liked the idea far more than he expected to.

“I think you should stay,” Jenny whispered to her.

Tasha turned and frowned at her friend, then at Spence. Her face pinched as she thought. “Twenty years.” She pressed the palms of her hands to her temples and groaned. “I can’t just walk away from all that saving and planning, not after the spring I’ve had.”

“Don’t walk away, then,” he insisted. “There’s no need to. I’m a pretty quiet guy. We don’t have to get in each other’s way if we don’t want to.” Though he would very much like to get to know any woman who didn’t turn into a pile of giggles at the sight of him. “It’s up to you,” he finished as casually as he could.

“I’ll stay,” she said, dropping her hands and shaking her head. “I can’t believe I’m doing this, though.”

“Neither can I,” Jenny added, though for an entirely different reason, Spence was sure. She watched him with that giddy spark in her eyes that he hated.

“Okay, now that that’s settled, can I help you carry your bags in?” he asked.

“No,” Tasha replied. “You can go back to whatever you were doing. I’m sorry I interrupted you.”

As much as it burned him that they’d gotten off on the wrong foot, Spence backed down with a sheepish grin. He had the summer to make it up to her, and he promised himself he would.

“I’ll just be on the upstairs porch if you need me,” he said, turning toward the door.

Tasha gave him one more guilty glance before turning and marching off to the front of the porch. He waited until she’d turned the corner before chuckling and shaking his head. Yvonne would be annoyed that the perfect vacation she’d set up for him had hit a bump.

He, on the other hand, thought he might like it.

Chapter Two

Tasha followed Jenny down the front porch steps and across the walk to her car. Nothing about the conversation she’d just had or who she’d had it with sat right. It reminded her too much of building a sandcastle only to have a wave swish in and destroy it, or worse, having one of the boys stomp it to bits for fun. Spencer Ellis was an A-list movie star. She was a nobody. She shouldn’t linger on the same planet with him, let alone share a beach house. Like everything else in her life, it was unbelievable.

“I’m really sorry about this,” Jenny insisted as they crossed between their cars.

“There’s nothing you could have done,” Tasha admitted with a weak sigh. She pressed the button on her key to open her trunk.

“There might still be something,” Jenny went on. She reached into the trunk and took out the smallest of Tasha’s bags. “There has to be some kind of law that says you can’t give away someone’s reservation.”

“No, it’s fine.”

Tasha yanked her suitcases out of the trunk one by one. She hadn’t exactly packed light, knowing she would be spending the entire summer away. It would have been smart to get Spencer Ellis to help her carry things in. He certainly looked strong enough. His fancy t-shirt did nothing to hide the firm muscles of his arms and chest. She’d seen him pretty much completely naked in a movie or two, and the man had nothing to be ashamed of. He looked like he could carry all of her bags in one trip, but he probably had people who did that for him. Although she didn’t see any lingering in the bushes.

“Spencer Ellis!” Jenny squealed at her side. “Okay, so the entire situation is frustrating and tragic, but you have to admit, spending the summer with a gorgeous movie star in your house is pretty sweet.”

“Is that what it is?” Tasha arched an eyebrow at her friend, then grabbed a suitcase in each hand. She left the trunk open and marched her first load up to the porch.

“Well, it is exciting,” Jenny followed her. “Not something that happens every day.”

“I didn’t book the house for exciting,” Tasha protested. “I just want somewhere to relax and unwind and let go of all the crap in my life.”

Jenny shrugged as she climbed the porch stairs and set the bag she’d carried at the top. “You never know what could happen. Wouldn’t it be cool to have a fling with someone as big as Spencer Ellis?”

Tasha dropped her bags near the door and laughed without humor. “After the way I just embarrassed myself? I sobbed all over him.”

“Some guys like that?” Jenny suggested half-heartedly.

“Not any guys I know.” She left her bags where they were and headed back to her car for another load. “I’ll admit, it’s pretty unbelievable to have a movie star in close proximity, but the last thing I want right now is any sort of involvement with a male of the species. They’re cruel, thoughtless, and egotistical. I may have booked this place years ago to fulfill a childhood fantasy, but I was looking forward to it now because it’s male-free and I could bawl my eyes out and gorge on chocolate ice cream while I lick my wounds in peace.”

“Brad deserves to be boiled in oil,” Jenny said as she followed Tasha to the open car trunk. “Have you talked to him at all since…well, since?”

“No.”

“Not even a little?”

Tasha stopped at the back of her car and let her shoulders drop. “He sent Chip to pick up the things he left at my apartment. He doesn’t want to talk to me at all. Chip called it ‘making a clean break.’ Besides,” she said, leaning into the trunk to pull a box of groceries closer, “he’s seeing that red-head full-time now, or so I hear.”

“Yeah.” Jenny confirmed with a sad huff.

Tasha frowned. “I didn’t ask and I don’t want to know for sure, but I think he’d been banging her long before I found out.” She hoisted the box of groceries into one arm, then shut the trunk and started back to the porch.

“What a dick,” Jenny growled as she followed.

“Yeah, well, I knew that dick since we were kids,” Tasha sighed, slogging up the steps as if the box in her arms weighted five times what it did. “He’s the only dick I’ve ever loved, the first dick I kissed, the only dick I’ve ever slept with.”

“You’re a much better person than he is.”

Jenny’s vote of confidence only added to the hollow gloom inside her. What use was it being a better person if you got stepped on all the time? Being such a good person was what landed her on the wrong end of a break-up confrontation in the first place.

Tasha tested the front door, but found it locked. It shouldn’t have, but it felt like a personal insult. She willed herself to hold it together, and took her box of groceries around the porch to the back door, which Spence had left open.

“Some days I don’t want to be a better person,” she mumbled to Jenny as they stepped into the wide, bright living room at the back of the house. “Better people are dull. They’re steady and predictable and have no spark.” They’re losers. Yep, there was that word again, sticking to her like a burr on a cat.

“I said it before and I’ll say it again, Brad was an ass for using your niceness as his excuse to cheat on you. He’ll regret it in the end,” Jenny said.

Tasha shook her head. “No, he won’t.”

They crossed through the hall toward the kitchen. The same seaside watercolors that she’d remembered from her one adventure in the house at age twelve still hung on the walls in their pale wood frames. That was a tiny comfort, and at that point she’d take whatever comforts she could get, starting with two months at Sand Dollar Point.

“Brad got exactly what he wanted,” she said, “and I guess I did too.”

“You did?”

“I’m rid of him now, aren’t I?”

“Yes, you are,” Jenny answered cautiously. “And that’s what you want?”

“In the end? Yes.”

She set her box on the kitchen counter nearest to the door. The kitchen had been updated since that one visit. The new, silver appliances lining the walls were high-end. Not that Tasha planned to do much cooking. A few dishes had been left in the sink. Spence must have cooked some kind of breakfast earlier, but was slow to clean up. Huh. Even celebrities left their dishes in the sink. She caught herself peeking at the soaking plate, wondering what hot, A-list celebrities ate for breakfast.

Really?
She scolded herself.
You’re spying on his dirty dishes?

Embarrassment renewed, she marched out of the kitchen and down the hall to the front door, Jenny in tow.

“However it all shakes out, I think you should stick to your plan of making this summer your fresh start,” Jenny said. “You’re glad to be rid of Brad and so am I. You’ve got a beautiful house with one minor hiccup, but I think you should enjoy that hiccup. Not everyone gets to spend quality time with a really big movie star.”

“I don’t want to spend quality time with anyone outside of the pages of a book this summer,” Tasha countered. She unlocked the front door and pushed it open. “Especially if he’s male.”

They stepped out into the sunlight. Jenny wore a wide smile in contrast to Tasha’s gloom. She looked like she could be a cover model for some beach magazine. “I say you should just let it all go and have fun.”

“You would.”

“Because it would be the best thing for you, babe.” Nothing was going to break through Jenny’s optimism. “You’ve got the house, you’ve got the view. Beach view and man view.”

“Ha.”

“Make the most of them. Why not?”

Because she wasn’t that kind of girl. Because she didn’t have that freedom. Because Brad had sucked the ability to ever trust another man with a charming smile right out of her.

“I’ll be happy if I can soak up some sunshine, read a bunch of good books, and avoid sounding like a giddy idiot every time Spencer Ellis comes into the room,” she said.

Jenny leaned in for a hug. “I’ve got to get back to work, but if you need anything, just text.”

“I will.”

“And if you need someone to come over and entertain Spencer Ellis—”

“You’ll be the first person I call.” Tasha broke into a smile. She had to hand it to Jenny, she would know how to have a good time when faced with a superstar in her living room. “Take care.”

“You too.”

Jenny gave her one last hug, then spun to click her way down the front stairs to her car. Tasha smiled in spite of herself. Maybe she should just pretend she was Jenny for the summer. It would be much more interesting to act like she was carefree and determined to enjoy life. It’d be a change from her usual planning and organizing. Lesson plans were useful for teaching second-graders, but not so useful when it came to living a spontaneous life. Brad had proved that.

She waved one last time to Jenny as she backed her car up and drove around the rose bushes, then out of sight. The tranquil sound of the waves and a few sea birds filled the silence that was left. Tasha closed her eyes and breathed it in. The tang in the air soothed her in spite of everything.

It wasn’t so bad. Spencer Ellis had said he would stay out of her hair. The house was huge. She didn’t have to talk to anyone or explain anything if she didn’t want to. Brad was done and gone, and without friends and family around to keep picking at the wound by telling her how sorry they were or how she had dodged a bullet, she might get a chance to move on. And there would be fewer opportunities for her to make a fool of herself. This could still be the vacation she’d dreamed of after all. It could be the vacation she needed.

She let out a breath and opened her eyes, turned and picked up her suitcases to haul them inside. Two months’ worth of clothes and shoes and essentials took up more space than she would have thought. It didn’t help that one of the suitcases was half full of books, in spite of the e-reader in her purse. She lugged both suitcases as far as the staircase, then left one downstairs while she took the other one up to the second floor.

“Are you sure I can’t help you?” Spencer Ellis’s voice echoed through the open staircase. It had the kind of sexy male resonance that was more suited to reading poetry than making small-talk.

“Nope, I’m fine,” she dismissed him when she reached the top of the stairs. She’d cried in front of him. Sobbed like her grandma had died. She couldn’t even look him in the eyes now. Instead, she poked around the corner to check out the bedroom closest to the stairs. It was beautifully decorated in blue stripes and sailboats and virtually untouched.

“I’ve taken the bedroom at the end of the hall down there.” Spencer came in from the porch, pointing to the opposite end of the stairs. “It’s got a nice view of the south beach. I can clear out if you want it.”

He stopped beside her in the hall, leaving her plenty of space. When the original Victorian structure had been badly damaged in a storm in the ’90s, the house had been rebuilt for space and light. The upstairs hall had windows at one end and the double doors at the other, and the walls were painted pale yellow. But with Spencer standing right next to her, easily eight inches taller and warm from the late-morning sun, things felt decidedly snug. And whatever cologne he was wearing was enough to make Tasha’s mouth water. If it even was cologne. Maybe superstars smelled divine as a matter of principle.

Nope. She didn’t need to let her mind wander down that particular red-carpeted slippery slope.

“No, it’s okay,” she said, finally meeting his eyes. She prayed hers weren’t still red from crying. “Stay where you’ve put your stuff. I’m sure there are other great views.”

She pushed on, dragging her suitcase with her. The air seemed to lighten as she stepped farther away from him. She turned to slip through the open door closest to the porch on the beach side and found herself in a cheery room done in sea-foam green with sand dollar patterns stenciled near the ceiling. Perfect.

“I get the impression that you’ve stayed here before?” Spencer asked from the doorway.

“Not exactly,” she answered, lifting the suitcase onto the double bed.

She stole a look at him. Yep. Spencer Ellis. Did he always look that…that nice, or did he feel sorry for her after her outburst? She whipped her eyes away, not sure she could take it if he pitied her.

“My family always stayed in one of the motels at the other end of the beach,” she went on. “Every summer from age eight until about sixteen. I always used to look up at this house and dream that someday I would be rich enough to stay here.”

“Nice.”

He was smiling at her.
Her
. And what a smile. Straight, white teeth against lightly-tanned skin with just a hint of scruff. Not to mention sparkling blue eyes with long lashes. There was a reason Spencer Ellis was always cast as the hero. Although he’d cut his dark hair much shorter than the last film she’d seen him in.

“I was inside the house once,” she found herself saying in spite of wanting to run and hide.

“Only once?”

She edged past him into the hall and back down the stairs to fetch her other suitcase. He followed.

“The hotel where we always stayed had bicycles for their guests to rent. You can get them in town too, but the hotel ones were cheaper. My brother and Jenny, Brad and I would ride all over the place. We came out this way one day and got caught in a downpour. Dave, my brother—he was the oldest—had the idea that we should ask if we could hang out on the porch here until the storm passed.”