AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Makes sense, right? I obviously have a thing for actors.”
“Right, you dated that Anthony Fesser guy.”
“Fessa.”
“I’ve met him.” He crosses his arms. “He’s a prick.”
“Yeah.” I sigh.
“You, uh, want to tell me about it?”
I consider it for a split second, then shake my head. “Nah. I have to be a lot drunker than this to tell my Anthony story.”
He laughs at that. “That bad, huh? Guess I’m lucky I don’t fall in love.”
“What, like never?”
“Never.” He punctuates it with a single shoulder shrug. “And believe me, I’ve tried. After one particularly gruesome attempt, which destroyed a really great friendship with a woman I genuinely cared about, I realized that I needed to stop trying because I was blowing up stuff that actually mattered to me—” He gestures from his head down to his chest. “It helped to decide I wasn’t meant for relationships. It freed me up to chase career opportunities.”
That’s…sad but also not surprising to me, as someone who spent longer than I would have liked in that world. There were a lot of people who’d decided that La La Land had it right and you could have love or fame but not both.
“Enough about that, though.” He waves it off.
I wonder if there’s more to the story than he’s telling. There would have to be, right? This is the first hint of the real Shane I’ve seen, and I’m dying to ask him more. But I don’t because I’m sure he’s had enough of people prying under his defenses. “Speaking of line of work, what about career stuff? You just wrapped the last Crown of Spires movie, and you’re…now what?”
He leans back. “Looking for my next project. There are a few possibilities. My father, who’s also my manager, really wants me to do one movie, but—I don’t know, I have some other ideas.” He sips his scotch. “Okay, so what about you? What do I need to know? One sister?—”
“Nia. She has a girlfriend, Akemi, and they live together in Rush Creek. My mom lives in Tarragona, Spain, with her new husband, who owns a coffee shop there.”
“Tarragona,” he repeats. “Is she of Spanish descent?”
“Nope. Went on a vacation, fell for the guy who made her coffee every morning.”
“Nice. Okay. Mom in Tarragona. And I know you lost your dad, but—anything about him I should know?”
“He grew up in Newark, New Jersey. My parents met while they were teaching together in Bend. What about yours?” I ask him.
“Probably should mention—the Hott kids have three different dads. Pres, Rhys, and I; Tuck and Quinn; and Hanna.”
His coloring—dark hair, dark eyes, skin hinting at olive, very different from Quinn’s reddish hair and light skin—suddenly makes sense. I nod. “Okay. I can remember that. I think.”
“This is like learning lines. Which, luckily for both of us, I’m actually pretty good at.”
I grin. “Me, too.”
“We’ll have to go deeper than this,” he warns.
“Character-wise, you mean,” I say.
“Character-wise,” he echoes, and our eyes meet again. “Did you think I meant it another way?” One eyebrow goes up, a challenge.
Heat spears through me. My face flames.
This is just an act, I remind myself. You know better than to lust after a costar.
“Just clarifying,” I say and look away.
When I look back, he’s pulling out his wallet, intently not making eye contact with me. Probably a good thing.
