AllFreeNovel
Share Us
By the time I’m done, I’m starving and I grab another dang banana and a fitness bar. Yum…
I sit down on my comfy couch in my large great room and turn on the big television over the fireplace while I munch my lunch.
Only to drop the banana to the floor when I see the news report. My mouth falls open and my eyes close on a groan.
“Oh shit,” I mutter under my breath.
“Who is the mystery man that America’s Sweetheart is hiding from her fans? I’ll give you a hint…the squeaky-clean Wonder Family Channel actress has a darker side to her life. That’s right. Her father was a mafia man. He was involved with the Campano family for the longest time until his death five years ago. And now? That mystery man that our sweetheart was meeting is her mafia brother. America’s Sweetheart and practically Hollywood royalty for twenty years now is actually a mafia princess.”
“I am not a mafia princess, for fuck’s sake!” I hiss under my breath. I barely get the words out and my phone starts ringing. And ringing and ringing. It won’t stop and when I check, it’s nobody I know.
Reporters. Paparazzi. People waiting to see what kind of comment I’m going to make. How badly I’m about to screw this up.
Because no matter what I say now, I have a feeling that I’m fucked.
The phone rings again and I groan when I see that it’s my agent. I slowly reach out my hand and then lift the phone to my ear, hitting the button.
“Bob!” I fake-grin, my throat tight and my eyes scrunched up with the effort of trying to sound normal. “What’s up?”
“What’s up?”He whispers roughly into the phone. “What the hell do you think is up? One stupid meeting and you’ve managed to destroy a squeaky-clean life that has worked for over fifteen years.One damn meeting!Do you have any idea what this means? What you’ve done?!” He’s screaming now and I wince.
“Jeez, Bob! Dramatic much. It’s no big deal. I’ll just do the next job for Wonder and make sure that everything stays quiet and it will all go back to normal.”
And then he says the words I never thought I’d hear. “They canned you, honey. Their image doesn’t allow for a mafia princess to work for them. You are tainted.”
Sucking in a sharp breath, I struggle to breathe, to think. “They can’t do that! We have a contract.”
“Which allows for termination based on your behavior. How you act. And apparently meeting a mafia guy in public, even if he is your brother, will get you terminated.”
“What about that movie I was doing this fall?”
“Gone.”
I can’t breathe. Can’t think. No. There’s no way that my career ends like this. Ends when I didn’t actually do anything at all.
“You don’t have anything left, Candy. Nothing at all. For right now at least, you are persona non grata in Hollywood.”
I flop down on my couch, my eyes swimming with tears that I refuse to let fall. And the only thing that I can think of…I really need a piece of chocolate cake. Fucked up feelings like this can only be cured with the best food…and that means chocolate cake.
“I gotta go, Candy. I’ll talk to you later. Hopefully this dies down and goes back to normal.”
But I can hear what he’s not saying. What I can’t even think.What if it doesn’t?
CHAPTER2
Garret
My eyes are glued to the screen, watching as my ex-wife struggles to push her way through a crowd of paparazzi and reporters screaming questions at her about her past. Her family and what it’s like to be a mafia princess.
I can’t stand it. My eyes roll and I growl under my breath. I want to be there so much it hurts. Want to take care of her and keep her safe. Bash some heads and maybe slug one or two of the assholes in the face for daring to touch her slim, curvy frame like that. My fists clench at my sides and I want to make myself turn off the damn television. But I can’t. I can’t look away from her.
That’s how it’s always been. Her glowing smile and wide blue eyes have entranced me since the first time I saw her. We were on the set of a new Wonder romance and she was playing the lead opposite me. From the very first second I saw her, I knew she was something special. Knew that there was just something about her that completely enthralled me. When we touched onscreen, it was fire. Flames of desire licking at my skin and burning my resistance to ash. I had to have her.
Then we kissed for the first time, onscreen, and I couldn’t stop. I felt her soft, sweet lips open for me and that was it. She owned me, body and soul, and that’s never changed. I didn’t even stop when the director yelled cut.
Just put my hands up along her soft, silky jaw and held her steady as my lips devoured hers.
I groan, my fists clenching as I bang them into the soft couch cushions over and over again. Her smile on the screen is forced and she’s pale. I can see the light freckles on her tiny nose. Can see the way her fingers tremble as she waves at all of them. Like they haven’t surrounded her like a bunch of sharks scenting blood in the water. Like they’re her best friends instead of a bunch of slimy, drama-hungry bastards attempting to destroy her career.
