Could This Be Love? Read Free

thing. Hell, if I slept with even half the women the tabloids claim I do, I wouldn’t have time to get out of bed, let alone make movies.”
    “According to them you’ve got a revolving door on your bedroom with a ‘Now Serving’ ticket machine attached to the wall next to it.”
    Sijan leaned back as their waitress, Renee, slid steaming mugs of coffee in front of them both. “Renee, run away with me and save me from all this.”
    “Sijan, if I weren’t having hot flashes, I’d be just another crazy woman trying to get a piece of you.” Renee tucked her serving tray under her arm and wagged a finger at him. “Now, your latest scandal’s got the Grapevine stirred up. I don’t think the Simon sisters can take the excitement.”
    “Those ladies can handle anything. Besides, they’ve seen this before. Remember four years ago when an ex-girlfriend tried the same thing?”
    “Thank goodness for DNA tests and poor math skills.” Tynan grinned. “She sure didn’t account for your six months of filming in Prague. You do attract the crazy.”
    “It’s Hollywood.” Sijan’s muscles tensed at the memory. “Too many people can make money off you. I’m just an ‘opportunity.’ An opportunity to get a script read, a part in a movie, or free publicity.”
    “Or generous child support payments for the next twenty years.”
    “Hey, I’ve dated some nice, normal women. Once I learned to steer clear of actresses.”
    Tynan nodded. “That would explain all those models, politician’s daughters, and savvy career women.”
    He’d be the first to admit he’d enjoyed the benefits of his movie-star status over the years, but he’d always shied away from serious commitment like it was a box of rattlesnakes. Lately though, the serial dating felt . . . empty. Especially after coming home and seeing how happy his brother Quinn and his fiancée Delaney were. “I need a hiatus from women.”
    “Bite your tongue. Life is a smorgasbord and you are too young to go on a diet. Seriously, Si, I joke, but this”—he rattled the tabloid before tossing it down in disgust—“just pisses me off.”
    “Every job has its downside, right?” Sijan shrugged tense shoulders. He leaned back against the booth, consciously willing his muscles to relax. “I’ve decided I’m just going to lay low and focus on my work while the studio’s lawyers deal with that.”
    “You decided?”
    “Yup. About five seconds after the president of Majestic Studios called me into his office three days ago and explained loudly and in a few choice phrases that my next two films need to exceed box office predictions.” Or else .
    “One year ago, this same man couldn’t wine and dine you fast enough after your Oscar nomination.” Tynan sat back, muttering a graphic although physically impossible suggestion for the president of Majestic Studios. “Fame sure is a fickle bitch.”
    “Yep, but the cool kids still want to hang out with her. It’s her cousin, infamy, you have to avoid. She can tank box-office revenue. Between my last costar’s drug problem and the new tabloid fodder the lawyers are dealing with, my box office stands to take a big hit.”
    Which was why he needed to put out some of these fires before his next movie was released in three months. Lying low in Climax for a few weeks would help. It would give him time to re-focus on plan B, something he’d been working on between films. He wasn’t planning to quit making movies yet, but he was taking this latest speed bump as a sign to get plan B ready.
    “It’s time to get serious about plan B, which a lot of people are going to hate. Starting with Jerry.”
    Jerry Vickers, his agent, walked through the door of the diner and slid onto the bench across from him just as Sijan arrived at this conclusion. Time to drop the reality bomb on Jerry.
    “Sijan.” Jerry nodded. Tynan scooted into the middle of the U-shaped booth but maintained his territory with a narrow-eyed warning glance.