Love Like You've Never Been Hurt Read Free Page A

some producer on
Friday.”
    “Ooh, that sounds so cool.” Holly was always curious
about the movie world and thrilled that her friend was a part of it.
More thrilled, it seemed, than Emma herself.
    “ To be honest, I’m
more interested in leaving town early on Friday and heading up to the
lake for Scott’s birthday.”
    “Oh, I’d forgotten you’re up there this weekend.
It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
    “Too long. And I had to tell Pete that I can’t drive
up with him after all.” Emma smiled as she remembered her visit
to Pete’s office.
    “Now that’s the kind of smile I haven’t seen on
your face in a very long time,” said Holly. “Spill the
beans!”
    Holly knew her too well, there was no point trying to hide
anything.
    “Well,” she began, “I went to see Pete at his
office and I guess you could say I bumped into his partner, Jack
Benson.”
    “And?”
    Emma told her how she’d knocked the man over and ended up on
the floor with him.
    “So, is he good looking?”
    “Gorgeous! Tall, dark, bottomless brown eyes, muscular, big
strong arms and he smells.....” she stopped herself short and
looked at Holly. “Remember why I stay away from men? This is
exactly why. I go completely gaga over a good looking one and manage
to blind myself to the fact that the personality isn’t as
appealing as the packaging. I can’t be trusted!”
    Holly touched her arm.
    “It was only once, Em, and it was years ago.”
    “Yes, and I married him! And I thought that meant we would
live happily ever after. Pity he didn’t believe in the
‘forsaking all others’ part.”
    “Em, you were young. That’s the past; you’ve
grown and learned since then. He was a jackass, but some day you’re
going to have to get past the fear that all men are like Rob.”
    Holly had helped Emma put herself back together after her short
but disastrous marriage to a movie director.
    “Oh, I know they’re not all like him, only the really
good looking ones. Honestly Holly, yesterday, lying on the floor with
that man’s arm around me, feeling him so close, I felt like
that stupid love-struck girl I was all those years ago. And it
frightens the hell out of me! I intend to avoid him at all costs.”
    “Well, it sounds like that shouldn’t be too hard to
do. He’s been Pete’s partner for so long and been here in
LA for almost a year already and this is the first time you’ve
ever met him.”
    “I’ve been thinking about that too. I think maybe Pete
deliberately made sure we didn’t meet.”
    “Why would he do that?” asked Holly, puzzled.
    “Because Mr. Benson is no doubt a womanizer. Looking like he
does he could have any woman he wants, and as many as he wants. I’ll
bet Pete is protecting me and keeping his own life simple.”
    “You really think that?”
    “You said yourself, Jack’s been in LA for a year
already.”
    “Well, in that case, do you think I’m maybe a gold
digger or a wild woman?”
    Emma stared at her, confused. “What on earth are you talking
about?”
    Holly laughed. “It’s just that if I follow your logic
that Pete never introduced you to Jack because he’s a womanizer
and a heart breaker, then perhaps you’ve never introduced me to
Pete because I’m a gold digger or a Jezebel.”
    “Holly! You know that’s not true.”
    “Yes, I do. I’m simply trying to point out that what
you’re thinking about this Jack may not be true either.”
    “ Oh, it doesn’t
matter either way. He’s gorgeous. I’m an idiot when it
comes to gorgeous men. And I have no intention of letting one destroy
me ever again. Therefore I’m going to make sure that I don’t
bump into him again. What does matter though is that you have never
met Pete. I can’t believe that. You two would be perfect for each other.”
    “Now hold it there. That’s not where I was going at
all. I was using the example to show you that it’s perfectly
normal for people from different areas of your life to never