Star Struck Read Free Page A

no.” Seth shifted in his chair. “I was leaving that for you.”
    Heather’s brow furrowed, confused by the vague exchange between the men.
    “Well then,” Patrick said, his eyes lighting up. “Heather, we’re doing something new this year. You know that all the plays performed in the event are written and put together in a twenty-four hour period. This year, instead of just using a projected graphic background, we are also adding set. Whatever pieces can be constructed in the same twenty-four hour period.”
    Heather’s brow crease deepened. Set construction? How exactly would that work? Like one of those home improvement shows where a carpenter built items within a limited time? And even if that could work, who would be…
    Oh God. No.
    But before Patrick continued she knew. She knew and she wanted to die.
    “Seth here is going to be building all the pieces for us. It’s very exciting, isn’t it?”
    No, it wasn’t exciting. Seth wasn’t a member of Montblanc or Urban Arts. He wasn’t from the Broad Stage. He was a crewmember after all.
    Heather Wainwright, Hollywood A-list actress, had been flirting shamelessly with a carpenter.

Chapter Two
    Celebrities held no special interest for Seth Rafferty. They were simply people. People he worked with. Nothing exciting. Their shit stank just like everyone else’s. His job kept him in close proximity to them on a daily basis and, while that part of his occupation was what interested his friends and family the most, he’d become immune long ago.
    Which was why he hadn’t been prepared for Heather Wainwright.
    He first spotted her when she’d entered the private dining room. She’d stood alone, watching the group at the table, not knowing that she’d caught his gaze. She was pretty, yes. All right, she was goddamn beautiful. And sexy. Her legs were long and lean under her knee-length skirt and her breasts pressed nicely against her low sleeveless shirt. But she was a mega-star—those qualities were standard package.
    Except there was something about her that Seth hadn’t expected—a vulnerability he’d rarely seen in other actresses. A bewilderment at her place in her world. A softness that he’d thought must be impossible to maintain in Hollywood.
    She pulled it all in when she’d been called out. Seth watched her out of the corner of his eye as she put on her celebrity façade and greeted the others at the table.
    But when she’d sat next to him and they’d talked, he saw glimmers of it again—pieces of a fragile soul he sensed she kept hidden from other people. A longing to drop the I-got-it-going-on persona and instead let someone else take charge.
    And oh, what he’d do to her— for her—if he was in charge of her. His pants had tightened at the thought.
    It wasn’t just a sexual attraction. He’d also enjoyed the conversation, even though they hadn’t talked about anything important or of consequence. There was something in her easy tone that made him feel like he could keep talking to her forever. About nothing. And he could certainly keep looking in the deep chocolate pools of her eyes forever.
    Prepared for her or not, Seth Rafferty was star struck.
    Then she found out what he did for a living—or what she thought he did for a living—and everything changed. The playful sparkle in her eyes vanished while the color drained from her face and her smile curled downward into a look of disgust.
    And Seth was struck again, this time with disappointment.
    “So what do you think?” Patrick asked, eager for Heather’s reaction to the new event format.
    “Hmm,” she said as if trying to decide how to phrase her response. Seth sensed her delay wasn’t about the format at all. She was grappling with the realization that he wasn’t an exec for Montblanc. That she’d been conversing with someone beneath her.
    He shook his head slightly trying to shake off the fascination he’d had with her, disappointed to find she was one of those actresses.