Limelight and Longing (Movie Star Romance Book 1) Read online

  Cait’s enthusiasm barely disguised the nervous tremor in her hands, but it served to remind Jenna of her immediate priorities. She wasn’t the only one who wanted a chance with her dream guy. Jenna may have fucked up her turn, but there was no way in hell Cait was going to miss out; not if Jenna had anything to say about it.

  “You mean drool over.” Jenna smirked, paid the driver and shrugged into the straps of her backpack before lengthening her stride to catch up to Cait. “Room first, dump the bags and then…”

  “HOT, HOT, HOT Adam” Cait’s excitement bubbled over and she tried to hit the lift button with a shaky hand.

  “Hey, Cait,” Jenna teased as she took over button-pushing duty and the doors closed with a ding. “Don’t burn your tongue.”

  Chapter Three

  Adam sat on stage, his eyes wide and the audience forgotten as he attempted to process what the guy in the blue LunarCon tee was saying to him.

  “What do you mean Miss Long’s not here?”

  She had to be here. He’d made plans, dammit. Plans that’d involved him making calls instead of getting his agent to take care of it. He twisted his wrist to glance at his watch. Shit, Jacob would land any minute, if he hadn’t already. Jenna needed to be here.

  “No, seriously.” He growled before he remembered his mic was live and yanked it away from his chin as if it shocked him, dropping it across his thigh. The thud and squeal of feedback echoed through the entire audio system. Both Adam and the audience winced. But he couldn’t think about them right then.

  “Please tell me you’re kidding.” His voice creaked like an old wooden porch as he pleaded with the guy who leaned against the stage, four feet below where Adam sat perched on a director’s chair.

  His mind shied away from having to tell his friend not only had he spent a small fortune on a private investigator to track down the woman of Jacob’s wet dreams - based solely on the basic info he’d flirted out of LunarCon New Zealand’s attendee coordinator - but that he’d found her, only to lose her again. Adam shuddered and ran a palm over his face. It’d take a braver man than him to be the bearer of that news.

  No, Jenna needed to be here.

  The guy shifted from foot to foot, giving Adam the I’m about to piss off the star but I can’t tell him what he wants to hear look. He’d seen it too many times not to recognize it for what it was.

  Fuck, she really wasn’t here. And the thought of Jacob’s face when he saw Jenna in front of him was all that’d been making this panel survivable. So what if he was a big red squishy-hearted romantic. There were worse things in life to be.

  Adam held the guy’s gaze for a beat longer than necessary. Not out of sadistic amusement or anger, but because it paid to have at least one staff member who’d spread the word that Adam Chase wasn’t to be messed with. It’d given him a rep as a diva early on in his career but it was a status quo with advantages.

  At his sharp nod, the guy scurried away, up the blue-flecked carpeted aisle to the double doors in the back of the auditorium. The natives, though patient while the obviously-important message was delivered, were getting restless. Murmurs and shuffling had become a din of discontent which reminded Adam he still had to offer it up for another forty minutes. He genuinely loved his fans, but how many times did he have to say who’s up for an adventure before they stopped asking? Some days he wished he’d never ad-libbed the damn phrase into Dante’s dialogue.

  Adam waited with gentlemanly-patience for the latest gushing fan to find her voice and ask her question, when a flicker of movement tugged at his peripheral vision. The hard knot of disappointment lodged low in his gut unfurled in relief as two women stepped from the hallway, into the deep shadows below the overhang at the back of the auditorium. One was a blond with curves to make a pro-racer salivate; the other was a leggy redhead in a rock tee and painted-on jeans.

  He should’ve known she wouldn’t stand Jacob up, even if she wasn’t aware of the plan. She must have been late registering, which explained why the staff guy had no record of her arrival. Melbourne traffic was abysmal on a good day, but with the convention in town, crazy wasn’t the word for it.

  Adam gave his watch a surreptitious glance as the two women moved with hurried grace down the aisle toward their VIP seats, before returning his attention to the thousand-strong crowd. Somehow, finishing out the panel didn’t seem as arduous a mission as it had a moment ago.

  “Umm, hi Adam, I’m Bailey, from Perth.”

  “Hi, Bailey from Perth.”

  A titter of amusement rippled through the audience and Bailey blushed tomato-red. “I was wondering if you would…?”

  Adam resisted the urge to roll his eyes. There were a thousand cameras on him after all. Instead he smirked; knowing the reaction he’d get as he deepened his voice and murmured huskily into the mic. “Hey, Bailey, you up for an adventure?”

  Bailey squealed into the mic as a staffer tried to pass it to the next woman in line. “Yes, oh god yes, time and place Adam, you name it, I’ll be there!”

  The audience gave a collective swoon amid applause and wolf-whistles. Adam struck a pose and lapped up the attention as he always did. He might make their day by coming to see them, but the reverse was also true. There was nothing better for a guy’s ego than having it stroked by a thousand women over the course of a four-day weekend.

  ♥♥♥

  The auditorium started to clear out the moment Adam Chase ambled off stage with a half-empty water bottle tucked under his arm; but Cait stayed in her seat, hands cradling her digital camera as she browsed the hundred-image slideshow from the panel.

  She could feel Jenna at her side, relaxed, patient and not a little exhausted. It was only a two-hour time difference between Auckland and Melbourne, but it was enough to mess you up for the first twelve hours.

  “Who’s next?” She asked with a passing curiosity. A close up of Adam’s true-blue eyes, fanned by the sweep of black lashes any woman would sell her soul to possess, filled the view screen of her camera and captured the bulk of her attention.

  Jenna adjusted her position in the cramped space, knocked her boot against the chair in front as she crossed her legs, right over left, and scanned the brightly-colored program.

  “Savannah Westbrook’s one hour panel.” Cait wasn’t all that keen on Savannah or her rainbow-haired alter ego Raylen Maize – love interest slash nemesis of one Dante Jones. She was about to ask what time the autographs opened, when Jenna said. “Signing’s at two.”

  Cait nodded, an amused smirk playing on her lips. It seemed they could anticipate each other’s thoughts outside the world of email too.

  “Do you want to get something to eat?” Cait looked up from the reluctant task of packing her camera into its case.

  Jenna sipped from the water bottle left over from her flight and shook her head, “I’m good. Shall we stay for Savannah? She was fun in Wellington, although she and Jacob shared the panel.”

  Cait laughed and Jenna’s cheeks developed an interesting shade of rose. “Well, if she sucks we can always leave.”

  Jenna clutched her jacket to her chest, her blush beginning to fade, even if the memory of seeing Jacob live and in person for the first time still surged hot and thrilling through every inch of her body. “Sure, if you’re brave enough to risk her noticing us, then yeah, we could leave halfway through.”

  Cait considered the idea of being hackled at over the sound system in front of a thousand-strong audience and hid her face while she laughed. “Not quite the attention I was hoping to receive.”

  “Nor me.” Jenna covered her mouth with one hand in an attempt to stifle her laughter. While Cait, caught in the grip of her own helpless giggles, patted Jenna’s forearm in lieu of actual speech.

  Chapter Four

  The top secret details about the celebrity dinner event arrived while Cait was still in the shower. Jenna signed for the envelope and slipped her thumb under the LunarCon seal the moment the door closed behind the uniformed messe
nger. On a nebula background it read:

  LunarCon invites

  Miss Jenna Long & Guest

  To

  A Night Among The Stars

  At: Observe

  Dress: Black Tie

  Cocktails: 7pm

  Dinner: 8.30pm

  You will be collected from your hotel lobby at 6.30pm.

  Please be punctual.

  Note: LunarCon would like to remind you,

  for the comfort of all attendees,

  there are to be no photographs or autograph requests.

  No invitation, no admittance.

  We hope you enjoy your evening.

  “Dinner’s at Observe.” Jenna looked up from the invite when Cait returned to the main room, wearing a towel turban over her hair, and a hotel bathrobe.

  “That’s the best restaurant in town. It’s at the top of the Natashi building.”

  “Nothing but the best for a night among the stars.”

  Cait accepted the card Jenna held out to her. “I’d expect nothing less.”

  “Adam Chase wouldn’t either.” Jenna smiled at Cait’s blush, headed into the bathroom to put on her makeup, and tried not to let the sting of missed opportunities cut too deep.

  They were waiting at the hotel’s valet-parking station when a sleek black town car with tinted windows pulled up to the curb.

  “I could get used to this.” Cait murmured as she sat, before lifting her legs in and sliding across the leather seat to make room for Jenna.

  Jenna thanked the valet as he closed the door after her, and smiled at the luxurious amount of leg room. “I imagine the going back to normal afterwards is the hard part.”

  Cait hummed in agreement; pink-painted nails fidgeting with the skirt of her black lace fifties-style dress.

  The drive through downtown Melbourne on a Saturday night wowed the senses. Everywhere you looked there were bright lights, and people intent on having a good time. It wasn’t hard for Cait and Jenna to feel like royalty, separated from the reveling commoners by their luxury coach.

  When they pulled to a stop and the door opened, they were met by a midnight-blue carpet runner flanked by blue-velvet ropes on silver posts, which led to a twelve-foot-high iron and glass door. Fairy lights draped artfully around the two potted topiaries and glinted off the silver trim of the doorman’s blue livery.

  “Holy shit.” Cait whispered, hand clutched tight to their invitation.

  “Breathe.” Jenna whispered back, taking her own advice as they stepped forward together.

  The doorman accepted their invitation with a smile and a Ladies, as he pushed a button concealed in the door’s framework. It swung open to reveal an elevator constructed of the same iron and glass. There were no buttons to push and the elevator began its climb barely a moment after Jenna and Cait stepped inside.

  “Holy shit.” Cait gasped and grabbed for the handrail for balance.

  “You can say that again.” Jenna said, from where she too gripped the rail.

  Cait grinned. “Holy shit.”

  Jenna laughed; the nervous tension easing as they came to a stop.

  The doors slid back to reveal another midnight-blue carpet and identical towering door.

  “Welcome to Observe. It’s a pleasure to have you with us tonight.”

  “Thank you.” Jenna murmured, all wide-eyed and distracted as she handed the Maître d’ her coat, and crossed the threshold into wonderland.

  Observe was unlike any restaurant Jenna’d ever seen, let alone dined in. It appeared to occupy the entire expanse of the building’s top floor. But where any other restaurant would’ve had a roof, Observe was enclosed by an iron and glass dome to rival the pyramid outside the Louvre in Paris. The owners had taken their business’s name to heart, allowing their clientele to not only observe the city lights, and skyscape, but the workings of the central kitchen as well. Round tables spilled out in a spiral to fill the space like the skirts of a twirling ball gown. Warm light reflected off white cloth, silverware, and crystal, creating an atmosphere of sophisticated elegance.

  Jenna couldn’t breathe. Whereas Cait, who’d been as nervous as a cat around a lawn sprinkler while they got ready, was in her element. They weren’t the only civilians in the room, but there was no way to distinguish celebrities from their fans. Everywhere she looked, handsome men in tuxedos mingled with beautiful women in designer gowns.

  “Holy shit.” She’d been an idiot to think she could get away with wearing her emerald silk a second time. The new diamante earrings and matching cuff were the only upgrades she’d permitted herself after paying for her flights.

  “Breathe.” Cait gripped Jenna’s elbow and steered her to the nearest window where a few others looked out at the view. “Do you think we can see the hotel from up here?”

  Jenna hummed in answer, though she wasn’t listening, her attention stolen by the ink and eggplant of the star-spangled night sky above. The cocktail evening LunarCon had put on in Wellington was small potatoes compared to this.

  “I always liked you in that dress.” The husky drawl of his voice close to her ear made Jenna whirl. Eyes wide and mouth an oh of surprise as her skin prickled and her heart pounded in her chest. If she’d been holding a drink, it would’ve sloshed all down the front of his James Bond-esque tuxedo.

  Jacob Starr with a wet tailor-made shirt clinging to his edible abs…

  Jenna squeezed her thighs against the deep throb of heat the image stirred low in her belly, and pressed a palm to her chest.

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.”

  His wolfish grin belied his words, and she laughed.

  “You’re really not.”

  How was it possible for her to be both nervous, and yet completely at ease in this man’s company?

  “No, I’m not.”

  She felt the weight of his gaze on the swell of her breasts, and hoped the low lighting hid the rush of color heating her cheeks.

  “I didn’t know you’d be here.”

  It was a lame opener. Yet she shouldn’t be expected to think straight. Not with Mr Sexy-Bed-Hair-and-Evening-Stubble smelling so damn good, and standing so close. A minute shift in either of their postures and they’d be touching. But the same rule applied here, as it had in Wellington. No attendee-guest fraternization.

  Jenna gave an inward sigh and turned her eyes upon the stars overhead as if they held the answers to every question she could ever think to ask.

  If Jacob was here, then he was here as a celebrity guest – despite his name being absent from all the information pamphlets. It didn’t seem like much, but getting caught meant banishment from all future LunarCon events. If it got out, and anything to do with Jacob Starr had a habit of making headlines in even the smallest newspaper circulation, not to mention the entirety of the internet, she’d likely lose her job. The Ministry of Education tended to frown upon its teachers getting caught in sensationalized sex scandals, because it called into question what they were teaching the developing minds of tomorrow. Then there was the havoc it’d wreak on Jacob’s professional reputation. Admittedly, an affair with a fan wasn’t the worst thing any of Hollywood’s golden boys had been caught doing, but she’d never destroyed a reputation or brought down someone’s career, and she wasn’t about to start now.

  He was as much off-limits as he’d always been, more so since there was a significant other – Sally, who didn’t like to be kept waiting. Jenna’s eyes darted around the room in an attempt to pick her out in the crowd, but since she had no idea what the woman looked like it was a pointless exercise. Better to enjoy the few precious moments in Jacob’s company and savor every detail for perfect recall later.

  “He called, said I should get my ass to Melbourne.” Jacob gestured over her shoulder and she turned to see Adam Chase in full sexy-action-hero mode, center of attention among a cluster of women which included Cait.

  She looked up at him, amused. “You always do what you’re told?”

  “Depends wh
o’s doing the telling.” He winked and gestured with his chin toward the bar. “Can I get you a drink?”

  Jenna nodded and allowed him to escort her; one large palm warm and confident on the small of her back while he signaled the bartender with the other.

  ♥♥♥

  Jenna lost track of Cait until it came time to sit down to dinner. Cait pulled out the chair next to her and placed her drink on the table before taking her seat. She gave a happy sigh and grinned.

  “Having a good night?” Jenna asked, though the answer was obvious by her friend’s demeanor.

  Jacob leaned across the empty chair next to him to speak to Adam, who’d brought three adoring fans with him. With the addition of a man who took the seat beside Cait, the table was at capacity, except for the one remaining chair next to Jacob.

  Jenna’s evening lost a little of its sparkle when she realized it must be Sally’s. Distracted by the cocktails and witty repartee, she’d allowed herself the faintest glimmer of hope. Jacob had been the perfect gentleman, listening to her attempts at interesting conversation and offering clever banter in return. A few fans joined them, asked their questions while trying not to gush too obviously. Jacob smiled and charmed them before they moved on. It hadn’t been hard to imagine he was there for her and her alone.

  When their entrée of comfrey salmon and micro-herb salad was served, and the place setting still remained vacant, Jenna had to know. She nodded to the empty chair. “Will your girlfriend be joining us?”

  Jenna swallowed hard. As luck would have it, she’d asked into a conversational lull and everyone at the table ceased eating to stare.

  Adam quirked a brow and divided his gaze between an embarrassed Jenna and a confused Jacob. “Dude, when’d you score a girlfriend?”

  “You got me.” Jacob said without taking his eyes from Jenna’s. He took a long pull from his beer, a dot of froth caught at the corner of his mouth. He licked it away before leaning close. “What made you think I’ve got a girlfriend?”