Baby Be Mine (32 page)

‘Is she back in LA?’ Isla Montagne is a silly young socialite who Charlie worked for before she moved to the UK to be with her boyfriend. Who turned out to be gay. Whoops.

‘She’s been back for two years. Have you been living under a rock?’ she asks scathingly.

I laugh it off. ‘I haven’t really been keeping up to date with matters of celebrity . . .’ I say in a plummy voice.

She gives me a weird look and walks off without saying another word.

‘That was short and brief,’ I say, taking a gulp of champagne.

‘Not short and brief enough,’ Kitty replies.

‘My feet are killing me,’ I admit. ‘Can we go and find somewhere to sit down?’

‘Sure.’

We squeeze our way through the crowd and find a bunch of tables and chairs near the swimming pool. A rooftop bar in LA is not a rooftop bar without a swimming pool. There are a fair few vacant seats – most of the people here would rather be working the room than sitting on the sidelines. I collapse on a chair with a sigh and stretch my legs out in front of me.

‘I’m not used to wearing high heels.’

‘Aren’t you?’

I turn sharply to see who asked this question and find myself face to face with an absolutely, totally and utterly gorgeous man. He has short black hair and his eyes are the darkest brown. My heart flips.

‘Excuse me?’ I reply, wondering if he’s even talking to me.

‘I was just wondering why you’re not used to wearing heels.’

‘You’re British,’ I say, cocking my head to one side.

‘So are you,’ he replies with an easy smile.

Kitty’s outstretched palm appears beside me. ‘I’m Kitty,’ she says with a smile.

‘Joseph.’ He shakes her hand and then takes mine.

‘Meg.’ I suddenly feel all flustered.

‘What are you doing in LA?’ he asks, not releasing my hand or taking his gorgeous brown eyes from mine.

‘Catching up with friends,’ I reply, nodding at Kitty and gently extricating myself.

‘Did you enjoy the movie?’

‘It was okay,’ I reply.

‘Just okay?’ he says with amusement.

‘I’m not really big into martial-arts movies.’

‘Oh!’ Kitty clamps her hand over her mouth. ‘You were in it, weren’t you? I recognise you!’

I stare at him with horror as he nods.

‘Only a small part,’ he reveals with a smile.

I don’t remember him at all.

‘It was when you went to the bathroom,’ Kitty tells me, causing me to blush again. That’ll teach me to drink too much champagne in the limo.

Joseph leans back in his chair. He’s wearing a black suit with a pristine white shirt, unbuttoned at the top. I catch a glimpse of his extremely fit chest and suddenly see myself in bed with him. I shake my head to rid myself of the image. It doesn’t work.

‘You had some mean moves on you,’ Kitty continues and he looks down modestly.

‘Do you do kung fu?’ I ask, starting to warm to the idea of the bed thing.

He nods.

‘Do you have a black belt?’ I raise one eyebrow at him as my nerves oddly evaporate.

He hooks his thumb through his belt loop. I look down to see a black leather belt.

‘Smart arse,’ I say with a grin. He grins back at me. God, he’s sexy.

‘Ooh, there’s the canapé guy,’ Kitty says, getting to her feet and hurrying over to him. Joseph doesn’t remove his eyes from mine.

‘Which part of England are you from?’ I ask him.

‘I used to live in London.’

‘Really? Where?’

‘All over. North, south, east, west, I wasn’t fussy. You?’ he asks.

‘I lived in Belsize Park for a while, and London Bridge before that.’

‘Cool.’

‘How long have you been in LA?’ I ask.

‘Not long.’

‘Is it going well?’ It surely must be with looks and a body like his.

He shrugs. ‘Alright so far.’ He leans forward and stares straight into my eyes.

‘What?’ No one has looked at me intensely like this for quite some time. Well, not since Johnny the other day.

‘You never answered my question,’ he says.

‘Question?’

‘Why don’t you wear heels?’

‘Um . . .’ I tuck my feet back underneath my chair and give him a funny look.

‘They suit you,’ he adds.

‘Er, thanks,’ I reply. ‘Well, you never answered my question about being a black belt.’ I deflect him. I don’t want to reveal yet that I’m a mother and the last thing I want to do is rush around in high heels when I’m dealing with a toddler.

He scratches the corner of his lip. Still, his eyes are on mine.

‘Yes, I am. Your turn.’

‘Um . . . I run around a lot. I’m very busy.’

‘Doing what?’

‘Looking after my one-and-a-half-year-old,’ I admit.

He reels backwards. ‘You have a baby?’ Here we go. Bye bye, beautiful man.

‘Yes. A son.’

‘Are you married?’

‘No.’

‘Do you have a boyfriend?’

‘No.’

He leans forward again and casually knocks his forefinger on my knee.

‘So let’s hook up.’

I nod. Only because I’m rendered speechless. He reaches into his jacket pocket for his mobile phone. A shiver goes through me. I want him to touch me again. ‘What’s your number?’ he asks. I tell him and he punches it straight in. My phone starts to vibrate in my purse and he ends his call. ‘Now you have mine,’ he adds.

‘Joseph!’ We both jolt away from each other and look in the direction of the voice. A blond-haired man in his late forties is standing on the other side of the tables. ‘Nicky’s been looking for you.’

Joseph nods and the man checks his watch. He turns back to me.

‘Nicky’s my agent,’ he explains, standing up. ‘It’s been nice talking to you, Meg,’ he says with a small smile. ‘I’ll be in touch.’

‘Cool,’ I reply, but he’s already started making his way between the tables. I look around for Kitty. Right on cue, she bounds over to me.

‘Got his number!’ she says triumphantly, referring to the canapé guy.

I take my phone out of my bag and waggle it in front of her. ‘Me too.’

‘Nice work,’ she says, impressed. ‘About time you got back on the horse.’

Johnny and Christian’s faces flicker through my mind, one after the other, before settling on Johnny’s. Then I see Dana.

‘You’re right.’ I turn to Kitty. ‘I know you’re right.’

  Chapter 34  

‘Has he called you yet?’ Kitty asks me the next day.

‘It’s only midday,’ I reply. ‘How’s your head?’

‘My head’s fine after my nice sleep-in.’

‘Cow.’

She laughs. ‘How’s yours?’

‘Not so fine,’ I admit. ‘But damn, it was worth it.’

‘It was a fun night,’ she agrees. ‘We should do it more often.’

I look across at Barney, making a mess of his cheese sandwich. We’re in the kitchen.

I came home last night to find a note from Lena on the landing saying that she and Katya were sleeping in the green room and that I could go in and get the monitor. I crept into the bedroom, trying not to stare too much at the sleeping bodies snuggled up together under the covers, and retrieved the device. They joined me earlier for breakfast before Katya went home. The babysitting went well – Barney slept through – and I feel strangely free as a result. I really could do this more often.

‘Sounds good to me,’ I reply. ‘I’ve decided to check out some babysitters.’

‘Really? Good for you!’

‘Yeah.’ I look across at my son. ‘Last night I started to feel like my old self again.’

Johnny and Dana went out last night. I gather they stayed at hers because Barney is having his afternoon nap and Johnny’s still not home. Lena is working in the office, but the place feels empty. The new cook can’t start soon enough. I go into the office.

‘When is Eddie starting?’ I ask Lena.

‘Monday!’ she replies with a wide smile. I’m guessing she misses the extra company as much as I do.

‘Brilliant. I can’t wait.’

‘Me neither.’

‘I wonder if he does cookies . . .’ I think out loud.

She laughs. ‘He’d better.’

‘Hey,’ I have a sudden thought. ‘Can we check out the premiere pics from last night?’

‘Sure.’ She indicates the chair next to her. I sit down and stare at the computer with anticipation as she goes to a well-known picture-agency website. Images start to fill the screen. I peer closely, trying to hunt out Joseph.

‘Him,’ I say with a start. ‘Can you enlarge it?’

She does, but it’s not Joseph.

‘No,’ I reply.

‘Are you looking for anyone in particular?’ she asks with curiosity.

‘Just a guy I met last night.’ I try to keep a straight face, but fail.

‘Ooh,’ she says with a smirk. ‘You kept this quiet this morning. Tell me all about it.’

‘It was nothing,’ I reply, before having a brainwave. ‘Check out the imdb!’

The Internet Movie Database lists practically every movie, director and actor there is. We look up the name of the film and scroll down the cast list. A ‘Joseph’ appears near the bottom.

‘That one!’ I say excitedly. She clicks on his name and his page comes up.

‘Joseph Strike,’ she reads. ‘Sexy.’

His cast shot is a snapshot of him on a nondescript red carpet. He looks very much like he did last night in a slim-fitting dark suit and a white shirt. Phwoar.

‘Did you get his number?’ Lena asks.

‘Yes. And he’s got mine.’

‘Are you going to call him?’

‘No!’ I reply, aghast. ‘He’ll call me if he wants to.’

She shakes her head at me. ‘It doesn’t work like that anymore.’

‘How would you know?’ I ask teasingly.

‘I just do,’ she replies.

‘No. I’m waiting,’ I say firmly.

‘Waiting for what?’

I jump out of my seat at the sound of Johnny’s voice.

‘Where did you come from?’ My heart is hammering.

‘Waiting for what?’ he asks again, ignoring my question.

I ignore his. ‘You’re always appearing out of nowhere and scaring me.’ Two can play at that game.

‘No, I’m not,’ he scoffs, coming into the room. ‘Who’s the dude?’

Lena answers for me.

‘Some guy Meg met last night,’ she says with a knowing look. ‘She was telling me all about it.’

‘Tell us both,’ Johnny says, sitting down on another chair and giving me a penetrating stare.

‘Like I told Lena, it was nothing.’

‘Yet here you are, checking him out on the internet.’ He leans in closer and reads the text. ‘Trained in martial arts. Nice,’ he adds sarcastically. ‘Did he show you any of his moves?’

‘Hopefully he will when we next meet,’ I reply sweetly, disliking his tone.

‘You’re going on a date?’ His eyes widen and he leans back in his chair.

‘Why is that so surprising?’

‘Didn’t figure you for such an easy lay.’

‘I am
not
an easy lay!’

‘Take it outside, guys,’ Lena interrupts.

Johnny shrugs, then gets to his feet and walks out of the office.

‘Bastard!’ I spit.

‘He’s just jealous,’ Lena says casually.

‘No, he’s not,’ I reply. ‘He’s just a wanker.’

‘So,’ she says, smiling at me expectantly. ‘You’re going on a date, are you?’

‘Bloody well better be now,’ I mutter.

‘You should call him,’ she reiterates.

‘Damn you!’ I exclaim, brandishing my finger in her direction. She smirks. I snatch up my phone from the desk and give her a look, then go upstairs to my bedroom.

I stare down at his number. Should I? Light-bulb moment: I could text him!

No. Coward’s way out and then I could be waiting forever for him to reply. Bugger it. I press dial and wait for it to start ringing. I’ve been through much worse than this. If he isn’t interested in the cold light of day, who cares?

He answers almost immediately.

‘Meg.’ I can tell he’s smiling. ‘You called me.’

‘You gave me your number,’ I reply flippantly.

‘How are your feet?’

‘My feet?’ My brow furrows, then it clicks. ‘Oh! They’re not too bad. They thank you for being concerned for their welfare.’

‘Tell them they’re very welcome.’

‘I’ll pass that on.’

He chuckles. ‘So, are you free this afternoon?’

‘This afternoon?’ I ask in shock. ‘I only saw you last night!’

‘Why wait?’

‘So keen? You weren’t even the one who called me.’