Idolized (Hollywood Stardust Book 3) (65 page)

Craig cupped his hand over his mouth. “She is an expert on every movie.”

Yes, fine, but she was mostly an expert on
Hollywood Stardust
. She remained silent.

“I refuse to be interviewed by anyone who is not an expert in cinema.” Mr. Alexander picked up one of her note cards, gave it a quick scan, and sauntered over to her. Yes, it was a total saunter. His walk may have also included a bit of a swagger as well. “Miss Details is the only one for me. It seems she has found something to talk about other than drugs, Drew, and sequels, since I won’t answer those questions anyway.”

She fought the need to hug her prepubescent crush, bury her face in his chest, and breathe in what could only be the smell of cologne and cookies. Later, they could go back to her apartment, and she would confess she used to write his name in her notebook and practice kissing him on the back of her hand. In her dreams, she could interview him and then they’d conquer the world together. In reality, she knew he was only playing a role and she would never be able to utter a sentence. Dumb reality.

“Either she interviews me or you can call the company that owns not only
Hollywood Stardust
, but your website as well, and tell them the video blog they expect to make waves won’t air today. I’ll be in the lounge not lighting my cigarette.” He handed her the card and walked out the door.

She leaned forward, bracing herself on her knees. “Oh God, I want to do this.”

Her boss paced across the floor. “You would be the perfect person if you could just learn to calm down. It’s what we hired you for.”

Though Craig never admitted it, she was the bane of his existence. He hired her as a favor to her father, and they gave her the job as a reporter. Technically, her current job as fact-checker and scheduler didn’t even exist. The reporters were supposed to do their own research, but Julia sort of snatched her up as a personal assistant. Both her parents who possessed multiple acting awards between them, looked at her with wide eyes and pity every time they discussed her career. Even they weren’t good enough actors to hide their disappointment.

She crumpled the note card in her fist and straightened up. “I’ll do it. I will interview Logan Alexander.” Part of her expected a spotlight to shine down on her signifying her strength of conviction. The other part was thrilled she didn’t live in a world where spotlights randomly illuminated at key life-changing moments. She would end up living in the bathroom with the lights off, shaking.

Craig shook his head. His skin had turned the most unusual shade of red.

“This is the movie of a generation, the one that spoke to that specific time. The story should be told by someone who truly loves everything it represents.” For once, she needed to be her own spotlight. “This is the movie that pushed the boundaries, didn’t rely on the happily ever after, asked the questions.” Maybe the movie that meant the world to her could also cure her.

“We need this story, Ivy.” He crossed his arms. “Seriously, we need the story. Other sites are competing with us. We need something to go viral. The advertising dollars are not coming in as they should, and you know what that means.”

Yes, it meant cuts, starting with the person who technically didn’t have a title. She might as well go big or go home, literally.

“Do the interview, but make sure you ask about Drew Fulton and the arrest and the sequel.”

“He said he wouldn’t answer those questions.” The swirl of anxiety circled around her stomach.

“Ivy.” He rubbed his hand over his face. “You can do this. You were made for this. Go to wardrobe, ask them for something more contemporary and fashionable, and ask the questions. We need you.”

For once she wouldn’t disappoint. She stopped herself from saluting and gave him a strong nod. “I got this.” As she walked out, she made a mental note to have a trash can put near the set.

Available from
Amazon

Limelight

Worth The Wait…
 

Twenty years ago, Drew Fulton was made famous in the genre-changing movie, Hollywood Stardust and fell in love with his costar, Erin Holland. Left heartbroken and fed up, he played his ultimate role and walked away from his life, taking on an entirely new persona. Now he wants everything back, from his place in the limelight to the love that made him leave. He only needs to make sure he can leave the past in the past. 

Known as the spoiled, has-been star of Hollywood, Erin Holland has spent the last two decades pining away for the one love she cannot have. Blindsided when Drew Fulton appears in her life as mysteriously as he disappeared, she is torn between acting on her heart and using Drew’s reappearance to relight her star. 

Together for the first time in twenty years, their true passion consumes them, but the sparks of old wounds still threaten to burn out of control before they can decide if their love was worth waiting for. 

Limelight
is a Hollywood Stardust novel. All books are stand alone, no cliff hangers, with their own central couple. They can be read in any order.

An Excerpt

Flashes from the cameras created lingering silver, glowing starbursts in Drew Fulton’s eyes. The media frenzy started almost instantly, derailing the 20
^th
anniversary screening of the one and only movie he filmed,
Hollywood Stardust
. For someone who successfully remained hidden for two decades, he chose the ideal subtle moment to come out of his self-imposed exile, or maybe not.

“Drew, where have you been all these years?” called out one of the reporters gathered for the gala.

Once the studio executives realized what happened, they stopped all the festivities and with a bit of movie magic, made the stage into a spot fit for a press conference in record time.

Before showing up at the shindig, he promised himself to go for it. Now was the time for full disclosure and he leaned down to the microphone. “To encapsulate two decades into one sentence, I changed my name, went to school, earned my doctorate and opened up a small nutraceutical laboratory.” All right, it wasn’t the world’s best sentence, but it would suffice. In the next two days he would have to show up at his business and do a lot of explaining, something he sort of pushed aside when he made his snap decision to come here to find her.

A woman waved her hand. “Why did you feel the need to change your name and disappear?”

Drew wasn’t sure if she was part of the media or not, but if he didn’t answer her, someone else would force the issue.

He searched for her in the studio set converted to look like the inside of the Hollywood Stardust Theatre, the destination for the four characters in the movie. In the film, their quest took them across country. The road a metaphor for the trip one takes to transition between adolescence and adulthood.

In real life, he and the other actors faced the same challenges.

Once more, he looked for her. With her knowledge of all things smoke and mirrors, no doubt she managed to squirrel away where she could watch everything, yet not be seen. For the first time since he met her, she shied away from the limelight.

He swallowed and took hold of the microphone stand. While he wanted to offer the fans of the movie the truth they sought for all these years, the answer as to why he disappeared was better left unspoken, at least in public.

“Sometimes you need to just get away from everything and everyone and start over.” More lights went off, leaving him blinking to see.

“But how did you hide your identity?” The question came from a male in the crowd.

An easy one. “During the movie I wore prosthetics to appear more like the producers wanted the character and they asked me to stay in costume for public appearances. It was very easy to fade away once the costume came off…and the weight came off.”

Some chuckles went through the audience.

Yes, he was the chubby kid. During filming he lost weight, causing a whole host of issues for the movie. They had to keep adding padding to his costume to keep the consistency. He hid for a while, let the fanfare of the movie die down and then went abroad for college. By the time he returned with a different name, no one ever put it together. He still found it incredible that he pulled it off at all. Maybe he was a real actor after all.

“Have you kept in touch with your cast mates?” Another question barreled toward him.

He glanced off to the side. While he might not be able to find her, his best friend, Logan Alexander, was always there. Logan nodded, giving him the okay to answer. “Only Logan Alexander.” The quote unquote villain of both the movie and of real life was one of the best people he knew. One might even say a hero.

Some mumbles went through the crowd.

“Drew, why did you decide to come back now?”

Again, he looked for her. Where did she hide herself? On the other side of the stage he located Ryder Scott, their leading man. The poster boy for a movie star, he always had everything. After the film, Ryder went on to a successful career and now also dabbled in directing and producing. However, he couldn’t locate the last of their four. The reason he came out of hiding.

“I have some unfinished business.” He needed to go find her. “I can take one more question before we should probably let you all get back to the movie.”

“Can we get a picture of the four of you together?”

Well, the promise of a picture that would be all over the world should bring her out. He turned left and right. Ryder joined him first, shaking his hand and taking center stage to thunderous applause. Logan, who only moments before proposed to his fiancée on this exact stage, came out next and the clapping grew to the point where it vibrated the building.

Logan shook his hand and raised his eyebrows.

“Where is she?” Drew attempted to ask the question without moving his lips.

“She’ll be here.” Logan patted his back and took his place.

The crowd stilled as if holding its collective breath, waiting for the one female of the group.

He ground his teeth together. After everything he just did, would she not reveal herself?

And then she appeared.

Damn him to hell for his breath catching at the sight of her. Though he followed her career, watched her in her movies, her television appearances, even clips of her in a stage play, nothing compared to her in person.

She stepped to the edge of the stage and the applause began once more. Yes, even with his news of showing up after twenty years, Erin Holland would always steal the spotlight.

The color that overtook her cheeks would be gorgeous in the pictures, but he knew better. He knew the blush came from her being flustered, unsure and taken off guard. If they were alone, away from the scrutiny of the public, she would be crying. Not that it mattered. Crying, flush, with or without makeup and even with twenty years behind them, he had never seen a more beautiful woman.

Instead, she nodded toward the audience and made her way to them. Her silver form-fitting dress moved like liquid metal, fluid and flowing. She wore her blonde hair down, smooth and cascading over one shoulder, but pulled back from her picture perfect face. Her doe-like blue eyes and heart shaped lips were all natural and the envy of many a teenage girl way back when.

She stared into his eyes, asking questions, shooting accusations. In short, being Erin through and through. The one woman he couldn’t stand, but couldn’t get out of his mind. He could never move forward if he only looked back and the second she came within reach he held his hand out to her.

“Drew.” She licked her lips, put her hand in his and gave him a hug. Her trembling betrayed her cool outward demeanor.

“I came here for you.” He inhaled. Her perfume might have changed, but the aroma enveloping him was the same. It was just her. “We need to talk.”

Without a word, she pulled back and took her position between Logan and Ryder. The three made up the love triangle of
Hollywood Stardust
while Drew’s character was always left standing on the edge, just like him.

Again, the flashes went off and he found himself posing with the rest of them. Old habits returned, subtle changes in his position to catch the light, show off a better angle, allow the photographers to get the ever-important shot.

He needed to get to the person he came here for and raised his hand, the universal signal for stopping the show.

“Drew, one more question before you leave,” a woman called over the mumbles, the claps and the oohs and ahhs.

He waited.

“What unfinished business brought you back? Is this a publicity stunt for the movie or was it something, or someone, else?”

“It wasn’t a stunt. In fact, I didn’t even know I was going to do this until about an hour before I arrived.” He turned, wanting to catch her before she ran away licking her self-perceived wounds.

As usual, he was too late. Erin had already vanished and he almost fought a laugh. Once more, he changed his life for her, and again she wasn’t around. “As for the rest, stay tuned.”