Chasing the Dream: Dream Series, Book 3 (11 page)

“Did you have fun yesterday?” she asked.

“Ms. Cocozza, I swear. Nothing happened. They’re just paparazzi pictures. I’m not his
girl.
And what he said on—” I rushed, feeling light-headed.

“Calm down. Breathe. It’s okay. I know the games he plays. It’s all good. Just don’t let it get to
your
head. Little known industry secret: Chase’s manager, Michael, is my older brother. I know better than most that Chase can be a pain in the ass, but the upside is, he’s trending big time on Twitter and Facebook right now. That can only work in the network’s favor.”

I looked at her for a minute, unable to tell if she was serious. Not just about being related to Chase’s manager, but that she was happy with the trending rumor that Chase and I were somehow involved. I sat back in my chair and took several deep, shaky breaths. “I didn’t even know any of this because my phone had died and I learned about the Twitter pictures at the coffee shop next door.” Just then, my phone lit up, apparently having gotten enough juice to turn on. I glanced at it the screen which immediately started flashing missed texts and alerts.

“Go ahead,” Valerie said, taking her seat and shuffling a few files.

I scanned the first five text messages that filled the screen.

JESSICA LEISTER

What r u doing w/Chase Smythe? Lucky!

LAURA BRADLEY

Does Chase smell as good as they…

PEGGY KOWALSKI

Chase Smythe. Nice upgrade from…

KEVIN PARKER

Was Chase talking about you on….

LUCY HARRIS

UR DATING CHASE SMYTHE??

Oh no!
One name popped out among all the others. Kevin Parker. My mother’s friend, and my neighbor and the guy I wanted for my own. Even though this spelled disaster all over it, Kevin was probably the first fire I had to put out. I opened his text.

12:48am

Was Chase talking about you on

Jimmy Fallon last night? Call me

when you get a second. I’d like to

have the story before your mother

calls me.

I guess he’d watched Jimmy Fallon last night and maybe seen the Twitter pictures, too.
Shit!
My only saving grace was that my mother watched CBS evening shows, not NBC. But, it was only a matter of time.

I exited the text app and noticed the badges on my Facebook and Twitter apps indicating that there were numerous alerts there, too. I went and checked my Twitter feed. Sure enough, the trending hashtag was #ChaseSmythesGirl. Several of my friends, and loads of people I barely knew, tagged me with my handle, @PhoebeFair, and retweeted the pic with that hashtag. That’s how the coffee girl knew to call me PhobeFair. My number of Twitter followers had gone from just under a hundred—mostly people from college, but also my brothers and cousins—to over
25,000
! One popular Tweet caught my eye with a link to a Vine clip of Chase on
Jimmy Fallon
last night saying his heart’s been captured.

The phone app indicated that there were 28 voicemails and the email app showed that I had 74 emails waiting for me. Good God! How was I going to manage this bizarre firestorm?

“On the one hand, we could interview for a new PA for our little trouble maker today,” she said, pulling me from my not so little chaos, and waving a file folder suggesting that in that folder were applicants for the job. “But on the other hand, Chase didn’t get into any trouble yesterday, and I believe we have you to thank for that.”

“What did
I
do?” I didn’t think what was going on was all so good. I felt that there was a whole
lot
of trouble going on.

“The headlines while Dana was his PA were not as flattering as the headlines and trending that’s going on now.”

“This is good?” I asked, holding up my buzzing phone.

“Yes. A fresh love…it’s inspirational. Fake or not. And he’s only here for another two weeks. What would you say about being Chase’s assistant for the duration of his stay here in New York?” She flipped a couple of pages through the clipboard in her hand then continued, “Pretty much your only thing tomorrow is to get him to the airport for his flight to L.A. for a
Jimmy Kimmel
appearance on Friday night. He’s a T.S.A. PreCheck Traveler, so he just needs to be at the airport an hour before the flight. He’ll be in California all weekend with meetings with his manager and agent on Saturday. He’ll be back here in New York Monday morning. Beware, he’ll be cranky if he hasn’t slept because he’ll have had to get on the plane at two in the morning his time, but he insisted on spending the full Sunday in L.A. He shoots Monday and Tuesday afternoons, voice over work on Wednesday, and then he wraps on Thursday and goes back to L.A. on Friday, much like this week. That’s just pretty much today, and four days next week. Barely any work at all. Then you’ll be back here for the internship you’d thought you were getting. And I’ll work you to the bone then,” she said with a touch of humor.

“Me? Chase’s assistant?” I asked, my heart pounding in my ears again. This whole internship thing was getting weirder and weirder.

Valerie handed me the clipboard. I took it like it was made of flash paper and about to burst into flames, simultaneously wondering where I had left the clipboard from yesterday. I glanced down the sheet and looked at the call times and locations.

COPS UNDERCOVER: CHASE SMYTHE (DETECTIVE YOUNG)

THURSDAY, MAY 30, 2013

My eyes bugged out of my head. Not just at the
twelve-hour
day, but also at the fact that the day was going to end at one in the morning! Last night I was dead on my feet at eight. How would I make it until one o’clock? I grabbed my coffee and started to suck down the deliciousness, and figured I’d be drinking a lot more of this today.

“Today, tomorrow and Thursday are both late start and wrap days,” Valerie said, confirming what I had read. I flipped to the next page and saw that he needed to be at JFK between eleven and noon for a one o’clock flight to L.A. “So, just making sure he gets to the airport that day.”

Just then my phone vibrated with another text; this one from Jenny. I didn’t have to open the app. The message on the screen was short.

9:12am

Are you @PhoebeFair?

I groaned and set my phone back down, then dropped my head to the desk.

“So… If you want, you can take the rest of the morning, have a nice lunch, then pick him up at his hotel to get him to set?”

“Okay?” I said, half agreeing, half wondering if I was out of my ever-lovin’ mind. Part of me was terrified to say ‘no’ for fear of losing my position if I wasn’t the agreeable intern. The other part of me was terrified to say ‘yes’ because spending the day with Chase was no easy task, to my body or mind.

My phone vibrated again reminding me that I had a text. Warily, I picked it up and tapped my reply.

9:14am

Can you meet for lunch?

11:00?

“N
o fucking way!” Jenny said as we walked to a restaurant just down the street from the offices. “Is he as dreamy in person as he is on screen?”

I sighed, fighting a swoon. “Yes?” I confirmed, questioning my recollection. He was kind of an ass, just as the tabloids said, but there was a “soft part” to him. But he was a hundred and fifty percent gorgeous.

“Ugh!” she groaned loudly. “Do you think you could find a way for me to meet him? I could just be ‘in the area.’ Text me your location and… and…”

“Sure. Why not? He loves the fans, especially the lady fans.”

She grabbed me in a hug, practically hopping. I imagine if the shoe were on the other foot, I’d be just as giddy as she was. But knowing that you are somehow responsible for one of the biggest heartthrobs in the world is a daunting task indeed.

Over lunch, I brought her fully up to speed about yesterday’s events and the rest of my coming days as Chase’s PA. She hung onto every word.

“Hey, do you like Indian food? I’d love for my parents to meet you. Come with me to my parents’ house for dinner after you get Chase to the airport tomorrow?”

“Are you kidding? I love Indian food.”

“It’s done then. My place for dinner on Friday. What time are you free?”

“Well, I drop Chase off at the airport by noon. I have a feeling I’m going to need a nap after the late night tonight.”

“I’ll come by your place and pick you up after I get out of work.”

And just like that, I had plans for Friday night.

At 12:15 pm I sat in the limo in front of Chase’s hotel. Calmly as I could, I flipped to the last page on the clipboard, which had Chase’s personal information and scanned for his cell number, but made a mental note to return to this page and see if there were other things about him I should know. I programmed in the number, then texted him:

12:17pm

Your ride is here to get

you to set.

Short and sweet. Professional. That was going to be my strategy.
Keep it professional. At all costs—keep it professional.
I didn’t want to lose my internship, and I wanted to keep impressing Valerie. But most of all, I didn’t want to get my heart broken. This was a job. Right now, Chase was my job. Chase Fucking Smythe was my job. I tried to convince myself that this was no big deal, and I had almost reached my goal of calming the fuck down when the Town Car door flew open and Chase charged in.

As Chase caught sight of me, his megawatt smile spread across his stunning face. He was quiet.
Too
quiet. As the Town Car pulled away from the hotel, he made himself comfortable, slouched next to me, looking quite sure of himself. He was dressed in a crisp white t-shirt that molded to his well-defined chest, the sleeves perfectly cutting across his impressive biceps. His dark wash jeans hugged his thighs and screamed sex. He was sitting with his legs spread wide and his…um, package… was practically on display. To say the car was filled with a crackling energy was an understatement.

Keep it professional.

He pushed back his sunglasses, propping them on top of his head. His eyes swept over me as he bit his perfect lower lip. Suddenly my fashionable skirt felt wickedly short, and my frilly top might as well have been made of transparent chiffon.

“Mmmm-mmm-MMM! How did I get lucky enough to have
you
for my babysitter again, PhoebeFair?” he nearly growled.
Oh, God!
He saw the TwitterStorm. Of course he did. It’s about him. Hell, he probably started it.

“Apparently, I have a knack for keeping you out of trouble,” I said, using my best business voice. But to have his eyes on me…? Valerie made this assignment sound so cushy and desirable. Had she ever been in close quarters with him? She was closer to his age than I was. She had to be a fan on some level no matter what stories her brother had told her.

He nodded, his eyes raking me up and down. “So, what’s the plan tonight? Burgers? Or sushi?”

Oh, this was not going to be about us being social. He was my job and I was going to do well at this. It had already gotten out of control with those pictures and his comment on
Jimmy Fallon.
What was his game here? Valerie’s comments from her brother slash Chase’s manager bounced around my head, as well as her thinking that Chase trending in the social media was a good thing for the network and Chase’s guest appearance for these three episodes of the new show he was a part of. And I also considered that he would be gone in two weeks. I was not about to be a plaything. I’d been down that path with Dickwad. And as much fun as a quick fling might be, and fun stories for when I grew older,
“I once dated Chase Smythe…”
stories for my grandkids, this job was more important, as was my decision to not get my heart broken again.

“Where ever you’d like to eat, I guess. We have an hour and a half after your location shoot and wrap back at The Met. Then you have more set work at the Loeb Boat House at Central Park.”
Good girl, Phoebe. Keep it professional. And don’t fall for another jerk!

He looked me over and I swore I could
feel
his eyes. I desperately wanted to know what he was thinking, because the cogs were definitely turning. “Okay,” he said casually, pulling his phone from his back pocket. He started tapping away. He glanced at me once, his eyes hooded. God, those eyes would be the end of me!

As I patted myself on the back for keeping my cool, I decided to busy myself with messages on my phone. I now had more than thirty new texts waiting for replies; all about Chase and the paparazzi photos, several also mentioning Chase’s comment on
Jimmy Fallon
. Including two from Kevin. I’d have to call him soon. He’d be out of work in about three hours. The badge on the Twitter app now displayed “00” which could only mean that there were more than a hundred notifications. I went into the Twitter app to see what the deal and the first thing I noticed was that I now had over 150,000 followers.
What?
And the top tweets, from the last three minutes, were all #ChaseSmythesGirl #dinnerplans with comments from “Sushi” to “Italian” to “dump her & eat w/me.”