Grounded By You (11 page)

When her eyes found him, her feet took a step in his direction but stopped when she saw the wave of dark chestnut hair shimmering around the shoulders of his companion. Sam had a small smile on his face, and then the woman’s face came into view.

It was Delaney Rose.

Millie scanned her memory of their conversation the day before. He said he had some dinner thing, but he didn’t mention that it was alone with his exquisitely beautiful co-star. She felt the same sharp jolt of jealousy that she remembered having that night the summer before when she saw Sam talking to the pretty redhead. Only this time was different. Back then, they hadn’t kissed yet. They had still been solidly in friend territory.

She had a choice. She could ignore him, or she could go over and say hello. She squared her shoulders, intending to stop being a coward. She told herself it was just a dinner. They were going to be filming a movie together. Then she saw Delaney reach over and put her hand on Sam’s shoulder. There was something about the way that the actress touched him that seemed familiar and intimate. The thing that made her want to pounce was that Sam didn’t appear to be making any move toward shaking her hand off. Seething inside, Millie wanted nothing more than to smack the sultry smile off the other woman’s face.

“Did you need some help finding your way to the back room?” A familiar voice caused Millie to jump and whirl around. She found herself face to face with Will Colson.

“No, um, I just got distracted for a second,” she said.

“By the movie stars?” Will said with a raised eyebrow. “The entire restaurant is buzzing about it.”

“There are movie stars here?” she said faintly.

Will put his hand on the small of her back and propelled her forward. “Don’t ask me what has everyone all up in arms about them. Although I won’t deny that Delaney Rose is a very attractive young woman.”

Millie had never felt as if she had to compete with another woman in her life. Her mother tried, unsuccessfully, many times to get her to consider modeling when she was in her early teens and in prep school, but Millie had no interest. She already felt as if she had to compensate for her looks to be taken seriously. She wondered if Delaney’s petite, curvy frame was the kind of figure that Sam preferred. Millie was tall and long-limbed, and she definitely didn’t have the same cleavage that Delaney so readily showcased.

It didn’t appear that Will had put two and two together yet that the man he met on her doorstep was, in fact, one of the movie stars currently being gossiped about.

“I thought about acting for awhile,” she said, changing the subject. Her mind was full of dark, angry thoughts about what she was going to say to Sam the next time she saw him. A horrible thought crossed her mind. Was he playing with her emotions to get back at her? Had it all been an act?

“I bet you were fantastic on stage,” Will said. “I remember Josh telling me you got the lead in one of your college productions.”

“Lady Macbeth,” Millie said absently.

She heard the roars of masculine laughter as they approached the private dining room. Suddenly she had a headache, and she wanted to leave. She didn’t want to be there, and she certainly didn’t want to be under her parents’ watchful eyes all evening.

Turning to Will, she put her arm up to stop him. “You know, this dinner thing sounds like a complete bore. Do you want to go get a drink somewhere else? I know this quiet jazz club a few blocks from here.”

It was reckless and stupid for her to give any indication that she was interested in him, but Millie’s anger got the better of her.

“Sure,” Will said, his eyes lighting up. “But what about your father?”

“He’s always telling me that I need to show more interest in the business. I’m sure you count,” Millie said, giving him her most charming smile. “There’s just one more thing we have to do though before we go.”

She took his hand and guided him back out into the open restaurant. There was a part of her that said what she was about to do was stupid, immature, and wrong, but she didn’t care. Wild Millie was back, and she was about to go on a rampage.

They drew up to Sam and Delaney’s table, and her heart did a flip flop at how handsome he looked in his navy blue suit. He didn’t look like the Sam she knew though, and maybe that was part of the problem. The success thing was going to his head.

“What a coincidence running into you here,” Millie said, keeping her voice even. She deliberately didn’t let go of Will’s hand. “Sam, you remember Will Colson?”

She saw the confusion and surprise on Sam’s face, and then watched as his eyes dropped to their joined hands. The expression of anger was there and gone so quickly that she wondered if she had imagined it.

Will reached his other hand out. “I didn’t even recognize you. Millie didn’t connect those dots for me. Carter Samuel
Groveson. Wow. Congratulations on your upcoming movie.”

Sam’s face was unreadable as he shook Will’s hand. “Delaney Rose, this is Amelia St. John and her friend, Will.”

Millie noted his use of her full first name. It sounded strange and cold on his lips.

“Nice to meet you,” Delaney said.

Millie reluctantly shook the woman’s hand. They both looked each other over. Close-up, the actress was even more breathtaking.

“We were just on our way out,” Millie said. “But I thought we’d stop and say hello.”

“That was so thoughtful. We were just talking about what we were going to do for the rest of the evening. Do you have any suggestions?” Delaney asked.

Millie started to shake her head when Will inserted himself into the conversation.

“Millie was just telling me about a jazz club a couple of blocks over. Maybe you should come with us.”

She barely stopped short of hitting Will in the arm. She saw Sam looked equally stunned.

“That sounds terrific!” Delaney exclaimed. “Can we go?” She turned to look at Sam.

“I’m sure that Millie and Will don’t want us to intrude,” Sam said tersely.

Millie did mind, but Will answered for them again. “It’s not a problem at all.”

“Give me the address, and we’ll meet you there as soon as we settle the bill,” Delaney said.

Reluctantly, Millie gave her the address and directions. As she and Will left the restaurant, she wondered how in the hell that twist of fate had come about. She was about to go on a double date with Sam and Delaney Rose. But only if she didn’t kill one or both of them first.

Delaney was practically bouncing in her seat. “Doesn’t that sound fantastic? I’ve been dying to get out and do something normal for weeks.”

“With people you don’t know?” Sam asked. “You consider that normal?”

“You obviously know her, and I know you,” Delaney said, rolling her eyes. “We have to get used to hanging around people and being sociable. We’re going to have fans trying to get our attention all the time. Now isn’t the time to become an introvert, Sam.”

“I’m just not sure that I’m in the mood for a double fake date,” Sam said, running his hand through his hair. “I’m actually feeling kind of tired.”

“No way,” Delaney said, shaking her head. “We are young and in the prime of our lives. We’re
frikkin honest to God movie stars! It’s time to live it up a little bit. It would probably be good for you.”

The only thing that Sam wanted to know was what was going on between Millie and Will Colson. After what happened at her apartment, he thought that all of the games were over between them. Now he wasn’t so certain, and Sam definitely wasn’t interested in going down that road with her again. She owed him some answers, and this time, Sam was going to get them.

“You’re right,” he said. “We’ll go out, and we’ll have a good time. Socialize with the people.”

Delaney looked at him suspiciously. “Okay, that was too easy. What gives?”

“What do you mean?” Sam waved at their waiter and made the indication that they wanted their bill. “You said we needed to get out. I agree. I’ve been stuck at the gym, in my apartment, or in front of a camera ever since the news came out. It’s time I start enjoying some of this fame, right?”

Delaney didn’t say anything else as Sam paid the bill with a card that Victoria gave him earlier in the day. She said it was for the small expenses that were part of the movie, and the four hundred dollar bill they had somehow managed to run up at the restaurant seemed to qualify. After all, he and Delaney were supposed to be on their first date. It seemed appropriate.

The car was waiting for them when they stepped outside, and Sam was so preoccupied that he barely even noticed the pictures being taken of their exit. Delaney gave the address of the club to the driver and then she turned in her seat toward him.

“So what’s the deal with you and the blond Amazon goddess?”

Sam was surprised at the question. “You mean Millie?”

Delaney rolled her eyes as she took out her compact and began to powder her nose again and reapply her lipstick. “I haven’t known you long, but I am a woman. And there was definitely a vibe between the two of you. Is she your ex?”

Sam snorted. “To be an ex would mean that you would have to have dated at some point. No, Millie is just a friend.”

Delaney looked at him with a long look. “A friend that you’d like to be more though, right? So is she the one that you were talking about earlier?”

Sam looked away. He didn’t want to discuss his feelings for Millie with Delaney or anyone else for that matter. He barely understood what transpired between them, and seeing her holding hands with Will nearly unhinged him. It wasn’t a feeling that he was used to. Usually, Sam would just walk away. But he was tired of feeling like he was the second string quarterback that the girls ran to when the guy they did want treated them like dirt. Then they’d always go running back the next time that guy waggled his pinky finger at them.

“I’ve got enough things on my plate to worry about without adding a snobby debutante into the mix,” Sam said harshly.

“Wow,” Delaney said softly. “You’ve got it bad.”

Sam refused to say anything else. He just kept thinking about the look on Millie’s face after he kissed her, and then the cold shoulder she gave him in the restaurant. He didn’t understand what had changed. The heel of Delaney’s sparkly shoe caught his attention, and he watched her foot bob up and down. He followed it up her shapely calf and thigh all the way up to her lovely face.

Then it hit him. Millie saw him in the restaurant on what looked like a date with Delaney. He wanted to smack his forehead. She reacted exactly the way that he did when he saw her with her hand in Will’s. Like a jealous fool. Although he still wasn’t clear on what role Will played in Millie’s life, he was more certain that ever that he had just witnessed Millie’s own playacting staged for his benefit. He had forgotten what a good actress she was.

But he had to find a way to confirm his suspicion. It came to him in a moment of clarity, and he knew what he had to do.

The car pulled up to the jazz club, and Sam followed Delaney out of the car. The club’s entrance was down a flight of stairs that led to the outside basement door of the building. They entered and had their IDs scanned. He heard the jazz band playing in the other room. He and Delaney stood at the edge of the room while he quickly scanned the crowd. Then he spotted Millie’s blond head at the end of the long bar.

He looked down at Delaney and cocked his head toward the bar. She nodded and then followed as he pushed his way through the assembled crowd. Millie and Will had managed to secure two stools at the crowded bar, and Will jumped up as they approached immediately offering his stool to Delaney.

Sam noted that Millie wouldn’t even look at him, seemingly entranced with the band at the front of the room. He wasn’t going to chicken out now. He took a twenty-dollar bill out of his wallet and put it on the bar. “Get me a beer and whatever you want,” he said to Delaney. Then he turned to Millie. “Want to dance?”

He knew that would get her attention. “You don’t dance,” she said with a slightly mocking tone.

“You’d be surprised what I do now,” he said with a confident grin. Then he took her hand and tugged. Millie slid off the stool and followed him leaving a baffled Will in their wake.

There were several couples already on the dance floor, although not nearly enough for
Sam’s liking. But he plowed ahead because he needed to fix whatever had happened between them. He waited too long for this opportunity, and he wasn’t going to lose it over some stupid misunderstanding.

As soon as they stepped onto the dance floor, he pulled her against him and began to move in time to the music.

“You’re being rather rude to my friend,” she said, turning her cheek to him.

He noticed that, despite her sharp words, she matched his footwork keeping perfect time with him. He made a mental note to send a thank card to Victoria for forcing him into dance lessons right after he signed on with her.

Sam eyed Will over Millie’s shoulder. He appeared to be enthralled in conversation with Delaney. “Will doesn’t appear to be too torn up about it.”

“So what, you think you’re charming now?” Millie asked.

He pushed her into a quick turn and then brought her body right back around tight against him. He caught the sound of her breath hitching in her throat as he stared down into her stormy blue eyes. “I know I’m charming.”