Taylor paused her work and peered up. She looked him directly in his eyes.
“No.”
“Why not?”
She gestured at the stacks of files in front of her. “Because I have a
trial
starting in two days.”
Jason waved his hand dismissively at her files. He was unconcerned with such things.
“We’ll work in the evenings.”
Taylor looked over at the wall, muttering “why me” under her breath.
“Because you’re good,” Jason said matter-of-factly.
Taylor paused, and Jason noticed she didn’t try to argue with
that
.
“I’ll tell you what,” she said, appearing to soften slightly,
“I know some attorneys at this firm who would be perfect for this kind of thing. I’ll make a few calls—”
“No. It has to be you.”
Taylor peered across her office at him, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Well, I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I’m not available.”
“We both know I can make this happen in one phone call,” Jason said matter-of-factly.
Her green eyes flashed at the threat. She got up from her desk and walked over, stopping just a few inches from him. Jason did a quick check for any sharp objects hidden in her hands.
But instead, she surprised him by speaking in a soft voice.
“Why me? Really, Jason. Why me?”
Hmm . . . his first name again. This was indeed progress. Moving in, Jason gazed down at her with a devilish smile.
“What can I say, Ms. Donovan? . . . You intrigue me.”
It did the trick.
Jason watched as Taylor gave in with the slightest of smiles. He knew she couldn’t help it.
She inched closer to him. “I intrigue you?”
“You know you do,” he replied boldly, his eyes burning into hers. Wow—things were suddenly heating up
fast
. He wondered if they would have sex right there on her desk. Somebody better move that stapler.
With a coy look, Taylor stood up to whisper in Jason’s ear.
“Then I think you’re going to find this next part
really
intriguing,” she said breathlessly.
He gazed down at her—he liked the sound of that—and raised one eyebrow expectantly as Taylor grinned wickedly and—
Slammed the office door right in his face.
For a moment, Jason could only stand there in the hallway with his nose pressed up against the cold wood of her door. After a few seconds, he knocked politely.
Taylor whipped open the door, unamused.
Jason grinned at her. “I just gotta ask: Where did you get the whole ‘all the cute girls run around naked’ thing?”
“I defend sexual harassment cases, Mr. Andrews,” she replied coolly. “I’ve seen and heard things even you haven’t thought of.”
“Care to test out that theory?”
She slammed the door in his face again.
This time, Jason rolled away and saw the entire law office staring at him. He gestured nonchalantly to the door.
“It’s a little drafty in here.” With a wink, he straightened up and headed through the hallway with a spring in his step. So . . . she wanted to play hard to get, huh? That was just fine—it was his favorite game.
Jason grinned as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, more than ready to match Taylor Donovan’s move.
“Marty—it’s me. Call Sam Blakely. Yes, again.”
Ten
“I CAN’T DO it. There’s no way.”
Taylor stopped and stood resolutely before Sam.
“I
cannot
work with that man.”
Sam sat quietly at his desk, watching as Taylor resumed her pacing. This had been going on for the past six and a half minutes. They were making progress—at least she was speaking now. On her first three attempts, she had made it only two steps into his office before turning right back around without a word.
Taylor listed her grievances at punctuated intervals between the furious high-heeled turns she made on the carpet in front of Sam’s desk.
“He’s impossible.
“He’s ridiculous.
“Selfish. Conceited.
“
Beyond
arrogant.
“Condescending, too—you should’ve see the way he waved off the mountain of work on my desk with his little ‘Oh, pooh-pooh, but I’m a movie star.’ ”
Sam tried to keep from smiling at her imitation.
“As if
I
have any interest in working on his silly little script.” Taylor argued to the air before her as she paced. “As if
I
don’t have enough
real
things to do with my life.”
She glanced over at Sam. “I mean—have you ever seen anyone so filled with his own self-importance?”
Sam raised an eyebrow. Maybe he had.
Taylor finally took a seat at his desk.
“All right—let’s get serious, Sam. My trial starts in two days. I can’t be trying to squeeze this shit in right now. I realize that this is Los Angeles, but come on—what’s more important: a thirty-million-dollar lawsuit, or babysitting Hollywood’s number one prick?”
Taylor paused as she waited for his answer.
Sam leaned in with an understanding smile.
THE DOOR TO Reilly’s Tavern flew open with a bang as
Taylor stormed in. Jason stood there, waiting expectantly with his cue stick in hand.
“Ms. Donovan! Back so soo—”
He was silenced by a hand as Taylor sailed by him and headed straight to the bar. She took a seat at one of the stools and nodded at the bartender. “Grey Goose, rocks,” she growled, like a hard-nosed detective in some 1940s film noir.
Jason slid into the stool next to her. As he opened his mouth to speak, Taylor warningly held up her hand. Not yet.
The bartender set the drink in front of her, and she polished it off in two swallows. Then she sat the glass down gently, and finally turned and looked over at Jason.
He smiled.
“I was told I should expect an apology.”
Taylor held her glass up to the bartender.
“I’m gonna need another.”
Jason laughed—he couldn’t help it. He had never met anyone so utterly, charmingly stubborn. He was about to compliment her choice in vodka when they both heard someone shout her name.
“Taylor!”
They looked over and saw Jeremy heading over, with his arms outstretched as if greeting a long-lost friend. Taylor glanced at Jason in confusion.
“Do I know him?”
“Oh, that’s just Jeremy,” he explained. “Don’t mind him—he’s a screenwriter. He thinks he owns the place because they let him work here during the day. He gets inspired while playing pool.”
“That’s a little odd.”
Jason shrugged. “He’s been that way since college.”
“College?”
“Columbia. We were roommates.”
Jason took in her look of surprise. “Oh, you didn’t think lawyers were the only people in this town with degrees, did you?”
Before Taylor could respond to his teasing, Jeremy approached and stopped formally.
“Counselor. At last, we meet.” He held out his hand. “Jeremy Shelby.”
She smiled at the introduction. “Call me Taylor.”
Jason rolled his eyes. Oh, sure.
Jeremy
got to call her Taylor.
“I hear you’ve had the pleasure of working with Jason,” Jeremy said. “How did he look in the courtroom?”
“Be honest, Ms. Donovan,” Jason interjected confidently.
In response, Taylor looked him up and down. “I suppose it’s the one area where I can’t fault you,” she said archly. “You might actually make something of yourself one day with this whole acting bit.”
“Still with the sarcasm?”
“I have an audience now—I’m recharged,” she said sweetly, gesturing to Jeremy.
Jeremy feigned shock. “Surely you’re not implying that there are areas in which one can find fault with him?” He pointed. “You do realize that this is
Jason Andrews
we’re talking about, don’t you?”
“You two do realize that I’m standing right here, don’t you?”
They ignored him.
“Well, in that case,” Taylor said to Jeremy, “then I better not say anything else. Since we’re talking about
the
Jason Andrews.”
Jeremy thought about this, then held up his hand. “No, wait—I changed my mind. I think I should hear everything.” He threw his arm around Taylor’s shoulders. “Let’s adjourn to my office,” he said, gesturing to a table in back that was covered with empty beer bottles. “I need to hear this story in proper detail, to assess its potential damage. And you should walk very slowly through all the parts where Jason looks like a total ass.”
Left alone, Jason hung back at the bar, watching the two of them go. Nice talking to ya. But after giving his order to the bartender, he turned back and watched Jeremy laughing with Taylor.
He smiled to himself, strangely relieved by his friend’s approval.
ACROSS THE BAR, Taylor and Jeremy watched as Jason was distracted by something the bartender asked him. Jeremy leaned across the table as soon as Jason’s eyes were no longer on them.
“Quick—this is the part where I should get all crafty and try to squeeze information out of you.”
Taylor laughed. She liked this Jeremy guy, despite his apparent choice in friends. “I’ll save you the trouble. I’m just a lawyer from Chicago—I don’t have any information anyone out here would find very interesting.”
“You know Jason Andrews,” Jeremy told her. “That means people will have lots of questions for you, if they get the chance.”
Taylor considered this. “All right,” she said gamely. “Show me your craftiness. I’ll give you one question.”
Jeremy thought for a moment.
“I’m a big believer in first impressions,” he finally said. “Tell me what your first thought was when Jason walked into the courtroom.”
Taylor took a sip of her drink and grinned. This one was easy. “I vowed to hate him forever.”
Jeremy’s brown eyes twinkled at this. “That’s exactly what I said nineteen years ago, five minutes after he first walked into our dorm room.”
Jeremy’s words hung in the air as Jason arrived at the table with his drink. As he took a seat, Taylor studied him, intrigued.
Jason caught her look. “Did I miss something?”
Taylor mentally chewed on the information she had just acquired from Jeremy. She looked him over slyly.
“You’re a bit older than I thought, Jason Andrews.”
Jason glanced quickly at Jeremy, who held up his hands innocently.
“I swear, she forced it out of me.”
LATER THAT EVENING, as Jason walked Taylor to her car, she had what she could only describe as a momentary “realization”—a moment where it struck her who Jason actually was. It had happened when he cautiously looked side to side as he stepped out the tavern door, presumably checking for paparazzi or fans. Oddly, for the entire evening, she had somehow forgotten he was famous.
Frankly, those other moments—when it struck Taylor that Jason was pretty much the most famous film star alive—made her uncomfortable. Because those were the moments that made her feel as though they somehow weren’t equals. She much preferred thinking of Jason merely as some random jerk who annoyed the crap out of her.
But truth be told, there was a second reason she disliked these momentary realizations: they inevitably seemed to be paired with the “realization” that Jason was, in fact, divinely gorgeous. And that was a dangerous line of thought, particularly for someone who hadn’t had sex since the previous financial quarter.
Early
in the previous financial quarter.
“So we’ll meet Friday evening then?”
Jason’s question broke through Taylor’s reverie. She cleared her throat.
“Yes, fine—Friday evening. I should be out of court by five.”
“I was thinking we could grab dinner somewhere.” Jason saw her suspicious look. “But if you have an aversion to restaurants, we could always meet at my place.” He winked.
“A restaurant will be fine,” she said quickly. They arrived at her car.
“Good—I’ll set it up,” Jason said. “Where haven’t you been yet?”
Taylor laughed at this. “You’d be much better off asking me where I
have
been.”
“Okay, where
have
you been?”
“My office cafeteria.”
When Jason fell silent, Taylor looked over and saw his stunned expression. She straightened up defensively.
“I’ve been busy with work, you know. And I don’t exactly know a lot of people—”
Jason cut her off with a wave. It was something else that had shocked him.
“Is
this
your car?” He pointed in disbelief at the PT Cruiser.
Taylor waved this off. “Oh no—tonight I figured I’d just take whichever vehicle was closest.”
Jason ignored her sarcasm, unable to tear his horrified eyes away.
“It’s just a car, Jason,” she said, annoyed.
At that, he glanced over at her and grinned.
“You
definitely
are not from Los Angeles, Taylor Donovan.”
The whole drive home, she tried to figure out whether that was supposed to be a compliment or an insult.
Eleven
THE NEXT TWO days flew by quickly with the trial and before Taylor knew it, she was standing in front of her closet on Friday evening. The night was not off to a good start—court had gone on longer than expected, so she was running late for dinner. And now she had the most pressing concern to deal with: what to wear.
Her suits were stylish enough—for suits. But this was Mr. Chow’s in Beverly Hills, and her first official dinner out in Los Angeles. She didn’t want to look like some jackass from out of town.
On the other hand, she also didn’t want to look like she thought she was on a date. And most important, she didn’t want
Jason
to think she looked like she thought she was on a date.
Taylor finally settled on jeans, heels, and a white button-down shirt. But even that had its issues: two buttons open, or three? Two or three? She went back and forth in the bathroom mirror at least ten times.
Twenty minutes later, Taylor pulled in front of the restaurant and handed over the keys to the PT Cruiser. The valet gave her the same appalled look that Jason had two nights ago.
Taylor smiled charmingly at him. “You’re going to leave this baby out front, right?”
As the valet stammered some horrified response, Taylor stepped inside the restaurant, where she was greeted by a hostess with an aloof smile.
“Yes, can I help you, miss?”
“I’m meeting someone here,” Taylor said. She paused, suddenly stuck in one of her “realizations.” The whole thing was just so ridiculous. “I’m . . . um . . . meeting a Mr. Andrews here,” she continued, attempting a casual tone. Then she wondered if he used a fake name when making reservations. She’d once heard that Brad Pitt checked into hotels under the pseudonym “Bryce Pilaf.” Cute.
But from the look on the hostess’s face, no secret password or code name was required. The woman straightened up immediately, and her entire demeanor changed.
“Of course,” the hostess said in an awed voice. “You must be Ms. Donovan. It would be my pleasure to show you to your table.” She led Taylor through the restaurant, to a private staircase in back. Upstairs, there were only a few tables. Jason sat at one of them, waiting.
“Sorry I’m late,” Taylor told him when she got to the table.
“Court ran longer than I had expected.”
“It’s fine,” Jason said with an easy smile. “I’m just glad you could make it.”
Taylor watched as his eyes skimmed over her shirt with an appreciative look.
Dammit. She knew she shouldn’t have gone with the three buttons.
TAYLOR SCRUTINIZED THE script that was open on the table in front of her. Now immersed in the project (albeit
very
reluctantly) she took the job as seriously as any other.
“Then we just need to take out this line here, where you yell at opposing counsel in court . . .” She gave Jason a look, letting him know this was a big lawyer no-no.
The waiter refilled their wineglasses as she continued her lecture. “Remember—you have triangle conversations in court. You speak to the judge, they speak to the judge, but you never speak to each other.”
She turned back to the script and finished reviewing the scene they were working on. After a moment, she pushed the script away, satisfied. “Yep—I think that scene is finished.”
“Do you think it’s good?” Jason asked.
Taylor considered her answer, sensing he wanted more than a meaningless stamp of approval. “I think some of the legal aspects still need to be refined, but it has a good story that should connect with the audience.”
Jason grinned. “You just sounded so Hollywood.”
Taylor smiled guiltily. “I did, didn’t I? See—one evening with you and I’m already corrupted.” She gestured casually to her half-empty glass. “Or maybe the wine’s affecting me.”
“So you approve of my selection?”
“I doubt there’s anyone who wouldn’t,” Taylor quipped. She was hardly about to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he’d somehow managed to pick the one label she’d been wanting to try since getting her first issue of
Wine Spectator
.
“But your approval is harder to earn and therefore worth more than the others,” Jason returned.
Taylor couldn’t help but smile at that. “Yes, I approve,” she said. “At seven hundred dollars a bottle, I’d better.” She was about to say something else, but decided to bite her tongue.
“Go ahead.” Jason laughed. “I can tell there’s more.”
Taylor grinned. He thought he knew her so well. “I was just thinking that you really do lead a charmed life.”
“Ahhh . . . good, we get it out in the open. My fame and fortune.” Jason leaned in toward her. “Look—I’ll save you the bullshit speech about how I don’t like it, about the lack of privacy, all that. But there
are
some trade-offs.” He shrugged. “I guess I’ve just accepted those things as part of the package.”
“Trade-offs beyond the lack of privacy?”
Jason waved this off. “That doesn’t bother me as much as it used to.”
“Then what?”
He thought about this. When he finally answered, Taylor thought she heard something in his voice. Something . . . genuine.
“People think they know you because the magazines portray you a certain way, or because you’ve played a particular part in a movie. And most of the people who supposedly are close to you don’t care about who you really are anyway, because to them you’re just a product, a commodity to sell. So it’s not real. None of it’s real.”
He glanced over at Taylor cautiously, as if expecting her to laugh. She didn’t.
“Jeremy seems real,” she said in a gentler voice than usual.
This made Jason smile. “Jeremy and I have been friends a long time. He is as real as they get. Also cocky, condescending, and sarcastic—”
“How do you two ever get along?”
Jason grinned at her sarcasm. He eased back, swirling his wineglass. “You can throw all the little barbs you want, Taylor Donovan. It doesn’t bother me one bit. Because secretly, I think you like spending time with me.” He winked at her. “It’s okay, you can admit it—I already know.”
Taylor rolled her eyes disdainfully. “You’re way too confident.”
“Do you know that the average American woman between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five has seen each of my movies six times?”
Taylor scoffed at this. “Who told you that bullshit statistic?”
“Okay then, how many times have you thrown down ten dollars to see me on the big screen?”
“Not six.”
“How many times?”
She shrugged nonchalantly, trying to think of a way to lawyer herself out of the question.
Jason’s eyes widened at her gesture. “Oh, I’m sorry, Ms. Donovan, but your answers need to be audible for the court reporter.”
Taylor glared at him. “Do you have a point somewhere in this?”
“The point is,” Jason said, “that you say I’m too confident. But
I
say the odds are heavily in my favor that you’re attracted to me.”
There it was, all the cards laid out on the table.
“But you said it yourself,” Taylor told him, “that’s just the part you play. Your image. But what about the women who see behind the curtain to the real you? Are they just as infatuated?”
Something about her question seemed to strike a nerve, and Jason fell oddly silent. Realizing she was onto something, Taylor’s eyes probed his from across the low glow of the table’s candlelight.
“Maybe they never have a chance to see behind the curtain,” she said. “Maybe you’re always gone too quickly for that.”
Jason’s eyes met hers, and for a moment neither of them said anything. Without all the ridiculous bravado, Taylor thought, he actually seemed kind of human.
Then he tossed his napkin onto the table.
“That’s it—you’re paying for dinner tonight,” he declared.
Jason gestured to the waiter hovering attentively off to the side. “Bring us another bottle of the Screaming Eagle.” He lowered his voice to a whisper and pointed at Taylor. “The lady’s paying.”
“Of course, sir,” the waiter replied. With a flash, he was off to the restaurant’s private cellar.
Satisfied, Jason turned back to Taylor, his arms folded across his chest. “Seven hundred dollars per bottle, counselor. Let’s see how sassy you are when you’re back in the kitchen, washing dishes.” He paused, giving her a second look. “Not that your feminist ass knows what to do in there.”
At this, Taylor couldn’t help but smile. There was something about that sarcastic sense of humor of his. Sometimes, she liked it very much.
LATER THAT EVENING, Jason turned to Taylor as they were leaving the restaurant, eager to hear her verdict.
“So? What did you think of your first official Los Angeles dining experience?”
She grinned in acknowledgment. “This by far takes the award for the best place I’ve gone on a business dinner.”
Jason stopped abruptly.
“Wait—are you
billing
your time for this dinner?
Taylor stopped, too, seemingly surprised that he was surprised by this. “Well, yes. At least the part we spent talking about the script.”
Her answer bothered Jason. Quite a bit, actually.
Taylor shifted uncomfortably. “I’m sorry—is there a problem with that?”
What could he say in response? Jason tried to keep his words from sounding terse. “No, of course not—this was a work dinner for you. I’m sorry I kept you so long.”
He held the door open for Taylor, hoping to get them out of the restaurant and off this topic as quickly as possible.
She looked at him, confused. “Jason, I hope you didn’t—”
She suddenly was cut off by the blinding flash of a hundred cameras. She jumped in surprise, as Jason turned and saw an enormous mob of paparazzi gathered on the sidewalk outside the restaurant. At the sight of him, the photographers screamed his name and clamored to get closer.
Instinctively, Jason pushed Taylor back into the restaurant and slammed the door behind them. He took a peek through the window at the circus that had gathered outside. To him, it was a pretty typical sight.
Taylor, on the other hand, appeared to be seriously freaking out. While she paced, she stayed as far from the windows as possible, as if they were dealing with sniper rifles outside instead of cameras.
“This is . . . not good,” she said worriedly. “Really, really not good.” She turned to Jason with a hopeful look. “We were only outside for a second. Maybe they didn’t get a picture of us?”
Glancing out at the multitude of perfectly aimed cameras held by men with hair-trigger reflexes, Jason shook his head.
“At this point, I think the best you can hope for is that they didn’t get one like this . . . ” He made a shocked, oh-my-god-who-the-fuck-are-all-these-people face, trying to make her laugh.
It didn’t work.
Taylor sank miserably into a nearby chair. “I am so going to get kicked off my case.” She despondently rested her chin in her hands. “I’m under a court order,” she explained. “I can’t be seen in the media.”
As he walked over to her, Jason couldn’t help but notice again how much she wanted
not
to be seen with him. “I’m sure the judge wasn’t referring to this type of publicity.”
Taylor shook her head. “No, he was very clear on the issue—no press attention. Period.” She looked down at the ground.
Seeing her upset, Jason felt that strange feeling tugging at him again. He knelt before her and started to reach out to take her hands in his. But then, something instinctively stopped him from touching her. He rested his arms on his knees instead.
“I can fix this,” he said gently.
Taylor peered up at him hopefully. “Really?”
“But I want something in return.”
Her green eyes narrowed. She folded her arms over her chest. “What might that be?”
Jason’s gaze was unwavering.
“One night.”
Taylor’s eyes widened.
Jason smiled and spoke quickly, before she slapped him. “I meant one evening that’s not work-related. You let me take you somewhere fun.”
She shook her head definitively. “No.”
Jason stood up reluctantly. “Okay—have it your way.” He pointed to the front of the restaurant. “There’s the door. Don’t let the paparazzi hit you on the ass on your way out.”
Taylor peeked at the mob outside. Apparently finding this option unappealing, she turned back to Jason.
“If I agree to this, there would have to be certain parameters.”
Jason shook his head. “This isn’t a negotiation, Ms. Donovan. You have my offer—take it or leave it.”
Taylor glanced outside one last time, then sighed dramatically. Jason bit back a smile. All women should have such problems.
“Does anyone ever say ‘no’ to you?” she asked him resignedly.
“No. But if it makes you feel any better, you try a
lot
harder than anyone else. So we have a deal?”
“Fine. Whatever. Just fix this.”
With that, Jason whipped out his cell phone. He hit the speed dial, slipping into crisis mode.
“Marty!” he exclaimed affectionately into the phone. Never mind that it was almost midnight on a Friday. “Listen—I need you to do something for me. I’m at Mr. Chow’s with a bunch of paparazzi outside. They just got some photographs that I would appreciate they not publish. I don’t care about me, but tell these guys that if anyone prints the name of the woman I’m with, or a picture of her face, they won’t get one word from me ever again.”
Jason waved off all his publicist’s protests. “It’s your job to make sure they understand,” he said firmly. “Tell the editors, the publishers, whoever you need to talk to, that this comes directly from me.”
He paused at Marty’s next question.
“Do I at least have a comment on the mystery woman?” Jason’s eyes darted over to Taylor as he summed her up succinctly.
“Yes. Difficult. ”