Absolutely Famous (13 page)

“Enjoying the view?” he says, smiling. I scow
l at his words but he continues. “Outside. Isn’t it the best view?” Oops, he was talking about the actual view, not calling me out for looking at his body.

This is the first time I’ve seen him without a perma-scowl on his face. He’s even more handsome than I originally thought.
He should be a model for rugged men’s outdoor gear or something like that, not a project manager for a hotel chain.

“Yes… I mean, outside… the view… it’s nice.”

Oliver’s eyebrows lift as I stumble over my words. I see the corner of his mouth twitch a little. It’s clear that he finds my embarrassment amusing. Great.

“Did you need something?” I snap, crossing my arms over my chest. I’m not letting him see me as weak like Jeff Talley does, or did until our meeting.

“Actually, I wanted to go over some figures with you if you have a minute. Would you like to grab a bite to eat downstairs?”

“Oh
.”. It’s probably not a great idea to be seen in public alone with a man who isn’t Drew, but I won’t eat with him in my room and it’s way too dusty in here to have food brought up. We really do need to go over the budget points, and I haven’t eaten in a long time. “Fine,” I say sharply. Then I realize how bitchy I sound and correct myself. “Yes, that sounds great,” I make a half-hearted attempt to force a smile across my stressed out face.

He gives me an odd look and shakes his head, rubbing his hand over his short
hair. “Alright, let’s get to it.” He gestures for me to go first.

The food in the dining room of the Warren Hotel is fantastic. Oliver tells me that the head chef studied in northern Italy for five years before taking over Bella Cusina and giving the menu a major overhaul. You can tell that the chef knows his food. Everything is delicious. I start to wonder what Drew would say to the chef if he w
ere here, which makes me depressed.

We are able to go over most of the budgetary points as we eat, covering everything that Oliver needed to know before submitting the report to accounting. We’re almost done with our meal when he puts away the notepad and sits back in his chair, eyeing me c
uriously.

“What? Why are you staring at me like that
? Do I have food on my face or something?” I rub my hands over my mouth and chin to see if there’s any runaway sauce.

He laughs at my mini-freak out. “No, Sydney. Nothing on your face. You’re just very different than I expected
.” He stares at me with his intense gray eyes.

“Oh.” I feel the heat blazing through my cheeks at his honesty.

“I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” he says kindly, leaning in so no one else can hear him.

“Okay.
” I nervously tuck my hair behind my ear. “What do you mean by different?”

Do I really want to know the answer to that?

“Well, don’t take this the wrong way, but I pretty much thought you’d be a pampered princess.” He at least has the grace to look uncomfortable at his unwarranted judgment of me.

“A pampered princess.
” I respond, my tone clearly letting him know that I’m not finding him amusing in the least.

He holds up a hand
. “No, you’re definitely not like that, Sydney. I guess I just made an assumption based on Jeff’s celebrity stories. Then knowing who you are and who you date, I figured you were probably shallow and spoiled.”

My face betrays me as usual, displaying every bit of
the hostility that I feel right now. Not even his sexy British accent can make his words sound cute or playful, they’re downright rude.

Oliver catches my displeasure
and stumbles on his words. “I’m a wanker, Syd. Sorry. I’m trying to complement you and it’s coming out as a bunch of insults. You’re not any of those things, that’s what I’m saying. I expected a Hollywood type, but you, you’re just… interesting.”

I relax
some, understanding what he’s attempting to convey. “I guess I’m sick of being
interesting
. I feel like I’m on display in a zoo half of the time. I mean, you saw Jeff the other day.” I shrug my shoulders and pretend it didn’t bother me.

“Yes, I did see Jeff.” Oliver leans back in his chair again, tapping his fingers on the tablecloth as he regards me. “He’s like a useless pair of tits, isn’t he?”

I nearly choke on my water when he says that. Sputtering, I grab my napkin and clean up the table. “You don’t even know the half of it.”

Oliver smirks.
“I do know. He’s been here a couple of weeks. I’m pretty sure I have a bloody good idea of what he’s like.” His gray eyes meet mine and I feel trapped, like he thinks if he stares at me long enough he can figure me out.

A text message alert makes me jump out of my skin, but thankfully allows the strange moment to slip away.

“I’m sorry Mr. Clarke, I need to check that.” I pull out my phone and read the new message.

Leah <
Hey. MI6 guy brought the stuff. Come up to Ry’s suite
.>

It’s Leah. The realities of my crappy situation come flooding back full force. At least I had an hour to forget about the shitstorm that surrounds me.

Sighing, I gather my things. “I have to go. I’m going to continue to work on the sketches and should have something more concrete in a couple of days.”

He stands up when I do and shakes my hand. “Just let me know if you need anything, Sydney. And by the way,
call me Oliver.”

“Okay, Oliver
.” I give him a weak smile.

I turn and leave the dining room, crossing to the bank of elevators off of the lobby. As I wait, I get a chill up my back. I have that feeling again, that someone is watching me. My eyes dart across the lobby, seeing no one.

God help me, I’m losing my mind
.

Chapter
18

On the way up to Leah and Ryker’s suite, I remember that I h
aven’t checked the Google Alert yet. I pull up the correct screen and push the one with my name on it.

CelebCast
- www.celebcast.com – Tannen/Sydney

I see the website that the alert is for and I can’t swallow. My throat feels tight and I can’t get enough air into my lungs. I bend over and clutch my stomach, taking huge gasping breaths. The doors open and I fall out of the elevator and into the hallway. Scrambling to get upright, I hurry to Leah’s door and start pounding on it.

“What the hell?” Leah says as she lets me in. Her face falls when she sees the condition that I’m in. “What happened? Did someone try to hurt you?”

“No, nothing like that. It’s them, Leah. The spies. Another article.” I hold up my phone, panting between words as I struggle to calm down.

“Have you read it yet?”

“No, I don’t know if I can, Leah. I can’t take any more stress.” I drop onto the couch and bury my face in my shaky hands, letting the tears flow freely.

“I’ll do it, Syd
.” She clicks the link and begins to read. I notice her expressions change as her eyes skim across each line. Surprise, anger, sadness, then pity as she looks up at me.

“What,” I whisper.

“You don’t have to read it, Syd.”

Shit. It’s bad. Really bad
.

“Give me the phone, Leah.
” I hold out a trembling hand for the phone.

“Don’t do it Sydney. Call Drew
.”

“Give me the phone!” I cry, completely unbalanced.

Leah drops it into my hand and heads over to the bar.

Andrew Forrester and Kiera Radcliff Have Intimate Rendezvous in Hotel Room

Once again, CelebCast investigators have the inside scoop on the tumultuous relationship between ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ Andrew Forrester and daughter of Hollywood royalty Sydney Tannen. The couple has been spending time on different continents lately, with Forrester filming in Vancouver and Tannen working in London. Tannen has been spotted out clubbing with uber-hot musician Adam Reynolds. Has Forrester done the same and gotten cozy with his co-star?

Last night, Kiera Radcliff went to Forrester’s hotel in Vancouver for an intimate dinner served in his suite. They enjoyed each other’s company until late at night, when Radcliff was spotted leaving in a private car around midnight. Are these two transferring some of their smoking hot on screen chemistry to real life?

Keep checking CelebCast for up to the minute updates on this hot story
.

That’s it, I’m going to have a total nervous breakdown, I know it. I put the phone down on the coffee table and bury my head in my hands.

“It’s not true, Sydney, and you know it
.” She sits next to me and hands me a shot of tequila and has another one for herself. She downs hers and waits until I do the same.

I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand. “Leah, that’s the site that’s never wrong. The one that always knows what’s going on behind closed doors. I’m not stupid
.” My voice is wavering.

“No. He hates her. I’ve seen it in person. There’s no way he would ever do that.”

“It’s probably payback for the photos of me and Adam.”

Leah grabs the tops of my arms and twists me around to face her.

“First of all, Jane told him that the article was bullshit. He knows you didn’t do anything with Adam! Second, he loves you. You! I saw him lose his shit when you disappeared to Belize! I saw him when you were in the hospital recovering from the attack! Drew. Would. Not. Do. That.” Leah’s chest is heaving as she spits out the words that I need to hear. She takes my hands and looks in my eyes. “He would do anything for you Sydney. Anything. The last thing he would ever do is purposely hurt you.”

I know this, really I do. “But the article
.”

“I don’t give a shit what the article says
. Let’s go get our fancy MI6 spy finders and get this shit out of our lives.” She gets up and snatches a black rectangle the size of a cellphone off of the side table and heads to the door. “C’mon Syd, I already swept this suite with Secret Agent Man. It was clean. Let’s go do yours.”

Having no choice, I stand up and follow Leah.

My new two bedroom suite is on the same floor as Leah and Ryker’s. We turn a corner and go down a long hallway to my room. I swipe the new keycard that I was given and open the door. The suite is very similar to the one we just left, only the bedrooms are on the opposite side. My bags have been set in one of the bedrooms already.

Leah shows me how to turn on the bug detector and slowly moves around the kitchen. When nothing happens, she hands it to me.

“Here, you do the rest. You have to be able to do it yourself,” she says.

I give her the side eye.
“I think I’m capable of walking around with this thing in my hand, Leah. It’s not exactly rocket science here.”

She puts h
er hands on her hips and frowns. “Well excuse me for wanting to be sure that you catch these bastards.”

I look at her and start to laugh. I can’t help it. It’s as though all of the stress and anxiety and tension bursts out of me in a fit of hysteria. She realizes that this whole situation really is pretty stupid and laughs with me until tears stream down our faces.

I wipe my eyes and finally control myself. “Did you ever think it would come to this, Leah? Sweeping our places for bugs and defending ourselves against tabloids?”

She giggles, “Not in a million years, Syd.”

Twenty minutes and not a single listening device is found in the suite.

“Maybe it was in the old room,” Leah says.

I shrug. “Agent Wilson said that they’re putting the device in the room and then taking it out. I’ll check again later.” I place the bug finder on the table.

“Let’s go out
.”

My eyes practically bug out of my hea
d. “Are you insane? After the fallout from the other night?”

“Just girls, Syd. I’ll call Brittney, Ryker’s PA, and she’ll get some girls on the crew to join us.”

Girl’s night sounds so good right now. Acting young and letting go of these insurmountable problems for a night. I did have a great time out at the club, even in spite of the altercation with those jerks on the dance floor. But the repercussions the next day in the tabloids pretty much sucked.

“The tabloids can print whatever they want, Syd. Ryker and Adam won’t be with us. There’
s nothing scandalous about that.” She’s trying her best to justify it to me.

“Okay, let’s do it. I need to forget about all of this shit.”

“First, you need to call Jane or Drew and tell them about the spying. Obviously, they’re listening to him too.”

I blanch
. “I didn’t think of that.” How can I call Drew and tell him that someone is spying on us? Especially after reading that article and knowing that at least some of it, if not all of it, is true.

“Right now
. We know that there are no listening devices in here. You need to do it now.” She stares me down, her brows clenched and her pretty face all contorted.

“Fine,” I huff. “But I’m calling Jane, not Drew. I just … I can’t.”

I sit on the couch and dial Jane before I can chicken out and throw the phone in the garbage disposal.

“Hello, Sydney. Having fun in London?” a sultry female voice says.

I think a part of me just splintered off and died. I can’t speak. Leah notices and waves her hand in front of my face. I can’t respond to her flailing.

“Did you have a reason for calling?” the voice says again.

“Sydney?” Leah asks, clearly worried. But all I can hear is the rushing of blood behind my eardrums.

The phone slips out of my hand and hits the coffee table with a
thunk
. Leah snatches it up, putting it to her ear, “Who is this?” I hear her ask. “Really? … Go to hell, bitch! ... Yep, you heard me! … No, you watch your back. And don’t ever threaten me again.” She hangs up the phone and drops onto the couch next to me, scowling.

“Why is Kiera Radcliff answering Jane’s phone?” Leah asks me in disbelief.

“I don’t know. Let’s go get drunk,” I whisper.

“Amen girl.” Leah stands up and heads into my closet to find us something sexy to wear.

Three hours later I am feeling awesome. Leah got a group of ten girls together to go out tonight. We meet at ClockTower, a dance club not too far from our hotel. Leah had Brittany call and get us on the VIP list. Knowing Ryker Bancroft opens a lot of doors, even if he’s not with you. Leah insists we got in because the bouncer recognized me, which I adamantly denied. The paparazzi did get shots of us arriving at the club, but I didn’t care one bit since it was just us girls, plus New Sydney doesn’t give a fuck.

“Want to get another drink?” Brittany yells in my ear over the loud club music.

“Sure!” She grabs my hand and we push through the pulsating crowd toward the bar.

We get our drinks and head back to our group. They’re all on the dance floor having fun and letting loose. Some of the girls are getting pretty frisky with a few of the local boys. I see Leah in the center, dancing with Rachel and Jess, two of the lighting crew.

“I’m going to sit down for a while,” I tell Brittany. “My feet are throbbing.” She nods and motions toward the dance floor, letting me know that she’ll be there with our friends.

I walk past the massive bouncer that guards the entrance to the VIP lounge and sit down at an empty seat at our table. Happy to have a moment to myself, I close my eyes and listen to the music. The alcohol has relaxed me, I feel like a noodle. The sound of a chair being pulled out next to me interrupts my peace, but I don’t bother to look up. I’m sure it’s just Leah or one of the other girls.

“Hello beautiful,” the person next to me says.

My eyes fly open and I sit up straight. An attractive man with
dark blonde hair and deep navy eyes is leaning toward me with his elbows on his knees, his drink on the table between us.

“Hello,” I say cautiously. “Do I know you?” I
know full well that I have never met this person before. New Sydney doesn’t panic though. She’s strong enough to dismiss pushy guys.

“I don’t believe we’ve met, no. You really don’t know me?” he
asks, squinting his eyes at me in disbelief.

Why the hell would I know you buddy?

He looks puzzled and then grins at me. Damn, he’s really hot. Not my type, but hot nonetheless.

He sits back and puts a stir stick in his mouth, chewing on it thoughtfully. He is truthfully, one of the best looking human beings I have ever laid eyes on. And considering some of the people I’ve met, that says a lot. He’s tall like Drew, a few inches over six feet if I had to guess. His blue eyes sparkle with mischief and stand out against his smooth, tan skin. He has a perfect smile, all straight white teeth and pouty lips.

Composing myself I speak, “You’re American.” I take a casual sip of my drink and glance over at Leah and the other girls. They’ve been swallowed up by the massive crowd on the dance floor.
Damn.
I turn back to the guy next to me.

“Yes, as are you
. You’re Sydney Tannen, aren’t you?”

My blood turns to ice when he says that. I stiffen up and start to close down
. He must notice the change in me, and how could he miss it? My face always reads like an open book.

He holds his hands up in a gesture meant to calm me down, “It’s not like that. I’m not a fan or anything
.”.

My brows pull together in bewilderment.

“I mean, obviously I’m a fan,” he smiles, gesturing to my body in a suggestive way. I clench my teeth together and twitch.

What a giant asshole!

“Ahhh… crap. Sorry, I don’t mean… I’m not saying…” He drags his hand down his face in mortification. “God, I suck.”

Wow. Super-hot guy isn’t so smooth
.

It’s so comical to watch him stumbling over his words that I start laughing. I can’t help it. I’m angry and annoyed, but most men who are this good-looking and cocky aren’t prone to being tongue-tied.

My laughter makes the corner of his mouth quirk up in amusement.

“Well, I’m glad you’re entertained by me,” he says petulantly. Wh
en I don’t respond he continues. “Are you just going to laugh at me or are you going to say something?”

“I’m sorry, but you just keep digging yourself deeper and deeper in that hole you’re sitting in over there. I wouldn’t want to interrupt the show
.” I can’t stop giggling.

He gives me a genuine smile.
“I’m normally better at this, but you make me nervous.”

“
I
make
you
nervous?” I’m astonished that a man like this would find me intimidating. He can have any woman he wants.