Grounded By You (5 page)

She held that picture clearly in her mind as she felt Sam move away from her.

“Ready?” His voice was soft as if he didn’t want to break the spell he was casting over her.

“I’m ready,” she said. She looked down at the script and pictured herself as Camilla. She recalled the context of the scene from what she read in
Moolen’s novel.

It was late summer in 1928. Camilla had just had another fight with her father. Recently turned eighteen, she wanted nothing more than to escape from under her father’s thumb and the boring, slow life at the Willoughby Inn. Her father was pushing her to marry a local farmer by the name of Michael Shy, who was twenty years older than Camilla. She wanted nothing to do with marriage or having children, which was definitely what Farmer Shy had in mind. She wanted to decide her own fate, and that included having the chance to fall in love with a man of her own choosing.

After the fight, she fled down to the water’s edge with tears streaming down her face. It seemed like the walls of fate were closing around her, and she felt like screaming. She didn’t hear the presence of someone behind her until it was too late.

“Are you alright, Ms. Fletcher?”

Millie turned her cheek, careful to duck her chin. Camilla wouldn’t have wanted anyone to know that she was crying.

“Fine. I didn’t know that anyone else was out here.”

“ I was just getting some fresh air. It’s been a difficult evening.” Sam moved closer to her.

Millie knew from the book that Camilla had already noticed the handsome
lawyer who had recently arrived from Washington, D.C. Jackson Monroe was the kind of man that everyone noticed.

“I’m sorry to have disturbed you, Mr. Monroe,” Millie murmured, starting to step away from the window. “I’ll be on my way.”

“Wait,” Sam’s eyes caught hers, and for a moment Millie felt the line between reality and fiction blur. She saw something inside of Sam’s eyes that called out to her. “Please, don’t rush off on my account. There’s plenty of beach for the both of us.”

Millie broke the stare to look down at the script. “My father wouldn’t approve. He says that the guests have no desire to associate themselves with the staff.”

Sam threw back his head and laughed. “I have been bored stiff talking to the other guests. They are twice my age and speak of nothing but stocks, bonds, religion, and politics.”

Millie gave him a small smile. Sam slid into Jackson’s character effortlessly, and it was amazing to watch. He looked relaxed and confident, just as she envisioned Jackson would be. “They are quite full of themselves,” she agreed.

“Exactly. It is refreshing to speak to someone normal,” Sam said. “We haven’t been properly introduced although I remember you from when we checked in yesterday. And please, no more ‘Mr. Monroe’. It makes think my father is behind me.  Call me Jackson.”

“My father wouldn’t approve,” Millie said, shaking her head. She could imagine Camilla’s reaction to having a man like Jackson Monroe speak that way to her. It would have made her knees weak “I should go before he comes looking for me.”

Sam bowed slightly at the waist. “Well, until we meet again, Ms. Fletcher.” Then he reached down and took her hand. His lips brushed against her skin and unlike when Will had done the same thing the night before, Millie felt a rush of heat build in her core. Their eyes met again, and this time she definitely forgot to breathe. She forgot to look at the script. She forgot that they were playing a part. All’s she knew in that moment was that there was something about Sam that enticed her like a moth to a flame.

Then Sam grinned and pulled her against him. Millie thought for a second that he was going to kiss her the way his eyes traced their way down to her lips. Then he pushed her away and twirled her in a circle around before releasing her hand. He bowed low with a flourish.

“How was that, madam?”

Millie couldn’t help but laugh and clap her hands. “Excellent. All the girls are going to swoon.”

“Well, that wasn’t exactly what I was going for, but I guess it’ll do,” Sam said, deliberately accenting his Southern drawl. “I’m just hoping to make my momma proud.”

“What do your parents think of all of this?” Millie asked.

“I haven’t told them yet,” Sam said. “I’ve been kind of busy processing it all myself. I didn’t mean to break character. We can keep going.”

Millie felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She pulled it out and grimaced when she saw that it was Josh. “Give me a sec.” There was a part of her that was grateful for the interruption. She needed the space to gather her thoughts again. “Hey, jerk,” she said, answering the call.

“I’m hurt,” her brother replied. She could hear the teasing in his voice. He knew exactly why she had called him a jerk. “Sorry about last night. Let me make it up to you.”

“I’m not even going to talk to you about your little ploy last night other than to say, it didn’t work.”

“What are you talking about?” Her brother’s feigned ignorance grated on her nerves. She saw Sam’s raised eyebrows as he unabashedly eavesdropped. “Mother said you’re having brunch with her today.”

“I left her a message that we’d have to push it back a few hours,” Millie said, rubbing the bridge of her nose. The thought of spending even ten minutes in her mother’s company gave her a headache.

“I was just talking with her, and she said to tell you that you’re expected at the tea room in twenty minutes. She doesn’t care what you were doing, you had a commitment to her first, and she has too many things to do today to change her schedule,” Josh said, mimicking their mother’s voice. “But the good news is that I cleared my schedule so that I could join you.”

Millie groaned. “That woman is so infuriating.”

“Tell me about it,” Josh chuckled. “You’re just like her.”

“I am not!”

“See you there in twenty then?”

“Fine.” Millie hung up without saying goodbye. As much as she detested the idea of spending time with her mother, she was looking forward to seeing Josh. His presence would ensure that the conversation remained civil.

“I’m sorry, Sam. It appears that I can’t get out of this brunch thing with my mother. If I wasn’t just getting back into town it wouldn’t be a big deal, but she’ll make my life miserable until I do what she wants.”

“It’s okay,” Sam said. She could tell that he was disappointed that she was leaving. “You going to tell her about your new plan?”

“That would require my mother to show an interest in me beyond how I’m adding value to her social life, which isn’t how she operates,” Millie said, starting to gather up her purse and jacket. “I wish my family was as cool as yours.”

Over the previous summer, Millie spent several evenings with the
Groveson family. His grandfather lived with his parents, and his younger sister was still in high school. They were warm and welcoming, and she could tell how much they all cared about each other by the mild teasing and friendly banter between them. It was the exact opposite of her interactions with her parents.

Sam walked her to the door, and, after he opened it, he leaned against the frame. He put his hand on her shoulder and surprised her by pulling her into a tight hug. “When can I see you again?” he murmured against her ear sending shivers down her spine. “Don’t forget I’m a pathetic mess unable to cope with the pressures of my new Hollywood lifestyle.”

She breathed in the smell of his cologne, but resisted the urge to sniff the skin at the crook of his neck. “I’ll call you later, but I’m sure you’ll be fine.” She stepped away from him, missing the warmth of his body. She waved at him before turning away.

Millie looked over her shoulder as she walked away. Sam stood there watching her with an expression she couldn’t read, but it made her giddy feeling the weight of his stare. It was official. She was losing her mind. Being with Sam made her feel things she had never felt before. Maybe spending time with her mother would be exactly what she needed to regain her common sense.

After lunch, Sam had no choice but to leave his apartment. He couldn’t get Millie out of his head. There was something that passed between them during the read through of the scene. He was sure of it. At the last minute though, he chickened out on going through with doing what he wanted to do, and instead pushed her away from him into a silly dance move. He wasn’t sure if it was disappointment or relief on her face afterward, but it didn’t matter anyway. They were interrupted by Josh’s call, and then she was gone.

He grabbed his gym bag on the way out the door. He hoped to get a workout in after meeting with his agent. He needed to relieve some of the excess energy and tension that rolled through his system.

Sam had forgotten about the photographers until the doors of the elevator opened, and he saw them standing there. There was a part of him that wanted to turn to the left and creep out of the side door of the building. Then he chided himself. If he was going to be a movie star, dealing with the paparazzi was part of the job description.

Stepping outside, he saw four men immediately jump to attention and raise their cameras snapping pictures of him.

“Carter, how does it feel to have landed such a plum gig?” one of them asked even as he snapped Sam’s picture.

“No comment,” he mumbled as he pushed his way through them. He heard them call out to him again, and he wondered if they’d follow him, but they didn’t. He hurried down the street and around the corner.

That wasn’t so bad, he thought. It was a good pep talk for himself.

His agent, Victoria Pierce, had an office in Midtown. He thought about walking all the way there just to blow off some steam, but decided against it. Victoria was clear about how she always expected him to present himself in her office, showered, shaved, and in clean clothes. No smoking, no hangover, no women hanging all over him, and no entourage. He could only wonder what she had seen with her clients in the past that caused her to come up with those rules.

It took almost half an hour to get there on the subway, and Sam kept imagining that everyone was looking at him. He knew that he was being silly. He was an unknown actor in a movie that surely only a handful of Walter Moolen diehards cared about. Not that many people really cared about it or him. He looked at his watch as he emerged from the subway station and grimaced when he saw that he was going to be late. Victoria didn’t care for it when her clients were late.

As he stumbled into her office, her secretary, Bernice, looked up and frowned at him. Sam had no idea how old Bernice was, but with her steel grey hair and stern look, she was an imposing figure despite the fact that Sam didn’t think she stood as tall as his shoulder. “You can go right in. She’s expecting you,” Bernice said with a clucking noise. “I’ll warn you though, she’s in a mood.”

“Great,” Sam said, rolling his eyes. He passed Bernice and threw her a wink. He thought he saw a tiny smile cross her face. It was always a good idea to stay on Bernice’s good side.

Taking a deep breath, he ran a hand through his hair, and then stepped through the door into Victoria’s office. His agent looked up at him from her desk with an unreadable expression.

“You’re late.”

“Sorry,” Sam said, knowing it was better to say less on the subject rather than more.

He still wasn’t sure what Victoria saw in him during his initial reads at school that made her call him up and inquire if he had any representation yet. Whatever the reason, Victoria obviously saw something in him that he didn’t. She was the one who pushed him to audition for
Where My Heart Breaks
despite his protests
,
and told him he’d make perfect Jackson Monroe. It turned out the casting director agreed with her.

Victoria was in her late forties but could easily pass for a woman in her early thirties. Her platinum blond hair was wound into a fashionable bun at the base of her neck, and her red suit was perfectly tailored to her trim form. He read somewhere that she modeled early in her career, and he could see it. She was also a straight shooter who didn’t pull any punches. Sam learned early on that working with Victoria meant developing a much thicker skin than he had before.

He sat down across from her and waited for her to speak.

“So I’ve been on the phone all morning with the studio,” Victoria said. “They are extremely pleased with the amount of attention the press release has gotten so far this morning. It seems like everybody wants to know everything about you. That’s good news for you.”

“That’s flattering,” Sam said. “Of course, there’s not that much to tell about me.”

Victoria leaned back in her chair. “Yeah, they’re concerned that you might be a little too squeaky clean.”

Sam raised his eyebrows. “And that’s a bad thing?”

Victoria chuckled. “Not with how we’ll spin it, kid. Actually, that will work in our favor because it’s a fascinating angle. We’ve got a small town good guy playing a suave, debonair prick who cheats on his wife. That wholesome thing you’ve got going for you is a good thing.”

Sam wasn’t sure what to think about that. “Thanks, I guess?”

“We’re going to amp it up a little bit, just to get the public really juiced about this movie,” Victoria said, drumming her fingers on the desk. “I know that the public is going to love you. Every woman out there is going to want to be Delaney Rose, and be the one who gets to be that close to you. It’s a perfect fantasy romance.”