Starstruck - Book Two (4 page)

“Scrambled eggs?” I asked. “Orange juice? Toast with
butter?”

“You got it,” she said as she spun on her heel and began
pulling items from the refrigerator.

I quickly moved out of her way and tiptoed outside to the patio
area near the grotto, grabbing my phone off the charger in the kitchen first. I
knew it was still early back home, but I had to talk to Piper. It had been almost
three days, and I didn’t want her to think I’d forgotten about her.

I got comfortable in one of the pale, wicker dining chairs
and wasted no time calling Miss Piper Ann.

“Hello, hello,” I said to her. “Good morning!”

“Brynn?” she groaned.

“Did I wake you? I thought you’d be getting up and ready for
work by now?” I felt bad.

“It’s my day off. It’s okay,” she said. “Good to hear from
you. I was getting worried.”

I laughed. “You have absolutely nothing to be worried about.
It is ah-mazing out here.”

“Oh, yeah?” she asked.

“I wish you were out here with me,” I pouted, though I
quickly realized she couldn’t see the pout on my face. I missed our
face-to-face heart-to-hearts.

“What’s it like so far?” she asked. She was waking up more
and more by the second, and I was relieved that she was showing interest. I
felt like we hadn’t left things on the best of terms.

“The weather is beautiful, Piper,” I sighed. “His house is
so peaceful. I’m sitting outside by the grotto, listening to the waterfall
while his housekeeper is making me breakfast.”

“Wow,” she said. “That sounds pretty amazing.”

“It is,” I said. “If you’d told me a week ago that this was
going to be my life, I would’ve never believed you.”

“So you’re not coming back to Rock River?” Piper asked.
“Ever?”

“I’ve only been here three days,” I snorted. “I have no idea
what tomorrow will bring. I’m not ruling out anything, but right now I’m really
trying to make this work with him.”

“I see,” she said. It wasn’t like her to be at a loss for
words. Ever.

“Yesterday he had his stylist send me over the most amazing
outfit, and then he took me out for a romantic dinner at some Old Hollywood
restaurant. We drank wine and ate at the same booth Marilyn Monroe used to eat
at,” I said. I hoped she didn’t think I was bragging.

“Interesting,” Piper said. She apparently didn’t share in my
excitement, and that was concerning to me.

“If you come out, I’ll have to take you there,” I told her.

“Here you are, Miss Brynn,” Flor said as the sliding door
behind me opened. She sat a tray of fluffy scrambled eggs, buttered wheat
toast, and a glass of orange juice in front of me. “Just leave it here when
you’re done. I’ll take care of it.”

“Who was that?” Piper asked.

“Flor,” I said. “Hudson’s house manager, chef, cleaning
person, whatever.”

“Weird,” she said. “I can’t even imagine what that would be
like.”

“It’s pretty amazing,” I said. “She’s pretty loyal to
Hudson. She does whatever he tells her to do. Hudson’s at a meeting this
morning. I didn’t expect her to wait hand and foot on me, but she offered to
make me breakfast, so I took her up on it.”

“Isn’t that kind of what she’s paid for?” Piper asked.

“I guess,” I said. “Don’t mind me while I eat my breakfast,
okay?”

I took a bite of the fluffy, scrambled eggs Flor had so graciously
served up to me and they were nothing short of incredible. Knowing Hudson, the
eggs were probably local or farm-fresh or organic or something. Even in Iowa,
we didn’t always eat that well.

“You said you went out last night with Hudson, right?” Piper
said.

“Yeah, why?” I asked with a mouthful of food.

“Your pictures are all over the internet,” she said. “I just
pulled up TMZ on my laptop. Brynn, did you fall?”

My mouth suddenly went dry, and I had to force myself to
wash down the remains of my bite of eggs with a big gulp of orange juice.

“What are you talking about?” I asked her.

“They’re calling you Hudson Smith’s Mystery Woman,” she
said. “There are pictures of you tripping and you can see up your skirt.”

“I was wearing underwear, I swear,” I said as my cheeks
burned red hot. I suddenly remembered they were lacy and almost see through.
They didn’t stand a chance against the harsh, bright flash of a camera bulb.

“Oh, my gosh,” Piper said. “People are saying some pretty
harsh things about you in the comments section. What assholes.”

“Don’t read them to me,” I begged her, though I knew it
would only be a matter of time before I was reading them myself. I couldn’t not
read them. I had to know what people were saying about me.

“This is like high school all over again,” she said. I could
tell she was slightly amused. “People are really immature.”

“Stop,” I said. “I don’t want to hear anymore.”

“Your dress is pretty though,” she said.

“I have to let you go, Piper,” I said. “I’ll call you
another time, okay?”

I couldn’t hang up with her fast enough as my fingers
frantically pulled up the web browser on my phone. I went to the first gossip
site I could think of and saw my picture plastered on the front page.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I mumbled. “No. No. No. He
said this wouldn’t happen.”

I ran to Hudson’s shower as hot tears fell down my cheeks
and rogue sobs escaped my mouth. I didn’t want Flor to hear me cry. Not that
she’d care, but I had too much pride.

I stripped everything off and stood under the hot and steamy
running water. Cries escaped my mouth as the cruel words I’d just read were
burned into my mind. I’d never forget those things as long as I lived. I knew I
shouldn’t have come out to L.A. I knew I wouldn’t fit in out here.

“Brynn?” I heard a man’s voice say after several minutes.
Hudson was back.

“Hudson?” I called out, peeking my head out from the shower.
Even though I looked like a drowned rat, I was quite sure he’d be able to tell
I’d been crying. “You’re back already?”

“I had the wrong day for the meeting,” he sighed, annoyed at
himself. “I realized that when I got about halfway to his office.”

I popped my head back into the shower and ran my face under
the water, hoping to hide any signs of crying.

“Are you okay?” he asked as he approached the shower
entrance. “Flor thought she heard you crying.”

Damn it, Flor.

“I’m fine,” I insisted as I smiled, but soon I succumbed. I
couldn’t lie. It was going to come out sooner or later. My smile twisted into a
frown as the tears began to spill down my cheeks again. No amount of shower
water was going to hide the fact that I was falling apart right in front of
him.

“Oh, geez,” he said while he studied my face. “Let’s get you
out of there. Talk to me, Brynn. Tell me what’s wrong.”

He reached over and pulled his fluffy, white robe off a
hook. I shut off the water and stepped out as he wrapped me in downy comfort
and led me back out to his room. I sat down on the bed and let the tears fall,
landing on my lap in large splatters.

“Why are you crying?” he asked. “Are you homesick? Do you
not want to be here?”

“No, no,” I said. “None of that.”

“Then what’s wrong? I don’t understand,” he said.

I wanted to tell him so badly, but I was embarrassed. What
would he think of me if he knew I’d been reading gossip sites? The last thing I
wanted was for him to think I was some groupie or pathetic girl looking for her
fifteen minutes of fame.

“I talked to Piper this morning,” I said.

“Oh, god,” he sighed. “Does this have to do with that Luke
asshole again?”

“No,” I said with a furrowed brow. “Nothing to do with him.
She said my pictures were all over the internet.”

“Pictures?” he was confused.

“From last night,” I said. “Pictures of me tripping. You can
see up my skirt and right through my underwear.”

He cringed. “I’m so sorry, Brynn. I honestly didn’t think
those would make it anywhere since no one knows you.”

“That’s the thing,” I said. “No one knows me, but they want
to know who I am because I was with you.”

He scratched his chin and sighed. “Must be a slow week in
celebrity gossip if that’s making headlines.”

“I’m being called your Mystery Woman,” I said.

He laughed. “That’s a horrible name. They couldn’t think of
anything better than that?”

“I don’t find it funny at all,” I said as I glared at him.
How could he laugh about any of this? Where was the protective Hudson who saved
me from the evil paparazzi the night before?

“Look, Brynn, this stuff is just par for the course,” he
said. “I’m sorry I laughed. I guess I’m just so used to it that it doesn’t even
bother me anymore. I can understand why you’d be so upset. I’m sorry.”

“The up-skirt photos are the least of my concern actually,”
I said.

“Okay, then what’s wrong?”

“The comments,” I said, as I hung my head in shame. I knew
he was going to lecture me for reading them. I shouldn’t have read them, I knew
that, but I couldn’t resist.

“Oh, god,” he groaned. “Why did you read the comments? You
know those are nothing but trolls hiding behind their computer screens trying
to think of the worst possible thing they can say about someone they’re jealous
of.”

“I know, I know,” I said. “I knew I shouldn’t read them, but
I couldn’t help it.”

“Please don’t ever read those comments again,” he said.
“Going forward I mean. If you’re ever photographed again, and it will happen,
just try to stay away from those stupid websites.”

“They called me fat,” I sighed. “And ugly. Said I was a
nobody. Wondered what you saw in me.”

I rattled off all the nasty, horrible things people had
said.

“Brynn, you know none of that is true,” he said. “Not at
all.”

“It’s nice that you think that,” I said.

“Isn’t my opinion all that matters anyway?” he asked. “Who
are you dating? Them or me?”

He had an excellent point.

“I guess I just don’t feel like I fit in out here,” I said.
“And those comments just solidified exactly what I was thinking.”

He shook his head. “Brynn.”

“What?” I asked. My thoughts were perfectly rational.

“If you really feel like that much of an outsider and if you
really want to blend in out here, I can make a few phone calls and we can make
that happen,” he said. “But before we do any of that, I want you to know that I
like you exactly the way you are.”

My face lit up, and I could feel the tears drying fast.

“I don’t want you to change because you think you’ll be more
acceptable to those trolls,” he said. “They’re going to attack you no matter
what. Just know that.”

“What kind of phone calls are you going to make?” I asked. I
prayed he wasn’t going to mention a plastic surgeon. Visions of looking like a
big-breasted bimbo with a pinched little nose and overinflated lips flashed
through my head.

“I know some people who work in the industry,” he said.
“Hairstylist. Wardrobe people. Makeup people. Manicurist. We can outfit you
with a whole new wardrobe and a new look to match it. But only if that’s what
you want.”

Getting a makeover with some of the best people in ‘the
business’ was like a dream come true. I would never turn it down in a million
years. It was my Pretty Woman moment, and I wasn’t about to let my pride get in
the way of that.

“Um, yes!” I said as I jumped up and climbed onto his lap,
straddling him with my robe open.

His face lit up at the sight of me smiling again.

“Okay, let me make a few phone calls,” he said. “Finish
getting ready. I’ll have a limo pick you up this afternoon.”

I ran back to the bathroom like a giddy schoolgirl and
finished my shower. Hours later, a black limousine was waiting outside to take
me away.

Hudson walked me out, slipping his arm around my waist and
kissing me before I left.

“Have fun, Brynn,” he said with a wink as he slipped me his
black American Express card. “Today’s your day. Anything you want, okay?”

The driver opened the limo door for me and I climbed in
expecting to be by myself.