When Dreams Come True (The Star Series Book 1)
WHEN DREAMS COME TRUE
Book One of the Star Series
A novel by M. Stratton
What would you do if one day all of your dreams came true?
Melissa Loring was a successful author. She was happy living in her home at the base of the mountains in Tucson with her assistant, Hannah Mills. First the phone call came; they wanted to make one of her books into a movie. Within six months, she was flying out to Los Angeles and talking with the studio about the final script and a list of actors to play the roles. Excited about her lunch meeting, she was shocked when her muse for one of the characters walked in and sat down at the table with her.
Will Martinsson was riding high on his fame and loving every minute of it. He traveled the world meeting his legions of fans and could pick which roles he wanted. When the script was presented to him, he read it and was intrigued. Then he found out that the author had modeled the character after him, so he searched out information on her and his interest was piqued. He told the studio he wanted in, but he also wanted to meet her before he would sign on the dotted line.
When two independent, successful people meet and have a strong connection, there is nothing they can do but see where the dream takes them.
WHEN DREAMS COME TRUE
Copyright 2015 by M. Stratton
Cover by Covers by TOJ Publishing (
http://tojpublishing.com/
)
Edited by Hot Tree Editing (
http://www.hottreeedits.com/
)
Formatting by Integrity Formatting
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When Dreams Come True is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
To all the dreamers out there,
Keep dreaming, keep wishing, and keep praying
Find your dream, live your dream, create your dream.
Coming Soon: Wishing on a Star
April 2015
Melissa Loring sat in the hippest restaurant in Los Angeles trying to act like she belonged there. Looking around was like reading the most recent gossip magazine; celebrities were all over the place and she felt completely out of her element. With one ear, she listened to the lilting Australian accent of her agent. She knew she should be paying closer attention since she was going over what was going to happen at the meeting, but she was just too nervous. At some point she knew she was either going to knock something over, or when she got up she’d trip, or somehow take the whole tablecloth with her. Something was going to go wrong.
“Lissa!” Angelica Sanderson leaned over and pinched her arm. “Lissa, pay attention, they’re going to be here any minute. Remember, we already have a contract to turn your book into a movie, so this is the final meeting before deciding the final details of filming and cast. We both know how important this deal is going to be, but to them it’s nothing. It’s no sweat off their back if it doesn’t happen. We don’t want to blow anything now, so try to come up with a poker face so they don’t realize how much it means to you.”
She might only be five foot three, but Angelica was one of the fiercest agents in the business, and going up against men twice her size to boot. Putting her heart and soul behind every one of her clients, she’d do whatever it took to make sure they received the best deal. Lissa felt lucky they’d found each other and worked so well together. They’d been working together for years, and finally one of Lissa’s books was going to be turned into a movie by a big-name studio. She had Angelica to thank for that, and if things went their way, it wasn’t going to be the last deal.
“What? I have a poker face.” When Angelica narrowed her eyes at her, Lissa shrugged. “Okay, I know I don’t, but at least let me lie to myself once in a while.”
Angelica did a double-take, looking behind Lissa before she reached over and grabbed Lissa’s arm in a death grip. “Oh, my God…” She whispered.
Lissa had her back to the door and was looking at Angelica when she saw her visibly start to shake and go pale. That was something on the red-headed Aussie; Lissa didn’t think she could get any paler. She wondered what could have caused her to react like that. Slowly, Lissa turned in her chair and saw Will Martinsson walking in his six-foot-two, long, lean and dangerous stride, and he was heading in their direction. He was, by far, perfection. Lissa actually had a huge crush on him, and he had been her muse for the book they were talking about making into a movie. Her mouth went dry seeing him in person; the big screen did nothing for him, and he was more magnificent in real life. But it wasn’t just his looks, which couldn’t be tossed aside; it was his personality, his humanitarian efforts, the whole damn package which was outstanding. He effectively ruined women for any other man with the standards he’d set forth.
Her mind whirled and she had no idea what to do. Not wanting to stare, or drool, which she knew would be mortifying she turned back to Angelica and was surprised when she stood up and held her hand out.
“Sam, it’s good to see you again. You didn’t tell me you were bringing company.”
“Well, if I told you, it wouldn’t have been a surprise, now would it?” Sam Lundy’s big laugh boomed through the restaurant.
Lissa’s head whipped back around. She hadn’t even seen the studio exec walking next to Will Martinsson, she’d been so focused on him. Considering Sam was larger than his personality and laugh that was saying something. She could feel everyone’s eyes on them, but slowly she turned back toward Angelica when she heard her agent continue to speak. Lissa knew that he was right there and she was terrified she was about to say something completely stupid herself, she decided to keep her mouth shut as long as possible.
“Mr. Martinsson, I’m Angelica Sanderson, Melissa Loring’s agent.”
“Please, call me Will. And if I’m not being too forward, may I call you Angelica?” His smooth, deep British accent rumbled right behind her.
Lissa turned her head to the right and there were hands there. Will Martinsson’s hand was right next to her face. She should have stood up, but it was too late; all she could do was stare at his long, graceful fingers wrapped around her agent’s small, delicate ones. A small frown crossed her face when their hands began to rotate and slowly Will’s face came into her view as he kissed the back of Angelica’s hand.
His face was inches from hers and he smelled so good, she wanted to bury her nose in his sleeve and take a deep breath to remember the scent forever. With a quirky smile to his lips, he turned his head and looked at her. They were almost nose to nose.
“Melissa Loring, I presume?”
She could do nothing but nod. Her voice wouldn’t work, and she didn’t want to open and close her mouth like a fish out of water, testing if she could actually make words come out.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have put you in such an awkward position.” He let go of Angelica’s hand and reached down and grabbed hers, bringing it up to his lips. “Forgive me,” he implored, gazing at her over the top of her hand.
“Umm… yeah… sure…” She blinked a few times and tried to smile, but she was afraid it came across as a grimace. Her mind raced to come up with something brilliant to say to him, but her thoughts were a vast wasteland at the moment.
Easily, he stood back up to his very tall, impressive height and she followed his face up, not wanting to look at what was at eye level. Her face flamed red even at the thought. Deciding she needed to do something else, she looked at Angelica and almost burst out laughing as she wondered if they wore matching lovesick faces for him.
Both men walked around the table and sat down, Will Martinsson taking the seat right next to Lissa. Her mind scrambled and she knew she had to stop using both of his names to think of him. It would be so embarrassing if she did that in a conversation with him.
I am having a conversation with Will Martinsson. No, not just a conversation. We’re having lunch. What am I supposed to do?
Deciding to let Angelica take the lead, she reached out with shaking hands to take a drink of water. She was hoping she wasn’t going to spill any, or that anyone would notice she took a large gulp as the sound of her blood rushed through her ears, drowning out most of the noise in the restaurant.