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Stunned, Carmen couldn’t understand what the hell had just happened. Was she supposed to believe that Fortune had somehow marshaled two souls toward some great love? That was insane and absolutely not how anything worked.

CHAPTER7

It tooktwo days for Starla to get her ass back to Lola’s office. That meant forty-eight hours of Lola being barely able to sleep or eat.

Starla was her biggest client apart from Roxy, but Roxy didn’t count ashers. She’d only gotten Roxy in her stable by default. Natalia had dumped her on Adriana after some shenanigans Lola still wasn’t clear on, and then once Adriana crossed the line and fell in love with her like a chump, Roxy went to her.

It’s not like Natalia had handpicked her to manage the biggest lesbian pop act in the country. Who else was she going to get? Dominion only had three talent agents.

But Starla she’d brought in herself. Advised her and pushed her and shaped her into a person that the gossip rags couldn’t stop talking about. She’d brokered the deal to get her in Roxy’s music video, knowing exactly the right time to launch it for maximum effect. And it had worked. Starla had made the rare jump from soaps to mainstream. She was on the brink of climbing into A-list status. Lola could feel it in her bones.

Striding across the office, heels striking the naked cement, Lola reflexively looked at Martina. Sitting at the head of the assistant workstations, she was assigning something to a junior assistant — Lola would only bother learning his name when he made it out of his probationary period.

Doubt was a whisper inside her skull. Had Natalia made the right call? Would Martina have a better hold on her clients?

Shaking it off, Lola painted a smile on her face and met Starla in the waiting room. Dressed in a gauzy white dress, Starla was nearly six feet tall in heels. Even in Lola’s stilettos, Starla towered over her.

“Can we talk in your office?” Starla asked when they started for the conference room.

Something about her breathy, far-away voice made Lola’s stomach clench. Everything in Lola’s body rang with alarm.

“Yeah, of course.” Lola smiled, even though it was the last thing she wanted to do. “Do you want coffee or anything? We have these amazing French pastries.”

“No, thanks. Ellie and I just had breakfast. She had a private chef come to her house on Bal Harbor. After spending a night on her boat, we just kind of drifted back to her place, you know?”

Lola did her best to sound airy and not at all panicked. “So you’ve been together all night—”

Starla laughed. “We’ve been together since we met in the elevator.”

Opening the door of her office for her, Lola let Starla step in ahead of her, using the seconds to collect herself.

“I’m in love,” Starla declared as she perched on Lola’s settee rather than sitting at one of the chairs across from her desk.

“Love?” Lola couldn’t help but laugh as she sat at an angle on the small sofa, one leg folded under the other. “After two days?”

Starla shook her head, dark eyes glassy and distant. “After two hours,” she corrected. “Ellie is like no one I’ve ever met before, she—”

“Star, come on. You can’t love someone after two days—” Lola took a breath, trying to keep her tone light despite the aggravation rising in her chest. “I know it feels like you’re in love right now, but don’t you think it’s a little fast? Two days?”

Starla shook her head, curls bouncing. “It’s not just a feeling. When I’m with Ellie, everything makes sense in a way it never has before. Our souls are intertwined. I just know it.”

Lola resisted the urge to roll her eyes. This whirlwind romance had new age bullshit written all over it, no doubt inspired by that eccentric Fortune woman.

“Okay, but you have to be practical here, too,” she reasoned as gently as she could. “You’re just getting real traction in your career. All this buzz is opening up so many doors. This is what you’ve worked so hard for. This is the turning point.”

Starla looked down, playing with the tassels on a throw pillow. “I’ve been thinking… maybe it’s time for a break from acting.”

“A break?” Lola repeated in disbelief.

Starla lifted her eyes, wide and imploring. “Just a short one. Ellie wants to sail around the Greek islands this summer on her yacht. She invited me to go with her.”

Lola’s mind spun. A summer-long hiatus could destroy everything she’d built for Starla’s career. All that momentum, gone. People didn’t always recover from that.

“I know you’re caught up in the romance…” She scooted closer, putting a hand on her arm when what she really wanted to do was shake her back to her senses. “But we’re at such a critical point for you professionally. If you step back now, you might lose your chance atrealstardom.”

Starla gave a serene smile. “I don’t care about stardom if I can’t share it with Ellie.”

HAVE YOU BEEN BRAINWASHED INTO A CULT?