Page 27 of Baxter's Right-Hand Man

“I will.”

“We’ll chat later. I need more movie-star deets. Are his eyes really that blue?”Yes.“Did you swoon when he smiled?”No, I wanted to punch him.“Later, doll!”

“Later.”

Bran stopped at the door, sunglasses perched on the end of his nose. “Is he legit tall in person? I heard Hollywood adds two inches everywhere…if you know what I mean.”

I snorted. “I’m pretty sure dick size isn’t a public measurement.”

“Too bad.Ciaofor now!”

I chuckled when he waggled his brows and sashayed away, but damn, he got me thinking about all the things I didn’t know about Pierce Allen. How old was he? Where was he born? I knew his mom passed away a year or so ago—what about the rest of his family?

I’d honed my fangirl research with Britney, Christina, and my favorite boy bands when I was an impressionable youngster. I was the type who wanted to know every tidbit of an actor or musician’s life if I loved the series they were on or their newest song. What can I say? When the fever caught me, I fell hard.

But I’d never googled Pierce Allen. It was time to fix that.

I waited for the midmorning lull, then opened my browser and typed his name.

OMG.If possible, he was more famous than I’d realized.

There was an overview, photos, videos, awards, movies. There was a Wikipedia page, official social media links, a website with merchandise. That was all to be expected. But the fan fiction, fan sites, and dating and gossip blogs were a surprise. There were pages and pages of articles written about him.

He was photographed in stunning locations with huge stars, world leaders, gorgeous models, royalty, and…unbelievably, half of me in a selfie with a group of firefighters.

I supposed it was amusing, but my first thought was,Wow, it must suck to be him.My second thought was a curiously melancholy acknowledgment that I’d probably never see him again. Not up close and personal, standing a foot apart from each other, tidying a kitchen like old friends.

Life was strange.

5

PIERCE

Buzz buzz

I stared, unseeing, at my giant flat-screen and my cell. I usually ignored phone calls, but I was restless as fuck and in desperate need of a distraction. Not this one, though.

“How did you get this number?” I growled into my phone, furrowing my brow hard enough to give myself a headache.

“I have my ways,” a deep voice chuckled on the line. “How’s it goin’, Pierce? Still kickin’ ass in La-La Land?”

“What do you want?”

“I just wanted to say hi to my little brother and—”

“Bullshit. What do you want?” I repeated.

“I need a couple grand.”

“Sounds about right,” I mumbled.

“Ten thousand will do it.”

“Ten thousand! What the fuck?”

“Hey, I’m taking care of the old man these days and you know, life is fuckin’ expensive, bro,” he said in a smarmy tone that made my skin crawl.

I shook my head in mock dismay as if asking the universe if it could believe this guy.