Page 24 of Notorious (Hollywood Heartthrobs #2)
When the Black Rock Productions PR team, which was part of Maggie’s agency, announced I was directing my first feature film, no one connected the announcement to Ollie as the script supervisor.
Everyone on the set learned who Ollie was to me, since we’d never hidden our relationship.
And because my boyfriend was as genuine a person as they’d ever met, our close knit crew and the assembly of actors on set were protective of him.
“No. I’m too busy to deal with rumors about my life. What am I being accused of now?”
Because Ollie was a wonderful boyfriend and in tune with me, he sensed something off about my demeanor and broke away from the group gathering around Lewis, who started cooking breakfast. He snagged a cup of coffee, smiled at the gentle giant who cooked almost as well as my mama, which I would never admit aloud even on the promise of great bodily harm, and strode over to me, his brows furrowing in worry.
I laced my fingers with his when he was close and encouraged him to listen in on the strange conversation.
“Remember the tour in Korea almost three years ago?”
“Yes.” I elongated the word, thinking back to the raucous night with the couple visiting Korea from New York.
They approached me at the airport and that night I was lonely, so when they propositioned me, I took them back to the hotel with me.
It satisfied a physical itch, but I pushed my emotional dissatisfaction aside enough to tough it through the rest of the press tour.
“Well, she has a two and a half-year-old she’s claiming is your son.”
I huffed out a laugh and shook my head. “That would be impossible and quite a miraculous feat.”
“Why?”
“I’m going to be blunt here and sorry if it’s too detailed an explanation.”
Not everyone needed the details of my sex life, but because I needed Maggie’s help, I had to tell her everything.
“No, don’t apologize. If I’m going to get to the truth, I need as much information as I can get to fight back.”
“The couple came up to me at the airport. They were talking about me being their hall pass and the boyfriend wanted to be fucked while he took his girlfriend bare. Besides kissing the woman outside the hotel room, my focus was on the man, and I used a condom from the moment we were naked until they left, two hours after they arrived. I’ve never lied about my past or even hid my indiscretions, and I wouldn’t start now.
After, I escorted them out of the room and slept that night alone. ”
I glanced up and studied Ollie’s face. There was an expression I couldn’t decipher, but after I got off the phone with Maggie, Ollie and I would talk.
There wouldn’t be any miscommunication on my part since I hid nothing from him once I decided on us being boyfriends and he agreed.
But I could admit the look on his face worried me.
Something I said triggered Maggie’s anger, and she let out an indignant huff.
“I fucking dislike liars, and she has to know we could prove the baby isn’t yours. But she went to the press, and they are digging up all of your past photos with different people and they are wondering how many babies you fathered throughout your career. Sometimes, this business disgusts me.”
For a long minute, we didn’t speak as the work continued on set.
“Maggie, what if we do a tell-all interview, sort of like Spencer and Lee did several years ago? Would that help?” Ollie asked.
There was a long pause before she said, “It would have to be soon. Do you need me to get a list of questions to approve?”
I glanced at Ollie, curious about his thought process. I raised my eyebrow, and he gave me his reassuring smile.
“No, but if you could set it up with someone trustworthy, and not just someone who wants to make a name for themselves. And they have to accept I’d be at his side when they are interviewing him.”
“A TV interview would be best. Would you mind being interviewed on film, Ollie?”
He shrugged. “No, I wouldn’t mind.”
“Good.”
I added, “Can you get the woman’s information and send it to my attorney? I’d rather not communicate with the woman or whoever she has working for her. But if it goes through my representation, there will be no doubt of the outcome. I’ll give her a heads up.”
“Consider it done. And I’ll call around to my contacts and set up the interview.”
After we hung up, I wrapped my arm around Ollie’s waist and snugged him in beside me before I called Maisie Daniels. Her background included not only entertainment law but also criminal, thanks to her father’s work as a prosecutor.
“Blake? What do I owe the honor of speaking to you on a fine Thursday morning?”
Ollie laughed, and I smiled.
“Oh, is that Ollie?”
“Hi, Maisie. How’s your day going?” My boyfriend asked.
“Good, now that you’re talking to me. How’s Hollywood treating you? Do I have to come down there and bash heads?”
Ollie giggled. “No, everyone is great, and the production is coming along. We, or rather, Connor, learned something surprising, and he needs your help.”
There was a pause on the other end. “About the baby?”
I groaned. She was waiting for my call.
“Yeah, and I’m not the father.”
“Since I’m your attorney, I’m going to ask you straight out. Is there even a remote possibility you’re the father?”
“No. It was a threesome with her boyfriend, and I had sex with him only. And with a condom. No chance.”
“Could they have found the disposed condom…” she trailed off, and I recoiled as I thought about it.
“No, we were in my room, and they used a towel to wipe themselves clean and dressed. I threw on a robe before I showed them out. It was after I disposed of the condom. I spoke to Maggie, and she’s going to send you the contact information for the woman.”
“How long ago was it?”
I had to think back. “Two years ago in June. Almost three years then.”
“That’s strange.”
My eyes met Ollie’s, watching him quirk an eyebrow.
“Why?” my boyfriend asked.
“She didn’t contact you at all in the years since?”
“Not as far as I’ve heard. Maggie’s contact information was out there for anyone to find if they needed to reach me, and she only learned of it when it hit the press.”
“I’ll start working on this and will contact you soon.”
“Sounds good. Talk soon.”
After the call ended, I stood and wrapped both arms around Ollie’s waist, pulling him close and breathing him in, taking a moment to readjust my perspective.
“You okay, beautiful?”
I huffed out a laugh and said, “I just had an errant thought about that night. The one thing I could remember was how lonely I was. And it made no sense, because until five minutes ago, I never thought of myself in those terms. It was around the time Spencer and Lee admitted their feelings to each other and even though there wasn’t much time to dwell on it then, now I realized I wanted what they shared with a simple look and a smile.
“Then one day, on a normal flight home, you walked into my life, and I was smitten. Did you know I resigned myself to stay away from you?”
He gave me his patented soft smile, and my heart beat hard in my chest.
“But I couldn’t. It might have been the goodness you put out in the world, or the way you took every day as a joy and a challenge, but it all equated to me wanting to be around you and absorbing even a tenth of your happiness.
After our first kiss, I wondered why I became so obsessed when it appeared you forgot about it the minute it was over?—”
“No, Connor. I wanted to be in your life, and I thought that if that meant friendship, I’d take it in a heartbeat. The kiss meant… everything.”
I leaned closer and pressed my mouth to his, breathing him in and loving the closeness we shared.
“For me, too. While I struggled with not doing everything to sweep you off your feet, I somehow understood a big gesture wouldn’t impress you the way I wanted.
And the time away in Vancouver wasn’t ideal, but when we talked every night, it gave me hope each time you lit up when you saw me on screen.
The powerful notion of finding the right person hit me harder than I expected. ”
Ollie sighed as he slotted his face against my neck.
“You’re not mad at me?”
I regretted the words when his head snapped up and his brows furrowed as he studied my face.
“Why would I be mad at you?” He asked, confused.
So, I gave him my honest answer. “Because if I learned about someone else touching you, the jealous rage beast inside my chest would trigger and I’d howl at the knowledge.”
“Are we boyfriends?” He asked.
“Of course we are.”
“Are you planning on cheating?”
The answer was immediate. “No! I would never do that to you!”
He cupped my face and kissed me, and I relaxed as the tension drained from my body.
“The decisions you made throughout your life led me to you. And I know I matter to you with every gesture and word you speak. You communicate with me whether it’s something big or small. I trust you, beautiful. And…”
I lifted my eyebrow, waiting.
“Don’t get me wrong, I can choose to be jealous because other people have seen you naked.
But we’re together now. And jeopardizing our relationship for a trivial moment in the past would hurt us in the long run.
We have a future together and holding onto resentment for a time before we got together is a waste of time and energy. I’m with you wherever life takes us.”
Unable to stay away, I leaned forward and kissed him. Only to pull back when my mobile rang with my mama’s ringtone. The smile that lit up my boyfriend’s face at the familiar sound allowed the swell of happiness to surge in my chest.
“Hey, mama,” I answered.
“Do I have a grand baby out there?”
“No, mama. Trust me, if Ollie and I decide to have kids, you’ll be the first person we tell. And trust me, that’s the only way you’d get grandkids from me. All of what the tabloids are reporting isn’t true. Maggie and Maisie will clear it up.”