Page 18

chapter

seventeen

Stella

I don’t really know what I thought Gem planned to do when he disappeared back into the party. At the same time, it was kind of nice hanging out with Ollie for a few minutes alone.

“How’s your head?” he asked as Gem ducked back through the gate. “Did you get it checked by a doctor?”

I mock gasped, pressing a hand to my chest. “You mean Gemini is not a real doctor? That lying bastard. I guess being a doctor and playing doctor aren’t the same thing?”

Ollie chuckled that sexy, low sound that made my toes curl in my boots. “Okay, I get it. No doctors. I’m assuming a lack of insurance?”

I clicked my tongue. “You assume correct. Did the police drop their charges and shit for the other night? Peter seemed confident it was all straightened out.”

“They did indeed,” he confirmed, leaning back on his hands as he sat beside me like he wasn’t one of the most famous men in Hollywood right now.

I pursed my lips, watching him from the corner of my eye as I fidgeted with my camera. “Should you be sitting out here in the open like this with me? Is this safe for you?”

He laughed again. “Are you worried we might get photographed?”

The irony was not lost on me, and I rolled my eyes with a groan. “Okay, point taken. How was the party, anyway?”

Ollie sighed, then started telling me in far too much detail about who was in there, what they were doing… who they were doing or planned to do. Apparently the rumors about the after-party weren’t just rumors after all. When he started telling me about a particular director-actress couple who routinely invited other celebs to join them for threesomes, my jaw almost unhinged. I would never in a million years have pegged them for such titillating activities.

Before I could react to that scandal, the gate squeaked open again. I snapped back into work-mode, raising my camera and setting the focus just in time to catch Gem whispering something to a stumbling Clara Belle. Then her beautiful face morphed into shock and anger right before… Smack!

“Holy shit,” Ollie spluttered on a laugh. “That looked painful.”

It sounded painful too, but the smirk on Gem’s face after Clara stormed off was downright adorable. The snap I got of that smirk and the way he slid that look at me had nothing to do with sales and everything to do with capturing the moment.

I could call it practice for the camera, but I tried not to lie to myself. Well, I tried not to lie to myself out loud. Internally? Not a problem. Gem’s slow saunter to me was all playful sexuality. He really did look so damn pleased with himself. Try as I might, I couldn’t help returning the grin.

“That going to work for you, Slick?” He didn’t slow until he was right in front of me and his hip bumped my knee lightly.

“It’s definitely not bad,” I said, glancing down at my camera and then up again. Next to me, Ollie chuckled.

“She’s going to make you work for a compliment, Gem,” Ollie drawled. “I don’t mind saying that you almost can’t tell you gave up the acting gig.”

For his part, Gem just snorted, but he didn’t take those gorgeous blue eyes off me. The heat licking me as he stared had nothing to with being intimately aware of what he felt like rocking between my thighs. Nope, not a damn thing.

The man was far more impressive in person than on any screen. He was also so much more real.

“Just tell me it’s good enough to steal you away for that coffee.” Gem nudged my thighs apart so he could slide up to me. There was intimacy and then there was this sensuality. Ollie was right next to me and Gem pressing closer.

Touching my tongue to my teeth, I tilted my head as if thinking it over. That shot of Clara Belle slapping the shit out of “Seven Harrison” could easily net me a five-figure payday. Add that to what I got from the man himself, and I could call it a good week.

If only that were enough to just clear all the medical debt. If only…

Pushing away the creeping doubt and frustration, I focused on the here and the now. Each day I could bank a little more was a good day. As if by their own volition, I raised my fingers to trace the red mark on Gem’s cheek. The hint of stubble there nipped my fingertips. He and Ollie both sported the unshaven look.

It was a good look. Then again, I couldn’t imagine either of them had a bad look.

“Say yes,” Ollie suggested in the least subtle sotto voce ever. “You want to say yes. You do love coffee, right, Snow? The man went and got slapped just to get your attention.”

“Thanks,” Gem said in a dry, droll tone, but he never took those blue eyes off of me. “I got this.”

“You sure do,” Ollie said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. He smelled faintly of a whiskey, but I wasn’t sure he was as drunk as he was playfully pretending to be. Nor could I quite suppress the thrill of being wrapped up in that strong arm as Gem leaned into me.

So much testosterone.

And fuck me, I was here for it.

Everything inside of me clenched when Ollie pressed his lips right up to my ear and his breath teased my earlobe. “Say yes, Snow. Let’s go out together…”

Let’s…

I shuddered. “Fine, yes, I owe you coffee.”

Gem’s smile grew and my stomach bottomed out at the delight sparking in his eyes.

“Fantastic,” Ollie said, dropping a kiss behind my ear before he slid off the trunk. “Let’s go.”

“Who invited you?” Gem asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Me,” Ollie told him without an ounce of shame. “Besides, I’m a little drunk and you drove.”

A groan escaped Gem at the reminder. “I can get you an Uber or something.”

“Nah,” Ollie said with a smirk of his own as he held a hand out to me. “Our girl here will be much happier with the backup.”

“For him or for me?” I couldn’t resist asking because Gem had narrowed his gaze at his friend like he was ready to kick Ollie to the curb. I kind of hoped he didn’t though—Ollie was fun and he had given me this tip.

Even if the tip was to “casually” arrange us meeting again. He was here and Gem was here. I had good shots and a new camera.

Ollie grinned slowly. “You’re going to have to take me with you to find out. You did say yes already, right, Snow?”

The man was incorrigible. “I did.”

“See? It’s settled.”

“Dude,” Gem muttered.

“Hey, you didn’t even want to come,” Ollie said. “You’re only seeing her cause I’m here.”

The muttered comments were probably not meant for me, but they were hardly quiet about it. I nudged Gem back farther before I slid off the trunk. I tilted my head to check the gate but it was all quiet at the moment. Blowing out a breath, I popped the trunk and stored the camera in a proper safe.

If my asshat ex decided to break into the car again, he’d have a much harder time taking my shit.

“That’s intense,” Gem said from just over my shoulder.

“Better safe than sorry,” I answered. After I had everything in its place, I closed the safe door and spun the dial. “That’s my livelihood right there.”

I didn’t have another NDA that I could sell my signature on to fix it if the fucker robbed me again. Shuttling that thought away for another time, I closed the trunk, then faced them. The weight of all that attention being focused on me turned the night very warm, even with the breezes off the ocean.

“So where are we going?” I didn’t know Malibu as well as Burbank or Hollywood.

“There’s a diner in North Hollywood,” Gem said, opening the driver’s side door for me. “Hop in and I’ll give you directions.”

“Can we put the top down?” Ollie asked as he climbed into the back seat from the passenger side. “This car is definitely sexy as hell, just like her owner.”

It would have been impossible to miss the look that Gem shot Ollie, but I bit back a smile as I locked the seat belt into place.

“Gem, can you hit the latch over there above the window?” I popped the one on my side. Gem tilted his head, then released the latch. “Thank you.”

Keys in the ignition, I pressed the switch to lift and roll back the top. It took it a hot minute, but there was something so satisfying about it letting it down. I pulled a scrunchie out of the glove box and then pulled my hair back and secured it.

I twisted, bracing one hand against the passenger seat as I watched behind us and backed down the drive. Awareness of both men hummed along my skin. Just before I faced front, I caught Ollie’s slow grin from the corner of my eye and his wink.

Troublemaker.

Still, I was grinning when I headed away. The boys didn’t choose a close-by place for coffee; instead we headed into North Hollywood and a place called the Hungry Fork, where they had all the forks to give. According to Gem, they were good people and never sold out the celebrities who came in. The slogan amused me as I pulled into the lot next to it. It wasn’t the finest place I’d ever been to, but I preferred diners and coffee shops to gourmet meals.

After I put the top up, I shrugged out of the vest. I didn’t need to look like a valet any longer. Freeing my hair, I shook it out and then finger combed it before hanging my purse crosswise over my chest.

As I straightened and faced the boys, I found them both watching me with the same enigmatic looks. “Problem?”

“Nope,” Ollie said, then offered me an arm at the same time Gem did. It was both endearing and amusing. Rather than debate it, I slid my arm through Ollie’s and Gem’s at the same time.

“You two are cute,” I said. “Don’t push it.”

“Pfft, where’s the fun in that?” Instead of the diner, they turned toward a dodgy, twenty-four hour laundry that was right next door to it. A laundromat that was painfully bland, beige, and had lights that flickered.

An attendant was at the desk, and they barely looked up as we came inside. When I opened my mouth to ask, Gem dipped his head to murmur next to my ear. “Trust us.”

With a little nod, I moved with them as Ollie patted my hand once, then pulled away to lead us all the way to the back of the place. He pulled out some tokens from his pocket, fed them into the machine, then popped it once.

The next thing I knew, the whole machine shifted to the side, opening like a door that led to a dim, velvet-bedecked hallway with a bouncer.

I shot a look behind me to where the bored attendant played on their phone and then back to the hall. The placement made it practically invisible to anyone not right here.

“Come on,” Gem said in that sexy hushed tone of his. “It’ll be fun.”

“I thought I was the one who was full of surprises.” At my quip, he grinned.

“Gotta keep up then, don’t I?”

“Griffiths,” Ollie was saying to the bouncer who checked something on his phone. “Reservation for three.”

When had we made a reservation? More and more, this setup seemed to be getting stranger and yet I was even more intrigued. Once we were all in, the door to the laundry closed and another door at the other end of the hallway opened.

It was a speakeasy.

Shock piled onto shock. I’d heard about some of these hidden little gems, but their locations were the kind of guarded secrets that you needed national security clearance or something to find.

Ollie chuckled as a hostess stepped right up to greet us. The interior was swanky, the music was a bluesy kind of jazz, and everything was just a little over-the-top. It took discipline to keep from gawking, but the place had a vibe that I would have loved to capture on film.

I could picture Bogey and Bacall at the bar, sharing secrets and liquor. It didn’t take much to imagine Marilyn Monroe slipping in with one of her lovers to canoodle in a back corner. The fact I wanted to look at everything kept me from paying too close attention until the hostess settled us at a private, circular booth in the corner.

The boys put me in the middle as the hostess said the server would be right over. She barely left before our waitress appeared. I’d come for coffee and she was offering aperitifs.

I was painfully underdressed for this. “Just a sparkling water for now,” I said to the waitress when she glanced at me. “Maybe with some lemon.”

Probably better to check the prices before this got out of hand. One look at the menu though, and I was pretty much planning to stick to the water and maybe a coffee. The cheapest dish on here was almost a hundred and that was for an appetizer.

Did they serve it on solid gold plates?

“Come on, Snow,” Ollie said after a beat. “You’ve done a lot of work. Cut loose and relax a little. Do you like wine?”

Before I could respond, Gem said, “She likes margaritas, extra salt.”

“You got it,” the waitress said in a sultry tone and then she drifted off.

“What do you want to eat?” Ollie asked. “That way we can get back to having fun once we take care of business.”

Right. I had some protein bars in the car. “I think I’m good.”

That answer didn’t satisfy Ollie as he scowled at me. “Are you vegan?”

“I’m sorry?”

“No,” Gem answered, knocking his knee lightly against mine. “She loves meat.”

He did not just… I slid him a look and his eyes practically twinkled.

“Good. Let’s go for the good stuff then…”

What did that mean?

I’d been all prepared to turn them down, particularly because I came for coffee . But before I could say anything, my stomach gurgled loudly.

“Right,” Ollie said as the waitress returned with our drinks. How fast had they made that margarita? “We’re all going to have the steaks…”