Page 48 of Overexposed

After I finished my steak, Ollie ordered dessert for all of us, and I made weak protests until the sticky date pudding was placed down in front of me. Then I needed no encouragement. Yum.

It was weird and totally not how I’d expected the night to play out after Ollie’s call…but I wasn’t mad about it. I just needed Gem to understand that no matter how much fun we were having, I wasn’t trying to date a celebrity. I was no Carriage Pictures princess, waiting for her prince to sweep her out of poverty and into the spotlight.

So long as he understood that…I guessed he could have my number.

Instead of having me drive them back to Malibu to collect their car, the guys just asked me to drop them home, which was a lot less driving. But then, of course, they spent the drive coming up with creative reasons why I needed to come inside with them.

As tempting as it was, I was enjoying the power in saying no.

“Sorry, boys,” I laughed after Gem’s adorable suggestion that we bake cookies because cookies taste better at midnight. “I need to get home and sort all the images I got outside that party, then edit and go fishing for whoever is willing to pay me the big bucks for a photo of Clara Belle slapping Seven Harrison.”

“Who were you thinking of pitching it to?” Ollie asked from the back seat as I turned onto their street. “Please don’t sayThe Nightly Mail.”

“Why not them?” I asked, confused. “They usually pay the highest fees and are a lot less fussy about image quality and brand recognition.”

“They’re unscrupulous bastards, that’s why,” Gem answered with a grimace. “The amount of lawsuits filed against them right now for slander and misinformation is insane. Let us put you in touch with a woman we know atBright Starz.If it’s a referral, she will pay.”

My brows rose. “Starzusually won’t pay a fraction of the other tabloids, and that’s even if they’ll look at the images at all. They’re notoriously hard to work with.”

“Because most of their images and stories come directly from the celebrities themselves,” Gem confessed. “They have a handful of trusted photographers and usually only buy from them with the approval of the celebs themselves.”

Huh. That made so much sense.Starzalways had the biggest scoops and breaking news. They seemed to have the inside track on all the Hollywood proposals and on-set images. Now it made sense why they comparatively reported a lot less trash and scandal than others.

“If you can set it up, sure,” I agreed. “Would Clara need to give her approval?”

Gem grinned. “Nah, they’re notthatstrict. Come in, and I’ll get Magnolia’s business card for you.”

I chuckled, shaking my head. “Smooth, Gemini, real smooth. You can text me her info, now that you’ve got my number.” I pulled up to their front gate and gestured for Gem to lean over and put his code in the keypad.

A moment later, the gates rolled open smoothly, and I drove up the paved road to their house itself. It would have been far too childish to drop them at the gate and make them walk, even though the thought crossed my mind.

“Are yousureyou don’t want to come in?” Ollie tried one last time as I slowed to a stop in front of their impressive entryway.

I smiled, shaking my head. “No, Iwantto, but I won’t. I have things to do that don’t involve deluding myself into thinking this is a thing. Now, shoo.”

Ollie pouted but hopped out of my car nonetheless, telling me we’dtalk soonas he disappeared inside the house. Gem… lingered.

“Gemini,” I murmured, “why are you still in my car?”

“Because I have this horrible feeling that if I let you drive away, I won’t ever see you again,” he admitted with a small shrug. “And I really want to see you again, Slick.”

Fucking smooth talker had me all tied up in knots again, so I did the only sane thing I could think of and kissed him.

chapter

nineteen

Olivier

Still mulling over an idea of how to get Stella to join us, I dropped my keys back into my pocket even as I entered the code to turn off the alarm. Once upon a time, we didn’t bother with the alarm when we were all home. But a few brave fans jumping the gate and one extremely randy chick who decided to go skinny-dipping in our pool, and that was that.

I admired the spunk it took, but if we were going to have nude women in our pool or our house, I’d just as soon be the one who picked them. Like Stella…she could definitely go skinny-dipping. I fully supported that.

Hell, I’d get naked and jump right in with her.

“Hey,” Seven said as he came down the stairs. He was in shorts and a tank top. It looked like he’d come straight from the gym, except his hair was wet and he didn’t look remotely sweaty. So maybe a showerafterthe gym. “You’re back early.”

I shrugged. “Party was a dud.”

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