1
Adrian
“C’mon, boy!” I pursed my lips together to let out a loud whistle, and my French bulldog came running on his short legs to meet me at the front door. Running my hands over the black fur on his back, I gave him a few scratches before clipping the leash onto his collar. “It’s time to go for a walk, buddy.”
Since Duke tended to overheat easily, I took him out to exercise in the early morning or evening after it had cooled off. After being on set until after midnight, I would’ve preferred sleeping in today, but I had an event tonight, so it wasn’t an option. My agent wanted me to show my face more while I was a hot topic in the gossip rags, so he’d sent in an RSVP for me to attend the opening of a new Italian restaurant owned by some celebrity chef with a popular television show.
“My shitty schedule is yet another thing to blame on my stalker,” I muttered as Duke and I made our way down my driveway. Pausing at the sidewalk, I turned and looked up at my new home. There was no denying the six-thousand-square-foot brick structure was fucking awesome, but that didn’t stop me from grumbling over the need to move in the first place.
When I’d signed on for the role of the male hero in a movie franchise based on a bestselling trilogy of romance novels, I hadn’t expected it to turn my life upside down. I knew there would be changes, being in the limelight guaranteed it, but I hadn’t counted on becoming a household name overnight. Or having a young woman with psychological issues break into my home while I was sound asleep in my bed.
Her arrest had been splashed all over the newspapers, and I’d been hounded relentlessly to comment on the situation. The disregard for my privacy had been almost as bad as having the alarm go off in the middle of the night during the break-in. When the paparazzi kept showing up on my doorstep, I’d finally decided it was time to move into a gated community with a full-time guard at the entrance.
This was my first week in the new place, and I already felt more relaxed knowing it was more difficult for anyone to invade my personal space. But I still tensed up when I heard an unfamiliar female voice say, “I think that’s Adrian Clarke.”
When I looked over my shoulder and spotted Morgan Kelly walking toward me with two other women, my tension eased away. Considering she’d won an Academy Award, was with Hollywood’s most eligible bachelor, and had once dealt with a weird stalker situation of her own, she’d been through even more than I had with the paparazzi. “Hey, Morgan.”
She glanced up at my house and grinned. “Are you our new neighbor?”
“Yup.” I nodded. “Just moved in last week.”
“Welcome to the neighborhood. These are my friends, Allie and Mila.” Both women smiled at me in greeting. “Be prepared to see them around since Allie and Vaughn live down the street. And Mila is family, so she visits them a lot.”
I’d thought Allie looked familiar. Now that Morgan had mentioned her name in connection with Vaughn Corbett, I figured out who she was—Morgan’s best friend and the woman who’d captured the heart of the man every celebrity wanted to be interviewed by on the red carpet. I didn’t recognize Mila, but I was intrigued by how she ducked her head and blushed when Morgan introduced her.
As the three women crouched down to pet Duke, Gage and Vaughn stomped down the sidewalk to us. “We can’t leave you three alone for five minutes,” Vaughn grumbled with a glare aimed my way.
Morgan stood, and Gage threw his arm over her shoulders to pull her close as he glowered at me. I chuckled softly, shaking my head. It was surreal to see Gage acting territorial when he’d been infamous for his refusal to get into a serious relationship before he met Morgan. Now he’d be able to play the stereotypical jealous husband with an air of authenticity because he was one.
I held my hands up in a gesture of surrender, careful not to tug too hard on Duke’s leash. “You don’t have anything to worry about with me, man. With all the shit going down in my life at the moment, I’m not in the market for a woman. And if I was, it wouldn’t be someone who was already taken.”
“You never know when the right woman will come along and make you rethink everything.” Gage flashed me a grin and slid a mischievous look Mila’s way. “For all you know, she might just walk right up to you.”
“Shut it.” Vaughn shifted his glare Gage’s way and lowered his voice to grumble, “No setting Mila up with anyone, or else you’ll have Dane and me on your ass.”