Page 38 of Knotty, Nice, & Holiday Lights
Footsteps start pounding down the stairs like I’ve booked a herd of elephants at the B&B, and the energy of the kitchen changes in a blink.
“Gods, I’m starving!” Izzy calls as she bounces into the kitchen wearing a tee and jeans, a pair of bright socks on her feet. She rushes me for a slice of cooling bacon, grinning up at me before taking a bite, then turning to the table. “Good to see you this morning, Matthew,” she says with a tinge of smugness in her tone. “Breakfast smells wonderful, as usual,” she goes on before floating away to the table, licking her fingertips clean of the bacon remnants.
We’re all staring at her as she prepares a mug of coffee, then fills a plate before sitting in a vacant spot at the table. With a forkful of pancake, she freezes mid-bite, casting a look at each of us. “What?”
How… how do we answer that?
“Oh!” she exclaims, putting her fork down on the plate. “Hey, I’m really sorry about last night. I was just super horny for some reason.”
And I’ve dropped my spatula on the floor.
“Really, I hope that you guys are okay, and I didn’t make you uncomfortable.” Her voice is a bit softer now, unsure.
As I pick up the spatula and toss it into the sink, then grab a clean one, Asher clears his throat. “I think I speak for all of us,love, when I say any time you get randy again, we’d be more than happy to oblige.”
And there goes the other spatula.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
When a blacklisted actor gets a voicemail from his agent that she needs to see him, urgently, it’s never a good sign.
Sandra’s one of the only people from my old life who knows where I’m staying, and apparently, whatever she has to say to me is important enough that she’s going to be here tomorrow. She wants to meet at the big hotel on the lake.
To say I’m anxious is a gross understatement. Not even a hint as to what this is all about.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
I peer up at Izzy as she approaches me in the living room like I’m some wounded animal.
I let out a humorless laugh. “Is it that obvious?”
She grimaces. “You look a little… green.”
As I sigh, she sits in the armchair adjacent to the couch, those gray eyes warm if a touch concerned.
“My agent wants to see me for the first time since I left L.A.”
She hums in response, purses her lips. “Your agent didn’t say why?”
“That’s the issue. She said nothing of the reason.” I lean back on the couch. “I don’t even know why I care, honestly. I’ve all but given up on my old life.”
Her head tilts to the side as she regards me. “Maybe you haven’t. Not really.”
I blink at her a few times as I contemplate, setting my jaw as my brow tightens.
“Being an actor, making movies… it was all I had ever wanted in my life since I was a kid. When my dad got transferred to America for his job, I saw it as a sign.” My head shakes slow at the memory. “I’d been active in the theater department at my high school. Enrolled in UCLA after graduation. I had no idea that my parents were about to split up.”
Izzy casts me a sympathetic look, and I sigh again. “My dad cheated on my mum from nearly the second we arrived here. When he got the woman pregnant, he just up and left us. Actually took his new woman back to England with him.” I bare my teeth a moment. “But Mum had no way to stay here without Dad’s work visa, and she had to go back to her family. I was able to secure a student visa and stay to complete my education. Then, I got lucky and landed my first Hollywood acting gig.”
“I wouldn’t call it luck, Asher,” Izzy says. “You’re very talented.”
“And being British is a boost in America.”
She takes on a wicked glint in her eyes. “Well, the accent is pretty hot.”
I laugh in spite of myself. “So I’ve been told.” As I sober, I look at this gorgeous specimen of a woman before me. The draw I feel toward her cannot be contested. She must know the truth.
“What my dad did to my mum is why I would never be unfaithful.” My voice is quiet, pain lancing my chest. “My mum went through so much after Dad’s betrayal. Everything stuck with me, every enraged emotion, every depressed moment. So, when Cordelia Blaire tells the world that I cheated on her, I beg of you to not believe it’s true.”
