Anything for You E-Book

L.J. Diva

• Herausgeber: Royal Star Publishing
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 667

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

This book is dedicated to…

Oscar, and his partner in crime, Jason Sudeikis, for giving me a Colossal idea for a novel

Some people will do anything for the one they love…

When big time Hollywood actor, Jay Daniels, meets small time Aussie author, Ari Travers, at her local writers’ group in Australia during a break in the filming of his current movie, he’s instantly taken with her wild style and creative streak, and she with his tousled brown hair, and sexy beard that highlights his dimples perfectly.

After spending a week getting to know each other, he persuades her to let him read her latest novel, a novel so brilliant he’s determined to turn it into a blockbuster movie in which he stars. He puts his plan into motion; a plan to move her into his life and his New York brownstone, but all she wants is his lips on hers and for his tongue to do very wicked things indeed.

Upon their arrival in New York, they’re greeted by Jay’s abusive ex-wife, who doesn’t let up over the following months. Ari soon realises it’s not going to be an easy path to loving Jay or to making him put her first in his very hectic life, which includes his two young children.

When Jay’s growing control issues and anger over his ex-wife’s interference threatens their fledgling romance, Ari decides the heartache isn’t worth the pain and concedes by backing away, making a very obsessed Jay realise exactly how far he’s willing to go for the person he loves most.

Leseprobe

ANYTHING FOR YOU

L.J. Diva

CONTENTS

Dedications

PART ONE

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

PART TWO

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

PART THREE

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Epilogue

About the Author

Other Titles

Copyright

Dedications

For Oscar, and his partner in crime, Jason Sudeikis, who gave me a Colossal idea for a novel…

PART ONE

AUSTRALIA

CHAPTER 1

“So, how many people are in this group? And how often do you meet?” the man asked the girl who was running it. He watched her flit around in front of him doing not much of anything. Probably trying hard to not show her excitement, he thought, his ego giving itself a boost.

“We currently have twelve members,” the girl, whose name tag read Belinda, replied. “And we meet once a fortnight on a Thursday evening.” She unlocked the door to the IT suite and pushed it aside with shaky hands to roll her trolley in. As a part-time librarian, it was her job to run the writers’ group. But this week, their special guest was making her quite nervous.

“Mmm…” He nodded and gazed around the library wondering if anyone there was a member of the group. No one looked remotely interesting, so he had no need to pursue them for his needs. “What are the members like? Active as authors? Are they published? Had success? What?”

“Some of our members are just writers.” Her gaze fell upon regulars chatting near one of the floor-to-ceiling windows and she pointed at them. “Those two ladies at that table over there, they’re writing some cool fantasy stuff.” Her eyes redirected to the entrance. “And the guy who just walked in has self-published a couple of books. A couple of other members have had stories published, some are ready to publish, and then there’s one member who’s published heaps and even set up her own publishing house to do it, because she writes under three names.”

“Really?” That piqued his interest and he glanced up at her from his position on the arm of a lounge chair outside the suite. “Tell me more.”

“Well, she’s really flamboyant and has been doing it for years, wears a lot of jewellery because she used to be a jewellery designer, and has a lot of colourful clothes. Oh—” She nodded in the direction of the front door. “There she is now. I need to finish setting up.”

He didn’t notice her step into the IT suite; he was too busy focusing on the woman weaving her way around the other side of the library looking at the latest books on stands. She picked up a couple, read the blurbs, and then put them down before moving on to the next stand.

“Interesting,” he murmured, his gaze fixed on her. She wore a bright coloured kaftan top over dark blue jeans, with hot pink cowboy boots. Jewellery adorned her ears, neck, wrists and fingers, and her hair curled lightly around the nape of her neck and ears.

“Average height, average build, but reasonably attractive,” he continued, uncrossing his arms and standing as she slowly approached.

The young librarian appeared at the door. “Hey, Ari. We have a new member for the night. This is Jason. Jason, Ari.”

Ari glanced from Belinda to the man in front of her. Her gaze moved up his body until it reached his face and her eyes widened in shock and her heart hammered in her chest. “Ah…but you’re…”

“Yeah…I am,” Jason replied with a slight grin. “Real name Jason, but professionally I go by Jay, and everyone’s called me that for decades. So…call me Jay.” He shrugged and gazed into her widely curious yet sparkling green eyes and noted her rounded features. “Is Ari short for anything?”

“Arial. But everyone calls me Ari.” She regained her composure, put a clamp on her racing heart, and swallowed the very hard lump in her throat. She knew who Jay Daniels, hot shot, big time Hollywood actor, was. And he made her quite breathless. Especially now that he was standing here in front of her, and she could see him in person. Six foot plus and hairy in all the right places, with dimples and twinkling eyes. He was just her type. Yes, he was definitely her type. But what was he doing in her neck of the woods? A slight frown touched her face. “So…why are you here, of all places?”

Jay’s brows rose and he pointed to the floor as reference. “Here? Is there something wrong with here? I don’t see anything wrong with here.” His gaze roamed over her from head to toe and back again. “I like it here very much.”

Ari took a sharp intake of breath and blushed, trying to keep it together. “I meant here in little old out of the way nowhere.” To get out from under his hungry gaze, she scurried into the IT suite and placed her bag on the table closest to the door.

Jay grinned to himself and followed, deliberately taking the seat next to her. “It’s hardly nowhere. I’m here filming a movie with Russell Crowe in the outback. But something shut down the production, mechanics, or whatever, and we had to halt filming. I asked the cast and crew if they knew of any author or writing groups around and this one was mentioned. So here I am.” He spread his hands out and lightly shrugged. “And I’m glad I came. I think I’m going to find lots of inspiration here tonight.”

Ari placed her writing folio on the table and her bag on the floor by her feet. “Ah-huh. And why would a big time Hollyweird actor find inspiration here in this little old writing group?” She pulled out her chair and sat down. The gas lift office chair slid down with a thump and she let out a surprised whoop.

“Here, let me help.” Jay swiftly moved behind the chair and grabbed both sides of the seat while his long fingers pulled the lever. He lifted her up. “There. That better?” He moved closer so his face was beside hers. “Better?”

She blushed, inhaled his rather tasty cologne, and mumbled, “Yes, thank you.” Oh, what a time to make a fool of myself, she thought. The one week an actor you have a massive crush on happens to not only be in your country, but in your state, and now in your writers’ group, and you go and make a fool of yourself. In her peripheral vision, she saw him grinning at her and swinging lazily back and forth in his chair. His legs were spread apart in the crotch display position, a body language term Ari had only recently learned for one of her novels. Jay Daniels was on the hunt and showing his manhood for all to see he was in control and had the power.

The other members filed in, filling up the room, and she thanked God for the distraction.

Once the introductions were out of the way, and they oohed and aahed over the new addition, they went around the room discussing what they’d done in the last two weeks.

“I just finished off the story I was writing. I finally solved the problem I had with the characters, and the rest came really quickly,” Poppy said. Blonde and in her mid-twenties, she was the youngest of the group.

“Oh, that’s good.” Belinda adjusted her glasses. “Did the advice we gave you help?”

“Absolutely.” Poppy nodded. “It helped me break through by thinking outside the box. I just had to change the actions to another character.”

“Good.” Belinda gave a sharp nod of her head and moved on to Fiona. “And what about you, Fi? What have you done?”

They continued until Jay was next, so he launched into talking about screenwriting and the movie he was making.

“And yeah, pretty much anything with Russell is a hit, so I can’t wait to finish it. I haven’t done a movie in two years, and I’m really excited. Not just to be making a movie;” he put on the Aussie accent, or at least tried to, “but to be making it in the land down under. I’m hoping to learn your language and your Aussie-isms. I’ve already practised talking like Russell. G’day, I’m Russell Crowe.”

“Oh, God!” Ari groaned and rolled her eyes while everyone else laughed. “I know some of our actors have horrible American accents, but you lot just can’t pull off an Aussie accent. That was bad.”

“I thought it was pretty good,” Jay replied in the accent. “It even got a laugh out of Russell.”

“Not because it was good,” Ari muttered and avoided eye contact. “Because he was laughing at you, not with you.”

“Ouch!” Jay grinned. “You know how to hurt a guy and cut to the quick.” He grasped his chest and gasped for air. “Knife…to chest…must…pull…it out,” he muttered, pulling the imaginary knife from his torso and laying it in front of Ari. “I believe this is yours.”

She gave him a dirty side-eye and scoffed. “Keep it. I don’t need your fake knife with your fake blood everywhere.” With a dismissive wave of her hand, she added, “You done?” and launched into talking about the latest novel she was writing. She was having trouble deciding which way to go in a scene, or whether to change it completely.

Jay leaned back in his seat and listened with one ear while googling her on his phone. Ari Travers popped up at the top of page one and he recognised her from the photo in the Google author box on the right. He clicked on a few details before clicking through to her website. After a quick look, he liked what he saw and heard sirens and warning bells going off in his head. That was always a sure sign he needed to do or say something in that moment or needed to know someone he’d just met. He clicked through to her socials and followed her on the ones he had profiles on. By the time he lifted his eyes, the group had moved on to discussing one member’s name choice for her character, its meaning, and whether it was appropriate.

After a few minutes, Jay joined in. “This is an interesting topic, because in real life, many people have names they don’t like, so they change them, or use their other names. For example, my full name’s Jason Oscar Daniels, but I’ve always been called Jay. J-a-y. So that’s what I use for acting. Even my family and friends call me Jay, but does anyone know what Jason means?”

“July, August, September, October, November!” Ari quipped while organising her folio.

“Ha!” Jay chuckled along with everyone else and swung his chair around to give her his full attention. “And do you know what Arial means?”

“As long as it has no reference to the little mermaid, I don’t care.” Ari stopped herself from gazing at his rugged good looks that were making her blood boil, her body tingle, and her sexual organs throb. Which was not a good thing.

Several members laughed, Jay along with them.

“Wrong spelling. So do you know or are you just being coy?” he teased.

She finally turned to stare him straight in the eye. “No, I don’t.”

“Ah, it means sans-serif font.” Jay watched closely for her reaction.

Ari groaned, rolled her eyes, and dropped her shaking head. “You bloody bastard.”

“Got you!” Jay grinned and swung back and forth in his chair.

The banter continued until the end of the meeting when the members packed up and stood to leave.

“It’s only quarter to seven,” Jay said to Ari. “What are you doing now? Do we have time to make a video?”

Ari frowned as she looked at him. “We make a video?”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “I want to tell everyone about this meeting, and meeting you, how cool you are, how crazy talented you are.” He held up his phone and she saw her website open on it. “I googled you. You’re crazy talented. We need to do a video.”

Ari glanced from his phone to his warm, sparkling brown eyes and then caught herself. “No, we don’t.” She slid her folio into her bag and walked out the door.

Jay ran up behind her and managed to steer her over to a quiet part of the library while they were talking. “Come on, Ari. I could make you famous.”

“Wait…how did we get…?” She looked around. “I was headed for the door.”

“I know.” Jay grasped both of her arms. “Trust me. You’re crazy talented, have a tonne of books under three names, and have your own publishing house. You make the jewellery you wear and have incredible clothes. You deserve more than a couple of hundred followers, Ari. Let me help you with that.” Gazing earnestly into her eyes, he hoped he conveyed a heartfelt message.

She blinked and tingled and sizzled from his touch. He was so damn hot and the type of good-looking guy she always found herself attracted to. Which she was, because she’d watched a tonne of his movies and TV show appearances, and realised just how hot, and how much of her type he was. But now he was standing in front of her, holding her arms, gazing into her eyes with his warm chocolatey brown ones, and his hair was tousled just so, and his beard framed his face and dimples to a level of perfection. A sigh left her, and she licked her lips and blinked. Shit! “Ah…” Her jaw dropped and she gaped at him. “I don’t—”

“Don’t worry. I’ll do all the talking.” Jay pulled up the video app on his phone and held up his arm to see if he captured both of them. “Okay, here we go.” He slid his right arm around her and pulled her close but turned the camera away so you only saw him. For the moment. “Hey, hey, this is Jay and welcome back to Australia.” He stopped at the chuckling beside him.

“Oh, God,” Ari sputtered and covered her mouth with her hand. “You don’t really say that do you?”

“Of course I do, it rhymes,” he said and turned back to the camera. “As you know, I’ve been posting about my trip down under and that there’s been a delay in filming. Well, I decided to catch a writers’ group or two, and I want to introduce you to my girl, Ari Travers. Say hello, Ari.” He turned the camera to take in both of them.

“Hello, Ari,” she replied, hands grasped in front of her.

“Oh, that’s cute.” Jay grinned at her before continuing. “I met Ari tonight at her local writers’ group. She writes under her name as well as two others. Adult fiction, kids, non-fiction, a tonne of genres, so much so she set up her own publishing house to cover it all. But get this she also used to have her own jewellery label.” He looked at the sparkle that covered her and gave her a short nod. “You make that?”

“Ah…” She glanced down at what she was wearing. “Most of it.”

Taking a closer look at what was around her neck, he decided to be cheeky for likes and comments, and added, “Is that necklace a cock ring?”

Ari’s head pulled back slightly in horror, but her left brow rose high. “Why? You need one to keep you in line?” popped out of her mouth before she had a second to think about what she would say.

Jay laughed at the comeback. “Hardly, it’s not big enough.”

“Oh, sweetie,” she said innocently. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realise that a man of your size would have such a small penis. It must be so embarrassing in the bedroom.”

“Ouch.” Jay faltered, his jaw dropping at the comment. “You really do know how to cut a man with a quip. Anyways,” he turned back to the camera, “just get a look at Ari’s style with her amazing outfit.” He tilted the phone down to her boots and back up. “She’s creative in her art and her style. So follow my girl, Ari Travers, on her socials, I have. And check out her website for everything she does. This is Jay and Ari, signing off.” His thumb tapped the stop button. “That was great. Don’t worry; you’ll have thousands of followers in no time.”

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Ari told him and walked off, making it to the entrance before he caught up.

“What do you mean, I shouldn’t have? I wanted to. I think you’re incredibly talented and deserve some attention.” Jay walked beside her as they made their way out of the council centre where the library was located, and down the stairs into the cool night air. “I mean, I didn’t have to, but I wanted to. To help you out.”

Ari stopped midstride and turned to face him, waiting while the bus went past, and the local hubbub died down. “I didn’t ask you to, and I felt pushed into it. You just led me over to that section and whipped out your phone.”

“I could have whipped something else out,” Jay deadpanned.

“Oh, my God, you don’t stop!” Ari’s eyes closed and she breathed deeply, despite the congestion of the shopping district.

“Neither do you, apparently,” Jay told her. “You have some wicked lines yourself, Ari Travers.”

Ari opened her eyes and glared at him. “Okay, you didn’t have to…but that’s you. It was nice of you after just meeting me, but now, I have to go.” She walked across the road to the shopping centre carpark, and over to her car.

“Are you leaving? We haven’t talked enough yet.” Jay hurried after her, not wanting her to leave, not wanting to lose her. Not yet.

“No.” She opened the back door of her car and deposited her library bag. “I need to do some shopping.” Locking the car, she started for the centre. “Why?”

“I just…” He fell into step beside her. “Want to keep talking. Get to know you more, talk more, maybe talk about your writing.”

“Why?” She glanced at him before stepping onto the curb. “Plan on stealing my ideas?”

Jay stared at her for a moment and considered what he was going to say. “Hardly!” he finally retorted and followed her inside and around the centre before they emerged an hour later. “So really, I just think that chatting to all of you Aussies is giving me great ideas, new perspectives, thoughts, etc. You know?”

“Ah-huh.” Even though she’d been busy shopping, Ari had enjoyed his company and opinions on different items in the stores. He was a comedian with a wicked sense of humour, but possibly a better actor as she never knew if he was serious or not. Clicking the alarm for her car, she reached for the boot door, but Jay got in first.

“So…” He pulled the door out of her way. “When can I see you again?”

“What?” She almost dropped her bags. “Why would I want to see you again?”

“Ouch! Because you have a crush on me, and I have one on you.” He closed the door and stared expectantly at her, a grin from ear to ear. “I mean, it’s really obvious. Right? I’m incredible and you’re crushing on me. And you’re incredible and I’m crushing on you. So I want your number and your address.”

Ari gathered herself. “How ’bout neither.” She raised a brow and gave him a megawatt smile before manoeuvring around him to the driver’s door and opening it.

“Aw, come on, sans-serif font,” he pleaded, but received a grim smile and narrow eyes for his trouble. He put his hands up in defence. “Sorry, I’m joking. But seriously, I want to see you again. And the director thinks it’s going to be about two weeks before we can get back to the movie. I find you fascinating and want to keep seeing you.”

Ari sighed and stared into his eyes. He seemed sincere, for however sincere actors can really be, and he was hot, and she’d be stupid not to take advantage of the situation and get to know him. Who knew what could come of it? Maybe a few thousand new followers, maybe some book buyers, and maybe a hot steamy night together. “Oh…” Her lips puckered and she blushed. “Ah… I guess I should give in. Even though seeing an incredibly hot actor will be such a waste of my time. God knows how I’m going to get any writing done.” Ari feigned disinterest and slyly glanced away. “It’s not often you have inspiration for stories literally fall into your lap.”

“Oh, I’m going to be inspiration for your stories?” Jay had already decided to follow her home, so it didn’t really matter if she’d said no. He leaned against her car and pulled out his phone. “Number please.” He waited for her to give in and tell him, tapping it in as she recalled it. “And address.”

“I could tell you to figure it out for yourself.” Ari climbed into her seat.

“But I’d just follow you home anyways.” Jay shifted so he was blocking any exit from the car, and from her closing the door on him.

“Yes,” she muttered, aware of how large and masculine he was. “I bet you would. Stalker!”

He laughed. “Come on, hand it over.” She told him and he added the info to her number. “I’ll see you tomorrow, unless Friday’s not a good day.”

“Not really. Unless you want to help with the housework.” Ari poked him in the chest. “Get outta my way. I wanna shut the door.”

“Twelve good for you? I’ll be there then. See you tomorrow.” He shut the door before she could answer and walked away.

“What the hell…” Ari watched, slightly stunned, as he crossed four rows of cars to get to his. “What the hell just happened?” Exhaling, and shaking her head, she looked at herself in the rearview mirror. “Seriously, what the hell just happened?” In disbelief, she watched him drive off, and finally did the same.

*****

Ari was up early, had the housework done, and was looking decent by the time Jay turned up in her driveway. It was also bin day, so she’d left the double gates open for him to drive in.

“Hey.” She watched him alight from his four-wheel drive. “You found the place okay, then?”

“Absolutely.” He gave her his trade mark smile and turned to pull a bunch of flowers from the front seat. “And these are for you.”

“Ah…what…wow.” Ari was stunned. No man had ever given her flowers. That’s how boring her life had been. “Thank you. I’ll go and put them in a vase and bring a couple of drinks out.”

“No need. I’ll come with you,” Jay said. “Get to see how you live.”

“Ah, no,” Ari replied with more force than necessary. She blushed and glanced away from his inquisitive gaze. “I’ll take these inside and bring out some drinks. You take a seat on the bench over there and I’ll be back in a minute.” She hurried inside and found a vase. Taking no time to arrange the flowers; she just dumped them into the water and left them on the sink, then grabbed two ice-cold cans of soda from the fridge, shoved them into can coolers, and hurried outside. “Here you go. Don’t know what you drink, but that’s what we drink, and it’s all we have. Unless you want water or juice.” She sat beside him on the bench seat she’d dragged around the side of the house to the driveway earlier and set her can beside her. “Nice day.” The bundle of nerves inside of her made her uneasy.

He held up his phone. “Do you mind if I record our conversations? After last night, I have a feeling we’ll come up with some wicked stuff to use for TV or movies.”

Ari smarted. “As long as you send me a copy and get my permission before using any of it and give me credit for it.”

“Of course.” Jay grinned and shifted towards her, setting his phone on the bench between them. “You said we. I didn’t know you had fellow house dwellers. Anyone I need to know about?”

Alarmed, Ari shot around to face him. “Why would you need to know that?”

Jay tilted his head and watched her. “A partner? I’d need to know about that if I’m encroaching on another man’s territory. I don’t do that sort of shit.”

“Oh…” Ari’s blush swept over her, and she gulped for air as his words sank in. “No, no partner. Perpetually single. You don’t need to worry…” she trailed off. Jesus, seriously, she thought and looked up at the sky. Why did I just tell him I’m perpetually single? God. Fuck me! Wait, did he say he wanted to know if he was encroaching on another man’s territory? Encroaching? Who says that in this day and age? And holy shit, he wants to encroach…on me…

“Perpetually single?” Jay repeated. “That doesn’t sound like a good thing.”

“Not for me, it isn’t.” A sad smile crossed Ari’s lips and she launched into a list of questions she’d come up with to talk about when things grew awkward. Which they had. They were mainly about his movies and TV appearances, but at least they were something. “You said last night you haven’t done a movie in two years. You wouldn’t be the first actor to take a break, or not get a role.”

“True.” Jay drained the last of his drink. “But when you’re a washed-up actor like me who hasn’t had a decent role in nearly two years, and had to stoop to playing extras, or bit parts on shows to get by, it becomes a lot more than just taking a break, or not taking a role. It’s because you’re seen as problematic, and no one wants to take a chance on you anymore. I even resorted to playing some douche bag hip-hop dancer wearing a red track suit and a Will Ferrell style wig in the background of some skit on a comedy show.”

“Were you good at it?” Ari couldn’t recall seeing that one on YouTube.

“Fuck yeah!” he retorted. “I rocked it. Just as I do every role I take because you never know who’s watching that can give you your next job.”

“Mmm…” Ari thought a moment. “Well, then you can’t be too washed up if you’re here making a movie with Russell Crowe.”

“Yeah, yeah I am. And I’m fucking surprised by that. But maybe it’s my redemption, just like meeting you.”

Surprised, Ari frowned. “Redemption? Hardly!”

“You never know,” Jay replied and licked his lips. “So…who’s we?”

“Oh…” Her gaze flew downward, and after a deep sigh she told him how her life was taken up with the care of her mother, and jewellery and writing were, in part, her solution to dealing with an incredibly suffocating, lifeless existence.

“Wow, Ari, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” Jay laid his hand on hers and gently squeezed. “No one really knows what 24/7 carers go through unless they do it themselves. I have a friend who had to take over the care of her parents for ten years, and it not only aged her body, but she was a bit of an emotional wreck when she emerged from it.”

“Yep.” Ari felt the weight of his hand on hers and the tingle slowly making its way through her body. “Unless you do it 24/7 no one has a clue and they all ask you about respite, but you don’t want respite, you just want a fucking life to call your own.” She sucked in air and glanced away. “Don’t want to talk about it. Do you want another drink, or lunch? I did the shopping yesterday, but I didn’t buy extra for guests. Didn’t know I’d be having any.”

“That’s okay. I can go and get something for all of us. The shops are just around the corner, right? I saw them on my way here.” He watched her discreetly wipe her eyes. “Anything in particular you guys want?”

“We pretty much eat everything.” Ari nodded and looked down to see her hand was still in his.

“Would you like to go and confer, and then I’ll go and get it.” Jay squeezed her hand and let go.

“Ah, yeah…” Taking another deep breath, Ari rushed inside.

“Fuck!” Jay sighed. He leaned his elbows on his knees, ran his hands over his face and through his hair, and then stared at the ground between his legs. Poor Ari. Having her creative and artistic talent subdued by a shitty life. That’s not fair.

He knew the feelings of that suffocating subjugation well. In the last two years of his marriage, his ex-wife had always talked down his role at home, and his abilities as an actor and comedian, trying to make herself look bigger in the process. He was talked down to, walked over, and treated as a second-class citizen in her life. He finally left her and filed for divorce. It only grew worse as that divorce was played out in public, with her as the victor and him as the wimpy doormat. When news came to light that she’d already been having an affair with a much younger man, a singer musician, before he’d even filed for divorce, the tables turned rapidly in his favour. But it only made her vindictive streak worse. She dragged him into court repeatedly for more money, more properties, and sole custody. Judges denied her every time, and that also made her vindictiveness worse. But here was Ari, in desperate need of getting out from under that suffocating thumb, and he knew he had to help her.

“Hey, so it’s pizza. There’s a pizza shop around the corner. We can go and get some.” Ari leaned against the wall and watched him come out of his reverie.

“Pizza it is.” He slapped his hands on his thighs and stood up. “Let’s go.”

They were back in twenty minutes and walking through the back door into the laundry. Ari put her finger to her lips and looked at Jay.

He nodded and placed the pizzas on the kitchen sink. “I need the bathroom,” he whispered.

She nodded and walked through the laundry into the hallway and opened the toilet door, turned a corner and closed the hall door leading to the lounge room. “Bathroom’s next to it,” she whispered and hurried back to the kitchen.

Jay did what he needed and washed his hands, lingering in the doorway opposite. It looked like a junk room, with boxes and containers piled up to the ceiling on the left wall. There was a built-in wardrobe along the right wall, with a tall boy and two bookshelves next to it, and a table under the window with a laptop, printer and pen caddy. He took in every detail then hurried to the kitchen where Ari handed him a tray with a plate piled high with pizza and another can of drink.

She pointed for him to go outside, and they went and sat on the bench seat.

“I’m not going to meet your mom?” Jay asked between his first and second slice.

“Nope,” she replied, and shoved a new slice into her mouth.

They ate in silence for another five minutes and then sat sipping their drinks in the relative silence of the neighbourhood.

“Will I get to meet your mom in the next two weeks?”

“Nope.”

“Will we talk about her? It? This?”

“Nope.” She turned her head towards him. “What do you mean this?”

Jay chose his words carefully. “This situation that you’re in?”

She shook her head. “Nope. Already done that.”

“Okay.” He nodded thoughtfully. “So we’ll be sitting out here every day?”

“It’s nice enough.” She shrugged a shoulder. “Why? You got plans?”

“Well…I’d like to take you out to lunch, the beach, whatever. Get you out of the house, maybe. Have some fun.” He watched the reactions fly over her face. “What? Didn’t think I’d want to?”

“Didn’t think I’d ever meet a big Hollywood actor, let alone sit and eat pizza with him.” A small smile crossed her lips. “It’s just a bit weird.”

“Yeah, I guess it would be.” He slid towards her and placed his tray beside him. “I have a confession.”

“Oh…” Ari raised an inquisitive brow.

“I devoured your websites last night. Well, not literally,” he joked.

Her eyes narrowed. “All of them?”

“All of them.” He settled back, leaning against the wall. “Everyone of your author sites, your blog, your publishing house, your social media.”

“So you are a stalker!” Ari huffed and crossed her arms. “Great!”

“It’s not like that. I just wanted to see what you were about, liked, watched, read.”

“A stalker!” she said forcefully. “Because that’s what stalkers do.”

“Well, this stalker also got you over ten thousand new followers on your socials last night.”

“What!” Her head swivelled toward him. “What?”

“Yep.” he grinned. “That video we did resulted in over ten thousand of my followers following you. Congrats, now you have to entertain them.”

“Wait…what! How did…? When did…? Holy baby Jesus!” Ari tried processing what that meant. “I have over ten thousand followers? On what? Insta, Face, Twit, Tok?”

“Mainly on Twitter, because that’s where I am, mostly, but I checked your socials this morning and you’ve gained a few thousand on Insta as well. Don’t know about Facebook or TikTok.”

“Whoa! Damn! Now I have to engage more. Any suggestions?”

“You’ve been doing pretty well with your posting schedule, just keep it up.”

“Wow…um. Thanks…” She gulped back the lump in her throat. “Maybe they’ll buy my books.”

“Speaking of.” Jay crossed his legs and adjusted his sunglasses. “I bought all of yours last night and will be reading them in the next week or so.”

“What!?” Again, her head swivelled towards him.

“Yeah, on Kindle. I plan on starting your kids’ stories tonight. They’ll probably take me two or three days, and then I’ll start on your novels. I plan on reading them before I go back to the movie set. I have no idea when I’ll see you after that. We’ll have to Zoom or Facetime.”

“You bought all of my books?” Incredulousness washed over her. “They’re not exactly your type of books.”

“Yeah, but my kids might like your stories, and maybe I could turn your novels into movies.” He scratched a sore spot on the top of his head. It had flared up lately, although usually it only did so when he was stressed, so he didn’t know why it was itching now. He was calm and happy sitting there and more unstressed than he had been in years.

“Really?” She dared not even consider that prospect. Dared not dream, dared not hope. “I mean, they’re not that good. Some of them are shit, especially my early ones. But I definitely became better the more I wrote. I got used to it, like everything else. You get your own flow.”

“Yeah, same with screenwriting. The three-act structure, hit your beats in that structure and you’ve got a winner.” He’d had a smash TV show a decade earlier where he’d not only starred in the lead role, but co-written all of the episodes, directed half of them, and co-produced the entire series. It had afforded him a million dollar a week pay packet and multiple awards.

“Yeah, I guess it is,” Ari agreed. “Want another drink? I have to get the washing in.”

“I can help with that.” Jay handed her his tray and followed her to the back door, where he waited until she came out with the laundry basket and then helped fold the laundry as she unpegged it.

“So what type of grass is this? Is it smokeable?” Jay joked, looking around at the back yard’s greenery.

“Ha-ha.” Ari rolled her eyes. “It’s Couch.”

Jay’s brows rose at her pronunciation. “Cooch? As in cooch, cooch? You sure about that? You know what that means, right?”

“What what means? That’s how we pronounce it here in Aus, even though it’s spelled as couch.”

“Oh, ’cause that’s how we say it. Couch grass. But cooch means a woman’s downstairs department. Or as you Aussies would say, the map of Tasmania.”

Laughter gurgled in Ari’s throat, but she choked on an air bubble instead. “Oh for fuck’s sake! Seriously?”

“Yeah.” Jay nodded, his cheeky grin sliding across his lips. “Weird how different countries have different spellings or pronunciations of words, huh.”

“Well, I suppose it’s a lot like root and route,” Ari replied. “For Route 66 in America, I say it as rout, which rhymes with out. So it would be Route 66. But you guys also say I’m rooting for you when it comes to your favourite sporting teams. But we don’t say root here, we use barrack for, or go for, instead.”

“Why shouldn’t I say root?” Jay asked.

“Because it means sex, fuck, shag, hence the saying root like rabbits.”

“Oh.” His eyes widened and his brows rose again. “Really?”

“Yeah, so you really need to decide which pronunciation you want to use.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well, do you want to rout the couch or root the cooch?”

Jay doubled over, laughter rumbling from deep in his gut. “Oh, my God, that’s hilarious. I’m going to have to use that, so I’m definitely stealing it.”

“Just be sure to credit it to me.” Ari grinned.

They continued chatting about mundane things until the chores were finished and it was time to leave. Walking towards the driveway, Jay shoved his hands into his jeans’ pockets. “Well, I have to leave you. I have a feeling you might need to explain some things. You need me to get dinner before I go?”

“No, thank you. There’s leftover pizza and you’ve done way too much as is.” Ari’s hand lightly touched his arm. “Thank you. This has been incredibly interesting.”

A soft grin slid across his lips. “It definitely has, sans-serif font.”

She groaned and threw back her head. “That’s not funny, don’t call me that. It just comes off as rude and insulting.”

The grin slid away. “Well, I don’t mean to be rude to you, Arial Travers, or insult you. I do apologise.” Jay placed his right hand over his heart. “I sincerely apologise. Now that I know about your life, that does seem rude, doesn’t it. I’m sorry.”

She gazed into his eyes and gulped back the lump in her throat. Damn he was hot. Why did he have to be so damn nice, too? “Um…” she managed. “Thank you for your apology. I accept it. Just don’t say it again; it’s not even funny.”

“I won’t, I promise. Well, if you’re all set here. I’ll be off.”

“We are. Thank you.” She walked him to his car and followed as he backed out of her driveway, waving in return as he did before driving away. She locked the gates and went inside to make as many notes as possible about their conversations for future novels.

And to take a cold shower.

CHAPTER 2

Jay dropped by on both Saturday and Sunday, with conversations kept to everything but their personal lives. On Monday, Ari was busy with appointments and Jay with interviews via Zoom, but he managed to take her out to lunch on Tuesday.

“This is nice.” He looked around at the restaurant and its homey décor. “Simple, easy, casual.”

“Yeah, it pretty much is.” Ari smiled at the waitress and took the menu offered. “So… What are we eating?” She knew the restaurant had mainly pizza and pasta meals; they were known for them, but since they’d had pizza last week, she wanted something different.

“Whatever you want, my treat.” He glanced over the top of his menu at her to take in the colourful earrings framing her face. The bright multi-toned blues highlighted the blue in her green eyes. Her full lips curled into a soft smile. He also noted the arthritis in her hands and psoriasis in her nails, recalling the medical and health issues she’d told him about over the weekend, and he wondered how she managed to handwrite hundreds of thousands of words in her novels and stories. Her curvy figure wasn’t a disappointment, nor was her love of carbs or food in general. He’d often gone on binges of loving carbs, but he had regretted it. Unfortunately other vices had got in the way in recent years.

“Guess what? I’ve finished reading all of your children’s stories. I’m not going to bother with your non-fiction books because jewellery, styling, and song lyrics don’t interest me, but I’ll start on your novels next.”

She looked up in surprise. “What? Did you just—”

“Yeah. I’ve devoured forty-nine stories in the last three nights.” He laid the menu down and grinned. “I told you I’d bought them, and I was going to read them.”

“Ah…” She choked. “Yeah, but I didn’t think you’d get through them so fast.”

“They’re only short stories, some shorter than the others. And I’m a fast reader from years of working as an actor. You gotta get stuff read and learned in quick time.”

Her mouth gaped and she blinked a few times. “Wow. Ah…okay. What did you think?”

“They’re good,” Jay said, his enthusiasm coming through in a rush. “You have a talent for writing kids’ stories that’s for sure, and they’re all safely tucked away on my Kindle in case I get the opportunity to read them to my kids when I have them.”

“Oh…” She nodded. “That’s nice. How old are your kids again?”

“Eight and ten.”

“Ah, there’s a couple that’s too old for them,” Ari replied. “You might have noticed the language. Some are for twelve plus.”

“I did. And they will be kept aside for my nieces and nephews. But you’d be surprised at how much kids know these days. They’re like adults in small bodies.”

Ari chuckled. “Yeah, I guess some are.”

“You’ll find out when you have your own.” Jay smiled and turned to the waitress who took his order.

Ari ordered and handed over her menu, turning to gaze out the window at the passing traffic as her mood slipped.

“You okay?” Jay asked and straightened the placemat in front of him, then the salt and pepper shakers, then the serviette stand. He wasn’t OCD, just liked everything in its place, in every aspect of his life, and tried to make sure that happened. Except he never seemed to be able to. “Did I say something wrong?”

“I doubt I’ll be having children, so saying you’ll find out when you have your own to a woman my age is just a tad insulting and ignorant.” She took a sip of her drink and held the frosty glass to each burning cheek before putting it down.

Jay switched to caring mode. “Oh…Ari… I’m so sorry. It didn’t occur to me. Can you not have children? How old are you? I thought you were only mid to late thirties.”

Ari’s brows rose. “Mid to late thirties? Wow. Either you’re incredibly blind, or incredibly kind. But no, I’m late forties, so not having children any time soon.”

Jay’s hand paused at his mouth, the glass of fizzy cola popping bubbles onto his top lip and into the three-month-old beard that covered it. He considered his next words carefully, drank a mouthful, and set the glass down. “I’m so sorry, Ari. I didn’t know you were older than me. I didn’t think that it wouldn’t be happening for you one day.”

“Yeah, well. You know my situation,” she answered coolly. “So…definitely won’t be happening.”

“Could you adopt?” he asked softly, seeing the pain on her face.

“And what?” she scoffed. “How am I supposed to take care of a parent and a child by myself?”

The waitress brought the food and Ari inwardly sighed and thanked God that the conversation was over. They ate in relative silence; except for the occasional oh this is good every few minutes.

Jay knew he had made her uncomfortable. She kept her eyes down, didn’t look up except for out the window every now and then, and the conversation was dead. He waited until they had finished and were having a breather before dessert. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not that you upset me…” She finished off her drink and finally looked at him. “It’s the topic, the subject. I hate talking about it because it depresses me.”

He gave a slight nod. “I understand. It can’t be easy not getting the life you want, but always dreaming about it, hoping for it.”

“No, it isn’t.” She adjusted herself and sighed. “Can’t be easy for you, in your position either.”

Jay’s eyes narrowed and he kept his voice neutral. “My position.”

She watched him. “Being so happily in love, adoring each other, speaking highly of each other at every turn. Looking so happy in love when you were together, and you had the perfect life. A wife, two kids, busy careers, money, fame. Then it all fell apart and went to shit. That must have hurt.”

He kept his breath even, despite his racing heart, and inhaled and exhaled slowly, hating the witch of an ex-wife who made his blood boil. Talking about her made him want to ram whatever object he had at his disposal into the eyeball of the person asking about it. But Ari was different. There would be no ramming of objects. He kept his breathing even. “It was at the time. But things change. They always do. Relationships change like everything else. Not every couple gets to be happy for the rest of their days.”

“No.” She bit her lip. “But you two looked like you had the real deal. I’d see videos or TV shows and see the way you looked at each other adoringly and feel envious.”

“Envious!” His left brow rose and a half-amused smirk lifted the left side of his lips. “Believe me, there was nothing to be envious of, especially in the last two years of the marriage. It was as fake as hell, and I couldn’t wait to be out of it which is why I filed for divorce.”

Ari’s eyes widened in surprise. “You filed for divorce?”

“Heard it was the other way around?” Jay crossed his arms and leaned them on the table. “Let me tell you about that supposedly happy marriage you think I was in the middle of—”

“Here’s your dessert.” The waitress set the tray on the table and put two plates of chocolate mousse cake, and two fresh glasses of drink, in front of them. “Enjoy.”

“Thank you.” Jay smiled up at her then turned his attention back to Ari. “My ex-wife is the biggest bitch I’ve ever known. Of course she didn’t start out that way. Yeah, sure, it was all lovey-dovey, madly in love, wild fucking every day when it started.” Ari blushed and he waved a dismissive hand at his memories. “But once we were married and she popped out the kids, she felt as if her life and career was fading away while mine was still running along. But once our youngest was two, she couldn’t wait to get back to work. So she hired the nanny and away she went, taking every role thrown at her. And some of them were damn good, too,” he said, almost enviously. “She earned a couple of awards and kept on working while my career started nosediving, which is why I’m a washed up hack.”

He stabbed his fork into the cake and ripped a chunk off, holding it in front of his face as if inspecting it. “And she reminded me of it every single god damn fucking day. That I was a washed-up, has-been hack, and that she was now the star of the family and the relationship, and I’d better learn my position, which was way back in line, even behind the damn dog, eating her dirt. I ended up hating her so much I left and filed for divorce.”

He slammed the fork down into the cake, smashing the first piece into the second. “As you might know, she blamed me, and I became the bad guy. Until…” He looked Ari full in the eye. “My private eye dug up the information about her boy-child toy boy and her cheating before I’d left. And suddenly, voila,” he snapped his fingers, “the tables had turned, and I was no longer the bad guy. She was.” Jay leaned back and sighed from his gut. “But only in the opinion polls, because in court, I was still the bad guy every time she dragged me back for more money, more belongings, more possessions, or over the kids. I was always the bad guy, and still am.”

The silence between them lasted a few moments, and the dessert went uneaten.

“I’m sorry,” Ari finally murmured. “I didn’t know.”

“Why would you?” Jay stared at her under hooded eyes. “She made me out to be the bastard and the press ate it up until she was outed.”

With a shake of her head in sorrow, Ari went on. “It’s sad. That women, or men, can do that to the person they claim to love. It always surprises me how people can go from saying I love you, I want to spend my life with you, have children with you, grow old with you, and then one week, one month, one year later be gone and seeing someone else they’re saying the same things to. Your actions make a liar out of you. Make lies out of your words. It’s sad and it sucks and I’m sorry.”

“It is,” Jay agreed and took a sip of drink. “Promise me something, Ari.”

Puzzled, she cast her sad eyes his way. “What?”

“Promise me you’ll never do that to the man you love. And promise me that you’ll never let a man do that to you.”

Ari exhaled and let her eyes drift shut. “I promise.”

*****

When Jay turned up at Ari’s on Friday morning, he was all set to help with the housework and told her what he thought of her novels while he did it.

“Wait…you’ve read all of them? The stand-alones?” She stared at him in shock for a few seconds then shoved the laundry basket at him. “But that’s like, four hundred and eleven something thousand words.”

“Is it?” Jay held the basket while Ari pulled out the first towel to hang. “It’s taken me three nights, so a novel a night, and because we didn’t see each other yesterday, I read the shortest one during the day, and then the longest last night.”

“Jesus!” Ari hung another towel over the line. “Okay, tell me. I already know they’re pretty crap. They were the first four novels I ever wrote.”

“Actually, the first was crap. Extensive fucking in graphic blow by blow detail, which, in my opinion, was unnecessary. But the next three weren’t too bad. The rom-com’s kinda funny, the romantic drama’s fairly good, but that reverse harem one was…” He shook his head and let out a rush of air. “Whoo, wish a woman would do that to me.”

Laughter bubbled out of Ari. “Yeah, right.”

“No, I’m serious.” Jay shifted positions as his left arm was starting to ache. “I wouldn’t mind some female billionaire paying me a hundred grand for a month on her island as a sex slave. Sun around by the pool all day, fuck all night. I’m still in pretty good shape for being on the wrong side of forty-five and I’ve never had any complaints from anyone other than my bitch of an ex-wife towards the end.”

Ari finished pegging the last towel and checked him over from head to toe. “You are pretty hot still. Certainly not Henry Cavill beautiful, but middle of the road average looking who’s either going to attract women or not. I think you’re pretty hot.” The words slipped out before she could stop them, and red-faced, she grabbed the basket and dashed inside for the next load.

“Pretty hot, huh,” Jay said through the screen door as he leaned against the door jamb. “You think I’m pretty hot? That’s good to know, Ari, because I think I’m pretty hot too.” He heard her snort and the screen door opened, her face hovering beside his.

“You’ve got tickets on yourself. Just the other day you were calling yourself a washed-up has-been and now you’re talking about being hot and pulling chicks. How many have you had if your ex was the only one who ever said you weren’t good?”

Jay thought about all of his exes and counted on his fingers. “I’ve dated, and that’s dated, about twenty women, and had two long-term relationships. Only one ever complained about my sexual prowess and yet I managed to knock her up twice, so I couldn’t have been that bad.”

“Did you have sex with all twenty that you dated?” Ari asked, curious.

“Yeah.” He nodded. “All twenty of them. They were women I went on multiple dates with, and they probably lasted a few months each. So yeah, I fucked all of them.”

“And none of them, besides your ex, complained about your prowess?” Ari questioned.

“Nope.” Jay shook his head. “None of them.”

“Bullshit artist.” She shoved the basket at him and walked over to the line. “So, obviously it wasn’t your prowess that made them leave.”

“Nope. I’m the one who moved on in all dating relationships, and in the long-terms, the first one left me, and I left the second. Yours, I presume.” Jay saw her hold up a slinky nightie and wiggled his brows, making her blush.

She choked. “You presume,” she replied and quickly grabbed a dress. “So, you’re a year younger than me, putting you in the late forties category. What now? Do you see yourself getting married again? Having more kids?”

Tilting his head back, he looked up at the semi-cloudy blue sky and sighed. “No. Yes. I don’t know. It’s hard, getting over someone that hard, that close, that intimate. We were together for ten years as a unit. We were almost one, we moved so well together. And when you’re that entwined and enmeshed with another person, it’s hard to be completely done with them. Don’t get me wrong,” he righted his head and looked at her, “I’m definitely not in love with her, haven’t been for years. I have no love for her whatsoever, but I definitely have other emotions, like hatred, anger, resentment.”

“I know the feeling,” Ari muttered, and hung the last piece of clothing on the line.

“Yeah…” Jay’s brows furrowed. “Yeah. And as much as I love my kids, I sense that she’s turning them against me more and more. But even though I love them, I’m actually glad when I don’t see them. I’m much happier because all I hear from them is Mommy says you’re this, and Mommy says you’re that. I hate you, you won’t let me have this, I’m telling Mommy. Jesus!” he growled and kicked at the concrete path. “I’m so sick and tired of her and what she’s doing, and I’m so much happier when she and the kids aren’t around.”

Ari stood on the back concrete step, watching the angry outburst. Sadness washed over her. She knew those emotions, for another reason, and so identified with what he was dealing with and going through, albeit, on another level. “I’m sorry. It sucks when a parent turns the kids against the other because they have a vendetta against them. Kids should never be used like that.”

“I absolutely agree.” He thrust his finger at her. “But that bitch doesn’t care. She’s out to ruin my life and she doesn’t care.” He waved his arms in angry motions, pointing and thrusting. “But this is what I’ve put up with for the last few years, and nothing I do seems to stop her. Hell, she even ran off the woman I dated after I left her.”

“What about the person she was seeing when you left her?” Ari didn’t want to be nosy, but she figured why not since they were talking about it.

“Oh, he loves the kids, and they love him. Didn’t you see the happy snaps on social media of their holiday to Italy?”

“Ah…” she muttered. “Yeah, it made the magazines here.”

“Yeah.” He placed his hands on his hips and his head dropped. “They made the tabloids everywhere. Didn’t they look just so happy,” he spat and ran a hand through his hair, tousling it into odd angles.

“I’m sorry.” Ari shook her head. “I shouldn’t keep bringing her up. It clearly still upsets you, so we can stop talking about her. It’ll probably make you a lot happier.”

He stared at her for a few moments, at her sad green eyes, full lips, and fuller figure, and felt better. “I am happier. I’m happier than I’ve been in a while. But you know what would make me really happy?” He stepped over to stand in front of her. With her on the step, it made them eye to eye.

“What?” Her breath caught in her throat as his masculine scent wafted over her. All she wanted to do was kiss him and breathe him in. Her lips puckered.

“Is if you let me read that novel of yours.”

“My what?” She frowned in confusion. “My novel? Which one? You said you’d bought them all, so you’ll be reading them anyway.” Staring into his eyes, she found herself swaying slightly, captivated by his aura that was slowly sucking her in every time she saw him. Just a little more each day.

“No, you’re right,” he hastened to say. “I did buy your novels. The ones you’ve published. But I want to read the ones you’ve written this year. You were talking about them in the group. The one you want to publish this year sounds incredibly interesting. I was hoping you’d let me read it.” Jay put on his best seductive smile and laid a gentle hand on her arm. “The psychological thriller. You sounded incredibly excited about it. You want to release it next. I was hoping to get an early read.” He followed his smile with his puppy dog expression that he knew sucked women in. “What do you say? Can I read it?”

Shocked, Ari couldn’t even string a sentence together. “Ah…why would…I…wow...” She grasped her hands to her chest. “Really? I mean, you’ve already read the others.” His soft puppy eyes were sucking her right in and all she wanted to do was say yes, and not just to him reading her book. Catching herself, she breathed deeply and tried to get a grip on her emotions. “I guess. I mean, I could use you as a proof reader, or beta reader, or something. I’ve finished the edits, and just have to send it off to my editor. But if you can give me some pointers and tips, it might make the story even better.”

“Great,” Jay enthused. “Would you be able to print it out today so I can read it tonight? That’s if you need to print it out; you may already have a hard copy.”

“Ah, no, I’d have to print it out. It’s about three hundred pages and I’ll need to keep adding paper, so I’ll have to watch it and it’ll take a while,” she rambled.