Hollywood Ex Factor, page 24
“I’m sorry if I kept you waiting.”
She was doing her damnedest not to drool. All that brawny muscle. All that masculine beauty. Was it any wonder that she’d kept sleeping with him after the divorce? “I texted you. But I didn’t realize you were on the beach.”
“I didn’t bring my phone with me. Do you want to come in while I get dressed?”
“No, thanks. I’ll stay here.”
He gripped his board. “I’m not going to shower. I can do that later.”
“You don’t have to rush on my account.”
“I don’t mind. Besides, I already kept you waiting. The least I can do is hurry now.”
He entered the condo, leaving her alone with her thoughts. Her mind was still misbehaving. His body-hugging shorts. The surfer-boy smell of his skin. The affair she was missing.
Why couldn’t she just lose interest in him?
* * *
Hollywood Ex Factor by Sheri WhiteFeather
is part of the LA Women series.
Dear Reader,
Where were you born and how many different places have you lived? I was born in Clearfield, Pennsylvania, but my family moved to California when I was two. Since then, I’ve had some stopovers in Portland, Oregon. But mostly I spent my life in California. Not in one area, though. I moved a lot.
Here’s a list of the places in California where I’ve lived: San Jose, Glendale, Los Alamitos, Cypress, Hollywood, North Hollywood, Littlerock (yes, there is a Littlerock, CA), Burbank, Orange, Anaheim, Bakersfield, Sun City and Menifee. Whew! That’s a lot of places.
Can you guess my favorite? It was Hollywood. I loved that wild town. Every so often, Hollywood creeps into my books. It’s making a big splash in this one.
Hollywood Ex Factor features a divorced couple still steeped in each other. Margot is a former child star/actress, and Zeke is a bodyguard/security specialist who was raised in Beverly Hills with a celebrity mom and a talent agent dad.
It doesn’t get any more Hollywood than that. But there’s more to Margot and Zeke than where they grew up. So much more...
Happy reading,
Sheri WhiteFeather
Sheri WhiteFeather
Hollywood Ex Factor
Sheri WhiteFeather is an award-winning bestselling author. She lives in Southern California and enjoys shopping in vintage stores and visiting art galleries and museums. She is known for incorporating Native American elements into her books and has two grown children who are tribally enrolled members of the Muscogee Creek Nation. Visit her website at www.sheriwhitefeather.com.
Books by Sheri WhiteFeather
Harlequin Desire
Sons of Country
Wrangling the Rich Rancher
Nashville Rebel
Nashville Secrets
Daughters of Country
Hot Nashville Nights
Wild Nashville Ways
LA Women
Hollywood Ex Factor
Visit her Author Profile page at Harlequin.com, or www.sheriwhitefeather.com, for more titles.
You can also find Sheri WhiteFeather on Facebook, along with other Harlequin Desire authors, at Facebook.com/harlequindesireauthors!
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Epilogue
Excerpt from The Trouble with Bad Boys by Katherine Garbera
Excerpt from The Road to Rose Bend by Naima Simone
One
Frustrated by it all, Zeke Mitchell unbuckled his seat belt, preparing to exit the plane. He’d just spent four hours and fifty-one minutes in the air, obsessing about his ex.
He should be glad to be home. But instead, he was stressing over Margot Jensen. She was an actress and one of his LA clients. She was also his occasional lover. But most important, she was his former wife. They’d started sleeping together soon after their divorce, which was going on three years now. An uncommitted affair, he thought.
Sporadic, sex-only hookups.
But that might be coming to an end. Margot had texted him last night, saying that she was having second thoughts about their affair and wanted to discuss it with him.
He stood and removed his carry-on from above his seat, then disembarked with the rest of the first-class passengers and proceeded to the baggage reclaim area to collect the remainder of his luggage. From there, he headed outside to ground transportation, where he’d already arranged for a town car to take him straight to Margot’s. She’d asked him to come by as soon as he could, but he was fine with that. He wanted to get their damned discussion over with.
He blew out a sigh. What did he expect? To have a fling with his ex-wife forever? At some point, their affair was meant to crash and burn. Then again, maybe he could convince her to be together one last time...
Damn it. Why did Margot have to affect him this way? Why couldn’t he shake her from his blood?
He cleared his mind and scanned the cars lined up at the curb, searching for his driver. The sidewalk was busy, people rushing past him. Some of them glanced his way, but Zeke tended to stand out in a crowd. At six-four, he was packed with muscle. Not all bodyguards were his size. A lot of the agents he employed were able to blend in, to go unnoticed. That would never be the case with Zeke. In addition to his stature, his mixed heritage made him identifiable, too. He was Samoan and Choctaw from his dad’s side and white from his mom’s.
He located his driver, and within no time, he was riding in the back of a Lincoln, en route to the Hollywood Hills, where Margot lived. They’d sold the Redondo Beach house they’d owned together. Nonetheless, Zeke still lived in that area, making an oceanfront condo his current home.
About forty-five minutes later, he arrived at Margot’s residence, an elegant three-bedroom, four-bath Spanish Colonial Revival surrounded by a wrought iron gate.
Zeke instructed his driver to wait for him, then exited the car. He opened the coded gate and ascended the red clay steps leading to the front door. He had a key to her house, but he never used it. It was strictly for security purposes.
Zeke and his partner operated Z-One Security, a personal protection company with over three hundred employees guarding celebrities all over the world. Whenever they took on a new or complicated assignment, Zeke would spend some time with the client, becoming familiar with their lifestyle and training the rest of his team accordingly.
He rang the bell, and Margot answered, looking soft and luscious in a billowy blouse and wide-legged jeans. He noticed that her nails were decorated in mismatched polish. She’d always had an eclectic fashion sense, with different looks to suit whatever type of mood she was in. Today, he surmised, she was in a state of uncertainty. Would that work in his favor? Or was he reading too much into it? She’d never been short on contradictions.
“Hi, Zeke.” She greeted him with an anxious smile.
“Hey, Margot.” He wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of a smile, anxious or otherwise. He was already pissed at himself for wanting her.
She wore her wild red hair in a low-slung ponytail with loose tendrils framing her face. Her bright blue eyes lent her an innocent quality. Her dimples, however, struck a mischievous chord. They’d served her well when she was a child actor playing a precocious character in The Kid Years, the family sitcom she’d become known for. She was playing an adult version of that same character now, in a sequel of the old show aptly called The Grown-up Years.
The job that had triggered their divorce.
When they’d first started dating, she’d given up acting, only to resume her career after they got married. A move that felt horribly deceptive to Zeke. He’d never wanted a celebrity wife. He’d grown up with a famous mother, and he’d struggled through every minute of it. As a kid, his only salvation had been his mom’s security team. They’d provided a sense of stability in an otherwise chaotic environment, shielding his family from the paparazzi and obsessive fans who hounded his mom. For Zeke, becoming a security specialist when he got older was a no-brainer.
Luckily, Margot didn’t need much of a security detail. Aside from the usual internet trolls who harassed celebrities online, there’d never really been any issues. But he wasn’t taking any chances. He engaged a crew to monitor her social media accounts and keep an eye on the camera footage outside her house.
He was being filmed right now. Not that it mattered. As far as his employees knew, his visits with her were strictly professional. He hadn’t told a living soul that they were lovers. Margot, on the other hand, had blabbed about their affair to Zeke’s sister. The two women had been friends since they were kids, and now his sister was privy to his personal shit.
“Are you going to come inside?” Margot asked.
He nodded and entered the house, catching a glimpse of his dark suit and gray striped tie as he passed a mirror in the foyer. He preferred to wear business attire when he traveled. He would change into a pair of board shorts when he got home.
She escorted him to the living room, a sp
He glanced at the sofa, but he didn’t take a seat. Neither did she. Flustered by their ever-present attraction, he shifted his stance. The energy between them was thick and tangled.
Confusing, he thought.
“Can I get you anything?” she asked.
By now, he was itching to kiss her, to touch her, to carry her to the master suite and do wicked things. “What did you have in mind?”
“Coffee, water, beer. Whatever you want.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Whatever I want?” He waited a beat. “Surely you know what that is.” He kept his voice low, quiet. Seductive, he supposed. He was making his move, scattered as it was.
Her reaction was just as scattered. In fact, she looked downright dizzy, as if being with him one last time had crossed her mind, too. But then she composed herself and said, “I didn’t arrange this meeting for us to...”
“I know, but it’s been a while since we...” He’d been away on an assignment for what had seemed like forever, eager to see her, to hook up with her again. “Six months to be exact.”
“Yes, but that was before the adoption was finalized and Liam came to live with me.”
Zeke had been wondering if this was about her son. The eight-year-old who’d become her priority. He didn’t know young Liam, but he’d seen plenty of pictures. He had a security file on the boy.
In all honesty, the idea of her becoming a mom twisted him up inside. Once upon a time, they’d talked about having kids of their own. Of course, that was when they’d been madly in love. But those feelings no longer applied.
Zeke cleared the scratchiness from his throat. Now that her kid had become part of the discussion, he was at a loss for words. Margot was silent, as well. But that was typical of them. Aside from getting naked, they didn’t know how to communicate anymore. Their sexual escapades didn’t even include spending any nights together. They just did the deed, then went their separate ways, like hot-blooded strangers hungry for a fix.
Suddenly, he needed a cold drink, something to take the edge off. “If your offer is still good, I think I’d like a beer.”
“No problem.” She gazed at his mouth, wetting her own lips in the process. “I’m thirsty, too. I’m going to get myself some water.” She headed toward the kitchen. “I’ll be right back.”
Zeke watched her dash out of the room. In spite of the obvious tension, she was trying to act casual. But that did little to ease his mind—or his relentless desire for her.
* * *
Margot entered the kitchen and caught her breath. Why did ending her affair with Zeke have to be so painful? Why did she have to want him so badly?
She filled a glass with water from the fridge and drank half of it, telling herself to relax. She could do this. She could let Zeke go for good. It wasn’t healthy for her to keep sleeping with him. For now, she needed to focus on her son. Liam was at school today. He was a great student, a smart boy who’d learned to adapt to whatever situation he was in. But his life, thus far, hadn’t been easy. He’d spent most of his youth bouncing in and out of foster homes, hoping for a forever family. And now he had Margot.
She’d never intended to become a single parent, but when she’d met Liam at a children’s charity, she’d connected with him instantly and knew he was meant to be hers.
She used to think that Zeke was meant to be hers, too, but their divorce had proved otherwise. And their affair? That was insanity. Who slept with their ex instead of moving on? Someday, when she was ready, she would start dating again. But next time she would have a normal relationship, not the turmoil she’d endured with Zeke.
She put her glass in the sink and almost left the kitchen without his beer. Good Lord. She grabbed it and returned to the living room. She handed him the bottle, and they both sat. He took the sofa, and she scooted onto an overstuffed chair. He opened the beer and took a long, hard swallow.
He met her gaze, and her heart banged against her ribs. He was a breathtaking man, imposing in his size, with rugged features and eyes that were nearly as black as his hair.
“Where’s your water?” he asked.
“I drank it in the kitchen.”
“And you’re not thirsty anymore?”
“No.” At least not for water. Slaking her thirst for him wasn’t so easy, but she was determined to exorcise those demons.
She was thirty-three now, and he was thirty-eight. At this point, she’d known him for over half of her life. In addition to her friendship with his sister, she’d also had a close association with his dad. Caine Mitchell used to be Margot’s agent. Her own father had walked away when she was seven, abandoning her without a care. She understood that Zeke’s childhood was difficult on account of how famous his mother was. But she used to love hanging out at his parents’ house and seeing them together. The Hollywood agent and the Hollywood star. They’d been a good match, even if their union had first stemmed from tragedy.
Zeke wasn’t Caine’s biological son. His birth father was a stuntman who’d been killed in a work-related accident soon after Zeke was born, leaving his mother devastated. In the midst of her grief, she’d married Caine, and he’d adopted her infant son. Bailey had come along five years later, making her Zeke’s half sister. Caine was gone now, too. He’d died twelve years ago, leaving an emotional legacy behind. He was the glue that had held everyone together, and they all missed him terribly. Even Margot still brought flowers to his grave.
She looked into Zeke’s eyes, those deep, dark hypnotic eyes. To keep things from getting too quiet, she said, “I was just thinking about Caine and how he adopted you.”
“And now you have an adopted son.” A muscle ticked in his jaw. “But you always wanted kids.”
Margot’s chest went tight. He’d wanted them, too. Before their marriage had gone awry, they’d talked about having babies. “Becoming a mom has been amazing. But it’s still so new and different, and I’m still learning, figuring things out as I go.”
“That’s normal, I suspect. But I wouldn’t really know anything about it.” After an uncomfortable pause, he asked, “Are you going to hire a nanny or an au pair? If you are, I need to screen your applicants. Me or one of my agents.”
“I’m not going to hire anyone. My mom enjoys watching Liam. She’s available whenever I need her. Or she has been so far.”
“That’s good,” he replied, pinning her with his gaze. He swigged his beer without breaking eye contact.
Margot tried not to fidget under his scrutiny. The way he was looking at her made her want to take him straight to bed. But she couldn’t, she reminded herself. Not unless she was willing to get all jumbled up again.
Before she did something stupid, she said, “When I texted you last night and said that I was having second thoughts about our affair, I was still struggling with my decision. There was a part of me that wanted to hang on.” A part that still did, she thought. Even now, her traitorous body ached for his. “But I need to create a healthy environment for myself and Liam, and I don’t see how that’s possible if I’m still sleeping with you.”
He set his drink on the coffee table. “Then, this is it? It’s over?”
“Yes.” It had to be, she told herself. No more heart-thundering sex. No more lusty rendezvous.
He leaned back, his massive body sinking into the sofa. “I’m going to miss being with you.”
“I’ll miss being with you, too.” She wasn’t going to lie or pretend otherwise. “This wasn’t an easy decision.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t end it so soon. We can keep doing it for a while and see how it goes. Being a mom doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to have a lover.”
“I know. But I’m trying to do the right thing, and sneaking off with you isn’t going to help my cause. There’s no future in it. We’re divorced,” she reminded him.
“I’m well aware of our relationship status.” He tugged at his tie, as if the perfectly tied knot was starting to choke him. “But I never would’ve filed the papers if you’d held up your end of the bargain. When we first got together, you told me that you were done with acting. But then you took that damned sequel. Your old producer called, and you went running.”
