Ready for Her Close-up. Katherine Garbera
Dylan walked away, and Russell made his way to Gail. “I’m sorry, but I think my situation might take a little longer than anticipated. Can we meet in forty-five minutes instead?”
She flushed and looked at Willow. “We’re having a drink. Is that okay?”
“Yes, that’s fine. We want to capture the phases of your relationship, not every second. Enjoy yourselves.”
Gail turned back to him with a slight smile on her face. “I’ll be down there in forty-five minutes, then.”
“Good.”
Russell left the women and headed down to the lobby and the office behind the check-in desk. Dylan was standing outside of it when Russell approached.
“I always thought Penny would be nicer in person,” Dylan said. “Sorry about that, sir. I should have kept that to myself.”
“You probably should have, but I happen to agree that she can be a bit of a bitch.”
Dylan nodded and then walked away.
Russell opened the door and saw Penny sitting on the edge of the desk. She had her iPhone in one hand and was delicately tapping out a message with the tip of one French-manicured fingernail.
“It’s about time you got here. I’ve been tweeting about the inconvenience of waiting on a former lover.”
“Nice. Good to see you too, Penny.”
“Yeah, right. You made it clear you didn’t want to see me again,” she said.
She was a Hollywood starlet so beautiful that she’d floored Russell the first time he saw her. It had been impossible to think of anything but sex. But, after spending two days in bed with her, Russell knew it had been a mistake. Penny was vapid and so self-absorbed, it was impossible for her to be aware of anyone else.
“Stop tweeting. You always get yourself in trouble with that.”
“Well, this time, Russell, you’re the one who’s going to be in trouble.”
“Why, exactly? I thought we ended things amiably.”
“Sure we did. But it turns out we have a few unresolved issues.”
Russell realized as she talked that he couldn’t wait to get away from her and back to Gail. He liked Gail’s freshness and the way natural sensuality imbued her every movement, as opposed to Penny’s in-your-face sexuality.
“Like what?”
“I’m pregnant,” she said.
Russell shook his head. He’d settled a paternity suit when he was twenty-four and, ever since then, every time a past lover became pregnant he’d had to deal with this. “I’m not the father.”
“I’m not so sure about that, Russell, and I’m going to be tweeting about it unless you do what you should,” Penny said.
Penny’s timing couldn’t be worse. This was exactly what he didn’t want to deal with today. He wanted to get back to Gail and continue courting her and wooing her. But instead … “I’m going to need to see proof you’re pregnant, and then we need to do a paternity test.”
“I don’t know why. The baby is yours, and if you don’t cooperate, I’m going to make life very difficult for you,” she said.
He knew she meant it. He had to handle this delicately, because Gail was his chance at the future he wanted to have, and Penny was part of a past he was trying very hard to distance himself from.
Gail waited in the lobby bar for Russell, feeling just a little self-conscious that she was by herself. Honestly, she’d thought she’d mastered sitting alone in public a long time ago, but the truth was she hadn’t. She didn’t like it.
She felt someone watching her and glanced up to see Russell leaving the back office with his hand on the shoulder of a woman who looked familiar. Gail leaned forward and recognized her as Penny Thomson, rising Hollywood star and Russell’s ex. Gail watched them for a minute before deciding that he wasn’t the kind of guy she wanted to get to know better.
She knew any guy she dated would have an ex, but with another man, she wouldn’t be competing against someone like Penny. This was a mistake, she thought. Her gut had said so from the moment she’d recognized Russell, but the romantic in her had been wooed during that chopper ride over Manhattan. Just because he had money and knew how to make the right reservations, it didn’t mean he was capable of being the man she needed in her life. And Gail was on a tight timetable. She had these few months to find a man if she wanted to execute her “family” plan, including husband and, eventually, children.
Gail lifted the glass of soda water that she’d ordered and took a sip, trying to be disinterested. But she couldn’t be. Russell and Penny looked perfect together. That would make great TV, she thought. The pretty blonde starlet and the ruggedly handsome man. Not at all like her and Russell.
She’d had enough of this. She was going home and she’d figure out a new plan in the morning. For tonight, she needed to get away from the Kiwi Big Apple and the man who’d almost made her … what? For a little while, she’d forgotten that she was really just a plain Jane. For a little while, she’d forgotten her common sense. Forgotten what was painfully obvious right now—that there was no way Russell would be interested in her, because he was used to a class of women that was out of her league.
She wasn’t putting herself down, but was being realistic. She was never going to dress that overtly sexually or spend as much time on hair and makeup as Penny did. She was a normal woman with a job and a life. Not a sexual plaything whose sole purpose was to be seen on Russell’s arm.
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