“Keep telling yourself that.”
“You know,” he added, his features growing serious, “it’s really easy to fall into the Hollywood trap once you become famous. You could be the most down-to-earth, kind-hearted person and then you get to Hollywood and your ego inflates like a helium balloon. Suddenly you’re stepping over people to get ahead, or drowning in a lifestyle that has the power to kill you. Sex, drugs and rock ’n roll, that sort of thing.”
“So how’d you escape the trap?”
“I have a very good mother.” He shifted over so they were face to face, and something really wholesome and genuine flickered in his gorgeous eyes. “She always made sure I had a good head on my shoulders, even if it meant slapping it into place.”
Envy gripped at her, but she tried to look casual. It wasn’t Ben’s fault she hadn’t lucked out in the maternal role model department, or that her voice would never contain that tinge of love and admiration when she spoke of her own mother.
“What about your father?” she asked.
“He ran off with another woman when I was two. Haven’t seen him since.”
She offered a bitter smile. “Join the club.”
“Your dad took off too?”
“My dad wasn’t even in the picture to begin with. My mother was the one who did the running.” She swallowed. “I grew up in foster care.”
“Did you always live in New York?”
“Yep. Did you always live in Hollywood?”
“God, no. Do you think I’d be this normal if I had? Actually, I grew up in Cobb Valley, Ohio, a town with a population of, oh, about two thousand.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously. Most of my classes in high school had about ten kids total.” He laughed. “And down the street from my house there was a drugstore with an honest-to-God malt shop in the back. I’m not making this up.”
Hearing Ben talk about his hometown brought on two reactions. First, it warmed her heart, probably because it amazed her that the movie star she’d spent the night Googling could talk so unpretentiously about his roots. The second reaction was discomfort, which was harder to decipher.
Being attracted to him was one thing, but getting to know him? Learning about his childhood and chuckling about the malt shop down the street? Telling him about her dismal upbringing? It was too…intimate.
Figure that one out. They’d seen each other naked, but it was the swapping of life stories she found intimate?
“Can I get you anything to drink?”
Maggie nearly fell out of her seat at the sound of the sugar-sweet female voice. She hadn’t thought there was anybody else on board aside from the pilot, and the sudden appearance of a petite blonde in a stewardess uniform made her wonder who else was hiding in the back of the jet. G Pappy himself?
“I’ll take coffee.” Ben glanced over at her. “Do you want anything, babe?”
Did the flight attendant know who Ben was? Probably. And he’d just ‘babe’d her, right there in front of the woman! Great. She probably thought Maggie was his latest piece of arm candy.
“I want…to use the washroom,” she blurted, knowing her cheeks had turned crimson all over again.
This entire situation was too surreal for her. The private jet, the movie star, the fact that she was really starting to like the movie star.
Again, way too intimate.
She scurried out of her seat and gave the stewardess a fake smile before hurrying toward the lavatory sign at the end of the aisle.
Inside the surprisingly roomy washroom, she flopped down on the closed toilet seat—also a gaudy gold color—and raked both hands through her hair. God, this was so unlike her. How could she have just shoved all her responsibilities aside and agreed to this silly trip? Yeah, she had the day off from work tomorrow and the week-long chicken-pox-induced vacation from the community center, but think of all the homework she could’ve gotten out of the way.
Instead, she’d allowed Ben to whisk her away to…to where? She still had no clue where they were going, and that only made her stomach bubble with annoyance. She wasn’t cut out for life without plans and schedules, for spur-of-the-moment decisions and movie stars who made her heartbeat race.
She’d seen all those pictures on the web. Ben with a Brazilian supermodel. Ben with a gorgeous soap star. Ben at the Golden Globes. Ben on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
The man was a star. A hot, womanizing star. He had the looks and the money to make any woman with a pulse drool at his feet, so why was he hanging around with a waitress from Manhattan?
It couldn’t be the thrill of the chase, because truth be told, he’d already caught her. He’d already broken down her defenses by luring her on this mysterious vacation.
What more could he possibly want?
Before she could attempt to come up with an answer, the door handle clicked and Ben strolled in, oblivious to the stunned look on her face.