Mr. Imperfect

chapter 51



It took a minute to break the code on Teddy. She wouldn’t even make eye contact with him, until he pointed out one of his cameras. That’s when he got his bite.

“Really?” she cooed, suddenly switching her body language to put them chest to chest. “You’re in the film business?”

He nodded, exaggerating a little. “Used to work in L.A., but now I’ve gone private.”

Mike had her full attention. “Yeah? You work with any stars?”

“Some,” Mike said, wanting to skirt the issue. “But a girl as pretty as you has to have thought about going into the business.”

Her botoxed lips split to reveal straight, white teeth as Teddy beamed at him. “Totally! Rich and I met in L.A. on set. He’s going to help me break into the business.”

Mike didn’t have to ask what kind of set they’d met on. Her oversized implants were more clue than he needed. Instead, he put a perplexed look on his face. “Huh. How’s that working out for you?”

Teddy’s eyebrows drew together. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, breaking into the business. Have you gotten any jobs since you started dating Rich?” Say no, please say no!

“Well, no, but—”

Mike gave his head a slow shake.

“What?” Teddy asked moving closer, her hand resting on his arm. “Why are you shaking your head?”

“Because,” he said. “You’ve fallen for one of the oldest tricks in the book.” And she had, which meant that Mike didn’t have to lie to her. That was a plus.

“What trick?”

“The trick where the old, rich dude sees the pretty, young girl and wants him all to himself.” Mike took a sip of the wine, making a metal note to find educated reasons to hate it. “Rich doesn’t want to help you break into movies, Teddy. He wants you on his arm so other men think he’s a stud. No one’s going to hire you while you’re openly dating a man more than twice your age.”

“But—”

“Name one hot, married actress who is in high demand.”

“Well, I mean, Kim Kardashian got married.”

“And promptly divorced, reinforcing the notion that no one man can make her happy.”

She seemed to consider that. “There’s Angelina Jolie.”

“Who’s married to Brad Pitt, who is decidedly not the age of her father. Richard isn’t a hot Hollywood male actor or a gargantuan basketball player. He’s an old dude and a nobody in the industry. It’s more like Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas?”

“Omigawd.”

“Exactly,” Mike said, sending a meaningful glance at Rori’s dad. “If you’re serious about acting, you can’t be photographed with a guy like that. No one wants to close their eyes and picture you doing it with an old guy. Would Kim Kardashian date a guy like that?”

“Hell, no!” Teddy said, getting into the spirit of the conversation. “See? I told Marcy all this and she told me I was being short sighted.”

“Uh-huh,” Mike said knowingly, taking a gamble on his next question. “And where’s Marcy now?”

Teddy’s expression turned ugly. “Holy shit! You’re right. She’s back in L.A. landing my acting jobs! That selfish whore!”

It was hard not to smile. L.A. hadn’t changed one bit in Mike’s absence. “I mean, I get it if you love Rich and want to be with him. That makes sense. But if you think he’s going to get you into movies, well, that just isn’t going to happen.”

As messed up as it seemed, Mike almost felt as if he were doing a good deed all around. He was helping Rori keep peace with the parents while realigning Teddy with her long term goals. He was probably even saving Rori’s dad a really, really messy break up down the line. All in all, he felt a bit like a good Samaritan. Mike was so pleased with himself that he didn’t notice Teddy’s body language become just a little more fluid and sensual.

“And you said you make movies?” she mewed, reaching out to toy with one of his buttons.

“I, uh, no!” he managed, stepping back only to discover the wall that had always been behind him. She had him cornered.

Teddy stepped in, her hand moving south. “But you have friends, right? Director friends?”

“I, uh—” Yes, he had director friends. But more than that, he needed an ‘eject’ button at the moment.