Grounded By You Read online

  “That’s only six months away,” Sam said.

  “The studio is putting big bank behind this film. If they release it this year, it even has a shot for the awards season. They’re going to press hard. It’s going to be a pressure cooker, so I suggest you do whatever you need to do to stay focused and on point. No distractions.”

  “No distractions,” Sam repeated. He felt a little sick to his stomach. He reminded himself that this was why he had moved to New York. It was the chance at a role that a lot of well-known actors had wanted, and instead, it somehow landed in Sam’s lap. Now that things were getting started, he told himself that he shouldn’t be so surprised that everything wasn’t magically aligning the way that he expected. He was a cog in the wheel of a much bigger enterprise.

  Watching Victoria flip through her appointment book, Sam took it as his indication that he could leave. He stood, and Victoria looked up and pointed at him. “Be nice to Delaney. You two are going to go places as long as you don’t do anything dumb. Remember that you can make or break this film, Sam. You and Delaney both.”

  Sam forced a smile on his face and gave Victoria a thumbs up sign. Then he strode out of the room before the false smile cracked. He nodded to Bernice as he breezed past her and then exited the office. In the hallway, he took a deep breath and dug the card with Delaney’s number on it out of his pocket. He dialed the number and waited.

  “Hello?” Her voice was exactly as he remembered, warm, friendly and with a hint of sexuality that made a man take notice.

  “Hey, it’s Sam…er, I mean, Carter. Groveson.” He wanted to smack his forehead. The dual name was definitely something that he was going to have to remember to watch moving forward. It felt strange, as if he were living a double life. Victoria had insisted that he use his full name as his stage name, and Victoria so far had been spot on the money about everything.

  “Hi. I’ve been expecting your call,” she said.

  Her teasing tone eased some of the tension between his shoulder blades. He reminded himself that she was stuck in the same situation that he was. He doubted Delaney had any serious interest in him either. She was exotically beautiful with her dark hair and full lips, and she was the kind of girl who could get any guy she wanted. She and Millie shared one critical thing in common. They were both way out of his league.

  “So this dinner thing we’re supposed to do on Friday night. You still up for it?”

  “It’s just dinner,” she chuckled. “It sounded like a good chance for us to get to know each other better. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, we’re kind of stuck with each other.”

  Sam was eager to get Delaney’s take on what Victoria said the studio was proposing, but he didn’t feel comfortable addressing it over the phone. “So it looks like I’ll plan to pick you up around eight?”

  “I heard the studio was sending a car. Pretty fancy, huh?”

  “Like another world,” Sam said honestly.

  “See you then,” Delaney said and clicked off.

  Sam stared at the phone in his hand. Delaney had been cast as Camilla more than a month before he was offered the role of Jackson. It was obvious to him during the audition that she was a producer favorite. Even though he had no intention of going along with the proposed game, he also didn’t want to piss off his new co-star. If she thought the whole thing as was stupid as he did, then she might have the pull to make the whole thing go away.

  He sighed. He supposed that there were worse ways to spend a Friday night than in the company of a beautiful woman. Which made him wonder what Millie was up to on Friday night and who the guy was that he saw her with the night before. He wasn’t quite sure how to explain what was happening in his world to her. He figured that he wasn’t even supposed to talk about it.

  Then he shook his head. He was acting like Millie would care. He kept forgetting that there wasn’t anything other than friendship between them anyway. That thought annoyed him more than he was willing to let on. He was glad that he was heading to the gym. Knocking around a punching bag was exactly the ticket to taking the edge off. He needed to knock the vision of Millie St. John right out of his head.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Sitting across from her mother and brother, Millie decided that she was in hell. Josh kicked her under the table, and when he cocked his head toward their mother with a warning look, she realized that she had been asked a question that she completely missed. She tuned her mother’s voice out several minutes ago for a reason.

  “I’m sorry?” She tried to keep her tone even and unemotional.

  Her mother sighed. “Amelia, I just don’t know what we’re going to do with you.”

  Clare St. John was the only person who still called her Amelia. Even her father had caved to her preferred nickname when she was in prep school, but her mother maintained the rigid air of formality despite Millie’s repeated attempts to change her mind. Finally, she just gave up. Millie was stubborn, but she was no match for her mother.

  At fifty, Clare’s face was still beautiful and unlined. She could easily pass for Millie’s older sister instead of her mother. That made her envied and revered in her small group of snobbish society friends, and Millie knew that suited Clare just fine. Clare was a small time model back in the eighties before she snagged herself a husband in James St. John, who at the time was a real up and comer. Then Clare gave up her modeling career and immersed herself in climbing the social ladder. Millie had to give her mother credit. When the woman put her mind to something, she almost always made it happen.

  Which meant that Millie had to watch her back or else she’d end up married off to some boring banker before she could even blink. Her mother tolerated her desire to go to college, and even to have a career, but she couldn’t understand why Millie was so dead set against settling down. Clare wasn’t introspective enough to consider that it might be because Millie witnessed the dance of her parents’ loveless marriage for far too many years.

  “That quaint little inn where you spent last summer is all over the news,” Clare said. The flash of annoyance of Millie’s lack of attention had already disappeared. “That must mean your friend Kate is doing quite well. All that publicity will almost certainly guarantee an uptick in business.”

  “It’s always busy during the summer season,” Millie said. “Walter Moolen’s book has been enough to keep the place packed all summer long for years.”

  “Well, I guess they’ll be able to double their rates then,” Josh interjected. “I heard some of the women at the gym already gushing over the guy they cast as the lead for the movie. What’s his name again?” He snapped his fingers as if trying to jog his memory.

  Millie was surprised. News traveled faster than she expected if it had already reached her family’s ears. “Carter Samuel Groveson,” she said.

  “That’s it!” Josh exclaimed, pointing at her. “It’s a weird name.”

  “Not that weird,” Millie said as she straightened her napkin in her lap. She didn’t want to talk about Sam with her family.

  “I heard that he was from that same town where the inn is located. Did you happen to meet him during your stay there?” Clare’s voice held a note of distraction.

  Millie saw Clare scan the room, no doubt trying to determine if there was anyone else in the room who required her attention.

  The turn of conversation didn’t give Millie a chance to plot out what she was going to say about her friendship with Sam. Her two worlds were colliding. She decided it was best to be honest. It would come out sooner or later. “I know him. He worked at the Willoughby at the same time I did.”

  Suddenly she had Clare’s full attention. “Well, isn’t that a fascinating coincidence,” Clare said.

  Millie realized her mistake too late. She could see what was going on in her mother’s head. It was a quick calculation of what could be gained by letting it be known to her friends that her daughter knew the famous new movie star.

  She needed to change the subject, and she
knew just how to do it. “So I need to talk to dad about the job that he arranged for me.”

  “Not a big enough title for you?” Josh joked. “There is a limit to the extent of the nepotism that he’s going to show us for the time being. He wants us to work our way up and prove ourselves to the Board.”

  “Actually, I’m turning down the job altogether,” Millie said.

  Her mother gasped and Josh’s mouth fell open.

  “You’re what?” Josh grabbed her hand. “Excuse us, Mother. I think that Millie is feeling a bit under the weather. I’m going to take her outside to get some fresh air.”

  Clare fanned herself and nodded. Millie wanted to roll her eyes. It was annoying how quickly Clare always acquiesced to everything that Josh said. She was barely out of diapers when she realized that both her parents favored her older brother over her. Of course, Josh was smart, funny, and handsome. She adored him too, but still it rubbed at her how much she felt like an afterthought in the family.

  Josh had his hand under her elbow and kept her tight against him even as he nodded and smiled to several of the people at the tables that they passed.

  “You can let me go now,” Millie hissed under her breath. “You are hurting me.”

  “No way,” Josh said under his breath. “Not until I talk some sense into you.”

  They were past the maître de and then out into the small hallway that led to the door out to the street. Josh pulled her toward the back and into a small coat room that was currently not being used. When they were kids, they used to hide in the same room to avoid Clare, who paraded them around as if they were trophies instead of people.

  “What the hell, Josh?” Millie yanked her arm away from him and rubbed her elbow. “I know you’re not happy that I’ve decided not to work for dad, but I didn’t expect this reaction from you.”

  Josh rubbed his face and stood with his hand on his hips. “Millie, I don’t know what has gotten into you this past year, but enough’s enough.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “First, you ran off and disappeared last summer working at some backwoods bed and breakfast instead of interning at the company like you told Dad you’d do. He let that one slide. Then you take a bunch of stupid artsy fartsy classes instead of the advanced business courses that I told you take. Now you’re here, and you’re going to quit the job you haven’t even started yet? Dad is going to blow.”

  Millie crossed her arms taking Josh’s tirade in. She raised her chin. “No one ever asked me if it was a job that I wanted. I love how everyone in this family just assumes they know what I want instead of actually asking me. If you did, this wouldn’t come as such a big surprise.”

  “You’ve never said that you didn’t want to do this,” Josh said. “In fact, you’ve been saying since you were a kid how much you wanted to work for the firm and how excited you were that we’d run it together someday after dad retires.”

  Millie softened. “That was when I was a kid, Josh. I’ve grown up. I want to do something else.”

  Josh shook his head. “This isn’t like you. You’ve changed.”

  “Maybe,” Millie said. “But I think it’s for the better. I have clarity into what I want and who I am. That takes time and life experience to figure out. I’m not saying that I’m there yet, but I know what my gut is telling me. Dad would never give me that chance to figure that out on my own. I am going to do this my way on my own terms.”

  “You’re a St. John. You have certain obligations to the family,” Josh said.

  “That’s a line of bullshit we’ve been fed since we were old enough to talk,” Millie snorted. “It’s not like we’re royalty. We’re just regular people.”

  “Dad built that company from the ground up for us,” Josh said. “It’s what he’s always wanted for us. We’re his legacy.”

  “He’s got you,” Millie said. “You can carry on his legacy. You love that company as much as he does. You don’t need me.”

  Josh groaned. “The timing of this little announcement couldn’t be worse, Millie.”

  “I’m sorry my life isn’t conforming to your timetable,” Millie snapped.

  Josh leaned back against the wall. “Look, can we pretend that you didn’t say this yet? With everything else that Dad has going on right now, this would put him over the edge.”

  Millie opened her mouth to respond, but Josh held up his hand. “I’m not going to try running your life. But seriously, the timing of this little announcement is horrible. Just give it a week or two, okay? I can probably stall him about why you haven’t started the job yet until then. Mother will help us cover it.”

  “Mother, help me? Right.”

  “She knows the pressure that Dad’s been under from the Board. She won’t want to upset him either. The last time he was at the doctor, they told him that if he doesn’t work on lowering his blood pressure, he’s going to have problems.”

  Millie felt a familiar welling of guilt in the pit of her stomach. It was what always happened when she tried to exert her own will within her family. But as long as Josh didn’t actually expect her to show up for work, she figured that she could wait a few more weeks to tell her father.

  “Fine,” she said, uncrossing her arms. “But on one condition.”

  Josh looked suspicious. “What?”

  She waggled her finger under his nose. “No more set-ups. I don’t need my big brother playing matchmaker for me, okay? You’re worse than Dad.”

  Josh had the decency to look guilty. “Will is a good guy. Plus he’s heard me talk about you for years. He’s just moved to the city, and I thought it would be nice for him to get out and meet people. With you just moving back to the city, it seemed like a win-win situation for both of you.”

  “Will seems like a perfectly nice guy,” Millie agreed, “But I’m not into dating right now.”

  “Somebody break your heart? I’ll kill him,” Josh said in a mock threatening tone.

  “Relationships bring complications that I don’t want in my life right now,” Millie said. “I need to focus on me and what’s next in my life.”

  “Yeah, especially once Dad disowns you,” Josh said solemnly.

  Millie sighed. “I’m hoping that once I explain it him that he’ll come around.”

  Josh slung his arm around her shoulders. “Not a chance, but very nice wishful thinking.”

  She mock-slugged him in the side, and they walked back to the table with grins on their faces. Millie sat down and rearranged her napkin in her lap. She felt better having cleared one hurdle.

  Her mother looked at both of them expectantly. “All settled?”

  “All settled,” Josh said. He reached over and patted Clare’s hand, which made Millie want to gag. “Nothing for you to worry about, Mother.”

  “Oh, that’s good to hear,” Clare said. She turned her eyes back to Millie. “While you were gone I had a chance to speak to Bethany Rochester.”

  Bethany Rochester was the daughter of Pauline Rochester, who was Clare’s number one frienemy. Pauline and Clare had a rivalry that went back years to before Millie was born. The bad blood had filtered down to their daughters. Millie hated Bethany.

  “I’m sorry I missed her,” Millie said sarcastically.

  “I mentioned to her that you know that boy who’s starring in that movie.”

  Millie’s mouth went dry. “You did?”

  “She said that she heard he lives here in the city! Isn’t that a fortunate coincidence?”

  Millie set her silverware back down and wiped her mouth on her napkin trying to formulate a response. “I think I heard he was going to school here.”

  “You should call him,” Clare suggested. “If he’s available, I’d love to throw a little dinner party for him. It’s so interesting hearing about everything in Hollywood these days.”

  “He’s never been in a movie like this before, Mother. He doesn’t know anything about Hollywood.” There was no way that Millie was going to expose Sam to th
e toxic environment that was a St. John dinner party. He’d never speak to her again after it.

  “Still, he sounds fascinating. I’d love to meet him,” Clare said.

  “I’m sure that Millie can get in touch with him,” Josh said, looking pointedly at her across the table. “Can’t you, Millie? That would be a really nice thing to do for Mother.”

  Millie got the hint. She was about to do something that would upset the whole family. The least she could do was offer up something in return. Sam had become the sacrificial lamb to keep a semblance of peace in the St. John family.

  “I’ll see what I can do,” she said.

  “Oh, and I forgot to mention that Dad’s having a small get together Friday night at a new restaurant in the meatpacking district for some people from the firm. He expects that you’ll be there,” Josh said, suddenly unable to meet her eyes.

  Millie almost launched her plate at his head. “Oh, he does, does he?”

  “We need to put up some big numbers for the second half of the year. It’s just a little something to get everyone on the same page,” Josh said. “In fact, my friend Will is going to be there too.”

  “Will Colman? He is such a nice young man,” Clare said. “I think you’d adore him, Amelia.”

  Millie glared at Josh when he looked up and winked at her. She realized that he had just outmaneuvered her. Again. But the fight wasn’t over. Not by a long shot.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Two days later, Millie fretted about the fact that she couldn’t pick out which of her artwork pieces to bring the meeting with Evelyn Ward, the gallery owner who offered to meet with her. And she hadn’t heard a peep from Sam. She might have been able to put that out of her mind if his face wasn’t splashed everywhere she looked. His name seemed to be on everyone’s lips, from the people in the coffee shop line to the dry cleaners to the internet forums.

  “I can’t even believe it,” Kate said when Millie finally managed to reach her on the phone late that afternoon. “How did he forget to mention that he moved to New York and decided to audition for that movie? I actually joked about it with him when the producers came to check things out here. Remember how he always told us he wanted to play Jackson Monroe if they ever did make the book into a movie?”