THE PRODIGAL SON RETURNS TO HOLLYWOOD...
Sexiest man alive.
Playboy movie star.
Reckless actor.
Will Baker, better known as “Fitz,” is back, and the world has questions.
Where did he go?
Why is he back?
Who was I, Maggie Sharp, the girl who found him?
As Will and I fled my family’s troubles, we returned to a world most only dream of, where privacy belongs to the highest bidders, and loving Will might cost me the freedom I fought so hard to attain.
Secrets mean betrayal, and Will’s are bigger than most.
As he returns to a life of wealth and excess, will he fall back into his old vices too?
Or is loving each other the one thing that will save us both?
Author's note: Hollywood Chase was previously published as Indiscreet, the second book of the Discreet Duet.
EXCERPT
I drove away from Newman Lake and into a new life. A completely new world.
A private plane with butter-soft leather seats.
A luxury SUV at a private airfield near Malibu.
And Will. It seemed like the closer we came to the low, concrete skyline of Los Angeles, the more he closed down again. He hadn’t spoken much on the flight, consumed with reviewing lines for the scene he was supposed to be filming that evening. The director had apparently scrambled the schedule to keep up their pace around his absence, but it meant that Will had a new call time later that night.
“It’s all on the soundstage,” he said when I asked if the time of day mattered. “It might mean paying the crew some overtime, but I doubt the studio cares about that more than going even further past the original schedule.”
I nodded. I didn’t mind the idea of having a bit of time to myself anyway. I’d been quiet through the flight too, content to watch the clouds for two hours, listen to music, and put the morning’s events aside. If I squeezed my eyes hard enough, I wouldn’t see my mother’s face contorted with hurt. If I turned the music loud enough, I wouldn’t hear her voice scratched with anger. Twenty-six years as Ellie Sharp’s daughter had made me an expert in the art of denial. And I had one more problem to solve anyway: what the hell I was going to do with myself once we were in LA?
“I’ll drop you at the hotel first,” Will said as we sped along the 101. We zoomed past Studio City (so said the signs) and eventually got off at an exit in what he said were the Hollywood Hills.
I was too entranced with the new scenery to reply. Though I had spent a bit of time touring up and down the East Coast, I had never been to Los Angeles, or even California.
“Look,” Will said, pointing up the hill from Mulholland Drive.
“Holy shit!” I crowed when the Hollywood sign came briefly into view. The pair of security guys in the front seats chuckled.
I turned to Will. “Aren’t you glad to be back here? Even a little? LA is pretty iconic.”
The sun shone through the window, lighting up Will’s face maybe more than he would have wanted. He leaned away, despite the fact that the tinted windows obscured him completely to the few people on the street.
“I…” He rubbed his face. “I like the work all right. I always did, even when I was a kid. I don’t think Dad would have let Mom drag me around to all those auditions, put me up for shows if I didn’t. It was fun, you know, pretending to be other people. Kind of like playing make-believe when I was little.”
I smiled. “Well, I’m glad of that, at least. You’re so talented.”
Will looked at me with pinked cheeks. “Please tell me you haven’t watched any of my films.”
I grinned wider and nuzzled into his shoulder. “Only every single one. Twice. I probably watched The End Zone about five times, actually. You’re a great leading man, especially when you’re wearing really tight pants that show off your—”
Will slapped a hand over my mouth and pulled me under his arm, then proceeded to tickle me mercilessly. His bodyguards chuckled while I broke down in hopeless giggles.
“Stop!” I shrieked. “It’s not my fault you have dreamy bedroom eyes and abs for days, Mr. Sexiest Man Alive!”