Total pages in book: 21
Estimated words: 19971 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 100(@200wpm)___ 80(@250wpm)___ 67(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 19971 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 100(@200wpm)___ 80(@250wpm)___ 67(@300wpm)
“I meant with the movie market.”
“Please, you’re a man. You could be in your nineties and be the lead actor.”
“Good point. Well, thanks for stopping by, but I have to get ready to leave and catch a flight.”
“You don’t need a ride to the airport?”
“No, I’m going to take a service there, but thanks.” I give Felicity a hand with her things and walk her to the door. Once she’s gone, I prepare my bags and then load my Jaguar for the trip. I might have said I was taking a flight, but I didn’t want to worry her by saying I was driving all the way to Temptation Bay, which was halfway across the country on the East Coast.
The road is clear for a while, so I don’t see anyone following me, which is fantastic. Hopefully, that means the crazy stalker doesn’t have any idea where I’m going, or so I believe. She’s been a menace. It started about five months ago when I received my first gift with my favorite meal delivered to my home.
I thought my assistant had surprised me even though I hate surprises because the last one I’d gotten wasn’t a pleasant one. She swore it wasn’t her, so I had her look into the matter with the restaurant. The person didn’t leave a name, and they paid in cash. What was worse is they didn’t have a camera, so they had no idea who the person was, but it was a male.
We soon learned that it was a female who was my stalker because of the emails that came in. The cops read them, and it was clear that a woman wrote the obsessive love, but they had been sent through proxy servers from around the world, and there was no way to trace it.
It was only two hours into my two-day trip when I received multiple calls from my assistant, who had many questions about mail or my utilities. Finally, I snapped off, “I’m on vacation, Felicity. Don’t call me unless it’s important. Understood?”
“Yes, Stellan.” I ended the call, getting more and more annoyed. There is no reason for her to be calling me because it’s stuff that is always handled when I leave town, and I answered during our first call. It’s as if she’s checking up on me. After that, I put my phone on do not disturb and made the long journey through the U.S. There’s just something peaceful about a long road trip that helps me clear my mind. I’m twenty-nine and frustrated as hell with my life.
As successful as I am, I’m not happy, and that’s a sad fact that would shock people. How could being rich and famous not make me fucking ecstatic? Well, I have no one to share it with other than my assistant, who I don’t even see as more than an employee. It’s strange, but we don’t bond. I like her as a person, but nothing more. Up until a few months ago, she was calling me Sir or Mr. Knox. Maybe I should call and apologize because I was so rude. I scratch that idea because it will give away the fact that I’m not at the airport.
Continuing my drive down, I turn up the music and let myself relax, taking the least traveled roads and cruising all the way there through the summer heat. Once I get tired or hungry, I find an out-of-the-way hole-in-the-wall town and stop in, hiding my face with a baseball cap, snatching a bite to eat, and using my real identification to get a hotel room for the night. Some people just assume that Stellan Barrymore looks a lot like Stellan Knox.
I rest my head on the pillow and allow myself to contemplate the next few weeks’ plans. So far, the only thing on my radar has been my nana and hiding from the prying eyes of my fans and that crazy stalker who wants to have my babies.
I don’t want to have babies until I find the one woman I can’t live without, and there hasn’t been a single female that has come close. Most dates end in disaster, with me getting the check and calling a cab. Hell, I haven’t been on a date in five years and never a second date, which is awful for a man of my fame and fortune. It’s one of the few areas in life where I’m a complete failure. Maybe it’s because I have terrible people skills or some shit, or because all the women I find are only after one damn thing, a ring and the bank account that goes with it.
Finally, I arrive in Sweet Temptation and the first thing I do is knock on my sweet Nana Louise’s door. “Hello Nana, miss me?”
“Always, my sugar. Come on in.” She smiles and opens the door for me. “I’ve got a lot of things for you to fix.”