Lovers Premiere

Ever since her engagement to Ethan Chambers, it seemed like nothing bothered Rachel anymore; not the drama of working on the set of Paging the Doctor or the hectic pace of putting a wedding together or even having her love life splattered across the pages of every tabloid across America. Growing up, Rachel wanted nothing to do with the spotlight so of course life dealt her a hand where she’d fallen in love with the hottest star on television. But when push came to shove, love triumphed.

Rachel glowed like a woman in love and Sofia was surprised to feel a prick of envy. That was unlike her too since she truly wanted the world for her baby sister. And if there was anyone who could give her the world, it was Ethan. Her future brother-in-love was a rarity in this city: a genuinely good man who valued family.

“I got to get Sarah back here pronto or I’m going to pull out every strand of hair on my head dealing with Stewart.”

Rachel laughed and started up the car. “Sounds like you’ve finally met your match with Ramell Jordan.”

Sofia’s eyes nearly rolled out the back of her head on that. “Puh-lease. That’ll be the day.”

Rachel glanced over at the passenger seat while Sofia hooked her Bluetooth on her ear and started powering up her iPad. “What’s the deal between you and Ramell anyway? You act like the man is our sworn enemy or something.”

“There’s no deal. Trust me. I just have to put up with him until Uncle Jacob comes to his senses. And I hope to hell it’s soon because the two of us in one office isn’t going to work.” She tapped her ear and immediately transitioned into her professional voice. “Hello, Akil. It’s Sofia. How’s it going? Are you and Charlene going to make it to the award ceremony this weekend?”

“You know it,” Akil Hutton boasted. “My first nomination for that joint I produced with Pit Bull. I’m all over it, baby.” Akil and his label Playascape were the hottest players in the game at the moment and Sofia was thrilled that her newest client, and Rachel’s best friend, Charlene Quinn’s debut CD was going to drop this spring on the label. Then the surprise of all surprises; while Charlene was down at Akil’s Miami home studio she won the mega-producer’s heart and landed an engagement ring.

“Good. I trust you’re bringing Charlene?”

“Of course. Every man needs someone gorgeous on their arms. In my case it’s going to be my beautiful fiancée.”

Sofia felt another twinge of jealousy, but she covered it by saying, “That’s great. I can’t wait to see you both there. Make sure you swing by the pre-award ceremony. Maybe we can set it up for Charlene to do a set. Give the people in Las Vegas a little teaser of what’s to come.”

“Yeah. Yeah. We can make it do what it do,” he laughed.

“Good deal. Catch you later. You can reach me on my cell if you need anything.” Sofia tapped her ear and rushed to finish her fourth counteroffer to Larry Franklin for Ethan’s next contract.

Rachel shook her head. “Does your brain have an Off switch?”

“Not that I’m aware of,” she laughed, but then suddenly experienced a wave of vertigo. “Oh, no.” She pressed a hand against the side of her head.

“What’s the matter?” Rachel asked, glancing back over at her sister.

“Nothing. I’m…I guess I just got a little dizzy there.”

“Are you sure you’re all right? Do I need to pull over?”

“Don’t you dare. I have to make this flight. I’m probably just dizzy because I skipped breakfast. I’ll grab something on the plane.” Her finger went back to zooming across the tablet on her lap.

Rachel went back to shaking her head. “Did you get your prescription filled?”

Sofia looked over at her.

“Uncle Jacob told me,” she said, answering the unspoken question.

“Figures. I love him dearly, but lately I swear the man is trying to run my life.”

Rachel shook her head. “He’s just concerned about you. We all are. Your workload—”

“Oh, Rachel, not you, too.” Sofia pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Yes, me, too. You’re the only sister I have and I’d kind of like to keep you around a little longer…or at least until you fulfill your duty as maid of honor at my wedding later this month.”

“Figures.” The two sisters laughed. After another twenty minutes of navigating through L.A. traffic, Rachel pulled into the private airstrip in Burbank where Limelight usually shared a chartered private jet with a list of other high-profile industry insiders. Given how her day was going so far, she had no idea why she was surprised to find that her wonderful temporary assistant didn’t book her on a flight to Las Vegas.

“Please say that you’re joking,” Sofia moaned. She had already had her bags unloaded from her sister’s car and Rachel had already taken off.

The pretty, plus-size woman behind the counter fluttered a sympathetic smile at her. “No. I’m sorry. And we’re all booked up. Everyone is trying to get to the awards ceremony for the weekend.”

“I know. That’s where I need to get to.” She let out a sigh and then tried to rein in her mounting frustration. If she got her hands on Stewart, he was a dead man. “There has to be something we can do. The chances of me getting out of LAX today will be close to impossible.”

“I don’t know, ma’am. Like I said, every flight is completely booked.

“Are you sure? There has to be some room. I can sit in the back with the stewardess. Hell, I can be a stewardess. Anyone want some time off? How hard can it be to serve drinks?”

Still shaking her head, the lone booking agent held firm.

“I don’t believe this,” Sofia said, jerking away from the counter only to come face to face with a smiling Ramell, dressed casual in a pair of black jeans and a white short sleeved top. Instantly, Sofia’s gaze zeroed in on his arm’s bulging bronze muscles. What Ram looked like in a suit versus what he looked like dressed down were two totally different animals; this one much more dangerous to her peace of mind.

When her eyes shifted across the wide span of his chest, her hand started twitching at her side. She had a sudden curiosity of what it would feel like to run her fingers across it or even lay her head against it.

Ram cleared his throat and Sofia’s gaze jumped up to his mirrored aviator sunglasses. “Is there a problem?” he asked.

“No,” Sofia lied.

“Yes,” the woman behind the counter contradicted. “Ms. Wellesley is looking for a flight to Las Vegas. Unfortunately, we’re all booked up.”

“Oh, is that right?” Ram’s smile stretched wider. “If you’re looking to hitch a ride, you’re more than welcome to ride shotgun with me.”

She hesitated.

“It’s not a private jet. It’s just my own personal plane.”

“What? You’re a pilot?”

He chuckled. “I got my pilot license before my driver’s license.”

“I think I’ll pass,” she said and then tapped her ear to place a call. “Stewart, I need a car.”

Ram shrugged his big shoulders. “All right. Suit yourself.” He turned and started for the hangar.

“You know what, Stewart. Just give me the number. I’ll call them. You just call the airline and—scratch that—get me the number and I’ll call them, too.” She asked for a pen from the frowning woman behind the desk and jotted the numbers down. “Thank you.” She tapped her ear and pulled out her phone to start dialing.

“Excuse me,” the counter girl said, interrupting her.

“Yes.”

“Let me get this straight. You’d rather call and wait for a car to come get you so you can fight traffic over to LAX where you’ll wait for a flight that may or may not be available to Las Vegas rather than just get on the plane that’s right there in the hangar and can have you in Las Vegas in less than an hour?”

Sofia opened her mouth to confirm that was exactly what she preferred to do when the ridiculousness of such a response hit her. She was a busy woman with a million things to do before Sunday night’s award show and she was about to throw away a whole day just because she didn’t want to be on a plane with Ramell.

“I think I see your point,” Sofia acquiesced. She handed the woman back her pen and then rushed out of the hub. “Ramell! Ramell!” Sofia raced as fast as she could in heels. “Did anyone see where Ramell Jordan ran off to?”

A few of the guys in the hangar just looked up and smiled as she darted by. When she finally spotted Ram strolling casually toward a white and red single-engine plane, she sped up, screaming his name. “Ramell, wait!”

“Seems like I’ve been doing that half my damn life,” he mumbled under his breath before he forced on a smile and turned around. “Yes? What can I not help you with now?”

Sofia pulled up, out of breath, which once again drew Ram’s attention to her heaving breasts. Good thing his eyes were hidden behind his shades or he would’ve really embarrassed himself.

“About that, um, flight…?”

“Yes? What about it?” He was not going to make this easy for her.

“Well, I was thinking…” She smiled. “Since you’re here and I’m here…?”

Ram folded his arms. “Yeah?”

“Well…I guess it would be pretty silly of me to try to book a commercial flight and fight traffic and whatnot.”

“That sort of crossed my mind, too. Well, I actually thought it was more like ridiculous…childish…juvenile.”

“All right, all right. I get the picture.” She frowned. “So can I hop a ride or not?”

It was definitely her attitude that rubbed Ramell the wrong way so he said, “No,” before he turned away and continued toward the plane.

“No?” she echoed and then had to chase back after him again. “What do you mean ‘no’? You just offered me a ride back there in the hub.”

“That was then. This is now.” He reached the door of his beloved plane and pulled it open.

Sofia huffed out a frustrated breath. “What’s the difference between now and then?”

Ram tossed in his lone overnight bag and turned to face her. “Back then I sort of felt sorry for you. Now—not so much.”

“W-what?” she sputtered.

Taking a deep breath, Ram crossed his arms. “Has anyone ever told you that you really have a nasty attitude?”

She blinked.

“Well, it can’t be towards everyone, I suppose. Seems that most people I talk to actually like you. Your clients and studio executives—they all rave about your work and your professionalism. So that must mean this frosty routine is designed just for me. Though I can’t imagine why. I’ve never been anything but nice to you.”

Sofia’s eyes narrowed. “Is this about to become a sermon?”

Ram pulled in a deep breath, shook his head and turned away from her. “Goodbye, Sofia. Undoubtedly, I’ll see you in Vegas.” When he started to climb up into the cab of the plane, Sofia panicked and grabbed him by the arm.

“Wait!”

Carefully removing his shades, Ram turned his head and looked down at the slim fingers that were clutching his biceps.

Sofia tried to swallow what felt like a sharp-edged rock in the center of her throat while an intense wattage of electricity singed through her fingertips she could practically see the fine hairs on her arm stand up.

“Do you mind?” he asked.

His warm baritone managed to break whatever weird trance she’d fallen into, but just barely. “All right.” She lowered her hand and forced on a smile, but Ram just frowned and stared at her suspiciously. “You’re right. I’ve been a little…”

“Bitchy,” he supplied.

“Short,” she corrected. “I was going to say short around you.”

He rolled his eyes and waited for her to finish.

“It’s just that…you know a lot of this…merging stuff…I don’t like it.”

“Actually yes, you made that pretty clear. But it still doesn’t excuse…let’s compromise and call it rude, shall we? It doesn’t excuse you for being rude.” He glanced at his watch. “Now if you’ll excuse me. I have a ton of things to do before the pre-award party our company is throwing for our nominated clients.” He turned to climb back into the cab.

“Wait!” Sofia grabbed his arm again. “Are you really not going to give me a lift?”

Ram continued to pretend that he didn’t feel the heat blazing up his arm when he shrugged off her touch. “Are you really not going to apologize for your rude behavior?”

She dropped her hand again and pulled up straight, but the one thing she had trouble doing was getting her mouth to work.

“See you later.”

“OK.” Her hand flew back to his arm. “I’m…I’m…” She started coughing.

“You have to be kidding me.”

“Oh God, I need some water.” She clutched her throat as if it needed massaging to get the words out of it.

“You need to stop wasting my time.” Irritation had finally crept into his voice. “I’m not going to stand for you talking and treating me like I’m something stuck on the bottom of your shoe. Whether you want to recognize it or not I’m a man that has worked and earned a certain level of respect. If you can’t deal with that then I suggest you march your butt out there on the runway and hitch out your thumb and see if you can catch a ride that way.”

She blinked and then finally whispered. “I’m sorry.”

Ram cupped a hand around his ear. “Come again?”

Sofia sucked in a deep breath, closed her eyes and spoke louder. “I said I’m sorry.” After a long pause of silence, she peeled open her eyes. Ram looked as if he was still weighing whether to accept her apology or tell her just where she could stick her apology.

“I mean it. I’m sorry,” she added.

Ram nodded. “Fine. I’ll give you a lift on one condition.”

She should have known. “What is it?”

“That you keep your mouth shut. I don’t want you to so much as utter a sound,” he said with a narrowed gaze that made it clear that he was being serious. “Think that you can handle that?”

“Ye—”

“Ah. Ah. Ah.” He waved a finger in front of her face. “When it comes to you, as far as I’m concerned, silence is golden.”

Sofia clamped her mouth shut and then angrily nodded her head.

“Good. Then you got yourself a deal.”

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