Chapter 7

Ava called Ethan immediately.

"Ethan, your mother just called. She wants to plan the wedding for next month."

"Next month?" Ethan sounded surprised, then pleased. "Wow, she' s eager. But yeah, okay. Sounds good. Less waiting around, right?"

Ava felt a surge of contempt. He was so easily led, so focused on the superficial.

She remembered all the years she' d spent propping him up.

Finding him roles, coaching him, using her connections to make him seem more talented than he was.

All while he was secretly laughing at her with Chloe.

She drove towards the address Liam had given for their rendezvous – a scruffy coffee shop in a less glamorous part of town.

She saw him before he saw her.

He was sitting outside, nursing a coffee, dressed in faded jeans and a worn t-shirt.

He looked... nothing like the polished escorts she' d imagined.

He looked like a man who worked with his hands, who lived a life far removed from Hollywood gloss.

And yet, there was an undeniable charisma about him.

The way he held himself, the intensity in his gaze as he watched the street.

Even in those simple clothes, he was captivating.

More captivating than Ethan had ever been in his designer suits.

Ava parked and walked towards him.

He looked up as she approached, and his eyes, a startling clear blue, met hers.

A slow smile spread across his face.

"Boss Lady," he said, his voice a warm caress. "You came."

The way he said it, as if her arrival was a gift.

It made her heart do a strange little flip.