“Let me help you move your things in first. Then you can spend all day getting to know your kitchen.”
“Oh, you are a dear.”
“You have too much to do, Cass. I can help Mimi move in.”
Breck had entered the kitchen. He wore a satisfied look that screamed he’d had hot sex last night. She wondered if Jolene lurked behind the kitchen door, ready to make a mad dash back to the gatehouse.
Breck made his way over to Mimi. “Breck O’Dell, Ma’am. I’m at your service and intend to be your new best friend. Especially if you know your way around mashed potatoes or apple pie.”
Mimi blushed. “Cassie warned me you were a charmer. And please, it’s Mimi. Ma’am was my grandma.”
“A hungry charmer, Mimi. If I unload and bring in your stuff, would you consider—”
“You name it, Breck. Omelet. French toast. Pancakes.”
He broke out in a huge smile. “Then come on, Mimi. Let’s get this show on the road.”
“See you two later,” Cassie told them. “I’ve already eaten and have tons to do.”
Cassie went to her office, Shep trailing behind her, and decided to check e-mail first. As she did, the phone rang and Becky’s name popped up.
She answered, “Hi, Becky. I was about to call you.”
“Rhett is not returning my texts or calls. Did you know Rhett was involved with Randi James, Cassie? What is he thinking? Randi James makes the Wicked Witch who poisoned Snow White look like a candidate for sainthood. I thought Rhett had more sense than to let a tramp like that hitch her wagon to his star.”
Cassie’s gut flipped over. How had Becky learned about Randi and Rhett? “I’m clueless, Becky. What are you—”
“Have you seen Rhett today?”
“No.”
“Call up the People website.”
Cassie did as Becky asked. There in living color was Randi feeding a reluctant-looking Rhett bites of sushi. Then a few more shots of the two leaving the restaurant came up in the next frames. Rhett looked uncomfortable and wore a scowl. Randi wore next to nothing and glowed.
“They put it on their website yesterday and let me know just now that it’ll be their cover this week. I’ve got to talk to Rhett ASAP, before they go to press. He shut the door on me when I told him about the pictures but I think it’s important to give him a chance to clarify the relationship and remove any speculation for the article. Have him call me right away, Cassie. I need to issue a statement. Maybe a joint one. I wonder who reps Randi.”
“I’ll track him down, Becky. I guarantee he’ll call you right back.”
Cassie hung up, a sick feeling washing over her as she studied the pictures in front of her on the computer screen. Randi looked like a Christmas package gift-wrapped from Saks, shiny and sleek and utterly gorgeous. Cassie didn’t know a man alive who wouldn’t want to open that pretty package. If she had learned one thing in Hollywood, though, it was that looks are deceiving. After making Randal James’ acquaintance, Cassie knew what a vile woman resided within the model.
It still bothered her that Randi interested a man like Rhett.
Cassie punched the intercom, hoping Rhett might still be in the house.
He answered immediately. “What’s up?”
“You need to call Becky. Now.”
Rhett hesitated a moment. “I will. Soon.”
“I said now, Corrigan. It’s important and she’s frantic. Do it.”
“Are you my mom? That’s the only person who tries to boss me around these days.”
“Meet me in my office.” Cassie turned the intercom off and stewed. He would come, she knew, but he wouldn’t be in a good mood.
Thirty seconds later, Rhett appeared. Shep rose to greet him but Rhett ignored the dog. Cassie couldn’t read the look in his eyes and made the decision to go on offense.
“Call Becky. You’ll be on the cover of People this week. She needs a statement from you.”
“I’ll call her when I feel like it,” he snapped. “She’s my publicist and will do what I say. Besides, I hired her to keep my name out of the news. She’s fallen down on the job.”
Cassie bristled at his tone. “Don’t take out your problems on the hired help, Corrigan. We’re just doing our jobs. You need to be responsible now. You chose to go out in public with your girlfriend. That means you have gone public with the relationship, no matter how out of the way you thought this little sushi bar was. You need to find out how Randi would like the two of you to handle it. A joint statement would probably carry more weight anyway.”
Rhett’s eyes flashed in annoyance at the idea. “She’s out of the country for a couple of weeks on a shoot,” he said impatiently. “Left last night. I can’t reach her.”
“Then you’ll need to handle it. Do it now before it explodes in your face and you have control of the narrative. And be nice to Becky.”
“I’m always nice,” he smarted off as he turned and left the room.
Cassie couldn’t help but have hurt feelings at his curt tone. She hadn’t liked the way Rhett spoke to her. She supposed this was her first taste of male diva behavior. Everything had gone smoothly until now. For a first crisis, it would have to involve Randi. Just her luck. At least Becky would handle the fallout on this one. Cassie wouldn’t have a thing to do with it.
At least knowing she had a couple of weeks with no more run-ins with Randal James was a nice consolation prize.
◆◆◆
Rhett went to his bedroom and called Becky, who was thrilled to hear from him so quickly. They ironed out a cryptic statement that was a brief response and wouldn’t satisfy the public’s thirst at all. It wouldn’t need to. The pictures would be discussed on radio and talk shows and message boards across America. Rhett would be the butt of Fallon and Colbert jokes and winks from Seth Meyers and dirt in every entertainment blog on the planet.
All for a woman he didn’t even like anymore. If he ever had.
It figured that just when he was ready to end things with Randi, the inevitable would happen. His numbers would surge with men who’d like to jump Randi’s bones. They’d plunge with women who felt threatened by Randi’s earthy sex appeal and think she’d taken Rhett off the open market.
Most likely, it would mean good business for the movie opening on Christmas Day. Fireball was predicted to do record business this holiday season. The new gossip would bring out the crazies and busybodies as well as the action fans to the box office. The whole situation depressed Rhett.
Of course, Irv Stromberg would be ecstatic. His agent would look ten years younger the next time Rhett saw him, all because of the wild publicity that would surround this incident.
Suddenly, Rhett remembered Randi saying she needed to go back in and change purses as they were leaving for the restaurant. She hadn’t liked the way the one she was carrying looked with her outfit. They were already getting in the car so he’d waited there. Rhett suspected Randi had gone inside and called or texted some paparazzi. She already knew where they were going and couldn’t obviously contact them in front of him. When she returned outside, she still carried the same purse. Rhett hadn’t even questioned it because Randi’s fashion whims drove him up a wall. He figured she’d changed her mind and decided the purse was fine after all.