Chapter 1
Ashley Romero stepped out of her rented Kia Forte and stared at a large firetruck in the employee parking lot for the movie studio, where the stars and the stage hands vied for a space.
Seriously, someone had driven a firetruck… to work.
Some of the cars were similar to what she’d seen when she’d worked on Star Island in Miami, like Mercedes and BMWs, but shedid a double take—was that a green and purple hearse?
Both Miami and Hollywood had blue skies, palm trees, and wealth, but the custom-made black bat mobile wasn’t something created for normal people.
She shut her car door and kept her head high and strutted toward the check-in gate where access was granted only to people on the guard’s list.
Ashley handed over her driver’slicense and the security guard ran it through his computer. He glanced at her face and the license. Okay, no one had a worse license picture than her, but there was no need to frown.
The older man waved her through and she headed inside.
Today was the day she would change her fate. Somehow, someway she’d make her dreams come true. Pinning her hopes on a guy noticing her wasn’t smart,and she knew she should just be happy now—but Ashley doubted she’d have another opportunity to meet Matthew Morgan without being invisible to him and it was well past time to give her heart a chance.
Ashley saw a door that had his name in black on a gold star, down an otherwise boring corridor that led to a movie set at the end.
She’d thought they’d have private trailers.
Her heart pounded. Was Matthew inside, right now?
She trekked past his door without stopping. Her pass wasn’t for barging into a movie star’s dressing room. That would be a fast ticket out of here.
So she walked to the next door with a star on it. Jennifer Gonzales. Her fingers trembled as she reached for the knob but she closed her hand into a fist and knocked.
“Come in,”her cousin said and Ashley slipped inside.
Growing up, Jennifer was always the perfect, pretty cousin and Ashley her opposite. Her life was considered a big disaster and neither her mother nor her aunt ever thought she would amount to anything. Boring people weren’t worth talking to and she was to them the Queen of Plain Janes.
Jennifer’s skin glowed like she was still sixteen anda fresh-faced beauty pageant queen.
Part of Ashley wished her face was so perfect. Her skin was rather dry in comparison, but she closed the door behind her and nodded. “Jennifer.”
Jennifer stood and her dark hair practically shimmered from some fancy wash she must have used as she pouted, perfection in her powder blue skirt and white sleeveless collared chemise. “Ashley. I didn’tthink you’d actually show up here.”
Fair. The last time they’d spoken, the phone conversation had been… intense. Best not to bring that up. Ashley, in a scoop-neck t-shirt, squared her shoulders. “You left my name for security.”
Jennifer huffed but reclaimed her seat like she was royalty “It was like you dared me, after you betrayed me.”
Betrayal? Seriously? Her cousin wasstill the same. Ashley ignored the slight, took out a metal folding chair and set it up in front of her. She’d called for this job because the idea of buying herself a home in Florida, away from Miami, meant she’d settled for a life instead of ever once chasing her own wishes. She sat. “That’s dramatic and untrue. You made me your unwilling surrogate and then ended up pregnant yourself at the sametime.”
Jennifer leaned back and laughed like they were good again though they both knew she’d never respect her. “That wasn’t the plan. I wanted to have Peter’s baby but the eggs were already fertilized and I… didn’t think having a baby would be good for my career.”
Their mothers had bemoaned the fact both of them were pregnant, though they only ever cared about Jennifer’s future.Ashley’s life was always her own.
She’d never wanted the pressure that the former beauty queen was often under.
The past didn’t matter. Ashley no longer had to worry about money, and yet she was here about a job. Being a surrogate mother for a happily married couple had ended up good for her. She’d been very well paid and the baby was loved and cared for. She’d made Peter and Bellehappy, even if she hadn’t done that on purpose. She’d learned long ago that arguing with Jennifer was pointless, so she shrugged and said, “You were wrong about that. Having a baby made you America’s darling.”
Jennifer’s smile was radiant. “That’s true. My agent loves me these days.”
Pleasantries done, it was time to move onto why she was here and had sought out Jennifer, of allpeople. She folded her hands in her lap. “So, about my application?”
Jennifer’s gaze narrowed as she pressed her hands to her heart. “Why? You have money. Why wouldyou…want to fetchmecoffee?”
Fair. They had a tumultuous relationship. She took a deep breath and asked, “No-holds-barred, truth time?”
