green she discovered another little yard, a paved suntrap patio edged with raised beds of bright-colored spring flowers. She stretched out on the sun lounger in the little garden. The golden late-afternoon sun warmed her and, unable to fight exhaustion any longer, her eyes drifted closed.
She woke with a start when a shadow fell over her. Wiping her mouth and praying she hadn’t drooled in her sleep, she sat bolt upright. It wasn’t Dominic.
A petite blonde woman stood over her, hands on her hips as she stared down at Nina. She wore her wavy, sun-streaked hair in a high ponytail. The woman pushed her sunglasses up onto her head to reveal a pair of curious, assessing gray eyes.
“Hi,” she said, sounding neither cool nor friendly. “Is Dom around?”
“I don’t know.” Nina scrambled up. “I haven’t seen him for a while.”
The blonde moved out of the sun and Nina noticed that she wasn’t as young as she’d first appeared. Tiny lines fanned out from her eyes. But she still had the figure of a teenager, and long, shapely legs that made Nina feel the rush of inadequacy that seemed to be her default setting here in LA.
“He probably went for a run on the beach with Sandy.” The woman’s mouth pursed in disapproval. “I’m going to pack away his laundry.” Casting another assessing glance over Nina, the other woman headed back indoors.
Nina followed, equally curious.
Either Dom had an unusually sexy housekeeper, or he inspired serious devotion in his girlfriends. In which case it was no wonder he seemed so disinterested in her. She was less than useless at doing laundry.
And who was Sandy – another girlfriend?
For the nearly four weeks they’d worked together in Westerwald, Nina had been cursed with the hotel suite across the hall from Dominic’s. She’d witnessed the procession of visitors he’d had. Hotel staff, women from the film crew, girls he picked up in nightclubs, dressed in skirts so short they could have caught hypothermia in the winter weather. Even her own make-up stylist had once slipped out of his hotel room at some ungodly hour, lipstick smudged and straightening her clothes.
Nina had been amazed they all seemed happy to move on with a smile, and never had a bad word for him afterwards.
She couldn’t fathom why. She’d suffered from the most irrational envy since the day they met. Most likely because she saw so little of his attention.
Last night he’d said he desired her. So why did he chase every other woman yet ignore her? What was it about her that Dom found so easy to resist, even when she’d been single and available? Was it because she wasn’t as anorexically thin as everyone else in LA?
There were shopping bags of fresh groceries in the kitchen. How the blonde was going to find place in Dom’s already well-stocked kitchen to pack them away, Nina had no idea.
She found the other woman folding freshly ironed sheets into the linen cupboard in the passage. The woman turned and smiled. “Those fit you well,” she commented, eyeing Nina’s borrowed clothes.
Oh, heavens above – were they hers?
Nina felt the beginning of a hot flush creep up her neck. She didn’t usually blush – she was a good enough actress to cover when anyone fazed her – but this petite blonde with her cool, gray eyes was seriously unnerving.
The other woman laughed. “Relax! I don’t bite. Would you like a cup of coffee while we wait for Dom and Sandy to get back?”
Nina pulled herself together. She’d been nominated for an Oscar, after all. She could play cool every bit as convincingly as anyone else. She smiled and tossed back her hair. “Thank you. That would be lovely. I could do with another espresso.”
Hopefully the caffeine would banish the grogginess of her afternoon nap.
The blonde began banging open doors in the kitchen. “Damn,” she said. “Kathy must have been here already. I can’t find any space in this kitchen.”
Nina resisted the urge to raise her eyebrows. Did Dominic have a harem thing going on? Or was there some sort of competition between the women in his life to keep him fed?
The blonde made cappuccinos for them both and, without asking, added a large dollop of cream and sugar to Nina’s cup.
Nina hesitated a moment before deciding that rejecting the cup held out to her would be rude, so she took it and perched on one of the high stools at the kitchen counter to take a tentative sip. The other woman moved to sit across from her.
“You’re Nina Alexander, right?” the blonde asked.
“I am. And you are?”
“Juliet.” Juliet offered her hand across the table and Nina shook it primly.
“You turned down Paul de Angelo to come home with Dom?” The blonde asked conversationally.
Nina choked on a mouthful of cream. “Good news travels fast.”
“Your very public rejection of Paul made the morning news. You know, I always thought he was gay.”
Luckily this time there was nothing left in her mouth to choke on. “He’s not,” she managed. Vanilla, but not gay.
“Oh good. And now he’s single, too. I don’t suppose you could introduce me?” The gray eyes sparkled. “No, I suppose not after last night. So what was wrong with him that you didn’t want him?”
Sheesh, this woman sure knew how to go straight for the jugular.
“There’s nothing wrong with Paul. He’s a real gentleman. The word ‘suave’ was practically invented for him. He’s polite and attentive, very focused on his career, and doesn’t live wildly like so many other big movie actors.”
He always got the best table in any restaurant, and he knew everybody who was anybody in this town. The perfect boyfriend, as long as you didn’t expect fireworks in the bedroom. And until he’d ruined it all by proposing.
Juliet wrinkled her nose. “He sounds terribly dull.”
Nina bit back a smile. That too. Paul was surprisingly boring for a star. All the way down to his predictable Prius. She shrugged. “He’ll make a wonderful husband to the right woman.” It just wouldn’t be her.
Juliet winked. “Dom is never dull, but you probably know that already.” She dipped her spoon into her mug and stirred thoughtfully. “I’m guessing he rode to your rescue last night?”
Nina nodded. “He saved me from complete humiliation.”
“That’s our Dom. He has a Knight in Shining Armor complex. He’s always getting into scrapes over women. Ask him to tell you the story about the time he….”
A bell pealed and Juliet jumped to her feet. “Who on earth would ring the gate bell? Everyone Dom knows would walk straight in.”
Nina cursed under her breath. She’d have loved to hear Juliet’s story. “It’ll be my PA.”
While Juliet headed off to let the newcomer in, Nina poured
