《Hiding Out in Hollywood (Celebrity Love / ChickLit) ✔》Chapter Three
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Emily stood at the back of the yoga classroom, pretending to rifle through her bag while stealing quick glances in every direction. Raine wasn't there yet, at least not that she could see. In a way, she was relieved.
She had gotten as far as adding his number to her phone yesterday. In a moment of weakness, she'd even started writing him a text. After typing and deleting five versions of a casual hello, her good sense had taken over and she had stopped.
Okay. So the real reason Emily had stopped had been a text from Wally telling her he'd decorated Wally Hood Goes Hollywood with "Celeb Wore Wha-a-a-t?" background wallpaper that would stay up until after the column launched. She'd taken one look at her name splashed all over the site in screaming neon pink lettering and had put her phone away.
Emily pushed her bag strap back up onto her shoulder and made her way to an empty spot close to the front of the room, where she rolled out her yoga mat and sat down. She stretched her legs in front of her and reached over to grab her toes, letting her head fall forward and her eyes close. For a few minutes, at least, she could tune out everyone around her and just breathe.
Her serenity lasted for about thirty seconds.
"I got my ticket to Sugarpop!" she heard Kami squeal from close by. It was nearly impossible to block out her voice since it carried like a megaphone.
"No way!" another female voice exclaimed. "Aren't those tickets, like, a thousand dollars or something?"
"Free for me," Kami sang. "Sponsored. They want me there."
"You are so lucky!" The woman talking sounded awestruck. "Aren't there always so many celebrities at that?"
"There were tons last year when I went," Kami said. "I lost count of them all. Hey, I wonder if Raine's going. I should ask him."
"Maybe you could go together." There was a chorus of female giggles.
Sugarpop was an event held every year at a swanky Bel-Air mansion, where there were live bands, an open bar, and a dress code that required the women attending to wear only lingerie. Stories of celebrity hookups and bad behavior at Sugarpop always found their way into the tabloids, or so Emily gathered from all the times Shelby had attempted to tell her about something scandalous that had happened there.
Emily tried not to shake her head at the thought of Kami parading around, drink in hand and her celebrity antennae up, wearing even less clothing and more makeup than she did in class. She closed her eyes and focused on stretching, ignoring the sound of a yoga mat hitting the floor beside her.
"Good morning, ladies," a familiar voice said.
Emily's eyes flew open. She looked up and saw Raine smiling at her.
"Good morning," Kami cooed, waving at Raine from where she sat in the front row. "Don't you want to sit in your spot? I saved it for you." She patted the space on the floor beside her, where she'd put her enormous Kate Spade shoulder bag.
Raine turned his head to look at Kami. "Oh, hey. I didn't see that before putting my stuff down. Thanks. I'm good over here today."
Kami gave him a funny look. "I always save your spot. Are you okay?"
Raine laughed. Emily couldn't tell if it was a real laugh or just some admirable acting.
"Just a little fuzzy this morning," he told Kami. "I only slept for about an hour or so last night."
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Emily studied his face. Either he was making that up, or he looked incredibly good on an hour's sleep. There wasn't a hint of puffiness under his eyes, and he definitely didn't look tired.
"Okay then, your front row loss." Kami shrugged, but Emily saw a scowl tugging at her lips. Kami got to her feet. "I'm going to go grab a green tea before class starts," she said, still addressing Raine. "Need any caffeine to help you stay awake?"
He shook his head. "I'm good. Thank you, though."
"Okay." Kami still looked annoyed as she headed for the classroom door.
Emily drew her legs in so she was sitting cross-legged, then closed her eyes, pretending to meditate. She brought the tips of her thumbs and index fingers together and tried to focus on her breath.
"Good morning, Miss Emily," she heard Raine say.
Damn him. Now she had to look at him again.
She turned her head in his direction, watching as he sat down on his mat. She'd only planned on glancing at him for a second or two—long enough to be polite—but his gaze locked with hers. It was as though he had some sort of magnetic pull over her, because she was finding it incredibly difficult to look away.
Raine's sleeveless purple jersey shirt showed off his tanned and muscular arms. The hint of stubble on his chin told her he hadn't bothered with shaving yet today, even though he was almost always clean-shaven in the movies and interviews Emily had seen, which admittedly, hadn't been many. His dark hair was so perfectly mussed that Emily knew some guys would pay to have it professionally styled that way, although she was almost certain all he'd done was run a brush or maybe just his hands through it when he'd gotten up this morning. He was casually sexy without even trying. And then there was something else about him Emily couldn't quite put into words. It was like a force field or some sort of invisible sparkle surrounded him, which would probably have made him appealing even if he hadn't showered or shaved in a week and had shown up to class wearing his rattiest T-shirt. Charisma. Wasn't that what they called it? The guy had it in spades.
If only he wasn't famous. And not even just famous, but Raine-Kingston-famous. Emily wouldn't have been surprised if paparazzi were strategically staked out somewhere in their yoga class, which was exactly why she shouldn't be sitting beside him.
Except he'd sat beside her, not the other way around, and there was really no good way to change this now that they were both sitting there and he was talking to her.
"Good morning," she echoed. "How are you?"
"Pretty rested for a man who supposedly spent the night in a no-holds-barred threesome with a film extra and a Playmate." She caught the twinkle of mischief in his eyes.
She chuckled. "And you still made it to class. That's dedication."
"Never let it be said that I can't go all night and all morning."
"My guess is something closer to a good night's sleep followed by a cup of coffee?"
"You know how it goes. And close—it was two cups."
He raked a hand through his hair, knocking a few strands more askew than they'd already been. Emily wasn't sure how it was possible, but he'd just made himself look even more attractive. For reasons she couldn't explain, she had a moment of self-consciousness. She'd thrown on the first long tank top she had pulled out of her drawer this morning, along with a pair of black leggings, and had wound her crazy mass of waves up into a messy topknot. That was it, pretty much. She definitely hadn't gone all-out to look her yoga-best like some of the girls in their class clearly had, with form-fitting crop tops that showed off swimsuit-model-perfect abs and makeup that was flawless.
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It doesn't matter. You're not here to impress anyone or to fawn all over Raine. She turned her attention back to their conversation.
"Please tell me it wasn't Wally Hood who ran that underwhelming work of fiction," she said.
"Underwhelming fiction? Are you saying it's not plausible I'd have a threesome?"
"I wouldn't dare to hazard a guess there," she told him. "Starting my day by picturing you leading a threesome is pretty much the opposite reason of why I come to class." She removed the cap from her water bottle and took a drink.
"What if you were part of the threesome?"
Don't choke. She somehow managed to finish swallowing her mouthful of water.
"I'd much rather have my guy all to myself," she replied, before realizing saying it that way could imply she thought of him as her guy. He was talking about a threesome that involved him, after all. She opened her mouth to correct herself, intending to say she wasn't the kind of girl who'd be into a threesome, but he spoke before she could.
"So you'd be into a twosome, then?"
She eyed him with suspicion. "That would depend on who else makes up this twosome."
"Me."
"Am I being propositioned, Mr. Kingston?"
"I think you want to be."
Hold his gaze. But she couldn't do it. Her face felt very hot all of a sudden.
"You think quite highly of yourself."
"Myself—and you. So do you?"
"Do I what?"
"Want to be propositioned by me?"
She couldn't tell by the tone of his voice if he was teasing, and her cheeks still felt too warm to risk glancing over at him to see his expression.
"I can't really say," she answered.
"Can't or won't?"
"Can't."
"Why can't you?"
"Because I haven't thought about it."
That was a lie. She was having problems getting an image of him without that purple shirt on out of her mind. She was sure he'd somehow planted it there. He had to have some sort of special power of mind-manipulation. Maybe it was something all big movie stars learned how to do.
"So think about it," he said. "We have some time before class starts. I want to know what goes on in that beautiful mind."
"Raine..." She was getting flustered. Worse, it was happening in a yoga class, which was pretty much the last place she should be feeling that way. Breathe. She closed her eyes and did just that. When she opened them again, she saw she had Raine's rapt attention.
"You were saying?" he murmured. She felt a flutter in her stomach. Did he have to be so charming?
"I was saying..." She paused for a moment, trying in vain to collect her thoughts. "That I'm not that kind of girl," she finished.
"Not that kind of girl to what?" he asked. "Be propositioned?"
"I barely know you. I can't answer if I want a twosome or threesome with you."
"A-ha." Raine looked triumphant. "So you would think about a threesome if you knew me."
"I'm not even thinking about a twosome at the moment. It's not like we've ever been on a date."
"Hmmm." He rubbed a hand across the stubble on his chin, looking thoughtful. "You're right."
"Thank you."
"Clearly we need to go on a date. That's what you're saying, right?"
Emily felt her mouth open as if to speak, but nothing came out. She closed it again. He grinned.
"Are you always like this?" she finally choked out. His grin grew wider.
"I think I heard that as 'Yes, Raine, we should totally go on a date. How about tonight?' And since you suggested it, I think tonight sounds great. Pick you up at seven?"
How loud had he said that? Emily's eyes darted around the room, trying to see if anyone looked as though they'd overheard him. She almost sighed with relief when she saw their yoga teacher walk into the classroom.
"Satya's here," she told him, watching Satya weave through the rows of students and walk to the front of the room. "We'll talk after class."
"After class at dinner, you mean?"
Raine didn't even try to keep his voice down. Emily glanced around her again, praying no one had been listening.
"Are you looking for someone?" he asked.
"What makes you think that?"
"The way you keep looking around."
She turned her head back to him. "I was just seeing if Kami's within earshot." It wasn't really a lie. Kami was high up there on the list of people she was worried about.
"Why's that?" Raine pressed.
"Because it's easy to see she likes you, and I'm not sure she would be thrilled to hear you asking me to dinner." If Kami knew Raine had asked her out and got upset, would she blab it to the wrong person out of spite? There was no way to know.
"Me asking you, or you accepting? Which you haven't actually done yet, you know." Raine grabbed his chest in mock agony. "I put everything out there on the line and you just toy with me this way."
Emily couldn't help but crack a smile. "Let's—" She was interrupted by a loud pop of static coming from the speakers in the room.
"Sat Nam," Satya said, adjusting the microphone in front of her. It was her signal for the class to quiet down.
Later, Emily mouthed at Raine, knowing that so much as a whisper while Satya was talking could get both of them singled out. He nodded.
She'd just bought herself ninety minutes. She turned her head back to Satya, not daring to look over at Raine again as they opened class with the Adi Mantra and then warmed up with cat-cow.
It was during the next exercise, as Emily was on her back with her eyes closed, alternating lifting each leg up in the air, that she had the feeling she was being watched. She opened her eyes and turned her head to the side. Raine's eyes were also open, his head turned to her. When she met his eyes, he smiled.
"Your eyes are supposed to be closed," she whispered, hoping she was quiet enough to not be heard over the music.
"So are yours," Raine whispered back.
"You were already watching me, though."
"And now you're watching me back."
That was the logic of a three-year-old. Emily was about to point this out when she saw Satya's head turn in their direction. She slammed her eyelids shut and told herself to save it for after class. She didn't need anyone's attention called to her and Raine.
Satya asked everyone to sit up and extend their legs out to the side. When Emily reached for her left foot, bringing her head down as far as she could toward her knee, she felt a toe brush against her foot and stay there.
Brushing up against people wasn't uncommon, since the class was jam-packed and their yoga mats were close together. It was Raine's toe, though, and she suspected he'd done it on purpose and not because of how much room he had to stretch out. She chanced a glance at him, against her better judgment.
His head wasn't facing his knee, which was what the exercise called for. It was facing her, and his eyes were open.
If Emily had ever doubted what she'd been told in Kundalini yoga classes about feet having thousands of nerve endings, she didn't now. At that moment, she was sure she felt every one of those nerve endings buzz to life, starting with where Raine's toe still touched her foot.
Stop it, she told herself. She had to wonder if Raine could read her mind when she saw his merry expression. Either he was enjoying trying to flirt with her, or he could tell he was winning her over.
She forced herself to focus, then gave him a stern look. Later, she mouthed again.
He nodded and closed his eyes. She wondered if he would listen, but the rest of the class passed without incident.
Not that he'd forgotten about the conversation they'd been having earlier. The second they were done and Emily began rolling up her mat, she sensed Raine's eyes on her.
"So," he said. "We were talking about something before class."
"Were we?" She tucked her rolled-up mat under her arm and picked up her bag.
"Something about a threesome," he reminded her. She rolled her eyes. "Oh right, a twosome. That was what you were after, wasn't it?"
"What I was after?" she scoffed. "That was all you."
He touched her arm. "I think we settled on—"
"We have an audience," she murmured, interrupting him before he could say either "dinner" or "date" out loud.
"Let's take our conversation somewhere more private," he suggested, lowering his voice. "Like dinner tonight. I know I was teasing you before, but I meant that."
She hesitated. It wasn't that she didn't want to have dinner with Raine—she did. And that was a problem.
She was starting to like him and even enjoyed his teasing. If she went out with him tonight and it went well, they would probably go out again. Before she knew it, her life would be back in the tabloids for all to see, judge, and comment on. Worse still, Raine would be the second famous person she'd gone out with this year. How long would it be before the media and everyone else labeled her a star-chaser or fame-seeker, and saw her as no different than Jesse had been and probably still was? She had to say no.
"Okay," she said.
It wasn't what her mind had told her to say at all. It was her heart doing the talking, she knew, and it didn't care that she had just agreed to a date with Raine Kingston while standing in a classroom full of people.
There was no way this could turn out well.
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