“Y-you have a visitor. Uhm . . . can you . . .”
Judy rolled her eyes. There was only one person who generated that kind of frazzled female.
Get noticed, he’d said. It’s easy, he’d said.
“Tell him to come on back.”
“But it’s—”
“Yeah, I know.”
She met Mike in the main hall just feet from Mr. Archer’s office.
Eager faces poked out from cubicles, and more than one executive stepped from an office as word of Michael Wolfe’s presence made it through the office like a California wildfire during a Santa Ana wind event.
“Hey, sis.” His Hollywood smile had her shaking her head even harder. “Am I too early for lunch?”
Judy shifted her load to her other hand. “I didn’t know we had a date.”
“Didn’t I mention it? Oh, let me help with that.” Mike took the papers from her. “Where do you want these?”
She offered a coy smile, glanced at the manager of landscape design, who poked her head from her office, and then lowered her voice so only Mike could hear her. “I should be mad at you.”
“I wouldn’t be doing my job as your big brother if I didn’t bug you in some way. Now where do you want these?”
Twisting on her foot, she moved around the corner into Mr. Archer’s office. “You can set those here,” she said, pointing to the top of the cabinet.
Mr. Archer sat behind his desk, his jaw halfway to the garage floor of the building. “Sorry to bring a stranger into your office, Mr. Archer, but my brother is early for our lunch date and our mom never let us girls carry anything if one of our brothers were around.”
“Uhm, it’s . . . ah, OK.”
Maybe her brother wasn’t the only one in the family with the talent for acting. “Oh, I’m sorry, you haven’t met yet, have you? Where are my manners? Mr. Archer, this is my brother, Michael.”
Mike raised an eyebrow, knowing damn well she never called him Michael. Only Hollywood called him that. Mike stepped forward and offered his hand. “A pleasure. Judy’s told me a lot about you.”
“Has she?”
Nothing good.
“She has. Truth is I’m not in town very often and wanted to sneak up on her a little early today to see where she works. Hope that’s OK.”
“It’s fine.”
“Good, good. Nice place you have here.”
Judy nudged his arm. “I need to file these before we can leave. If you want to wait—”
“You can do that when you get back.” Mr. Archer’s eager eyes kept swinging back and forth between her and Mike.
“It won’t take a minute.” Mr. Archer always reprimanded her on anything that wasn’t done exactly when he wanted it.
“You came in early, seems only right that you have a few extra minutes for lunch.”
Wow, he actually noticed.
“All right then. Let me grab my purse,” she told Mike.
He followed her out. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Archer.”
“Call me Steve.”
Good God . . . who knew the man would be so thrown back by a movie star? Call me Steve. Please.
Judy snagged her purse from her desk drawer and placed the strap on her shoulder. “There’s a café on the corner.”
“Lead the way.”
She slid the chair under her desk with a grin.
“Oh, for you.” Mike pulled a magazine out of his back pocket and tossed it on her desk. “Looks like we made the front page.”
Sure enough, a shot of the two of them dancing at the fundraiser graced the cover of the gossip magazine. The glimmer of her gold dress almost matched the smile on Mike’s face. “I’ll read it on my coffee break. C’mon, if we make it to the café even five minutes before noon we can grab a table in the back. Maybe then we can eat in peace.”
Mike looped his arm over her shoulders and walked with her out of the office.
Every eye in the place followed them out.
Only when they were in the elevator did Judy start laughing. Mike joined her but then kept a straight face when the elevator stopped and let on other passengers.
One man stared while the woman who stepped in nearly fell over. Mike caught her elbow to keep from having the woman fall into him. “Oh, my . . . are you? You are!”
Mike just smiled, completely comfortable in the chaos his mere presence created. “You OK?” he asked the woman as she steadied herself before the elevator started its descent.
“I am. Wow, that’s embarrassing. Sorry.”
“It’s OK.” He winked at the poor flustered woman and turned his attention to Judy. “So, Judy, my manager Tony is coming by tomorrow to pick up my car. Wants to impress his date so I told him he could borrow it.”
“The Ferrari?”
“Yeah. Didn’t want you to worry that someone had stolen it.”
The elevator met the lobby floor and they all left the small space. Mike’s arm fell on her shoulders again and he bumped her butt with his.
“You really are making sure everyone sees you, aren’t you?”
“No. I’m making sure everyone sees you with me. It will be up to you to ride this.”
Mike slid his sunglasses over his eyes the minute they met the outdoors. The café was only a block away and they managed to snag a table in the back.
“I should have known you’d show up today,” Judy said once they managed to get the waiter to stop staring and start writing down their order.
Mike leaned back, stretched his long legs out. “I’m flying out tonight and wanted to make sure we had some time alone.”
A woman from an adjacent table kept turning around to stare.
“When will you be back?”
“Production isn’t wrapping up for a month and a half, but I’m flying in for a few days the first week in September.”
The waiter brought them their drinks, smiled, and walked away.
“You weren’t kidding when you said you’re never home.”
“I wasn’t. I’m happy you and Meg are keeping my place occupied.”
Judy giggled. “It’s a hardship. Such a hassle after a two-bedroom apartment with one toilet and a shower without a tub.”
“I don’t want you in a hurry to move out.”
“It’s hard to be in a hurry when I’m not making my own living yet.” She’d gotten over the fact that her brother was supporting her and it was Meg’s income putting food on the table. She’d stretched her living expense money during her last semester in college to help carry her for the first few months in LA. But that was quickly dwindling.