Amanda Berry - L A Cinderella

“Have lunch with me.”

“What? Why?”

When he smiled, his eyes lit from within and crinkles formed at their corners. Why was he asking her? Did he do that with all the employees? Was she reading too much into his question? Was his interest in her only as an employee?

“There you are, Natalie. I waited up at the front like you said, but… Oh, hi.” Rachel stopped next to Natalie’s desk, turned on her hundred-watt smile and tossed her perfect black locks over her shoulder.

Natalie kept her eyes on Chase, trying to read his expression. Once men saw Rachel, Natalie became invisible. Or worse, they pretended to be interested in her to get close to Rachel.

She knew she shouldn’t have let Rachel talk her into lunch.

“I’m Rachel McAllister.” She stuck out her hand to Chase.

“Chase Booker.”

Rachel didn’t let go of his hand right away. Natalie’s stomach clenched. Even though she knew Chase couldn’t be interested in her as more than an employee, she didn’t want him to be interested in Rachel.

“You were in our apartment all weekend.” Rachel smiled as she released his hand.

Natalie choked back a groan and wished the paper would come alive and eat her whole right this minute.

“‘Our apartment’?” Chase raised an eyebrow.

“Natalie and I had a movie fest this weekend.” Rachel kept grinning. “We watched all your movies. Since it was newly released we watched Night Blooming, even though you weren’t in it. The award ceremony was spectacular. I loved your tux. Congrats on the wins.” She batted her eyelashes up at him.

Natalie pushed back her chair abruptly and stood. Her boss did not need to know that she’d ogled him all weekend. “We were just heading to lunch. We’d better hurry if you want to get back to work on time.”

Rachel turned bright blue eyes to her. “We don’t have to leave right now.”

Ugh. Natalie didn’t like the look on Rachel’s face as Rachel turned her smile back to Chase. Frustrated, Natalie blew her bangs out of her face and glanced at Chase. His teasing grin had returned.

“Thank you,” he said politely to Rachel before turning back to Natalie. “So, Natalie, which movie was your favorite?” His interest was far too intense. Was it because of Rachel or because he was interested in her?

Resisting the urge to shrink behind Rachel’s tall figure, Natalie quickly ran through the titles in her head, trying to remember which one he was completely clothed throughout the entire film. “Night Blooming.” Ha.

His eyes focused in on her lips and she realized she was smiling. His comment earlier froze the smile on her face. What if he really liked her?

“Don’t be silly, Natalie. Of course, she loves Riddle Beach. I mean who doesn’t.” Rachel’s eyes practically devoured Chase. “After all, how often does a woman get a feast for her eyes?”

Screw the papers; maybe the floor would swallow her whole. She tugged on Rachel’s arm, trying to get her to back off and just go, but Rachel jerked her arm back.

“I figured Natalie’s favorite would be If Only.”

Her eyes snapped up to Chase’s face in amazement. To be honest, it was her favorite. She loved the story. The love, the purity, it gave her body tingles just thinking of the kiss at the end. Such perfect buildup, such beautiful emotions. Such an unattainable love.

Her mouth opened, a thousand questions on her tongue tumbling over each other to find their way to the surface. She clamped her mouth shut before they spilled out.

She managed to get out, “We should go.”

“Natalie, stop being rude. Of course, Natalie loves that one, too. It never leaves the DVD player. That last scene…Natalie, what’s that last line?”

Natalie pressed her lips together. Not that Rachel would notice, as her full attention remained on Chase.

Rachel continued without even blinking an eye. “Oh, what is it? There’s that song going on in the background, and she’s almost out the door, but she stops when he says it? Natalie, you know what it is.”

“‘I can’t lose you.’”

Natalie’s head jerked up at Chase’s voice. He wasn’t looking at Rachel. He was looking at her. His green eyes touched her so deep. Her breath caught in her throat.

“Yeah, that’s it. But there’s more,” Rachel said.

Chase continued as if Rachel weren’t there. “‘I’d give up my entire world for one more moment in your arms. One more night by your side. I want it all. All of you. I want you to have it all. All my love, all my heart, all of me.’”

Her purse hit her foot, jerking her out of the moment. It felt like he was really saying it to her, not Elizabeth, the heroine in the movie. Which was ridiculous even to think. Actors acted. He was just acting. She pressed her glasses back up her nose and reached down to pick up her purse.

“Wow, you are good.” Rachel’s appreciation was too much for Natalie. This whole situation was too much for her.

“Let’s go, Rachel. Chase has more important things to do.” Again Natalie took hold of Rachel’s arm. “’Bye, Chase.”

“Okay, okay, I’m coming.” Rachel finally took the hint. “It was nice meeting you, Chase.”

“Natalie?”

She risked looking at him again. The flames engulfing her face hadn’t died down the entire time. “Yes?”

“Think about what I said.” He nodded to Rachel and headed down the hallway.

Think about what he said? How could she think of anything else? Even with Rachel prattling on across the table about how surprised she was that Chase looked that good in real life, she couldn’t get those words out of her head.

Maybe he didn’t mean to make her obsess about the ending lines that gave her that feel-good feeling when she needed a pick-me-up. Seriously, the man did not need writers making him sound romantic when he could just say “come here” to a woman and she’d be all over him. But if it wasn’t that, what else had he said?

Besides, the kind of love found on the movie screen was nowhere near what real life was like. Men like Chase didn’t go for women like her unless something more was going on, or it was part of a script.

“Oh, on the blogosphere this morning, Chase and Alexis were seen at Hyde on Friday night and at Spago on Saturday. Not to mention the Golden Globes. God, I wish I had her body and that dress. Wow.” Rachel took a bite of salad. “Mmm. Their reps wouldn’t comment on their relationship. You know what that means?”

Maybe it was lunch. That’s right. He’d asked her to lunch sometime right before Rachel had appeared. Probably a thing he did with all new employees. It wasn’t like she was special in some way.

“Natalie. Natalie!”

“What?” She focused on Rachel’s eyes. Rachel’s eyebrows were raised and she stared at Natalie like she was from outer space.

“Where are you?”

“What do you mean? I’m right here. With you. Having lunch.” Natalie glanced down at her plate, surprised to find it still full.

“No, you weren’t. You were in la-la land.” Rachel speared a cherry tomato with her fork. “Besides, you didn’t answer my question.”

Natalie sifted through the last bits of conversation she’d heard. Something about Alexis and Chase? You know what that means? “What does it mean?”

“It means that Alexis and Chase are on again. That’s the way of the world, you know. They break up, and then after their next big movie, they get back together and finally get married. Maybe have a kid, if it’s fashionable at the time. Then have a messy divorce where they swear they’ll stay friends for the children.”

“So, Alexis and Chase are an item again?” Natalie ignored the knot in her chest.