Famous: A Small Town Secret Romance Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Epilogue

  Table of Contents

  Famous

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Description

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

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  Bachelor's Secret

  Mr. Anything

  More by Emily Bishop

  About the Author

  Copyright © 2017 by AG Media, LLC, a representative of Emily Bishop.

  All rights reserved.

  AG Media, LLC owns exclusive rights to all content herein. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from AG Media, LLC, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover photo - The one and only, Andrea Denver! instagram.com/andreadenver3

  To my readers

  You hear this all the time, but thank you! Thank you for reading every page and helping me provide a living for my family.

  One Secret Could Destroy Everything.

  Aurora

  Fate has taken everything from me. My mother, my home, my happiness.

  It’s gained me a bad rep in this town.

  I hate every second of it, until Jarryd Tombs strides into my life.

  Famous actor and a specimen of perfection.

  He’s everything I want. And exactly what I can’t have.

  Especially since he’s jeopardized my master plan: To rebuild my image.

  But he won’t take no for an answer.

  His life is about to implode. And our secret, too.

  Jarryd

  Aurora is mystery made flesh.

  Sexy.

  Elusive.

  Meeting her was a big mistake. But a beautiful one.

  Now, I’ll pay the price.

  One night with her will destroy everything I’ve worked so hard to build.

  If the press finds out, if my ex finds out, our plans to film in this small town are done.

  Money gone with it. And Aurora’s struggling reputation crushed.

  That should stop me, but it doesn’t.

  I won’t keep “us” a secret anymore.

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  Chapter 1

  Jarryd

  Lights sparkled among the tents, and the scent of buttered popcorn drifted out of the entrance to the Moondance Fairgrounds, accompanied by low chatter and the tinkle of music from a carousel.

  “You OK, man?” Luke asked, elbowing me. My buddy, a Clark Gable look-alike without the mustache, wore concern like a badge.

  “I’m fine,” I replied and took another swig of beer. “If you looked up ‘fine’ in a dictionary you’d find my picture right underneath it.”

  FINE: Jarryd Tombs, 6’4”, dark hair, that hooked nose, bulky as hell and busting out of a suit. See also: HEARTBROKEN.

  “There aren’t pictures in dictionaries, Jarryd,” Luke replied.

  “You see? This is why I need you around, bud. You’ve always got the inside edge. The information that sets me apart from the other actors.”

  “Smartass.” Luke cuffed me on the shoulder, and a bit of beer splashed from my can.

  “Now look what you made me do. How am I s’posed to drown my sorrows if you make me spill it?” I forced a half-smile—I couldn’t produce any other kind right now.

  “Here, you hold the others. I’ll pay the entry fee.” Luke nodded to the tiny stall nearby and handed me the pack of beers.

  I swung the Bud Lights back and forth as we approached the entrance to the fairgrounds, drawn on by the promise of one huge-ass bag of popcorn. “Extra butter,” I muttered.

  “What’s that?”

  “I said ‘extra butter.’” I didn’t make any sense. but I was allowed this, for once. Tonight, I didn’t have to have it together. Work wasn’t on the agenda. All I had ahead of me was a long night of melancholy, food, and beer.

  “Hello? Anybody in there?” Luke tapped on the window in the stall.

  “Just a sec.” A scraping, the sound of zipper—what the hell?—and finally, a guy, thin as a rake and sporting a pair of wireframe glasses, scooted around the side of the stall, tugging on his pants. “Hey, there. You want in?”

  “Depends on what you mean by that,” I said.

  Luke waved me to quiet. “Yes, we want two tickets, please.”

  “Two tickets.” The stall guy opened the door then then paused and scanned me. “You look familiar.”

  “I’m nobody,” I replied and stifled a beer bur
p. “An illusion.”

  “Is he drunk?” Stall Guy asked. “He looks a little –”

  “Just tipsy.”

  “Then I can’t let you in, sorry. No alcohol allowed on the property.”

  “This isn’t alcohol,” I replied, lifting the Bud Light. “It’s elixir. The stuff of the gods. This is the lifeblood of the ancients.”

  “Uhhh.”

  Luke rolled his eyes at me. “Actors,” he muttered. “What if we lose the beer?”

  “I did not agree to that,” I said.

  The forest and the nearby entry to what looked to be an RV Park hazed slightly. Sharp air and those smells. Man, I needed to go on a ride or something, make myself forget.

  It shouldn’t be this difficult to get over a woman. People did this every damn day. Shit, that’s a depressing thought. How many people in the world are heartbroken, right now?

  “Cut us some slack?” I caught the tail end of Luke’s question.

  “I don’t know, man.”

  “Look, we’ll leave the beers out here. We’re not that drunk. I’ll pay double for the tickets if I have to.”

  Stall Guy wriggled his nose, scratched it.

  “This is a special circumstance, you see,” Luke said and lowered his voice. He cast a furtive glance in my direction. “My man here, he’s lost his fiancée.”

  “No shit,” Stall Guy said and didn’t sound too bothered.

  “He walked in on her with another—”

  “That’s enough,” I said, a whip-crack command. “No need to spread it to the locals, Luke.” This was supposed to be a low-key visit to Moondance, and to the fairgrounds.

  “All right. I guess I can let you in.” Stall Guy eyed the beers. “But you’ll have to, uh, leave those with me. I’ll confiscate them, yeah.”

  Confiscate. Another word in the dictionary, this one with the note See: Drink Greedily underneath it.

  “Fine, that’s fine,” Luke said.

  We shuffled to the front, while Stall Guy darted inside, opened the window, and clicked on a tiny light inside. It cast weird shadows down his nose. Kind of made him look like an oversized rat.

  “Here you go,” he said, handing over the tickets and taking Luke’s cash. He accepted the beers from me then then did a double take. “Wait a second, you’re that guy. You’re that actor. What’s his name?”

  “Jarryd Tombs,” Luke said, proudly.

  “Nobody. I’m nobody. Like I said, I’m an illusion.” We took our tickets and wandered inside. I made a beeline for the popcorn stall and purchased two massive bags.

  The girl beside the machine grinned at me. “Don’t I know you from somewhere?” She tipped a striped cap to one side. “Aren’t you Jarryd Tombs?”

  “Yes,” I replied. Much good that it’d done me. Jarryd Tombs, the workaholic actor who’d been engaged to the hottest A-list celebrity in Hollywood. And then you found her fucking someone else.

  How long was this weird ache in my chest supposed to last? It’d been two weeks, for god’s sake.

  “That’s—wow. It’s so nice to meet you,” the girl gushed, pink-cheeked. She had to be around sixteen years old, with dark brown hair and doe eyes. I’d seen this look hundreds of times. It meant one thing only. “I’m a huge fan. Look, I know you’re here to enjoy yourself, but I wondered if maybe—uh, could I maybe have an autograph?”

  “He’s not doing that tonight,” Luke said, firmly.

  “No, that’s OK.” I patted my buddy on the shoulder. “I’d be happy to give you one. What’s your name?”

  “Felicity,” she said.

  Thunk. A stone weight dropped in my stomach. Felicity. The same name as my ex.

  “Are you OK? You’ve gone pale.” The girl gave Luke the bags of popcorn and wiped her hands down the front of her striped uniform.

  “Fine,” I said. “Do you have a pen?”

  “Right here.” She scooped up a pen, the end all chewed up in classic teenager style, and an empty popcorn bag. “Thank you so much!”

  “Dear Felicity,” I said, as I wrote out the words, gritting my teeth. “Keep working hard and you’ll achieve your wildest dreams. Love, Jarryd Tombs.”

  “Oh, wow.” She took it, reverent. “Wow, wow, wow. Thank you so much. That’s such a nice thing to say. Best autograph ever. My sister’s going to be so jealous! She skipped out on working tonight.”

  “It’s my pleasure,” I replied then then glanced around the grounds. “It’s pretty quiet around here. People don’t like fairs?”

  “Oh, it’s late, and there are clouds gathering, see? We usually shut earlier on storm days. Most of the stalls are closing up at the moment,” the girl said.

  “Is there anything we can do—anything still open?” Luke asked and shoveled a handful of popcorn into his mouth.

  I took my bag from him and did the same. “Oh man, this is good,” I said.

  “Well, hmm.” Felicity pouted her lips. “The carousel’s still going, but, uh, you might be a little big for that.”

  I pictured myself on a carousel horse and managed a chuckle. “What else?”

  “What about the Ferris wheel?” Luke asked.

  “Already closed, sorry. But there’s a new tent out here.” The girl’s eyes lit up. “I’ve been meaning to go myself. Look there, see, the velvety one? It’s the fortune-teller’s tent.”

  “A fortune-teller,” I said, flatly. I’d never bought into that type of thing.

  “That’s right. The woman in there is such a sweetheart,” Felicity said. “She read my palm the other day, for fun while she was waiting for her popcorn, and she was so nice about it. And pretty, too.”

  “A fortune-teller, eh?” Luke asked. “That’s interesting. Don’t you think that’s interesting, Jarryd?”

  “Not particularly.”

  “You have to try it,” the girl said. “You’ll like it. And her. She’s so nice.”

  I didn’t see myself liking any woman for a long time, not romantically. Ridiculous. That’s not what the kid means. The fortune-teller is probably in her sixties.

  “Come on, Jay, do it,” Luke said. “Get out of your comfort zone for once. Maybe she’ll tell you your future.”

  I eyed the velvety tent, shrouded in mystery. A purple-lettered sign planted in the ground outside read: Mistress Mystery.

  “You won’t regret it,” the teenager said.

  I hedged. What harm could it do? Shit, it might even be fun, interesting, and the tent itself gave off an atmosphere of mystery. Candlelight flickered within, and the tent’s flap hung slightly open, providing a glimpse of its interior—a collection of crystals, a bookshelf, and a shadow that shifted along the wall. The silhouette of curvy woman.

  “I’ll try it,” I said.

  “Have fun,” Luke replied.

  “You’re not getting yours done?”

  “Nah, I already see my future. A warm bed and a hangover in the morning.” He paused and looked up at the gathering storm clouds. “Besides, you know how I am about storms. You go on ahead, Jay. I’m going to hit the hay. Tell me about it tomorrow, all right?”

  I shrugged.

  In the distance, thunder rolled, and a cold wind picked up and buffeted the outside of the tent, tugging at my suit jacket. I didn’t look back but hunched over and entered the tent, immersing myself in the scent of flowery incense and something else. Something illusive.

  I halted just inside.

  A woman with long, raven curls swaying past her shoulders, stood within, back to me. She wore a silken blouse, just transparent enough to hint at the curves beneath it, and a long skirt that swayed each time she moved her ample hips. This was her? This was the fortune-teller?

  Damn, I’d come to the right place after all.

  Chapter 2

  Aurora

  Candles flickered on the top shelf of my bookcase, right beside a collection of crystals, each which caught the light and refracted it. I moved from the shelf to the small table in the center of the room and placed an a
methyst crystal, the size of a fist, on the velvet cloth.

  It’d been a pretty slow night. I probably should’ve packed it all up, but I was in the mood for a little fun. A little mystery. One last tarot reading, if only for myself.

  I hurried back to the bookcase and picked up my favorite card set—I had many but this one, drawn in the Rider-Waite style, artsy and colorful, had been my mother’s.

  “Mistress Mystery?”

  I jumped and scattered tarot cards to the ground. “Shoot!” I spun around and faced the visitor.

  The man who’d entered sucked the air out of the space. He stood just inside the tent flaps, straight as a rod, towering in a fancy suit.

  His hair, mahogany and windswept, fell across a tan forehead creased only slightly by what had to be worry more than age. Crystal blue eyes stared at me, set either side of a slightly hooked nose. Luscious lips—not too thick—centered above a strong chin, covered in stubble.

  I lost my breath.

  Gorgeous. That was the word to sum him up, except it wasn’t enough.

  My gaze danced lower, over the crisp suit—had to be a designer label—which was tailored to perfection and fit his broad shoulders, a barrel-chest.

  I stopped myself from going any lower than the tapered waist. Staring at a customer’s crotch was a no-no of epic proportions.

  He swayed slightly on the spot—tipsy? But not drunk, if the glint in those blue orbs was anything to go by, and that suit screamed businessman. Or full of shit.

  Did I enter the Twilight Zone? That’s Jarryd Tombs! I wasn’t exactly an E! Entertainment nut, but this guy was the hottest of the hot, in more ways than one. He’d starred in the Oscar-winning thriller movie, Eye See You, among others. And he was good, too, not like those actors who acted like ‘themselves’ in every movie.

  “I—” I cleared my throat. Professionalism, darling. This isn’t your first rodeo. “Welcome,” I said. “Please, take a seat at the table. You’ve come for your fortune, yes?”

  He stared at me a while longer, a strange expression haunting his perfect features. “Yes, if that’s not too much trouble.” The actor bent and picked up a few of the tarot cards, stumbled and caught himself on the table. “Sorry about this.”

  “No, no, that’s quite all right. I didn’t expect anyone so late.”

  “I can leave if you’d prefer.” He was so stiff shouldered—broad shouldered, too, yum—but tense all over.