Page 9 of Undone By The Mountain Daddies

“Why is that?” I ask.

“Being single opens up new, exciting opportunities…”

“Let me guess—” I raise my eyebrows. “Like getting a massage from you?”

“We can take it a step further than the massage.” He glances at my cheeks, which are burning up. “If you’re turned on, that’s completely okay.”

“I’m not turned on.”

“But let’s just say if you were.” He winks at me, and I can’t help but notice the perfect dimple in his left cheek.

Damn this man for looking so good.

As hot as this guy is, though, I know better than to sleep with him and risk the story getting out. The media is obsessed with me and anything I have that even resembles a love life.

“I’m good,” I say, sliding off the table with the sheet wrapped around me. “Thanks for the massage.”

Jamie shrugs and leaves me to get dressed.

I slip into the bathing suit I brought and pull on a robe over it. Navigating to the main pool area, I dip into the warm, bright blue water. Snow begins to fall outside, and I’m taken for a moment by how beautiful it is. I never see snow in LA, and I miss it—we had so much of it growing up in Michigan.

I sink further into the water, letting its warmth wrap around me. It’s doing little to calm the beating of my heart, though.

Perhaps a spa weekend was a bad idea. It’s dangerous to be alone with your thoughts sometimes.

I landed my first audition at sixteen to dance in LA and was quickly picked up by a modeling agency. I ended up going to way more photo shoots than dance auditions, and when I signed my first contract with Hollywood, the dancing stopped completely.

“What happened to the dancing, honey?” asked Grammy when she called on my eighteenth birthday. I was caught up in LA and unable to make it back home. “You always loved dancing, ever since you were a little girl.”

“My agency thinks I can go bigger than that, Grammy. They say they can make me a star.”

I rest my head against the wall of the pool now.

Exhale through the pain.

There was no time to think back then, no time for pain. No time to do anything but attend back-to-back casting calls, shoot movies and give endless interviews. I was in the spotlight. The attention was on me.

And now I’m slowly creeping back into irrelevance…

A feeling that motivated me all the way to Hollywood in the first place.

Chapter 4

Sienna

Iopen up the curtains the next morning and see dark clouds hanging over the mountain tops. I really hope it doesn’t snow—I love the beauty of it, but I don’t do cold weather anymore.

I flip on the TV in hopes of finding something cute and easy to watch.

I don’t know the first thing about taking it easy, since I’ve never really been given the opportunity, but I start by putting on under-eye patches. Something needs to be done about these bags. They’re getting worse each day. Give it another week, and an interviewer will be mentioning how I look like a panda, implying that I’m too heartbroken over the whole Holden situation to sleep.

They wouldn’t be lying, but I’d rather not have that type of gossip circulating if I can help it. I’m trying to get myself back on track—not derail things for myself even more.

“Several blizzard warnings have been issued in various parts of the San Bernardino Mountain range. Please take extra caution.”

I sip on my green tea and glance up at the TV.

It’ll be a real shame if I get snowed in and can’t make the meeting on Monday…