His Larkville Cinderella

Something silver near the left passenger door caught Megan’s eye. The sandal. She grabbed hold of it. Her cell phone vibrated in her back jeans pocket.

Unbelievable. She grimaced. As soon as she was close to finishing an errand, a text would arrive telling her what to do next. It was as if a camera followed her every move so she would never have a spare moment. Coincidence, yes. She didn’t think Hollywood was that wired, but it was still weird.

She removed her phone from her pocket, but hesitated looking at the display screen.

Please don’t make me go back to the warehouse clear across town. The one I just came from.

That had happened twice yesterday during bumper-to-bumper traffic on the 405. She’d had to drive from Santa Monica to Van Nuys and back again.

Talk about a total nightmare. She shivered.

But if asked to make that drive again, Megan would. She would smile and drive wherever they asked. She would do whatever it took in the hopes of gaining real costume design experience with this internship.

However unlikely that looked at the moment.

She placed the shoe in the box with its match, put the lid on top, then read the name on the cell phone’s display screen.

Rob.

Finally.

Usually a thrill shot through her each time she heard from him, but today she felt a sliver of annoyance. She’d been sending him texts all week, but he hadn’t replied to any of them. No doubt he’d been as busy getting settled in Austin and starting his new job as she was here in Los Angeles. But she didn’t see why he couldn’t take two minutes out of his day—thirty seconds even—to text her back.

Megan read his message.

How’s showbiz?

She thought about everything she’d been doing, from driving all over L.A. to meeting Adam Noble. The guy, or at least images of him wearing only a pair of shorts with water dripping down his tanned skin, had taken up permanent residency in her thoughts. She chalked it up to him being nice to her. But she’d much rather think about someone else.

Someone like Rob.

Her perfect guy. Even if he wasn’t the best at keeping in touch with her.

She typed a one-word reply summing up her first week in town.

Exhausting.

Everything about her internship tired her out. But in spite of the exhaustion, she honestly couldn’t think of anywhere else she’d rather be than here in Hollywood. Well, except Austin with Rob.

“So you can smile.”

The familiar male voice startled her. She glanced up from her phone display to see Adam Noble standing next to her. He wore a pair of khaki cargo shorts with a button-down, light blue, short-sleeved shirt and hi-tech-looking sports sandals. His brown hair was casually yet artfully tousled. His easy smile showed a gleaming row of straight, white teeth. He looked … good.

Not that she cared how he looked outside of him wearing one of the costumes. She slid her cell phone into the back pocket of her jeans. “Everyone can smile, Mr. Noble.”

“Adam.”

Oh, yeah. He’d told her to call him by his first name. She stared at the shoes scattered in her car. She needed to get busy.

“You didn’t smile at Chas’s place,” Adam said.

She put a pair of black ankle boots into a large shoebox. “I was working.”

“You’re working now.”

“Trying to work,” she mumbled.

Her cell phone beeped. Rob. Anticipation at his quick response to her last text surged—the way it did on the day her copy of Vogue arrived in the mail. Maybe absence was making his heart grow fonder. Megan fought the urge to whip out her phone, but that would be rude with Adam here. She didn’t want to get in trouble for texting when she should be delivering the shoes. Not that Adam would tattle. Or maybe he would …

Not worth the risk. She matched another pair of shoes.

“I know why you’re smiling.”

Adam’s playful tone drew her attention away from the shoes and on to him. “Why?”

His green eyes twinkled with mischief. “I saw you with your phone. Your boyfriend is texting you.”

In her dreams.

Okay, Rob was a boy. He was also her friend. But he wasn’t her boyfriend. Not yet, anyway. Sometimes—a lot of times lately—he frustrated her. But she hoped once he realized how good they would be as a couple everything would fall into place.

Still, who she exchanged texts with was no one’s business, especially Adam’s. “I’m sorry, but I need to get these shoes sorted and inside before the fittings begin.”

“You’re discreet.”

His charming smile sent her pulse skittering. She chalked up the reaction to tiredness.

“I like that,” he added.

His compliment made her straighten. She wasn’t used to being complimented. Most people in Larkville had pegged her as an oddity years ago. Being friends with Rob, who might be a geek but was also the mayor’s grandson, was the only thing that kept her from being an outcast.

Megan reached for another pair of shoes. Her hand trembled.

Uh-oh. She couldn’t let herself be affected by Adam. The guy was an actor, a player who had more lines than a pad of graph paper. The realization irritated her. “I don’t have time to talk right now. I’m running late.”

“You have a mess on your hands.”

Captain Obvious seemed as fitting a name for him as Adam. She searched for a red leather pump. It had to be here somewhere. “Yes.”

“I’ll help.”

“That’s not …”

Her cell phone vibrated again. Rob.

Adam held up the missing red shoe. “Where does this go?”

Okay, maybe she could use the help. The sooner she finished this task, the sooner she could get back to Rob. “In the brown box.”