Free Forcing Gravity by Monica Alexander Page B

when he didn’t say anything , barely able to choke out the sentence.
    He smiled a small smile, and it was as if he had a secret he was dying to share but couldn’t , as his hypnotic eyes bore into parts of me no one had ever seen before. No wonder people flocked to his movies. Seeing that face and those eyes on the big screen and not being able to look away – the whole package sucked you in. And then he opened his mouth, and it was game over. Talk about a sexy voice, but it sounded even better in person.
    “I guess I wasn’t really in the mood for a party t onight, ” he explained. “B ut I didn’t realize i t until I got here, so I figured I’d hide out until I could think of a good excuse to leave.”
    “Why do you need an excuse to leave a party?” I asked, realizing too late that I sounded bitchy. Why was I being a b itch to this perfect specimen of a man who had done nothing wrong?
    Jason cocked his head just enough to let me know he’d caught on to my tone. “My publicist and my agent have been giving me crap lately because I haven’t b een going out, so to appease them , I went out.”
    So apparently those rumors were true. Jason had been in a relationship with one of his former co-stars for the past two years. Then pictures were taken of her openly cheating on him , and they’d broken up. It had been quite the scandal a few months earlier. The tabloids had reported that he’d become a bit of a recluse following their split, but I hadn’t thought that was true after seeing him at Katsuya earlier in the evening. He ’d looked just fine to me, but apparently looks could be deceiving.
    “And now you want to go home? ” I ventured.
    He nodded. “More than anything.”
    I was surprised to find he was so easy to talk to , once I pushed past the fact that he was giving me heart palpitations. Aside from his phenomenal good looks, h e didn’t seem to have any of the arrogance a celebrity of his stature would normally have – and I’d met plenty of celebrities who were even less popular than him who were downright assholes .
    “So why don’t you just go home?” I asked, curious as to why an uber -celebrity would be forced to hide out.
    He smiled. “Because you came out here, so I figured I now have a reason to stay a little longer.”
    I visibly rolled my eyes. “Seriously? Is that a line you use on girls when you meet them or something?”
    I really hated when guys used pick-up line s. Did they really work ?
    Jason laughed. “Uh no. You just seem nice.”
    I suddenly felt bad for rolling my eyes at him.
    “ I gu ess you seem nice too ,” I offered , taking a seat on the outdoor sofa Garrett had put on the balcony . Jason stayed put, half-hidden in the dark corner. “Do you want to sit, or are you thinking about jetting?”
    “ There’s paparazzi down on the beach. I don’t want my picture taken.”
    I looked over my shoulder between the slats in the railing and sure enough, three photographers lingered on the sand, just waiting for a golden shot of whomever they were hoping might appear , and it very well could have been Jason . Or Garrett. Or any of the models or socialites or pseudo-celebrities that were partying downstairs.
    “I can fix that,” I said, getting up and heading back inside. I grabbed a blanket from Ethan’s bed and draped it over the back of the railing behind the couch, successfully blocking the view of anyone who was down on the beach. I patted the end of the couch. “Feel free.”
    “Thanks,” Jason said gratefully , as he bent down below the railing and covertly made his way over to me. He sat down at the opposite end of the sofa , angled himself toward me and appraised me thou ghtfully. “I’m Jase , by the way . ”
    “Jase?” I asked. I’d only ever heard him referred to as Jason.
    He smiled that secretive smile again and said. “It’s actually Jason, but my friends call me Jase.”
    Apparently I was his friend.
    “I’m Logan.”
    “Ni ce to meet you,