Free When Lightning Strikes by Brenda Novak

more than enough of
the masculine to compensate for his pretty eyes and pouty lips. But she had to
create some kind of defense. There were moments when she was afraid the hero
worship she’d once felt would reassert itself and undermine what she knew of the
real Simon. “I’m just saying he looks like his mother more than he does his
father.”
    “Doesn’t make him feminine. ”
    “Did you get those pictures off?” she asked instead of
responding.
    “As soon as they hit my in-box.”
    Rounding her desk, she straightened her blotter. “And…did you
get confirmation that they’ve been received?”
    “Immediately. Sarah’s ecstatic about breaking the story—and
avoiding any heat from that other mess we created.”
    “Good.”
    “So.” He crossed his legs. “You’re sure you’ll be able to make
yourself go through with it? You’ll marry him?”
    “I don’t see that I have any choice. I’ve already signed the
contract.”
    Hanging his head, Joshua peered at her through the hair, dyed a
stark black instead of his usual brown, falling into his eyes. “I feel so bad
about what I did.”
    “I know.”
    “I endangered Sarah’s job, too.”
    “Yes.” Gail drummed her fingers on the desk. “What’d her boss
say?”
    “He’s every bit as excited as you’d expect. Anything Simon does
is big news.”
    That picture they’d taken in the backyard would soon be online.
Other magazines and bloggers would jump on the publicity bandwagon before she
could blink.
    Sick at the thought of all the calls that would pour in, how she’d become the focus of the paparazzi who’d
harried her biggest clients, Gail propped her chin on one fist. “Do you think
this is a disaster waiting to happen?”
    “Could go either way, but you’re saving my ass by doing it, so
I can’t tell you how grateful I am.” He gave her a childlike smile. “Makes me
love you all the more, if that helps.”
    “It doesn’t,” she said, but smiled back.
    He sobered. “I deserve to be fired.”
    “Except that you’ve been great at your job and I can’t judge
your entire performance by one stupid, drunken mistake.”
    “I appreciate that. I really do.” His mood brightened. “Tell
you what— I’ll marry Simon.”
    She pictured the fury in Simon’s face when she’d said what she
had about his family, or lack thereof. At this point, he’d probably prefer anyone to her—maybe even Josh. “I wish you could.”
    She prided herself on being able to handle anything, but she
was out of her element here. Maybe she was better at running other people’s
lives than her own. “What if he won’t stop drinking?” she asked. “Or he secretly
bites his toenails? Or sleeps in a coffin? Or burns incense and offers up
prayers to his own picture?”
    “All movie stars are eccentric—or get that way if they go
unchecked for too long. Just roll with it. The marriage is only temporary.”
    Two years didn’t feel as short as he made it sound. “But he
might be more insufferable than I’m expecting. Maybe he’s…abusive.”
    Josh grimaced. “He’s not abusive, not physically, anyway. With
his ex running her mouth to anyone who’ll listen, we would’ve heard about it if
he’d ever even threatened to hit her or the kid.”
    “He’s hit a few guys,” she mused. “He got in that fight on-set,
remember?”
    “I’m not likely to forget. That’s the reason you refused to
work for him anymore.”
    Ignoring the censure in his voice, she proceeded to prove it
wasn’t the only reason. “What about that time a few
months ago when he tried to force his way into his ex-wife’s house and got in a
shoving match with her brother?”
    “Maybe he had a good reason for what he did.”
    “On both counts?”
    “That’s how we tried to spin it,” he said with a shrug.
    “He could’ve walked away.”
    “We both know he’s not the type. Too short a fuse.”
    “That’s no excuse.” She searched for other examples to support
her “Simon’s