Free Hollywood Nights by Sara Celi Page A

off.”
    “I had a great time with you this weekend, Brynn.” He glanced at Martha, who had returned to the sink while the coffee brewed. She flipped on the faucet and grabbed a scrubbing brush. Tanner’s attention floated back to me, and his gaze locked with mine. “I’d like this to continue.”
    “Me, too,” I said after a pause. “I want to stay. I want to try this.”
    “Good.” Tanner drank the rest of his smoothie. “You ready?”
    I swallowed. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
    “We’ll take the coffee to go, Martha,” Tanner said. “And I’ll drive.”
    Lewis Hawes, Tanner’s attorney, had an office on Wilshire in a building with fifteen floors and a sweeping view of the city. Tanner and I didn’t talk on the drive over, and we rode the elevator to the top floor in silence, too. In the lobby of Lewis’s office, an overweight woman wearing a long blue skirt and thick glasses fawned over Tanner, treating him like he was Prince William on a rare visit to the US. She sneered at me and didn’t ask my name. I had to ask her three times for a glass of water.
    “I’ll admit, this is unusual,” Lewis said, after the woman showed us into his wide corner office. He shook my hand, then Tanner’s, and motioned for us to sit down in the two black leathers seats next to his desk. “But I guess I’ve come to expect that from you, Mr. Vance.”
    Tanner waved his hand. “You know me.”
    “At your request, I’ve drawn up a simple NDA and contract.” Lewis shuffled through a stack of file folders on the desk in front of him.
    I glanced at Tanner.
    “What are the terms?” I asked.
    “This NDA will prevent you from sharing proprietary information about the relationship between the two of you, and stop either of you from capitalizing on it, once it ends, for a period of five years from the date of breakup.” He handed both of us a sheet of paper. “Simple. Standard.” He took two thicker packets of paper from the folder. “This contract outlines basic details. Mr. Vance will pay five hundred thousand dollars to Ms. Price at the end of six months, or when the relationship ends, whichever one comes last, provided that Ms. Price fulfills all duties of this agreement, including but not limited to a convincing relationship that provides satisfactory public relations results for both parties.”
    Tanner touched my forearm. “Satisfactory meaning… it changes the—er—national conversation about me.”
    “Like I can control that.”
    Tanner blanched. “What I mean is—”
    “You’ll get what you’re paying for,” I said. “At least, I’ll do the best I can.”
    Lewis pressed onward. “Mr. Vance also agrees to provide all food, housing, clothing, and other needs to Ms. Price for the duration of this agreement, and agrees Ms. Price is not required to provide anything in return, such as anything of a—ahem—sexual nature.” He handed us the contract, then produced one thinner sheet of paper and the final paperwork. “All we need is your signatures in the areas of these documents marked with the blue label.” Lewis glanced at each of us. “Any questions?”
    I gulped as I peered at the documents and the endless lines of legalese. “I need to read over this before I sign it.”
    “Of course, Ms. Price. We have a private conference room across the hallway, and you’re welcome to have these documents reviewed by your own legal counsel.”
    “Give me a few minutes,” I said, as the three of us stood from our chairs.
    Safely alone inside the conference room, I sat down at the circular table and read the first few pages of the documents. All three agreements had less than fifteen total pages, but as I read over them, my stomach lurched and twisted. Up until that moment, Tanner’s entire proposal hadn’t been a reality. It was a dream but not necessarily a fantasy, more like something that hadn’t been happening to a girl like me.
    Once I signed my name, there would be no going back. I