In the five minutes it took to make their way from the terminal to where Callum’s thankfully uncrashed car was parked, Clay never shut up long enough to draw breath. For the first time, Callum witnessed his brother’s true passion for the film industry. He knew every movie this producer and director had collaborated on in minute detail, along with their personal backgrounds and future goals.
Callum began to finally understand that nothing was going to dissuade Clay from pursuing his dream, certainly not any of his warnings.
“You’re really looking forward to going to this party tonight, aren’t you?”
“You could say that,” Clay replied. “If anything happened to stop me going, I don’t know what I’d do.”
Callum realized then what was bothering his brother.
It was just tension over this party.
“What could possibly stop you from going?” he asked as he loaded his three large suitcases into the trunk of his car. With the job finished in Hawaii, he’d had to bring everything home with him.
CLAY LOOKED OVER at his big brother and knew he was going to have a fit when he told him about his problem. Callum’s reaction to his doing some male modeling had been bad enough. He was going to hit the roof when he found out his precious little brother had been working as an escort!
But he had to tell him; had to ask him to take his place, just for tonight. There was no other way. If he called the agency and canceled at this late stage his name would be mud. He also needed the money. He’d run up quite a bill on his credit card this last month, buying new clothes, first a tux for his escorting work, and then some seriously cool gear for this party tonight.
On top of that, as wimpish as it sounded, he didn’t want to disappoint his client. She’d sounded really nice when he’d called her on Thursday night to find out what was required of him.
Unfortunately, his client’s requirements presented an added problem, other than the obvious. Clay knew he’d have had no trouble pretending to be this girl’s boyfriend at her class reunion. He viewed each of his escorting dates as opportunities to hone his acting skills. Callum, however, would balk at such a ruse. He was hard pushed to pretend anything in life. He was a straight shooter, was Callum, and as stuffy as could be. Clay wondered sometimes if his big brother even had a sex life, though he supposed he did. Callum was one hell of a good-looking guy in that tall rugged mould. Lots of women would be attracted to his good looks, and his impressively fit body. It was just that he rarely dated when he came home, and never talked about women and sex the way other guys did.
Getting him to go on a date as a paid escort and a pretend boyfriend at the same time was not going to be easy. On the plus side, Clay knew that his brother loved him and would do anything for him, within reason. He just had to make it all sound both respectable and reasonable.
“The problem is I have to work tonight.”
Callum slammed the trunk shut, then glanced up, his dark brows drawn together over his deeply set blue eyes. “I thought you said you didn’t have any acting work at the moment.”
“I don’t.”
Callum groaned. “Oh, no, not more modeling work.”
“No. Nothing like that.”
“Then what?”
Clay crossed his fingers behind his back. “I’ve been working as a professional escort, and I have a pre-booked, pre-paid date tonight. I…er…was hoping you could take my place so that I could still go to the party.”
Clay almost laughed at the look on his brother’s face. Boy, was it a classic! He immediately slotted it into his acting memory bank for future reference, so that when a director told him to express shock, disgust, disbelief and indignant outrage all at the same time, he’d know exactly how to do it.
“Before you blow a fuse, bro,” Clay went on hastily when he saw his brother’s hands curl into fists, “let me point out that there are several groups of people close by in this carpark. I’ll hardly make a good impression on my Hollywood big boys if I turn up tonight with a split lip and a black eye.”
“I wasn’t going to hit you,” Callum bit out. “Though you need hitting, you stupid fool. My God, whatever possessed you? Silly question,” he muttered under his breath. “I suppose it was for the money. But surely you couldn’t have needed money that badly that you’d virtually prostitute yourself for it.”
“Hey, get off your high horse there. Being an escort is not synonymous with being a prostitute. I work for a very reputable agency called Gentlemen Partners, and sex is definitely not part of the service provided.”
“That’s not the general view.”
“Then the general view is wrong,” Clay refuted firmly, though his mind did fly to that one date a couple of weeks back. He’d not only ended up in bed with the woman but the next morning she’d pressed an embarrassing amount of money into his hands, all because of some stupid joke he’d made when he’d brought her home the night before. He hadn’t known what to do at the time. In the end, he’d just taken it and left.
Naturally, he wasn’t about to mention that one unfortunate incident to Callum.
His brother still looked furious. “Tell that to the gossip mags if you ever get your name up in bright lights and they find out what you once did for a living!”
“You think I haven’t thought of that? Why do you think I use a false name?”
Callum could not believe his brother’s naiveté. What was a name when he had a face like his? So strikingly handsome and so very memorable. Maybe this escort agency he worked for was extremely respectable, but a lot of those places weren’t. And mud did stick.
“How long have you been doing this?” Callum demanded to know. “How many of these…dates…have you been on?”
“Only half a dozen or so. I don’t know what you’re getting so het up about. It’s an ideal job. I can earn money at night and still have my days free to call on casting agencies and go for auditions.”
“Only ideal if you never make it big in Hollywood,” Callum pointed out. “You keep telling me you are going to make it big in Hollywood, aren’t you?”
“Too right I am.”
“Then I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll stand in for you tonight if you quit the agency tomorrow and find some other line of work. Something which won’t ever find its way into a gossip column. Fair enough?”
“Fair enough,” Clay agreed, and beamed at his brother. “Thanks, bro. You’re the best!”
Callum smiled a wry smile. Clay was always particularly agreeable after he got his own way. Or when Callum rescued him from whatever trouble he’d got himself into. In the past, Callum had stood up for his kid brother more times than he’d had hot dinners, but this was the first time he’d stood in for him.
One day, Callum hoped and prayed, he’d stop being his brother’s keeper. But not yet, obviously.
“Keys,” he said, holding out his hand.
“Ah, come on, bro, let me drive it home. I won’t speed. I promise.”
“No way, Jose. On the way home, you can tell me all about this stupid date I’m going on tonight. Where, what, when and who with? Which reminds me, what name is it you use for your escorting work? I suppose I’ll have to use it too.”
“Beau Grainger,” his brother said, grinning.
Callum winced. The things he had to do!
3
JOSIE