Baby Be Mine

skips a beat. ‘Yes,’ I reply honestly. ‘I’m staying with him.’
    ‘You’re . . . you’re staying with him?’ Charlie stutters. She wasn’t expecting that response.
    I shrug. ‘We’re mates.’
    ‘Mates? But what about Dana?’
    ‘His girlfriend doesn’t mind him having female friends, you know.’
    ‘But . . . but . . . I thought it all ended badly with you?’
    ‘Whatever gave you that idea?’ I ask flippantly. ‘Oh, he was a nightmare to work with, but no hard feelings. It’s cool hanging out at his house, and Dana’s really nice.’ Okay, so that part’s a lie.
    ‘Wow.’ That’s all she can say.
    ‘Who are you working with now?’ I ask pleasantly.
    ‘Isla,’ she replies, still distracted by my revelation. I bet she thought she knew everything about Johnny and me. She couldn’t be more wrong.
    ‘Is she back in LA?’ Isla Montagne is a silly young socialite who Charlie worked for before she moved to the UK to be with her boyfriend. Who turned out to be gay. Whoops.
    ‘She’s been back for two years. Have you been living under a rock?’ she asks scathingly.
    I laugh it off. ‘I haven’t really been keeping up to date with matters of celebrity . . .’ I say in a plummy voice.
    She gives me a weird look and walks off without saying another word.
    ‘That was short and brief,’ I say, taking a gulp of champagne.
    ‘Not short and brief enough,’ Kitty replies.
    ‘My feet are killing me,’ I admit. ‘Can we go and find somewhere to sit down?’
    ‘Sure.’
    We squeeze our way through the crowd and find a bunch of tables and chairs near the swimming pool. A rooftop bar in LA is not a rooftop bar without a swimming pool. There are a fair few vacant seats – most of the people here would rather be working the room than sitting on the sidelines. I collapse on a chair with a sigh and stretch my legs out in front of me.
    ‘I’m not used to wearing high heels.’
    ‘Aren’t you?’
    I turn sharply to see who asked this question and find myself face to face with an absolutely, totally and utterly gorgeous man. He has short black hair and his eyes are the darkest brown. My heart flips.
    ‘Excuse me?’ I reply, wondering if he’s even talking to me.
    ‘I was just wondering why you’re not used to wearing heels.’
    ‘You’re British,’ I say, cocking my head to one side.
    ‘So are you,’ he replies with an easy smile.
    Kitty’s outstretched palm appears beside me. ‘I’m Kitty,’ she says with a smile.
    ‘Joseph.’ He shakes her hand and then takes mine.
    ‘Meg.’ I suddenly feel all flustered.
    ‘What are you doing in LA?’ he asks, not releasing my hand or taking his gorgeous brown eyes from mine.
    ‘Catching up with friends,’ I reply, nodding at Kitty and gently extricating myself.
    ‘Did you enjoy the movie?’
    ‘It was okay,’ I reply.
    ‘Just okay?’ he says with amusement.
    ‘I’m not really big into martial-arts movies.’
    ‘Oh!’ Kitty clamps her hand over her mouth. ‘You were in it, weren’t you? I recognise you!’
    I stare at him with horror as he nods.
    ‘Only a small part,’ he reveals with a smile.
    I don’t remember him at all.
    ‘It was when you went to the bathroom,’ Kitty tells me, causing me to blush again. That’ll teach me to drink too much champagne in the limo.
    Joseph leans back in his chair. He’s wearing a black suit with a pristine white shirt, unbuttoned at the top. I catch a glimpse of his extremely fit chest and suddenly see myself in bed with him. I shake my head to rid myself of the image. It doesn’t work.
    ‘You had some mean moves on you,’ Kitty continues and he looks down modestly.
    ‘Do you do kung fu?’ I ask, starting to warm to the idea of the bed thing.
    He nods.
    ‘Do you have a black belt?’ I raise one eyebrow at him as my nerves oddly evaporate.
    He hooks his thumb through his belt loop. I look down to see a black leather belt.
    ‘Smart arse,’ I say with a grin. He grins back at me. God, he’s sexy.
    ‘Ooh, there’s the canapé guy,’ Kitty says, getting to her feet and hurrying over to him. Joseph doesn’t remove his eyes from mine.
    ‘Which part of England are you from?’ I ask him.
    ‘I used to live in London.’
    ‘Really? Where?’
    ‘All over. North, south, east, west, I wasn’t fussy. You?’ he asks.
    ‘I lived in Belsize Park for a while, and London Bridge before that.’
    ‘Cool.’
    ‘How long have you been in LA?’ I ask.
    ‘Not long.’
    ‘Is it