Hollywood House Call - By Jules Bennett Page 0,2

thought, but whatever he wanted. He was the one paying.

“You’re exactly the look, Callie. I want to capture that youthfulness, that innocence.”

Callie laughed. “I’m not that innocent.”

“You moved here less than a year ago and you grew up in the Midwest.” His lids lowered slightly over those dark eyes as he leaned forward just enough to get into her personal space. “You’re practically still a virgin.”

Callie’s mouth went dry because the word virgin instantly brought to mind sex, and the word sex hovered in her mind while Noah stood this close with his bedroom eyes locked onto hers.

“I assure you, I’m not a virgin.”

Shut up, Callie.

“Good to know,” he told her with that cocky grin. “But I’m glad you’ve given in to the pictures.”

“Have you ever had to fight for anything you want or do you just flash that smile?” she joked.

Something dark passed over his face; his smile faltered, and he swallowed. But just as quick as it came, it passed. “You’d be surprised by what I’ve had to fight for and what I’ve lost.”

None of her business, she told herself. Everybody had a past, and just because he was a rich, powerful surgeon didn’t mean he’d had it easy. But this was the first glimpse she’d had of any kind of pain hidden behind that billion-dollar smile.

* * *

She wasn’t a virgin.

Noah inwardly groaned. Callie Matthews might not be a virgin in the sexual sense, but she was certainly very innocent because if she had any clue where his thoughts traveled when he thought of her, she’d be suing him for sexual harassment.

He refused to be so clichéd as to date his receptionist, but damn if he didn’t want to see her on more personal, intimate terms. He’d played with fire when he’d cornered her two days ago in the lounge. When he’d moved in closer to her, he’d noticed her bright green eyes widening, the way she kept nervously licking her lips…those sexy, naturally full lips that begged to be kissed. His female clients paid a small fortune for a mouth like Callie’s.

Noah eased back in his office chair. She’d be coming in any moment and he intended to keep their relationship professional. No more touching, no more getting pulled under by her hopeful eyes and childlike dreams.

If Callie had any idea what she was in for in this Hollywood wannabe-actress cycle, she’d run back to that cornfield she came from. It wasn’t all glitz and glamour. There was no way in hell he’d see another woman he cared about fall to the dark side of Hollywood.

The scars from his fiancée were still too fresh, too deep. And between the house they’d shared that he had to go home to every day and her ailing grandmother he cared for, Noah had a sickening feeling those wounds would never heal.

And Callie reminded him so much of Malinda sometimes it hurt to even think of the bright way his fiancée used to light up over her future career. Callie was Malinda all over again…only this time he refused to get attached.

He raked a hand through his hair, trying to rid himself of the nightmare that still plagued him.

His fiancée had meant everything to him. He’d have done anything in his power to save her. But he’d failed. He’d failed the one woman he’d loved with his whole heart, the one woman he’d wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Noah refused to ever let his heart become entangled again. He honestly didn’t think he could afford another crushing loss.

So there was no way he could talk to Olivia about this role for Callie. He was actually using the modeling as a way to keep her from slipping into a darker world that Callie had no clue about. If he could keep her satisfied with the money, the attention from modeling, perhaps she’d reach those stars in her eyes. Maybe she’d let go of this movie-star fetish.

He had to intervene and do something. And no, he didn’t care that he was being devious. He couldn’t stand by and watch another innocent woman fall victim to the ugly side of the industry.

Because he already had a nugget of worry where his beautiful, naive receptionist was concerned. He knew what he paid her, but he also knew she was always scraping by. Those few commercials she’d done surely hadn’t sucked her into the dark world he wanted to keep her from…had they?

Cynicism had never been part of his life until