Buch lesen: «Lovers Premiere»

“So maybe I haven’t done anything that’s technically inappropriate or spontaneous. Big deal. It doesn’t mean that I’m a prude or anything.”

“Alright. If you say so.”

“It doesn’t,” she insisted.

He shrugged his shoulders and started to walk off.

Suddenly hit with a burst of inspiration, Sofia grabbed Ram by his hand and pulled him back. When he turned back, laughing, she cupped both sides of his face and laid a kiss on him that was so powerful he couldn’t help but let out a grunt of pleasure. He raked one hand through her thick hair and settled the other against the small of her back.

Ram couldn’t believe how sweet she tasted or how soft her small curves were. Was this a dream?

Sofia pulled her lips back all too soon but he chased after them for another intoxicating dose. It only lasted for a few extra seconds before she pushed back.

“There,” she whispered, while gulping in air. “Is that spontaneous enough for you?”

Before he could answer, she stepped past him on wobbly knees and quickly rushed toward her room before she spontaneously ripped his clothes off.

Behind her, Ram watched her go with a widening smile. Things were finally moving in the right direction.

Lovers Premiere
Adrianne Byrd

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Dear Reader,

It’s time to step back into the Limelight! Lovers Premiere is the final book in this passionate, glamorous Hollywood series, and this time around we are getting the scoop on Sofia Wellesley and Ramell “Ram” Jordan. Ram’s had a crush on Sofia since they were both just kids, but the journey to love can be full of obstacles, and somewhere along the way they became the worst of enemies. When a business assignment forces Sofia and Ram to work together, it will cause them to reevaluate just what they mean to each other. And it will become difficult to deny the passion that’s been steadily building between them.

The sensuality meter has been turned all the way up in this sizzling story, and the couple’s romance brings the Love in the Limelight series to a scorching close. So sit back, relax and enjoy the show!

Be sure to look for my Kimani Romance novel

My Only Desire in April 2011.

Wishing you the best of love,

Adrianne

This book is dedicated to A.C. Arthur, Ann Christopher and Brenda Jackson.

It was a pleasure working with you talented ladies.

Prologue

Los Angeles, April 1983

“Sofia Wellesley, will you marry me?”

Ten-year-old Sofia’s amber-brown eyes sparkled at the bundle of wild daisies Ramell Jordan thrust toward her. Daisies were her favorite flower and always put an instant smile on her face—which he knew very well. As for his ridiculous question, she just rolled her eyes and pretended not to have heard it.

“For me? Thank you.” She took the flowers and shoved them under her nose so she could inhale their fresh spring scent.

Ram waited and then his wide smile crumbled into a frown when his girlfriend walked away. “Aren’t you going to answer my question?” he asked, as they strolled through the back gardens of the Wellesley Estate.

“What question is that?” she asked absentmindedly, still drifting away from him in her bubble-gum-pink sundress.

“C’mon. You know.” He stopped following her and folded his arms under his chest. “I’ve only been asking you every day for the last two weeks.”

Sofia kept walking and smelling her flowers. About a minute later, Ram ran and caught up with her just like she knew he would.

“Well?” he tried again.

“I told you that I needed to think about it. Marriage is a very important decision in a girl’s life and it’s not something to be taken lightly,” she said, quoting her mother perfectly. “And just because I’ve known you all my life doesn’t mean that we’re destined to be together. We may grow up and want to see other people.”

Ram frowned. He didn’t like the sound of that. “See other people like who?”

Sofia shrugged her thin shoulders. “I don’t know. There’s like a gazillion people in the world.”

“You want to date a gazillion people?” he asked with his eyes practically bugging out. “Do you have any idea how long that would take?”

“I don’t know. Probably like five years.”

“Well, five years is a looooong time.”

Finally, she stopped walking and turned toward him. “Momma said that if a boy really liked you then he would wait, no matter how long it takes.”

Ram tossed up his hands. “That’s ridiculous! What am I supposed to do while you’re out dating a gazillion people—play Atari and drink juice boxes?”

“Oh stop being overly dramatic.” Sofia rolled her eyes. “You’re going to do what all boys do: work and save a lot of money.”

“Wait a minute. I work while you date other people? That hardly seems fair.”

“Oh, I’ll work too,” she said, beaming. “I’m going to work with my dad and Uncle Jacob. I’m going to work with movie stars, directors, writers—you name it.”

“You’re going to do all that and date a gazillion people?” He rolled his eyes and then shook his head. “All of that is going to take forever. We’ll be old—like thirty or thirty-five.”

Sofia’s brows stretched upward. “Are you saying that you won’t want to marry me when I’m old?”

“What? No. I didn’t say that,” Ram backtracked. “I’m just saying that I want to marry you while you’re young, too.”

“Well we’re young now. And we see each other every day as it is so what’s the problem?”

“I didn’t think we had a problem until you said you wanted to date a gazillion people. If you can lower that number down some then maybe…”

“Okay. How about a bazillion?”

He crossed his arms and gave her a stern look. “Lower.”

“A billion.”

“Lower.”

“A million.”

“Lower.”

“Umm…a thousand?”

Ram shook his head. “No.”

“Lower than a thousand?”

“Definitely.”

“A hundred.”

“Lower.”

“Fifty.”

He paused as if it was a number he could work with but then started shaking his head. “Lower.”

“Oh, I give up. You’re being totally unreasonable.” Sofia turned and stormed toward the sprawling mansion.

“Fine. If you’re going to start dating other boys then I’m going to start dating other girls—starting with Twyla Henderson.”

Sofia stopped in her tracks and turned around. “What did you just say?”

Pleased to see that he’d finally gotten her attention, Ram thrust his chin up and puffed his chest out. “You heard me. I’m going to date Twyla Henderson. She’s pretty enough and I know for a fact that she likes me.”

“And you also know very well that I don’t like that big bully. All she does is talk bad about people and think that everyone should kiss her butt because her father knows a bunch of famous people.”

“Whatever. She’s always nice to me.” Ram turned and started to stroll in the opposite direction, mimicking one of Sofia’s slick moves. He smiled when he heard her stomping up behind him.

“Ramell Jordan, I forbid you to go out with that knock-kneed cow.”

He turned around, laughing. “Knocked-kneed?”

“You heard me.” She pushed up her chin. Her anger made red splotches on her smooth brown skin.

“I don’t know.” He shook his head. “Hardly seems fair that you can date millions of people but I can’t see one girl that goes to our school.”

“You can date anybody but her!”

“Okay. How about Jill Marshall?”

Sofia’s face twisted in disgust. “The girl that makes bubbles in her milk every day at lunch? Why would you want to go out with her?”

“Connie Woods?”

Sofia opened her mouth but then closed it. She liked Connie. Everybody did. When she hesitated, Ram took her silence as a stamp of approval.

“Great! I’ll go over to her house right now. Maybe she’d like to go to the arcade or the roller rink.” He started to march off.

“Ramell Jordan, you’ll do no such thing!”

He had her now, but he quickly fixed his face so that he looked confused. “Why not?”

“Because I forbid it,” she said, as if it made all the sense in the world.

A smile ballooned across his face. “Admit it. You don’t like the idea of me dating other girls just like I don’t like the idea of you dating a gazillion boys.”

Sofia pressed her lips together like she wasn’t about to admit to any such thing.

Seeing that she was going to continue to be stubborn about the issue, Ram shrugged his shoulders and said, “Fine. I guess I’ll go see what Connie is doing.”

He took one step forward and Sofia grabbed his wrist so fast that she dropped half of her fresh-picked daisies. “Don’t go!”

Ramell cocked his head and waited for the words he wanted to hear.

“All right. Fine.” She snatched her hand back and folded it across her chest with her other one. “I don’t want you to date other girls. There. Are you happy?”

“Extremely.” He turned toward her. “So how about getting married?”

“Sofia! Dinnertime! Time to come in!” Gloria, the Wellesleys’ housekeeper, hollered out through the French doors.

Sofia’s face split into a smile. “See you tomorrow!” She turned and shot off toward the house.

“Wait!” Ram called after her, but it was no use. She was already running as fast as her long legs could carry her.

He crossed his arms dejectedly. “Women!”

Sofia raced into the house, laughing because she had managed to get away from Ram once again without having to answer his proposal. Of course their game would resume tomorrow and she’d have to come up with a whole new set of stall-tactics. Heaven knows that she wasn’t opposed to marrying Ramell. The two times that he’d managed to sneak a kiss from her from underneath the oak tree in her backyard she actually thought it was rather nice. Sofia liked Ram. She especially liked how his dark brown eyes would shine like two new marbles when she’d let him. But they were only ten years old. What was a girl to do?

“Go on and wash up,” Gloria said, pulling her from her reverie. “Your parents are busy with something in your father’s study, but when they’re done they’ll join you and your sister in the dining room.”

Sofia nodded and then ran through the house and up the long spiral staircase to her bedroom. Once inside, she hurried over to the pink vase on top of her chest of drawers and added the four remaining wild daisies she clutched in her hand with the other ones Ram had given her this week. It was starting to look like one of the huge bouquets her father usually sent her mother.

“Mrs. Sofia Jordan,” she practiced saying the name a few times in the mirror. “Mrs. Ramell and Sofia Jordan.” It had a nice ring to it, she decided. After standing there and admiring her wildflowers for a minute, she sighed and then turned toward her adjoining bathroom to go wash her hands for dinner. On her way back down the hallway, she stopped by her sister’s bedroom to peek inside.

A year ago, when her parents first brought Rachel home, Sofia was absolutely not in favor of the whole kid-sister idea. But the moment her mother had put Rachel into her arms for her to hold for the first time, things changed. Sofia didn’t expect the new baby to be so cute and adorable. It was love at first sight. She knew from that moment on that she would be like a second mom to her sister. And so far, that’s exactly what she turned out to be.

Seeing that Rachel was still fast asleep, Sofia carefully tiptoed backwards and continued to head back downstairs. However, she hadn’t even reached the middle stair before a tide of angry voices rose from her father’s study. If she had been told once, she had been told a million times not to go into her father’s study when the door was closed. But given the amount of yelling that was going on, her curiosity took over and the next thing she knew she was creeping into the room.

As she poked her head in, the first thing she noticed was her father’s handsome face distorted and inflamed with anger.

“You think that I don’t know what the hell is going on in my own house?”

“John, John. Calm down,” Uncle Jacob, her father’s twin, tried to pull him away from Emmett Jordan.

“No, Jacob. Wait until you hear about this…this lowlife son-of-”

“JOHN,” Sofia’s mother yelled.

“This backstabber,” he yelled, “has been sneaking around here with my own wife!” His narrowed gaze shifted to his wife. “Isn’t that right, Vivian?”

“No, John!”

“Don’t lie to me!” He charged toward her, but once again Uncle Jacob jumped in and blocked his path.

Vivian gasped and stepped back.

“I know what’s going on! I’ve seen you two with my own eyes!”

Her mother dropped her head into her hands and sobbed.

Her father’s rampage continued. “Fine! You want her…you can have her. But it’ll be a cold day in hell before I let you take my children and my company away from me!”

“John, please,” Sofia’s mother wailed.

Uncle Jacob kept his hold around his brother. “Everybody just needs to calm down.”

“Calm down?” John questioned wildly as he twisted his way out of his brother’s arms. “You know what? Everybody get the hell out of my house!”

A hand landed on Sofia’s shoulders and she nearly jumped ten feet into the air.

“What are you doing in here?” Gloria hissed.

“I was just…I was…”

“Sofia?” Vivian Wellesley turned her stunned, tear-stained eyes toward her and the housekeeper. “Get her out of here!”

“Yes, ma’am.” Gloria grabbed Sofia’s arm and dragged her out of the study and shut the door.

“What’s going on, Gloria?” Sofia asked with panic settling in her bones. She’d never seen her father so angry before.

“Don’t worry about it,” the housekeeper said, escorting her to the dining room. “That’s grown folks business. None of that concerns you.”

Doesn’t concern me? Her father had just yelled at her mother and Ramell’s father for sneaking around and then accused him of trying to steal his company—a company that he and Uncle Jacob had poured blood, sweat, and tears into. Everyone knew how much her father worked and loved that company. And her mother…how could she?

Sofia plopped down at the dinner table and folded her arms in a huff. She knew how. Emmett Jordan was every bit as much of a charmer as his son, Ramell. Clearly, neither one of them could ever be trusted.

Ever.

And that belief would be held for a long time, because Sofia’s parents were killed in a plane crash two days later.

Chapter One

Los Angeles, Today

Sofia sat on the edge of the doctor’s table with her cell phone tucked between her shoulder and her ear while her fingers raced across her iPad as she fired off one contract counteroffer after another.

“Sorry, Larry, but that’s not going to happen. You’ve only locked down Ethan Chambers for two seasons of Paging the Doctor. And you got off cheap, if you ask me. If you want to get him on board for another four years then you’re going to have come up with a figure that doesn’t insult my intelligence.”

She only half listened to Larry Franklin’s response because she knew that this was the part when studios start crying broke or downplaying just how important her client is to their hit shows. But in this case, it would all be irrelevant because Ethan Chambers dominated the tabloids and magazine covers—despite the mild hiccup with him, her sister and the paparazzi a couple of months ago.

“Larry, if you feel that way then we can just let the contract run out and I can dedicate more attention to the numerous movie offers that have been flooding my inbox. You know Denzel Washington started off on a medical show and then exploded on the big screen. That just might be the way to go here. Ethan has the looks and the talent, after all.”

“Damn, Sofia. You’re really going to bust my balls over this.”

That managed to put a smile on her face. “I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”

“I’m sure you don’t.” He laughed. “Just like I’m sure this hard bargain you’re driving has nothing to do with Ethan Chambers being in queue to become your brother-in-law.”

“You’re right. I fight for all my clients.”

“Duly noted. I’ll get back with you with a counteroffer.”

“I’ll be waiting,” Sofia sing-songed before disconnecting the call. But as soon as she had her phone started ringing again. She was about to answer when Dr. Turner’s bored baritone startled her.

“You think you can fit in time for your checkup?”

Sofia nearly jumped and flashed him with an apologetic smile. “Sorry about that, Brian.” She quickly put her phone on vibrate and sat it and her iPad down.

“How long do I have before you pick that up again?” he asked, flipping open her chart.

“Two minutes,” she answered honestly. Her addiction to her gadgets was well known and quite frankly not a laughing matter.

Her longtime friend and doctor shook his head. “I said it before and I’ll say it again. You work too much, Sofia.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. When you love what you do then it’s not considered work.”

Still shaking his head, Dr. Turner reached for the blood pressure cuff and wrapped it around her arm. “When was the last time you had a vacation?”

Exhaling, Sofia rolled her eyes while she tried to recall the date. “Honey, I don’t know. A couple of years ago, I think.” She reached over to take a peek at her vibrating phone.

“Let it go to voicemail,” the doctor ordered while pumping air into the cuff.

She withdrew her hand from the phone and tried to pretend that she wasn’t about to look at it.

“Not good,” he said, listening through the stethoscope and watching the needle on the cuff.

“What?” Sofia looked down as if she could decipher the numbers he was reading.

“Your blood pressure is up…again.” He pulled the cuff off of her arm and leveled her with a stern look. “Look, Sofia. I’m talking to you as both your doctor and your friend. You have to do better about controlling all this stress. You keep going down this road and you’re going to have a meltdown.”

“Ugh.” She fought hard not roll her eyes. If she had a nickel for every time someone told her that—mainly her Uncle Jacob—she’d be…well, she was already rich, but she would Bill Gates rich.

“I’m serious, Sofia. You need to cut your stress levels,” Brian warned, pulling out his prescription pad.

“What are you doing?” Sofia asked when he started scribbling.

“What does it look like? I’m putting you on medication.”

“Great. Then what’s the problem? I just pop a pill and everything is cool.” She picked up her phone and Dr. Turner quickly took it out her hands.

“No. You don’t just pop a pill. You still need to try and slow down, watch what you eat and what you drink or you’re going to go down the same destructive path that all workaholics go down that leads to an early grave.” He handed over her prescription.

Sofia frowned at his scare tactics. “Will that be all?”

“How’s your love life? Are you seeing anyone?”

“What the hell does that have to do with the price of tea in China?”

“I’m going to take that as a no.” He folds his arms. “You need to get out. Relax. Get a life. Meet someone.”

“Limelight is my life. It’s all I need.”

Thirty minutes later, Sofia strolled into Limelight Entertainment Management while switching back and forth between two different business calls on her Bluetooth. Still, she flashed smiles to staffers while she continued to chew studio executives and directors out without missing a beat.

“Mrs. Wellesley, your uncle wants to see you in the conference room,” Sarah Cole, perhaps the best assistant in the world, whispered to her. “He said to direct you there as soon as you walk into the door.”

Sofia just smiled and ignored the order by continuing her march toward her office. Her Uncle Jacob was the last person she wanted to talk to. His little stunt to merge their family company with Artist Factory, Inc.—Emmett and Ramell Jordan’s company—despite her numerous verbal protests, was a slap in the face that she just couldn’t ignore or bring herself to forgive him for anytime soon.

But when she entered her office, she stopped short upon seeing her uncle sitting on her office couch.

“Larry, something just came up. I’m going to have to call you back.” She tapped her ear once. “Frasier, I have to call you back.” She pulled the gadget from her ear and made a beeline toward her desk. “What are you doing in here?”

“I came to see you since I knew that you wouldn’t come to the conference room like I requested.”

“I’m busy, Uncle Jacob. What is it?” She asked absently as she plopped into her seat and turned to face her computer.

Jacob heaved himself up from the couch and strolled toward her desk. “First things first. How was your doctor’s visit?”

She cut a look toward him as if to ask are you serious? Still he stood there waiting so she answered with a slight lie. “Fine.”

His brows lifted slowly until they stretched to the center of his forehead. “So I look like an idiot now? The shakes, the occasional vertigo and chest pain is all normal for a healthy thirty-five year old woman?”

Sofia gasped. “Allegedly thirty-five.” She glanced around him to double-check that they were alone in the room together. Then she said quietly, through clenched teeth, “A woman, especially in this town, never reveals her age.”

“Come on, Sofia. It isn’t really your age we’re talking about anyway. Tell me the truth.”

“Fine. Dr. Turner said something about my blood pressure being slightly elevated. He gave me a prescription. It’s no big deal.” She glanced at her watch. “Now if we’re finished discussing my health, I have a ton of calls to get through today.”

“They can wait. We need to discuss details about this merger with A.F.I. I’ve been calling your assistant for weeks now to book a joint meeting with all the parties involved so this transition can go smoothly, but the one person I can’t seem to get on the phone is you.”

Sofia tossed her hands up in the air. “I don’t know what you need my help for. You certainly didn’t want to listen to me when I told you that I thought that this merger was a big mistake. Apparently my opinion doesn’t matter around here despite supposedly being second-in-command.”

Jacob sucked in a frustrated breath. “I’m not going to keep going around and around with you on this. This merger is a done deal. I know in my heart that this would’ve been something that even your father would’ve approved of.”

“Like hell he would have.”

“Sofia!”

“What? I’m just being honest here. You used to appreciate my honesty. Has that changed, too? Just let me know and I’ll just keep my mouth shut.”

Jacob slammed his hand on her desk. “How about you just keep the attitude?”

Stunned, Sofia was momentarily unable to respond.

“Now I appreciate and respect your opinion on this matter, but I’m still president of this company, and our merging with A.F.I. makes sound financial sense. Plus, Ramell can go a long way in helping to lighten your load around here and you need to take advantage of it.”

“I don’t need Ramell Jordan’s help with anything.”

“Use him anyway. In fact, I’m ordering you to delegate some of your workload to him. No more ninety-plus hour work weeks, Sofia. You need to start taking better care of yourself.”

Sofia opened her mouth to protest, but her uncle cut her off.

“You fight me on this then I’ll have no choice but to fire you.”

“What?”

“You heard me. Since you’re too hardheaded to take care of yourself then it looks like I’m going to have to force you to do it.”

With her mouth still hanging open, he turned and started to march out the door.

“By the way, Ramell Jordan is waiting for you in the conference room. You have five minutes to get in there.”