Lovestruck: An Age Gap Dad's Best Friend Romance by Barbi Cox

Author:Barbi Cox [Cox, Barbi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-03-30T16:00:00+00:00

Stephen

I can’t stand these parties. They’re a necessity for my career, but they definitely make me question my choices. I didn’t go into this industry to play pretend outside of the workday. But when the workday never ends and my image becomes the basis of my job, well, compromises have to be made.

Still, it doesn’t get easier to schmooze and suck up to people who make me want to wash my hands after a handshake—men eyeing younger women, talking about what they can get out of some actress or what they’d like to do to others. Sure, I’ve had my share of women, but I don’t hunt them for sport.

That’s more for Chase, but even he isn’t as bad as these dirty old men. I balance out their disgusting nature with plenty of eye candy. Starlets walk through the house in various dresses. Some are designed to stir up curiosity and others flaunt what they have. No matter what a man could want, at least one of the women here offers it.

With this kind of mix, it’s only a matter of time before all hell breaks loose and this semi-formal party becomes a free-for-all. The women will get drunk, then men will get drunker, drugs will make an appearance, and then all reason goes out the window. Not a damn soul will worry about their reputations or the future except the women looking to move up and the men who want more than one night.

This is the kind of party I used to protect Oliva from. Before her, I’d been no different from these men and neither had her father. We’d conquered more than our fair share in these parties, making other men jealous and earning a quiet reputation that never managed to get to the papers.

I shake my head and take a drink of red wine. It’s as hard a liquor as I’ll touch tonight. I need to keep my head on straight. I need to know the exact time to leave this insanity.

Some of the women here remind me of Olivia. They giggle and bat their lashes. They sip slowly from their glasses as if they don’t want to go crazy. They play the game of innocence with a touch of seduction. But unlike Olivia, they do it to get ahead. Olivia is a different breed.

A younger man approaches me. I have no clue who he is, but he pats me on the back like we’re old friends. Which means he wants something. “So, Stephen, what’s the latest project?”

“Hello.” I try for a normal introduction.

He laughs. “You know, if you’re looking for a good writer, I know a guy.”

“Would I recognize his name?”

His face changes slightly, falling a little, but he shrugs and takes a long drink. “Who knows anyone anymore?”

This is the kind of interaction that drives me crazy. The wannabes think if they pretended to know you, you’d just assume that you’d already met. They would land jobs over drunk agreements and ride coattails into the industry.

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