JACK
　　His phone vibrated the second he cleared the stairs.
　　“Hold on a sec,” he said, answering Adrian’s Skype call. He entered the kitchen. “You think you can run things for fifteen to twenty minutes without me?”
　　“Go.” Masterson ran past Paul, who was still passed out on the floor.
　　“Someone needs to wake him up,” Jack said as he pressed a secret panel that opened the doorway to his room on the yacht.
　　“Dude, what the hell is going on?” Adrian asked as soon as Jack lifted the phone back up to his face.
　　“Oh, man, you are not going to believe this.”
　　“Please tell me you found her.”
　　“Yeah, I did,” he said, stepping through the door. Once inside, he walked over to the couch facing the window and plopped down onto it. He was grinning like an idiot.
　　His brother burst into a fit of laughter. “Finally!”
　　“It’s Rebecca Finlay.”
　　“Who?”
　　“Apparently, she’s a very famous author.”
　　“Hun!” Adrian yelled. Anna’s voice answered in the background. “You read anything by a Rebecca Finlay?”
　　Anna screamed. “Yes! Why? Was she at the Boathouse?” Her face appeared on the screen as Adrian bellowed with laughter.
　　“She’s Jack’s mystery girl.”
　　“Are you shitting me? Do you even know how huge she is?”
　　“She looked pretty small to me.”
　　“Imbecile! That’s not what I meant and you know it. She’s one of the biggest names out there. She’s even got her own title. They call her The Queen of the Literary World.”
　　Whoa. He hadn’t imagined she was that famous.
　　“You do know she’s like forty years old.”
　　“What?” both brothers sputtered in unison.
　　“Yeah, she has two teenagers.” Anna laughed.
　　“She looks like she could be in her twenties.”
　　“Well, get her secret for me. She must have found the Fountain of Youth or something,”Anna joked.
　　“Forty?” Adrian’s shock was apparent in his voice. It mirrored Jack’s. “You fell for a cougar.”
　　“Yes, this cougar.” Anna showed them a photo she’d pulled off Google on her phone.
　　“Dude, fuck.” He looked at Jack. “That is no forty-year-old.”
　　“Hence my falling head over heels.”
　　“Oh, hell. Don’t do cliché. You’ll fuck everything up,” Anna said. “You got her phone number, right?”
　　“Anna, no. I’m not going to bombard her. She just had a dinner from hell.”
　　Adrian quirked an eyebrow. “She was someone’s date?”
　　“No. It wasn’t a date. This jackass client of mine lured her in under the pretense of abusiness meeting, but she set him straight. Are you sure she’s forty?” Jack still couldn’t believe it.
　　“It’s amazing what you can do if you’re loaded,” Anna remarked.
　　“Now you’re judging. Regardless, she looks amazing. I don’t give a fuck how old she is.”
　　“You go, my boy,” Adrian joked again. “I’d tap that. No lies.”
　　“You’ll tap nothing but me, or I’ll cut off your dick,” his wife said in her Australian accent.
　　“You know I’ll only tap you.” He backtracked, winking at her.
　　“Please tell me you won’t let her get away this time, Jack. Even if she is forty.”
　　“There’s nothing wrong with her fucking age.”
　　“I agree, age means nothing, at least in this case it doesn’t. And she sounds like a real sweetheart from what I’ve read. Just don’t let her slip through your fingers again. Oh, you guys are a match made in heaven.” Anna sounded as dreamy as he felt.
　　“What is that supposed to mean?”
　　“You just have such similar pasts. She lost her husband three years ago in a car crash. It was devastating, and the reason she took so long to finish the last book of one particular series. I’ve been waiting for it all this time. It’s due soon.” She clapped her hands.
　　Adrian and Jack didn’t share her excitement, merely raised their eyebrows.
　　“Wait, back up. She lost her husband in a car crash?”
　　“Yes, sorry. I know my excitement made that sound minor, but it’s something you guys know about; that type of loss.”
　　“Anna,” Adrian scolded.
　　“Sorry. Gah, I’m sorry, Jack. I didn’t think. It’s just…it’s Rebecca Finlay.”
　　“Yeah, so you keep saying.”
　　“I’ve messed everything up now, haven’t I?”
　　“No, I still feel the same way I did a few seconds ago, but it’s nice to know.”
　　“Okay, just trying to get you caught up with what’s happened in her life. Read one of her books. You will not put it down. I promise.”
　　“I don’t have time to read, and I don’t even enjoy it, if I’m honest.”
　　“Then watch one of her movies, or better yet, download the Audible app and listen to her books, instead. It’s worth it, I promise.”
　　“Fine, I’ll watch one of the movies.”
　　“Not the same, Jack. It’s only an adaptation, not the entire story. Listen to one of her audiobooks.”
　　“Okay, I’ll get an audiobook. Do you have a favorite?”
　　“All of them. Ask your mom. Oh, she and April are going to flip.”
　　“Don’t tell them. You know how they get.”
　　“Still?”
　　“Yes,” the brothers replied at the same time.
　　“Sheesh, fine, party poopers. But could you take a picture for me?”
　　“Oh, she took one already.”
　　Anna’s eyes lit up with glee.
　　“To prove to Mom and April that she really was here.”
　　“Send it! I want to see it.”
　　“Don’t send it to everyone.”
　　“Fine, whatever.”
　　“I mean it, Anna. I love you, but I will hate you if you make me regret anything.”
　　“Okay, I promise. Just send it. Love you.”
　　“Where’s Bea?”
　　“Napping. You can coo words to her later.”
　　“Sure. Talk to you soon.”
　　Adrian adjusted the screen so he was dead center again. “Get her fucking number. I’m with Anna on that. I love this feeling.” He tapped his chest, and then his face vanished.
　　Jack rested his head back on the sofa.
　　What the hell? He couldn’t believe she was forty and that she had two teenagers. She looked way too young.
　　He needed to Google this woman himself if he was going to try to impress her.
　　BECKY
　　From the private deck, she placed a call to Mervyn and one to Mona, and relayed everything that had gone down with Paul. She wanted to tell them about Jack, but just at that moment, Lilly showed up. She quickly cut the call.
　　“Sorry, I didn’t mean—”
　　“No.” She patted the seat next to her. “Come, sit with me a while.”
　　Lilly bounced over and plopped down next to Becky.
　　“Thank you for the Walterwarning. Although I had my suspicions, I wasn’t completely sure what Paul’s strategy was. But as soon as you mentioned that particular character from one of my books, it all made sense.”
　　“You’re welcome. He is such an asshole.”
　　“Yeah. What’s the deal with him? Did something happen between you two?”
　　“Heck, no. I just can’t stand him. He’s a sleaze who likes to lure women here under false pretenses—the beautiful and rich kind. He’s a user. Like I said, an asshole.”
　　“So that’s his M.O. Bastard.”
　　“Yeah. Did you know Jack had absolutely no idea who you were?”
　　“Are you serious?”
　　“It’s true. He hardly watches TV, and we won’t even mention books. You should’ve seen his face when I told him you were a big celeb.”
　　“Surely, you’re used to serving celebs?”
　　“Yeah, sure, C- and B-list celebs. We almost never get A-listers.”
　　“Well, I’ll have to spread the word. Ellen would love this.”
　　“DeGeneres?”
　　“Are there any other famous Ellens?”
　　“Oh, my word.” She laughed. “You wouldknow her. You’ve been on her show like five times. And all those A-listers have starred in your movies.”
　　Becky leaned back and smiled at the dark sky overhead. “Ellen actually gave me my firstbreak, you know. She sponsored a review, and what she said turned me into a bestseller. It was one of the reasons Oprah chose one of my novels for her book club. The rest is history.”
　　“You talk about them like they’re your neighbors.”
　　“Well, they’re just like every other person on the planet.”
　　“Yeah, but they’re still crazy famous. How did it feel to sit in that chair and chat toher like she was your best friend?”
　　“Truthfully, I hate interviews with a passion. The nausea is real and all I want to do is throw up, but both my assistant and agent, Mona and Mervyn respectively, always manage to get me through it.”
　　Lilly’s face was a little slack with awe. “Oh, my gosh, I need to pinch myself. This isso unreal.”
　　“No, it’s not. It’s life. You just happen to be a hostess, and I happen to be an author. Nothing special about that, believe me.”
　　“You are Rebecca Finlay, The Queen of the Literary World.I pay attention.”
　　Becky snickered. “I’m far from a queen, sweetheart.”
　　“Not true. You are every reader’s favorite.”
　　“You clearly haven’t read my one- and two-star reviews.”
　　Lilly flicked her hand dismissively. “Trolls. It’s all they are. Some people don’t have lives. Ignore them. If you weren’t great, you wouldn’t have so many adaptations, and you definitely would not be sitting here.”
　　“You sound like Mervyn. He keeps saying the same thing, but I certainly don’t feel that way. I live the life, but to me I’m still that small-town gal from the country.”
　　“You are not.”
　　Becky smiled as the cocktails finally arrived.
　　“It’s about time, Clive.”
　　“Sorry, the bar is busy, Lil.”
　　“It’s Rebecca Finlay,” she whispered in a harsh tone.
　　Becky couldn’t help laughing. “Please, just call me Becky. Rebecca is so formal.”
　　“Oh, my goodness,” Lilly squealed. “You asked me to call you Becky!”
　　“I swear, it’s not a big deal.”
　　“It’s huge, so huge.”
　　Becky grinned at her. Lilly was nice, even though she was treating her as if she were made of gold. But there was something about her Becky liked.
　　She would get over the Rebecca Finlay thing—everyone did—and then she’d see that Becky was just a regular person.
　　What had perked her mood up significantly was the information that Jack hadn’t had any idea who she was.
　　For that to have been even remotely possible, he had to have surely been living under a rock. Or in a cave. Everyone knew who she was.
　　Although, he had mentioned that both his sister and mother were huge fans. The guy was something else. She wished she could have seen his face when Lilly told him she was a celebrity.
　　But it was nice knowing there were people out in the world who didn’t have a clue who she was, who didn’t care one way or the other about her personal life.