Hollywood Flirt - Alexa Aston Page 0,47
like that. Sure, I get out for publicity’s sake. I won’t lie to you. I haven’t wanted to be tied down in the past. I’ve been out with more women than I could keep track of. Models. Actresses. Wannabes. I make sure I’m seen in all the right places and that each woman was better looking than the last. Trying to live up to the stud image.”
Dash stopped and cupped her cheeks in his hands. “That’s never been me. I’m pretty much a homebody. I like to watch sports on TV. Work out. Cook.”
“You cook?”
“I do. I’ll cook for you. Soon. But Sydney? I’m done with all that. I don’t need my name in magazines or my pictures splashed across the internet. I mastered the art of the one-night stand and it left me empty inside.” He gave her a long, searching look. “I meant what I said before. I want to see you. Only you. I want to be with you. I probably shouldn’t say this because I don’t want to scare you away but I’m already crazy about you. I can’t stop thinking about you. That’s never been me. I don’t recognize myself.”
He pressed his lips to hers gently. “But I like it. I like me with you.”
Sydney took a deep breath. “Same here. Except I’m the opposite of you before. An introvert. I didn’t date. I’ve only slept with two men my entire life. Three now, counting you.”
Dash pulled her down to the sand. They sat, their legs splayed in front of them.
“Tell me about it. About you. Before now.”
“I had it great for eight years. Mom and Dad were the most loving parents a kid could want. Then Mom got breast cancer and went downhill fast until poof—she was gone. Dad didn’t know how to handle it. Neither did my brother. He OD’d a year later. By then, Dad had already moved on. He barely acknowledged me. Diamond told me it was because I looked so much like Mom that his heart broke every time he saw me.”
He put an arm around her. Sydney leaned into him for support.
“Diamond is his housekeeper. She’s Jayla’s mom.”
“I met the crotchety Diamond this morning.”
Sydney chuckled. “She’s not a fan of actors. Or anything to do with the movie business. She pretty much raised me, though she’s always come only three days a week. The rest of the time I was left on my own. I did everything to gain Dad’s attention. Made the best grades. Won whatever competition I entered. Nothing worked. I resorted to getting attention anyway I knew how.”
“By acting out.”
“Yeah. My grades plummeted. I talked back in class. Got in a fight at school—with a guy—and was expelled. I dyed my hair purple. Started wearing next to nothing. Ran with the wrong people, an older crowd who was up to no good.”
“The Wild Child,” Dash said.
Sydney frowned at the moniker she’d been saddled with. “That was so not me. True, I did hang with a crazy, older group. Sneaked into the clubs. Did my fair share of dancing on tabletops though I never drank. Never took drugs. I was the one holding their hair out of the way when they vomited in the bathroom stalls. The paparazzi would capture shots of me with them but I never really did what they did.”
“Did your dad notice you then?”
She sniffed. “Nope. He was jetting around Europe and Asia with a different woman each week when he wasn’t filming. Every now and then he brought a new wife or live-in girlfriend home, who wasn’t pleased to find a needy kid and later a rebellious teenager hanging around. I got shipped off to boarding school twice—and returned just as fast. I got into some trouble with the law. Shoplifting. That kind of thing. Craig got me out of it.”
“Craig Thompson?”
“Yeah. Craig had played a cop so many times, cops adored him. Claimed him as one of their own. When I had no one else to call, I turned to Craig. He made sure the charges got dropped. I think he paid to make things go away.”
“You married him.”
“I know, crazy, right? He’d been around all my life. Did a few pictures with Dad. Another one as Mom’s co-star. He didn’t have any family and was a bit of a loner so he usually came to holiday dinners like Thanksgiving and Christmas. My parents always brought home stragglers. The last time I got into trouble, Craig told me he knew what