Hollywood Flirt - Alexa Aston Page 0,68

to keep Dash at arm’s length until she could get a handle on the Wake situation.

No more arrangements of white roses had appeared either at the Revere home or at Dash’s house. Brenda kept her informed on that end. Her friend knew if a bouquet showed up, she was to dispose of it ASAP, but no flower arrangements had arrived in the months since the roses had been placed on Dash’s doorstep. Sydney wasn’t sure what it meant. Did Wake know she wasn’t seeing Dash any longer? Was some PI still trailing her and reporting back to her ex?

She would know next week. Her birthday was coming up. If Wake stayed consistent, white roses would arrive on that day. Brenda had already been alerted and knew to get to work extra early, just in case.

Sydney pushed aside all thoughts of Wake and concentrated on her father instead. Losing him would kill her. They’d been apart for so many years. It had been her choice but now that she was back in LA, she regretted cutting ties with him. So what if he hadn’t been the best parent after her mom died? He was grieving, as she had been, and he’d taken up with other women to ease the loss of his pain. That was in the past, though. Working with him these last few months had been a dream. It was a crash course in moviemaking. Sydney loved soaking up everything he taught her. She’d been born with the movie business in her blood. Her time on this film only whetted her appetite for more.

Besides his health, she wondered what would happen to the No Regrets production. They only had a quarter of the movie on film. The studio could easily replace her dad but she hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Once she knew his prognosis, she would approach Ron Sampson and see if production could be shut down until Monty was back on his feet.

If he recovered . . .

Sydney recalled the pain on his face. His collapse. She assumed he’d suffered a heart attack and prayed it wasn’t severe. Would her dad live? Would he even be able to go back to work? She shuddered.

Dash squeezed her hand. She gazed at him. Those electric blue eyes met hers. He gave her a reassuring smile. Not one of the lazy, sexy ones that she was used to after they made love, but one that told her not to worry. He was there—and not going anywhere.

“Thank you,” she said.

“For what?” he asked.

“For . . . being here. I pushed you away pretty hard. You’ve been nothing but respectful of me during this entire shoot. You’ve given me the space I asked for.”

“It’s what you wanted. It doesn’t mean I haven’t missed you every single day,” he said huskily. “When this is over, I’ll be waiting for you.”

Sydney hoped that was true. With the delay now, she didn’t know when that might be.

“Sydney?”

She looked up. Great. Ron Sampson was headed her way. She’d known the head of the studio since she was a little girl. He’d done PR back then and had been responsible for several photo sessions she’d done with her mom and brother. Ron worked his way up from PR into producing and then went back into the management end of things. He bounced through various executive titles like a pinball lighting up the board until two years ago when he landed as the head of the studio. After a board coup, the studio had been rechristened Sampson Studios.

Sydney stood to greet him and noticed Dash had released her hand as he also came to his feet.

Ron embraced her. “I came as soon as I heard. Your father is like family to me after all the movies he’s done with us. Have you heard anything?”

“Not yet.”

“Revere?”

Sydney stepped forward when she heard a voice calling her name. “Here.”

A nurse gave her a sign to wait. Within a minute, a platinum-haired doctor with dark eyes approached them. She thrust out her hand and gave Sydney a firm handshake.

“Felicity Barbosa. I’m Mr. Revere’s cardiac surgeon. You must be Sydney.”

“Yes. If you know my name, Dad must be conscious and talking.”

“He is. Your father suffered a heart attack, Sydney. We’re prepping him now for surgery. He’s got a blockage in one artery. Mr. Revere is in excellent health otherwise. I look for him to make a swift recovery—but not as fast as he’d like. He seemed very concerned about the film he’s