April, Dani - Superstar (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (6 page)

“Those pictures aren’t in Hollywood. They’re in Aspen, and that’s less than a hundred miles from here.”

“These are just some celebrities going to a dinner or something.” Brad shook his head.

“Touch that link there,” Scott told Ethan. “Look who was supposed to be at that dinner tonight.”

Ethan did as Scott told him. A picture of Chrissie Murphy, the pop singer and movie star, came up on the screen. In the photo, the two little poodles, Peaches and Cream, were being held by her and she was giving a friendly wave to the cameras. She was on the arm of some hunk rock star. Ethan’s mouth fell open and his heart came up in his throat.

“Oh my God…”

“We have Chrissie Murphy in the bedroom, guys,” Scott whispered to them.

“It is her.” Brad’s voice had gone quiet as well. A moment of disbelieving silence hung over them where none of them spoke.

“This explains a lot.” Ethan gave Scott a pat on the back, proud of his kid brother. “It explains everything except…what the hell is she doing here in our cabin?”

“Now you see why I hit you when you made that lame remark about the song on the radio,” Scott told him. “That was
her
song, man.”

“You’re okay, baby brother.” Ethan laughed and went behind the bar to find him something stronger than beer to drink. “Just keep hitting me when I put my foot in my mouth, will you?”

“She said she’s running away from something.” Brad went around the bar counter to have Ethan pour him a stiff one, too. “But what could Chrissie Murphy be running away from? She’s like the hottest young celebrity in the world right now.”

Ethan poured them all three a shot of rum from a half-empty bottle behind the counter. “Funny thing is I never liked her music.” Ethan laughed to himself as he downed his shot.

“There’s something we need to do here,” Brad said, raking his fingers through his thick hair. “But I don’t know what it is we should be doing.”

“Guys, this doesn’t change anything,” Scott told them. “We said we’d help her, and we’ve got to do exactly that.”

“Could be, but it isn’t everyday something like this happens.” Ethan thought about pouring himself another, but then decided against it, knowing he would need a clear head for what ever happened next.
So much for just a carefree week on vacation in the mountains with three wild brothers
.

“She’s a human being, guys,” Scott said. “And be honest with yourselves, she’s really nice. I mean she seems just like one of us already, and we haven’t even known her for two hours yet. I don’t know what problem she has in her life that caused her to run away, but I for one am going to do everything I can to help her.”

“At least we know she isn’t going to ask for any money,” Ethan tried joking. No one laughed this time.

“All she asked for so far is just to stay here with us and then go on her way later on,” Brad reasoned. “That really doesn’t seem like all that much to be asking. Scott’s right. She is a nice person. I still like having her around, even though now that I know who she is, I probably won’t be making anymore moves on her.”

“A little out of your league there?” Ethan teased him.

“Out of your league, too, ladies’ man.”

“She’s better than Gena anyway,” Scott kidded him.

“I’ll admit to that.” Brad forced himself to smile.

Ethan had made up his mind. He walked back to the front room and sat down on the couch in front of their giant-screen TV, turning it on with the remote. “This doesn’t change a thing,” he told his brothers. “So she’s a rich and famous celebrity. Who cares? I don’t personally. I’m going on with my week of vacation as if nothing had happened. If she wants to hang out here with us, I’m cool with that. Hell, I’ve already given up my bedroom to her.”

Scott pumped his fist in the air. “This is going to be so awesome, guys. I love her. I have always loved her. Remember when she used to be on the Chrissie Murphy show on TV? I thought she was the greatest thing in the world back then. I think that even more now that I’ve met her in person.”

“Well, maybe at least we’ll be able to get her autograph before she leaves,” Brad joked.

“Take it easy, guys,” Ethan called into them. “Baby brother said it best. She’s just a person like we are.”

“Fess up, Ethan,” Scott chided him. “You like her as much as we do.”

“Sure. What’s not to like? She’s one hot chick but not exactly in our league, bro.”

“Hey, guys! What’s going on?” Chrissie exited from the bedroom and came back out to join them. Her brilliant smile returned after her earlier bout with sadness. She was still clutching her fur around her.

When Chrissie came out to join them, Ethan was proud of them for pretending like nothing was out of the ordinary. They played dumb with their knowledge of who she was. But Ethan knew they had just opened up an impossible situation for themselves that couldn’t really have a good ending for any of them.

Chapter Four

Chrissie awakened to a new day feeling strangely refreshed and alive like she hadn’t felt in years. Bright white light was shining inside the bedroom through the large, single window toward the foot of the bed. The bed was really small, but the sheets and mattress had been soft and comfortable, allowing for a good night’s rest.

Chrissie stretched out on the bed, raising her arms above her head. At her feet, already awake for the new day, were Peaches and Cream, curled up and looking warm and cute against the quilt of the bed. Her mind was as clear as the white of the snow outside the window, but surprisingly she couldn’t remember at first much of what happened the day before.

For a brief second she didn’t even know where she was waking up this morning. Then it came back to her, and she shuddered. Yesterday had been the worst day of her life.

She pulled her legs out from under the covers and hopped off the side of the bed. She had worn her fur coat to sleep in because last night it had still been chilly inside the cabin. This morning the fire out in the hearth had done its job, and everything was toasty warm and the coat was no longer comfortable.

When she took off the coat, she realized she was still wearing the little black party dress from the night before, her silk panties, and nothing else. Perhaps the guys had a place to go shopping around here. They seemed like such nice men. She felt they would take care of everything.

“How are my babies this morning?” she cooed down at Peaches and Cream, who gave her fingers a good morning lick in return. “Come on…Mommy’s going to get you two some breakfast…”

She took a quick look at the window. There was nothing but white to see outside, and the window was mostly frosted over. The wind was still howling as if the storm was still hanging around outside, and against the white clouds overhead, she could see more flakes falling to the ground.

In bare feet, she walked across the wood floor, opened the door to her bedroom, and stepped out to the front room of the tiny cabin. At first she thought she was alone and couldn’t see any of her guys around. For a moment she wrinkled her nose with worry. Then when she stepped out farther, she caught sight of Scott out in the big country kitchen and smelled something really good coming from the same direction.

“Good morning,” Scott said. He was the shy one, but Chrissie thought he was real cute.

“Hi, Scott. Good morning,” She gave him a pretty smile and walked out to be with him. “I hope that’s breakfast I smell because I’m starving.”

“Yeah…” Scott hesitated. Chrissie smiled inwardly, realizing that whenever she was around, this handsome young man lost the ability to speak. “I didn’t know what you liked. We have a pretty well-stocked kitchen. So I made you a little bit of everything. Just eat whatever you like.”

Chrissie sat down at the table and saw there was a feast already set out, and he was still working hard over the stove preparing more for her. Everything looked delicious. There were two dozen slabs of bacon and a tray of sausage, a large dish of scrambled eggs, another of over-easy eggs, and a third containing eggs hard-boiled. Biscuits and gravy dominated another dish. A stack of both pancakes and waffles was on another. Maple syrup, several flavors of jelly, and dishes of butter were spread out before her.

When she sat down, he poured her a huge glass of orange juice. She could smell coffee brewing over on the counter. “I hope you like orange juice?” Scott asked, unsure. “We also have grapefruit and tomato juice if you’d like those better.”

Chrissie reached out to him, touching his arm briefly to reassure him. “This looks great. Thank you so much, Scott.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Where are Ethan and Brad this morning?” she asked, taking a sip of her juice.

“They’re out plowing the road from our property to the highway,” he told her, setting another dish of biscuits on the table. “It’s going to snow all day. I told them not to start yet. They’re just wasting their time. They’ll be back out there tomorrow and just have to start all over again, but they never listen to me.”

Chrissie waited for him, wondering when he was going to serve her. He hesitated and didn’t seem to know what she wanted. ”You can sit with me if you’d like.” She motioned to the chair across from her, deciding she was going to be real nice to him because she liked him so much.

“Thanks.” He still hesitated and then almost fell into the indicated chair. Chrissie had to stifle a laugh as she took another sip of her juice.

“This looks really good.” Chrissie smiled across at him. “I think I’ll eat everything.” She giggled. “But you can help me if you want. I’ll start with a couple pancakes, a couple waffles, and a few of those little sausage thingies over there.”

She waited. He quickly picked up the dishes and started serving her. “Plenty of syrup please,” she told him after he had loaded up her plate. She had to laugh at the way he served up the food, not very professional at all, and his posture when he sat in his chair could definitely use some working on. But she found herself liking him all the more because of his imperfections.

“Um, this is really good.” She smiled across at him and realized that he was just watching her eat and not even bothering to help himself to any of the food. She didn’t mind him staring. Actually, she kind of liked it. But as she ate, she realized something was wrong, and then she realized what it was.

“You know who I am, don’t you?” she asked him.

“Yes…”

“Do your brothers know?”

“I told them last night.”

“Sorry.” She scrunched up her nose. “I didn’t mean to mislead you. I hope this doesn’t change anything?”

“No, of course not, Chrissie.” He swallowed hard. “I mean, Miss Murphy…”

“You can call me Chrissie,” she was quick to tell him. “And, Scott, thanks again for everything.” She reached across the table and covered his hand with her own, giving him a dynamite smile. She gave him a little squeeze to let him know she was just a real human being the same as he was. His blush made his face turn an uncomfortable red.

“This is like a dream come true for me,” he told her. “I used to watch your show on TV all the time. I never missed an episode. I thought you were the best.”

This was a real fan. Chrissie didn’t think she had actually ever talked to a real fan before. He could be interesting beyond the handsome face and the very cute butt she had observed while he had been serving her.

“Thank you for saying so, Scott,” she told him. “But come on… Honestly, don’t you think most of those shows were lame?”

“No, I don’t.” He sounded defensive.

“Really?” She scrunched her nose up at him again. “I mean, we had a few good ones when we’d shoot outdoors, but we only shot two or three outdoors. The set they had for us in the studio was really dumb. No one liked it, but the producers never had the money to shoot outside very much.”