Claimed by the Alpha Celebrity (Rockstar Romance, Alpha Male Erotic Romance, Billionaire Romance) (The Star Struck Trilogy) (11 page)

“You’re probably right Amber, but I can’t stand the thought of him holding Bianca Hathaway in his arms,” I whined.

“Oh, don’t worry about Bianca. She’s kind of crazy. She’s heavy into drugs, and almost all of her relationships end because of it. And from what I heard, she’s really weird, insecure and clingy. She may be gorgeous, but almost nobody wants to date her once they get to know her... at least not anyone in their right minds. If her and Christoff end up together, then they deserve each other. You only deserve the best Gia.”

As catty as it was, I was delighted to discover Bianca wasn’t quite as perfect as I imagined. “Thanks Amber. I can always count on you for the inside scoop.”

“Have you started back dating again?”

“No, I haven’t really
been motivated to try to meet someone new.”

“Well, maybe you should look into that,” Amber pushed gently.

“Maybe. We’ll see.”

“You know what? I have a great idea!” Amber piqued my curiosity.

“What?”

“You should come out to L.A. to visit me. We would have s
o much fun! Who needs rock star boyfriends when you have girlfriends... girlfriends who live in Los Angeles!”

“Yeah! I like the way you think Amber. You’re a bigger star than him anyway. And a much better friend.” I was thrilled with the idea of going to L
.A.

Amber giggled. “So that’s a ‘yes’ you’re coming?”

“I think so. I just have to figure out if and when I can take time off of work. I’ll keep you posted.”

“Awesome. Sounds like a plan. I really hope you come.”

“Yeah, me too. Thanks for talking to me Amber. I really appreciate it.”

“Anytime, Gia.”

“Well I better go. I’m at the lake and I need to start heading toward home.”

“Okay. You should go out this weekend so you can meet someone. I think it would do you good to start dating again.”

“Bye Amber.” I smiled as I cut her off.

“Bye Gia. Keep your head up.”

“Thanks.”

* * *

It was finally the weekend. I went out for happy hour Friday, and Saturday night I decided to stay in. I needed to save money in case I decided to take Amber’s suggestion to come visit her in L.A. It was due time for a quiet night in anyway. I needed to relax and recharge. I was lying on the couch, enjoying a pint of delicious Häagen-Dazs ice cream, while watching Sex and the City. I was really enjoying my alone time. I had my phone on silent, and I had completely checked out from the world, as I laughed and empathized with Carrie Bradshaw’s adventures in dating. I had just scooped a heaping mound of ice cream into my mouth when I saw my phone light up. I glanced down. It was Christoff. I almost choked on my ice cream. I figured it was probably a pocket dial, and I decided not to answer. Just minutes later, Christoff’s name flashed across my screen again. My heart raced. Although I would like to say that I had completely forgotten about him and no longer had feelings for him, part of me was thrilled to see his name come up on my phone again. But part of me was angry. It wasn’t fair for him to just barge back into my life, almost three weeks after running off.

I took a deep breath and went back
to watching TV, but I could not force myself to pay attention to what was happening on the screen. I couldn’t follow the plot at all, even though I had seen the episode several times. Christoff always had a way of managing to jumble my thoughts, even when he wasn’t here. I started to wonder why he was calling, and if I should have picked up. I was still pretty upset about seeing him with Bianca, but it would have been nice to hear his melodic baritone voice again.

I glanced down and saw a text come through
on my smart phone. I paused my DVD and opened the text message. It was from Christoff, and it simply said:

*I miss you more than you know.*

His words triggered a barrage of overwhelming feelings. I felt touched, angry and confused, all at once. I didn’t stop to think before I responded. I punched the keys on my screen hard as I texted back.

*Ooops! I think I got the wrong text. Didn’t you mean to send that to BIANCA HATHAWAY!?*

I secretly wanted him to text me back, so I shut off my phone and put it on the table so I wouldn’t keep checking it. My face was hot with mixed emotions. I closed my eyes and rested my head on my couch pillows to regain my composure.

I sat up and tried to decide if I wanted to watch another episode of Sex and the City, but my thoug
hts were interrupted by a call coming through on Skype. I got up and walked over to my computer. It was Christoff. I instinctively accepted his video call, but when his gorgeous face appeared on my computer screen I wasn’t sure if I was quite ready to talk to him. I was standing away from my camera so he couldn’t see me, but I could see him.

“Gia?”

“Christoff?”

“Sit down so I can see you.” I hesitated for a few seconds before grabbing a hair tie off my desk, pulling my hair up and complying with his request
. I adjusted the camera so he could see me.

“Happy now?”

“No, I’m not happy now. I miss you.”

“Oh,” I eventually responded, after a few moments of silence.

“What was that text you sent me about?”

“I don’t think my text needs an explanation. I saw you and
Bianca at the Awards show together.”

“Gia, I’m not with Bianca. I texted
you
. I could be talking to any girl in the world right now, but I called
you
because I want to talk to
you
.”

“What is it that you want to say to me then?”

“I don’t know. I just wanted to say I miss you and I can’t stop thinking about you.”

I paused a long time before speaking. “Christoff, did you sleep with Bianca?”

“I barely even know her. We only went out three times, including the Awards show.”

“So you
didn’t
sleep with her?”

“I did
n’t call you to talk about Bianca.”

“So you
did
sleep with her?”

“Gia, stop it!” Christoff gritted his teeth. I could tell that he was becoming annoyed.

“Stop what, Christoff? Stop asking for the truth?”

“The truth about what, Gia?”

“The truth about the kind of person you are. You are a damaged, broken man Christoff. You can’t even stay with the same woman for more than a week. What is wrong with you? You need to look in the mirror and face your demons, Mr. Christoff Diemacht Hartmann. You can’t just go around hurting people, or one day someone is going to hurt you back and you’ll end up empty and alone. You’ll never fill that void, Christoff.” My words came out hard and heavy. I spoke passionately but I never once raised my voice. I was actually surprised by how well I was able to control my emotions.

Christoff’s features hardened into a scowl. His piercing dark blue eyes penetrated my computer screen. He drew a breath and bit his lip as he leaned back away from the camera and sat in silence for several mome
nts. “You know what. I think we need to end this conversation, before I say something that both you and I regret. I’m sorry I called.”

“Yeah, me too. Goodbye Christoff.”

“Bye.”

Chapter 8

I
t had been almost three weeks since I had spoken to Christoff. I wasn’t angry with him anymore, I just missed him. Life wasn’t half as fulfilling without him. I had taken Amber’s advice and tried to start dating again, but it only made me feel more lonely. I joined an online dating site and I went out with three different guys. I never made it to a second date with any of them. One was a successful science fiction fantasy writer. He had multiple bestselling titles and he seemed kind, but I was thoroughly creeped-out when he said he enjoyed hanging out with the characters he created in his head more than he liked spending time with real people. And to add insult to injury, he wore sweat pants on our date. I excused myself after only an hour with him. He asked me out again, but I politely declined.

After the date with the w
riter, I got asked out by a powerful litigation attorney. He was a partner at one of the biggest firms in Chicago and he was extremely handsome. I was excited to go out with him. But he turned out to be a total control freak. He became irrationally irritated with me every time I had an opinion that differed from his. The way he turned everything into a debate was exhausting, and he was really condescending. He took me out to a really fancy dinner, but I knew I never wanted to go out with him again. He apparently felt the same way, because I never heard from him after our date. He didn’t even check to see if I made it home safely.

I was ready to give up and become a total recluse after the date with the attorney. But somehow I caught the attention of Jonathan
Cromwell, a renowned professional cellist. Everything about him made me want to give dating another chance. He was cute, interesting and funny. He had studied at Julliard and he had traveled all over the world before settling in Chicago. He was a little bit older and a lot more sophisticated than me. In the beginning I thought our date went well. We went to the art museum then out for drinks at a cozy wine bar. We had very stimulating discussions about food, art and music. He seemed a little put off by my love for industrial rock music but I really wanted to see him again. I tried to be a lady but during the entire date I couldn’t keep my hands off of him. I would squeeze his thigh to make a point or caress his bicep if he agreed with my opinion on a piece of art or music. By the end of the date I was longing for him to kiss me. I had been celibate since things ended with Christoff and my body was aching for attention.

I hadn’t eaten anything, so the three glasses of wine I had went straight to my head. The
sultry jazz music playing in the background didn’t help. I felt warm and heady with excitement. While we were waiting for the check, I grazed my legs against his but he didn’t respond. I couldn’t quite read the expression on his face. I looked great and I was feeling really confident, so I leaned in close and tried to silently lure him into a kiss. He immediately pulled back and put some distance between us before taking a long sip of water. He then very curtly explained that while he had a great time with me there wasn’t any chemistry so what I was looking for just wasn’t going to happen. I was completely mortified. I immediately excused myself to go home. He offered to give me a ride to make sure I got home safely but I insisted on taking a cab. In my haste to climb down from my bar stool, I stumbled and fell head first into his arms. I could not possibly have been more embarrassed. I quickly scurried out of the wine bar and never looked back.

After my humiliating date with Jonathan, I decided to keep to my
self for awhile. Work had become a grind. There were no good albums coming out and no hot stories either. For once almost everything seemed to be quiet in the entertainment industry, except for the drama between Bianca and Christoff. The magazines reported that Bianca was absolutely crazy about him and she continued to assert that there was something between them. While Christoff, on the other hand, continued to tell the media that he didn’t have any feelings for her, and there was absolutely nothing between them. It looked really messy and I was actually relieved to have absolutely nothing to do with it. But I couldn’t resist getting my Christoff fix by reading and listening to every story about him. I was no longer devastated about what happened. I was just bored with life and unfulfilled. I wished things had turned out differently between me and Christoff.

It was Thursday, and I hurried to get my work done so that I could go to the lake and decompress. I got everything done by 4:30 PM, but I hung around li
stlessly checking my email for a half hour, pretending to be busy. I left at 5:00 PM, and I was delighted to step out into the low-hanging evening sun. I stopped to pick up a smoothie on my way to the lake front trail. My power smoothie and the gentle late summer breeze relaxed and refreshed me. I did a slow, leisurely lap around the lake, before settling down on my favorite bench. I sat in awe of the brilliance of the Chicago skyline and the vastness of Lake Michigan, as if I were seeing it for the first time. I could never get enough of Chicago summers. I leaned back on my bench and enjoyed the feeling of the lake effect wind tousling my hair. I felt at peace. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a tall and brawny man, walking across the grass toward my bench. I turned over my shoulder and stole a glance. He was too far away for me to make out his features, but he looked attractive. I turned back toward the lake so he wouldn’t catch me staring. There was something about his presence that drew me. I got lost in my own thoughts as I watched the runners circle the lake front trail. A few minutes later I heard my name. It was a familiar, unmistakable voice. My heart skipped a beat.

“Gia.”

“Christoff?” I looked up at him as he towered above me in all of his alpha male magnificence. He had buzzed his hair, military style, and it really brought out his nicely chiseled features. In his dark short-sleeve fitted shirt, and his perfectly snug black pants, his body looked more stunning than ever.

“Hi.”

“What are you doing here?”