RUINED SPOTLIGHT AND EXCERPT

Blurb

One of the Barnes brothers, Sebastien has always felt blessed. Not only
does he have an amazing family, but he’s become a Hollywood golden boy who
has everything he’s ever wanted—with one exception. He’s had a thing for
Marin since he was a kid, but when he finally summons the courage to ask
her out, she turns him down. Marin is ready to settle down, she wants
commitment and stability, and Sebastien is still too much of a playboy,
caught up in the wild life of the spotlight.

Still reeling from the rejection, Sebastien’s luck runs out later that
night when he saves a girl from an assault. The shining knight role fits
him just fine, but his armor—and his perfect life—become tarnished when the
near-deadly attack lands him in the hospital. Physically scarred, he gives
up acting and retreats from everybody.

If anyone can pull Sebastien back from the abyss, it’s Marin. But first she
has to convince him that beauty is not only skin deep…

Excerpt

“movie star Maybe you should go.”
“I came here to talk to you.” Marin slid off the counter, one hand going to
smooth her skirt down, while the other absently went up to smooth her hair.
That was a Hollywood queen for you, he thought. She always knew how to look
her best, without even trying. “Yeah, because we’ve done so much
talking—you coming into my bedroom while I was taking a shower.”
She went red. “You didn’t close the door, you overgrown moron. I was
talking to her when I came in and I didn’t realize until…”
“Until what?” He came closer and lowered his face until he could breathe
her in once more. “Until you saw me there, jacking off while I had the
scent of you in my head and the thought of how you might taste burning a
hole in me?”
Marin’s eyes went opaque and it took everything he had not to reach for her
and finish what they’d started.
“You,” she said, voice shaking. “Are a jackass. It was an accident.”
“Yeah? How long did you stand there?”
She opened her mouth, then closed it. While she stood gaping there,
Sebastien struggled with the hunger inside him and wondered how he’d ever
manage to be around her again without it destroying them both. Finally, she
sputtered out, “It was hardly more than a few seconds. For goodness sake,
Sebastien. You act like we’ve never seen each other naked. It’s not like I
don’t know you have a dick.”
Hearing those words on her lips exploded something inside his head and he
almost reached for her—again.
But he backed away instead.
“You need to go,” he said carefully. “Because if you don’t, I’m going to
put my hands on you again and I won’t stop until you’re under me and
moaning my name. By the time I’m done, you won’t even remember anybody
else’s.”
Chin lifted mutinously, Marin glared at him. “Nice to know you’re still
stuck in that teenage hormone rush, Sebastien. If you ever grow out of it,
you’ll make some woman very happy one day.”
He growled and took a step forward.
Marin ignored him as she cut around the island and reached into the purse
she’d left there earlier.
“I wanted to bring this out to you—okay, no, I didn’t. JD wanted me to
bring it. I told him it was a waste of time and that you’d given up.” She
dumped something on the island and it didn’t take more than a second for
him to recognize a script.
“Take it back,” he said sourly. “I’m done.”
Marin smiled at him sweetly. “That’s what I told him. You never see
anything through when it gets too hard.”
“Marin…”
“It’s okay, honey. As you get older—”
He lunged after her and she backed away, eyes widening slightly.
Finally, she was getting it.
He snatched up the manuscript as she turned and walked away. “You forgot
something.”
She flipped him off over her shoulder.
“I’d rather fuck you,” he shouted at her back.
He waited for a response, but apparently she was done with his temper.
He looked down at the script and in a fit of temper—mostly self-directed—he
hurled it across the room. His home was done in an open air design and
nothing separated the kitchen from the eating area or the living room. The
heavy, bound stack of pages ended up by the aquarium and he continued to
glare at it for untold minutes.
It wasn’t until the alarm chimed, letting him know somebody had left the
premises that he managed to snap himself out of it.
Swearing, he dragged his hands down his face and then he made himself go
over and pick up the script.
When he saw the title, he almost dropped it.

T O R N

He didn’t drop the script though. He’d throw it away. Maybe burn it in his
fire pit.
He might have been able to do it, too.
But he saw the handwritten note next the title of script, typed in out such
stark font. By contrast, Marin’s handwriting stood out even more. He knew
her writing as well as his own and he knew for a fact she’d written this
note well before their little…okay, big argument.

Sebastien
Read the script. I know you wanted the part before, but it wasn’t right for
you. Maybe you don’t want it now, but I can tell, this part needs you and I
think you need it. This is your life and it’s time you come back to it.
You’re missed, Seb. By a lot of us and I’m not talking your fans. We all
miss you. Your friends miss you. Your family misses you. I miss you.

I’m playing Marlena and I can’t think of anybody I’d rather have acting as
the male lead other than you.

You’re ready for this, Seb.

Read the script.

TTYS,
Marin

He gripped the script tighter, absently smoothing down pages he’d crumpled
with his carelessness.
He’d just mail it back to JD. Marin wouldn’t be back out here any time
soon—if ever.