Ship-Wrecked (Love Is... Book 6)

around me and set me to rights, leaving me fully vertical and a little bit dazed.
Wall of Muscle untangles the leashes and scoops Gigi up, then gives the golden a few pats on the head. When I get a glimpse of his face, I hear angels singing.
He’s tall, broad, could probably carry me, the golden and Gigi up Runyon Canyon without breaking a sweat. He has sparkling blue eyes made brighter by the sun shining on them, artfully tousled blondish-brown hair and a movie-star smile with a slightly crooked front tooth.
As a matter of fact, he may actually be a movie star. He looks kinda familiar, but I don’t want to do that thing that people do to me and stare at him a little too long trying to place his face.
“I think this fell out of your bag,” he says, looking down at Gigi. I wrap my leash around my wrist to be safe, but he doesn’t let her go. He does, however, hand over my bag. And my coffee.
I think I’m in love.
He’s wearing a nice-fitting v-neck t-shirt that shows off his muscles. Maybe I stare at his forearms for a little longer than is appropriate.
“You saved my coffee. And my bag. And my dog.”
He smiles, and it’s breathtaking. “Yeah, well, it didn’t seem like a good idea to leave the first two unattended, and the third looked like he was about to knock you on your ass.”
“She,” I correct. “Gigi.”
His cute brows crinkle. “You named your dog Gigi?”
“I adopted her right before I left to work in Paris for a little while, and my brother was making fun of me for getting a dog that I could carry in a bag but thought purse puppies were common in Paris and suggested I name her something French. He jokingly started calling her Gigi, and it stuck.”
He’s smiling at me like he’s completely captivated. Yeah, he’s totally an actor.
“Sorry for rambling, it’s not really an interesting story.”
“Oh,” he says, leaning in closer. “I’m interested.”
My heart knocks against my breastbone a few times, and then Gigi breaks the spell by licking a dollop of whipped cream off of his arm that must have splashed there during his daring rescue. He scratches that spot behind Gigi’s ear that makes her right hind leg go haywire, and I think she’s fallen in love.
My phone buzzes, the five-minute countdown to my meeting with my publicist.
“I’m sorry,” I say, genuinely meaning it. “I have a meeting in a few that I need to get to.”
“One you can take your dog to? That’s my kind of meeting.”
“I hope it’s a good one,” I say, looking down at the golden retriever who’s nudging my hand and wanting more pets. I happily oblige, then look over into the nearest cafe to see if I spot anyone inside. “Maybe I should stay and make sure this little guy’s owner comes out.”
“I can do it,” the guy says, but his eyes stay glued to me. He rakes them down my body on his way to glance at the dog, and the weight of his gaze makes my hair stand on end. “I think this belongs to you.” He moves to put Gigi back in my arms, but she doesn’t want to budge, not that I blame her.
“Maybe not anymore,” I laugh.
He manages to hand her over to me, and I take a step away, just to remind myself that I absolutely cannot stay here any longer.
“Thank you for the rescue,” I say with a smile.
“Anytime. It was definitely my pleasure.” He grins back and licks his lips. I have an intense and overwhelming desire to kiss them, which is a new thing for me. I’ve never really understood what kissable lips were until I saw his.
“You’re gonna stay and make sure his owner comes out?”
He places his hand on the center of his chest and says, “Promise.”
“Okay, um...thank you. Again. Bye.”
He laughs. “Bye.”
I float over to my publicist’s building, only a little disappointed that he didn’t ask for my number. It’s probably for the best. The last time I got drawn into something with a pair of gorgeous eyes and a hot body, he made a fool of me and I’m still living it down. It’s better to stay away from eyes and bodies like that and find a nice, boy-next-door accountant to settle down with when the time is right. Someone who maybe doesn’t set my world on fire, but someone who’s safe.
Yeah, that would ne nice.
Stupidly, I take one last look as I open the door to head to my appointment. He’s petting the dog, but he looks up and our eyes meet.
I smile once more and step inside.
“I have an idea that I want to float by you,” my publicist Claudia says from her perch on the couch across from me. Next to her is Keith, another manager with the firm who I’ve met at a few parties. The addition of a third party into this proposal makes me entirely too curious about what this idea is, and it also makes me dread the answer.
I glide my hand down Gigi’s back for a little emotional support.
“Okay,” say, dragging the word out.
“Cam was an asshole for cheating on you, and he deserves an eternity in Hell being miserable for what he did, but sweetie, I think we’ve done about all we can with the jilted girlfriend angle.”
“I am the jilted girlfriend,” I argue. It’s a fact, not an angle.
She looks over at Keith like she expected that one. They have some kind of non-verbal communication that makes me uneasy, then she rests her elbows on her knees and leans forward like some kind of high school guidance counselor. “I know you are,” she says, like she’s soothing a hysterical child. “But I think it’s time for us to knock him out of the spotlight and get our own win.”
“How?”
“You have three movies coming out in the next four months. You’re the lead in one of