“Your support is overwhelming,” Jordan replied drily.
Rick laughed. “I just wish Cole were here to appreciate this.”
“For the record, I haven’t been trying to score with Sera. She’s practically family. But she actively dislikes me, and I can’t figure out why.”
“Why does it matter? It won’t be the first time a family member has had it in for you.” Jordan had come in for his share of ribbing and roughing up by his two older siblings. “What’s to get worked up about?”
“I’m not worked up,” Jordan grumbled. “Anyway, let’s get back to you and the woman problems.”
Rick cracked a careless smile. “Unlike you, I don’t have any.”
“Women or problems?”
“Both together.”
Jordan eyed him. “The press is suggesting you have the former, and you look as if you’ve got the latter.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Who’s the starlet on your latest film?”
“Chiara Feran.”
His brother nodded. “She’s hot.”
“She’s off-limits.”
Jordan raised his eyebrows. “To me?”
“To anyone.”
“Proprietary already?”
“Where did you get this ridiculous story?”
“Hey, I read.”
“Much to Mom’s belated joy.”
Jordan flashed the famous pearly whites. His good looks had gotten him many modeling gigs, including more than one underwear ad. “Gossipmonger reported you two have been getting cozy, and the story has been picked up by other websites.”
“You know better than to believe everything you read.” If the gossip had reached Jordan, then it was spreading wider and faster than Rick had thought. Still, he figured he shouldn’t have been surprised, considering Chiara’s celebrity.
“Yup. But is it true?”
Frankly, Rick was starting not to know what was true anymore, and it was troubling. “Nothing’s happened.”
Except one kiss. She’d tasted of peaches—fruity and heady and delicious. He’d gotten an immediate image of the two of them heating up the sheets, his trailer or hers. She challenged him, and something told him she’d be far from boring in bed, too. Chiara was full of fire, and he warmed up immediately around her. The trouble was he might also get burned.
Jordan studied him. “So nothing’s happened yet...”
Rick adopted a bland expression. “Unlike you, I don’t see women as an opportunity.”
“Only your female stars.”
“I’m done with that.” Isabel had been the star of Rick’s movie when they’d been snapped together. The fact that they’d both been working on the film—he as a stuntman and secretly as a producer, and she as an actress—had lent an air of truth to the rumors.
Jordan looked thoughtful. “Right.”