First Date (The Hollywood Dating Agency Book 1) Read online

  He’d never been able to take Alice home to his mother. She’d thought of her business attire and direct manner as trashy and unwomanly, and yet he was imagining introducing Juliette to her. What the fuck was wrong with him? He’d not even seen his mother himself for six months. And yet Juliette was the feminine, demure girl she’d always dreamed of having in a daughter in law. If she was so demure, why was he imagining her lips around his cock?

  “Are you ok?” asked Juliette, snapping him back to reality.

  “Yes, sorry. I was just thinking about my mother. It’s about time I went back home for a visit.”

  By god that was lame! And yet she smiled. Of course she did. She was the type of girl who would love to meet any prospective boyfriend’s mother.

  “Tell me about your family,” she said spearing a piece of squash into her mouth and wrapping her lips around it.

  He purposely tore his eyes away and looked into hers instead. She was making it difficult to concentrate and yet she had no idea of the effect she had on him.

  By the time the meal had arrived, he knew all about her. She was originally from LA but had studied in San Diego. She was an only child and both her parents had passed away, and her favourite thing in the world was to read. Rick was not used to talking about himself, but he found himself telling her everything. She listened intently as he described how he’d always wanted to be an architect and how he’d set the business up twenty years ago. She genuinely didn’t know that his little business was now was one of the biggest money earners in California. Money didn’t seem to interest her in the slightest. It made a pleasant change from all the money diggers he’d encountered in the past. Still, if she could afford a thousand dollars to go on a blind date, she couldn’t be short of a pretty penny herself.

  “Would you like dessert?” she asked once they had finished. He never ordered dessert as a rule, he just didn’t have a sweet tooth, but he didn’t want the date to end so he found himself ordering key lime pie while she opted for the cheesecake.

  By the time the meal was finished, he knew two things. One, that he would buy Tony lunch for the rest of eternity and pay for whatever the hell he needed for his acting career and two, he’d found someone who saying goodbye to was not an option.

  “Can I walk you home?” he asked, completely forgetting where he was. Nobody walked in LA. Not unless you counted the tourists that hiked up and down Hollywood Boulevard every day. He couldn’t even offer to drive her home.

  “I drove here,” she gave a grin and he kicked himself for showing his small town roots where walking a girl home after a date was considered normal. “Can I drive you home?”

  He considered his options. Saying yes felt extremely unchivalrous but saying no meant that his date had come to an end and he wasn’t anywhere near ready for that to happen. He wanted her so bad that he could almost taste it. It wasn’t helping him any that her dress was almost the same delicate pink of her skin and that now they were outside he could smell the cinnamon and honey scent of her shampoo. If he wasn’t a gentleman he’d have taken her right then and there in the parking lot.

  She took him to a small blue car and unlocked the doors with her key fob. It was vastly understated for a woman who’d thrown a thousand dollars on a blind date but somehow it suited her. Nothing about her was flashy.

  “You know,” she began as he eased himself into the passenger seat. “I wasn’t expecting to find a date at all. Sacha at the dating agency promised me she would find me someone but after all this time, I was surprised that you were interested. There aren’t many people like us around.”

  He couldn’t understand what she was telling him. She was utterly the most stunningly beautiful woman he’d ever met and that said a lot in a town known for beautiful women. Unlike them, she wasn’t fake. He’d been around Hollywood long enough to know fake breasts when he saw them and the hidden gems under her dress were anything but fake. He told her his address as they pulled out of the parking lot and onto the street.

  “You weren’t exactly what I was expecting either,” he replied honestly, picturing all the scenarios that had run through his mind before he’d met her.

  He could see the shape of her legs below the folds of pink material and it was with extreme difficulty he kept his hands to himself. Before Alice, he’d had no trouble falling into bed with women without even bothering to find out their names first, but something told him that Juliette was a rarity in this town. She didn’t come across like anyone he’d met since moving here in his late teens when forward women seemed exotic. He’d soon realised that pretty much every woman in Hollywood was forward and the whole thing became boring to him, until Alice that was. Not that she was backwards in coming forwards either. Juliette was a different bird entirely and he sensed that he needed to play it cool with her. There was hesitancy and an innocence about her despite her body being ripe for sin. It was because of this he decided to be gentlemanly and courteous and not to ask her up to his penthouse apartment. Not this time. He’d save it for the next date but he’d make sure the next date was as soon as he could possibly make it.

  She got out of the car and walked with him to the apartment block entrance, the complete opposite of what he had been brought up to expect.

  “I had a great date, thank you.”

  She kissed him lightly on the cheek and just that small action made him go hard. God, what was happening? He’d never not been able to control himself before. Who was he? A sixteen year old virgin on a first date?

  “Come up...I mean, would you like to come up for coffee?” He asked her, completely forgetting the plan he had made with himself in the car. Screw gentlemanly and considerate, he needed to find out what lay underneath those clothes.

  “Isn’t that a euphemism for sex?” she asked coyly, her cheeks colouring as she said it.

  Her blush only increased his need for her, to taste those lips and the rest of her. The scent of cinnamon and honey was driving him wild.

  “It can be.” It was the only answer he could think of that didn’t sound too needy. God, he thought he might die on the spot if she turned him down.

  She laughed lightly and kissed him again on the cheek.

  “How about we go for a date to my favourite restaurant next Tuesday? I can pick you up here at seven.”

  He nodded weakly and she was already gone leaving the lingering scent of cinnamon and honey in her wake.

  It was only when he got into the elevator for the penthouse that he replayed the conversation they’d had back in his head.

  There aren’t many of people like us around, she had said. It only occurred to him now that he should have asked what she meant because the way he saw it. If anything looked too good to be true, it usually was.

  Juliette

  It was only when she got into the car and drove out into the warm dusky night that she let out a long breath. After months of dates with weirdoes, morons and men old enough to be her grandfather, this had been her last go at dating ever. She had not expected to walk in to Maxim’s to find her blind date had the most handsome face atop a body that would make a nun blush. If Sacha could have built a perfect man for Juliette, this would be him. He was tall, at least six feet and had hair that sat just a little too messy to be a businessman but not long enough to be a rocker. It brushed over his ears with a flick to the front that just covered one eye. It was the eyes that really got her. Piercing green eyes, precisely the colour of freshly mown grass had peered back at her when she asked if he was Richard. He wore jeans and a casual shirt, not at all she was expecting from the description she had been given of him. She’d been told he was the owner of an architectural firm and so she’d expected him to turn up in a business suit. His shirt wasn’t tight but it was hard not to notice the firm pecs underneath. It was almost a shame that he had the same problem as she had... It was the only explanation that she could think of that he was single because he was way too hot not to be otherwise.

  Dating had all been her best friend
Laura’s idea, but after two months of the most dull dates at one end of the spectrum and horrific ones at the other, she’d all but decided that being on her own was preferable. She’d been on her own since college when she’d split up with her boyfriend Jake and she’d gotten used to it. Laura had badgered her many times over the years but it was only when she was asked to be the bridesmaid at Laura’s wedding and she saw how happy Laura and Tom were that she realised just how much she was missing out on. Any woman over the age of thirty was considered ancient by Hollywood standards and she was already nearly thirty one. A relic in Hollywood terms. So she’d gone on blind dates set up by friends and friends of friends and hated every minute of all of them. When she met Paul the producer and he asked her to star in some weird kinky porno he was producing, she knew her dating days were over. That was until Laura passed her the card for The Hollywood Dating Agency. At the time, she’d argued that it sounded sleazy and that they wouldn’t be able to find a match with her particular affliction, but Laura had already set her up with an appointment with Sacha so she decided to give it one last go.

  She remembered walking up to a non descript but nevertheless exclusive apartment block in Beverly Hills just three days earlier with nothing but a card with the name Sacha and the address written on it. A doorman smiled as she walked through the front door and pressed the elevator button to the top floor.

  The elevator opened to a trendy reception area with a stunning young woman at a desk. Bunches of flowers of every colour and type filled vase after vase on the reception desk. They were the only colour in the all white room.

  “How can I help you?” asked the bronzed beauty. In any other city she would have been working as a supermodel but here in LA, surrounded by stunning women, she was a lowly receptionist.

  “I’m here to see Sacha,” Juliette replied timidly, feeling completely out of place in her unfashionable day dress and overshadowed by the beauty in front of her. “My name is Juliette Dixon.”

  “Sacha is expecting you,” the beauty smiled. “Go right in.”

  Juliette followed the woman’s gaze to an unmarked door. Taking a deep breath, she walked towards it and knocked.

  “Come in.” If voices were food, the one belonging to Sacha would be Caramel, mused Juliette as she opened the door to find another stunning woman with an even more stunning view over the city out of floor to ceiling windows.

  “Take a seat.” Sacha motioned to a large comfortable seat, which Juliette took.

  “I don’t think you’ll be able to help me,” Juliette said, feeling completely out of place. The stunning Sacha with her perfectly straight black hair and slim-fitted blouse showing off perfectly pert breasts leaned forward in her chair, steepling her fingers together as she did.

  “I’ve been running this agency for fifteen years and I’ve not had an unhappy customer yet. In a world of internet dating and office place hook ups, we offer a complete matching service that guarantees complete compatibility.”

  Juliette found it hard to believe that they could guarantee something so complicated as love but then again she couldn’t believe that Sacha was old enough to have run the agency for fifteen years. She looked to be in her early twenties.

  “I have a thing,” replied Juliette, squirming in her seat as she said it. Only two people knew her problem. One was Jake who learned it the hard way and the other was Laura, and even then it had taken three years of friendship and an inordinate amount of vodka to finally spill her deepest darkest secret.

  “Laura has already told me of your issue. No need to worry. If I can set up an aging actor with crippling arthritis and an even more crippling gambling problem, I’m sure I can find a partner for you. I’ve never not managed it yet.”

  “Did it work out though, for the old actor, I mean?”

  “They got married last spring. Last I heard, his lovely new wife was expecting twins and he’d given up going to casinos.”

  It all sounded impressive but Juliette was still surprised when she received a phone call the very next day from Sacha telling her she not only had a date but he shared the same problem as her.

  When she finally made it home after her date, the first thing she did was call Laura. It was late, but she knew her friend would be waiting by the phone to hear all the juicy details.

  “So, what was he like?” asked her friend as soon as she picked up the phone.

  “I think I’ve just had a date with the hottest guy on the planet. Sexy doesn’t even cover it.”

  “Wow. It’s almost a shame.”

  “Don’t be like that, Laura. I still have eyes. Just because I can’t have sex doesn’t mean I can’t find people sexy.”

  “And he’s ok with this?”

  “Of course. Sacha told me he wanted a non sexual relationship too.”

  “I wonder what his problem is. Maybe his dick was torn off by a jealous lover.”

  “That’s gross. Trust you to bring the conversation down. Plenty of people want to have committed loving relationships without the sex part.”

  “Yeah and some are just kinky perverts that pretend that just so they can get you to star in some weird virgin porno.”

  “Urgh. Don’t remind me.”

  “I’d find out what his story is sooner rather than later because if he’s as sexy as you say he is, then there must be some weird reason he’s not into putting out.”

  Juliette hated to agree with her, but she was right. She’d been so caught up in how wonderful he was, that she’d not even thought about why he didn’t want sex.

  Richard

  Richard wanted sex. He was horny. It was not a feeling he was accustomed to. At least not anymore. Sure he was a man with needs, but he’d kept himself so busy over the last few years that he fell into bed exhausted every night alone. Sleep was the only thing that made him forget Alice if you didn’t count all the dreams he had about her. Two years on and the dreams had subsided, only popping up every couple of months or so to hit him anew. He’d not had sex in all that time and until tonight it hadn’t been a problem.

  She’d not come up for coffee but she had invited him out on another date. He liked that. No matter how much he wanted her, it was refreshing to find a woman that wouldn’t put out on a first date. He just had to get the memo to his balls that felt like they might explode.

  He did something he never ever did, at least not since he was a teenager and relieved himself with his hand, using a towel to clean up the resulting mess.

  What was going on with him? He was acting like a sixteen year old with a crush. This next week was going to go very slowly!

  ***

  He walked a well worn path up and down his living room floor waiting for the clock to tick over to seven o’clock. Work had been excruciating. His mind had been on Juliette all day and it had cost him at least one big job. He knew he should have been more on the ball but the excitement of seeing Juliette again was all consuming. She’d taken up a good portion of his concentration, making him a mess at work and he didn’t like it. He was thankful he was seeing her tonight, just so he’d be able to concentrate at work the next day. At lunchtime when his secretary had commented that he didn’t look so good, he’d taken it as a cue to go home and plan his evening. Unfortunately, being at home, he had nothing to take his mind off her and had resorted to pacing up and down and willing time to go faster. He’d called the local florist three times to order flowers for her, changing his mind between which ones to buy, and then called back again to cancel. His mother had told him once that you should always buy flowers for a lady but you should always find out her favourites first. He didn’t really know what the fuck that meant but as he’d not seen his father give his mother flowers once in their forty year marriage, he figured it was just her way of hinting.

  Every time he’d thought of Juliette, which had been pretty much constantly, desire had been coursing through his veins leaving him more than a little manic and out of control. By the time the intercom buzzed he was a mass of nerv
es and raw energy. He was also as horny as hell.

  “I’ll be right down,” he spoke into the receiver, before pressing the button once again. “On second thoughts, Can you come up here? I’m not quite ready.”

  He could feel his heart beating in double time as he waited for the elevator doors to open. He’d thought that maybe he’d remembered her wrongly or she wasn’t quite as perfect as he had thought she was until the doors opened and she stood before him looking as amazing as she had when he’d last seen her. She’d brought her hair into a chignon at the back which left her slim kissable neck exposed. She wore another dress, but this one was shorter, exposing long lithe legs ending in a pair of strappy black heels. The dress itself was also black and tight, showing off her trim waist and rounded breasts to perfection. Fuck, if he didn’t have her soon, he was going to explode.

  She walked towards him in the hallway, stopping only when she was toe to toe with him and then she leant forward to kiss him on the cheek.

  Juliette

  Just before she kissed his cheek, she stopped suddenly. She could feel his warm breath on her neck, sending shivers down her spine and further still to places she’d almost forgotten were part of her. All at once she became aware of her own body. The feel of the tight fabric of her dress, the cool air on the back of her legs, the tingling sensation he was giving her just by breathing on her neck. Kissing him on his cheek seemed utterly pointless when the all encompassing urge to mesh herself to him, kiss his lips and run her hands over him, finding out what delights lay under his shirt was upon her. She wanted to touch his skin so much that a peck on the cheek was a drop in the ocean of desire.