A Beautiful Star (Beautiful Series, Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page A

everyone at work and write a big exposé on me. I should just shut up now, quit while I’m ahead.”
    I reach out and touch his arm, waiting until he meets my eyes before I speak. “I know you don’t really know me, Jonathan. But I give you my word, I won’t tell a soul.”
    His eyes search mine, as if he’s trying to find a way to believe me and to make it all right to talk to me. “I don’t know what it is. I just feel like I know you. Maybe it’s because of Lisa… I don’t know. It’s been a weird day.”
    Removing my hand from his arm, I ignore the warmth that’s travelled through me, and the strange flicker of his eyes as I nod my head in agreement. “Yes. It’s been a very strange day. It’s not often you divert a paparazzi chase and then have a crazy man go on a rampage in your house. How is your neck by the way?”
    With his eyes on mine, he tilts his neck back and I can see dark imprints from bruising where Marcus held him. Reaching out, I place my fingers on his skin, checking the area to see how badly he’s bruised. “Maybe we should get a doctor to look at you. What if there’s some bruising that could hurt your voice or effect your breathing?”
    Closing his hand around mine, he pulls my fingers from his skin, his touch causing another jolt to run up my arm. I hold my breath as our eyes meet again.
    “I’m fine,” he whispers, still holding my hand. Still looking into my eyes with a longing that pulls at my heart and causes an ache in my chest. Where is that even coming from? I don’t even know him.
    Slowly, he leans toward me, and I realise I must be doing the same because the distance between us is decreasing, and our mouths are moving closer, and closer. My breath forces its way out of my chest, breaking the spell we seemed to get caught in as I turn my head away so I don’t breathe all over his face. At the same time, I pull my hand from his and sit up, wondering why I’m allowing myself to be dazzled by this celebrity when experience says I should run a mile.
    I pull away, increasing the distance between us as I search for something else to say. “Um… perhaps I will have the drink after all. Is there any left?” I ask, knowing full well that the bottle is empty, but it’s the first thing I see, so it’s the first thing I ask.
    He clears his throat. “I’ll order more.”
    “No. No. That’s fine. I don’t want you to put yourself out,” I ramble, pushing to stand. “I’ll just… I’ll just go to the other room. It’s getting late.”
    “It’s barely eight o’clock.”
    “Oh. Well, I’m an early sleeper,” I lie. He reaches out and catches my hand before I can get too far, holding me steady in front of him.
    “Please stay. I’ll get another bottle. We’ll just sit and talk. Or we can watch a movie. I don’t mind. Just don’t run off. I promise I won’t do that again. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. It’s just, tonight, I feel like me. And that doesn’t happen very often. Does that make sense to you?”
    Swallowing hard, I nod my head, slowly removing my hand from his, and lowering myself back down to the seat as Jonathan reaches over to the side table and lifts the receiver of the phone, asking for another bottle of champagne to be sent up.
    “Why do you feel like you can’t be yourself around people?” I ask, twisting so that I’m again sitting sideways but there is a full seat of couch space between us now.
    He slumps down and rests his head against the top of the couch, his head sinking into the soft leather as he lets out a slow breath. “I don’t know. I just feel like I’m always acting. There’s a public me and there’s a private me, but the problem is, someone is always watching and the public me seems to take over and the guy, that kid who loved cars and wanted to be a mechanic, gets lost, and in among all the characters I play, I struggle to find him.”
    “What makes tonight so different? I mean, it can’t be me because