Idolized (Hollywood Stardust Book 3) by Kim Carmichael

yours.
     

Chapter Six
    ONCE AGAIN, RYDER had been summoned to the office of one Cora Caine after waking up in her bed alone. All he had to guide him was another reminder note not to touch her espresso machine and a cryptic text that she wanted to see him at eleven sharp to discuss a proposal. Of course, that came after the not so cryptic text from Glen reminding him that he better be making some progress on the movie.
    He chose to delete the message from Glen and focus on the task at hand, so to speak. That task being that if he and Cora were going to continue on like this, he didn’t want to have to use his hand in the morning. She needed to get with the program. Yes, she might be running the Internet or whatever she did, but his morning glory needed attention, then she could go do her thing.
    “Do you think you can sort of skirt around the traffic?” Ryder clenched his fist and called to Ben from the back seat of the car in a forced singsong voice. Something told him he couldn’t be late for this meeting. That something was Cora yesterday when she told him not to be one minute late.
    “How would you like me to do that?” Ben scooted the car up like two inches to be stopped by a red light. “We’re in Los Angeles.”
    “Well, Los Angeles is the land of magic. Transport us there that way.” Ryder barely got the words out between gritted teeth. He ran his hand through his hair. “Seriously, as a professional in the transportation area, a cornerstone in making this great city what it is, can’t you do anything to make sure I show up at this very important powwow during my lifetime?”
    “I’ll get you there.” The second the light turned green Ben hit the accelerator. “How was the event last night? I saw you on the Internet.”
    The event. What struck him most about the event was the copious amount of checks written. Cora’s check alone was five figures. The rich loved to give money as long as there was a photo opportunity and tax write-off attached. He chose to focus on the woman by his side rather than the utter waste of monies. Hell, he should start a charity for his movie.
    “Let’s get a move on.” Ryder sat back as his minion wove through traffic, ran yellow lights, honked and cut off a pedestrian. The man was nothing if not dedicated.
    “We’re here, boss.” The car bounced when Ben skidded to a stop in the underground parking of the building that housed Cora’s corporate headquarters.
    Lights flashing, a police motorcycle pulled up behind them.
    “You did a great job.” Ryder glanced at his watch. With minutes to spare, he opened the door himself and got out. He nodded to the police officer getting off the motorcycle.
    “You’re Ryder Scott.” Pen in hand the officer pointed to him.
    “I am, and I’m sorry about my driver. He’s a little enthusiastic to make sure I get where I need to be.” He flashed the man a smile, plucked the pen out of his hand and found a piece of paper in his pocket. After checking the paper didn’t have any sort of incriminating evidence, he signed his name. “I take it I can get to my meeting?” He returned the pen to the officer and handed him the autograph.
    “Go ahead.” The officer clipped the treasure to the clipboard and made his way to Ben’s side of the car.
    “Boss!” Ben cried out.
    Checking his watch once more, he figured he could spare ten seconds. He leaned back in the car. “If you can talk your way out of this one, I’ll get you an even bigger part in my movie.” With a wink and smile, he patted the top of the car, made his way into the building, and snuck through the crowd of people sliding ahead into one of the elevators.
    People stopped and stared, but because this was a building used for high-end deals in the entertainment industry, people didn’t bother him, only pointed and whispered. At least the ride up gave him a moment to collect his thoughts. No doubt this would be the so-called meeting where Cora admitted her feelings for