Love, Lies, and Lattes

Copyright © 2019 and 2023 by Karen Cimms All Rights Reserved Cover Designer: K.B. Barrett Designs Cover Model: Andrew Biernat Cover Photographer: Wander Aguiar Interior Designer: Dane Marshall Line Editing: Lisa Poisso, lisapoisso.com Proofreading: Lori Ryser This book was originally published as Broadway Beans. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. The author acknowledges the trademark status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners. Dedication To my mother Marie Lombardi Tkacik For sharing her love of words and her heritage. Magic happens in the space between the stars and heartbeats and settles on lonely lips that are tentatively alone no longer. —n.a. denmon Contents 1. Chapter 1 2. Chapter 2 3. Chapter 3 4. Chapter 4 5. Chapter 5 6. Chapter 6 7. Chapter 7 8. Chapter 8 9. Chapter 9 10. Chapter 10 11. Chapter 11 12. Chapter 12 13. Chapter 13 14. Chapter 14 15. Chapter 15 16. Chapter 16 17. Chapter 17 18. Chapter 18 19. Chapter 19 20. Chapter 20 21. Chapter 21 22. Chapter 22 23. Chapter 23 24. Chapter 24 25. Chapter 25 26. Chapter 26 27. Chapter 27 28. Chapter 28 29. Chapter 29 30. Chapter 30 31. Chapter 31 32. Chapter 32 33. Chapter 33 34. Chapter 34 35. Chapter 35 36. Chapter 36 37. Chapter 37 38. Chapter 38 39. Chapter 39 40. Chapter 40 41. Chapter 41 42. Chapter 42 43. Chapter 43 44. Chapter 44 45. Chapter 45 46. Chapter 46 47. Chapter 47 48. Chapter 48 49. Chapter 49 50. Chapter 50 51. Chapter 51 52. Chapter 52 53. Chapter 53 54. Chapter 54 55. Chapter 55 56. Chapter 56 57. Chapter 57 58. Chapter 58 59. Chapter 59 60. Chapter 60 61. Chapter 61 62. Chapter 62 63. Chapter 63 64. Chapter 64 65. Chapter 65 66. Chapter 66 67. Chapter 67 68. Chapter 68 69. Chapter 69 70. Chapter 70 71. Chapter 71 72. Chapter 72 73. Chapter 73 74. Chapter 74 75. Chapter 75 76. Chapter 76 77. Chapter 77 78. Chapter 78 79. Chapter 79 80. Chapter 80 Epilogue Note to Readers Acknowledgments Chapter 1 AidenA schooner cut across the waves, bisecting the horizon and scattering sunlight like diamonds in its wake. Another perfect day in Malibu. I had to be crazy for wanting to trade this for endless cold, gray New York days, even though an East Coast winter would match the cold, dark hole where my heart used to be. I turned my back on the multimillion-dollar view to face the man currently reclining on my white linen sofa like he fucking owned the place.“Broadway?” he said. “You’re shitting me, right? You’re a movie star.”I snorted. “Movie star? Is that what you call it? I’ve done a dozen movies, but I could pack my combined wardrobe from all of them into a duffel bag and still have room for my laptop, a few books, and my electric razor. My so-called costumes have consisted of boxers, briefs, low-slung jeans, a Speedo, a loincloth, and none of the above. I wore a shirt maybe three times, and even then, not for long.”“But baby, look at you!”I hated when he talked to me like that. “Don’t call me ‘baby.’ I’m a grown man. You shouldn’t even call your female clients that.”“Fine, Aiden, listen to me. You have a body most men would kill for and most women would kill to get close to. Why hide it?”“And I work my ass off—literally—to get it. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to be taken seriously. My last two movies were embarrassments.”Irv waved his hand in my direction, an unlit Fuente Opus clasped between two stubby fingers. “They were box office hits. That’s all that matters. And when your next picture is released this spring, there will be no stopping you and Adrianna. You’re going right to the top.”The egg white and spinach omelet and organic orange juice I’d had for breakfast churned dangerously in my gut. Just hearing my ex’s name set my teeth on edge. I snatched the container of antacid off the bar and tossed two into my mouth.“It’s not all that matters, Irv. They were shitty parts, and you know it.”“Yet here I am, sitting in the living room of your Malibu beach house looking out at the ocean. Want I should start a GoFundMe so you can stay fed and clothed?”My manager wasn’t the only one who could speak sarcasm. “Not necessary. With the roles you’ve been getting me, I don’t need clothes, remember?”He reached for the bottle of Glenfiddich on the coffee table and refilled his glass. I held my breath as he swirled the twenty-one-year-old scotch, waiting for amber drops to fly onto the white flokati rug at his feet.“So you won’t win an Oscar this year. You’re young.”“Not that it matters, but both my parents had Oscars before they were thirty. Tonys not too long after that. They have so many Golden Globes, they don’t even display them anymore.”Irv pulled a cigar cutter from his jacket pocket, but before he could snip the end off the eighty-dollar Fuente, I reminded him I didn’t allow smoking in the house. The little eyeroll that followed was hard to miss, but I ignored it.“I want you to get me a part on Broadway,” I said. “I don’t need to open a show and have a long run, I just want to know I can do it. A limited