Never Say Never (The Price of Fame Series) Read Online Free

years and came home for good before Christmas.”
    She didn’t want to think too much about her time in the States. Sure, she’d loved her job and friends, but Dane tainted her memories.
    Sander leaned forward, but didn’t rest his elbows on the table. Pushy but well-mannered. A smile pulled up the corner of her lips. There were many sides to Sander Chase. Her curiosity came alive as she realized she’d soon get to see them all.
    “Ah, so that’s why you sounded American.” He flashed her a smile worthy of a tooth-whitening advert and it sent her heart galloping. “Where did you stay?”
    “LA mostly. What about you? Aren’t you from the States?”
    Sander leaned back, away from her. The sizzle in the air when he’d been so close evaporated. His gaze closed off and the laid-back, teasing Sander was gone. Chloe frowned at him and wondered again whether it was a fake date he needed, or a psychiatrist.
    “LA. My mother’s an actress, my father a director. They moved around a lot.”
    Chloe couldn’t help noticing he said they not we . “Didn’t you go with them?”
    “No.” The word was devoid of emotion, as was his expression.
    Shooting movies took months, sometimes a year. How could anyone leave their child for that length of time?
    “Who took care of you?” she asked, utterly appalled on his behalf.
    Sander sighed. “I didn’t need taken care of, Chloe.” He ran a hand through his golden, surfer-boy hair. “If my parents taught me anything, it was how to get by without them. There were staff in the house, and I had a nanny until I was twelve. After that I was too busy with singing lessons and home schooling to notice their absence.”
    Chloe’s heart twisted. Every child needed to be cared for. How could he sit there straight-faced and tell her otherwise? No one could be that unfeeling. Or did he simply push back the memories of his lonely childhood because that was easier to deal with? Wasn’t that what she was doing with the Dane fiasco?
    The waiter returned with their drinks. Sander didn’t even wait until the man left. He picked up his bottle of beer and took a long pull.
    She didn’t know him at all, not really, but he came to the coffee house early every afternoon, though she’d tried to avoid him by taking the earlier shift today. Still, she’d never smelled alcohol on his breath, so the fact he drained half the bottle now was a sure sign the conversation was heading down an uncomfortable path. She decided to take mercy and not probe further. After all, he wasn’t the only one who wanted to keep things in his past private.
    “Are you ready to order?” the waiter asked.
    Chloe searched for a nametag on his impeccably pressed shirt, but there was none. Being a waitress herself, she liked people to see her as a person and aimed to treat others in the profession with the same respect.
    “I’ll have the steak, medium, with boiled potatoes,” Sander said, and she was pleased to note he made eye contact with the man. “Thank you.”
    “I’ll have the same.” She smiled at the waiter. He bowed, then turned and walked away.
    When her gaze flitted back to Sander, he was staring at her intently. The same determined expression as yesterday etched his face and she fought the urge to swallow. What was he going to talk her into doing now?
    “All we need to know about each other are the basics, Chloe. We’re not entering a competition to prove we’re a couple.”
    He had a point. She ignored the trickle of disappointment that she wouldn’t get to know the real him and nodded.
    “I’m twenty-seven, and I worked on Crime Busters as lead makeup artist for a couple of years as well as a few low-budget movies before I came back to London. My dad died when I was four, and I stay with my mum.”
    She stopped before she told about her mum. That wasn’t covered in the basics. That was personal, and if he wasn’t giving away personal, neither was she.
    Sander took another sip of his beer, not a