Page 32 of Thank you, Next

Lana perked up. “You know, no one has told me I’m hot in years.”

“Not even your husband?” Charlee flicked their shoulder-length hair behind their ear. “That sounds like he’s snoozing on the job.”

Lana grabbed Charlee’s hand again. “Thank you.” Then, she looked around the room. “I’m going to go flirt with someone famous. Then I’m going to go home and jump on my husband.”

Lana wandered off. And Will and Charlee were alone, like usual, then.

“Why are you so tense? You’re at a party.” Charlee’s gaze trailed after Will’s, and they noticed that Will was following Alex around the party with his eyes. “You know that brooding at her across the room is not going to let her know that you like her.”

“Stop.” Will wasn’t sure about his feelings about Alex anymore. After talking to Lexi and the moment they’d had in his apartment, he’d started to allow some of his more possessive urges about Alex to come to the surface. If he’d ever really pushed them down all that deep.

“Who is she with?” Will was so focused on what Alex was doing—drinking champagne and talking to the guy who’d played the main villain in Faherghty’s last movie—that he didn’t respond to Charlee right away. But their sort of moony-eyed tone made him pause. “Who?”

“The tall, beautiful Black person in a killer suit next to her.”

Will looked away from Alex and back at Charlee, who had pulled out a lip gloss and was freshening up. “Oh, you mean Jane?” When Charlee nodded, Will elaborated. “She’s one of Alex’s best friends. Alex handled her divorce.”

“Divorced?” Charlee’s immaculate brows went up. “So, you mean she’s single?”

“I think Alex mentioned that she’s pan.” Contrary to popular belief among his ex-wife and Alex, he didn’t tune everything out when he was cooking. He might not talk very much, but he listened. “You should go for it. She’s really cool.”

Charlee pulled themself together and leveled a hard look at Will. “I’ll do it if you will.”

FOURTEEN

Alex could feel Will looking at her from across the room as she made her way through the party, looking for James. Like any Leo / Hollywood A-lister, he knew how to make an entrance to his own party. And that was late, after almost everyone was relatively sauced.

James’s house had an open layout through the living and dining rooms, and she wasn’t tall enough to see over the clutch once she got to the corridor. But she pressed on, even though Jane fell back to talk to someone she knew from one of the studios. She’d probably walk out of here by the end of the night with a deal to have one of her clients star in something. Alex should probably take time management and professional networking lessons from her. She was sure that plenty of the people she was currently rubbing against not on purpose were in the market for a divorce attorney.

Maybe the next time someone groped her ass, she would just turn around and give them her card. She’d make a mint.

She found James in a study off the corridor. It shocked her that he was alone.

“James?”

He looked up at her and his face immediately changed. One of the reasons she no longer dated actors was because some of them—#notallactors—could change their whole being on a dime. It was kind of wild, and it fucked with Alex before she’d become aware of it. However, from what she could tell, James was happy to see her.

“I hope it’s okay that I came.” This was so awkward. How was she ever going to get the ’nads to ask James why he’d fucked off to Vegas and married the next biracial woman to smile at him after they’d broken up? He was going to think she was sniffing around to see if he’d give it another go. And that wasn’t happening.

First of all, she didn’t want any of the publicity that would come along with dating one of the most famous people on the planet. She was sure that was why at least three of Lexi’s marriages had ended. Sure, Alex had had a moment in the gossip blogs during the late aughts when she was dating James—he’d definitely been more of a “who?” but he’d had star quality even back then—but she’d never been regular celebrity gossip fodder. And she couldn’t imagine being picked apart every time she left the house anymore.

That was assuming James would be interested in starting things up with her. She was here to find out why she wasn’t The One for him, or even one of the few, not see if she could be next on his whosdatedwho.com page. She was already there once, in a mortifying short skirt.

James stood up and hugged her. “Of course I’m glad you’re here. You’re about the only person I’m happy to see.” He still smelled good. And he’d filled out after playing a superhero for a decade.

“Why are you having a party if you don’t want to see any of the guests?” Alex looked up at him. Jesus Christ, his eyes were blue. It was almost alien. Fuck. And he had a beard now. When had she started liking beards so much? Beards made her think of Will, and that must have made her face change.

“Do I have something on my face?” James’s question shocked her out of thinking about Will.

“Oh no.” Alex stepped back.

James smiled again at her. “You know, I never expected to see you again.”

“Really?” Alex didn’t remember their breakup as being that acrimonious, but what did she know?

James laughed, and she remembered how annoying his honking laugh had been to her when they were dating. But only when he was laughing at something that was important to her.

“Yeah, really.” James motioned for her to sit and pulled a bottle of champagne out of a bucket that seemed to appear out of nowhere—how did champagne appear out of nowhere?—before refilling her glass and his. “You were so mad when I broke things off.”