The Seat Filler: A Novel Read online

  “Hi, is this Juliet?”

  “Yep.”

  “This is Noah. Noah Douglas? We met the other night.”

  I sat straight up and shot all the popcorn out of my mouth, dropping the bowl to the floor. Then I fumbled with the remote, trying to hit the pause button. The last thing I needed was him hearing his own voice coming from my TV.

  “Yes, hi. Noah. I remember. What can I do for you?” I cringed. I sounded so stupid.

  “I know this is last-minute, but . . .” He trailed off, and my whole chest constricted. What if Shelby wasn’t misguided by her pretty-girl vision filter and had called this correctly and he wanted to go out with me? “I find myself in need of some emergency dog-grooming services. Could you help me out?”

  My shoulders caved in. Oh. “Emergency dog-grooming services? You know that’s not really a thing, right?”

  “In this case it is. My dog, Magnus, is obsessed with mud, and he managed to find some. Problem is that we have an interview and photo shoot we’re doing together tomorrow, and we both need to look our best. Can you come over?”

  It felt like a heavy weight was pressing down on my chest as my heart thumped loudly. This was a job, and someone like Noah Douglas was well connected in Los Angeles. This could lead to more clients and more money.

  So why wasn’t I saying yes?

  As if he sensed my hesitation, he said, “I don’t want to be that guy, but you do still owe me one, and I’m calling it in.”

  That was true. It didn’t make that panicky feeling go away. “Okay. I’ll do it. Where am I going?”

  “I’m in the Hollywood Hills.”

  “Text me the address and hopefully I’ll be there in about forty-five minutes.” I shared an apartment with Shelby in Pasadena, and given that it was a Sunday evening, I didn’t anticipate a ton of traffic.

  “Sounds good. See you then.”

  He hung up, and I just stood there in my living room, phone in my hand, trying to process what had just happened. Why would he call me? There were a million other mobile dog groomers. This made no sense.

  Shelby breezed into the apartment. She’d spent the day with Allan and was in a great mood. “Juliet! Guess what? Remember that first-year associate at Allan’s office who was cheating on his pregnant wife with his secretary like a total cliché? Turns out the secretary is pregnant, too, and she showed up at his house and made a huge scene. His wife is divorcing his slimy butt.” She had dropped her purse and keys on the kitchen counter but stopped when she saw my face. “What’s up with you?”

  “Um, Noah Douglas wants me to come over and wash his dog.” I put my cell phone down on the coffee table and dropped the remote on the couch. My pulse was jackhammering all over the place, making my blood feel too thick for my veins. I had to suck in a couple of deep breaths.

  “What?” she shrieked.

  “Not one word,” I said. I didn’t want her trying to turn this into something it wasn’t as I headed into my bedroom to get changed. I needed to calm down, not keep getting more amped up.

  “That is not possible, because I have so many words!” she said as she followed me. “What are you going to wear?”

  “Uh, my clothes?” What kind of question was that?

  “You’re not going to get dressed up?”

  “To wash his dog? No.” I went through a pile of clothing on my floor looking for a pair of jeans to throw on.

  “I can’t believe you’re about to go over to Felix Morrison’s house and that you’re going to fall in love with him now. That man is so attractive. I’d let him Felix my Morrison any day of the week.”

  “You’re engaged,” I reminded her as I pulled one of my business’s polo shirts out of my closet.

  She sat down on the edge of my bed. “Obviously I’m speaking in a metaphorical sense, because I’m never going to date him. Mostly because I’m ridiculously in love with Allan, but also because he’s so obviously interested in you.”

  “Asking me to clean his dog does not indicate interest,” I said, tugging my shirt on over my head.

  “Hard disagree.” She paused. “If he asks you out, will you go?”

  “No,” I immediately responded as I opened my top dresser drawer to get a clean pair of socks.

  “But why won’t you date Noah Douglas?” She sounded like a little kid who’d just been told she couldn’t have an ice-cream cone. “He seemed so nice.”

  “Your opinion is wrong. When I talked with him, he was infuriating, and I kind of wanted to stab him and I think God would have understood.”

  “Pretty sure you’re not supposed to kill people. And you know that’s an important one, because it made His top ten.”

  I sat down to put on my socks and shoes. “So did not gossiping, and yet . . .”

  “And yet,” she agreed.

  “Look, I get it. I’m a woman. I have eyes and ovaries or whatever, and I can see how hot he is. But you are getting your hopes up a little high. Like, that castle in the clouds from ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ high.” I tightened my laces. “You know I’m on a man sabbatical.”

  “It’s not a sabbatical when you’ve never dated. That’s like saying you’re taking a sabbatical when you’ve never actually had a job. It’s not a sabbatical. You’re just unemployed.” She said this gently and I knew what she was hinting at, but she wasn’t getting any answers from me about it.

  “Why are you so interested in my love life?” I asked, getting to my feet and going into the bathroom to brush my hair and put it up in a ponytail.

  She followed me there, too. “Somebody has to be!”

  I went back to my old standby. “I’m focusing on building up my business right now. I don’t want to worry about dating.”

  “No one wants you to worry. Dating is actually in the fun section of the program. I’m just saying that whatever happens tonight, maybe you should try pushing yourself out of your comfort zone.”

  “Which I don’t want to do, because it’s my favorite zone in the whole world. Much better than demilitarized or twilight. I prefer staying in it.” I got my toothbrush, put some toothpaste on it, and quickly brushed my teeth.

  “You know,” she mused, “the one thing I regret is that we didn’t get a picture with Noah. Because no one’s going to believe that we met him.”

  “We know, and outside of us, who is going to care?” We had been best friends since our mothers met in a Mommy and Me playgroup, and whatever other friends we’d made over the years all fell by the wayside when Shelby got sick.

  “That’s true. Allan pretended like he was excited when I told him about it, but the only way he would actually care is if Noah got drafted by the 49ers.”

  I considered putting on makeup, but I knew what a mess I was about to make of myself, so there was no point. After a moment of internal wrestling, I reached for a pale-pink lip gloss and spread it across my mouth.

  Her eyebrows lifted in excitement at my small effort, and she said, “You know I still plan on us having a double wedding, and I’ve got two years to make it happen.”

  This was something she’d decided when we were eleven, and she’d never gotten over it. “You saying something is a plan doesn’t actually make it a plan. I love you, but I’m under no obligation to humor you.”

  “But I’ve had to let go of so many dreams,” she said in a small voice, and it made me feel unbelievably guilty and sad for everything she’d been put through. I turned around to hug her.

  “I know. And it’s also okay to get some new dreams.”

  “But if I can’t even get you interested in going out with a movie star, our double wedding is definitely never going to happen.” She mumbled the words into my shoulder.

  I stepped back and just shook my head. “Noah and I are going to have a strictly professional interaction. You know me—I don’t like to mix business with disdain.”

  “You may feel certain things about Noah Douglas, but disdain is not one of them.”

  She hadn’t been the one si
tting next to him. She didn’t know what she was talking about. “It doesn’t matter. Don’t you remember when that palm reader warned us about dating a guy with two first names?”

  “That was my reading, not yours. You’re free to date him.”

  “You know that’s not going to happen. Tell me you know that I’m not actually going to date Noah Douglas.”

  “Probably not,” she agreed. “But isn’t it fun to daydream?”

  Personally, I’d found daydreaming to be overrated and a waste of energy. Real life demanded too much of my focus. I had gone into the kitchen to search for my keys. I had a bad habit of dropping them places and forgetting where. “Have you seen my keys?”

  “They’re on the table. But before you go, take these.” She handed me some business cards, both hers and mine. “Just in case.”

  It wasn’t worth arguing about. “Thanks. I need to get on the road. Wish me luck!”

  “I wish you kisses and a new boyfriend!” she said as I walked out our door.

  Ha. Fat chance of either one of those things happening.

  It took me a bit longer to get to Noah’s house than I’d anticipated. He lived in a gated community, but the guard was expecting me and just waved me through. Then it was dark and the roads were winding and Google Maps was being strangely coy about where I should be going.

  I eventually found it, and he had a long driveway with no lights. I turned on my brights and inched my way up the incline. I was surprised when I reached the top and found a tiny little bungalow that was well lit both inside and out. I’d expected a mansion, to be honest.

  There was a strange lump in my throat as I turned off the van, climbed down from the driver’s seat, and made my way to the front door. I heard a dog barking loudly as I stood on his porch, and for some reason that sound made me feel better. I rang the doorbell and braced myself for impact.

  But to my surprise, it wasn’t Noah who answered the door.

  It was Lily Ramsey. His Duel of the Fae costar. She was holding a small white terrier that was yipping away with all his might, wriggling to get free of her arms.

  “You must be Juliet!” she yelled over her dog. “Come in!”

  While I adored her as Aliana Morningsong, she didn’t have the same effect on me that Noah had. I was not bewildered and shocked like I’d been with him. I wondered what she was doing there and how she knew who I was, but my brain stayed fully engaged, and I was pretty sure I’d be able to have a conversation with her.

  I followed her into the house and was even more surprised. This house was dark and small, with wood paneling and avocado-colored carpeting. I wasn’t sure what he’d been going for, but the decor was log cabin meets 1970s shagadelic. The kind of place where after he’d been arrested for murder the neighbors would tell the media, “He was quiet and kept to himself.”

  Shelby would wail and gnash her teeth when I told her about this.

  Lily led me into a living room that had a couch and nothing else in it. Not even any pictures. She sat down on one end of the sole piece of furniture, and I sat on the other.

  “I’m going to let him go. He’s harmless,” she assured me in her lilting British accent. She and Noah had insane chemistry on-screen. Lots of online fans stanned them in real life and wanted them to be together, despite the fact that she was married. They would probably freak out if they knew they were friends who had playdates with their dogs.

  I was a little in awe of how stunningly pretty she was, even without any makeup on and her long blonde hair up in a bun. Her features were delicate and her frame slight. She didn’t seem so tiny on the big screen. She possessed one of those infectious smiles that made you smile in response, and I found myself feeling even more at ease.

  I nodded, and she released him. He finally stopped barking and immediately ran over to me to sniff my hands. “And who is this adorable little fella?”

  “This is Blueberry. I would scold him for the barking, but he’s quite deaf. It was the reason I adopted him. I figured if anyone needed a home, it was him.”

  This made me like her even more. “That’s really neat.”

  “He’s been one of the best things that’s ever happened to me. I adopted him right before the Fae trilogy started and would bring him to set with me, and he and Magnus became the best of friends. So whenever I’m in the same city as Noah, I tend to drop in unannounced so they can have a doggy playdate. And speaking of Noah, Magnus managed to get outside again and he’s trying to coax him back in. He’s quite the escape artist. Noah asked me to entertain you until he returns.”

  “Should we go help?” I asked.

  “There’s no one quite so capable as Noah. He’ll wrangle him back in. He always does. It helps that the man is enormous and strong and could probably drag a polar bear inside if he had to. So how long have you known Noah?”

  “We met last week. We only spoke for a few minutes.”

  Lily’s eyes sparkled at me. “Really? How fun.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He’s the kind of man who will exchange pleasantries with you and then two minutes later he’ll ask about your relationship with your father. He loves to go deep and ferret out your emotional baggage and uncover your deepest secrets.”

  My heart lurched to one side. That wasn’t good. I couldn’t let that happen. I would remember that this was strictly business.

  I was going to be strong when I saw him again. I wouldn’t think of him as a gorgeous, delicious beast of a man. He was just a dog owner and he had hired me, nothing more. I would not melt like an icicle in the desert. I wouldn’t.

  Her phone buzzed, and she picked it up. If her smile was infectious before, it was downright dazzling now. “That’s Todd, my husband. He’s wondering if I’ve left already. I should get going. Will you be all right?”

  She was just going to leave me here? “Of course.”

  “Great. I’m in and out of LA, and if you don’t mind, I’d love to use your services in the future. I could always use a good dog groomer that I can rely on. And if Noah’s letting you come to his home, well, it says a lot about your trustworthiness.”

  It did? “I’d love that.”

  “Brilliant.”

  It was then that I remembered the business cards Shelby had put in my back pocket. She was like some kind of seer. “I have a card, if you like.”

  “Oh no, it won’t do you any good to give it to me, because I’ll lose it. So I’ll just get your number from Noah. Toodles!” She picked up Blueberry and made her way to the front door. I heard the door close and sat on the couch in silence. I was tempted to get up and explore but figured that would be rude and probably the worst way to start out our professional relationship.

  I did look around, and from where I was sitting, I could see part of the kitchen with its orange cabinets and mustard-yellow appliances. It hurt my eyes to look at it.

  I heard a sliding glass door opening and a dog barking and a man grunting. Something large hit a wall. It sounded like he needed help. I followed the noise and found them in a massive library that was filled with hundreds of books.

  My breath caught when I saw him. Noah had on a black T-shirt and jeans and was covered in as much dirt as Magnus was, like they’d been wrestling around outside. He was every bit as overwhelming as the last time I’d seen him and somehow sexier as he held his very large and heavy dog in his strong arms with ease.

  Every single bit of my resolve to be strong fled.

  I was in trouble.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  “You made it!” he said, his deep voice tinged with exhaustion and amusement.

  “I did. Hi. Um, Lily Ramsey let me in and we talked and she introduced me to Blueberry and then she explained about Magnus and then I heard you come in and it sounded like you needed some assistance, so I came in here . . .” I let my voice trail off. I sounded like I was having a stroke. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “Yes. Can you shut the door and lock it?”


  “Sure.” I had to step around him and found myself struggling to breathe as I got close to him, feeling all of the warmth he was emanating. I cleared my throat and slid the door back into place, finding the lock in the handle and flipping it up. I backed up quickly. “There you go. All clear.”

  Noah’s biceps flexed as he gently set his dog down, and Magnus came over to inspect me. I crouched down to his level and held out my hands for him. “You are one dirty boy,” I told him.

  “I am,” Noah agreed as he brushed some soil off his pants.

  My cheeks flushed and I said, “I was talking to your dog.”

  “I know.” Then he winked at me and all the blood drained from my brain.

  Magnus wagged his tail at me, bringing me back to reality, and I petted him. “He’s beautiful. Is he part rottweiler?” He had the telltale black-and-tan color markings.

  “He is. And part Newfoundland. And there’s probably some other breeds mixed in. The adoption shelter wasn’t sure.”

  The Newfie DNA explained why his fur was shaggy—he really was in need of a good brushing and bath. Which meant that Noah had been up front about why he’d called me and there was no ulterior motive, like Shelby had hoped for.

  Why did that make me feel a little disappointed? This was so unlike me.

  Noah crouched down next to me and Magnus went over to him, licking his face. I, surprisingly, found myself completely understanding the impulse. Noah told me, “I’m pretty sure he thinks he’s part wolf and that’s why he wants to escape into the wild. The problem is he’s a good, sweet boy who doesn’t have a mean bone in his body and thinks everybody is his friend. Which is why we don’t want him to get into a fight with a pack of coyotes, do we, Magnus?”

  He sounded like he was scolding him, but it was couched in so much gentleness and love that I was pretty sure Magnus had no idea he was being told to stop escaping.

  I thought it was completely adorable how much Noah loved and worried about his dog. And a little ovary-melting, too.

  Straightening up, I gestured around me. “This is quite a collection of books. I’m assuming you like to read.”

  “I do.” He nodded and stood up, too. “When I got my medical discharge from the army, books are what helped me cope.”