Ashe Hunter was normally prepared for anything. It could be the zombie apocalypse and he'd have almost everything ready—food rations, water, some type of weapon, even a book—in case he got bored. It was something he learned growing up on a farm, this habit of always being prepared that carried on long after he'd left home.

Growing up as a farmer's son also meant that Ashe was used to working hard, waking up early no matter what time he went to bed. Even after he moved to London, first finding work as a catalog model and then later, during his years as an actor, he'd kept the same waking hours no matter what time rehearsals ended late into the night. It was a struggle, true, but it didn't change the fact that he was always prepared in everything he did.

But for the first time in his adult life, Ashe was caught off-guard. He had no idea what to get his girlfriend of four months for Valentine's Day. It wasn't like he'd never celebrated Valentine's with anyone before. From his first date with redhead Priscilla Morton when he was only 12 and she 13, and they kissed for the first time next to the library shelves marked P-Q, to last year's very public night out with actress Isobel Reign, Ashe had always had someone to celebrate the day with. Yet no one made him feel like a giddy schoolboy quite like Riley Eames, the award-winning barista who had yet to realize just how beautiful she was.

He'd met her seven months earlier when they both got trapped in a hotel elevator in Midtown Manhattan. He'd just finished a full day of press junkets and had been dying to get some fresh air while she'd been on her way up to see her ex-boyfriend. It was a clandestine meeting, one she'd promised her sister, Paige Eames-Caldwell, was never going to happen. And lucky for Ashe, it never did for Riley changed her mind and then got trapped in the elevator with him on her way down to the lobby. She didn't have any idea who he was. Not a clue.

And for someone who had spent a full day being treated like a king, the realization that she had no idea Ashe was humbled him. It reminded him of the farm boy underneath everything that made him Ashe-fucking-Hunter, Hollywood's hottest film star who commanded millions per movie. By the time they enjoyed hand-pulled noodles in a small Chinatown eatery and he walked her to her studio apartment on the Upper East Side, Ashe was smitten. It probably didn't help when she refused to give him her phone number—and that hadn't been an act at all. She really didn't—not because she was with someone or that she didn't like him. She was afraid of giving her heart away, and the look in her eyes that told him so slayed him. He didn't even care if it was all his imagination. He wanted to pull her close and hold her forever where no one could hurt her.

And for the next few weeks, Ashe could have forgotten all about her and gone through the smorgasbord of women that Reign Studios sent to his suite each night during the press tour. Gorgeous women, all of them drop-dead beauties, eager to spend the night with the Ashe Hunter or his co-star Gareth Roman. But he couldn't, the vision of the blonde woman with large blue eyes always in his mind. By the time Ashe sent the second woman away during their Paris leg of the tour, he decided then, no more.

And you did get her, didn't you, lad? You'd move mountains to make her happy.

"Spoil her," Gareth Roman said, interrupting Ashe's train of thought as they both stood by the window overlooking Los Angeles. Gareth, the same ex-boyfriend Riley had been on her way to see the night Ashe met her, was one of Hollywood's hottest actors, ranked as one of the Top 20 earners that year alone. He had three other movies coming out in the coming year, including an independent film that Ashe had written the screenplay for, and whose music his production company also owned the rights to.

While it had taken Ashe much longer to make his way to the top of Hollywood's "it" list, Gareth made it in less time than Ashe. That his rise to success involved maneuverings by Riley's brother-in-law, Clint Caldwell III, who knew enough people in the business to snag Gareth an audition with a famous director was something that only a few people knew. Not that it would have mattered, for Gareth was good at what he did. But so was Ashe, the classically trained British actor who finally rose to Hollywood fame when he played a good-turned-bad android in last year's blockbuster hit, Sentience, opposite Gareth. If tabloids were to be believed, they'd be reprising their roles soon for the sequel.

But right now, they were in one of the high-rise casting offices in Century City, waiting for two reporters to arrive and interview them. Though Sentience had been out in theaters for the last three months and promotions had ended a month earlier, the science fiction movie had just been nominated for at least two technical categories in two of the year's most prestigious awards shows. It meant a few more weeks of promotions and campaigning although, for Ashe, he had every reason to miss every single one of them since he was headlining a Broadway play in a few weeks.

"You heard me," Gareth pressed on. "For Valentine's, spoil her. I was too broke when we were together, so even if I'd have wanted to spoil her then, I couldn't exactly do it without breaking some law."

"You do know what I do with Riley is none of your business, Gareth, don't you?"

"Spoil her anyway. It's not like I didn't grow up with her," Gareth persisted as the door behind them opened and two men walked in, led by one of the studio employees. "She'll tell you that you don't need to do anything for her, or that you don't have to give her anything because she'll say she has everything. But that's only because she's not used to receiving anything, you know. My fault. I was too broke when we were together. But she used to, you know, receive so many things before her mom died."

"What do you know about her mother?"

"She was the mother I never had. She wrote a story for Riley once, complete with these cute illustrations. I think it was called The Adventures Of Little Riley ," Gareth replied. "She used to read from that book every time I stayed over and Riley had every story memorized. It even looked like a real book, you know, with a front and back cover colored with markers and crayons. And Riley loved it. I mean, who wouldn't? She was the star of her own book and she had major adventures all over town. I mean, her mom was amazing. I wish you'd have met her. Classy lady."

Behind them, the woman instructed the reporters to take their seats around a conference table and set up their recording equipment, but Ashe barely heard them. Something Gareth said piqued his interest. How many times had he watched Riley read her late mother's favorite books again and again? The ones that still smelled of smoke that she never wanted replaced? Each book bore her mother's notes and they were all insightful, from analysis about Mr. Rochester's secret to the Industrial Revolution that marked the setting of Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South?

"So where can I find this book? Does Riley have it?"

"I don't think so, or I'd have seen it when we were together." Gareth made a face as he thought hard. "I don't know if it got lost in the fire but if it's still around, maybe her sister knows where it is or as a last resort, her dad."

At the mention of Riley's father, Ashe stopped himself from saying anything else. Though he never met the man, Ashe wasn't looking forward to meeting him anytime soon. Riley was only ten years old when she and her mother were trapped in their apartment during a fire that started next door. The firefighters found them huddled at the bottom of the stairs, unconscious from smoke inhalation. Riley had managed to help her mother down the steps but it was too late. While Riley recovered from the effects of smoke inhalation and a burn along her arm, her mother died from complications caused by her long battle with multiple sclerosis.

But to Sid, Millie died because of his youngest daughter. If Riley hadn't been sick that day, they would never have been at home. Riley would be at school and Millie would have been at the library where she worked part-time. Paige had just turned eighteen and had moved out of the house by then, living in Manhattan with two other models. It didn't help that Sid was drunk most of the time, and that his outbursts whenever Riley called him to say hello made no sense. So the last thing Ashe wanted to do was pay Mr. Eames a visit.

"Gentlemen," the woman behind them said. "They're ready for you."

Both men nodded, before turning to look at each other again, as if they had just shared some private joke. Only there was no joke.

"Thank you for letting me know about the book," Ashe said.

"You're welcome," Gareth said, grinning as he turned away from the window.

"Oh, and Gareth-"

"Yes?" Gareth asked absently as he ran his fingers through his blonde hair, tousling it slightly.

"Let her go."

At this, Gareth looked up at him, his expression turning serious. There was a wistful look on his face and Ashe wondered if Gareth still entertained thoughts of getting Riley back, though he forced such thoughts away. Ashe knew that the two reporters behind them were watching their exchange carefully. Maybe they'd begin their articles about how the two men seemed cold to each other, or professionally distant, reinforcing the rumor that both men hated each other's guts for taking the others' ex-girlfriends. After all, Isobel Reign and their costar in Sentience had dated Ashe for a year before they broke up and was now Gareth's girlfriend. But then, Ashe really couldn't complain. Rumors not only sold copies and advertising, but it also kept them in the news—kept them "fresh," as their former manager, Collette Williams, used to tell them just before crafting yet another publicity opportunity for them.

"Let her go," Ashe said again, patting Gareth on the shoulder before turning around to face the reporters, his game face on.

"Done," Gareth shrugged.

"You're a fucking liar."

"Well, you know me too well," Gareth said, chuckling. "No wonder they all think we're the ones dating. Did you know there's fanfic about both of us now? You should read them."

Ashe rolled his eyes. "Wonderful. And I'm sure you read them all."

Gareth laughed. "Someone has to. Besides, it's perfect bedtime reading."

"I didn't even realize you could read."

"Aw, man. Now you're just hurting my feelings." Gareth clutched his chest dramatically as Ashe ignored him, pulling up a chair across the table from the journalists.

Yet Ashe couldn't help but grin. For Gareth was simply being Gareth, the jester who knew more than he let on.

Twenty minutes later, as he sat in front of the journalists chuntering about memes and social media in an attempt to get him to loosen up, Ashe texted his florist and ordered an arrangement of long-stemmed red roses to be delivered to Riley at the Library Cafe, where she was soon to be its full-time owner.  She'd have emptied her 401K to do it, but Ashe had persuaded her to set up a corporation with him as her angel investor instead.  She'd have full control of the company; he'd provide the money.  And while her first option meant gambling with her life savings, the alternative was more practical.  Besides, it was money he could easily spare.

As Ashe pressed Send, knowing that he could count on Ted, the florist, to send her the flowers like he always did every week, he pulled up his Notes app and typed a reminder about the picture book. A feeling of satisfaction washed over him, even though he knew that it was a huge gamble to hope that it still existed. But he had to at least try.

After all, Ashe Hunter was always prepared for anything.