Read Online The Comeback (BWWM Interracial Romance Book 7) by Elena Brown - Free Book Online

you were regularly subject to ‘the vapors,’ so at least it was pretty easy to be considered a proper woman.”
    Obediently, Amber sat still while her team made up her face, pulled and arranged her hair into a coronet, powdered and perfumed her body until she could barely recognize the real woman underneath all of the Hollywood magic. She admired herself in the mirror for a long moment. There was something a little sad about it all, Amber thought; in order to keep her fame, she had to be a nearly-unattainable ideal. It was difficult for her to keep her own self-image in the environment that the entertainment industry maintained. But she knew—not just from her own self-determination, but from the repeated compliments she got from everyone who knew her well—that she was beautiful without all of the “magic” that her stylists and artists wove around her. She had made a point of appearing in front of girls in schools in as little makeup as possible, so that they could see that she was a real person, not just a media image. More than once she had taken her makeup off in front of the music students she spoke to—just to prove to them that there was a great deal of illusion inherent in the industry.
    The car arrived and Amber watched her stylists leave, heading out to their homes or more likely the bars. It would take fifteen minutes to get to Brenton’s house, and then from there another twenty minutes to get to the event. Amber settled in, careful not to crush or wrinkle her gown. She watched the scenery rush past the window of the back of the hired car, smiling slightly and thinking of how nice it would be to see Brenton again; they had both been so busy, it had been days since they’d had more than a few minutes to talk on the phone.
    They pulled up to Brenton’s house in good time; Amber smiled to herself again as the driver parked and got out to knock on the door. It had taken Brent some time to get used to the level of service that Amber had started to accept as customary in the past several years; he admitted to her that he felt a little bit weird at some of the events. She watched eagerly as Brenton came out of the house, sighing with relief and desire at the sight of him: clean-cut, his hair brushed flat against his head, his face shaved, and the suit fit him like a glove. There was absolutely nothing at all for her to be ashamed of showing up with a man as gorgeous as Brenton at any event.
    He climbed into the back seat on the other side and leaned in to kiss her carefully. “You look amazing,” Brenton told her, taking in the dress, the way her body looked in it; Amber grinned at the obvious lust in his eyes, knowing that he would spend the whole night waiting to go back home, to lead her into the bedroom.
    “So do you,” Amber told Brent, reaching out and twining her fingers between his. She sipped carefully from a bottle of water—there would be champagne, cocktails, and hors d’oeuvres at the event, but she wanted to be hydrated before she got there. She and Brenton chatted about their days; she shared David’s comments, telling Brenton that the album was finally starting to really take shape after such a long time in development, that she was starting to be able to see the finished product. Brenton told her about a problem he had solved at work, about Felicity’s new obsession with a particular kid’s show—focused on music. “Maybe I can teach her a thing or two if she’s interested in music now,” Amber suggested playfully.
    “Maybe,” Brenton said. Amber felt a brief flush of irritation. She and Brent had discussed the possibility of her finally meeting his daughter a few times, but it always seemed off in the distance. Whenever she dropped even the slightest hint about interacting with the two-year-old, Brenton would hedge—either saying that he wasn’t sure his daughter was ready to meet the woman he loved, or making a vague comment. I’m just on edge because it’s a public event,