Actually Love - Jessie & Zach by Melanie Shawn Read Free Book Online Page A

into the Google search bar, she’d done a double take when she’d seen that instantly there were over ten million results. Countless articles had been written about him. Jessie had been poring over them for the last two hours and had learned that, not only was Zach a light heavyweight world champion, he was also undefeated and had the nickname “Playboy.” From what she’d been able to glean, he’d picked up said nickname because, when he was training in a gym, the “ring bunnies” multiplied exponentially .
    Part of the reason that Jessie was having such a hard time processing all of the information she was seeing and reading was because the person in these pics and articles was not the person she’d met in the basement, stood next to in the sunny kitchen, or gone to Rise and Grind with. That Zach was nothing like what these images and words depicted.
    Being in marketing and advertising, Jessie obviously knew that all of this “press” could just be hype. After working at SPC for only a few months, she’d been promoted to vice president of public relations. They had several athletes on their roster, and Jessie knew that athletes, much more than actors, could be very difficult to market. It was obvious that, whoever Zach’s publicist was, they were doing a damn fine job. He was everywhere. On lists. In magazines. Featured in entertainment reports. There was a delicate balance between good exposure and overexposure, and Zach’s team was walking that line beautifully.
    Jessie’s eyes scanned down the page, landing on a shot of Zach hitting a speed bag. Every single muscle on his bare chest, shoulders, and arms was chiseled to mouth-watering perfection. Right-clicking the thumbnail, Jessie let out a little sigh as his image filled the entirety of her eighteen-inch screen.
    She looked over every inch thinking that this pic had to have been Photoshopped. There was no way a man with that face could have that body. Jessie could spot a Photoshopped picture from a mile away, and after carefully scrutinizing every inch, she came to the conclusion that Zach had not been digitally enhanced. The only way she could rationalize what she was seeing was that God must have been in a really good mood the day he made Zach.
    “Daaaayamm! Who’s the man-candy?!” Krista’s voice startled Jessie, and she jumped about an inch off the kitchen chair.
    “No one.” Jessie clicked the corner of the screen, closing the page, trying her best to regain her composure before Snoop Doggy Dogg, a.k.a. her sister, picked up on how rattled she was.
    “Oh good, there’s coffee!” Krista exclaimed as she made her way over to the fresh pot of coffee sitting on the marble countertop beside the sink.
    Of course there’s coffee…because I made it. Just like I do every morning.
    Krista blew on her fresh, steaming cup of coffee as she padded back to the table. After setting her ceramic mug down, she wrapped her blue robe tighter around her as she slid into the light-oak chair on Jessie’s left and raised her brows suspiciously.
    “I don’t know who that is, but he is definitely not no one . He is a fine piece of grade-A—”
    Jessie interrupted what was sure to be a descriptive assessment of Zach’s assets by saying, “Don’t you have a fiancé you should be Skyping with?”
    “He’s doing a morning show radio interview.” Jessie’s sister lifted her wrist and looked at her silver watch. “I have at least another hour or so before Skype-time.”
    “So how are things going with Chase being on the road so much?” Jessie asked. Mainly because she wanted to get Krista’s super-sniffer as far away from the Zach Courtland trail as possible, but also because she really did want to check in with her sister.
    Krista and Chase had gotten engaged a few months ago, and since that time, he had to be on the road promoting his first solo album. She knew that it must be hard on her sister. After spending ten years apart, they’d just reunited