Billion Dollar Boyfriend (Celebrity Love)

Chapter Five

"Is it Disneyland?"

Aiden chuckled at Shelby's question. "Nope. We're not dining with Mickey, and you'd probably never talk to me again if I made you drive to Anaheim with me the first time we went out."

"True enough," she agreed. "Beverly Hills?"

He shook his head, keeping his eyes on the road. "Much closer than that."

"Can I have a hint?"

"That was the hint," he teased her. "You still have one more guess."

Shelby scrunched her nose. "What, are you the genie who grants three guesses instead of three wishes?"

"That's what they start with at genie school before they teach you how to fit inside a magic lamp."

"Uh huh." She folded her arms and fixed her eyes on him. "Don't you need shiny gold harem pants and a bare chest to be a genie?"

"I'm saving those for next time when we go somewhere that doesn't have rules about a shirt, suit jacket, and tie." He winked, then signaled to turn onto Franklin Avenue.

Next time. Aiden was kidding around, but Shelby couldn't keep her mind from racing ahead to the future, or from conjuring up an image of him, shirtless.

Stop it, she commanded herself. They'd only been driving for ten minutes. That was dangerously soon into a first date to be mentally undressing him, and she still had the entire night to get through.

Shelby settled back against the leather seat of Aiden's Range Rover and forced herself to focus on what she saw out the passenger window. It wasn't long before they turned again, this time into a winding driveway she had passed by countless times while driving down this street.

"Hold the phone. We're really going here?" Her gaze ping-ponged from Aiden's face to the driveway that led up a hill to the Magic Castle.

"We are. Ready for dinner and a night full of magic?"

Shelby knew he meant the magic shows that happened in the castle, but to her, being here and getting to go inside qualified as magic on its own.

"How did you get us on the list?" She didn't even try to hide the awe in her voice.

There were only a few ways Shelby knew of to get in to the Magic Castle. One was to be a magician performing there, or to be invited as a guest of one. Staying at the adjacent hotel could also get someone inside. The only other ways to gain entry she had heard of were to be invited as a guest of a member, or to actually be a member, and rumor had it the membership fee was on the spendy side. She didn't know how Aiden had gotten them access, and it didn't matter. She couldn't stop staring at the castle turrets as they came into view.

"I can't tell you all of my secrets." Aiden waggled his eyebrows and attempted a mysterious look, but he was beaming.

He slowed the Range Rover to a stop and shifted into park. A valet attendant was at Shelby's door in a flash and helped her out of the vehicle. Moments later, she and Aiden were walking over to a man standing in front of the castle's entrance. Aiden took a step forward and said something to him Shelby didn't hear, and then they were ushered inside.

The front lobby felt like taking a step into another time, somewhere far away from modern Hollywood. Shelby noticed the wood paneling, patterned carpet, and red wallpaper, along with a bookcase Aiden led her over to.

"Want to say the words to get us in?" he asked.

She nodded. "Sure. What are they?"

He leaned over and whispered to her. "Say 'open sesame' to the owl."