22. Sierra
22
SIERRA
On a movie set, actors are the center of attention. I was used to having the director, the camera operators, and a dozen more people focused on me. But nothing could’ve prepared me for the way Carter, Tristan, and Drew were looking at me right now.
Tristan was nearest. He’d just offered me a drink, and I’d nodded, but he hadn’t moved to get it. None of them had.
Finally, he spoke again. “You packed that to go out with your friend and her boyfriends?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Because that’s not a Denver dress. That’s a dress for going to the Oscars.”
“No, I didn’t get to keep my dress for the Oscars.” I sure wished I had, though. It had made me feel like a princess. This one made me feel more like a seductive siren. Or it would if I could get over my nerves.
“You went to the Oscars?”
“Once, yes. I was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for an indie film I was in. Didn’t win, though.” That whole thing about it being an honor just to be nominated was very real, however. It had been one of the best nights of my life.
Somehow, I had a feeling that tonight might rival it.
But first, we had to get the evening started, and none of them were moving. They were all still looking at me, which was a shame because they all looked super hot and it was too awkward to stare at them while they were staring at me.
I turned to Carter. “Do I smell something burning?” I didn’t, but it was enough to get him hurrying back into the kitchen.
Tristan grinned, possibly aware of why I’d said that. That was good. I preferred the man with the grin and the knowing look to the one who’d just stood there looking stunned.
“What do we have to drink?” I asked.
“I’ll find out,” Tristan said, heading for the kitchen.
That left just one catatonic man. I moved closer to Drew. He looked amazing. The dress shirt did very little to hide his bulging biceps, but it made him look sophisticated and handsome.
And he had real slacks on, not jeans. Not that he didn’t look good in jeans, but this outfit made him look charming. Plus, if the evening took a naughty direction and he got hard, the lighter-weight fabric of his pants might make him a little more comfortable.
Since he still hadn’t moved, I placed my fingers on his jaw, rubbing the smooth skin. “You shaved.”
“Yes,” he said hoarsely.
“It looks good.”
I stepped to the side as Carter came out with a plate of bruschetta. “That smells amazing,” I said as he passed. Then I frowned as he put it on the worktable. “We’re eating out here?”
“No, we’ll eat in the kitchen,” he said. He had on a t-shirt that had food stains on it, which wasn’t surprising since he was our chef tonight. But his black jeans hugged his ass in an enticing way, and his black boots made him look extra tall. I was already completely on board with date night.
With my hand on Drew’s shoulder for support, I balanced on my toes and whispered into his ear. “Thank you so much for going down there to get my dress for me.”
“Totally worth it,” Carter muttered as he made his way back to the kitchen, and I laughed.
“Are you brave enough to try the appetizers?” I asked Drew.
He blinked and seemed to snap out of it. “Brave?”
I smiled. “Because Carter made them.”
“I’m game if you are.”
Game was the perfect way to describe me. I wanted to try new things tonight. Many new things. But that meant showing far more courage than it took to try Carter’s food. It also required solving a problem I hadn’t anticipated.
Everyone was acting like I’d just been beamed down to the cabin. Like I wasn’t the same person they’d known for all this time. Sure, they all looked really hot, but I knew they were the same as when they were wearing baggy clothes and in need of a shave.
Tristan appeared with a bottle of chardonnay. Carter was right behind him, and my jaw nearly dropped. He’d changed into a steel-gray button-down shirt that made him look as dangerous as he looked handsome.
Okay, so maybe it was jarring to see someone you knew transform themselves.
Tristan poured the wine into four glasses.
“A toast,” Carter began, once we all had one. “To your screenplay getting made into a movie,” he began with a sexy little bow in my direction. “And to our company being a success.”
“A huge success,” I said, as we clinked our glasses together.
The cool liquid tickled my throat in a pleasant way. Maybe this would help me relax. Hopefully, it would help all of us relax.
When Carter went back to attend to the meal, I pulled Tristan aside. “Are you sure we should be doing this?” I said with a sly smile as I tilted my head toward the kitchen. “I’m not sure you’ve considered how far away we are from the nearest poison control center.”
He chuckled quietly, and behind him, Drew smiled.
“Trust me,” Tristan said. “He’s perfected this meal over the years. His goal is to impress women, not send them to get their stomachs pumped.”
“Good to know.” Personally, I thought the easiest way for Carter to impress a woman was to take off his shirt and keep his mouth shut. But I was willing to give this way a shot, too.
Taking a bite of the bruschetta, I tried not to smear my makeup, which felt strange. For years, it had been a daily thing. Here, I’d almost forgotten how to apply it.
But I’d have to get used to it again for the press tour. It was less than two weeks from now.
And that meant leaving Tristan, Carter and Drew.
That was yet another reason to dread it. Then again, going on the tour would also mean meeting Miranda and showing her my screenplay. Carter had even remembered that and included it in the toast.
“Why are you smiling?” Drew asked. He held an appetizer in his hand, but he hadn’t taken a bite yet.
There were many answers I could’ve given him, but I chose the one that was the most pertinent at the moment. “I’m on a date.”
“Dinner’s ready.” Carter stood in the doorway to the kitchen, and if he was nervous about the meal, he didn’t show it.
To my surprise, the round wooden table had been transformed. The place settings were the same, but there were several lit candles and even a centerpiece of sorts, with evergreen branches and pinecones.
“Who did the décor?” I asked.
“Me.” Tristan looked a little sheepish. “I know the pine sprigs look a little Christmassy, but I didn’t have much to work with.”
Carter came up behind me and set a covered dish down on the table. “Too bad we couldn’t have sent Drew down for flowers, too.”
“It looks nice,” I told Tristan as he held my chair for me. Such a gentleman. I reached out to touch a candle. It was rather on the short and squat side, and didn’t give off any scent.
“It’s an emergency candle,” Tristan said when he was seated next to me. “It was all we had.”
“Looks like we all did our part,” I observed. Carter had cooked. Tristan had decorated. Drew had gotten my suitcase from my cabin, and I’d taken the time to look my best. It wasn’t the same as preparing a meal for everyone, but I hoped the men knew how glad I was to be here with them tonight.
Carter had gone full-on Italian for the meal, and I wondered if he was of Italian descent. His dark hair and eyes made it a definite possibility. Didn’t really matter. He could be part goblin and he’d still be handsome as hell.
But he actually made a pretty decent fettuccini Alfredo, especially considering we were operating with a limited pantry. There was no salad, which would’ve gone well with it, but it was still a decent meal.
“My compliments to the chef.” I raised my nearly empty wine glass and then finished it.
Tristan refilled it, but I made him stop when it was half full.
“Want more fettuccini?” Carter asked.
“No, thank you. There’s not much extra room in this dress.”
“So I noticed,” he said with a smirk that made my thighs clench.
Tristan and Carter ate large portions of pasta, but Drew still seemed not quite like himself. He was probably tired from his trip down to my cabin and back. Still, it would be good to get him talking. “What’s the best meal you’ve ever had?”
He grinned, looking like his normal self. “This one, of course.” He tipped an imaginary cap to Carter, and we all laughed.
“Way to suck up to the boss,” I said.
Tristan shook his head. “It’s not like that. We’re partners. We’ve all got roles to play. We’re all in charge of different aspects of the company.”
“So all three of you are the bosses? That’s good, but don’t you need to have some people to boss around?”
“Are you volunteering?” Carter gave me an exaggerated leer that still managed to make my pulse speed up.
“Nope. I’m a boss, too.”
Drew gave me a high five, and I grinned like a Cheshire cat. It was true that I hadn’t always been a boss. In fact, I’d spent most of my career getting bossed around, although not in whatever dirty way Carter was thinking. My agent and my mother—mostly my mother—had controlled my career. But now I’d cut ties with the latter.
As for my agent, she’d wanted me to book more high-profile movies after we wrapped Thrill of the Chase , but I’d prioritized my screenplay. Doing my own thing had gotten me a genuine shot to get my script into the hands of a talented director… and it had indirectly brought me to the table with these amazing men.
At last, the men seemed to have eaten their fill. “I definitely don’t have room for dessert,” Drew said.
“Me either,” I added.
“Good,” Carter said. “Because there isn’t any.”
Drew looked incensed. “Your world-renowned date-night dinner doesn’t include dessert?”
“Dessert usually happens in the bedroom,” Carter said.
That didn’t sit well with Tristan. “Don’t be crass.”
“It’s the truth, though.”
“You can tell the truth and still be crass at the same time,” Drew pointed out.
“Yes, I can. It’s kind of one of my specialties.” Carter winked at me, and I giggled.
“Uh-oh,” Tristan said, looking me over. “How much have you had to drink?”
“A glass and a half. Why?”
“Because you’re supposed to be offended by my colleague here when he’s like that, not laughing with him.”
“At him,” Drew corrected.
“No, it was with him,” I said. When the others looked skeptical, I shrugged. “He made me a good meal. And it was funny. What more can I say?”
“Clearly your pasta does make ladies melt,” Drew muttered.
“Told you,” Carter said smugly.
I couldn’t help grinning. We were all being silly, like we had been during the snowball fight, but the conversation was slightly more adult. Plus, we all looked way better. This was fun.
“So what’s next on our date-night agenda?”
Carter’s gaze fell on the pine-sprig centerpiece. “Judging by Tristan’s decorations, I’d say opening presents under the tree.”
Tristan elbowed Carter, and that got me giggling again.
“I guess, unfortunately, dishes come next,” Drew said. “But not for Carter, he cooked.”
“Date-night dishes don’t get done until the next morning,” Carter said, as if quoting a well-known law.
“I like these rules,” I said.
“I’ve got more,” Carter began, but Tristan cut him off.
“No, you don’t.”
Drew was watching the two of them bicker with as much amusement as I was. “Shall we go into the other room?”
“The little one with the washer and dryer?” I asked, still laughing.
Drew shook his head. “What happened to the shy young woman who wouldn’t say more than two words in a row to us when she first arrived?”
“She gets to show her screenplay to a world-famous director,” I said immediately.
“Damn straight, she does.” Carter stood and offered me a hand. “Let’s go sit by the fire.”
I put my hand in his and he pulled me easily to my feet. With the high-heeled strappy sandals that went with the dress, I was taller than usual, but Carter still made me feel tiny. He put his arm around my waist, and we walked into the main room. I hesitated when he led me around to the sofa.
“What’s wrong?” His arched eyebrow was sexy as hell.
“If we sit there, we’re just going to light a fire and watch a movie, same as other nights.”
“There are other things people can do on a sofa,” Carter said in a soft and seductive voice, but Drew heard him anyway.
“She’s aware of that.”
My cheeks heated, but instead of retreating in embarrassment, I just smiled. “I just want tonight to be different.”
Tristan came up on my other side. “I think you mean special.”
“Exactly.”
“I wish it could be,” he murmured. “You look so damn incredible that you should be dancing in the arms of a prince at a ball.”
“Or on the arm of 007 at a casino in Monte Carlo,” Carter added.
“Yes, let’s do that,” I said excitedly.
Drew laughed. “We can’t even get to Denver, let alone Europe.”
“But we could pretend we’re in a glamorous casino. Has anyone got a deck of cards?” I insisted.
“There’s some on the bookcase back by the laundry room,” Tristan said. “But I thought you wanted this night to be special.”
“It will be. We’re all dressed up. We’re drinking wine. Sounds like a sophisticated way to spend the evening to me.”
“Not if we play strip poker,” Carter commented.
Tristan laughed. “Not what we were going for, but yeah, that would be pretty damn memorable.”
I nodded. “It would.”
Drew, who had gone to get the cards, came to a halt in front of me. “You’re not serious.”
“That it would be memorable? Seems like a fairly uncontroversial statement to me.”
“Don’t get too excited, son,” Carter told him. “She’s not saying she’ll do it, she’s just saying that it would be memorable if we did.”
“If you say so. So what’s the game then? Cribbage? Hearts? Go Fish?”
“Sounds like you’re looking for something less tame than that,” Carter said. I had to twist my head to look up at him because he was still quite close.
“If so, that’s the wine talking,” Drew insisted.
“She can speak for herself,” Carter said, and I smiled up at him.
Drew deserved a smile, too. He thought he was saving me from a decision fueled by wine, but he was wrong. It was a decision fueled by the fact that I’d spent years playing poker on various sets. There was a lot of downtime between shoots, and while I didn’t always get along with my costars, the crew was often made up of the nicest people you’d ever meet.
Plus, there was something else. My poker face was world-class, and bluffing was as easy as breathing for me.
“I tell you what. I’ll go find some more wine. While I’m gone, why don’t you all choose the game.” When I walked to the kitchen, I could feel three pairs of eyes watching me leave.
There was another bottle of wine on the counter, but I waited an extra minute or two before gathering up our glasses and heading back into the living room. The men had their heads together in a huddle, but they broke away when they spotted me.
Drew poured the wine while the others filled me in.
“If you’re sure you want to do this, then we’ve got to make it fair,” Tristan said, sounding almost accusing. “We’re each wearing seven items of clothing—two socks, two shoes, pants, shirt, and underwear.”
“I’m not wearing underwear,” Carter said.
“That’s your own damn fault.” Tristan turned back to me. “I would assume you’ve got five items on—two shoes, the dress, bra, and panties, right?”
“Right.” I didn’t tell him that my bra barely covered my nipples, because I didn’t intend to lose any of my clothes tonight.
“We’ll take off our shoes so that we all start with a level playing field.”
“Sounds good.” I smiled at my marks. “Let’s play.”