Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
Zita wanted to kick herself. Why was she such an idiot?
She was always putting her foot in her mouth when she met new people.
Especially when they made her uncomfortable.
And Obadiah Engle definitely fell into that category.
She’d read up on him—as much as she’d been able to find, which probably wasn’t even a drop in the bucket.
He was a true hero. The missions he’d been on were full of danger and his skills as a pilot were unmatched. Not only that, but the man was freaking gorgeous. And that was saying something, considering she spent her life around men and women who made at least part of their living on their looks.
But Sage’s vibe was completely different from the actors and actresses she knew. Even the stuntmen and women had an air of…superiority about them? She wasn’t sure if that was the right word. But they all knew how good they looked. How revered they were on set. How special.
Sage? His wide-eyed wonder at seeing everything on the set was refreshing. It didn’t matter that he was an actual hero. It made her smile at how excited he was to be there, and to be sharing his knowledge.
And him saying he was a nobody? What a joke. Carmen was going to pounce on him; Zita knew that without having to think twice. She’d see how different he was from every other man on set, and she’d immediately set her sights on him.
Zita actually felt a little sorry for Sage. What he was in for.
It was surprising that, instead of being excited over the idea the famous actress might want a fling, he seemed almost panicked.
He’d asked her to not leave him alone with Carmen, and Zita had no problem with that request. For one, she needed to escort him to the assistant director afterward, anyway, who wanted to discuss the end scene being filmed that morning.
The thing about movies was that they were never filmed in chronological order.
Today, Carmen and Logan were actually starting with the touching reunion scene that takes place at the end of the movie.
Logan had spent the last three months losing thirty pounds to match what his character would look like after spending time in the wilderness without much food and after walking miles each day.
He’d get a month-long break after all the forest scenes were done, to bulk up before coming back to finish filming the early scenes in the movie, where he was muscular and healthy and living with his family.
The helicopters they were using in the film were on loan from the US Army.
They weren’t the actual choppers the Night Stalkers flew, for security reasons, and Sage would be giving his thoughts on those as well, when the time came.
For now, he had a fairly busy morning ahead of him, and the last thing Zita wanted was his time on set starting off on the wrong foot due to any delays.
They arrived at the trailer and Zita knocked on the door. She heard someone call out, “Enter!” and looked over at Sage.
“Ready?” she asked.
“Ready,” he confirmed.
She opened the door, and he held it open as she went up the two stairs into the small space.
Henry Grubbner was sitting on a plush couch with a large sheaf of papers in his lap and Carmen sitting next to him.
She wore a pale yellow dress printed with large white flowers.
Logan was standing off to the side, leaning against a small counter, and he’d obviously already been through wardrobe and makeup, because he looked like hell.
He’d had what looked like dirt spraypainted on his arms and face, and his clothing consisted of a ripped and stained pair of coveralls and worn-in boots.
He had a scraggly beard, and his hair was long, greasy and dusty, and hanging over his forehead.
It was Logan who moved first. He smiled and held out a hand to Sage as he boomed, “Welcome to the set!”
His tone was completely at odds with his appearance, and while stuff like that used to startle Zita, nothing much fazed her after all her time working in the business, and seeing actors and actresses move in and out of the roles they were playing.
Not to mention the sci-fi movies she’d worked on, when the actors and extras were all dressed as various forms of aliens.
Sage held out his own hand to shake Logan’s. “It’s good to be here.”
“Hi. I’m Carmen,” the actress purred. She’d stood up, smiling flirtatiously at Sage as she sidled up to him and held out her hand.
To Sage’s credit, he didn’t sound any more or less welcoming as he shook her hand and said hello.
His eyes didn’t stray to her chest, and even though it was obvious Carmen was in actress mode, putting her best…
assets forward, Sage wasn’t reacting the way she was used to when men met her for the first time.
“Your suggestions on the script have been dead on,” Henry said, as he also stood.
“Thank you, sir.”
“I’m not a sir,” he said immediately. “It’s just Henry.”
“And I’m Obi-Wan,” Sage told the group.
“Let me guess…Star Wars fan?” Logan asked.
Sage smiled and nodded.
“Sweet. Hey, Henry tells me you’ve been through that evasion school thing, right?”
“SERE training. Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape, yes.”
“Cool! I have some questions about that, if you’ve got a minute at some point.”
“I’ll probably have more minutes than you,” he said, with a polite grin.
Zita was relieved the two men were getting along.
She’d worked on one of Logan’s movies where he and his costar did not get along.
It was painful for everyone because of the tension on the set.
While Sage wasn’t one of the stars, he’d be around a lot for filming, and things could get very awkward if Logan decided he didn’t think any of Sage’s suggestions were helpful or needed.
“I’ve got some questions too,” Carmen said, leaning in and placing a hand on Sage’s arm.
“Sure,” Sage said diplomatically, turning toward Henry at the same time, smoothly dislodging her hand as he did so.
“I have some suggestions for that scene, specifically the dialogue, where the hero’s hiding feet from where the bad guys are standing.
The North Korean soldiers wouldn’t use the lingo that’s currently in the script.
I have a few ideas on how to make it more authentic. More militaristic.”
“All right. Get with my script supervisor and she’ll make the changes, check with me on what was updated, and then the actors involved in the scene will get them.”
“Sounds good.”
“Right. It’s good to meet you. Now, we all need to get on set and get this show on the road,” Henry said in a no-nonsense tone.
Logan shook Sage’s hand once more and followed Henry out of the trailer.
Zita wasn’t surprised that Carmen hung back. She stared at Zita, as if waiting on her to leave too, but Zita had made a promise to Sage that she wasn’t leaving him alone with the woman, and she never broke a vow if she could help it.
She leaned against the counter, staring at the actress with more bravery than she would’ve thought possible.
At thirty-five, Zita wasn’t an old-timer in the movie industry, but she had enough experience under her belt to know that even if the actors and actresses got irritated with her, there wasn’t much they could do about her presence on set.
She had an ironclad contract with her union, and unless there was an egregious breach of protocol on her part, she couldn’t easily be fired.
Carmen’s eyes narrowed as she stared at Zita, but when it became clear she didn’t seem inclined to leave, the actress huffed out an annoyed breath before wiping all irritation from her expression and looking at Sage.
At five-ten, Carmen was actually taller than him, her heels making her even more so, so as she crept up beside the man, she was looking down into his eyes as she spoke.
“This is your first time on a movie set, right?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“If you want, after my scenes are done this morning, I can show you around. Give you a tour. Show you the things that most people don’t have access to.”
Zita wanted to roll her eyes. There weren’t many places that were off-limits to her as the set medic.
But it was obvious Carmen was trying to impress the man.
It was likely the tactic had worked for her in the past…
and she assumed Carmen was insinuating that she’d show him her personal trailer.
Those spaces were off-limits to all but a handful of people on the set.
“I appreciate the offer, but Zita’s shown me all the places I need to see. Besides, I’ll be gone by the time you’re done with work for the day. I’ve got to get back to the naval base.”
“Oh,” Carmen said with a pretty pout. She ran a finger over the patch on his left shoulder. “I’d love to get a tour of a real-life naval base sometime. I’m sure it’s fascinating.”
Jeez. The woman wasn’t even trying to be subtle.
“Actually, there aren’t public tours available, I’m afraid. Although you can see most of it via the Victory Rover, a narrated cruise that lets you see a lot of the naval ships up close.”
Zita wanted to laugh. Sage was either being incredibly obtuse, or doing an amazing job of keeping a straight face by pretending to not understand what Carmen was fishing for…namely, a personal invitation to tour the base with him.
“I thought maybe you could show me your helicopters personally,” Carmen simpered, giving up on being coy.
“Sorry, but that won’t be possible. The hangar is off-limits to civilians,” Sage said simply.
“Darn. Well, maybe we can come up with something else to do.”
“You’re obviously a beautiful and successful woman, but I’m not looking to date anyone right now. I’m sorry.”
Once again, Zita was impressed with Sage’s matter-of-fact tone—and that he was being incredibly blunt without being rude about turning down Carmen’s advances.
“That’s too bad. But I’ve found that men change their minds all the time. Have you ever dated a famous actress?”
“No.”