TWELVE
SHE’D NEVER BEEN on a movie set, or a TV show set, or any kind of set. The hubbub of activity was wonderous to witness. Or it might be if her head wasn’t already full.
Most of the people at the Brooker Agency meeting hadn’t spoken a word. Which was fine because she hadn’t either. Mieux was on the ball, taking notes, asking questions, and accepting commands as they were dished out by Renata and her supervisors. It was only a few seconds before the meeting ended that it struck her why there were so many purposeless people present: her.
They wanted a look at the small-town girl who’d come to Hollywood, hit the jackpot, and stolen the heart of one of the best-known, handsomest, faces in town. No one acknowledged that his face was so recognizable because of his scandalous exploits, not his acting talent. Maybe that was it, maybe it was exactly that. His face was recognizable for all the wrong reasons, yet she’d caught his eye and turned him around. Her, the opposite of wild, had tamed the untamable.
Funny, she’d moved away from home to experience new things and take risks. Men. Jobs. Opportunities. Adventures. Whatever came her way, she was supposed to embrace each chance, to be untameable herself, kinda. And there she was, tied down by a man, and a job, opportunities she didn’t want, and escapades outside her control. Not that she wanted escapades with the man tethering her.
Struan. He’d be a different escapade. One she’d embrace.
After dispensing with the formalities at Brooker, they’d been driven to the set of Undercover Ops and escorted through security without a hitch. They were directed to chairs and told to wait, that someone would be along to speak to them. So they waited… and waited.
Outside in the fresh air and glorious sunshine, they only got peeks at what might be going on inside the huge soundstage. It didn’t look like any filming was taking place. Though she hadn’t seen Roman, and didn’t know what any of the surrounding people did. How accurate were her uneducated assumptions? Not even a little.
She didn’t care about seeing her supposed fiancé and wasn’t looking for him. Given the choice, she’d avoid him at all costs. If he wanted her time, he’d have to get in line behind the Lowe at the front of that queue: Struan.
From that angle, she couldn’t see fully inside the main soundstage, she could, however, see into the smaller building next to it. With its massive doors wide open, shadow concealed some of its secrets. But it didn’t hide him. The Lowe she’d kissed, the Lowe who’d held her. The Lowe who’d looked out for her, supported her.
After the fact anyway.
He should’ve told her who he was in the hotel basement. She should be angrier that he hadn’t. Why was she giving him a pass? Why did she accept what happened?
Because he did what he did for family. That’s why. Revealing himself would’ve exposed his brother’s secret. That left Struan two options. Embrace the moment and surrender, as she had, to the intangible force attracting them to each other. Or shut down, sit there cold and quiet and distant. Where would they be if he’d chosen that course? Not there, no, they’d be apart, strangers…Did she want a life free of Struan?
He hadn’t noticed her spying on him doing his job, not as far as she could tell. He and a dozen other guys were talking and practicing fight sequences in slow motion. Though all big guys, well-built and strong, some seemed more confident than others. All looked to the mesmerizing man at the helm, the one she couldn’t tear her eyes from. Even his abrupt actions seemed precise, choreographed. He was so careful, yet definite, in the way he worked each muscle. Was it art? Function? Both.
Why hadn’t she asked about what he did day-to-day for his brother? There, busy, in some kind of leadership role, nothing was hidden, certainly not his existence. Hmm, curious, she’d tap that well later. Since the truth came out, they hadn’t spent much time talking. With so much she didn’t know, communication was important.
Elbow on the arm of the high wood and canvas chair, she relaxed her head against the heel of her hand, resting her curled fingers on the front of her chin. Damn, he was hot, which was nothing to do with the way he looked, okay, yeah, he was easy on the eyes too. That wasn’t all though, he exuded it, that energy, the enticing force didn’t let up for a second.
Struan Lowe. He’d kept her safe and calm when everything went wrong. He’d stepped in for her, looked out for her, apologized to her.
Struan Lowe, whose main concern when first seeing her on that new day was her wellbeing.
Renata and Perry were talking to each other, she could hear the murmur of their conversation but chose not to involve herself or pick out specifics. From the frequency of words passed between them, she guessed their excitement matched what anyone would feel on their first time in such a dynamic environment.
Although not at the most advantageous angle, her lips curled when Struan eventually noticed her. With any other man, she might be embarrassed about being caught drooling. Not with him. Her smile was rooted in his. His attention flicked over her to dart back, his reaction to her presence mirrored hers. Could she be just as enticing? Actually, his interest went a step further. In that second, his lips stopped moving and his body took over, instantly setting course for her.
Correcting her posture, her shoulders went back and hands dropped to her lap. Should she go meet him? Would it be too eager to jump off the chair and run to him? The hurrying over part would quickly be forgotten by onlookers when she threw herself against him.
Why was she so obsessed? They’d seen each other earlier, not that long ago. She shouldn’t want to embrace the joy and thrust herself away from the chair to leap into his arms. That was crazy and not something she’d done with any other man… ever.
This wasn’t the crescendo of any chick flick or holiday movie that saw the main characters finally coming together. Their story had barely begun. They didn’t have a story. Weren’t supposed to have a story. Did they have a story?
Confusion must have shown on her face because his eyes narrowed, though his pace didn’t slow.
Roman never entered her thoughts unless someone brought him up. She and everyone else on the inside understood why. There wasn’t even an inkling of interest, of acknowledgment. It wasn’t just that she wanted to be near Struan, to be in his arms, talking to him, or just alone in that basement without power, once again.
Struan Lowe felt vital to her existence.
Her faux fiancé wasn’t the only one to pale into insignificance. No man matched up. It hadn’t occurred to her to look at any of the men in the vicinity. Even those in shorts or shirtless were invisible. Actors and crew members clearly used to the LA way with impressive physiques, perfect tans, and a sparkle in their eye were meaningless.
She wasn’t a lioness on the Serengeti out desperate for any meal. She wasn’t looking to sink her teeth into someone and never let go in hopes of holding on to the Hollywood dream. Hollywood meant nothing. The TV show meant nothing. WMC, CollCom, big company names were thrown around like she should be awed. She didn’t care. The only thing that distracted her was the glimmer of jealousy that Mieux knew what Struan did with parsnips. Even if the result was hideous, she wanted a taste.
He got halfway to her when someone touched her shoulder. She turned and there was Mieux approaching with two men in her wake.
“Tommy and Teddy,” Mieux said, pointing at one then the other. Yeah, she wouldn’t remember that. “A couple of other guys work with them too. They’re the film crew.”
“For Undercover Ops ?”
Everybody laughed like she’d missed something. Okay, so she’d missed something. Was it funny she’d missed something?
“Oh, no,” said Teddy, maybe Tommy. “We’re doing a Making of… special. We followed some of the preproduction and we’ll film through the reshoot of the pilot with Roman. Right through every stage of prep, filming, press, everything. It’s great exposure, especially these days, when you have to keep up an online presence and really hype what’s coming, what’s new.”
“Okay,” she said, neither impressed nor interested.
Maybe it wasn’t subtle, but she twisted just a little while brushing her hair from her brow. Struan was rooted to the spot he’d stopped on when she got up. The space between his eyelids hadn’t grown, but he didn’t seem confused or concerned anymore. He was pissed off these two men got to her before he did, before he could.
She tried to smile while simultaneously attempting to conceal the truth of her fascination in turning back to the others.
Mieux, thank goodness, had her hand on the wheel. “You’ll be working with them.”
“I’ll be working with them? Just me. Where will Renata and Perry be?”
“No! All of us will be working together,” Renata said and looped an arm through hers as though they were besties.
When did that shift in their relationship happen? She’d missed the memo.
“Whatever your team needs, we’ll provide. Leslie thought it was a good idea to keep a little separation between you and Roman, if you don’t mind. Roman agreed with the idea.”
“I know he did,” she said like he’d already clued her in.
“You do?” Teddy asked, his eyes flicking to each of the faces around him. “We just got done with that conversation.”
“We talked about it before.”
Shooting for confidence may be a bad idea, but she had to own it. On asking questions, she seemed peculiar and out of touch. When she didn’t, she hit presumptuous and grabby. Would she ever get the balance right?
The physical link with her supervisor didn’t last long, thank goodness. Renata and Perry were quick to follow the guys.
Mieux quickly took her place, using the connection to slow and put some space between them and the others. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. We shouldn’t miss what the others—”
“I’m here for you.” Which had been said many times. “Do you want to find Roman?”
“No, he’s working.”
“Struan?” How did she not react to that? Eyes front. Keep walking. “My job involves discretion.”
“I read Brooker’s handbook too.”
Was she getting snarky? None of this was Mieux’s problem or fault.
“Not like this.” Mieux pulled them to a halt. “I don’t talk about my clients; I don’t puff myself up. I pride myself on what I do. My job is the most important thing in my life; it’s all I have.”
Had someone said something or was this seemingly innocuous woman sharper than she let on?
Could be that, or she was taking a chance at grabbing some gossip. Something told her Mieux wouldn’t be trusted by the people who trusted her if she was untrustworthy.
Huh?
“We should catch up with the others.”
Though the Making of… crew were generous in their tour, too many eyes stalked her. She couldn’t stand it. How could anyone stand it? Okay, so these people were just getting to know Roman. Maybe. She’d hit the headlines at exactly the point his Undercover Ops colleagues were most curious.
But shit, did people actually covet this kind of attention?
At the craft table, where crew and cast, lowly cast, socialized, they stalled.
Inside the soundstage everything moving and static had a place. Had a purpose. Needed to be there to bring the vision of—
“Bambi?” The man smiling at her made a point of blocking her from the others. “It’s an honor to meet you.”
Why? Because he believed her to be nailing the star of the show? Quite an honor.
“Are you Teddy or Freddy?”
“Tommy.”
“Right. Sorry.” And uh… “It’s nice to meet you too.”
“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but is he like they say? That passionate?”
“You haven’t met?”
Damn, was that another of her stupid questions?
“No, not yet, he stays on the back lot. The back, back lot. We don’t have much time here, though I do hope we’ll get some sound bites before we head out on location.”
On location? She clamped her jaw tight. Location? Sure, they were going on location, she knew that. Just what location would that be?
Ah, ha, maybe she’d get a reprieve. She could stay behind while her boyfriend—wait, no. Damnit. She couldn’t stay behind if Brooker were sticking with the production of these Making guys.
“A lot of fun to be had,” she said on an awkward laugh.
What the hell did that mean? Maybe they should’ve told everyone she didn’t speak the language. Would be easier on all of them.