Chapter 3
If Kayla had a list of things she wanted to have happen, being knocked over by a dog and ruining a take was probably near the bottom of that list. She wasn't hurt: the winter coat and layers had saved her from much more than a bounce off the sidewalk.
But it was embarrassing, and it meant they absolutely had to get the next take right because the film really didn't have the budget for re-shooting a scene an infinite number of times.
However, the guy responsible for knocking her over saying her name, her real name, was much, much lower on that list of things she wanted to have happen.
She didn't want to be recognized in Virtue.
She didn't want to be remembered. She didn't especially want to be there, because of the risk of those things happening.
And now practically the first person she'd interacted with who wasn't an actual member of the film crew… knew who she was.
Anderson said, "Kylie?" with interest, and Kayla was suddenly painfully aware that there were about thirty of her coworkers standing around, getting a front-row seat to Kayla's Hometown History Coming Home To Haunt Her.
She could probably make a movie out of the idea.
She just didn't know if it would be a comedy or a horror film.
There was no backing out of it now. Pretending she wasn't Kylie Quinn would just be embarrassing. So Kayla gathered herself, tried not to rub her hip where she'd landed on the sidewalk, and actually looked at the guy whose dog had knocked her over.
It took a few seconds before she said her own faint, "Oh my God. Jordan Rhodes. I didn't recognize you."
She hadn't. She wouldn't have. Kayla remembered Jordan as a slim, not terribly tall kid a couple years ahead of her in school.
He'd done drama and been in art classes; that was where she knew him from.
She'd liked him, in a sort of generalized 'upperclassman she only had a few real interactions with' kind of way.
He'd been a terrific artist; Kayla remembered that for sure.
He'd grown up tall. Tall and broad-shouldered, with a long, well-shaped jaw that framed a smile whose dimple it turned out she remembered, too.
A blush of heat ran through her at that dimple, in fact, casting her back to high school and the sudden conviction that she'd forgotten how she'd nursed a liiiiiiiittle crush on Jordan Rhodes.
He wore a winter cap shoved back on his head, revealing a bit of thick sandy blonde hair that tended toward curls, and darkish eyebrows over twinkling brown eyes.
He had a great nose. Who ever cared about noses?
It turned out Kayla did, at least in this case.
He was absolutely devastatingly attractive. He was—
Jordan said, "Kylie," again in complete delight.
"I didn't recognize you either. What are you doing here?
I'm so sorry," he added—repeated—with a gesture around at the chaos his dog had caused.
"You look great! Look, I'm really sorry, but would you like to go get a cup of coffee and catch up?
I'll explain the whole mess with the dog—this is Barney, I just picked him up to dog sit this morning and I had no idea he would bolt like that—but it's great to see you! "
It was not great to see Jordan. It was absolutely not great, because Kayla had a whole series of terrible romances just barely in her rear view mirror, and she was not prepared for Jordan Rhodes, high school cutie-nerd and adult hottie, to be her fated mate.
Woo-hoo! her owl said joyfully.
"No, obviously you can't have coffee right now," Jordan went on with an incredible amount of cheer for a guy who'd just let his dog knock somebody over.
The dog, which wasn't all that big, was sitting against his legs now, looking abjectly sorry for having caused trouble.
"What's going on, some kind of news segment?
I'm sorry I got in the way. Oh, God, I hope this doesn't turn into a 'local man is a clown' thing.
Are you doing some kind of interview? That's great, good job, what are you up to these days, anyway? "
Kayla cleared her throat. "I'm filming a movie."
"No kidding, holy crap, really? That's amazing!
Is that what you're doing these days? I've been an extra on a couple of films, wow it's boring.
Is that what you're doi—" Jordan's mouth froze mid-word.
His entire self froze, in fact, like there would be a record scratch and a voiceover saying, I bet you're wondering how I got here, before the film rewound to explain the backstory.
Kayla's owl perked up, watching Jordan carefully. When prey went still like that, it meant it was afraid it had been seen. The owl was prepared to throw itself on Jordan if he moved even an inch.
Hunt, the owl said with injured dignity. I will hunt our fated mate, not throw myself on him. That's what you want to do.
I do not!
The owl gave her a slow blink that Kayla, with great effort, managed to ignore.
Jordan was now moving, but only with his gaze: it went back and forth, taking in the film crew, the lights, the cameras, all of it.
Somebody was brushing snow off Anderson, who was gazing rather soulfully at Jordan.
Well, Kayla couldn't blame him for that: Jordan had grown up very nicely.
Cyril, their director, was around the corner yelling, but most of the rest of the crew was grinning dippily between Jordan and Kayla, obviously waiting to see what happened next.
What happened was that Jordan's gaze came back to Kayla and he swallowed. "You're, uh. You're not an extra, are you."
She didn't want to smile. That felt like it would be encouraging not only Jordan, but the entire, riveted crew. The corner of her mouth betrayed her and Kayla bit the inside of her cheek, trying to control the little grin. "No, I'm not."
"You're, uh." Jordan cleared his throat, glanced past her at Anderson, and visibly winced from the bottom of his soul as his attention returned to her. "You're the star, aren't you."
Kayla had to suck both her cheeks in to keep the smile from winning. "I am."
Jordan's whole face crumpled. "And I just ruined your meet cute, didn't I."
"Actually," Anderson said before Kayla could speak, "I think you just orchestrated a real one.
Ethan Anderson, but for God's sake, call me Anderson.
It's nice to meet you…Jordan, was it?" He stepped forward, offering Jordan his hand, and Kayla's attempts at keeping her laughter under control completely failed as Jordan made an incoherent noise, shook Anderson's hand, and forgot to let go as he gazed, starry-eyed, up at her costar.
Kayla couldn't blame him at all. Anderson was ridiculously attractive, with chiseled cheekbones and a jaw that superheroes would weep to claim as their own.
He had soft hair that fell in just exactly the waves and curls that the hair and makeup team wanted them to, and his dark gaze offered deliciously wicked promises to be fulfilled in the deep of night.
He dressed beautifully—even his home-town flannel and jeans were somehow elevated just by being lucky enough to be on his tall, strong, muscular body—and Kayla knew that his hands were unbelievably soft, the mark of a man who had never done physical labor in his life.
Jordan, with unmistakable sincerity, said, "Wow," to Anderson. "I'm, hi. You're, wow. Jordan. No. I'm Jordan, yes. Anderson. Hi."
A giggling rush ran over the watching crew. Kayla wasn't immune to it herself, although she mashed a hand over her mouth to try to muffle it. Her owl hooted, But he's our mate! in dismay, and Kayla broke down in giggles behind her hand.
Yes, he is, and it's fine, he can break Anderson's heart by being completely uninterested.
The owl, not wrongly, said, He's acting interested!
Anderson is stupidly attractive, Kayla said, still grinning hugely. He affects a lot of people like that. Straight men, gay women, the occasional ace enby.
"I am desperate to learn how you know Kayla," Anderson purred with an expression that wouldn't melt butter in his mouth. "We could discuss it over coffee, unless you know a nice little intimate hole to snug up into around here."
"I. Oh. I. Gosh. That would be swell." Poor Jordan looked like a deer in headlines—or maybe an owl, given how wide his eyes were—and Anderson lit up.
Kayla couldn't help it. She dissolved into laughter and stepped up to elbow Anderson, who had apparently forgotten he was cold, now that he had a new man to flirt with.
"We're filming, Andy. Come on. Don't worry," she told Jordan.
"He has that effect on everybody. Just don't agree to anything he says until you've had a chance to examine it for double entendres, because anything he suggests is going to be full of them.
Besides," she added to Anderson, "I've got dibs on coffee first."
Jordan was still trying to catch up, first gazing at Anderson and apparently reviewing what the film star had said for possible double-entendre, then blushing furiously as he found one.
The blush was still in full force as he also caught up to what Kayla had said, and brightened like a star on a Christmas tree.
"Really? Coffee? That's great! When are you free? "
Anderson cast her a positively betrayed glance and sniffed, stalking back to his place for the next take.
Cyril hadn't made an appearance, suggesting someone was keeping him apprised of the situation.
The crew were setting up for another take; they just were doing that and watching everything with Jordan, Kayla and Anderson unfold all at the same time.
Kayla hadn't fully intended to agree to coffee with her old-classmate-slash-new-fated-mate.
On the other hand, at the speed Anderson could move, Jordan might have found himself agreeing to a wedding date before anybody could even get a cup of coffee, and Kayla was comfortably confident that Ethan Anderson, no matter how attractive, was not the person Jordan wanted.
"Honestly, I'm not absolutely sure I'm free until Saturday, which is the crew's day off. "
"Oh." Disappointment flashed across Jordan's handsome face, though he dismissed it quickly. "Right, no, you're the star, right? So you're probably in almost every scene, and—do movies really film six days a week?"
"Usually, yes. Sometimes seven."
"Ten hour days?" Jordan's eyes were still huge with interest. Kayla's owl preened and fluttered inside her mind, like his big eyes could see it showing off for him. "That's what it was like on the things I was an extra for. Is it always that way?"
"A lot of the time, unless it's twelve or fourteen hour days," Kayla admitted.
Jordan looked so interested she couldn't help smiling.
"Look, why don't you give my assistant your number, and I'll text when I can meet you for coffee?
I'll try to give you enough time to actually prepare, I'm not snobby enough to think your schedule is at my beck and call. "
"Oh, it is. I mean, it could be. I mean, I'm just dog sitting right now. No regular hours. But I'd love to catch up, Kylie, you're—"
"Kayla."
Jordan blinked. Her owl blinked back, so emphatically Kayla had a hard time not doing it herself. After a second blink on both Jordan and her owl's parts, Jordan said, "Kayla, right. Why is that? I like the name Kylie."
Kayla laughed. "So does an international pop star. And I didn't want to be easily traceable to Virtue, because, you know." She shrugged and gestured around at Virtue, making Jordan follow her motion with his gaze before he brought his attention back to her.
"…because it's a boring small town? I don't know, it seems to me like having a movie star from here makes us a hundred percent less boring right away. It was kind of wild a couple years ago when Zane came back for a while and all of a sudden people actually cared about Virtue."
"Well, I know, it might be good for the economy, but Zane definitely knows there are all the other reasons to kind of keep Virtue off the map, so I wish he hadn't, even if he was stuck doing it."
Jordan shook his head. "Yeah, people kind of talk like that, but I've never understood it. It's a great little town and I think we should show it off. The town website is decades old, for God's sake. That's embarrassing!"
"Yeah, but—" Kayla looked away as the crew started to call for places, then glanced back at Jordan. "But you know the reasons to keep this place off the beaten path, right?"
He smiled. "Nope. Like I said, no reason I've ever heard has seemed to hold any water. Hey, I don't want to get you in trouble, so if you'll point me to your assistant, I'll give her my number and then get Barney out of here so we don't ruin another take."
"Oh, yes, of course. That's Trina there in the pink coat.
It was nice to see you again, Jordan. I'll be in touch.
" Kayla wanted him to hurry off, the black and white dog at his heels, and let somebody usher her back to her place and pile her with holiday gift boxes again.
She missed her first cue, swore apologetically, and tried to get her head back in the game. It was harder than it should have been.
She certainly hadn't expected to find her fated mate when she came home to Virtue, but the last thing she'd expected was that even though he'd been born and raised in Virtue, Jordan Rhodes would have no idea that it was a shifter town.