Chapter 6 #2
As he spoke, I opened my book to a fresh page and jotted down notes.
Filming.
Maddie is going to flip when I tell her.
If I can tell her.
“I forgot you booked that.” Tony tilted his head. “Chick flick?”
“Drama.”
“But you’re playing a love interest, right?” At Tripp’s nod, he gave a dismissive scoff. “Then chick flick. Who’s in it with you?”
Tripp ran through a short list of names, none of whom I recognized.
I thought that was a me thing until his agent echoed my thoughts. “That’s a list of nobodies.” Seeming to belatedly remember I was there, he gave me an unapologetic shrug. “Sounds heartless, but it’s the truth of the business.” He returned his focus to his client. “I’ll get you out of this.”
“Why?” Tripp asked.
“You booked it before Old Flame blew up into a phenomenon.”
Phenomenon? Maybe I do need to watch it.
“And you know how it is. You’re only as hot as your last release.
I don’t want to see you tie your new rise to a stinker that’s going to drag you down.
” Gesturing toward his desk, Tony said, “I’ve got an offer for a blockbuster spy thriller.
Not the lead, but his number two. The booked actor is—” He caught himself before glancing at me. “You signed an NDA?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Good. Remember that I’ll enforce the fuck out of it even if Tripp is too nice to.”
“Tony,” Tripp bit out with a glower.
I had no intention of breaking the contract, so the threat was meaningless to me. I subtly touched Tripp’s arm with my fingertips to let him know there was no reason to come to my defense. “Not a problem.”
Mostly because I don’t give a shit.
Realizing I was still touching Tripp, I discreetly but quickly yanked my hand away.
I need to stop doing that.
I’d never been an overly touchy person, yet I’d done it at his party and again right then without thought.
“I’m just making sure we’re on the same page.” For all his concern about NDAs, Tony had no problem sharing something he probably shouldn’t have. “Anyway, the booked actor is checking into rehab, so they need someone to fly to London fast. They don’t even want you to read for it. The role is yours.”
Okay, maybe I won’t see any filming yet since the commute between Coastal and London would be a smidge hard to do daily.
Tripp’s smile grew as Tony spoke, and I thought he would leap from his seat to accept what had to be a major opportunity.
But despite his obvious happiness, he shook his head.
“I’m not interested in traveling right now.
I just got back to a new house I don’t even know.
I’m not kidding, I keep going into the wrong room.
And I’ve done the action thing a lot, Tony.
It’s boring. There’s no challenge beyond dehydrating myself enough that my muscles look tight but not so much that I pass out. I want to be a love interest.”
“You did that.”
“One who doesn’t turn into a psycho stalker.”
A psycho stalker?
No maybe about it. I definitely need to watch Old Flame.
Realizing there was no convincing him, Tony took the rejection and quickly pivoted to support his client. “Some variety in your credits would be good. Shake things up, keep it fresh. There will be no shortage of action movies to pepper in.”
The rest of the meeting was what I’d expected. Tony and I exchanged contact info as he helpfully listed out the kind of things he’d need from me. Most of it sounded like glorified babysitting.
Tripp must’ve agreed because he interjected to offer an explanation I didn’t ask for. “Once filming starts, it’s a lot of long hours on little sleep while I spend most of my day living in a fictional world. I’m not bad about keeping shit straight, but having some help for once would be good.”
I wasn’t sure if it was the sheepish expression taking his face from hot to endearing—yet still hot. Or the honesty in his words. Or how badly he’d been screwed over by his previous assistants.
Or maybe it was just that these added expectations were within my skillset, and I finally felt confident in my ability to do the job.
Whatever the reason, I offered him a genuine smile. “I can handle that.”
His smile wasn’t as big, but it still packed a punch. As did his softly whispered, “I know you can.”
My brain fritzed out, and I didn’t catch a thing they said before they suddenly stood. I followed on instinct, trying to stay back and out of the way as they headed for the door.
Tripp didn’t let that happen.
With a hand on my lower back, he quickly shifted me so I walked beside him as Tony led the way out to the waiting area. They spoke for another couple of minutes about scheduling a round of golf—yawn—before Tony returned to his office, and we moved to the elevator.
After he pressed the down button, Tripp leaned toward me and kept his voice low. “Told you that you’d be great.”
I might not have delighted in the older actor’s attention earlier in the downstairs waiting area, but Tripp’s easy praise stoked that need in me to be the best. I couldn’t hold back my grin, and his gray eyes dropped to my mouth as an odd expression crossed his face.
Shit, do I have fruit stuck in my teeth?
I fought the urge to run my tongue along them as I pressed my lips together.
Dragging his gaze up to mine, he said, “I’m taking you to lunch.”
“It’s after three,” I pointed out as the elevator doors slid open and we got in.
“Which is technically breakfast time for someone who doesn’t usually wake up until two.”
“Two?”
“Or later. But I was up earlier today, so it’s lunchtime.” We stepped off the elevator and paused as he tapped the portfolio I held to my chest. “We’ll go over that list of questions you have.”
I untucked my hair before tucking it back behind my ear as I wondered how shitty of an assistant I would be to say no. I had hovering assignments that were stressing me out, and the meeting starting late hadn’t helped.
Flaking out on my first day of work stressed me out more, though, and I was about to agree to the very, very late lunch when he read me eerily well. “You have plans.”
“Schoolwork. But it can wait.”
True to his word, he didn’t push back about school coming first. He took the decision and the pressure off me. “No, it can’t. Next time.”
“You’re sure?” At his nod, my shoulders loosened. “Speaking of next time, I kind of need to know when that will be.”
He gave a shrug. “Whenever works for you.”
“I work for you. That means I need to know when you need me. If I have scheduling conflicts, we’ll work around them.”
He stared down at me for a long, silent moment, and the intensity of his gaze had me wonder if I’d said something wrong. It also had me locking my weak knees like someone from a cheesy movie.
It was that or melt onto the dingy concrete.
My reaction didn’t make any sense, especially since he was only pausing to think about his schedule before saying, “With the table read starting next week, I left this one free as a break.”
Disappointment swirled in my stomach. My generous salary wasn’t hourly, but that almost made it worse. I didn’t want to be paid for nothing.
I also didn’t want to be lurking around for no reason.
“Let’s get together Sunday,” I said since that was my totally free day—other than brunch, of course.
But since he didn’t wake up until the afternoon, it would work out perfectly.
I gave my notes a little shake. “We’ll go over all this so I’m ready to hit the ground running when you’re back to work. ”
He didn’t look as gleeful at that plan as I was. If anything, he seemed disgruntled by the idea of wasting his day with calendars and lists. But he eventually lifted his chin in agreement anyway. “Where are you parked?”
I distractedly pointed to my little Land Rover, and he started walking that way, leaving my shorter legs scrambling to keep up.
“As your assistant, I think I’m supposed to walk you to your car,” I said.
He shot me an incredulous look but otherwise kept going.
Once we were at my car, I looked up at him. “Text me if you need to cancel.”
His voice was a low rumble. “I’ll see you Sunday, Greer.”
If Tripp was just a pretty face hiding an ugly personality, I would be impervious to his easy smiles, the way he said my name, and his hands on me.
But he wasn’t the spoiled, entitled man I’d been expecting.
Not yet, at least.
I’m going to need him to hurry up and be a jerk.
That I can handle.
“See you,” I said, working hard to keep my voice even.
Working hard yet failing miserably since it came out as barely an airy whisper.
I hurriedly climbed into the driver’s seat and closed the door. He backed away but didn’t go far as he watched me leave.
Maybe it’s better that I’m not seeing him until Sunday.
That gives me time to get my head on straight when it comes to Tripp Carter.
Tripp
‘Ineed to know when you need me.’
I waited until Greer’s SUV was out of view before discreetly adjusting the hard-on that threatened to break through the zipper of my jeans. I wasn’t sure I’d ever heard a sexier sentence in my damn life, but she hadn’t meant it in the way my dick and me had taken it.
That wouldn’t stop me from using those words on repeat as a soundtrack while I stroked myself when I got home.
If it weren’t for the overkill of security and cameras in the garage and lurking paparazzi outside of it, I might not have made it home.
But the last thing I needed was viral pictures or videos of me jerking off like a pathetic perv.
Though I was one when it came to her.
Hiring Greer might’ve been the smartest business decision I’d made in a long time.
But it was also the stupidest damn thing I’d ever done.