Chapter Six
Garrett fished his phone out of his pocket and turned it on. He was intrigued to see it was a direct message on Twitter that had buzzed against his chest, and tapped it to open and read it.
@DoveAngel I surrender. Name terms. The Standard main bar. Tomorrow. High Noon.
“Pull over,” he called to the driver, working the menus to set up a direct response back.
MacDonald looked up from his briefcase full of paperwork as the limousine swerved with smooth competence across lanes of traffic over to the stall lane and slowed to a halt. “Problem?”
Garrett carefully slid his finger across the screen, composing his reply. “The reverse. A problem just resolved itself.”
“The woman?”
Garrett frowned, hearing Sebastian’s voice in his mind. “Kate,” he said. “Her name is Kate.”
“That one,” MacDonald agreed.
Garrett looked at the finished Tweet. @Lind’stream The Standard, High Noon it is. Your lunch date can be your second.
He hesitated, annoyed with himself. Why was he deliberately dragging Roman into this? Then, with an impatient clench of his jaw, he hit ‘send’ before he could change his mind or dither any longer.
Then he switched over to normal phone output and pressed Nial’s speed-dial button.
“Kate has buckled,” he said, when Nial answered.
There was a minute pause. “She lasted four days and one move longer than I thought she would,” Nial replied. “Tough lady.”
“I warned you she had balls.” Garrett grimaced. “I knew she would cave with this round, though.”
“Because it threatened her movie?” Nial replied. “Why not use that straight out of the gate, then?”
Garrett stared out the window at the stream of cars, trucks and holiday vans whizzing by at seventy five miles an hour, all outnumbered by big long-haul rigs and their loads, sometimes three or four of them nose to tail.
“Why use a bazooka when a handgun might do?” And he kept his face away from MacDonald in case the prevarication showed, because that wasn’t the whole truth. The truth was, he had been reluctant to hit Kate Lindenstream with the overwhelming leverage he knew he could pull by yanking her movie out from under her. It felt like hitting a man when he was down and he was supposed to be on the same side as Kate, although she had no idea there was such a thing as sides, or factions. Her only enemy was him, as her reference to High Noon clearly indicated. She wanted her showdown and her pound of flesh.
Kate Lindenstream would find a way to make him pay for what he had done to her these last ten days.
But for right now, he had her over a financial barrel and she knew it. That was why she was surrendering and willing to talk terms.
She was a realist.
“Well, it took a bazooka, after all,” Nial told him. “More and more, I like her. I think you’ve found us a winner, Garrett.”
“I’m glad you think so. I have to face her over lunch tomorrow.”
Nial chuckled. “We all have to take one for the team here and there. Cheer up. Imagine Roman’s face when he realizes you’ve attached yourself to his girlfriend’s picture, after all.”
Garrett couldn’t help it. The laugh squeezed out of him, dry and hard.
* * * * *
Kate caught her breath as she accustomed herself to the feel of sitting on Adrian’s lap. His well-muscled thighs were firm under her ass. Her shoulder brushed against his.
He settled his hands around her waist. She was wearing the industry uniform, jeans. She barely remembered throwing them on this morning. Her mind had been so engrossed in the overwhelming concerns Garrett had been heaping on her head for the last few days, it had been hard enough to find sleep. Dragging herself out of bed a bare handful of hours later to discover what new disaster may have occurred had taken all her energy. Dressing had become purely automatic.
She had kept up appearances in front of everyone else, though. She had smiled and joked. No one outside a tight circle of trusted people knew what was happening. If anyone caught a whiff of disaster, it would spread like wildfire.
Kate shuddered to think what would happen if the media got hold of this. The tabloids would scream she was broke and on the street in one hundred point font, and scrounge up the worst photos they could find of her, where she looked the most pathetic.
No one with a brain would believe it, but too many people would think she had troubles and wonder if she was handling the movie business as well as she might. The next time she wanted to raise money for a movie, they would remember and they would hesitate to give it to her.
It was that fear that had kept her going for these last few days and allowed her to pretend to everyone that everything was just fine, thanks.
Now she was abruptly aware of her clothing and her general appearance. The tee-shirt was a surplice tee-shirt that crossed over at the front. It dipped down low and gave a hint of cleavage, and she was suddenly glad she had reached for this one rather than a standard tee-shirt this morning.
For Adrian’s thumbs were stroking her midriff, as if he were trying to reach higher, as he watched her with his steady gaze. Then his fingers stilled as if he realized what he was doing.
Kate linked her arms around the back of his neck. “I stocked up on hundred dollar bills,” she told him.
He didn’t show any reaction, except for a slowly in-drawn breath that filled his chest and made his shoulders lift.
Then her phone vibrated on her desk, low and demanding.
His gaze slid toward it.
“It’s him. It can wait,” she assured him.
“Finish it off,” he told her, his voice low. “I want your undivided attention for a moment.”
His tone and the implication in his words made her clit throb. Kate stayed where she was, reluctant to move. But, too, concern prickled through her. “Adrian...”
His hands around her waist tightened. He lifted her off his lap, picking her up like she weighed ninety pounds, which she didn’t. She wore size eight, even at her height, but she kept that size because of working out with weights and disciplined cardio routines. She’d swapped body fat for muscle years ago, and muscle outweighed body fat by three to one. But Adrian picked her up and put her on her feet like she was a toddler.
“Deal with Garrett first,” he said. His voice was the same low, implacable rumble. But his eyes were flickering with a hot promise that made her reach for the cellphone, more than willing to get rid of Garrett as swiftly as possible.
She read the message. @Lind’stream The Standard, High Noon it is. Your lunch date can be your second.
“Fuck,” she muttered, annoyed.
“What’s he done now?” Adrian asked.
“He wants you there.” She passed the phone to him. “I guess he wants a witness to my humiliation.”
Adrian read the message. “He wants a witness for your signature that isn’t one of his people. He’s probably got papers already drawn up. You could always take someone else.”
“No, I’d rather it was you. That is...do you mind? Can you spare the time tomorrow?” She grimaced. “It’s short notice, I know.”
“I’ll move a few things around,” Adrian replied. He handed the phone back. “Answer him.”
She bit her lip, thinking for a moment. Then she thumbed out the message. @DoveAngel. Seconds at the ready. Swords or revolvers?
She turned the phone for Adrian to read the screen. He glanced at it, then gave a dry laugh. “It’s perfect,” he said. His smile lingered. “Send it.”
She sent it and tossed the phone again. “Now, where were we?” she demanded, turning back to face him.
“You had just asked me to come with you on location.”
“No, I meant the bit after that,” she said, leaning toward him to link her hands around his neck again.
He caught her wrists in his hands. “No, Kate,” he said softly. “No hundred dollar bills just yet.”
She shook her head. “They’re for a special occasion,” she agreed. She could feel her mouth pull down into a grimace all on its own as she thought about her movies in the past. “That’s probably not going to be any time while I’m on location, Adrian. You should know that up front.” She settled herself on the desktop, knowing she should probably get this over and done with. She had just opened up her mouth and invited him on to the set, so he was going to get to see this. He’d better be forewarned.
Adrian settled back in his chair without comment. He was good at silence, she realized. That was a rare skill. Especially in this industry.
“While I’m filming, most occasions aren’t going to be special,” she admitted. “I turn into a hybrid Godzilla and Michael Corleone on steroids on location. I have to warn you.”
“Don’t most directors?”
“I hear Clint Eastwood’s sets are a laugh a minute, but he’s a freak of nature.” She frowned. “Maybe I should rescind my invitation. I’m probably being selfish even asking you to come with me.”
For the first time, Adrian showed a reaction. He smiled. It was a full-bodied expression, reaching into his eyes and making them shine with a genuine warmth and depth of feeling that surprised her.
He rose to his feet in one of his smooth movements that always made her think he was much more powerful than even his extra degree of muscle definition hinted at, and stood close to her as she perched on the edge of the desk. His finger curled under her jaw and stroked and she felt the ridiculous urge to purr in reaction. Not like a cat, but like a woman in heat.
“You don’t get to take it back now, Kate,” he said. His voice was not just low, this time. There was a note in it that sounded like teasing. Or lust, maybe.
She swallowed and clamped her hand around the sharp edge of the desk to fight off the wave of sudden, heated arousal washing through her. She desperately wanted him right now. But that wasn’t how their relationship worked. It wasn’t how she wanted it to work. So she tightened her grip and stared up at him.
“But if I come with you on location, it’s going to cramp your natural style a bit, isn’t it?” he asked.
“I...How do you mean?” She was drowning in his eyes. Damn it, she was barely making sense. Kate blinked, trying to pull herself together. She frowned, replaying what he had said. “What style?”
“You like sex,” he said, one finger traveling along her jaw. “A lot.” He pressed the tip of his finger against her lips.
She let her lips part, hoping he would push his finger inside. But he pulled his hand away, instead, and just looked at her.
Kate realized he was waiting for an answer. She played back what he had said in her mind. “Sex? Doesn’t everyone like sex?”
“Not like you do. They don’t indulge themselves like you do.” He leaned forward, his head dipping down, until his lips hovered barely an inch away from hers. “They don’t use sex the way you do.”
The proximity of his lips to hers was so distracting that for a moment she could focus only on the expectation of his kiss, and what it would feel like. What he would taste like. What he might do to her next. Her mind swiftly painted a dozen different scenarios that would emerge from that single kiss, all of them explosively fast, erotic and mind-blowing.
She blinked, clearing away the fantasies. Her breath was shallow and quick, but she couldn’t slow it. Not with Adrian standing over her this way.
“How do you know about my sex life?” she breathed.
“This is the most gossipy industry in the world, Kate. I listen. And not to the tabloids. I listen to the people who know.” His breath fanned her cheek. “On location, you use sex as stress relief, just like any director does. Where do I fit into your shooting schedule? Would I be stress relief, too?”
Kate sat back, not sure if she was appalled or amused. “No!” she declared flatly. “Of course you wouldn’t.”
Adrian stepped back a half-pace. “You’re not going to have much time left over for anything else.”
She could feel her jaw unhinge. “Are you suggesting I use you for...for...?”
“Stress relief,” he supplied. “And fun, relaxation, anger management, a sounding board and whatever else you use sex for. Sleeping aid is one of them, too, I suspect. It’s a long list.”
Kate stared at him, letting her mouth fall open. She was too astonished.
Adrian laughed softly at her expression. “Kate, I have eyes. I’m not stupid. The first night we met, I watched you seduce that award winner out in the car park. You pulled him into your limousine inside fifteen minutes, and you were back in the party thirty minutes later, with not a hair out of place. That night you went home with Brian...whatever his name is. The one from the cop show on TV that has someone naked every week. Every night we met after that, you had the good manners not to fuck someone on the premises, right there in front of me, but if it was clear I wasn’t going to take you home myself, you made sure you had some A list actor or potential following in your wake when you left. When I was in New York, you didn’t stay lonely, either.”
She shrugged. “I didn’t think I’d been that obvious about it. Sorry.”
“You weren’t. I’m not telling you now to make you feel guilty.”
“I don’t feel guilty.”
“Good.” He gave her another warm smile. “I imagine, when you first started making movies, it was a power thing, the sex. After decades of male producers and directors getting to screw the pretty actresses who wanted the roles, you finally got to bed all the desperate actors who wanted the part, instead.”
Kate pursed her lips, trying to hide her smile. Then she blew out her breath. “It was exactly that, at first. A power trip. A rush. I’d been in that place, as an actor. I’d even been made the offer, once.”
“What, ‘fuck me and the part is yours’?”
She nodded. “It felt really good to turn the tables. But that changed, a long time ago.”
Adrian nodded. “And now you just like it for what it is. Hot, good sex.”
“With hot, great looking men.” She bit her lip. “With no complications.” She looked Adrian in the eye.
“Ah.” He pushed his hands into his pockets. “That’s the difference.”
Kate spread her hands on her knees. “I knew it would be different with you. I wanted it to be different with you.” Her heart was thundering. “So I made sure it was different from the get-go.”
“My male pride wants to be insulted that you didn’t find it impossible to stay out of my bed,” Adrian said, his voice very low. “But I don’t mind being singled out from the herd for special treatment.” His gaze pinned her to the spot. “The wait will be worth it.”
Her entire body seemed to ripple. The folds of flesh between her thighs swelled, heated and began to throb. Kate cleared her throat. “I don’t know that I can take you on location and wait, though.”
Adrian’s smile was both knowing and sexy. “If you’re looking for me to give you permission to fuck random actors while I’m living in your trailer, think again, Kate.”
She shook her head. “That’s not what I’m saying.” She rubbed her hands on her denim-clad thighs. “Christ, it’s easier firing actors,” she muttered.
Adrian laughed. “You’re a writer. Cut to the chase.”
Kate drew in a breath and assembled her thoughts. How would she deliver this line of dialogue in a script? Nice, clean, efficient and maximum impact?
She lifted her chin and looked at him. “I do want to use you for stress relief. And sex. And any other aid your devious mind and your sexy body can give me, while filming lasts. After that, I have this pile of one hundred dollar bills I’ve collected...”