I stayed in my room until late, making calls to Harding and my brothers to get them to calm the hell down. Harding had nothing yet. The house was clean of any traces of a crime and no one had found Tabatha’s body yet. It was infuriating to know that Ricky was getting away with so much shit, but I couldn’t stop him just yet. I told Harding that Hendrix was going to help and that was that. I wasn’t going to delve into the fact that Hendrix had a hacker looking into stuff on Ricky. The less Harding knew about the illegal stuff, the better we all were.
It was obvious to Harding that I was grasping at straws, but he was doing the same on his end. He was, of course, loaded down with plenty of other cases, so his grasp wasn’t as far reaching as mine. We were just going to do what we could, digging and searching, until we unearthed another lead.
With all that I could do done and a horrible hunger pain in my stomach, I headed out to find something to eat. What I didn’t expect was to find a shirtless Hendrix, drinking milk out of the carton, in my kitchen.
He stood up straight when he saw me and slowly pulled the carton away from his lips. “Sorry…”
I was so far past worrying about the milk carton. Hell, I wanted to be the milk carton. I don’t know what I was expecting from Hendrix’s body, but I wasn’t prepared for the real thing. He was thicker than any of the “sexiest man ever” guys that I saw on set. Muscles formed perfectly under skin that was half-covered in tattoos. The parts that weren’t covered looked like silk stretched over steel. The pants he wore hung low on his hips and did little to conceal the bulge underneath.
My mouth watered and I spun away from him, too tempted to get myself straight in that moment. Where I should’ve grabbed food and ignored his body, I just couldn’t. I knew if I stayed in the tiny kitchen for much longer, I’d touch him just to see if he was real.
“Darby?”
I held up my hand and started back towards my room. “Forgot something.”
He caught my arm and halted my leave. “You okay?”
I forced a nod, still not looking at him. “Sure. I’m great.”
He tugged me around until I was facing him, but that didn’t make me open my eyes. I was doing everything I could to keep from staring at him. I hadn’t been around a man that looked like him ever, and I hadn’t been around a shirtless man, at all, in longer than I cared to admit.
“What are you doing?”
“I got something in my eyes. I’m just going to head to my room to try to get it out.”
“You got something in both of your eyes in the time it took you to turn away from me?” He was obviously grinning at me, the humor giving a happy tilt to his voice. “Open your eyes, Darby.”
“Nope. There’s something in them.”
He grabbed my hips and suddenly lifted me until my butt hit the counter. “Fine. I’ll help you. It would be rude of me to let you stumble your way to your room. I’ll rinse your eyes out here.”
I bit my lip and groaned. “I can do it myself, Hendrix.”
A blast of cold water hit me in the chest and I jerked away from it while opening my eyes to glare at him. “Did you just spray me?”
“Look at that! Your eyes are okay.”
I looked down at my soaked shirt and frowned at him. “That was so childish.”
“More childish than pretending to be blind?”
I hopped off the counter just as he moved in closer and the front of my body raked down his. My lips parted as the bulge in his pants rubbed against me and then hardened against my stomach.
Hendrix groaned and put some space between us. “This can’t happen.”
I made an astonished face. “Don’t say that like I was asking for anything to happen!”
He cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow. “I wasn’t saying anything.”
I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and damn near hissed at him. I couldn’t decide whether I liked him or wanted to punch him in the face. In that moment, it was the latter. “I feel like you were insinuating that I wanted you, and you couldn’t be farther from the truth.”
“Oh, I couldn’t be farther from the truth?” He stepped closer again. “I’m pretty sure you’re feeling the same thing I’m feeling. I was just saying that this can’t happen right now. You’re a client. I’m trying to keep you safe and you’re trying to get yourself killed. It’s not a good idea.”
The idea that he was rejecting me when I hadn’t even asked for anything pissed me off. It was another man bossing me around. “You’re right. It’s a terrible idea. Mostly because you’re an idiot and I’ve got better things to do. I’m going to bed. I have to be at the set at seven in the morning.”
“Remember that one day when you were actually pleasant to be around?” He laughed. “Right. Me neither.”
I made a growling noise and stormed to my room. Before I slammed the door, I looked back at him and yelled. “And put on a damn shirt! No one wants to see that!”
Frustration and annoyance bubbled up in me and I couldn’t help myself. I jerked open the door and stepped into the living room to yell at him some more but he grabbed me and yanked me into his chest. Before I could even enjoy the heat of his body, his lips were on mine.
I gasped and shoved my hands into his thick hair, and he took the opportunity to slide his tongue into my mouth. Pleasure bloomed in my lower stomach and I tugged him closer, needing more.
Hendrix devoured my mouth in a kiss that shook me to my core. It was demanding and grew even hotter when I kissed him back, battling for dominance in it. His hands dug into my hips, pressing my body harder into his until there wasn’t space for even a breath between us.
I nipped his lower lip and stroked my tongue over it as I tugged on his hair. He moved his hands to my ass and squeezed it as he lifted my body and pinned me against the wall next to my bedroom door. His hard body rubbed against mine just right and I moaned into the kiss.
He rocked his hips into me and my head fell back into the wall. With my neck exposed, he raked his teeth over my throat and then bit down gently on my collarbone. I couldn’t help but moan and let him do whatever he wanted to my body. He won. He could be the dominant one in that moment. I was enjoying submitting to him too much.
A phone rang from across the room and, just like that, the moment was over. Hendrix put me down as fast as he could without dropping me and then moved away from me.
I stared at him, my body shivering from the way he’d just been handling it. My common sense came back and I glared at him. “Don’t do that again.”
He grabbed the ringing phone and glared at me. “You don’t have to tell me twice.”
I retreated to my room and slammed the door again. I dropped into my bed and groaned. What the hell was I thinking? The man was my bodyguard. I couldn’t make out with him. Plus, he was infuriating.
I jerked the blanket over my head and squeezed my eyes shut. I was an idiot. There was no way I was going to get his kiss, or the sheer chemistry between us, out of my head. Just what I needed.
*
“Is anyone going to do their fucking job today?!” Samford screamed out at the crew. He was in fine form that morning.
My first day back and I already wanted to bash my head into a wall. Laster was ignoring me, Samford had handed me a list of changes he wanted written in as soon as I got out of the car that morning, and Jennifer was off set somewhere, so I couldn’t get her to handle him.
They were shooting the scene where Thomas, Eli Dunn, sat at a bar, watching a young woman dance. It was one of the only scenes that showed Eli stalking his prey and it had to be tense and serious. I didn’t want to sexualize what was happening. I wanted it to be the scary thing that it was.
Except the actress playing the young woman kept making eyes at Eli and licking her lips. I’d already spoken up once, but Samford ignored me. She made eyes at Eli again, and that time, I noticed he winked back at her.
After the miniscule amount of sleep I’d gotten the night before, I had no qualms about coming out of my chair. Before I could yell, Samford screamed at the crew again.
“Cut! Fucking amateurs! Look at the lighting! You’re making her look forty! Can you fix it or should I hire someone else?!”
I waited to say anything and, instead, watching Eli move over to the actress. He looped his arms around her waist and leaned in close to whisper something that made her cheeks turn bright red.
I shook my head and moved to Samford. “The scene isn’t working the way it should. They’re too attracted to each other right now. They’re playing this scene like it’s a damn romantic comedy and we’re about to cut to a scene of them playing footsy at their favorite diner. This isn’t sweet. The girl isn’t supposed to see Thomas. He’s watching her with contempt on his face. Not lust.”
“Are you the fucking director?”
Fed up with his notes and suggested changes, I gave him the fight he was looking for. “No. If I was directing it, though, we’d be shooting a dark piece that could someday be critically acclaimed, not a fucking softcore porno about a misunderstood boy.”
His face turned bright red and a vein stood out across his forehead. “If you were directing it, no one would ever see it!”
“Well, at the rate you’re going, I’d be doing the world a favor!”
He threw his script on the ground, the same way he did every time he was mad, and stormed off.
Eli stomped over to me and got in my face. “You have a problem with the way I’m playing the scene?”
I laughed. “If you can’t keep your feelings off your face while shooting a scene, maybe you should take a class or something. Your hard-on is coming across loud and clear.”
He hissed in a breath and glared. “You’ve got some nerve, bitch.”
“And you’ve got more skill that that scene just showed. Do you know what happened that night, for real?” I jerked my hand in the direction of the set. “Thomas Gadberry sat at the bar and watched Amanda Jumper until she was getting ready to leave. Then he went outside and waited for her to come out. When she did, he grabbed her and squeezed her throat so hard that it crushed her vocal cords.
“While she tried to scream, he shoved her into his trunk and then he took her to his playroom. While she silently screamed, he raped and tortured her for twelve hours. When he’d had his fun, he slit her throat and let her bleed out.”
I shook my head and shuddered. “Do you really think that he was winking and wagging his eyebrows at her? He was staring at her, picturing that room with her body spread out in front of him. Take it serious. If you want to fuck the actress, do it on your own time.”
He rolled his eyes and bumped shoulders with me as he left. He didn’t get far before Hendrix stepped in front of him and just silently stared him down. I almost laughed as Eli practically ran away.
“You’re running everyone off today, Darby.”
I looked around the set and at the few remaining crew. “I guess so.”
He nodded towards the space Eli had just occupied. “Need me to kick his ass?”
I smiled, unable to help myself. “Is that part of the job description? ‘Takes on anyone who annoys client’?”
“Why the hell not? That asshole looks like he could stand someone putting him in his place.”
“They all could. I’m so sick of this shit. I should’ve turned the job down. I have my hands full doing investigations normally, but I wanted to get away from Kansas.”
“It’s that bad?”
I gave him a deadpan look. “It’s like having you, plus five more of you. All just watching me constantly, following me around, threatening anyone who comes close. It’s a damn miracle that I’m not still a virgin.”
Hendrix raised his eyebrows. “No comment.”