“And… cut!”

Bonnie shouted over at the crew, waving her hand. Then she approached me and one of the actors playing a teammate of Walter Simmons. “That was perfect,” she said. “Jacob, I don’t know what the hell it is you’ve been doing differently over this last week, but you’re blowing everyone else’s performance out of the water. No offense, Anders,” she added to the other actor.

“You can thank your accuracy consultant,” I said with a grin, gesturing toward Nora. She was watching from the sidelines near a lighting operator.

“Nora gave you acting tips?” Bonnie said with a confused frown.

I shook my head and chuckled. “No. When we got rained out the other week, she took me up north to meet Walter’s family. Talking to them really helped me capture his true essence and make my performances more authentic, I think.”

“Oh, I see. Terrific idea. I don’t know why we didn’t think of doing that,” she said. Then she frowned. “But that’s strange. I never received any receipts for gas or a hotel.”

“Uh, I covered it, don’t worry,” I said hastily. I didn’t want to stupidly blow our cover and admit that we’d stayed at Nora’s parents’ house during that little trip, because that would make it all too obvious that there was something going on between us.

And boy, there was something going on between us, all right.

Nora and Oscar were still staying at my place (they’d been there for about a week or so now) and things were just as hot and heavy as they had been the first time. Nora was surprisingly filthy in bed. Not like one of those limp starfish women who lay on their backs waiting for the guy to do all the work. We hadn’t been able to keep our hands off each other. It wasn’t just the sex, either. I was serious about her; I cared about her more than anyone and anything else. She was understanding, she was kind, she was wonderful. She was it for me.

“Okay, let’s start on the final quarter scene for this game,” Bonnie said, waving her hands at various people.

Halfway during the filming for the scene, I saw Nora talking to Bonnie. Filming was cut as Nora then headed onto the field to show another one of the actors exactly where he needed to aim for in his kick. Then she trudged over to me.

I tried my best to keep a serious expression plastered on my face. “Am I playing it right, coach?” I asked.

Her expression looked serious too, and she came up as close as she could without attracting suspicion from others. “You’re doing fine. I just wanted to let you know that you look a little too sexy. You’re going to pay for that later tonight...”

She winked and headed back off the set field. I grinned, unable to keep a straight face as I watched her hips sway from side to side. She was a dirty little minx, always teasing and tempting me.

When work was done for the day, I took a quick shower in one of the studio bathrooms before getting dressed again and heading out. Normally I would’ve just gone straight home, but I had an early dinner to get to, and it was in the same area as the studio, so there was no point going all the way home first. Nora was aware of my plans, and she’d already headed back to my house for the evening.

As I stepped into the studio parking lot, I was met by squeals and shrieks from two girls who looked to be around nineteen or twenty. They were both slim and blonde with big breasts and too much lip filler, and their eyes were wide as they waved at me.

“Oh my god, you’re Jacob Archer!” one of them said.

I grinned. “Yep, that’s me.”

“We love you on Code Grey! We just finished season five. When does the next season start?”

“It hasn’t started filming yet. Still on break,” I said. “It’ll be back next year.”

The girl on the left pouted, but the pout quickly evolved into a smile. “So if you’re not working on filming Code Grey at the moment, then you must have time to show us around the studio,” she said. “Or around town…”

Her words seemed harmless, but there was a lot of obvious subtext, judging by her tone and the way she was hiking her skirt up on her thighs as high as possible without directly flashing her pussy.

Once upon a time, I would’ve jumped at the chance to take these two hot actor groupies to a hotel and pound them senseless, but now the idea of doing something like that couldn’t be further from my mind. The only woman I wanted was Nora. She was the only one I wanted to see lying on a bed waiting for me. Every other woman in the world would have to prowl around elsewhere, because I was a kept man nowadays.

Now that was something I never thought I’d hear myself say.

“Sorry, I have to be somewhere. Nice to meet you, though,” I said with a polite smile before turning and continuing on my way to my car. I could hear the two girls expressing shock over what an asshole I apparently was for not responding to their come-on, but I didn’t give a shit. I couldn’t please everyone, and I didn’t fucking want to.

Chris was already waiting for me at a little table when I arrived at the restaurant we’d decided to meet at. He grinned and waved as he saw me approach. “Hey, man. How’s work on the new movie?” he asked. “I’ve barely seen you lately. Must be busy, huh?”

“Yeah, it’s busy, but good. Tiring, though. I can’t wait to go home, to be honest,” I said.

Chris laughed. “Bullshit. You aren’t tired. You just want to blow me off to hook up with hot extras.”

I shook my head. “Nope.”

His forehead wrinkled in a confused frown, and he jokingly looked around as if searching for someone or something. “What happened to my friend Jacob? Who are you?”

I laughed. “Same old me. But I’m still seeing Nora.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Really? Still? I thought she might’ve… well, shit, that explains a lot.”

“What do you mean?”

He was quiet for a moment, and then he shrugged. “Well, for starters, it explains some of the stuff I’ve been hearing lately.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

“James told me you showed up at his place a couple of weeks ago, trolled his date right out the door, and then punched him. After getting his address from me, no less, which took a fair amount of explaining,” he said, one brow arched curiously. “I was wondering what that was about. Guess I know now.”

“Er…. that whole thing was not what it sounds like. I mean, I didn’t show up there just to punch him. There were other reasons.”

“Right,” Chris said. “Are you sure it’s a good idea to be seeing this chick?”

I nodded. “Nora’s great. Perfect, in fact.” Chris was silent for a second, and I frowned. “I’m sorry, I’m not making things awkward for you at work, am I?” I added. “With you working so closely with her crazy ex and all.”

“It’s a bit awkward, but I guess it’s fine. I’m more worried about…”

He trailed off, and I cocked my head to the side. “About what?”

“How well do you really know this woman? You only met her a month ago, and it’s not like you to suddenly drop off the radar and stop going out every night like you used to,” he said. “You know, you used to be out there partying and picking up chicks left, right and center. Now it’s like you’ve changed into a different guy all of a sudden. It’s kinda weird, man.”

“Nora isn’t manipulating me into changing myself, if that’s what you’re worried about,” I replied. “I’m fine. Sure, I’ve changed a bit, but that’s all on me. I wanted to.”

He looked slightly relieved at that. “Okay. But what about Ina? What do you think would happen if Nora found out about her?” he asked.

Chris was one of the only people in the world who knew about Ina, other than my staff, manager, and agent.

“She already knows.”

His eyebrows shot up. “She knows?”

“Yep. And she’s okay with it. I explained it all to her, and she understands.”

“Jesus. Okay. So you guys are pretty serious, then.”

I nodded. “Yep. Serious as a heart attack.”

“Wow. Didn’t see that coming.

I nodded and hesitated, trying to find the words to explain myself. “It’s like… when I met her, things became so clear. I didn’t want to keep fucking around and playing the field. I actually wanted to settle down. I can’t explain why or how. It just happened, and fuck, I’m glad it did.”

“I think pigs are flying outside,” Chris said, squinting and pretending to look out the window. I laughed, and he looked back at me. “So what, you think you might love her?”

I hesitated again as I thought about his question. I hadn’t said as much to Nora yet, but hell, why not? It was the truth. I’d never felt this way about anyone before.

I nodded and spoke up again. “Yeah, I do. I love her,” I told him.

Now I just needed to find the perfect way to tell her.