When the signing finally ends, we load into the limo with a sour-faced Hannah.
We’re less than a mile from the DVD store when the limo rolls to a stop.
Hannah turns to the driver. “What are you doing?”
“He’s doing what I asked,” Blitz says. “And we are getting away from you as fast as possible.” Blitz flings the back door open. “You don’t set up your biggest client like that and expect him to be all gracious and thankful.”
Hannah’s coral lips pinch together. “You have a contract meeting at the set in three hours,” she says. “Don’t be late.”
Blitz helps me out of the limo, then peers back in at her. “I’ll be there, Hannah. Unlike my manager, I respect the people I work with.”
He slams the door.
The limo driver escorts us over to a Mercedes, driven by yet another driver, this one younger and casually dressed in jeans and a white shirt.
“Right on,” he says and opens the door for us.
I glance back. Thankfully, Hannah hasn’t come out of the limo.
We load into the new car and Blitz greets the new driver. “We’re starving,” he says. “Can you take us somewhere between here and the studio?”
“Sure. You want something fancy? Or casual?”
“Casual,” Blitz says. “Livia, what are you hungry for?”
I glance down at the diamond cutout of my dress. I should have brought a change of clothes. “A salad?”
“You’re right,” Blitz says. “I love that outfit, but I’m sure you want out of it.” He picks up his phone and hits a button. “Actually just take us to the Apple Pan,” he says to the driver. “Scout the inside.”
The driver nods. Then Blitz is on his phone. “Jerry, run to my room and fetch outfits for me and Livia. Jeans and plain stuff.” He looks over at me for confirmation and I nod. He glances down at my feet. “And some shoes. You have good taste. Bring it to the Apple Pan or just send it in a car.”
Jerry is one of the wardrobe people. Probably the only one I like.
Blitz sticks his phone in his pocket. “We’re going to be hot stuff for the next day or two after that footage gets out, but I think we’ll be okay for a few hours. You have sunglasses?”
I dig in my bag and pull out a pair.
“I don’t want you walking around in that dress. Images are probably already all over of it, and you’ll very easily be spotted.”
I glance down again. It is a stupidly recognizable dress, bright green and revealing.
“Come here,” Blitz says. He pulls me against him. “Have I told you lately that you are incredible?”
I shake my head against his shoulder.
“Well, you are.”
“Should I go back to the hotel after we eat?” I ask.
“Bennett asked for you to be at the contract meeting,” Blitz says.
I sit up straight. “Bennett will be here?” He’s the benefactor behind Dreamcatcher Dance Academy, and he personally flew me to LA to be on Blitz’s show. It was his wife’s idea.
“Yes. He’s a producer and he knew you’d be more comfortable with him there.”
“Why am I involved?” I ask. “I didn’t sign anything.”
“You were on the show,” Blitz says. “Hannah is treating us like a package deal.”
“Then why did she have the finalists ambush us at a signing?”
He shakes his head. “I have no idea. I’m sure we’re going to find out this afternoon.”
“Are there always contract meetings on weekends?”
“Hollywood doesn’t work on a normal schedule,” Blitz says. “The industry is your life.”
“Interesting timing, though,” I say.
“Isn’t it?” Blitz says. “Makes you wonder what they have up their sleeves.”
We pull up in front of a rather simple white building with green pillars. “What is this place?” I ask.
“A diner,” Blitz says. “I’m going to have every type of pie.”
“Pie,” I say wistfully. “Now that’s something I haven’t had in a while.”
“We are going to eat so much pie,” he says.
The driver parks around the corner. “Doesn’t look too crazy,” he says. “Let me go check the situation.”
Blitz nods.
We sit snuggled against each other on the leather seat. I feel my anxiety levels start to drop a little. “I guess we should have brought a change of clothes,” I say. “Now we have to wait on Jerry.”
“It’s fine,” he says. “I just wanted away from Hannah, and I’m sure she went back to the hotel.”
“Can you fire her?”
“Sure, but there’s a hell of a kill fee for her. And she still gets a percentage of anything related to Dance Blitz. She covered her ass.”
“Was she different when you hired her?” I ask.
Blitz laughs. “You don’t hire Hannah. She chooses you. You don’t say no to her.”
“Does she have other clients?”
“Not currently. She drops them if they aren’t performing. If I’m lucky, she’ll dump me.”
“Sounds like she has plans to keep you working.” I watch Blitz’s face as his eyebrows draw together in annoyance.
“She knows I can cut and run. They will all play their hand at the meeting later.”
The driver returns to his seat. “They’ve reserved two chairs at the far side of the bar whenever you’re ready.”
“Thanks,” Blitz says. “We just need Jerry.”
“He shouldn’t be far behind unless he’s slow to leave,” the driver says. “The hotel is closer to here than we were.”
“Jerry can be indecisive,” Blitz says.
“Isn’t that him?” I ask.
A wiry man in familiar rectangular glasses gets out of a car down the street. “I’ll flag him,” the driver says.
We watch as they exchange a leather bag.
Then the back door opens and the driver hands it to me. “I can escort you to the bathroom if you like.”
“I really don’t want to be seen in this,” I say.
“The windows are dark,” Blitz says. “Just leave us to it.”
The driver shuts the door and discreetly walks half a block down.
“You sure?” I ask. He’s right about the back windows, but the front window is clear.
“I’m not going to let anyone get even the smallest look.” He turns and props himself between the two front seats, effectively blocking anyone’s view through the car from the windshield. “Except me, of course. I’m going to stare like a dying man.”
“You’re terrible,” I say, unzipping the bag. Inside is a soft white short-sleeved sweater and my favorite Juicy Couture jeans. “Jerry is a miracle,” I say.
“Your naked body is a miracle,” Blitz says. “Now let me see it.”
I slip off a shoe and toss it at him. He laughs as he catches it.
I’m not shy with Blitz, but we are in a car on an open street and I know what I’m wearing beneath this dress. That is to say, not much.
The diamond cutouts mean no bra, just built-in padding, and only a tiny string thong, low slung to avoid cutting across the belly opening.
I carefully lay out the clothes on the seat so I can grab them quickly.
I get the dress up and over my face when it catches for a second on my hair. Blitz sucks in a breath. “Oh, if I dared to take a picture of this,” he says.
“You learned your lesson on that,” I say, trying to pull the dress off, but several sequins have caught in my wild curls.
“Hold on a second,” he says, and moves forward. More light comes from the windshield.
“Stop!” I say. “People will see in!”
Blitz moves back into position. “Then I’ll just stay here and enjoy the show.”
My arms are still in the tight sleeves, the dress caught in my hair. Otherwise, I’m almost completely naked, only the whisper-thin straps of the thong leading to the smallest triangle of fabric imaginable.
My fingers work to sort out where the worst of the tangle is between my hair and the sparkly bodice of the dress. I’m not particularly well endowed, but I’m jerking hard enough that my breasts sway a little as I try to get free.
“God, I’m not going to be able to go out in public for a year with this hard-on,” Blitz says.
“I’ve almost got it,” I say.
“Take your time,” Blitz says.
Finally, no doubt with a solid swath of my hair, the dress comes free. I toss the silly thing on the floor.
“Oh, just like that, right there,” Blitz says. His eyes are on my body.
“Blitz!” I frantically look out the side window. There’s no one on the street, thankfully, although I know the tint is dark enough for our privacy.
“If we were in a limo, we would so not be going in for pie,” Blitz says. He reaches forward and slides his fingers along my collarbone, down a breast, and across my belly. For the barest second, he delves between my thighs.
It’s intoxicating to have him sitting there, his hands on my body. Thousands of girls were dying to fling themselves at him all morning, but he’s here in this car with me.
My heart races, the hot thudding between my legs impossible to ignore. I wonder what we could get away with in here, what I’m brave enough to do.
Blitz senses my hesitation and raises his eyebrow as he says, “Three more seconds and my face is going to be between your legs.”
A horn honks outside and a car slows down for a woman walking a dog across the street just ahead of us. I let out a little “Oh!” and dive to the floorboard, crossing my arms over my body.
Blitz laughs. “Here’s your sweater, Princess,” he says, passing it to me.
I don’t care that I don’t have a bra on. The sweater is fuzzy and will hide me. I jerk it over my head.
“So close,” Blitz says. “I almost had you.”
I reach over for the jeans and plop onto the seat, pulling them on as fast as possible. Only when they are zipped and snapped do I calm down.
Blitz moves back to his seat. “This is going to take a while to settle down.” He gestures to his crotch in the satiny jazz pants. It’s bulging out rather spectacularly.
“I thought you wanted pie,” I say demurely.
“To hell with pie,” he says, but he pulls his own jeans out of the bag.
When we’re both put together, Blitz in his hat and shades, and me with my hair in enough order to pass muster, we get out of the car.
The driver walks a little ahead, watching for anyone who might spot us. We enter the diner, which has red chairs lining a bar that surrounds a red-brick work area with cooks in white hats.
I hold on to Blitz’s hand and whisper, “This place is amazing!”
“Wait till you try the pie,” he says.
The chairs are full other than two on the far side, tucked near the wall. We take them and pick up a laminated menu.
“Just get one of everything,” I say. “I’m not wearing those stupid cutouts anymore.”
“You have no idea what I wanted to do to those cutouts,” Blitz says.
“Oh, I can probably figure it out.” We grin foolishly at each other behind the oversized menus, and I’m struck with the similarity to the scene in the movie Grease. I saw it so long ago, before movies were banned at home.
Blitz orders a pair of burgers and all three of their signature pies. By the time we eat it all and stumble outside, I’m doubly glad I’m not in the green dress anymore. My belly bump is a food baby.
“I guess it’s on to the studio now,” Blitz says.
“Aren’t we early?” I ask.
“Yeah, but it might be fun to look around. I don’t think you saw much of it when you were on the show.”
“Just the dressing room, some viewing room, and backstage,” I say.
“Oh, there’s lots of fun places.” He leans forward. “Let’s head on over,” he says to the driver.
I’m excited to be headed back to the studio where I first changed my life for Blitz.
Just like last time, I have no idea what might be in store for us there.