Kate must have fallen asleep in his arms after making love for the second time.

She awoke to the sounds of muffled giggling in the hallway.

She lifted her head from Kirk’s warm chest.

He made a sleepy sound of protest.

“It’s okay,” she whispered to him. “The others just got home, I want to say hi. I’ll come right back.”

“Not without me you won’t,” he murmured, opening his eyes and trapping her in his hypnotic gray gaze.

A shiver of desire shot down her spine.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay?” he asked, one eyebrow arched.

Kate launched herself out of bed.

Kirk laughed as she wrapped a robe around herself.

He got up and pulled on his jeans while she ran a brush through her hair.

She threw his t-shirt at him.

“You really want me to put this on?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said with a grin. “I like watching you take it off.”

His gray eyes flashed.

“Friends and food,” she reminded him.

He pulled on the shirt and opened the bedroom door and they headed out together.

The giggling in the living room suddenly went quiet.

“Hey guys,” Kate called.

“Hey,” Cecily said.

The four were piled up on the sectional sofa. The coffee table in front of them held six milkshakes and a white paper bag.

“We brought you some dinner,” Bea said.

“We thought you might need to supplement your strength,” Solo said.

Buck elbowed him.

“For the mating,” Solo qualified. “Why did you elbow me?”

Buck shook his head in wonder as Cecily threw her head back and laughed.

“Thank you,” Kate said firmly.

Kirk sat and she opened the paper bag. The contents smelled heavenly.

She pulled out two cheeseburgers in waxed paper and a cardboard tray of sweet potato fries.

“Oh, yes,” she moaned, handing a burger to Kirk.

When they were snuggled onto the sofa, food in their laps, shakes in their hands, she looked around.

“So, how was dinner?” Kate asked.

“It was awesome,” Bea said. “Non-stop text messages, of course.”

“From well-wishers?” Kirk asked politely.

“From well-wishers,” Bea agreed. “And from some frenemies pretending to be well-wishers.”

“What is a frenemy?” Buck asked.

“An enemy who pretends to be a friend,” Beatrix explained.

“I don’t understand,” Solo said.

“Give it time,” Cecily told him, in lieu of explaining.

“Anyway, it was awesome and I’m really excited,” Bea said.

“What’s the next step?” Kate asked.

“I’ve got a meeting with the studio in two weeks,” Bea explained. “I just have to formalize things with the investors. I’ve already emailed most of them to let them know that you’re on board.”

“Great,” Kate said. She wasn’t about to change her mind. She was excited, really excited, for the first time in a long time.

Bea’s phone buzzed.

“There it goes again,” Buck said.

“It’s okay, it can wait,” Bea said.

Kate’s phone buzzed.

“Oh gosh, it’s probably Carol,” Kate said, slamming her palm into her forehead. “I really need to talk to her about our publicity stunt.”

She placed her dinner down and slipped her cell phone out of her robe pocket as she headed down the hallway for her room.

It was Carol.

“Hi, Carol,” Kate said. “I know I have a lot of explaining to do.”

“Not really,” Carol said. “I read it all on the gossip sites. Are you really doing this?”

“I am, but don’t get excited,” Kate said, sitting down on her bed. “It’s SAG minimum.”

“You know it’s not always about the money with me, Kate,” Carol said.

Kate felt a stab of guilt. Carol was like a second mother.

“I’m so sorry, that’s not what I meant,” she said.

“I know, love,” Carol said. “But here’s the thing, and you’re not going to like it. You know Spencer Carson’s father was one of the investors for that project, right?”

“I didn’t know,” Kate said, her heart sinking.

“Well, he is - not under his own name, he’s part of a larger angel group but he’s the main investor and the decision maker,” Carol explained. “He just called me.”

Kate waited with bated breath.

“He’ll only honor the funding they agreed to if Spencer plays the male lead,” Carol said.

“Oh, god,” Kate said.

“I told him no way,” Carol said immediately.

“Bea really needs the funding,” Kate said, wondering if she could tolerate spending time with Spencer if Kirk was nearby.

“She’s going to tell him no too, if everything I’ve read about her is accurate,” Carol said. “She’s probably telling him now. He threatened to call her next if I refused to make you agree.”

Katie stuck her head out of her room to hear Bea on the phone already.

“Absolutely not,” Bea was saying forcefully.

“Yeah, he called,” Katie said. “Can I talk with you later?”

“Sure honey,” Carol said. “Take care. And remember, Spencer Carson’s issues are not your fault or your problem.”

“Thanks, Carol,” Kate said, hanging up as she headed down the hallway.

“Here’s the thing,” Bea said. “Even if your demand weren’t completely unethical, no one would ever cast him in that role. He’s all wrong for it.”

She nodded, listening.

“Well, good luck with that,” she said. “Maybe Spielberg or Tarantino will go for it, but I won’t. I’ll find my money elsewhere. I’m glad we could clear this up before we got too far.”

She paused again and Kate could hear Mr. Carson’s screaming through the phone.

“Okay, then, bye-bye now,” Beatrix said, hanging up.

She slid the phone back in her pocket and turned to Kate.

“So, we have a funding gap to cover,” she said. “No big deal. One of my investors just dropped out. He wanted me to compromise my vision, and I won’t play that game.”

“I know it was Carson,” Kate told her. “Carol just called me.”

“Shoot, Kate, I’m sorry,” Bea said. “I didn’t want you to worry about it.”

“It’s fine,” Kate said, trying to remind herself of Carol’s words.

Spencer Carson’s issues are not your fault or your problem.

But they were turning out to be Bea’s problem and Bea was her friend.

“How much time do we have to find another investor?” Kate asked.

“Two weeks,” Bea said, biting her lip.

“Was he putting in a lot?” Kate asked.

“That group was my biggest investor,” Bea admitted. “But I didn’t have you on board before.”

“I’ll do whatever I can to help,” Kate said. “But I don’t know if my name will bring you as much power as it would have five years ago.”

“We’ll all do whatever we can,” Cecily said, rising from the sofa to put an arm around each of them. “Between us we must know everyone in this industry.”

“And you have us,” Kirk piped up from his place on the sofa. “We… well, we don’t know anything about it. But we will be as helpful as we can.”

Beatrix laughed and Kate felt her heart start to beat again.

“Come on, Kate,” Bea said. “Sit, eat. We’ll worry about this tomorrow. Tonight, let’s relax and celebrate.”

And although Kate had never been the type to relax when there were things to worry about, she found that it was suddenly easy to sit beside her mate, in the company of her friends, and enjoy a simple meal.

They could solve all their troubles together, she was sure of it.

Tomorrow was a new day.

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