Studio B
Universal City, California
Colt slid his tongue between her teeth and just sort of jammed it against the roof of her mouth, his breath so hideously marked by the sushi he had had for lunch that she wanted to throw up. And then his hand moved over her ass like he had a right to touch her there. The shot was a close-up, for goodness’ sake!
Kat reached behind her and shoved his hand away, almost wishing that Jason was on set instead of meeting with Jackson and that other guy…Durango, something. There’d been an attempted break-in at the studio last night, and everyone was abuzz about it. Jason had been running around like a chicken with its head cut off, trying to keep everyone informed and calm. She wasn’t sure it was working very well.
“Cut!”
Kat immediately stepped away from Colt. “You’re an ass, you know?”
He smiled. “Too bad your boyfriend isn’t here to rescue you this time!”
“I don’t need anyone to rescue me from a jerk like you. Touch me like that again, and you’ll get a knee in your groin.”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“Try me.”
Sergio came over, a weariness about him that made it clear he could see they were arguing and he wasn’t happy about it. Kat didn’t care.
“One more take?” Sergio asked, almost timidly.
“No problem,” Colt immediately said.
Kat sighed, but she nodded. Sergio stepped out of the shot as the makeup girls came over and touched them up. And then the lighting director, checking the meter he held in his hand to make sure they’d show up on film properly. It was such an insane process. Kat couldn’t wait to go back to her ranch and her simple music videos. Her foray into acting was over after this.
Colt slid his hands over her face and whispered his line again—for the seventh time—and then came in for the kiss. Once more, he shoved his tongue into her mouth and just pressed it against the roof of her mouth like that was the best he could do. Kat decided to play with him a little, moving her jaw slightly and using her tongue to engage him a little more. He suddenly warmed up, moving closer against her as his hands once again slid over her ass even though the scene was a close shot.
Kat grabbed his arms and lifted her knee, catching him right in the balls.
“Asshole!”
She walked off the set as he fell to his knees, his face a dangerous shade of purple. She might have laughed if she wasn’t so pissed.
“I need a shower!”
The production assistant who’d been assigned to deal with her every need, laughed. “I’d need more than a shower after that. Maybe one of those scrub downs they do before you leave a lab where they have the contagious germs?”
“A chemical bath.” Kat nodded enthusiastically. “Exactly!”
The girl laughed again. “Well, at least that was your last scene for the day. You’re free to go until Monday.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. You’re not scheduled until nine on Monday morning.”
“Thank God! I could use a day of sleep and relaxation.”
Kat climbed into her trailer and began shedding the costume she’d been wearing for the scene—a pair of skin tight jeans and a crop top that barely covered what it was designed to cover. She’d never wear clothes like this in her real life, but, apparently, her super intelligent, super responsible character did.
She stepped into the bathroom when she’d stripped down to her underwear, wanting to brush her teeth at least. She could still taste the dead fish on Colt’s breath, and it was driving her mad. She didn’t hear the trailer door open over the running water in the sink, so she didn’t realize Jason had come inside until she stepped out of the bathroom, a towel in her hands as she wiped at her lips.
“Hey.”
He seemed unsure of himself as he stood in the narrow kitchen, studying her figure one second, looking away the next, and then stealing another glance.
“Colt Murphy is an asshole!”
“So I’ve noticed.”
“He kept grabbing my ass even though it wasn’t part of the scene. And, would it kill him to suck a mint once in a while?”
Jason chuckled, once again averting his eyes as he attempted not to look at her.
“Do I make you that uncomfortable?”
“What do you mean?”
“You can look at me, Jason.”
He turned his eyes to her again, attempting to keep them on her face. But she turned fully toward him, dropping the little hand towel so that nothing obscured his view of her body, clothed only in a thin pair of cotton panties and a strapless bra. She was almost pleased to see that he found it nearly impossible to keep his eyes from her full breasts and wide hips.
Until he lifted his gaze to the ceiling again.
“Either you’re an old-fashioned gentleman, or you don’t find me attractive. If it’s the former, then thank you. If it’s the latter, I wish you’d tell me now.”
Kat stepped into the back room and tugged on the yoga pants she’d worn over to the studio, turning her back to him as she exchanged the strapless bra for her more practical sports bra. When she was dressed, she brushed past a silent Jason.
“Let’s go. I’m tired and hungry, and I just want to lock myself up in my bungalow for the rest of the weekend.”
It was just the two of them because Colt had a couple more scenes to film before the night was done. Kat took the front passenger seat, tired of being driven around like she was some sort of queen or something, forced into the backseat like a child. Not only did she take the front seat, but she put her feet up on the dashboard, a part of her daring Jason to correct her. He didn’t, of course. He didn’t seem too inclined to speak to her at all today.
“So, which is it?”
He glanced at her briefly, his eyes quickly moving back to the road as they made their way out of the lot and onto the congested city streets that would take them back to the hotel.
“What do you mean?”
“Which one is it? Are you a gentleman, or do you just not find me attractive?”
“You’re an amazingly attractive woman, Kathleen.”
Kat smiled. She liked the way he said it. And she really liked the huskiness in his voice, the desire it implied.
“Are you attracted to me?”
“I don’t know a man who wouldn’t be.”
That wasn’t the answer she wanted. “I don’t care about other men. Are you attracted to me?”
“Kathleen—”
“Why is it so hard for you to answer a simple question? I just want to know how you feel about me.” She pulled her legs down from the dash and sat up a little straighter, leaning forward as she turned to study him. “You kiss me like you want me, but then you act like you don’t even want to be alone with me.”
“When did I do that?”
“What?”
“Act like I didn’t want to be with you.”
“This morning.”
He shook his head. “You misread that completely.”
“Did I?”
He was quiet for a moment, not exactly the most reassuring thing in the world. But then, as they eased to a stop at a red light, he reached over and took her hand in his.
“If I made you feel like I didn’t want to be with you, then I’m sorry. It’s not the truth.”
“I just want to know that we aren’t playing games here. That I’m not misunderstanding your intentions.”
He touched the side of her face, his expression softening. “I want to be with you. When you’re ready.”
She wasn’t sure what to make of that. Wasn’t she ready? Hadn’t she climbed into his lap last night and made it pretty clear that she was ready? Why wouldn’t he think she was ready?
“I like you, Jason. I do. And I…God, I feel like a high school child begging for the captain of the football team to pay attention to me!”
Jason shook his head. “That’s not what this is.”
“Then maybe you could explain it to me, because I don’t have a lot of experience with these things.”
“You have to let things happen naturally, babe.” The light turned green, and he eased the car through the intersection. “There’s a lot going on right now. We’re both a little distracted.”
“You’re telling me.” She sighed, sitting back as her gaze fell out the side window. “But you should know that my dating experience is mostly based on contrived, public relationships. I don’t—”
Before she could finish what she’d been about to say, a car suddenly swerved into their lane, its headlights blinding her as she turned her head. Jason cursed as he jerked the wheel of the car, sending them rushing across another lane of traffic before they came to a body-jerking stop at the curb. Pain immediately radiated from Kat’s hip to the center of her chest as the seatbelt tightened impossibly close against her.
“You okay?” Jason asked, reaching over to touch her arm.
She nodded, her eyes moving wildly to the windshield. “Where’d the other car go?”
Jason had his hand on the door like he’d been about to get out. But then he tensed, throwing the car into gear with one quick motion as he gunned the accelerator. Kat was thrown forward again, and then back, as they burst back into traffic. She heard more than saw the car rush up behind them, its front tire blowing as it hit the curb at a bad angle. Other cars’ drivers leaned on their horns as Jason forced a path into traffic down one of the busiest streets in Los Angeles.
“What’s happening?”
Jason was so focused on driving that he either didn’t hear her, or didn’t have time to answer. They followed a different path to the hotel every day to avoid paparazzi following them, but it seemed someone had figured out which path they’d be taking tonight. But the hotel was just a mile or so ahead.
“They were trying to hit us on purpose?”
Jason reached over and touched her rather than giving voice to his opinion on the subject. That told her all she really needed to know.
Jason slowed the car as they approached the back entrance to the hotel. He had both hands on the steering wheel, his grip so tight that his knuckles were void of color. He glanced at her, then hit the gas again.
“What?”
“If they knew where we’d be on the street, it seems reasonable that they know where we’d pull in at the hotel. They might be waiting there.”
“Who?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Then where are we going?”
He didn’t answer that, either.
She expected him to make a phone call, imagined a safe house somewhere along the PCH—the Pacific Coast Highway. Why the PCH, she wasn’t sure, but the idea of waking with the sound of the ocean outside her window seemed peaceful. But he didn’t take out his phone, didn’t make a call. Instead, they drove around in what seemed like circles for a while. And then they began moving past neighborhoods that went from luxurious to quaint to clearly lacking in disposable income.
“Where are we?”
“Van Nuys.”