But I wasn’t Tom Low. I didn’t have fifteen years of brooding star status under my belt. Plus, Tom was a very hot guy. I’d been beyond captivated by him the first time we’d met, reduced to one of those giggling girls, blinded by his looks and importance.
“Sienna,” he said, scowling at Janice Kenner who sat next to me on the bench. She was one of the lead support actresses, and we were friendly acquaintances.
“Why the constipated face, Tom?” Janice looked up from her salad. “You should try more fiber.”
“I get plenty of fiber.” Tom sniffed, rolling his shoulders and glancing around the tent. “I’d like a word with Sienna.”
“Take a seat.” She motioned to the empty chair across from hers.
Tom glared at her then at me. She was outwardly unaffected, but I knew she was enjoying his discomfort. Janice was nice to me and hugely talented, but she was also a harbinger of drama. Whereas I preferred to keep the peace.
“Hey, Janice,” I nudged her with my elbow, “I’ll be back; save my seat?”
She shrugged mutely and rolled her eyes. I shot to my feet before she decided to make a comment about the puffiness of his face, making the comment under the guise of concern, as she was prone to do. Capturing Tom’s elbow, I steered him past the remainder of the tables to a quiet corner just outside the tent.
Feeling eyes drilling into the side of my face, I glanced at Tom, finding him tossing every ounce of his extraordinary man-handsome in my direction. It was enough to take my breath away, had I not known he was incapable of doing his own laundry.
“What’s up?”
“Come to my trailer,” he said, using his sexy voice. “Let’s talk. I didn’t get a chance to talk to you yesterday.”
“Yes, we did. We talked about your lemon cleanse and your cashmeres.” I tried for innocently perplexed, but the truth was I’d avoided him for the remainder of the day after finding him in my trailer. It hadn’t been easy. I’d been forced to hide in the attic of one of the old houses we were using because he kept searching me out everywhere else.
His mouth hitched to the side, his glorious azure gaze moving over my features with potent tenderness. “I want to know what’s going on with you. Tell me about your next script.”
I tried not to outright scowl. I’d helped Tom get the role for this film. His last several movies, since the last one we’d starred in together, had been box office disappointments. Even Marta—who was his biggest fan—had admitted his career was floundering.
I shrugged, glancing at my watch. “Uh, I don’t—”
Luckily I didn’t have to finish my excuse because my phone rang. Marta. I held a finger out to Tom, saying “Sorry, we’ll have to talk later. I have to get this,” then rushed away from the tent.
“Sienna, my lovely, beautiful, wonderful sister. You haven’t, I mean, has anyone mentioned anything to you?”
I smiled at the sound of Marta in such a good mood, searching for a quiet corner where I could take the call but also not be found later by Tom. “About what?”
Ignoring my question, she asked, “How are you this morning?”
“I’m great. How are you?”
She breathed a sigh of obvious relief. “I’m also great. Do you know why I’m great?”
“Do you want me to list all the ways? Because it’s a very long list.”
“You’re cute.” She chuckled, sounding pleased. “I’ll tell you what happened. I’m great because I just heard from Jenny this morning. Guess who they’re looking at to play Smash-Girl? Guess?”
“I have no idea. Who?”
“You.”
I blinked. I frowned. “What?”
Smash-Girl? Am I asleep? Is this an awesome dream?
“They want you to play Smash-Girl! The studio is adamant. And they want you to write it.”
“They want me to write it?” If this is a dream, NEVER WAKE UP.
“Well, co-write it.”
“I’m confused. Is this going to be a superhero movie or a comedy?”
“Both. After the success of Smash-Boy, the word is Dimension Comics is scrambling to capitalize on the appetite for subversive, funny, action movies, and they thought of you first.”
“So . . .” I stared off into space, my brain not quite accepting or understanding the most basic part of this conversation. “Don’t I have to, you know, be buff? Isn’t Smash-Girl super strong?”
“No, no, no. They plan to do a green screen with CGI capture, like they did for the Dimension movies with Bryce Boomer. It would be you when she’s in normal form. The character would be a super-polite, good-natured, likable, normal woman. And then it would be CGI you when she has her freak-outs.”