Until Rowan stood from her brother’s chair and grinned at him.
“Was that fun?”
He chuckled. “How did I do?”
“Very well.” She threw Nigel a sideward look. “I think you may be retained as Nigel’s permanent super-soldier go-to guy. Do you think Nick Blackthorne would be okay with that?”
At the mention of his boss, Aslin laughed. “I suspect the rock star is getting sick of me stalking his shadow. Besides, there aren’t that many crazed fans in Murriundah, and those that are there are crazed fans for the Murriundah Under 12s Soccer team.”
A stillness fell over Rowan for a moment—in her shoulders, her face—and then just as quickly, her lips curled with an easy smile. “So if there’s a sequel you’d be open to the consultancy job?”
Aslin studied her. The thought of being with Rowan for the filming of another movie after this made his mouth dry. And his groin tight.
Not just another movie, but longer than that. Maybe even…
“It’s a possibility.”
“What if it filmed in the US?”
He swallowed. “Still a possibility.”
Rowan’s lips parted.
“What did you say to Chris in his trailer?”
She let out a ragged breath at his question. “I told him I like you.”
Aslin raised his eyebrows. He kept his expression calm. Inside, his gut was knotting. His palms prickled. His balls throbbed. “Like me?”
Rowan rolled her eyes. “Yes, like you. You confuse the shit out of me, Rhodes. You scare me too, which I absolutely hate. Nothing scares me, but you do and that pisses me off. I wasn’t planning on you coming into my life, but here you are and now I don’t really know what to do with you.” She turned away, her teeth catching her bottom lip. “Apart from the obvious, and look what happened the last time we did that. Photographed by a fucktard paparazzo for the whole world to see.”
“You have to admit—” Aslin risked leaning a little closer to her, her tantalizing scent threading into his breath, “—he really captured your good side.”
Rowan’s laughter turned the throb in his balls to a heavy pulse. His cock stiffened. Christ, he could spend the rest of his life listening to that laugh.
“What?” She snorted. “My foot?”
Aslin barely resisted the urge to smooth his palms around her hips and pull her to his body. “It’s a bloody brilliant foot. I know, I’ve felt it, remember?”
She cocked an eyebrow at him, the grin back on her lips. “I never forget a man whose ass I’ve kicked. Ever.”
The sound of a throat clearing to their immediate left made Aslin stiffen. He turned, finding Chris—hair slicked back, face free of smudge and sweat, clothes free of rips and tatters—standing beside them. “Nigel’s called lunch. Wanna get some?”
No.
The word came close to passing Aslin’s lips. He bit it back. Just. As much as he wanted to throw Rowan over his shoulder and carry her off somewhere, he had nowhere to carry her off to. The trailer he’d been assigned still hadn’t arrived, his hotel was too far away and he’d promised Chris he wouldn’t touch his sister in public. Which was damn inconvenient, given how much he wanted to touch her.
Touch her. Kiss her. Hold her.
“Jeff is waiting for us in the car,” Chris went on, looking back and forth between Aslin and Rowan. “Thought we might try that restaurant near the Opera House the writer keeps raving on about.” An ambiguous tension twisted his mouth. Aslin couldn’t decide if it was a smile, or a grimace. He guessed the answer would come later when Chris made up his mind about the whole situation.
“Sounds good.” Rowan nodded. Aslin’s chest tightened at the note of impatient annoyance in her voice.
Chris heard it as well, if the way he rolled his eyes at his sister was anything to judge by. “If you were anyone but my sister, I’d tell you to get a room.” He frowned, shooting Aslin a sideward glance. “But my knuckles still hurt from punching Rhodes in the jaw, so just pretend for an hour you don’t want to fuck each other’s brains out, okay?”
Rowan threw her own frown back at him. “Shut the fuck up, Chris.”
“Mr. Huntley?”
Tilly appeared at Chris’s elbow, her young face wide with an expectant smile. Behind her stood her boyfriend, his expression unreadable. Aslin narrowed his eyes. The man gave off a sullen air.
Chris grinned. “Warren, dude.” He bumped fists with Tilly’s boyfriend. “How goes the key-grip job?”
Draping his arm around Tilly’s shoulder, Warren smiled. “Not bad, bro. Not bad. Not as good as hanging out with you all the time.” Aslin didn’t miss the quick glance he gave Rowan. “But not bad. Meant I got to meet this lovely lady here.” He squeezed Tilly’s shoulder and dropped a kiss on the side of her mouth before looking back at Chris. “So we doing lunch? I’m freaking starving.”