Throb(26)

“Neither, actually.”

“Damn.” Flynn clutches at his chest. “You’re killing me. At least pretend there’s some great guy waiting in the wings.” He smiles.

“It’s not you. Really it’s not.”

“This conversation is getting worse by the minute. What comes next? ‘It’s me, not you’? Like I haven’t thrown that one around before. You’re ruining my self-esteem, here.”

I laugh. “I think your self-esteem is just fine, rockstar.”

“It was.” He turns and walks backwards, holding both of my hands. “Until I met you.”

“You’re sweet. But you’ve had twenty women throwing themselves at you. I think you’ll bounce back quickly.”

“Nineteen,” he corrects me. “But I’d really like to get the twentieth on board finally.”

“You’ve had nineteen other women chasing you. Why do you need number twenty?”

“Number twenty is all I need. The other nineteen aren’t for me, long-term.”

“I think your ego is just looking for a little stroking.”

“It’s not my ego that wants you to stroke it.” He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively.

The tide washes up, covering my feet. I splash a wall of water in Flynn’s direction, catching him by surprise. He splashes back and before I know it, we’re both drenched from head to toe. An hour later, we walk back into the house arm-in-arm—soaked, smiling and stirring a scandal we didn’t know was brewing.





chapter twelve




Cooper


Tatiana Laroix is the it girl of Hollywood. But she still needs an appointment to make it past Helen. Thank god. I thought by now she’d be chasing someone equally as enthralled with seeing himself up on the big screen. No such luck.

“She said she’s shooting the trailer edits in hangar three and needs to speak to you. She didn’t look happy at being turned away. Again.” Helen hands me a stack of messages. “James Cam is also in that pile, he said it’s urgent he speaks to you this morning. I’m guessing the two may be related.”

I groan. James Cam is the director of the movie Tatiana just wrapped for Montgomery Productions. The two didn’t agree on anything. I thought I was finally done with the petty disputes when we closed down production, but then the trailer needed reshoots, so we had to bring them back for a few days.

I call James back. Apparently Tatiana is refusing to shoot what he wants, claiming it isn’t the artistic vision she had in mind for the trailer. Actresses.

Two months ago, I made the mistake of taking Tatiana to a premiere. I knew by the end of the night it would be our only date. The way she spoke to people, her newfound fame had already gone to her head. At the after-party, her fingers crawled up my thigh under the table.

I ended the date early, by Hollywood standards anyway, and told her I needed to go home, get a good night’s sleep. But she didn’t take the hint. Instead, she tried to unbuckle my pants as I drove to her place.

There was no avoiding her at any of the film related parties when we finally completed production. She was always by my side, her hand wrapped possessively around my arm, even though the gesture wasn’t returned.

I told her I was busy the next few times she called. Then she showed up at my apartment unannounced. She was near tears, upset about a fight with a director, so I let her in. It was a line I shouldn’t have crossed. She was nicer when she wasn’t in public putting on a show, but still not for me. She dropped by my place once more, twice now at the office.

“Helen, I’m going down to hangar three, call me if I’m not back in a half hour to help me exit.”

She smiles. “Miles is next door in hangar two, shooting some promos. He asked if you could drop by. I’d told him you were packed for the day. But if you’re down there …”

The day just keeps getting better. I’ve avoided anything Throb related the last ten days. It still hasn’t gotten Kate out of my head, but at least I can focus on work a little better.



“Can we just talk about it here?” I try not to sound as impatient as I feel. “I have a packed day today, Tatiana.”

“You have to eat,” she purrs, placing the palms of both her hands against my chest. Yes, but I’d prefer to eat alone.

“It’s important and we”—she looks around the room at all of the waiting staff—“need to talk in private.”

The room full of waiting gaffs and production staff is probably costing me two thousand an hour. I look at my watch. “A quick bite, I need these guys back to work.”

She smiles victoriously. I open the door, allowing Tatiana to pass through first. I take four strides and walk directly into Kate.