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Cheyenne choked back fury as the men stared at Julian. He was warning them away and destroying her mission all in one sentence. “I’ll be undressed by whoever I want!”
Julian went silent.
The men went silent.
The entire studio went silent.
Oh. No.Had she just destroyed her own mission? Only one move could save her, one response that could preserve her assignment, and it was the most painful path imaginable. She plastered the fakest, sunniest smile on her face and turned to Julian. “Which is why I want you to do it.”
Julian relaxed, the men relaxed, the entire set relaxed. Some even smiled, yet none were as large as the Cheshire Cat grin on Julian’s face. Bemusement, satisfaction and uncontrolled power reined, as he saw beyond her mask, deciphered the rebellion she couldn’t hide. The others clearly missed it, but Julian knew exactly how he affected her. “And only me?”
Cheyenne clenched her fists. They both knew what she had to say. “Of course.”
He smiled wider. “Gentlemen, if you’ll excuse us, it’s time to prepare Ms. Dane for her role.”
Cheyenne smothered a growl as the men looked back and forth between the two of them like spectators at a tennis match. They knew exactly what type of preparation he had in mind. Before she could say a word, he grasped her hand and led her forward. Fighting every instinct to tug away from his hold, she allowed herself to be led through the studio, amidst smiling faces and envying eyes. He grasped her securely, but at least she wasn’t being carried off this time. In minutes, they were at the door to his private dressing room. He unlocked and opened it, releasing and gesturing for her to enter before firmly shutting the door behind him. This time there would be no help from the outside. She was on her own.
“I’m not going to do anything that makes you uncomfortable. Anytime you want to stop, just say so.”
She started at the unexpected statement. Instead of bemusement, his eyes were kind, calm. Could he sense her unease? “I know.” She forced a giggle that came out like a choke. “This is a dream come true, remember?”
“A dream come true?” His footsteps boomed on the hard floor. “Then why are you acting like you’d rather be anywhere but here?”
“That’s not true.” She wouldn’t want to be at the bank robbery she’d stopped last month and certainly not at the hostage situation. Although if you didn’t count the bad guys, weapons, danger, etc. it really wasn’t so bad. “I’m just getting accustomed to the role.”
His eyes sparkled in the fluorescent lights. “Why do I have a feeling you’re not used to giving up control? That despite your insistence otherwise, this goes against everything you know?”
Because it was. Yet she was also a strong woman who could play any role – even this one. “I am completely at ease. We don’t even need to practice. I looked at the script yesterday and it’s pretty straightforward. So why don’t we just skip it?” Then she could return to the set and uncover the criminal.
Unfortunately, Julian didn’t give her a high five and agree.“Destiny, this isn’t some low budget production filmed in a garage. This is a major studio release, and the producers expect it to be flawless. Although you acted sufficiently passionate yesterday–” His eyes darkened. “We have to practice for the scene to be seamless. We have to get to know each other.”
“Get to know each other?” A bolt of lightning ignited in her chest. Was he saying he’d like to do something to get to know her better? He reached for several items on the counter – one of them a yellow cloth bag, and the other a small disc in a silvery package.
The world turned red.
“How dare you!” she hissed. “I don’t know what you think I’ve agreed to, but I’m not interested in getting to know you better. Not a teeny, tiny bit.”Okay, so that part wasn’t entirely true.“Just because you’re gorgeous and muscular and ridiculously tempting–”Hmmm, moving the wrong way here.“Doesn’t mean you get whatever you want. So you can put whatever that is away because you will not be needing it with me. Do I make myself perfectly clear?” She folded her arms across her chest and glared.
He smiled. Wider and wider and wider. He should be embarrassed, horrified even, and apologizing profusely. He held out his hands, showed her the two items.
The yellow bag? A game of letter tiles. The silver-wrapped disc? A chocolate truffle.
Oh yeah, she was screwed. And not in an “Oops, I made a tiny mistake, let’s laugh it off and start removing my clothing” sort ofway, but in a “Why can’t I get called away to a hostage situation” sort of way. Only she was the hostage in this situation.
“Um,” she stated eloquently.
He raised an eyebrow. “Um?” If he was trying to hide a smile, he was failing utterly. “I’m terribly sorry. I took a chance by getting the extra dark chocolate, and it obviously backfired.”
There was a strange twitch at the corners of her lips. No… it couldn’t possibly be… it wasn’t… a smile. “You understand the seriousness of this, don’t you?”
“Oh yes.” He nodded solemnly. “Chocolate is nothing to joke about. About what you said, would you care to explain?”
Possible explanations: A. She’d lost her mind. B. She’d lost her mind. C. She’d lost her mind.“No, thank you.”
He grinned. “Because it seems like you were thinking something far different.” He tossed the foil-wrapped disk in the air. “Almost like you thought this was a–”
“Chocolate. And I love chocolate. Love to eat it.” In one fluid motion, she grabbed the packet and tore it open. She popped the sweet into her mouth, barely noticing the smooth, rich flavor. Julian watched her intently as she licked her lips.
Oh yeah – she’d just made it a lot worse.