Page 15 of Best Served Hot

‘That’s the thing. I don’t even know what you think I can do here,’ Alex said hastily.

Nicole was happy to lay it out. ‘I think you can help me make his world feel a little bit smaller. I want to make the walls close in on him.’

‘How?’

Nicole’s eyes twinkled. ‘It starts with us invading his territory—the show.’

‘I’ve been sacked. That’s the end of the story. I’m not getting rehired there.’

‘You got let go from working in his office as an assistant producer. But he didn’t blackball you, did he? Accuse you of gross negligence, something like that?’ Nicole asked.

‘Overstaffed for assistant producers,’ Alex said sardonically.

Nicole was delighted. ‘That leaves the door open for you to get rehired in some other capacity. Any number of departments you could assist in.’

‘Like what? Who would hire me?’

‘Me.’

Alex blinked. ‘You don’t work there.’

‘I know. That’s step one. I need to get hired on the show, too.’

Alex took a big swig of her drink. She wasn’t sure she should be entertaining this. But she wasn’t leaving. She was listening. As bananas as it sounded, it was also pretty compelling.

Eleven

It sounded hard. Nicole had to concede that. It also sounded bonkers, of course. But it was important to focus on the difficulty. If Nicole could convince Alex it was doable, the bonkers aspect felt like much more of a side issue.

‘How in the hell are you going to get your husband to hire you for a show that he’s using as a sexual stalking ground?’ Alex asked.

‘It’s simple. I’ll go through someone else.’

‘That sounds… It just feels like there’s a lot of problems with that plan.’ Alex frowned.

‘You let me worry about that,’ Nicole told her. ‘What I need to know is if I can pull that part off, can I depend on you for part two?’

‘Which is?’

‘I’m still working out some details, but will you let me hire you as my assistant?’ Nicole asked hopefully.

‘I’m an assistant producer. Why would you hire me as an assistant director? It doesn’t make any sense.’

Nicole smiled. ‘I checked you out.’

Alex was thrown. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean, I went on MovieHub. Your credentials… You’ve worked a lot of different jobs in this industry.’

‘You take anything if it leads to a paid job. Working for Ethan was only my second paying job,’ Alex admitted.

‘Right. But you went to film school to studydirecting.’

‘I thought that’s a direction I might go in at one point,’ Alex said carefully.

Nicole felt like she’d wandered into something here that required finesse. It was a shame she didn’t have time for it. ‘What happened?’

Alex sighed through her nose. ‘I changed my mind.’