Page 5

COLE

I t was just Cole’s luck that he’d be stuck with someone like Heather, someone unwilling to take risks and less fun than a pile of rocks.

He’d done his best to make good with her, applying all his charm when they were in the courtyard together, but it hadn’t been enough.

She wasn’t going to allow him to work the way he wanted to, and that was starting to stress him out.

Cole had been a stunt double for several years now, so he was technically her senior, and she refused to listen to him.

He tried one last time. “Listen. This director likes his actors and their doubles to be spontaneous. He’s always asking for improvisation from his actors.

He won’t ask us because he knows he can’t, contractually.

But if we can read between the lines, if we anticipate his wishes, we’ll go far in the industry. ”

“Not if we get injured, we won’t.” She glared across the hall at him.

Cole sighed. “If you’re trying to avoid injury, you’ve gotten into the wrong business, sweetheart.

You’ve got to know that. You won’t be able to avoid injury forever.

Regardless, though, I wasn’t going to allow you to get injured.

I know what I’m doing. Why can’t you just trust me?

If you trust me, I’ll further both our careers. ”

He could see her bristle at his words. “First off,” she said, “my name is Heather, not sweetheart . And secondly, I don’t trust you at all. Why should I? You just perfectly demonstrated how not trustworthy you are.”

“I mean, I disagree. If your goal is to stand out in this industry, then I’m extremely trustworthy.”

She planted her hands on her hips and glared even harder, if that was possible. “My goal is to make my own decisions, thank you very much. If you want to do some crazy version of a stunt, fine. Ask me first. Let me choose.”

He thought about it for a minute. Of course, if he really did ask her, he knew what her answer would be.

The word no seemed to be permanently waiting on the tip of her tongue, ready to be unleashed at a moment’s notice.

Although, she did have a point, albeit a less-than-perfect one.

He had broken her trust a bit, even though he had no doubts he had made the right choice as far as the stunt was concerned.

He would be willing to bet a month’s salary the director would go with the first take, just to capitalize on the authenticity.

The more Cole thought about it, the more he realized how useless this argument was. The director had his shot. They just had to do a couple more takes to ensure it. Any more time spent trying to get Heather to see things his way would be a waste — at least, today, it would be.

“All right, sweet—” He cut himself off and corrected himself.

“All right, Heather. Let’s make a pact, just so we can get through today.

I’ve already done the scene the way I’d like to do it, and now I’ll do it your way.

We’ll do our extra takes and go home. Deal? ” He held out a hand for her to shake.

“Deal.” She gave him a firm handshake. Cole thought it was a little too firm, actually, and he became convinced she was getting a little of her aggression out in that handshake.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s get back to work. I may be untrustworthy later, but today I just want to go home and have dinner. So, we’ll do the stunt your way, and that will be that.”

“Fine.” She walked away from him, clearly expecting him to follow.

Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t have given her the satisfaction.

But this time, he had something to lose, and so he decided to play nice.

He convinced himself that wanting to play nice had absolutely nothing to do with how gorgeous she was, and how he would use any excuse he could to get away from her today.

She was too distracting for him to be around for long.

The entire time she was shouting at him in the hall, all he wanted to do was shove her against the wall and kiss her until she couldn’t remember what she was even saying.

Just walking behind her was becoming a problem. Her costume was tight leather, and his eyes kept wandering down against his will. He told himself to stop drooling and focus on the task at hand.

On the rooftop again, the two of them stood on their marks.

Cole stood opposite Heather and waited for her to run at him.

He caught her wrist, let her tumble away from him.

It was all exactly by the book, and he’d never been more bored in what he’d always assumed was a dream job for people who just wanted challenge, adventure, and a little danger in their lives.

As a stunt double, he’d never worked this closely with a partner before, especially not one as attractive as Heather was.

When he had her by the wrist, he pulled her close and looked into her dark green eyes.

He felt himself falter a moment. She was so close, and he could feel the electricity between them.

He stepped back, taking her with him, and together they went over the edge of the building exactly the way they had both rehearsed it.

They landed on the mat side by side, instead of Cole breaking Heather’s fall the way he did before.

The whole thing was just… disappointing.

She leapt up almost as soon as she hit the mat, clearly wanting to keep her distance now that she hated him. Cole rolled his eyes. “Better?” he asked her.

“Much,” she answered coldly.

“Great!” The director shouted down at both of them. “Love it. Now let’s try a couple more takes, something partway between the last two if you can manage it. That first take was just so…dynamic.”

Heather groaned audibly.

Cole passed by her and muttered. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. A deal’s a deal. I won’t do anything unexpected.” He chuckled after he passed her. “Unless you beg for it.”

She stood stunned for a moment and then jogged to catch up to him. “I could do without the sexual harassment, too, thanks.”

“Right. I’ll scratch off fun, spontaneity, and good-natured teasing from my list of things that are allowed on set, shall I? Will that make you happy?”

She passed by him like a breeze, and he could have sworn he smelled a perfume in her hair. “Extend that to outside the set, and we’ll be good.”

Cole preformed the stunt three more times with about as much energy as a zombie on tranquilizers.

It didn’t matter anyway. As long as he’d been doing this job, he’d gotten good at reading directors’ reactions, and he already knew which take this director liked best. The others would just be there for potential backups, for digital splicing in case something was off about the good take.

Heather didn’t say another word to him. Even on their way out, when he said, “See you tomorrow, then,” she just gave him a barely-there wave.

She didn’t even look his way. All the way home, Cole couldn’t stop thinking about her.

Why did she have to be so difficult? Why did he have to wind up working with someone he despised, who clearly despised him right back?

And why did she have to be so damn cute?

He stopped and grabbed a couple slices of pizza on his way home. He didn’t feel like cooking, and he was too miserable to worry about his strict diet tonight. All he wanted to do was eat his frustrations in the form of triple cheese pizza and then work off the calories like always.

Usually, Cole kept to a strict, high protein diet, along with a twice-daily workout routine. He only ate carbs when he knew he would be needing endurance. Well, he supposed he was going to need to endure Heather’s bad attitude for the rest of the shoot. That was justification enough.

He crawled into bed and pointed the remote at his TV.

There was a couch at the foot of his bed — blue, of course, and perfectly comfortable — but having a studio apartment meant you never had to feel lazy about using your bed as a nice lounger on days that seemed to go on too long.

At least, he didn’t. He watched a couple episodes of his favorite show, but he couldn’t seem to process the plot at all.

He just kept thinking about that perfume wafting from Heather’s blue and green hair as she walked past him.

It was a glitch, that image, that scent, playing over and over again in his head, not allowing him to think about anything else. Her hair, moving past him, leaving the ghost of her scent behind. And it infuriated him.

He finished his pizza and changed into his workout clothes in a bad temper.

Cole worked out twice a day religiously.

After his time in the military, he did everything he could not to let his body soften.

Getting into stunt work was helpful in that respect.

It motivated him to keep working on himself.

This was his whole career, after all. He needed his body to be in the best shape it could be in.

He needed his mind to be in good shape too, but that seemed a less than reachable goal at this time. Anyway, a workout would do him good.

The apartment building he lived in was a nice one with a state-of-the-art gym the residents could use.

It was part of the reason he had chosen this building, despite the fact that this apartment was a studio rather than a one bedroom.

The gym was important. He marched toward it now feeling like he needed it more than food.

As he marched, he thought about Heather. In the elevator, he thought about Heather. While he made his way toward the treadmill, he thought about Heather. It was unhealthy, to say the least, and he kind of hated himself for it. But he hated Heather more.

During his half hour on the treadmill, he thought about how little he liked her, which seemed to necessitate thinking about how irresistible her figure was, how her wrist felt with his hand wrapped around it, how utterly adorable she was when she smiled.

And these were all flaws as far as he was concerned.

They were hiding a prickly interior. She was silk on the outside but all rusty nails deep down.

Seriously, why couldn’t she just relax, laugh a little, have some fun?

It was like she was determined to make him miserable.

He left the treadmill and started with strength training.

For some reason, he seemed to have more energy than usual.

His level of aggression was impressive. But Cole had always been good at channeling negative energy into something useful.

He worked out twice as long as he usually did.

He lifted until his arms were sore, and when his arms were sore, he moved on to his legs.

By the time he was finished, he was drenched in sweat, but all the way back to his apartment, he continued to think about Heather.

He wondered whether he would even be able to sleep that night.

One thing he knew for sure was that he wouldn’t be able to sleep through the night without at least dreaming of her.