Page 63 of Last First Kiss
“It’s okay, I’m sure when I get a gig with a real movie star, someone like Bradley Cooper, I’ll get to witness the real thing.”
“You’re going to pay for that little comment later.”
She laughed and sat back. “So, you have to do this every day?”
“Yep. Every day.”
“God, it’s creepy.”
“No more talking, I have to glue this on and finish a few things,” the makeup artist said.
He sat back and watched Annie from the mirror. They’d woken up tangled in each other. Turned out, Annie was a snuggler. Her head had rested on the crook of his shoulder, an arm over his chest, and a thigh over his legs. Also interesting was that he found that he liked it. Normally he slept sprawled out, taking over the entire bed. Always hot, he’d kick off the covers. This time her warmth felt good and he couldn’t get enough.
Another interesting fact, Annie was not a morning person. For all that she woke up earlier than fuck, she woke up moody and gave him the finger the three times he tried to talk to her. Once she’d showered, dressed, and had her shake, she was back to herself—prickly but not bitchy.
She was in full-on bodyguard mode now though. Fully concentrated when she arrived. No-nonsense, demanding, and assertive. The crew seemed both fascinated and terrified—much like he was. They hadn’t addressed their personal relationship with anyone. Hell, they hadn’t even defined it to themselves. But at this point, it felt rather silly keeping it a secret since there wasn’t any media around. And even though she was all business, he couldn’t keep his hands off of her. They’d walked in holding hands, so the cat seemed to be out of the bag, but no one had questioned it and he wasn’t going to be the one to address it either. It was no one’s business.
She was reading the call schedule, making notes and typing into her phone. “Do you actually memorize the lines?” she asked, without looking up.
“Some of them,” he mumbled. “It would be really helpful if you went over lines with me later. I’ve been having to do them alone.”
“Okay. I guess I can do that.”
“Wow, you’re so amiable this morning, crazy.”
“Suck my dick, Monroe.” But she said it with a smile that melted his heart. The hairdresser and makeup artist both snorted.
“Mini Cooper. Blue. Stick shift.”
She laughed even harder this time. “Nope.”
A knock on the door startled everyone. Annie was on her feet with her Glock in her hands before the words from the knocker came out. “Five minutes!”
“Put that away, crazy,” Rocco said from the chair. “That’s one of the PAs.”
“Fuck.” She exhaled and reholstered her weapon. “This is going to be a long-ass week if these PAs do that shit often.”
He chuckled. “Poor PAs, I’m thinking they’re not going to make it to the end of the day.”
* * *
For the last few days, she’d seen Rocco walk around whispering lines. Sometimes he’d sit on the couch with the script talking out loud. Now, watching from a canvas director’s chair off to the side, as he spoke with an accent she hadn’t been expecting to one of his “generals,” she was genuinely impressed. The man was talented.
The way the words rolled off his tongue so easily and sensually was mesmerizing. But she needed to keep her eyes on her surroundings, not on the man throwing orders, wielding an automatic weapon, dressed from head to toe in an expensive suit and tie, looking out of place in the “jungles of Colombia” when his comrades were rattily dressed, full of mud and filth.
She also tried not to think about how those hands and that mouth had been on every single inch of her body last night. She’d woken up feeling so different this morning. There was an underlying ache all over her body and when she shifted a certain way. It wasn’t unpleasant, per se, it was different. And when his eyes found hers, which was often, her entire body came alive. It was as if they shared a secret—a naughty little secret. But she had to find a way to get her shit together. This was work, and it wasn’t an office job where when you missed a deadline, your boss became pissed. No, this was the kind of work where if you screwed up, people became dead.
Sitting up straighter, she looked away from Rocco and instead focused on the surroundings. Nothing unusual was happening, and where they were filming was so secluded, she didn’t think anyone would even know they were there. Joey had contracted some of the guys to come in the previous days to scope out the area and make sure everything was copacetic.
A black limo, caked with mud, slowed near where the rest of the vehicles were parked. On alert, Annie stood up, her hand on her back gripping the steel of her weapon as she watched carefully. Ben stepped out of the driver’s side and went around to open the door for Julia. Immediately Annie released her weapon and sat back down and to watch the out-of-place diva. As soon as her foot landed on the ground, her spiky heel sunk deep into the mud, causing her to screech and flail her hands around, saying something to a young woman who followed out of the car as well.
Was Ben laughing? It seemed like it. Normally, she’d reprimand him for being unprofessional, but in this case she couldn’t help but snicker at the other woman’s ridiculousness. Between the ease of her job out here in the middle of nowhere, and the trouble Julia would surely get into, today would be a very interesting, if not humorous, day.
* * *
“So, she’s really your bodyguard, huh?” Julia asked Rocco as they waited for the lighting people to set up for the new scene.
“Let’s just work, okay?”
