Page 21 of Off-Limits Bosses
The last sentence was accompanied by a wink, and I felt my ears heating up; but I kept a straight face. “That would not be appropriate, Mr. Thatcher.”
“Most of the fun things aren’t,” he answered, taking a step closer to me. I realized that he was just a few inches away from me now, and I couldn’t deny the chemistry that hung in the air between us. I wasn’t sure what to say or what to do; it felt like any move I made now could put my job in jeopardy.
“Adriana!” I heard Landon’s voice, strict and firm, and I turned away from Bryant to see him marching toward us. “Shouldn’t you be overseeing the food distribution in the green room?”
“I—” I started, but Landon interrupted.
“Get moving,” he said, his voice almost a growl. I realized that he was probably not very happy with the energy that he sensed between Bryant and I, and that it likely wasn’t a great idea to argue with him.
“Yes, Sir,” I answered quickly, before handing the iced tea back to Bryant and walking away.
Once I was inside, I paused next to a window and looked out curiously to see what was going on. I couldn’t hear what was being said, but Landon looked particularly annoyed while he was talking to Bryant. Bryant answered with a few sly smiles and a shrug, and eventually, Landon stormed away from him.
I realized that he was heading in my direction, and I rushed down the hallway toward the green room so that I wouldn’t get caught.
Nolan was waiting outside with two carts loaded with food. “Ah, there you are.”
“I was being held up by Bryant,” I admitted with a sigh, before checking my tablet. “Lunch in two minutes. I’m still on time.”
“By a hair,” Nolan said, though he sounded more amused than angry. “You ready to blow this crew’s mind?”
“Oh, yeah,” I answered, surprised that he seemed to be in such a good mood. I had noticed before that he was slightly less high-strung when he was outside of the kitchen, but today he seemed especially cheery. “Honestly, I’m hungry, too. Might just steal a little something for myself.”
Nolan raised an eyebrow at me. “Make sure you don’t get caught. They frown on that kind of thing here.”
I allowed myself a small chuckle before I opened the doors to the green room, where actresses were gathered on one end of the room, while the behind-the-scenes crew sat and chatted on the other end.
They immediately cheered when we entered with the food carts, though the actresses didn’t pay much attention. I assumed that they wouldn’t; according to the brief, they’d only be eatingafter the shoot. A few crew members were missing, too, likely manning the cameras outside.
“I hope you’re all hungry,” I said to the crew, who offered me another cheer. “Our chef has prepared all the classics for you, just… the gourmet versions.”
Everyone was on their feet pretty quickly, while an assistant appeared to call the actresses out to the shoot. I noticed a few jealous glances toward the spread as they passed us.
The crew didn’t wait for us to plate their food for them. Each took their own cutlery, grabbed a plate, and stacked it high with all of the fancy snacks Nolan had made. I had to admit that it all looked incredibly good, and even I wanted a piece of it. But I wheeled the cart to the corner of the room, joining Nolan against the wall to wait.
“Damn, they must have been starving,” he said to me with an amused smile. “Haven’t seen people chowing down like this in awhile.”
“Yeah, it’s like wealthy people don’t want to admit they need food,” I joked in return, curious why Nolan was being so chummy with me. Up until now, our relationship was cordial at best.
“Tell me about it,” Nolan rolled his eyes before looking at me. “I don’t think you’ve actually eaten one of my meals before.”
I thought for a moment, then shook my head. “I haven’t.”
“I’ll cook you something after work sometime,” he said, then quickly shrugged. “Or leave you some leftovers. Whatever.”
Maybe it was just the situation with Bryant and Landon that had me overthinking things, but I could have sworn Nolan was flirting with me. That last statement seemed to be his attempt at hiding it.
Then again, maybe he was just trying to show off his skills, something that was completely in line with his personality. It was possible that I was seeing things that weren’t there. Was I just obsessed with thinking that all the men around me were into me?
“Dude, these donuts!” One of the crew members yelled from the couch. “They’re like… Magical!”
Nolan laughed, a sound that I hadn’t heard from him in the entire time I had been working at The Pacific. “Thank you, Sir. I do my best.”
“That’s because you are the best,” I said, keeping my voice at a low volume. “Or at least, so I hear.”
After the entire crew had eaten their fill, I assisted Nolan with getting things cleaned up and back to the kitchen. He was nothing but pleasant the whole time, aside from a few sarcastic comments.
I found that interesting. He was actually pretty attractive when he wasn’t being a complete asshole. But it was dangerous to think like that, given that I’d already gone over the line with Landon, and that Bryant was clearly trying to push things in a certain direction.
