Page 15 of Secrets in the Deep

“Oh yeah. It radiates off you.”

His lips twitched. “I’m not sure if that’s a compliment.”

“Only if you use your powers for good.”

This time his lips curved into a full smile, and it was every bit as devastating as she’d known it would be. “I’ll try. But only because I want to be another reason you come to this bar.”

She pulled herself back to the moment.

Back then, she’d been a nobody. Her name had meant nothing. Her face hadn’t been recognizable.

But he’d seen her. He’d bought her a drink. Charmed her. It was the night everything changed. And over the next five months,she’dchanged. Every carefully laid plan, every aspiration, had all shifted to orient around Ryan and a different kind of life.

“Ready?”

She jumped and looked at Faye. The other woman wore all black, and the blue mask was between her fingers by her side.

“Ready to get almost sliced and diced, you mean?” Emily asked.

“Not sure how much slicing and dicing this can do.” She pressed the tip of the fake knife to her other hand. The plastic bent easily.

For a prop, it looked pretty realistic. It was even weighted like a real knife.

Preston threw his arms over both their shoulders. “Hello, my lovers. We ready to get our slashers on?”

“You’re enjoying this far too much.” Faye laughed.

“Nah, I’d need to be holding the knife for that. Maybe one day I’ll get to play the bad guy.”

Faye rolled her eyes. “You’d have to give up the lead for that.”

As the two continued to banter, Emily looked across at Ryan again.

He stood behind the cameras, hands shoved into his pockets, focus on her. His dark gaze looked almost…angry.

Because Preston had his arm around her?

“Finally!” Her mother suddenly appeared and pulled off Emily’s jacket. “You’re late.”

“It’s ten. We’re starting at ten.”

“Thirty minutes early and you’re on time. A minute past and you’re late.”

She bit her tongue to silence a reply as the breeze chilled her bare arms. Nothing good would come from her mouth right now.

“All right, let’s do this,” Roscoe shouted, as he clapped his hands.

One last glance at Ryan to see his thick arms folded, features unreadable, before she slipped on her practiced mask and transformed from Emily Prior, Academy Award-winningactress, into Jessie Fuller, twenty-three-year-old college student who was camping with friends…and running for her life.

Over the next two hours, they filmed a forest chase scene. She had to sprint hand in hand with Preston—and fall over and over again. It took so many takes that the Advil started to wear off and the pain in her cries required less and less acting.

Preston threw his body on top of hers during the next take, and her knee hit the ground hard.

Ow!

“Cut.” Roscoe clapped his hands. “Okay, I think we got that one.”

She groaned and pushed into a seated position, giving her knee a gentle massage.