Page 82 of Seeking Stars
"Well, that'll be great publicity right there. Do you think the director did it on purpose?"
She saw it— the slightest shift of his body, a subtle change in his smile. Tingling traveled through her chest. This felt so much better than the tightness she'd experienced while reading Diana's email.
"Now that you say that, she may have," Liam said on the video, with that teasing smirk she'd learned to enjoy.
"You two have been rumored to be a couple. Do you think it impacted how the documentary was filmed? It must have been difficult to avoid influencing the material."
"We became friends while recording but never got involved romantically, so things remained professional for the film." Liam seemed serious on the screen but Ana smiled, because he spoke the truth even if they were involved now. "The type of documentaries that Ana— the director— creates require so much intimacy that growing close is almost inevitable— and it's necessary, really, to create a film like this. I think Ana is honestly amazing, and this film is going to give a raw look into some of the hardest things about being an actor in Hollywood. That's the material, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the final cut."
"That sounds great! Have you watchedSpace Bureau III's final cut yet?"
"I haven't, no. The script was fun, though, and the director was great to work with.Space Bureau IIIis a great sequel," Liam said, easily following the change in topic.
Ana finished watching the interview and closed her laptop. She wasn't sure when he'd recorded this interview, but it fit perfectly with what they'd discussed the night before. He'd handled that like a pro— which he was.
She grabbed her phone and texted Liam.
Ana: call me when you can? I saw an interview where you talked about me.
He returned the call by video an hour later.
"Hey. What interview did you see?" he asked, jumping straight into the conversation as if they'd been talking about it already.
"The one where you talked about the documentary and me directing you to be shirtless."
He smiled. "Yeah. I think I did pretty good? Even though I couldn't help getting a bit flirty just saying your name."
She chuckled. "God. You're a terrible flirt."
"C'mon. The interviewer suggested you wanted me to be shirtless. I know for a fact you enjoyed it. Just thinking about that got me going."
"Liam," she laughed. "The beach was your idea."
It was his turn to laugh. "So did you finally get those news alerts for me? How come you saw that?"
"I did no such thing. Diana sent me the link."
"Oh," he said, his tone changing. "What did Diana say?"
"She's insisting we shouldn't see each other."
"Don't listen to her. Fuck, she's really grating on my nerves."
"I'm not listening to her. I won't engage with her when she talks about us."
"Good. This is about you and me. So maybe don't tell her I'm trying to go see you this weekend."
She gasped. "What?"
He grinned. "Yeah. I had a lightbulb moment earlier. What would you say if I bribed the pilot tomorrow and got him to drop me off at your airport? I know it's short notice but I got the itinerary for the flight and I realized—"
"Yes," she said, without thinking twice.
He released a gust of air. "Good. That's great. I'll see you tomorrow, then. I'll bribe as many people as I need to."
"Let me know as soon as you can what time I need to be at the airport."
"I will. But I suppose that means…" He frowned. "Ana, I think I need to ruin the mood a bit. I want to talk about Dave."
