Rehearse, Evie reminded herself. “Right. I’m just going to…find my script,” she said, then stood up and looked around, disoriented for a moment. Then she remembered that she was looking for her script and…ran into the small table.
“Ow!” she gasped, bending to clutch at her throbbing shin. “Darn it, that hurt!”
Instantly, Brock was on his feet, coming over to her. He touched her back and, in that moment, the pain in her shin vanished as a burning sensation scorched her spine. She stood up, looking into his eyes.
“That’s going to bruise,” he said, his voice deeper.
“I’ll be fine,” she whispered. She told herself to step back. Evie knew that being this close to Brock was dangerous. She could feel him, feel his heat. Not just on her back, even though that spot was still tingling despite the absence of his hand now. She felt his heat everywhere, warming her up, making her insides melt.
“Evie, I should…!” he started to say, then stepped closer.
Evie felt the tension build to almost unbearable levels. “Yeah, we should…!”
And then he was kissing her. His hands dove into her hair as his lips covered hers. This wasn’t a tentative, exploratory kiss. This was a deep, hard, powerful kiss that Evie felt all the way to her toes! She lifted up and, at the same time, he wrapped an arm around her waist. They were pressed together from knees to lips, but Evie needed more. She tilted her head back, wanting to deepen the kiss, but he was too tall.
“Evie,” he groaned, then angled his head in a different direction, lifting her higher against his body. It was perfect! It was exactly what she wanted, but when he did that, Evie realized that it wouldn’t be enough! Not nearly enough.
Brock suddenly realized what he was doing. With a jerk, he pulled back, holding her upper arms in his hands.
“I’m sorry!” he blurted, shaking his head, fighting the urge to kiss her again. Those soft lips were warm and swollen from his kisses. She looked so inviting, it was agony to set her back on her feet. “That was completely inappropriate of me,” he said. “I’m sorry Evie. I didn’t mean to do that. Not after what you endured earlier today.”
With that, he turned and resolutely walked away from the most sensuously beautiful woman he’d ever held.
All the way home, he berated himself for kissing her. He wasn’t just the director, he was also the movie’s producer. Normally, different people held those positions, but both were supervisory roles to the members of the acting team.
The fact that he was both, a rare thing in the industry, although not unheard of, made his actions even worse. Not as bad as what Josh had done to her. That had been assault. But Brock’s actions whispered of an off-balance power dynamic. He was the director and she was an actor in his film.
Not that he would hold a sexual relationship over Evie. No way! The very idea made his skin crawl.
Which was even more reason to keep his distance from Evie. He had to maintain a professional relationship with her. He respected her. He liked her as an actress and…and she deserved to be treated as a professional.
“Damn it!” he snapped, pulling into his own driveway. “Why the hell did you do that?” he demanded of himself in the rearview mirror. Parking his SUV in the garage, he stormed into his house. While Evie’s home was cozy and warm, welcoming with large chairs lined with soft cushions where one could curl up in the corner and read a book, his house was more modern. Evie’s patio looked out at the same view of Los Angeles, which is probably why they gravitated to that space every time they were together.
Brock’s house had large, plate-glass windows that allowed the view from just about every room. His bedroom was on this level while the guest bedrooms were below. The view could be seen from the kitchen and great room, plus the pool and patio area.
As he looked around, Brock realized that he preferred Evie’s house to his own. That fact really irritated him since he’d spent months working with an architect to finalize the layout. Before meeting Evie and spending time in her smaller house, he’d loved this place. It had been his oasis away from the insanity that was the Los Angeles movie industry. He avoided the pointless social gatherings like the plague, relying on his accomplishments over networking. He created his own projects and found financing outside of the industry, rather than moving amid the fake personalities that tended to swarm the “must-be-seen-at” events.
This was where he worked. It was where he’d created his last four blockbuster movies. He’d written, directed, and produced them. Which was why he had the ability to come and go as he pleased.
So, why had he left Evie’s house? She had pleased him…damn, that sounded utterly vile. Correcting his thinking, he said to himself, “We please each other!”
But that wasn’t good either. It caused images of Evie, naked and writhing in his arms as he explored her incredible body, to flash through his mind.
Muttering a series of curses, he stomped down the stairs to the gym. Without changing clothes, he started lifting, pushing everything but the burn of his muscles out of his mind. After an hour of grueling weight lifting, Brock finally felt steady enough to…what? It was only eight o’clock! What the hell was he going to do for the rest of the evening?
Again, Evie’s smiling face popped into his mind. But no, he’d spent too many evenings over at her house only to come back here with a painful erection and nothing to alleviate that pain.
“Damn it!” he growled and headed up the stairs to his bedroom. He stripped off his now-sweaty clothes and stepped under the warm water. But after several minutes of that, accompanied by thoughts of Evie showering with him, he switched the water to cold. Finally, he was able to get his body under control. But as he stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around his waist, he looked out at the view and wondered what Evie was doing.
Evie paced across the expanse of her family room, irritated by the kiss. Irritated that Brock had pulled back and run away. He’d acted as if she were on fire. Or some sort of venomous snake!
“Ass!” she hissed into the dark room.
She contemplated going downstairs, to work through her anger and embarrassment on her punching bag. But Evie didn’t think that the punching bag would help this time.
She glanced over at the cabinet where her secret stash was. Crossing her arms, she shook her head. “No! I can’t do that! I can’t go there!”
She turned away from the cabinet, refusing to even touch the wooden box that held the forbidden items. “I can’t!” she whispered again. “It’s too painful to come back from that kind of fix.”
So instead, she went downstairs, pulled on her boxing gloves and attacked the heavy bag. It took a while, but eventually, she was able to find her balance again. She was hot and sweaty, but felt one hundred percent better.
Walking back up the stairs, Evie childishly stuck her tongue out at the cabinet. “I won!” she hissed, then turned and headed into her bedroom to shower.
Chapter 7
“Evie, could I speak to you in my office?” Brock called out as soon as she stepped through the doors of the sound stage the following morning.
Evie glanced over at Josie and Heather, who had already pulled out their magic tools, ready to go to work.
She shot them an apologetic look and they shrugged back at her. Josie stuffed her curling iron back into the protective shield and turned to one of the extras, working on their hair while waiting for Evie to get into her chair.
Evie stepped into the room that Brock had set up as an office. It wasn’t really an office. It was only a folding table with lots of papers spread out over the top and a folding chair behind it.
“What’s up?” she asked, struggling to appear casual. As if last night’s kiss hadn’t happened. As if she wasn’t completely humiliated by his retreat last night.
In reality, her stomach was tied in knots. Plus, she couldn’t look him in the eye. She’d thrown herself at him last night and he’d walked away. Ugh! She’d been so brazen! Never had she felt that
…intensity before.
“I wanted to apologize for last night,” Brock began, standing behind the folding table “desk” with his hands on his hips. “I was out of line and…” he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Well, it won’t happen again. I promise.”
He was apologizing? To her? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?
“Oh!” was the only thing that popped into her mind. “Well…um…” she couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“I respect you, Evie. You’re doing a really great job here. The movie is coming together better than I could have expected with you as the lead.” He held up a hand, smiling at her when she bristled. “I know that you believed you could do the part. But I only had the audition tape to go on and your past rom-com acting. So I wasn’t prepared for…well, for your brilliance in translating the character of Lucy.”
Wow! She was…stunned by his compliment. “Thank you,” she replied, bowing her head because she wasn’t exactly sure how to take such extravagant praise.
“Will you accept my apology?” he asked tentatively.
Evie lifted her head, feeling a soft glow surround her now. “I will under one condition.”
His dark eyebrow lifted with her words. “What’s that?” he asked.
She smiled and stepped closer, looking up at him and hoping that he recognized the sincerity in her tone and her eyes. “I want to forget last night happened. I love our evenings together. I love debating with you about which way a scene should go. Your intelligence challenges me to become a better actor and I don’t want to lose your friendship. We both kissed each other last night.” She looked at him, trying to gauge his reaction. “I mean…you weren’t the only one kissing last night.”
He hesitated, then opened his mouth, closed it with a sigh and rubbed a hand over his face. Finally, he said, “All the more reason why we should probably keep our distance.”
Evie felt the pain stab at her chest. “Yes, if that’s the way you want to handle it.” She stepped away, more hurt than she cared to admit. Her hand was on the doorknob when she paused and looked back at him. Memories of last night, of being all alone in her house when she could have been with him, laughing and talking and rehearsing came rushing over her and she gave it one more shot. “But we’re both adults, Brock. If you don’t want my friendship, that’s one thing. But if you do, then I’m willing to keep my distance from you so that we can be friends without the other stuff getting in the way. We had a good thing. It was fun and I sincerely enjoy your company.” She laughed, shaking her head. “I didn’t think I would, but it’s true. So…it’s up to you.”
With that, she headed off to makeup.
The rest of the day was tense. The scenes they were filming today were difficult emotionally, but Evie felt as if she nailed Lucy’s character every time. Some of the scenes needed several takes in order to get all of the angles that Brock wanted. Others required several takes because she wasn’t doing quite what Brock wanted. During those periods, Evie gritted her teeth and fought to concentrate, working hard to follow his directions. But she wanted to yell at him, rail at him for walking out last night instead of going through these scenes last night with her. Damn kiss!
She hated kisses! She hated sex and kisses and romance and…all that stupid, messy stuff! Good grief, emotions were so much easier to handle when she could slip in and out of the character!
By the end of the day, Evie was exhausted. But when Brock finally called a halt for the day, Evie turned to find Jerry, her agent, standing by her dressing room doorway.
“Hey, Jerry. What’s up?” she asked, glancing at his hands, hoping that he didn’t have another script for her to read.
“Hey beautiful,” he said, air kissing both of her cheeks in the normal Hollywood style. “Don’t look at me like that,” he teased, following her into the dressing room and closing the door. “I had a very odd visitor today.”
“Odd how?” she asked, removing her suit jacket and hanging it up. She kicked her heels off towards the bin where her shoes were stored during the filming process.
“Well, it was a private investigator.”
That got Evie’s attention. She frowned confusedly at him, the makeup wipe dangling in her hand. “A private investigator? What did he want?”
“It was a woman, actually,” he replied sitting down on the small sofa against the far wall of the dressing room.
“Okay. What did she want?” Evie asked, turning back to the mirror to clean off the heavy makeup.
“She wouldn’t say. But she wants to meet with you. She has something to discuss with you.”
Evie laughed. “Right. That’s not going to happen.”
Jerry shifted on his feet. “The thing is, she told me it is a personal matter. A family matter.”
Evie stiffened. “My mother passed away four years ago, Jerry. You know that. You sent flowers to her funeral.”
“Right. That’s what I told her. That your mother was your only family and she passed away.”
Evie felt a sense of dread looming over her as she looked at Jerry in the mirror. “Okay, so there isn’t a problem. I don’t have any other family. That means that this private investigator must have the wrong person.” She laughed, shaking her head. “Jerry, you know how many people try to see me. They all want just five minutes. It’s why I hired Beth’s firm. She handles all of my publicity and acts as a gatekeeper. If Beth thinks I should speak to this person, then Beth will call me. Otherwise, I don’t want to meet with…whoever this private eye is.”
Jerry nodded, his head bowed. “That’s what I told her. But she was very insistent. Plus, she has some interesting connections.”
Evie finished cleaning off her makeup and tossed the wipe into the trash. “Jerry, you know how to handle these things. If the person has powerful connections, I’m sure that yours are more powerful.”
He looked pained. “Actually, I don’t. The men who called my assistant demanding that I meet with this person were…well, they’re big names in the corporate world. So…would you mind talking to this person?”
Evie crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. “Not a chance. I don’t have family besides my mother,” she stated firmly, her eyes hard and unyielding.
Jerry sighed heavily. “Okay, well, I think you’re making a mistake. She mentioned…”
“I don’t care, Jerry. Just get rid of her.”
“Fine,” he called back, lifting his hands into the air. “Fine! I’ll get rid of her.” He turned and headed for the door. “I think this is a mistake. I can’t explain why, Evie, but I feel this Frankie woman might have important information for you.”
Evie stared at the empty doorway, wondering if Jerry was right. The guy usually went with his gut and he was almost always right.
“Evie! I need you to review the dailies tonight,” Brock called out, poking his head in her dressing room doorway. “You are…” he stopped, taking in her flinty expression. “What’s wrong?” he demanded, stepping further into her dressing room.
Evie pushed the worry away and smiled. “Nothing. Everything is fine.”
“I don’t think so. What happened?”
Evie laughed. “Jerry, my agent, just stopped by.”
Brock waited, but Evie didn’t want to tell him about Jerry’s meeting with a private investigator. Brock had been suspicious of her before. Now that he’d gotten to know her better, finally put some trust in her, she didn’t want to tell him anything that might increase those suspicions. “You mentioned that you need me to watch the dailies tonight? Why? I don’t normally do that.”
“Because I think we have a problem. I need your opinion on the issue.” He turned again, hesitating at her door. “I’ll take you out to dinner afterwards, okay?”
She smiled brightly, her exhaustion slipping away. It was his way of agreeing with her proposition from this morning. He’d been completely professional during filming today, but hadn’t done anything to indicate that he wanted to get back
to their friendship. This was it! This was his way of telling her that he wanted to get back to where they’d been before…before that kiss.
“I’ll be there in a minute. Let me just change clothes.”
He nodded, then backed away, disappearing seconds later. She closed the door and hurried to change into a pair of loose fitting cotton pants that rode low on her hips. She added a white cotton tee-shirt and slipped into a pair of comfy sneakers and tugged a baseball cap low over her head, covering her dark locks as much as possible. It was her version of a disguise so that she could go out into the world without being recognized. Usually it worked and she could walk down the street without anyone paying her the slightest bit of attention. But every once in a while, someone saw through the messy image and recognized her.
Tonight, it wouldn’t matter because she’d be with Brock. All of the attention would focus on him. He was too tall and muscular to pull off any sort of disguise. His height and brawn couldn’t help but draw attention.
Still, she was excited at the prospect of having dinner with him tonight.
Once she was dressed, she found him and Monty sitting in the screening room. “Okay, I’m here. What do you need me to see?” she asked, sitting on the other side of Monty. She and Brock might be on friendly terms again, but she didn’t want to push her luck. Besides, she needed a few more minutes to get her excitement under control.
“Take a look at this,” Brock said, pressing a button. The film played one of the scenes they’d shot today of her walking down the hallway. For the next thirty minutes, the three of them evaluated the scene until they all agreed to reshoot it tomorrow. Thankfully, it was only Evie in the scene with some extras, so it wouldn’t cost too much, but she still hated to mess up.
“Hey,” Brock said, touching her shoulder as they left the screening room.
An Unexpected Affair Page 7