“How’s it going on the interview front? Get any juicy bits?” Lark said by way of hello.
“I so have news. But I don’t want to release that until later. I have other stuff to write up and send you, though,” Cam said.
“What’s the news? And why do you sound pensive?”
“I’m not pensive.”
“Yes, you are. Did he kiss you again?” Lark asked.
If you only knew, Camryn thought.
“Someone stole my recorder last night,” Camryn finally confessed. It was useless to keep anything from Lark. The woman had a sixth sense where trouble was concerned.
“Well, you made notes, right? Of the interview? At the very worst, you can make new notes while you still remember what he said.”
“It’s not that.”
“Then what is it? Come clean, I can smell a story a mile away. Something’s up.” Lark’s tone grew suspicious.
In a rush, running the words together, Cam said, “We had sex on the balcony and forgot the recorder was on.”
Dead silence reigned for exactly fifteen seconds. Then Lark howled like a hyena, her guffaws coming in relentless waves.
“Stop laughing. It’s not funny.”
“Oh yes, it is. Camryn Olivia Castillo! That’s a story in itself! What was he like? Oh my God, dish!”
Camryn paced her room and rubbed a hand down her face. Heat curled up under her skin for what she had to admit next. “That’s not the story. Or the possible story.”
“Trust me. Every woman between the age of eighteen and eighty wants to know. It’s the story, all right.”
“Did you not hear when I just said someone stole the recorder? They stole it, because I looked everywhere and it’s not on the balcony, and it has a recording of Max and I having sex!”
Silence again.
Then more cackling laughter. “Yeah, hearing you had sex with the hottest man in Hollywood right now sort of blew the thievery aside. Wow, Cam. Wow.”
And that said it all, didn’t it? One word, said with the right inflection, captured the situation perfectly.
“I know. I’m still hunting for it. So is he. I’m scared to death that it’ll get into the hands of someone like Denny. Speaking of which, have you heard anything? Those shopped pictures haven’t appeared anywhere, right?” Cam asked. By this point, she assumed Denny was the culprit. He had the most motive.
“Haven’t heard anything and no pictures have been posted. Maybe it was a scare tactic all along to take the site down,” Lark said. Then she swerved right back to the other topic. “So, seriously, I need every detail about you and Max.”
“No way. And that news doesn’t go on the site either.” Camryn knew she didn’t have to tell Lark that, but Lark was a lover of scandal in ways Camryn was not, and she needed to double down on the instructions so something didn’t slip into the open. Max would never forgive her.
“That’s not right. It’s Maximo Payne. I’d at least tell you whether he’s as hot as he seems on the big screen.”
“You’re just going to have to wonder. And I have to run. We’re having breakfast and I’m late.” Camryn ended the call, grabbed her purse and her camera, and headed out of the room.
Later she would worry about lost recorders, fake pictures of sex, and what to do if they received any more threats.
Twenty-One
When she returned to her room two and a half hours later, Camryn put her back against the closed door and exhaled a long breath.
This could be trouble.
Big trouble.
Breakfast with Max had gone splendidly, with more fun banter, cheesy quips, and a ton of carefree flirting. No one had bothered them up on the balcony, leaving them alone to enjoy the stunning view of the Alps. The crisp, clean air had been as addicting as Maximo’s hot little glances. He told stories with those looks, both of what had been between them and what was yet to come.
The longer she spent in his company, the more she wanted to be there.
Hence the trouble.
Maximo was no regular guy off the street—he was a megastar who had to deal with megastar problems. Like the paparazzi breathing down his neck and rarely spending time in public without being watched or hounded. His work took him all over the world, which meant long-distance everything, and she wasn’t sure what to think about that.
Why are you thinking about that anyway? It’s a fling. It’ll be over when the Swiss vacation comes to an end. Camryn attempted to put her situation into proper perspective.
Stepping away from the door, she swung her purse to the desk and fished her laptop from a drawer. The best way to distract herself was with work.
A half hour later, Camryn pressed Send. The impromptu interview with Max this morning, along with the excellent photos of him draped across the bed, went off to Lark in California. She knew it was a great article, too, filled with personal insight, passion, and wit. Maximo brought out the best in her where writing was concerned.
Now what? She had a few hours to kill while Maximo met with his director and studied his lines with Aubrey. Camera in tow, she exited the room and decided to explore the grounds. Switzerland was a beautiful country and she wanted a few extra pictures for herself. She snapped vistas of the Alps, the far off meadows, and interesting angles of the chalet. It was an enormous structure, framed with flowers, and made for quaint subject matter.
She even met a few people working on the film and spent an hour chatting amiably with all three. Camryn wound up with a handful of candid photos and a short interview that she thought readers would appreciate.
Rounding the edge of the chalet, she wandered along a pathway flanked by more flowers. When she glanced up, she saw Max and Aubrey on the balcony—but they didn’t appear to be rehearsing at all.
They looked to be in the middle of an argument. A heated argument, at that.
Camryn paused on the path then brought up her camera. She wasn’t sure why instinct kicked in, nor why she felt the urge to immortalize the moment on film.
Click, click, click. She got off three shots before Max suddenly grabbed Aubrey’s shoulders and shook her firmly.
Aubrey slapped him straight across the face, her own expression one of absolute fury.
Click, click, click.
Camryn snapped another round of pictures. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing, and found herself upset that Max would manhandle a woman like that. It just didn’t seem his nature, not the Max she’d come to know. Barbed words, scathing looks? Yes. But not hands-on aggression.
If only she could hear what they were saying. The words didn’t carry, though she caught small snarls and growls from Max.
Aubrey pointed a finger right in his face then pushed out of his grasp.
Sticks and saints, it was all-out war.
Camryn couldn’t watch anymore. She crept back along the pathway, around to the front of the chalet, and in through the door. On the way to her bedroom, she considered confronting Max about what she’d seen to give him a chance to explain. Perhaps there was a good reason for the way he’d handled Aubrey, although Camryn couldn’t imagine what it might be.
And, she reminded herself, just because it seemed real, the possibility remains that it was a scene from the movie.
If that was the case, Maximo Payne was one hell of an actor indeed.
“Think you’ve got it down now?” Maximo asked Aubrey dryly, smoothing a hand over the red imprint on his cheek. That was ‘take’ number four. She seemed to enjoy the argument scene, and the slap in particular.
“Let’s go one more time. I’m not sure it’s convincing enough.” She squared her shoulders and faced off with him again.
“You do realize you’re not actually supposed to hit me, right?” It would take a lot harder slap or punch than that to do any real damage, but he couldn’t resist goading her a little.
“But it’s more realistic. Isn’t that what we want? You’re a good actor, Maximo. This is how we step up your game,” Aubrey said
. She jerked her chin to swish the layers of her hair behind a shoulder.
Maximo laughed. “That’s pretty arrogant, even for you. Maybe you should think more about stepping up your own game than worrying about mine.”
Aubrey lifted her chin. “I’m as big a draw for this movie as you are, Max. Maybe more. Nothing about my performance is lacking, nor do I need to up my game. I would have pegged you for a workaholic rather than a slacker.”
Maximo refused to take the bait. He knew how hard he worked, and he didn’t need to qualify it for her or anyone else. Aubrey’s diva qualities bordered on obnoxious and they weren’t even on set yet.
“I guess we’re done here, then.” He turned toward the balcony door.
“If you can’t handle this scene, we should move on to the next.”
“You mean the kissing that leads to sex.” Max knew what scene followed this one. He paused at the door to look back at Aubrey. Her flippant attitude didn’t take away from the obvious: she wanted to get physical with him.
He read it plain as day beyond her holier-than-thou stare down.
“We have time now. It’s quiet here, we’re undisturbed. Why wait?” she countered, propping a hand on her hip.
“Because there’s no need to rehearse it now.”
“You’re afraid you’ll feel something, aren’t you? Especially after your little display last night.”
Max laughed, though there was little humor in the sound. “Trust me, Aubrey. Me feeling anything of that nature for you, no matter how many times we kiss or how much passion I pretend to put in a scene, isn’t going to happen. I’m pretty sure you’ve heard by now that I keep my professional life and personal life totally separate.”
He didn’t wait for a reply. Max went inside and headed downstairs. He traded a few genial hellos with Martin and some of the crew, but didn’t stop to talk. There was something he’d forgotten to do, and he meant to rectify the oversight before it got too late.
At Cam’s door, he knocked.
“Who is it?”
Maximo could barely make out Camryn’s muffled voice. “It’s me. There’s something I forgot to mention.”
Silence.
He waited, patient and expectant.
When the door opened, Camryn had her laptop in hand, the screen filled with a snapshot of him grabbing Aubrey by the shoulders. It took him completely by surprise to realize that Camryn had glimpsed part of the reading without his knowledge. She had taken the photo, no doubt about that.
“What’s this?” she asked, peering over the top of the screen.
Even when she was suspicious and wary, she was cute. Max understood instinctively, however, that she was bothered by what she’d seen, and he chose to take it seriously. “That’s a scene in the movie.”
“Really?” One of her brows lifted.
“Yes, really. I might be many things, Camryn, but I wouldn’t get rough with a woman. Not unless she wanted me to.” He didn’t think he needed to explain that one was not related to the other. Hitting women and being aggressive in the bedroom were two different things. The sudden blush that colored the tops of her cheeks, which was all he could see besides her eyes, let him know she understood perfectly.
The laptop closed with a clap. “Thank God. Because that was intense, and I was worried for a while that things were going to escalate even further.” Cam slumped with relief.
“Can I come in?” he asked quietly, still taking it slow. She appeared to be back to normal, the Camryn he was used to, though he didn’t want to push it.
“Yes, yes, of course. I’m sorry for being so . . . so . . . flighty about it.” She stepped back to allow him entrance.
Maximo paused right in front of her and cupped her cheek with his hand. He drew a gentle arc across her skin with his thumb while maintaining eye contact. “You never have to apologize for that, Camryn. I don’t take abuse lightly.”
“Thanks. It would have sucked to break up with you before we ever started going out,” she blurted.
And just like that, she flipped the entire conversation on its ear. He laughed and kissed her mouth. Then he strode deeper into her room. “So you want to go out with me, huh?”
“Well, you know.” Camryn closed her door and set the laptop on the desk. “Not go out go out, but . . .”
He sprawled into a chair near her window. “Are there different kinds of going out?”
“So what comes next after that scene? There isn’t a murder in this movie, is there?”
Maximo had a hard time containing his amusement when she completely changed the subject. “A sex scene comes after this.”
Her eyes widened.
Somehow, Maximo smothered a laugh. “Yes, I’ll be flashing my ass on the big screen.”
Camryn’s mouth fell open. “You’re doing like . . . a nude sex scene? Fully nude? Is there . . .” She gestured toward his crotch, but seemed unable to shape the right words.
“No full frontal. I’m not that brave.” He laughed.
She laughed, too, and plopped down onto the edge of the bed. “Thank God! I wouldn’t be able to take my parents and my grandma to see you in the movie if you did that.”
“Because we’d be going out, and that might be uncomfortable,” he teased her. Camryn gave him such a droll look that his shoulders shook with mirth.
“Uncomfortable? I’d faint dead away, and I’m not a fainter,” she said.
“Believe it or not, your parents and grandma know what sex is, and what’s involved in the act,” he retorted.
“Just, no.” Camryn shook her head, body shaking with mirth. “There’s no way I’d take them if it was . . . everything. But how bad will it be? I mean, there are sex scenes, and then there are sex scenes. Which is this?”
“Maybe I’ll make you wait and see.” Maximo thought he should probably tell her that it was a pretty intense scene. It had taken some coaxing on Martin’s part to convince him to do it in the first place. His understanding was that a lot of skin would be on display as well as a lot of passion. The scene was integral to enhancing the drama, or so he’d been told.
“That’s unfair. Are you doing that scene here in Switzerland?” she asked.
“No. We do that back in the States.”
“You’ve never done that in a movie yet, have you? A serious love scene.”
“Not of this caliber, no. My other movies were action hero type, with a love interest on the side. This is a new direction for me,” he admitted. Lenni had thought it a good idea to show the different sides to his talent before he was typecast as a specific character in people’s minds. Maximo had accepted the role simply because it was different and challenging. There was still drama and a bit of mystery, along with a lot of intensity.
“I’ve seen your movies,” she admitted with a sheepish kind of smile. “At least the ones that are out now. I wasn’t sure if you’d filmed another movie that was still in postproduction.”
“I do have a movie in postproduction, and another about to come out—wait. Is this a sneak interview? Because I’m forbidden to talk about the explicit details.” He playfully narrowed his eyes. Maximo knew all he had to do was ask Camryn not to mention it, and she wouldn’t.
She rewarded him with a delighted laugh.
“It should be! I’m getting some great information. But I know that your movies are kept under tight control until their release. So I wouldn’t publish anything you didn’t want me to,” she said. “I’m still curious, though.”
“The movie in postproduction doesn’t have naked scenes, no. Nor does it have intense love scenes. Neither does the one about to premiere.” He saw no harm in admitting at least that much.
“And I can’t even mention a little tiny snippet that you’ll be butt nak—”
“Not even a hint,” he said, grinning.
“How do you feel about having to . . . fake that kind of thing? If my readers can’t know, at least sate my own curiosity.” She laughed.
“Ask me when it’s o
ver.”
Camryn clapped a hand over half her face, as if she couldn’t believe him.
Maximo chuckled, then remembered what he’d come here for in the first place. “Anyway, I came to ask you if you’d like to dine with the crew tonight. We’ll be sitting down at seven.”
“I’d love to, yes. And another interview after?”
“You’re on. I’ll see you at seven.” Max winked and left Camryn to her work. He had work of his own. Namely, a meeting with Martin to see just how much access he could get Camryn on set.
There was another, personal matter he had planned. An idea that had grown out of the conversation with Cam. Maximo decided that if he was going to go all-in with the interviews, he might as well make it worth it.
Ms. Camryn Castillo was in for a huge surprise.
Twenty-Two
“Second Secret Mistress, my butt!” Lark stated.
Camryn laughed. Flopped back on her bed, phone to her ear, she got comfortable now that she’d just filled Lark in on all the sordid details.
Well, most of the sordid details. True to her word, she hadn’t mentioned Maximo’s naked scene in his upcoming movie, nor Raquel’s secret.
“I know. I know. It just happened,” Camryn said. Even talking about her most recent tryst with Maximo brought a fresh blush to her cheeks.
“And how many times is it going to ‘just happen’? Seriously, Cam, wow! You do realize you’re the most hated woman in America right now, right?”
“No one knows anything yet. Not really.”
“They don’t have to know, they’re guessing. I just saw more speculation about you and Maximo and Raquel in another tabloid. They’re not letting it go that easy. If they only knew you were a regular visitor to his bed, though! Talk about a tabloid explosion.”
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