by Nikki Logan
‘This is its second season, don’t forget,’ Dan said, irritated that they could so easily overlook a whole season of television. A year of his life.
‘Everyone has forgotten the first season, Dan. It’s this season they’re all talking about. The whole Ava/Maddox thing is working a charm, as is our new no-bull format.’
Our… Dan knew how many meetings it had taken to lock down a bit of verity in television. AusOne had haemorrhaged steel filings over the simple idea of showing the construction as it truly was. The real size of the team. The actual amount of work. The true price tag.
‘The odds are in our favour, Dan. But the network is keen to capitalise on the exposure.’
‘In what way?’ Dan’s neck hairs prickled. They were already running a PR extravaganza on the side—what more could they expect?
‘The short PR pieces have been great, but we’re looking for something longer. More substantial. In-depth. We’re thinking print. Feature article. A-day-in-the-life type thing.’
Dan cringed. How had someone whose taste was so firmly implanted up their butt risen so high in AusOne’s ranks? His teeth ground together. ‘And I assume you want me to broker this?’
‘Not in a million years, sunshine. You had your chance. Although I’d have thought you’d be all over this, Dan—a chance to get a nice high-profile paperweight for your desk. Runs on the board. Generate some real interest in the public.’
The network weren’t yet aware of the very real, very public kiss Ava and Maddox had shared the day before. Kurtz’s PR stooge had been inside on the phone when Maddox and Ava had tangled tongues. There’d only been one photographer there, but Dan’s investigations had revealed he was a stringer for a number of magazines. If the photo appeared in one, they could guarantee real interest brewing in the public.
The network would be delighted.
They’d be the only ones.
Now they wanted a full-on journo to be given access to Ava. Potentially the sort who could take a kiss like that and turn it into something far more sordid. Dan knew any number of that calibre. And a few who weren’t.
An idea began forming.
‘Let me know when they’re coming.’ He signed off, any pleasure about the unprecedented award nomination floundering beneath his concern about the feature article.
He could try and swing it to Tannon or Larks, both good journalists from competing papers and tending towards the more moderate side of their business. One of their papers was likely to be thrown the exclusive. If he could swing it, either of those writers might actually stay focussed on the show rather than the private life of its hosts.
Lives.
Dan swore. Even he was linking Maddox and Ava together in his mind now.
It was worth a shot. It was the only way he could think of to keep things from escalating. He looked through narrowed eyes to where Ava and Maddox now stood talking by the coffee station, heads dipped in some confederacy. He’d have to talk to them both. The amount of time they spent with their heads bent might alert the rawest of journos. And that was the last thing they all needed.
Dammit. What had changed between them? It was driving him crazy.
And yet a big part of him really didn’t want to know the answer.
‘Are you serious?’
Brant’s voice rose an entire octave. He scooped Ava up in a massive bear hug and spun her round while the faces all around them broke into big smiles and murmurs of congratulation. She clung on for dear life, laughing.
‘An ATA this early in a season is an Australian first,’ Dan said. ‘We can all be really proud. More than other programmes, this one truly is a team effort.’
Ava glanced at Dan. It felt good to be smiling at him again. Meeting Cadence had put a few things in perspective. It wasn’t his fault he didn’t have feelings for her, would never look at her like Brant looked at Cadence. Or think of Ava the way she thought of him. But she had no idea where to start with putting things right.
This news provided exactly the sort of introduction she needed.
‘We’ll be hosting a journalist on set in a few days,’ he continued, ‘for some pre-award coverage. There’s interest in a full story on the show and its inception.’
Not entirely true, but it would be if he got his way. He released the gathered crew for a spontaneous coffee break and retreated to examine the latest part of the garden. Ava grabbed her chance and drifted up behind him.
‘Congratulations, Dan. You must be so pleased.’
He turned slowly. Appraised her with those bottomless brown eyes. Her heart did its familiar squeeze thing.
‘When the network’s happy, I’m happy,’ he said.
‘You don’t look all that happy.’ As openings went, it wasn’t bad.
He considered her, his eyes dark. ‘In some ways I’d rather we’d got there the traditional way. Rather than trading so heavily on the chemistry between you and Maddox. The show has plenty of merit on its own without that.’
That mirrored Ava’s own feelings almost exactly, but coming so hard on the heels of meeting Cadence, she suddenly saw the opportunity to make good on her promise to her two friends slipping away.
‘Maybe the audience is responding to both? It certainly hasn’t harmed anyone.’
‘Hasn’t it?’ His dark eyes swept the set.
Could he not even look at her? She persevered, intent on trying to salvage something of their friendship. ‘Give yourself a break, Dan.’
He looked at her then. Hard. ‘You’ve changed your tune. A week ago you loathed the publicity stuff.’
Ava’s essential feelings hadn’t changed. But her promise to Cadence made the publicity more bearable. Gave it a purpose. ‘I’ve come to terms with it. I know it’s important to the show. To you.’
His eyes narrowed. ‘Me?’
‘I know how important success is to you—successes like this one. Awards and little blue numbers on a printout. If me getting on well with Brant helps that…why wouldn’t you use it?’
Ava was startled by the bouquet of curses that Dan thrust at her. He pulled her further out of the way of prying ears, yanking her around behind a large ficus, and spat out a question. ‘Does your perfection have no end?’
She stared at him, shocked. ‘I don’t mind—’
‘Oh, give me a break. You don’t mind your face being splashed all over the newspapers? Your relationship with Maddox?’
‘There is no relationship.’ She was tired of defending herself. But knew she only had herself to blame. This time.
‘Your thing with Maddox, then.’
Exasperation made her short. ‘It’s not a thing, Dan…’
‘Oh? You go around kissing just anyone, then? Oh wait, yeah—I guess you do. You kissed me not so long ago. Should I be putting an alert out to all the male members of the crew?’
Mortification streaked through her. Heat raced into her cheeks. ‘That was different.’
‘Why? Because you have some latent childhood crush thing going on? Time to get over that, isn’t it, Ava?’
The heat fled. ‘Don’t! Don’t ridicule what I felt.’ Feel. Her voice broke slightly.
Dan sighed and tugged exasperated hands through his hair. ‘You should be furious with me, Ava. I’ve treated you appallingly, and yet you stand here trying to make me feel better about what I’ve done. Why is that?’
There was no way she could answer that question honestly. Not now. ‘Because you’re my friend, Dan. And friends look out for each other.’
‘Oh, grow a spine, Ava. If you’re going to make it in this industry you can’t let people walk all over you like this.’
Hurt gnawed through her chest cavity, aiming for her heart. ‘That’s what you don’t get about me, Dan. I have no interest in making it in this industry. And I don’t let anyone walk over me.’ At Dan’s sceptical expression, she barrelled on. ‘I’m going along with this charade because it helps someone I care about—despite not particularly liking the man you’ve turned i
nto. You were part of my family growing up and you filled an important place in my life.’ She dropped her voice. ‘And so if it helps you to have me seen in public with Brant, and it helps him to be seen with me, and it doesn’t hurt me…’ terminally ‘…then why not? That’s what friends do for each other, Dan. Or have you been alone so long you’ve forgotten the concept of loyalty?’
Pain, confusion and anger all warred at once in his hard brown eyes. Ava’s heart thumped high in her throat, squeezing around the icy lump that spread steadily in her chest. ‘If there’s something you need and it’s in my power to do it, then I will.’
‘Why, Ava?’ It was a half-whisper.
Because I love you.
‘Because that’s who I am, Dan. I may not win any prizes for street smarts, or survive very long in this piranha pool of an industry, but I will at least still be me. And I happen to like who I am.’ She straightened her shoulders and forced the words out before turning back to her work. ‘Even if you don’t.’
CHAPTER TEN
SINCE the day she’d moved in, Dan had virtually disappeared. Ava had all the privacy she wanted and more. It had been days since she’d seen him for longer than a few seconds. Which meant she was stupid not to have expected the knocking at her front door. She answered it.
‘Are you insane?’ Her brother stood on her doorstep, pressing a copy of a gossip magazine under her nose.
Hi, Sis. Good to see you. ‘It’s not quite how it looks, Steve.’
‘Oh? You don’t have your tongue down Maddox’s throat?’
She sighed, knowing she’d brought this one on herself, and stood clear to let him into the guesthouse. ‘It was just a kiss. It didn’t mean anything.’
‘Just a kiss in front of a hundred people? On every magazine stand in the country?’
‘Okay, not my finest moment.’
Steve must have seen the anguish on her face because he eased off. ‘Maddox, Ava? Maddox?’
‘What does everyone have against Brant? He’s been nothing but lovely to me.’
Steve snorted and flopped onto the sofa. ‘He’s trying to get in your pants. It’s in his best interests to be lovely.’
‘He is not, Steve. Don’t be so crude.’
The look Steve gave her spoke volumes. ‘Oh, so you were kissing him in this photo, yes?’
Yes, actually. ‘Lord, if its not you, it’s Dan,’ she said. ‘What do you both have against Brant?’
‘Maddox is bad news. He’s constantly in the papers with his latest piece of—’
‘That’s not the man that I see every day at work.’
‘It wouldn’t be, would it? You’re in his sights,’ Steve said.
Hashing this out wasn’t going to undo Steve’s prejudice. She changed tack. ‘How’s Dad? Has he seen this?’
‘No. But he will eventually. Someone will show him.’
So much fall-out from one stupid moment of thoughtlessness. It didn’t matter whether it was real or not. In fact her father would be just as mortified to know that she’d used Brant to score points. That was not the daughter he’d raised.
‘Can you explain?’ she pleaded. ‘When you go home this afternoon? Tell him it’s not what it seems?’
Steve shook his head. ‘I’m not going back until tomorrow. I’m heading out with Dan tonight.’
It was irrational to feel a jealous pang at that news. Just like when they were younger, and he’d got to hang out with Dan all the time and she hadn’t. Maybe Dan was right? Maybe she hadn’t matured emotionally at all. ‘Tomorrow, then? Will you explain to Dad?’
‘You want me to tell him that you’ve been photographed swapping saliva with a man you’re not involved with?’
Ava rubbed her aching temples. How had this all got so complicated? ‘Please just tell him…that I’m losing my way. Six months is such a long time, but I’m doing the best I can.’
Steve pulled himself to his feet and crossed to the sofa, then dropped next to her and wrapped a big-brother arm around her. She sagged into his familiar warmth. Some of her anxiety soaked away. ‘Things are…complicated. I should have known they would be,’ she said.
She could almost hear Steve’s eyes narrow to slits with his next words. ‘Is this complication Dan-related?’ he asked, dangerously neutral.
She straightened carefully. ‘Why would you say that?’
‘Come on, Ava. I was there. I saw how you felt about him.’
Ava pointed at the magazine on the coffee table. ‘That photo is doing the rounds and you’ve somehow drawn a connection to Dan?’
‘It may surprise you to know that I believe you when you say there was nothing to that kiss with Maddox.’
Relief washed through her. ‘You do?’
‘But that’s not you, Ava.’ Shame sliced through her. ‘Something had to be driving you to those lengths. It doesn’t take a genius to eventually arrive at Dan’s doorstep. You’ve always done stupid things when he’s around.’
Ava took a deep breath. She glanced at the bed just a few metres away, where Dan might have made love to his best mate’s little sister. The one he was supposed to be watching out for. She could make things really difficult for him with just a few sentences.
‘Dan’s not the problem, Steve.’ Oh, such lies. ‘I’ll just be happy when this contract is over and I can go back to being me.’
‘You’re still you, kiddo.’ He glanced at the magazine and cleared his throat. ‘At least most of the time. Just don’t let them suck all the goodness out of you.’ Such displays of emotion were rare in her brother, and he didn’t look entirely comfortable. He nudged her sideways. ‘I’d hate to have to assume the role of the good one in the family.’
Ava laughed. ‘I’d have to fall much further from grace for that to happen.’
The teasing continued for the next hour, and Ava let herself enjoy having family with her. Unconditional love. They chatted and joked over a constant supply of fresh coffee.
‘What are you guys doing tonight?’ she eventually asked.
‘Dan’s got some club in mind. The waitresses serve food off their bellies.’
Her eyes shot wide. She had a sudden flash of Dan’s tongue circling a chilli mussel out of a delicate belly button.
‘Kidding. Don’t look so horrified—jeez. We’ll probably hit the waterfront, catch up.’ He shrugged. ‘Guy stuff.’
Guy stuff. That encompassed a lot, and none of it wholesome. Suddenly the nightclub didn’t seem so unlikely.
It was nearly midnight when Ava returned from her movie with Cadence. What an unexpected delight to find someone willing to indulge her passion for classic cinema. She’d managed to put the disasters of the past month well and truly behind her as she fell enthusiastically into a rich European saga of love, betrayal and intrigue. It had been a blessed three hours of pure escapism. Plus trailers.
And some good old-fashioned girl time with her unconventional new friend.
Her answering machine was flashing when she walked in from the ferry. She kicked off her shoes and tossed her handbag onto the sofa as the first message started to play. Thirty seconds later she was sprinting, barefoot, for Dan’s front door.
Please, let them be home.
Her father’s voice had been full of concern, desperate to get in touch with Steve. James Lange didn’t usually do desperate. She rang the doorbell twice, then, impatient, followed it up with a brisk knock. There was not a sound inside. She glanced at her watch. Would they be home by now? Damn!
She turned to sprint back to her place and then spun round, eyes wide, as a light came on in the imposing portico.
‘Ava?’
She rushed past Dan into his house. She could apologise for her rudeness later. ‘Where’s Steve?’
‘Gone.’
That stopped her in her tracks. ‘Gone where?’ Panic rose in her voice.
‘To Flynn’s Beach. He got a text message from your father.’
Relief flooded through her. Steve was already on his way home
. ‘Oh, good. I got this call…’ Her hands started to shake. Dan steered her to the tall leather stools lining a granite-topped breakfast bar. ‘Not sure what was going on, but Dad sounded urgent. He never sounds urgent.’
Her heart was thumping a tattoo. Ava told herself it was because of her fright, and not because Dan was standing before her in nothing but a pair of silk boxer shorts. She glanced down the darkened hall to where light spilled from a doorway. She finally noticed his messed-up hair and her hand shot to her mouth.
‘Oh, you were sleeping!’
A slight flush stained his jawline. ‘Not exactly.’
She gasped as understanding flooded in. What had he done? Hit his little black book right after waving Steve off? ‘You have someone here. I’ll go…’ She stumbled off the stool towards the front door.
He stopped her with two hard hands on her shoulders. ‘I was in bed—alone—but not yet asleep. Relax, Ava. You’ve interrupted nothing important.’
Oh. Then why did he look so distracted?
‘Weren’t you supposed to be having dinner off a stripper or something?’
His harsh laugh barked through the silence as he moved into the kitchen. The powerful topography of his back shifted as he reached into an overhead cupboard for coffee. Ava studied the nearby microwave intently.
‘That’ll be your brother’s fertile imagination at work, then!’ he said. ‘We went for a beer, and then he got your dad’s message. He left straight away. Lucky he’d only had the one.’
‘Oh.’ She nibbled her lip. ‘I wonder what happened.’
‘Something about his stud stallion and an altercation with a post-n-rail fence.’
‘Oh, no—Vasse. Steve loves that animal!’
‘He treated the call with the urgency it obviously deserved. I dropped him at his car and he took off immediately. He left you a message on your machine.’
She blushed. ‘I didn’t stick around to hear the second message.’
They fell into silence and, with crisis averted, Ava was suddenly embarrassed by her dramatic arrival and conscious of everything that had gone on between them earlier in the week.