I’d been working at EA for five months, and I’d loved every minute of it. When Jules had told me about the job, I didn’t think I’d qualify for the position, but as it turned out, I didn’t have to have a degree in this field. I just had to know what I was doing, and as I had someone willing to teach me and mentor me, I was an easy hire for Matt. Plus, he was in love with Jules, so convincing him to hire me wasn’t that hard for her.
The first week had gone by quickly. This industry was very fast-paced. There was a lot of work all day long, so you never really got to take a breath and check the time. The days flew by. I learned more and more about the entertainment insurance industry over the next few weeks.
There were so many different things that called for insurance in this industry. There were many kinds of risk factors. Should an actor be injured on set and production held up for a couple of weeks, “Cast Coverage” was needed and would cover that time lost. There was also coverage for studios themselves. If an actor were hired for a part and something happened or he just couldn’t perform as he should, it would be our responsibility to cover the costs of finding a new actor. There was also coverage for the investors, payrolls, etc.
Some actors required more customized insurance, called Cast Insurance, also known as Essential Elements, which accounted for other risks—like the risk of incarceration or the known abuse of drugs and alcohol. Insurance for troubled stars could also call for “safeguards” requested by producers to keep the actor or actress in line, because having a troubled actor or actress on set caused them to get liability insurance, which could cost anywhere from $700,000 to $1 million in coverage. This meant one of us would be assigned to observe the actor or actress while they were on set or if they were doing anything that pertained to the movie, to make sure they weren’t more of a risk than they already were.
We usually tried to avoid this coverage because of the risk cost. The responsibility was usually spread between two people, and if the clients failed to follow the rules, we either dropped them or made them pay a deductible in order to keep their coverage.
It was all very complicated, and I was still learning, but I loved it and I loved going to work. There was something different every day, and that was what I enjoyed.
I parked my car on the side of the EA building and made my way into the office with Jules right behind me. She arrived just before I did.
As I made my way in, I noticed Rachel, our receptionist, at her desk. She must have had to come in early too. “Good morning, Rach,” Jules and I both chimed in as we made our way to our desks.
I put my purse in my bottom drawer and booted up my computer. I had messages and emails waiting for me already, but they’d have to wait. I grabbed my notebook and walked over to Jules’ desk.
“You ready?” I asked her, looking at the clock. It was 6:58 a.m.: time to make an appearance in the meeting room.
“Yep, let’s go,” she said as she grabbed her notebook and we headed down the hall.
Jules rapped quickly on the door, and we both waited for permission to enter. After a few seconds, the door flew open with Matt standing on the other side. He was in his usual button-up dress shirt and black dress pants. I’d never seen him wear anything else. He looked frazzled as usual. His medium-length blond hair was all a mess, and his wire-framed eyeglasses were askew. The guy was always stressed out, and his stress-induced eating habits were evident on his short stature.
“Come on in, ladies. I have someone I’d like you both to meet.” He gestured into the meeting room.
I was nervous going into this meeting. I had no idea who he’d be making us meet this early in the morning at the office. We usually met clients off-site, so I wasn’t sure what was happening.
As we made our way into the room, we both stopped in our tracks, and my body temperature went through the roof. I could feel my cheeks burning. I turned to look at Jules to make sure I wasn’t seeing things, but she was just as shocked as I was. I turned back to look at him. His hair was disheveled. He was dressed in faded jeans and a tight white t-shirt. He really was walking sex. I couldn’t miss the dark chocolate eyes staring at me or the gorgeous grin he was giving me either. He obviously recognized me. I bit my lip in order to keep my lips from grinning back at him.
He was leaning up against the far wall with his arms crossed against his chest making his biceps bulge, and I stared in appreciation. I could just make out the tattoo on his upper right arm that I’d seen in his shirtless pictures, which I’d stared at the day before. I hoped I didn’t start drooling.
Matt made his way into the meeting room. “Jules, Scarlett, I’d like you to meet Kade Evans. He’s going to be our new client.” Jules and I turned and looked at each other and then back at Kade.
Jules was the first one to shake his hand. After she moved away to take a seat, I made my way over to him and stuck my hand out. I could tell my hands were sweating, but there was nothing I could do about that. He grabbed my hand and gently gave it a squeeze.
“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Evans.” I managed to whisper.
He pulled on my hand, which made me take a step closer, close enough that I could tell he had freckles on the bridge of his nose: something I wasn’t able to see in the dimly lit club.
I could feel my heart rate and breathing pick up. Damn, he smelled good. It was so intoxicating. I’d never reacted this way to a man before, but then again I hadn’t had that much experience.
I knew I shouldn’t have stared at his shirtless pictures for so long yesterday. I scolded myself.
He leaned his head closer to mine. He was so close that all I had to do was get on my tippy toes and our lips would have met.
“The pleasure’s all mine,” he said, softly giving me a sexy grin. His voice sent waves of want through my body. I let out the breath I didn’t realize I was holding. I could already feel myself getting wet . . . again. He was not going to be an easy client.
Chapter 4
After reluctantly letting go of Kade’s hand, I turned around and headed to take a seat next to Jules, who was looking at me with wide eyes, as if she couldn't believe what had just taken place. Well, hello, I couldn’t either. Never did I think I’d see that sexy grin again.
Matt took a seat at the head of the table. Jules and I took seats on one side of the table, while Kade and the man I saw at the club sat across from us. Lucky me! Kade decided to pick the seat directly across from me.
I pulled in my chair, opened my notebook, and got my pen ready. I couldn’t help but sigh as I tried not to fidget. It was already looking to be a long day. Sneaking a glance across the table, I saw that he was staring at me, so I looked back down at my notebook. After the way I acted with him Saturday night, I was a little embarrassed to see him again.
I leaned over to whisper in Jules’ ear. “Is it just me, or does Mr. Evans not seem as surprised to see us as we are him?” I pulled back, furrowing my eyebrows as we both turned to look at him. He had his signature smirk on his face as he looked us over. He knew we were talking about him.
“Ladies.” We looked over at Matt as he handed us both a file. “The reason I asked you both in here today is because Mr. Evans needs to have Essential Elements coverage in order to start shooting his movie, and Mr. Evans has requested you, Scarlett, to be his account agent.” I looked from Matt to Kade and back to Matt in shock. Why the hell would he request me? “However, I have explained to Mr. Evans that you are still new to the company and haven’t handled an account like this before, so I have decided that Jules will be the account agent and you will be the safeguard to this account.”
I stared at Matt as if he’d just grown two heads. “WHAT?” I said louder then I should have. I looked around the table, trying to contain my fear of having to be around Kade. I’d only done this once before, so I was kind of surprised that he would give me this responsibility. It wasn’t too bad of a job, but my other clients weren’t the womanizing Kade Evans, and they weren’t well-known either.
“Don’t worry, Scarlett, you’ll have Steve helping out as well.” Matt nodded at me. Steve was another new agent who helped with safeguard duties. I needed to meet up with him later that day so we could come up with a schedule.
“This is Keith Stanton.” Matt pointed out the man sitting next to Kade. I didn’t take notice of him before because I was so focused on Kade. He had blue eyes, hair in a buzz cut, and he was clad in a suit. “He’s Mr. Evans’ agent. You two will be seeing a lot of each other, so get acquainted. He’ll be emailing you Mr. Evans’ itinerary for the shoot and whatever other engagements he has while he’s being covered under our policy. In the files are all the documents you’ll need to get Mr. Evans started. After contacting me on Saturday, Mr. Evans took the liberty of printing out most of the forms and filling them out. Those are also located in the file. If you’ll excuse me, I have some work to do, so I’ll leave you to get things rolling.” Matt, Keith, and Kade got up from their seats, and Matt walked over to where Keith and Kade were standing to shake their hands before heading out of the meeting room.
As Kade sat back down, I watched him. It hit me as soon as Matt said Kade had been on our website. He knew exactly who I was Saturday night if he’d been roaming our website. It was set up so you could pull up information on all the agents, and our pictures were attached to it as they were at other insurance agencies.
That sneaky son of a bitch! He was looking at me with that damn smirk on his face. He was amused at my discomfort. I needed to stay focused. No more drooling, damn it.
Jules got up from her chair. “I have to enter all of this information in the computer to get his coverage started. Filming apparently starts today, so I’ve got to get this all done by ten a.m. You’ll have to do the questionnaire with him and tell Keith where Mr. Evans will need to go to have his drug testing done.” Jules sounded annoyed as I watched her gather up her files and notebook. She looked over at Keith as he put his phone up to his ear and excused himself from the room. I watched as she followed him out, leaving me alone with Kade.
I looked over at him and cleared my throat. I needed to get this out in the open. “You knew exactly who I was Saturday night, didn’t you, Mr. Evans.”
“Please, call me Kade,” he said smoothly as he leaned forward in his chair and rested his arms on the table.
A shiver ran the length of my body, giving me goose bumps on my arms. I didn’t think I would ever get used to that voice. I watched him clasp his hands on the table and noticed that even his hands were sexy. They were slender, artistic, strong hands. I knew he played a guitar, so it would explain the calluses on his fingers. There was just something about a man’s hands that were sexy. I imagined them running all over my body. I actually closed my eyes as the images swam though my head.
Kade cleared his throat and knocked me out of my daydream. I blushed and looked at him. He knew the effect he had on me. I needed to stay professional and hide it. According to his paperwork, we’d be working together for a month. His part in the movie wasn’t a main character, but a supporting role, so his film time was shorter than some of the cast. I could do this. I just had to reel in my libido.
“Answer the question, Kade.” I started going through my file to retrieve the questionnaire that he needed to fill out.
“Yes, I did.”
I looked up at him, and he had a big smile on his face. I knew that he knew who I was, but hearing him say it irritated me. If he thought his womanizing ways were going to help him in any way, he had another think coming.
“Just so you know the flirting, charm, and sexy smile will get you nowhere with me,” I said, keeping my expression neutral as I handed him a stack of papers. See I could do this.
“You think I have a sexy smile.” He flashed his perfect white teeth my way as he took the papers, brushing his fingers against my hand in the process. I said nothing. “They seemed to work just fine Saturday night, didn’t they.” He looked at me with heat in his eyes.
I could feel my face getting red. I should have seen that one coming. “I was speaking about your coverage, Mr. Evans. You might be able to bat your eyes at other women to get what you want, but if you don’t follow the guidelines, you’ll be dropped. Don’t think that just because I’m a woman I’ll let anything slide. As for Saturday night, I was drunk, and I had no idea who you were.”
“Ah, and now that you know . . .” I knew he was testing me to see what I knew, but I wasn’t going to voice my opinion about him in any way.
“Let’s just say I learned a lot from the Internet and leave it at that.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Yes, and we believe everything we read on the Internet, don't we, Scarlett?” He leaned back in his chair and clasped his hand behind his head.
Hearing him say my name was doing something to my body, and putting his hands behind his head stretched his t-shirt tighter against his chest. The guy wasn’t even touching me, and I could tell my breathing had quickened.
It was time to change the subject. We had a lot of things to get done before filming started that day. That was also unheard of. Who waits until the very last minute to get coverage? The only reason I could think of was that he was rejected by our competitors.
I took a deep breath and pointed to the papers I just gave him. “These, Mr. Evans, need to be filled out ASAP.” He looked down at the papers. “Some of the questions are unorthodox, but I need you to be completely honest when answering them, especially the questions about alcohol and drugs. We need to know what drugs you have taken, what you are taking, and the last time you took them. The same goes for alcohol.” I paused to gauge his reaction to what I’d said. He looked up at me as if what I’d said had been more uncomfortable for me than it was for him. He was right.
I knew it was none of my business, but I was very interested to learn what brought him to where he was today. I knew he was put into foster care at the age of eleven, but what put him there? What happened to his parents?
Knowing that he had a problem with drugs and alcohol really hit home for me too. There were so many times I tried to help my mother get clean, but she always seemed to relapse. I knew that when my father left it really hit her hard. She hadn’t been the same since. Now that I was sitting in front of this gorgeous man who seemed to be having a lot of the same problems, it just made me want to help him.
I stood up and leaned over to gather up all my things. “I'm going to leave you to fill out all that information. It might take you awhile since it’s pretty lengthy. If you have any questions, please just come to my desk around the corner. If not, I’ll be back here in about fifteen minutes to check on you.”
I looked up at him as I started to pull away from the table, but he wasn’t looking at me. His eyes were focused on my chest. I looked down and my eyes widened in embarrassment. Apparently my wrap around blouse had decided to come loose and the top of my lacy push-up bra was sticking out. I looked back up at Kade with flushed cheeks. His eyes were now focused on mine. The look on his face could only be described as hunger. I immediately fixed my blouse and headed for the door without looking back at him.
As soon as my hand reached the doorknob, his hard body pressed up against mine with his arms barricading me against the door. I could feel my body flush, and I started to breathe heavily. How did he do this to me? It was as if every time he got close to me I was held captive.
He lowered his head and rubbed his nose against the top curve of my ear. My forehead was starting to sweat, and my heart felt as though it were about to beat out of my chest. All I could do was stand there and feel the heat that both of our bodies were creating. He moved in closer to me, and I felt it . . . again.
He lowered his right arm and grabbed my waist, bringing his lips to my ear. “I look forward to working with you, Scarlett,” he whispered, making me suck in a breath. His voice was so seductive.
As Kade let go of my waist, his hand slid down to cup my ass, giving a light squeeze.
I let out a moan and then realize
d this was neither the time nor the place to allow him to do this. I let go of the doorknob and turned around, shoving him in the shoulder, making him give me room to open the door.
“Don’t do that again,” I said firmly, even though deep down I wanted him to do it again.
I grabbed the doorknob, opened the door, and made my exit mumbling, “Arrogant ass,” loud enough for him to hear. The response I got was what sounded like a chuckle. I couldn’t deny that he made my blood boil.
Damn rock star.
Chapter 5
I went back to my desk and immediately started checking my messages. Mondays were always hectic days. The agency was closed during the weekend, but filming was a continuous cycle. Thank God that Kade wouldn’t be filming on weekends. According to the schedule, the weekends were reserved for all the outdoor filming with the main characters, but that could change at any time.
When Mondays rolled around, we were bombarded with things that needed to be signed: incident reports and destruction of props or property notices that needed to be covered by insurance. It was all very time-consuming. I don’t think that any of us looked forward to Monday.
I had just hung up my phone when Jules came over to my desk. “Holy sexual tension, Letti, I could feel the heat coming off the both of you in there,” she grinned, wiggling her eyebrows at me. Of course, she would think this was funny.
“Shut it, Jules. This isn't funny. He just grabbed my ass in there.” I threw my arms up in exasperation. “This isn’t going to work. I can’t work with him. It’s sexual harassment.”
Lifeless Page 4