So many thoughts were running through her head in that split second, but Rico just fixed her with one of his laid back, easy smiles, his pretty, smooth cheeks creasing up as he grinned at her.
“Hey, that was amazing!”
She was confused for a moment, unsure what he was even talking about or referring to, so she just stood there, gawping.
“Your singing,” he continued, elaborating. “It was fantastic.”
Ashleigh started and stammered at the compliment, overawed. “O-oh, I…well…th-thank you, it was…it was really nothing. Just silly shower singing.” She shrugged, still standing there, dripping.
“It wasn’t just that,” Rico shook his head, looking into her eyes seriously. “I swear, Ashleigh. You’re gonna be one to watch.”
“Thank you. Again. That’s…honestly, that’s really amazing coming from a guy like you, with so much talent and–”
“I couldn’t sing like that,” he interrupted, still staring at her. Then he bit his lip and turned away. “Listen, I’m gonna leave you to get changed in peace, go and get myself another coffee but…” He hesitated and turned back to her. “I’ve got no plans for tonight and I was wondering…maybe we could grab some dinner. I could show you a little of LA. Or at least, my favorite restaurant?”
He looked at her with hope in his glimmering eyes, and her heart nearly stopped in her chest.
Was he…was Rico Fernandez asking her to dinner? As in…a dinner date? Was it a date? No, just dinner, right? As friends. She tried to tell herself that. It wouldn’t make sense otherwise.
She realized Rico was still waiting for an answer.
“I would love to,” she grinned broadly, probably from ear to ear. “That would be amazing.”
“Great,” he returned the big smile. “Well, it’s gonna be a late-ish kinda shoot tonight I think but, as soon as we’re wrapped, and I’ve had chance to go back and get changed, I’ll call for you. What hotel are you staying at?”
Ashleigh quickly gave him the details and then, as promised, he left her alone in his trailer so she could get dressed and mentally take on board what had just happened.
Once she was alone, she squealed and jumped in the air, the towel dropping from around her, leaving her standing there naked.
Oops. Good job he wasn’t still in the room.
She quickly grabbed it before anyone could see through the window, and then pulled down the blinds and got changed, slipping into Rico’s oversized shirt. It felt comfortable and soft on her skin, and she raised it up to her nostrils, sniffing slightly.
She wasn’t sure what he smelt like. She hadn’t exactly gotten close enough to know, but if it was anything like what his shirt smelled of, she had no complaints.
“Mm…” She let out a soft noise and closed her eyes, smiling to herself. It was like a mixture of coconut, cinnamon, and vanilla. Heavenly. Perhaps she’d get chance to smell more of it later that evening.
She glanced at the time, knowing she should probably get back to work. It was only her second day and she’d just spent half an hour in Rico’s trailer; she really hoped Sally hadn’t come looking for her to do a job. She didn’t want to be in trouble.
She hurriedly grabbed her dirty, wet shirt and left the trailer sheepishly, closing the door behind her and rushing across the courtyard into the main studio building. Thankfully, no one except the catering staff saw her and they were too busy prepping for lunch.
She managed to get to the office without anyone noticing, and stuffed the shirt into an empty plastic bag.
She was just settling back down to her work when Sally knocked on the door and told her it was time to get some food.
The rest of the day went without a hitch. She didn’t see Rico at lunch, or at any point throughout the afternoon. She did glance over at his trailer a couple of times and wonder whether he was in there, but mostly she was kept busy with her work and didn’t have too much time to think of him, rushed off her feet doing all kinds of tasks. It was the best thing for her, the best way to be, because as soon as she had a spare moment to herself, her mind wandered and she couldn’t help daydreaming about what dinner would be like that evening, nervous about what to wear and what she would say to him, and what his intentions were by taking her out like this.
When the sandwiches and cakes were served at 5pm, she only had a couple, wanting to save her appetite for later, and by 6:30pm, she couldn’t wait for the day to be over, starting to feel anxious and excited about their dinner date, and just wanting it to come.
Eventually, they wrapped for the day and she was given a ride back to her hotel.
Although Tim tried to make conversation and ask her how her second day had gone, Ashleigh found that she could barely answer or keep up. She was super distracted and just mumbled her responses until Tim got the idea and stopped talking, the ride falling into a comfortable silence as they listened to the radio and Ashleigh gazed out the window.
When they arrived back at her hotel, she apologized for her silence, explaining that she was tired and it had been a long day.
“It’s totally fine, I get it, don’t worry,” Tim grinned at her, watching as she got out the car. “I’ll see you Monday, bright and early.” They had a day off the following day, which would be nice; it meant she could go out late with Rico that evening and not have to worry about getting up really early.
She smiled and waved goodbye to Tim, then jogged into her hotel and took to the stairs. The elevator still wasn’t working, although the guy on reception promised her it would be fixed within the next week.
Her main concern now was what to wear.
She had no idea what time Rico would be picking her up, or what kind of place he would be taking her to.
All he’d said was that it would be ‘somewhere nice’ and his favorite restaurant. She couldn’t imagine a man like Rico Fernandez eating in some diner or cheap burger bar or chain. It was obviously (probably) going to be something fancy. It was good she’d brought a couple of her dresses with her; the ones she liked to use when she went out singing back at home.
She got them out of the wardrobe and held them up against her body, posing, turning left and right, trying to figure out which one would look best and finally deciding on a simple, but flattering black dress. It came just above her knee, and showed off a little bit of cleavage, which wasn’t much anyway considering her relatively small cup size, but at least it made her feel attractive.
Once she was changed, she pulled up a chair in front of the mirror and applied some makeup, humming to herself and keeping her eye on the time. She was rushing a little. She didn’t want him to suddenly arrive before she was ready.
She was just finishing her lipstick when her phone rang, from an unknown number.
They hadn’t exchanged contact details, but she knew her name and phone number would be right there on the call sheet, the one that every member of the cast and crew had a copy of. Finding her number would be the easiest thing in the world for him.
Nervously, she snatched up the phone off the bed and answered it.
Rico’s deep sexy, slightly accented Puerto Rican voice came down the phone. “Oh hey, is that Ashleigh?”
“It is. Hi, Rico.”
“Hey. I’m outside your hotel right now.”
“Great. I’m ready, I’ll be right down.”
“See you in a bit.”
He hung up, and suddenly this whole thing felt even more real. Her stomach was flipping around so fast she felt like throwing up.
She slipped her feet into a set of comfortable, modest heels, picked up her handbag and room key, and began to make her way downstairs.
Chapter Eight
Ashleigh was expecting Rico to be sitting out the front in some kind of posh, flashy sports car, maybe even with the top down, probably a bright color like red, yellow, or blue. Maybe luminous green. The seats would be leather and plush, and everything would be state of the art, probably with a personalized number plate too.
&n
bsp; She wasn’t sure why she expected him to be such a cliché movie star, but she was rather glad when she got outside and saw something completely different.
A motorbike.
She was surprised at the size of plates, and Rico started chuckling at her expression. He was standing there, in front of the bike, leaning up against it slightly with his arms folded, looking all cool and suave.
He was dressed smartly too, in a suit, but with a leather biking jacket over the top, so she was glad she opted for the dress.
“Wow…you look great,” he smiled, glancing her up and down, his eyes roaming freely as he checked out her figure.
She blushed a little and looked at him coyly as she approached, still too overawed at the motorbike to fret over the compliments just yet.
“Don’t worry,” he added, noticing her looking at it. “I brought you a helmet.” And at that, he reached over and lifted up a compartment right at the back, delving his hand in and producing a spare helmet for her.
She took it from his hands in a bit of a daze.
“Have you ever ridden a bike before?”
She shook her head.
“Here, let me help you.” He gently took the helmet back and then carefully lifted up onto her head. “I’m really sorry if I mess up your hair a little.”
“Oh, it’s okay, it’s short anyway,” she laughed, her voice becoming slightly muffled once the helmet was on. The interior was soft and smelt a little like the shirt she was wearing earlier – Rico’s shirt.
Once hers was safely secure, he put his own helmet on and swung one leg over the bike, mounting it.
“Get on behind me and hold onto my waist,” he instructed, and she did as she was told, having to hoist up her dress to get her leg over. It wasn’t exactly the most flattering position in the world, but thankfully her dress wasn’t that short, so when it rode up, it didn’t completely show off her knickers, although it did expose a lot more of her thigh.
She placed her hands on Rico’s waist.
He turned around to look at her. She couldn’t see his expression through the helmet but when he spoke, shouting a bit to be heard through the muffle of fabric from inside, it sounded like he was laughing, or at the very least he must’ve been grinning.
“Are you ready to take her for a spin?”
“Totally!”
He revved up the engine, probably more for dramatic effect than anything, because when he set off, it was actually pretty slow at first.
She soon saw that having a bike around LA was definitely beneficial, however. When the traffic came to a standstill, Rico just weaved in and out of the cars, and took them straight to the top of the stoplights.
He didn’t drive too fast or recklessly, but it still felt quick compared to other cars they were whizzing past, and with the warm night air rushing along her bare skin, Ashleigh found the whole thing rather exhilarating.
By the time they arrived at the restaurant, her heart was pounding – and not with pre-date nerves, but with adrenaline.
Rico found a place to park and they both dismounted the bike, removing their helmets.
Ashleigh was grinning from ear to ear, her eyes sparkling with excitement and delight. “That was amazing!” She gushed, passing Rico the spare helmet back.
“Yeah?” He laughed. “You enjoyed it? You handled it pretty well for a first ride. Some people get scared.”
“No, it wasn’t scary, it was great!”
“Ha. You’re a pretty cool girl, you know that? You’re interesting.” He smiled at her warmly, looking into her eyes a moment, then he put both the helmets away and switched on the alarm on his bike. “Come on. Let’s go inside,” he said, offering her his arm for her to link.
She slipped hers into his, and smoothed down her hair a bit with her other, glancing about her slightly as they began to walk into the restaurant. She could barely believe that she was stepping inside a lavish LA restaurant on the arm of Rico Fernandez. She wondered if anyone would recognize them, see them together. What if some press snapped a photo of them and it got splashed all over the place? Oh God. Was it inappropriate for her to be eating out with him? She hoped she wouldn’t get into trouble.
She tried to keep the nagging thoughts off her mind as they were led by a waiter over to the table in the corner Rico had reserved for them both.
The place was fairly busy but not heaving, and although a couple of people looked up briefly as they came in, it was only in the normal way anyone might when someone new walks into a restaurant. There were no double takes or staring.
People were probably used to seeing famous faces in Los Angeles. Maybe there were some more celebrities in here too. She tried to look around discreetly, to see if she could spot any, but then she was sitting down with Rico opposite her, and it was kind of hard to keep her eyes on anyone but him. He definitely had that mesmerising star quality about him.
They both smiled at each other, then Rico took off his leather jacket and hung it up on the seat behind him, revealing his sparkling white shirt and thin black tie beneath. The shirt was extremely tight, and seemed to cling to his toned, slightly muscular frame, really showing off his arms and biceps.
Ashleigh though he probably had a great body underneath that as she forced herself to look down and pick up the menu.
“Anything in particular you recommend?” she asked, glancing down at the vast choice and wondering how she would ever decide.
“The seafood here is really good, if you’re into that kind of thing,” he answered straight away, glancing up at her then back down at his menu. “And the pasta. Especially the seafood pasta, ha, a combination of the two.”
She smiled and bit her lip slightly, turning the pages and trying to make up her mind as they made small talk, discussing some of the options in more detail, with Rico admitting he must have eaten here at least twenty times.
Eventually, the waiter came back over and asked if they were ready to order.
She chose the salmon pasta, and Rico ordered swordfish, and a bottle of white wine for them to share.
“You can have most of it,” he added with a wink. “I’m driving.”
“Are you trying to get me drunk?” she asked, allowing herself to flirt just a little.
“Nooooo,” he held his hands up in mock innocence, then waggled his eyebrows and added, “Maybe.”
They both giggled.
When the wine came, they clinked their glasses together and the pair of them began to relax a little more, the conversation opening up between them.
They began by idly discussing their day at work.
She told him about all the boring, unimportant things she’d done that afternoon, which he insisted weren’t boring or unimportant at all, but actually crucial to the smooth running of a good film set, and he described some of the scenes they’d been shooting in the studio.
“I hope I get chance to see some of the filming at some point,” she smiled, excited at the thought of being on a real movie set.
“Oh, I’m sure you will. There’ll be less admin once the shoot really gets going. There’s always more at the beginning. Plus, I can put in a good word for you. Make sure you get to come on set and they don’t keep you in that office the whole time.”
“Thanks. I knew there was a reason I made you spill your coffee,” she teased.
“Ahhh, so this was all part of your clever plan, I see,” Rico teased back.
Ashleigh giggled and looked down, trying to think of where to take the conversation next. “Oh, I saw you the other day actually…on the Walk of Fame when they unveiled your star…”
“Oh, you did?” He raised his eyebrows and smiled. “You should have said hi.”
“Well, you looked a little busy.”
“Mm, true,” he smirked.
“Plus. I didn’t exactly know you then, and it would have been a bit weird to come over and be like ‘oh hey, I’m the runner on your new movie.’”
He smiled and shook his head. “It wouldn’t
have been weird at all. But anyway, I’m glad we met the way we did. It was more interesting.”
“Interesting is one word for it. Embarrassing’s another.”
“Nothing to be embarrassed about.”
Ashleigh smiled and took a sip of her wine. “So uh…what film are you working on after this?”
He went on to tell her all about his next project. It turned out the director he was working with was one of her favorites, which led them to discuss what kind of movies they both liked. It was a conversation she could easily have had all night long, and indeed, it did end up going on for a large portion of the meal, even after their food arrived they were still chatting about films.
Ashleigh was pleased to learn that Rico was a big fan of the old classics too, and that one of his favorites was Breakfast At Tiffany’s, which was also one of her top five favorite films. It seemed like they had plenty in common, and after her initial nerves she forgot all about the fact that she was sitting opposite Rico Fernandez. He was just a cool, good-looking guy who was easy to talk to and liked all the same movies she did.
By the time they were on their dessert, she already felt like she knew him pretty well, although they hadn’t really shared any personal information.
“Mmm, you’re right, the food here is so good,” Ashleigh hummed in approval at the explosion of chocolate in her mouth from the delicious brownie dripping with chocolate sauce and ice cream.
“I told you,” Rico smiled, but then his eye was caught by someone else arriving into the restaurant, and he nodded in their general direction, giving a small wave.
Ashleigh turned around to look back over her shoulder and see who it was, giving a small gasp as she recognized Francis Romero walking towards them with a pretty, young girl on his arm in a skimpy outfit barely covering any of her body. She clung to him like a limpet, a slightly smug expression on her face as she looked around at everyone else in the restaurant, obviously pleased with herself at being out with the biggest producer in Hollywood.
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