Stroked by my Dad's Best Friend_A Billionaire Secret Baby Romance

by Natasha Spencer

  Eventually, she wandered down to the lobby for her ride, which arrived promptly at 7:30am, which was her call time according to the schedule she’d been given. She hadn’t had time to eat, so she hoped she’d be able to get breakfast on set.

  “I’m Tim,” the driver smiled as he leaned over and opened the passenger door for her to jump inside.

  “I’m Ashleigh,” she smiled back as she got in, the two of them shaking hands.

  “Yes, you are our new runner.” He grinned as they set off, immediately hitting some LA traffic, which wasn’t exactly a surprise. “Welcome to the team.”

  “Thank you very much. I’m really excited.”

  “It should be a good shoot,” he nodded. “We did have a runner initially but he found out his girlfriend was pregnant and quit, that’s why we advertised for a new one last-minute.”

  “Ah, I see. Well, it’s a great opportunity for me, I’m thankful for it,” gushed Ashleigh.

  Tim seemed like a nice enough guy, and the two of them chatted for most of the journey to the studio. He asked her where she was from, whether she’d done this kind of thing before, and in turn answered a lot of her questions about his work.

  It turned out he was a permanent employer of Romero Films and one of their unit drivers for all the shoots. As such, he spent a lot of his time behind a wheel, ferrying people back and forth.

  “Ah, I did wonder if I’d be doing that kind of thing,” smiled Ashleigh.

  “Well, you might be once we start on the location shoots. We’ll need all hands on deck then, getting the actors to and from the locations. Guys like me normally move to transporting gear and equipment at that stage, and leave the actor liaisons to the runners.”

  Ashleigh nodded along with interest, taking it all on board and feeling like she was learning so much already.

  It took them about thirty minutes to reach the studio what with all the traffic. Tim rolled down the window, leaned out, and flashed his pass, then the large electronic doors were opened by the security guy who gave them both a little wave as they rode on past, finding a space to park over by the main entrance.

  “Follow me,” Tim said as he got out. “I’ll walk you inside and introduce you to Sally, then she’ll take over. I gotta go pick up someone else.”

  Ashleigh followed him, clutching at her shooting schedule nervously and looking around her as they stepped inside the studio.

  It just looked look like a long, endless corridor with rooms on either side.

  As they walked past each room, she heard the hum of activity from inside behind the closed doors, and noticed all the doors had labels – Studio A, Studio B, makeup, costume, special FX, dressing room A, dressing room B, C, and D, kitchen, green room, office A, office B, then finally, Production Office.

  It was this door they stopped at, and Tim raised his hand to knock.

  “Come in,” someone called from inside.

  It was a brightly lit, large room with a big window overlooking the parking lot, and included five large desks, three of which were currently empty.

  The two occupants of the room, one male, one female, both looked up as she and Tim walked in, the woman standing with a smile on her face and stepping forward, offering out her hand in greeting.

  “You must be Ashleigh.”

  Ashleigh smiled and clasped her hand. “Yeah, I am.”

  “I’m Sally, 3rd assistant director. The one who you’ve been e-mailing.”

  “That’s right. So nice to meet you in person, finally.” Ashleigh felt her heart race with nerves, but everyone seemed really nice so far, and it was helping her relax a little.

  “You too. And this is Julio, 2nd AD,” she indicated the man sat down, who raised his hand and waved.

  “Hi there,” he grinned.

  “Hey,” replied Ashleigh.

  “Right, I’m off,” interjected Tim, giving a quick nod to everyone in the room. “See you all in a bit.” And with that, he disappeared down the corridor again, leaving Ashleigh alone with Sally and Julio.

  “This is the Production Office,” Sally explained, pointing out the different desks for the 1st AD, director, and producer. Then she led her out into the corridor and gave her a full tour of the whole interior, then taking her outside into the little courtyard area where there were several trailers set up, a catering van, and a large double decker ‘dining bus.’

  “Those are the lead actors’ trailers. The supporting artists and background artists share dressing rooms inside the main building…the ones we walked past. And we get our meals over there by the bus.”

  Ashleigh nodded. She was fairly sure she was going to get lost at some point but she’d soon get used to it.

  “And what are my main jobs and responsibilities?” she asked.

  “Well, that just depends what we need you to do on the day,” answered Sally. “The cool thing about your job is…you’ll get to do loads of different things. I promise you, you’ll never be bored, and you’ll never be short of something to do. They’re long days, and they’re tiring, but it’ll be worth it.” She gave her a reassuring smile.

  “I’m excited to start.”

  “Good. Well, the first thing you can start with is getting yourself some breakfast, then come see me back at the office; there’re some phone calls you can make for me, and some scripts I need you to print out and stamp together.”

  “Great. Thank you so much.”

  And so began Ashleigh’s first day as a runner.

  As it happened, she spent most of that first day inside, in one of the offices –not the main production office but a separate one away from everyone else– printing off scripts, stapling them together, making phone calls, cello-taping and preparing envelopes, and doing a load of other admin work. Sally would call in to check on her every hour or so and collect the work that she had done, but other than that she was mostly left to her own devices. When there was something specific or new to be done, Sally would come and tell her. A few times she was asked to go and collect various supporting actors and escort them to their makeup and costume calls, which was fun, as she got to meet them and chat with them about their work and how they’d got into acting, albeit briefly.

  At lunchtime, she could go and help herself to food from the catering van whenever she liked, then sit and eat it on the bus. Due to the hectic schedule of filming, Sally hadn’t had a chance to introduce Ashleigh to every single member of the cast and crew, but she had at least met the 2nd AD and 1st AD, the makeup and costume team, the caterers, a couple of the drivers, and some minor cast members.

  She initially sat on her own for lunch, but then Marlow and Liz from makeup invited her to join their table and she was grateful of the company, answering much the same questions that Tim had asked her in the car that morning, about her background and how she got into doing this. They both had lots of advice for her, and told her they were sure she’d have a great time working on the movie.

  In the evening, there wasn’t an official meal from the van, but cakes and sandwiches were served and passed around all the various offices and departments, then the day’s filming finished at around 7pm.

  By the time she was dropped back off at her hotel, it was closer to 8, and Ashleigh was far too exhausted to do anything other than get changed into her PJs and lie on her bed, chilling. She looked at the schedule for the following day and made it an early night. This time, she didn’t have any trouble sleeping.

  Her second day on set started much the same as the first. She woke herself up with her alarm, had a shower, made coffee, got dressed, and was picked up by Tim and driven to the set. She spent the morning knocking on dressing rooms to collect actors for their costume and makeup calls. It all got pretty hectic and at one point she was literally running, living up to her job title, dashing from one place to the next, her heart pounding. She was a little stressed, but she was loving every second.

  Unfortunately though, she also wasn’t really looking where she was going and neither was the perso
n who was striding down the corridor just as she was dashing out of the costume department.

  The two of them collided blindly, and Ashleigh gasped as she felt a sudden scalding warmth.

  She glanced down at herself to find her white shirt was covered in a hot, brown liquid.

  “Oh my God, I’m so sorry. Are you alright?” someone was saying. She felt a hand on her shoulder.

  She was still in a bit of shock by the whole experience and more embarrassed by anything, looking up to see who it was she’d bumped into.

  Her eyes widened and she let out a gasp, realizing she was face to face with none other than Rico Fernandez himself.

  He looked incredibly apologetic and worried, a concerned frown on his beautiful tanned features and holding a now half-empty cup of coffee in one hand, his other still on Ashleigh’s shoulder.

  “Are you alright?” he asked again. “I was in a world of my own there, I’m so sorry.”

  “I’m so sorry,” she blurted out, even more embarrassed now she realized who it was, and the fact that her white, wet blouse was fast becoming pretty see-through. “I wasn’t looking where I was going either, I was in a rush and–”

  “It’s fine, don’t worry,” he interrupted her flustered rambling with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I was the one who threw my coffee all over you.” He chuckled and shook his head. “I’m a clumsy idiot. This may be the first time it’s happened but it probably won’t be the last.” He flashed her a glimpse of his winning smile, his eyes sparkling in the dim lighting of the corridor as the two of them stood there staring at each other.

  “O-oh…” Ashleigh didn’t quite know what to say, nor how to react to any of this. She had the urge to say sorry again as she still felt like this was her fault, but she didn’t have chance, as Rico carried on talking.

  “Look, if you want, you can take a shower in my trailer and I’ll sort you out with a clean shirt…”

  Ashleigh’s eyes widened. Was he really…inviting her back to his trailer? “Are you sure? I…I wouldn’t want to be stealing your clothes…”

  He waved his hand. “I always bring a bunch of spare T-shirts and stuff on set with me, it’s not a big deal. You can wash it and give it me back whenever you like.”

  “Well uh…if that’s really okay…” She felt like she was blushing so hard her entire face was red. It probably was.

  “Of course it is. You can’t walk around all day in wet, coffee-stained clothes, can you now?” He gave her a relaxed, easy smile and turned around, beginning to walk in the other direction, down the corridor and out towards his trailer.

  Ashleigh walked at his side, her heart pounding in her ears.

  It was the first time she’d even seen Rico wandering around on the set. Yesterday he hadn’t been eating at the same time as her or any of the others. Perhaps he’d still been finishing a scene, or perhaps he gets his meals delivered to his trailer for privacy.

  A couple of people nodded and smiled, or exchanged brief words with him as they made their way across the courtyard to the little area where the leading actors’ trailers were.

  Ashleigh hadn’t even been to this section yet. It wasn’t her job to go and collect the lead actors. Sally did that. She supposed she wasn’t well trusted enough to do it yet, which was fair enough. It was only her first week on the job. Perhaps she could build up to it eventually.

  “Here we are,” smiled Rico and held open the door for her to step inside.

  Swallowing her nerves, Ashleigh did so, and soon they were alone in the quiet of his private trailer.

  Chapter Six

  “Let me just find you that shirt…” said Rico, heading over to the small wardrobe that was built into the wall of the trailer and opening it up. Inside were four or five different T-shirts, and short-sleeved shirts all hung up on hangers. “Here…” He picked out a T-shirt for her and tossed it over.

  Ashleigh caught it, her mouth still open slightly, totally in awe of the fact that she was going to be wearing one of Rico Fernandez’s shirts. There were thousands of girls all over the world who probably dreamed about scenarios like this and now here she was, living it. And all because of some spilt coffee. It was like a dream.

  “It might be a little big for you, but it’s better than being in something wet and dirty.”

  Wet and dirty. Just those words were sending her mind to places they probably shouldn’t go.

  “No, no, this is totally fine.” She smiled and glanced at the shirt. Just a simple, faded red Dolce & Gabbana.

  “The shower’s through here…” He took a few paces and opened up a small door that led to a tiny bathroom with a toilet, sink, and shower.

  “Thank you so much,” she smiled and began to walk over.

  “I’m so sorry,” he suddenly shook his head. “I forgot my manners. I don’t even know your name.”

  “Oh, it’s uh…it’s Ashleigh.” She blushed and held out her other hand for a shake – the one that wasn’t holding his T-shirt.

  “Ashleigh. That’s a pretty name. I’m Rico.”

  Well, she knew that already, but of course she didn’t say that. She simply shook his hand and mumbled, “It’s nice to meet you.”

  “You too,” he grinned. “So, what’s your job on the shoot?”

  “Oh, I’m just a runner,” she answered with a blush.

  “Never say you’re just a runner.” Rico pulled a sad face, looking at her with an expression that made her knees weak. “Everyone starts out somewhere, and with a pretty face like yours, you were made for the screen.”

  And now she blushed even deeper. It seemed that all she did since meeting Rico was feel her cheeks turn red. She could see why everyone called him a charmer and said he had a way with the ladies. He certainly knew the right words to say.

  “I…” she stammered. Apparently the same couldn’t be said for Ashleigh, finding herself physically lost for words and not knowing how to reply. “It’s my first time in LA,” she blurted out. “Never done this kind of thing before.”

  “I’m sure you’re doing a great job,” he smiled at her reassuringly. His face looked so warm and happy, she almost believed him. Those sparkling dark pools of eyes that she could so easily get lost in. “What made you want to do it?”

  She was so caught up in him that for a moment she didn’t realize another question had been asked of her. It was one she’d been asked many times since her arrival in Hollywood. Everyone wanted to know who she was, where she’d come from, how she got into doing stuff like this, what her plans were. But she didn’t mind answering, especially not when it was Rico asking the questions.

  “I’ve always wanted to work in movies,” she admitted quietly. “Before this I was a personal trainer but…”

  “I can tell! You look super fit.” His eyes glanced her up and down but not in a creepy way. He was charming and flirtatious. Or maybe she was just imagining things. He was probably just being friendly and she was reading too much into it, letting her imagination run wild as usual.

  “Thank you,” she mumbled, then continued her story as he remained silent and expectant, obviously wanting to hear more. “Well…I quit my job at the gym to come and do this. Maybe I’ll go get it back again once the shoot is over.”

  “No, you’re done with that life now,” he insisted. “Your place is in Hollywood. I bet you’ve got bags of talent.”

  “I’m not sure about that.”

  “You want to act?”

  “I’d love to.”

  “Well, you’ve come to the right place.” He grinned and gave her a light squeeze on the shoulder before turning away. “I’ll leave you to use the shower.”

  “Thank you,” she smiled at his retreating back, still clutching at his T-shirt and wondering how she’d managed to get herself into this situation. Thank God for spilled cups of coffee.

  The conversation done and assuming Rico was going to head off back to set and leave her to shower and get changed alone, she headed into the bathroom and closed th
e door.

  Being a trailer, it wasn’t the biggest bathroom in the world, just small enough to serve its purpose, so it was a little cramped getting undressed, her arms banging against the sides of the wall slightly as she took her wet shirt off. It really did look pretty see-through, how embarrassing. She wondered whether he’d looked at her bra.

  She removed that too and dropped it onto the floor, draping Rico’s shirt over the edge of the sink to make sure it didn’t get wet.

  Once she’d removed the rest of her clothes, she turned on the shower and stood there naked, waiting for it to warm up and checking her appearance in the mirror. She’d put a little bit of makeup on that morning, just a touch around her eyes and lips. It helped with her confidence. She smiled slightly to herself, feeling giddy about being in Rico Fernandez’s trailer, about to get into his shower! Was her life even real?

  She giggled a little then finally got in under the hot water. It felt pretty nice to just stand there and let it wash down over her, and she felt in such a good mood that she began to sing, just quietly at first, but eventually getting louder until she was having a good ol’ little bop to herself in the shower.

  She got out about five minutes later, and wrapped herself in a towel, then picked up all her dry clothes and pushed the door open, walking out into the main part of the caravan again.

  She was expecting it to be empty.

  But to her surprise, and once again, utter embarrassment, Rico was standing there, almost in the same spot where she’d seen him turn and walk away.

  Standing there, just staring at her, his mouth slightly open.

  Chapter Seven

  “Oh my God! I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize you were still here,” Ashleigh gasped in surprise, standing there in just her towel and feeling all exposed, even more so at the thought that Rico had potentially heard her singing. How long had he been there? Did he even leave the trailer at all or had he been there the whole time? Why did she even assume he was leaving in the first place? Oh God, what an idiot she was.