Forgetting Jack Cooper: The Stuntman Edition

by Erin McCarthy

  Because Best First Kiss Ever.

  But even as she came perilously close to drowning in his total hotness, common sense had her pulling back, breathing heavily. She dropped her heels down on to the pavement, her hands slipping off his shoulders as she stared up at him, stunned. His nostrils were flared and he still had one hand on the small of her back. The other came up and rubbed at his jaw.

  There were no words. Just both of them breathing and staring. Staring and breathing.

  Then when the moment seemed to drag out too long, he shattered it by bending down and taking her mouth again. This wasn’t a deep, plunging kiss, but a hard, quick press of possession.

  Toni was pretty sure she’d just gotten pregnant from the force of that kiss.

  “That was no joke,” she said, her voice sounding like it belonged to someone else. Never in her life had she heard that sensual and seductive tone come out of her mouth. Holy hell, it was like he’d just finally made her a woman. In two minutes or less.

  “That was definitely no joke.” He finally let go of her, his hand brushing over her ass as it fell away. “But it was a total surprise.”

  “In what way?” she asked, because her mind was sluggish, her thoughts going over and over that kiss. The minute the words left her mouth, she wasn’t even sure what she had said.

  Chance gave her a slow, sly smile. Oh, dang, she was in trouble. This was hands down the sexiest man she had ever encountered in her personal space. She wanted him even closer. She wanted him inside her.

  Then he turned to Ned and said, “Cut. I think we got it.”

  And she was mortified. So maybe Chance was a better actor than she had thought. “Right. Yeah. Got it.” She turned to Ned and made a face, sticking out her tongue.

  Then she spun back around realizing she needed to say something to Chance. She accidentally ran straight into his chest. “Oh! Sorry.” She jumped back, feeling her cheeks burn. Damn Burbank sun. “I just wanted to say thanks for being a good sport.”

  She put her hand out to shake his like an awkward businesswoman. Which about summed her up in a nutshell. He took her hand and shook it firmly, squeezing harder than she thought was strictly necessary.

  “It’s been interesting, Toni.” He looked like he never wanted to lay eyes on her again for the rest of his life.

  There was nothing she could do but nod. Then turn on her heel and walk away. Spotting Jack strolling across the lot she marched up to him.

  “Hey, Ton, what’s up?” He made like he was going to hug her.

  She pulled the douche award and handed it to him. “When you have a chance, give this to your stunt double for me.”

  Jack took the gold dildo reluctantly. “What?” He glanced behind her. “Chance? What could he have done? He’s a stand-up guy.”

  What had he done, exactly? She settled for, “He kissed me and I liked it.”

  Jack’s eyebrows shot up. He was wearing the same suit as Chance had been. Whereas Chance smoldered, straining at the shoulders in that jacket, Jack looked suave, charming, debonair. A far cry from the college goofball she had known in the dorms.

  “He kissed you? You’re joking.”

  “I never joke about kissing.” Which of course was a complete lie.

  Jack started laughing. “Then why are you so upset? Chance is the most professional stuntman I know. If he kissed you here, at work, then he meant it.”

  She waved her hand, impatient. She couldn’t think and she really just wanted to go home and watch the Hallmark channel and eat ice cream and feel sorry for herself. “No, it was just a spot for my show. It was just a mistaken identity thing. I kissed him thinking it was you.”

  “And you liked it?”

  “I liked it,” she said, feeling quite bitter about the whole thing. “But I don’t think the feeling was mutual. So I’m going home. Let’s skip the whole sketch today, Jack. We’ll call it even and you can move on to the next stop on your ‘I swear I don’t suck’ tour.”

  “That doesn’t have the same ring as Amendment Tour.” Jack clapped her on the shoulder. “But sure, if you’re not feeling it. We can do something later on. I’ll be in and out of town for the next few months.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  Jack shoved the douche award at her. “I’m not carrying this around set. If you want to give it to Chance, which I frankly don’t think you should, you’ll have to give it to him yourself.”

  She took the gag award back, figuring it was the only penis she was going to be holding any time soon. “That’s not happening. I’m never talking to Chance Ashton ever again.”

  Jack gave her a long look that made her feel uncomfortable and more than just a little pathetic. “Hey, not to change the subject, but I’m having a cookout at my condo tomorrow. I meant to ask you the other day if you can be there. Just a few friends before I hit the road.”

  That sounded like a fun distraction from her weird thoughts. “Sounds great. I’ll bring a Jell-O salad.” He didn’t deserve an edible arrangement.

  Then she turned and called, “Ned! We’re out of here.”

  Fortunately Ned had driven separately because he was eying her like she’d lost her mind. Toni did not want to answer whatever question was hovering on his lips.

  In her own car, finally alone, she called her best friend, Christy. “You know how when they’re talking about hurricanes and they always say there is nothing more than a category five? Well, I just met a six.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “I met a stuntman and I want to have sex with him for seven days straight. Like literally until I’m a dehydrated husk unable to walk.”

  “Wow, that sounds appealing. Not.”

  It was about a million degrees in her car. Toni cranked the air conditioning up to high and tried to push Chance out of her thoughts. “So how does the world’s most awkward woman score a guy like that? Oh, wait, she doesn’t. Life is cruel, Christy.”

  Her best friend laughed. “And you’re dramatic. You could ask him out.”

  “I’d rather gouge my eyes out.” There was no way she was putting herself out like that, given she was certain what his answer would be. “But thanks for the suggestion.”

  “For being willing to do some seriously outrageous antics, when it comes to romance you’re a bit of a wimp.”

  She couldn’t even deny it. “I like to stay humble.”

  “You do not. You’re afraid of rejection.”

  Duh. “Tell me something I don’t know. Oh, hey, want to go to a cookout at Jack Cooper’s with me tomorrow?”

  “Are you for real?”

  Toni bent over and stuck her face two inches from the vent, letting the cold air blow across her heated cheeks. “Yes. He just invited me.”

  “Oh my God, I love you! I get to meet Jack Cooper. That is so cool. Maybe the stuntman will be there.”

  That had never occurred to her. Did stars do that, invite their body doubles to barbeques? She had no idea. “Thank you for ruining it for me.” What small talk was she supposed to make with a man she had a massive teenage girl crush on?

  Tugging at the front of her dress she pulled it forward so that air could go over her cleavage. Boob sweat. Every woman’s secret shame.

  A knock on her window had her sitting up quickly, and letting out an involuntary shriek. She realized her dress was exposing far too much of her breasts to whoever the hell was invading her personal space. A car was a damn sanctuary, people.

  Except that it was Chance bent over looking in her window. She realized she was still gripping the neckline of her dress and she promptly dropped her hand and hit the button to send the window down.

  Another woman would have given a darling little laugh and greeted him with a charming smile but Toni just blurted out, “Holy shit, you scared me.”

  “What were you doing?” he asked, frowning at her. His eyes were on her cleavage. “Is everything okay?”

  “I dropped my phone.” Except her phone was at her e
ar so that was the world’s stupidest lie. She set it down in her lap. Christy could wait a second. “What’s up?” She mentally cursed the vapid quality of that question.

  “I found your earring in my lapel.” He held up the dangling silver drop earring for her to see. “It must have fallen out when my hands were in your hair. Sorry about that.”

  Toni swallowed hard. He was so close to her. She could just reach out and kiss him again. Scratch his beard stubble. Tug on his tie. But instead she just accepted the earring. “Thanks. I didn’t feel it fall out.” Because she had been too busy drowning in a wave of unrequited lust.

  “You’re welcome.” Chance studied her for a second but then he just stood back up and tapped his hand on the car like he was sending off a taxi.

  She threw the earring in the cup holder and rolled the window back up as he walked away. Picking the phone back up, she said, “Help,” to Christy.

  “With what? I can’t believe we’re going to a cookout at Jack Cooper’s. I’m freaking out.”

  “Forget Jack Cooper.” For Toni, it was all about the stuntman.

  She spent her night watching the kiss footage Ned sent her over and over again.

  It was both torturous and glorious.

  Chance was distracted as he returned from dashing out after Toni. In giving her the earring he had gotten quite an eyeful down her dress. One that he appreciated very much, even though he hadn’t bought her explanation that she was retrieving her phone, given it was at her ear. She was an intriguing woman. Flirty, funny, a little awkward, a little sexy. That kiss hadn’t been awkward at all though.

  Quite the opposite.

  Jack gave him a grin. “So what do you think of Toni? She’s a fun girl, huh?”

  “She’s definitely interesting. I’ve never met anyone like her.” That was an understatement.

  “Toni is highly intelligent. Straight A student when we were at Berkeley together.”

  “Really?” Chance was genuinely surprised by that for a brief second. “But yeah, I can see that.” Toni was clever, quick-witted. It made sense she would have been a good student.

  “She’s single.”

  “Uh…” Chance rubbed his chin. Was Jack Cooper playing matchmaker? “She’s not really my type.”

  “You don’t think she’s attractive?”

  “What?” He was surprised. “No, I think she’s very attractive. She’s adorable and sexy and funny.”

  Jack clapped him on the shoulder. “I’m having a cookout tomorrow. You’ll be there, right? Pool party, so wear trunks.”

  That was out of left field. Chance had been working with Jack for a couple of years but they had only hung out socially once or twice.

  “Tomorrow?” Chance hadn’t done anything fun the last few weeks. He lived a fairly routine life and it would be a welcome change to that. “Sure, great. Thanks for the invite.”

  And yes, he wanted to ask Jack if Toni would be there. But he restrained himself. Just barely.

  Chapter Four

  “Is everything okay?” Chance’s mother asked him.

  “Huh?” He was absently chopping tomatoes for a salad for dinner he was going to miss later, listening with half an ear to his sister babbling as she usually did. Sunday dinner every other week was a ritual for the three of them, a way to ensure they were spending time together and keeping up on each others’ lives. But even though he was going to Jack’s cookout instead, he had wanted to drop by his mother’s and see how she was doing. “I’m fine, why?”

  His mother had been sick again recently with another lupus flare-up and she looked pale, but glad to be at home. Chance was worried about her. She had no business worrying about him. Given that they had lost his father, her husband, when he was twelve, they both tended to worry neurotically. His sister, on the other hand, chose to bury her head in the sand. That was her coping mechanism.

  “You look distracted. Like you’re a million miles away.” His mother put her frail thin hand on his arm and gave him a light squeeze and a smile.

  Not for the first time, he wished he could infuse some of his strength into her body. He had more than sometimes he knew what to do with. He was always coiled, ready to spring. It had been his way of dealing with grief after his dad died—boxing, running, martial arts. Any way he could lash out and push his body to the limit.

  “I’m fine, Ma. Just thinking about work.” Actually, he was thinking about Toni, the little spitfire on set the day before. He may have knocked her to the ground, but she was the one who had figuratively knocked him on his ass.

  That kiss. Damn. He had wanted to scoop her off the asphalt and take her into the nearest trailer and make her his.

  Except it was a joke. Or had started as a joke, anyway.

  Then when he had returned her earring he’d gotten a glimpse down her dress and that was nothing to laugh about. He’d felt a kick of lust so strong he had barely been able to concentrate on his conversation with Jack afterward.

  “I’m sorry to be missing dinner.”

  “I just wish you could take me to Jack Cooper’s with you,” Jenny said. “That guy is seriously dreamy.”

  “Sorry, I don’t think I was given a plus one. By the way, do you know a comedienne named Toni Salvatore?” he asked his sister over his shoulder.

  Jenny was a mortgage broker but she loved pop culture. Two years older than him, she had a serious job but a very carefree personality. He had always envied her that.

  She was currently popping a cracker into her mouth. “The YouTuber? Sure, I’ve seen some of her videos. She’ll do anything. She’s hilarious.”

  A laugh riot. Or a sexy little temptress. It was a matter of perspective. “I met her yesterday. She thought I was Jack actually.”

  Jenny snorted. “What? You don’t look anything like Jack Cooper. Didn’t I just state that he is dreamy? You seriously look nothing like him.”

  Chance tossed the tomatoes onto the mixed greens in his mother’s glass salad bowl. “Thanks.” He rolled his eyes. “I am his stuntman and body double, you know.”

  “Hollywood can do a lot with special effects.”

  “Jenny, stop,” his mother reprimanded. “Chance is very handsome.”

  Here he was, twenty-nine years old and getting an endorsement from his mother. Next she’d be fixing him up with one of her church friends’ daughters. “Thanks, Mom, but I don’t need an ego boost. I know I’m not an ogre.”

  “Then why don’t you date?”

  “How do you know I don’t date?” He hadn’t recently, but it wasn’t like he never dated. They’d gotten off track though. He wanted to talk about Toni. “Have you seen her videos?”

  “Why? You’re not exactly the funny man into pranks.” Jenny reached up and tightened her ponytail. She was wearing her Sunday uniform—yoga pants and a graphic T-shirt. This one said “Wild Child” which irrationally irritated Chance. Jenny had always been wild, while he had been forced to man up.

  There was a little resentment there, sure. Growing up broke, his mother always struggling, his father always ill, his sister had dealt with it by running wild. He had been the opposite. He loved his sister tremendously though and knew they were just different. But he did hate when she pointed out what she perceived as his character flaws when he already knew them all too well.

  When he didn’t respond, she repeated again, “Why? What is going on?”

  That was a question he had been asking himself repeatedly since the day before. “Nothing.”

  “She’s a comedienne?” his mother asked.

  “Yes.”

  Jenny pulled her phone out. “I’m going to pull up one of her videos and see what has my little brother so curious.”

  Chance had wanted to view her videos but hadn’t gotten around to it. It seemed too stalker-ish. But if his sister did it, he didn’t have to feel weird about it. But once Jenny had a video playing and he was watching over her shoulder, he was regretting his decision to look. It was a montage of Toni running up to r
andom men and kissing them. Jenny was laughing. He was feeling an odd sense of jealousy and irritation.

  But that kiss… fireworks. He had seen damn fireworks.

  Yet here he was seeing her kiss a dozen guys like it was another day at the office. Which it was.

  “Look at this,” Jenny said, turning her phone so their mother could see. “Man, I wish I had guts to do something like that. The reactions from those guys are awesome.”

  “Oh, my,” his mom said. “That’s a lot of men she’s kissing. You don’t want to date a woman like that, Chance.”

  “A woman like what?” his sister asked. “One who can take a joke? I don’t see the issue with that, geez.”

  Neither did he, except he knew himself well enough to know there was nothing funny about him. He was not witty. He wasn’t a laugh riot. He was not impulsive. He wasn’t sure he could keep up with a woman like Toni. Yet something about her and that infectious smile…

  “I’m not dating her and I never said I wanted to so it’s a moot point. I don’t even know her.” He had just kissed her.

  It was a kiss that had kept him awake the night before, hard as a rock, lying in bed replaying it over and over.

  “Gotta go,” he said, realizing he may have already revealed too much. Both his mother and his sister were eyeing him curiously.

  Besides, on his sister’s phone Toni was ambushing a skinny man in his forties, who looked terrified and ran away from her. Chance really didn’t want to see that. “Have a good day,” he added as he turned away.

  “Later, loser.”

  The very minute he opened the gate to Jack’s small back patio entertainment space, Chance spotted Toni. Hell. He hadn’t expected to see her at this shindig. Jack apparently wasn’t exaggerating that he and Toni were old friends. Toni had her head thrown back and was laughing, her curls tumbling down her back.