I arrived just before eleven and sat in the waiting room. Reggie liked to think that he was above his clients. So even though he was probably not busy at all at the moment, he would wait until exactly eleven before letting me in. I knew it, and so did the receptionist. She rolled her eyes a little when she told me to take a seat and wait for him, and the two of us giggled slightly. Reggie wasn’t a bad guy, and he was completely transparent in everything he did. But he had no idea that everyone could see through him. I didn’t really care what he did, or what he looked like, as long as he got me some roles. I should’ve known not to arrive any earlier.
“Okay, Reggie will see you,” the receptionist said when the clock turned to exactly eleven.
“Thank you,” I said and walked to his office.
He was on the phone when I walked in, but I had a feeling he wasn’t talking to anyone. There was just something in the way that he was speaking that gave me the impression that the phone call was made up for my benefit. He gestured for me to sit down.
“I better go—one of my best clients has just arrived,” he said and shot me a smile. “I’ll call you later.”
“Hi, Blaire. Good to see you. Welcome back from Wyoming.”
“Thanks, Reggie. Good to see you too.”
“So, how did it go? I talked to Roger, and he said the whole thing went exactly the way he wanted it to go. And I heard nothing but praise for you.”
I beamed. “That’s good to hear. It went well. And it was kind of fun being away in a new place for the month. It was far better than I expected.”
“So, you didn’t mind being in the middle of nowhere like that? It was in a farming community, wasn’t it?”
“It was. And I didn’t mind at all. In fact, it was very peaceful. And the people were all so great.”
“Did you hear about the Sloan scandal?” he whispered even though nobody else was in the room.
I had heard about the scandal. How she hadn’t really attended Yale and how she’d been involved in porn movies. It was all anybody could talk about these days, although I didn’t see why it really mattered. She was a good actress. Although, I was starting to learn that being in the film industry wasn’t all about acting. From what I had discovered, she was still in Wyoming, hiding out with Ryan’s brother. I had thought about asking Ryan for more details, but I figured it had nothing to do with me. I decided not to tell Reggie that I had recently been on a date with Brady’s brother. If he knew, he’d be badgering me for days to find out about Sloan. Reggie fit right into the Hollywood scene. He loved nothing more than good gossip.
“Yeah, I heard. I feel so bad for her,” I said. “She’s such a nice girl and way more down to earth than you think. She doesn’t deserve all this bad publicity. You should’ve seen how good she was in the cowgirl role. She really got into it. This is the last thing that she needs right now. And I hear her agent fired her?”
“Dorothy! Yes. She’s crazy, though. I wouldn’t have fired Sloan for something like that. I mean, doesn’t Dorothy realize just how much these rumors have done for the movie? The publicity! You should all be thanking Sloan for what she did. All eyes are going to be on this movie when it comes out. Dorothy is going to regret the day that she fired Sloan. Hey, I wonder if she’s on the hunt for a new agent? I should contact her.”
I didn’t think it was appropriate to be thanking Sloan for making porn movies, but I didn’t say anything. At least I knew he had no intention of firing me if I ever did something wrong, even if his intentions were purely based on greed.
“I think it’s going to be a great movie,” I said instead.
“It is. Wish they’d hurry up and release it. These things always take so much longer than you think they will. I have a good feeling that you’ll get some great roles from being in that movie. But until then, we have to dig around for something else. Anyway, let’s move on from there and start looking toward the future. So, I do have a few parts for you.”
“You do? That’s great!” I was surprised to hear that he had more than one idea for me. It was always nice to have a selection to choose from. And if I could get all of them, then even better.
“I think you’re going to like these,” he said and started reading out the four different role ideas he had for me.
They were all small parts, which I didn’t mind at all, but each one of them required me to either have sex or get completely naked. I was surprised how little Reggie knew about me. Surely he knew that these were not the sort of roles that I would be interested in? He seemed to think these roles were just right for me.
I shook my head. “Thank you for thinking of me, Reggie, but I’m afraid these are not the right roles for me. I hate turning you down like this, and I am aware that it’s not good to turn down roles, but I also don’t want to do something I’m not comfortable with.”
“Is it the nudity?”
“Yeah, I’m not too keen on that. Especially not the sex roles.”
“Blaire, you’re absolutely gorgeous. You do realize that you’ll have millions of offers if you get naked for one of these roles? I know you have the whole good girl look going, but that’s only going to make the men like you even more.”
I felt slightly put out by the conversation, and I was clearly aware that Reggie was now talking to my breasts instead of my eyes. I crossed my arms, and he quickly snapped out of his daydream to look at me. At least he had the decency to look somewhat embarrassed for being caught.
“I’m sorry, Reggie. But I’m going to have to decline and just hope that something better comes my way. I do appreciate you thinking of me, but those are just not right for me at the moment.”
“Well, okay, then. I can’t force you. But give it some thought. If you change your mind let me know. I do think you’d be great at these. If you didn’t want to do the sex one, you should at least consider the one with the simple nude scene. I’m sure it will be very tasteful.”
I wasn’t going to change my mind, but I thanked him anyway and promised him I’d think about it.
I quickly sent Katie a text to let her know that I was heading out to the café. I wanted to get out of the meeting because Reggie was starting to look at me in a strange way. I wondered if he was trying to imagine me without my clothes on.
“Wow, that was a quick meeting,” she said as she saw me.
“Yeah, sorry about that. I know this is a bit early for lunch.”
“It’s never too early for lunch. Hey,” she said and looked around. “This place is pretty neat.”
The café was a designer’s dream. Whoever had designed it was obviously a typographic genius, with a keen eye for both creativity and photography. There was a lot to look at, and yet the place didn’t look at all cluttered. Everything had its place.
“It’s awesome. I think it’s going to be very popular.”
“No wonder everyone is talking about it. So, tell me how the meeting went? You don’t look too happy. No nice roles? Wait, hold that thought, let me get us some coffee first.”
She got a menu for us to look at and we placed our order for two coffees. The moment we had decided what to order, she looked at me and nodded. “Okay, go ahead.”
I sighed and told her all about what had happened with the agent.
“I just can’t do it, Katie. I know it’s not a big deal for some people, but it’s too weird for me. I’m not even having sex with anyone in my personal life right now. I don’t exactly want to get naked with some stranger in front of the camera.”
“You do realize that you won’t actually have sex with them, right? And it won’t be romantic at all because all the cameras will be on you.”
I raised my eyebrows. “I didn’t think you’d want me to do it.”
She shrugged. “It’s not such a big deal. It’s just pretend sex. You’re an actress, so that’s what you do.”
“Yeah, but it’s not pretend when I take my clothes off. That part is real.”
“So what? You have a beautiful body. You k
now, maybe you’re just nervous because you’ve been so out of touch with sex lately. Maybe you need to practice a bit. Get out there and practice until you feel comfortable.”
I laughed. “You know, this does not feel like the sort of advice you usually give me. And you know that’s not my style.”
“I know. I just think you should give some guys a chance. You keep saying no to them before you even know if anything could happen.”
“I say no to them only because I’m sure nothing will happen. I don’t want to waste my time.”
“How did your date go with the sexy fighter, by the way?”
I smiled at the thought of Ryan. “It went well. He’s so easy to talk to, and despite our differences, we actually seem to have a lot in common too. He’s nice.”
“I can see that. You can’t stop smiling when you talk about him. So, did you kiss?”
I shook my head. “No. He asked me back to his place, but I said no. I mean, it was the first date. I just kissed him on the cheek before leaving. But that’s it.”
She laughed. “You’re so into this guy, and yet you said no to him. I mean, I’ve never heard you talk about anyone the way you talk about him. You obviously really like him.”
“I do really like him. But that doesn’t mean I have to have sex with him.”
“True. But you could’ve at least kissed the guy.”
“You know, I think you’ve got baby making on the brain too much. It isn’t like you to encourage me to have sex with random guys like this.”
She giggled. “Maybe you’re right. But he’s not a random guy.”
I changed the subject and moved onto something that wasn’t making me feel completely anxious. But as we left the café I couldn’t help but think about what she had said. Was Katie right about this one? Should I have taken things a bit further with Ryan? Had I blown my one chance with him?
Chapter Nine
Ryan
I was woken up that morning by a pounding headache. It wasn’t the best way to wake up, and I was surprised that it had happened before my training session this time. But perhaps I shouldn’t have had beers the night before. It was nothing the Advil couldn’t fix, I thought as I popped an extra one in my mouth that morning. I had a bite to eat and waited for the headache to settle before finally making my way to the training facility to meet with Nick.
“You’re late,” he said when I arrived.
I looked at my watch and shook my head. “No, you were early. I’m on time. So, what are we doing today?”
“Strength training first. After that, I want to get into the ring. Also, I was thinking of going on a run if you’re interested?”
“On a run? Since when do we run?”
“I’ve heard it’s good to get your cardio up. We want to increase your lung capacity, and running is probably one of the best ways to do it. We’ll finish up everything half an hour earlier and then run around the block. You in?”
“I’m always in,” I said.
I had been looking forward to training, but for some reason, I couldn’t get into it that day. I kept doing stupid things, and my mind didn’t seem to want to focus on anything for too long. Usually, the time went too quickly, and I was always so sad when the session was over. But this time I was grateful when Nick called the end of the session and declared that we were going for a run. I drank a glass of water and then went outside with him.
“Wow, this is strange,” I said as we made our way around the block. Nick had set out a half an hour route for us. It hadn’t seemed like much, but now that we were running I was already battling. “Why is this so hard? I’m fit. I shouldn’t be struggling.”
“Well, firstly, you’ve just finished an hour and a half of training. So your body is already a bit tired. But secondly, you don’t run, so your body isn’t used to this. You’re using different parts of your body. It’s natural that you’re struggling. But you’ll see—all of this is just going to make you stronger in the ring.”
“I hope so,” I said as I struggled along beside him. I didn’t like struggling. I was used to being good at everything I did when it came to fighting. This was a sensation I wasn’t used to.
We didn’t talk for the rest of the way. I was too out of breath to hold a conversation and thankfully Nick seemed to realize that. When we finally got back, I held onto the wall for support.
“That was tough. How come you’re so good at this?” I asked when I noticed that he didn’t seem to be struggling at all.
He shrugged. “I’m good at everything.”
I laughed. “Typical answer.”
“You’ll get better. I promise.”
“I don’t know. Maybe running just isn’t my thing.”
“And I know you. You hate being bad at something. Soon you’ll be speeding around here or asking me to make the distance longer. You just have that personality.”
“I don’t see that happening in a long time,” I said.
“Listen, Ryan, is everything okay?” Nick asked suddenly.
I lifted my head to look at him. “Yeah. Why do you ask? You know I’m not good at running. But like you said, I’ll probably get better at it.”
“No, I’m not talking about the running. You just haven’t seemed yourself this morning. You were battling throughout the training, which isn’t like you. It was like you were in a daze half the time. What’s going on? You don’t seem to be completely with it today.”
The truth was that my head was still giving me problems. The Advil hadn’t helped as well as I thought it would, and I couldn’t stop training to take some more. But the last thing I wanted was to have Nick on my back about my health. Ever since he had lost his eyesight, he had been a lot more paranoid about things going wrong. He never used to be like that. I didn’t want to make him worry, and most importantly I didn’t want him to make me worry. It was just a headache. Also, if I stressed about it, I was only going to make the headache worse. It was better not to think about it at all.
“Ah, sorry. You’re right,” I said. “I was thinking about Blaire. I know! I know! I shouldn’t let a girl stop me from training,” I said when I saw the look that he had given me.
Nick groaned. “Seriously? You were thinking about a girl? This is not the Ryan I know. He doesn’t let girls get in the way of his training. Does that mean the date went very well then?”
I hesitated before answering. “Yes and no.”
“Oh yeah? What does that mean?”
“The date went very well. Very, very well, actually. We got along so well. She’s absolutely gorgeous but doesn’t seem to know it. Which is so much better than some of the other pretty girls I’ve dated in the past. I’m not really into girls that prefer looking in the mirror to looking at me. But she’s not like that at all. She’s easy to talk to, and she loves fighting, as you know, so that helps. The date was great. The food was good, the wine was great, the company was even better.”
“So what’s wrong then? Because from the sound of it that’s a pretty perfect evening.”
“In many respects, it really was a perfect evening. Which is why I asked her if she wanted to come back to my place.”
“Don’t tell me she said no?” Nick gasped.
I nodded. “Yep, she said no. And that’s not all . . . she kissed me on the cheek when she left. Which, to be honest, might actually be worse than if she hadn’t kissed me at all.”
Nick burst out laughing. “Never thought I’d ever see the day when Ryan Maxwell couldn’t seal the deal with a girl. I think perhaps you’ve lost your touch.”
“Or maybe she was playing hard to get?” I suggested.
“Ryan, she’s a beautiful actress. I don’t think she needs to play hard to get. She could probably get any guy that she wanted.”
“So, what do you think I should do? Just leave her alone?”
“No way. I think you need to sleep with her. If you don’t, you’re not going to concentrate on your training and you’re going to lose your fights. I need you
clear headed. So, you better sleep with her for the sake of your career.”
“I don’t need that sort of bad karma on me. You’re right; I need to sleep with her.”
“Poor you,” Nick teased. “If only my life were as easy as yours.”
I laughed. “I need to work on the charm a bit more. I hope she doesn’t turn me down, though. Maybe she’s just not into me.” Why did I sound so insecure? I was surprised to hear myself talk this way. It wasn’t like me at all.
“I think she is. I could tell from when I met her. She was looking at you in a way that she wasn’t looking at anything else. Also, she laughed at some of your jokes, which were really not funny at all.” Nick said.
“Hey, my jokes are funny. You just don’t have a sense of humor.”
“Well, why don’t you ask her out again? If she says no or makes some excuse, at least you know where you stand. Then you can move on from her. If she says yes, then you’re still in for a good chance.”
Later, when I got home. I thought about what Nick had said. I hadn’t been truthful about why my head wasn’t in the game that day. I’d just been too bogged down with the headaches. But I hadn’t been lying completely. I really had thought about Blaire a lot. I couldn’t get the thought of her kissing my cheek out of my head. Maybe she just wasn’t the kind of girl that slept with a guy on the first date, and there was nothing wrong with that. In fact, it was quite refreshing. I decided to take Nick’s advice and call her.
“Hello. Blaire speaking,” she said when she answered the phone.
“Hi Blaire; it’s Ryan. Ryan Maxwell,” I added in case she knew more than one Ryan.
“Ryan! Good to hear from you.”
I wasn’t very good at small talk, and I’d never been that good over the phone, so I just went straight to business instead of messing around.
“Are you free on Saturday night? I’d love to take you out for dinner,” I asked. I felt nervous, which annoyed me. I’d asked many girls out to dinner in the past, and I’d never been nervous before. What was wrong with me?
Dirty Roomie_A Maxwell Family Romance Page 49