by Lola Gabriel
As Valerie yelled at Brianne, a knock came at the trailer door.
“What?” Valerie yelled, turning away from Brianne for a second and focusing on the door as though she could see through it and know who was out there.
The door opened and Brianne’s breath caught in her throat as Callin McKenzie stepped into the trailer. He was even more handsome in real life than he looked on the screen. His dark hair was pushed back from his face although one errant strand hung down over his forehead. Brianne found herself wanting to reach out and brush it back, but she obviously resisted the urge to actually do it. Callin’s dark eyes moved over her body and she felt her body tingling as they came to rest on her face. He gave her a sexy half-smile that made her stomach swirl.
Callin was every bit as ripped as he looked in the movies, and Brianne instantly knew the press reports that his body was enhanced at the editing stage in his movies were completely fake. Physically, he looked even better in real life than he did on screen, and Brianne saw that he was everything she had ever dreamed of in a man. She felt her mouth going dry as he continued to look at her.
Too much time had passed without either of them looking away from each other and Brianne was starting to feel self-conscious, but not enough to make her break the eye contact with Callin. His eyes seemed to hold hers in place, and although she told herself she had to be imagining it, she thought she could see something in Callin’s eyes, something that she knew was definitely present in her own eyes. Lust.
“Hi, I’m Callin McKenzie,” Callin said, smiling wider at Brianne, showing a row of perfect, straight white teeth.
Brianne managed to smile back, feeling herself blushing and pleased that her olive skin was dark enough to hide the color from her cheeks.
“Brianne Ellison,” she managed to say.
Her voice came out sounding normal and she was grateful for that much at least, because right then, she felt anything but normal. Her heart was racing, her palms were sweating, and her stomach spun like it used to when she was a little girl and she was excited about something.
“Brianne,” Callin repeated. “I like it.”
He said her name in a low, gravelly voice that sent a rush of warmth from her head down through her center. She felt herself blushing again, more deeply this time.
“Callin? Can I help you with something?” Valerie demanded.
Callin smiled at Brianne one more time and then he shifted his focus to Valerie and Brianne could breathe again. She reminded herself of all of the reasons her reaction to Callin was ridiculous. Yes, he was hot, more than just hot, he was—magnificent. Yes, that was the word—but that didn’t change the fact that he was a dragon and Brianne wanted no part in any of that. And then there was the fact that Valerie made no secret of being into Callin, and there was no way Brianne was getting herself mixed up in anything that would make Valerie hate her even more than she already seemed to.
She told herself none of it mattered anyway. She was quitting her job, and besides, it wasn’t as if Callin really felt any sort of attraction to her. He was just being friendly and he probably had this effect on every straight woman he spoke to. But Brianne knew that wasn’t true. She had seen the way he looked at her—like he was hungry and she was the only thing that could curb his appetite.
Just like that, Brianne knew one thing for certain. There was no way she was quitting this job.
4
Callin left his trailer and made his way over to Valerie’s trailer. Immediately two things stood out to him about her trailer. The first thing was that it was big enough that pretty much every actor and actress he had worked with over the last few years would have been happy with it, including himself. The second thing was that it was smaller than his as he was the lead in the movie, and because of that one detail, the trailer could have been made of solid gold and diamonds and Valerie would still be unhappy with it.
He would have offered to swap trailers with her just to keep the peace, but if he did that, then she would expect him to drop everything and fix her problems every time she had one, whether they were real or imagined. He also thought it would be a bit of a kick in the face to whoever had assigned him the larger trailer and he wasn’t in the habit of shitting on the crew on a set and he wasn’t about to start now.
He rolled his eyes, thinking of Valerie and her constant need to be better than everyone else and to have more than anyone else had. He reminded himself he was on his way to her trailer to appease her and make her feel like she was going to fit in here and that rolling his eyes at her probably wasn’t the way to go about that. Still, though, he found it hard to control the eye rolls whenever he thought of her.
It was funny because off set, Valerie, as the pack alpha, was above him, and not once had she tried to make him feel valued. Here on set, he was undoubtedly the star of the show and therefore, he was above Valerie in the pecking order, but rather than lording it over her, he was going to try his best to make her feel welcome here. Even if there were a few sneaky eye rolls.
I guess that’s just the difference between me and Valerie, Callin thought to himself. She’s an entitled brat and I’m not. And I’m not going to start acting like one on set just to make Valerie feel better about the way she treats the pack members. Maybe this will make her see that you don’t have to be nasty to everyone around you just because you’re higher up the pecking order than they are. He doubted it would really work that way, but it was a nice thought and so he kept hold of it for now.
Callin reached the door to Valerie’s trailer. He paused for a moment before knocking on the door. Valerie had someone in there with her, and whoever it was, they sure as hell weren’t having an easy time of it. Callin couldn’t make out the words Valerie was saying—the sound proofing of the trailers was actually pretty good—but he could tell she was angry. She was going on and on, ranting and raving, and for so much sound to be escaping the trailer, she had to be yelling pretty damned loud.
Callin considered walking away from the trailer and coming back at a later time, but he decided against it. Knowing Valerie, there was a fair chance that it was one of the crew she had in there and Callin wasn’t going to stand for her treating them like dirt, not even to appease her ego. If he was wrong and she was on her cell phone or something and this was a personal matter, he would just apologize for the interruption and leave.
The decision made, Callin reached up and knocked on the trailer door. He heard Valerie snap out a muffled “What?” Charming, he thought to himself. Maybe I should go in there and tell her to lose the attitude now before it gets out of hand. He pushed the door open and stepped into the trailer. Before he even looked at Valerie, his attention was caught by someone else.
Someone who made his heart skip a beat and his dragon roar inside of him. The girl he found himself standing face to face with looked like she was in her early to mid-twenties. She had long, slightly curly, dark brown hair, and her eyes were the most beautiful he had ever seen. They were a deep brown color with tiny flecks of gold dotting the surfaces of her irises.
Her skin was a gorgeous olive shade, but he was still able to see that she was blushing slightly under his gaze and that notion made his head spin. Was it possible this beauty felt the attraction he felt? It sure seemed that way. She was breathing a little faster than what Callin thought of as normal, and the movement in her chest drew his eyes to her breasts. They were small but perfectly pert, and he couldn’t help but wonder what they would look like outside of her t-shirt. What they would taste like.
The girl wore a plain, pale pink t-shirt, blue jeans, and a pair of slightly scuffed white sneakers, but she looked better than most women did in a ball gown and Callin could only dream of what she would look like if she was done up. Or better yet, naked and in his arms.
He could feel his cock responding to the sight of the girl, a throbbing feeling spreading out from it and traveling all through his entire body. He could feel his dragon stirring inside of him, wanting him to claim this girl
as his mate right now. He resisted the urge to close the gap between them and pull her into his arms and kiss her, but he fought the feeling only because he didn’t want to scare her off. He knew this girl was going to be his.
“Hi, I’m Callin McKenzie,” Callin said, smiling at the girl.
She smiled back, her lips slightly parted, her eyes back on his, searching his face. God, she was gorgeous. Callin couldn’t help but wonder how such a perfect creature could even exist, let alone be in his line of sight.
“Brianne Ellison,” she managed to say after a slight pause.
Her voice was slightly breathy, as though she had been running, and Callin’s cock twitched at the sound of it. He had had that effect on her. He had been the one to make her sound slightly out of breath like that. He couldn’t help but think of how she would sound when he was fucking her, when she was coming hard. He had to stop thinking like that or he was going to grab her and hold her right here and right now.
“Brianne,” Callin repeated. “I like it.”
And he did like it. It suited her somehow, this small and almost fragile-looking girl who stood before him, making him want to protect her at all costs. The thought sent a jolt of anger through him. It was Brianne who Valerie had been yelling at when he came to her trailer. Well, he was going to have to put a stop to that. He figured Brianne was Valerie’s assistant, but that didn’t give her the right to talk to the girl like she was nothing.
“Callin? Can I help you with something?” Valerie demanded.
Her voice was taut, like she was covering her anger now that he was here. He had almost forgotten she was in the room. He had almost forgotten everything except Brianne. With an effort, he tore his eyes away from Brianne and looked at Valerie. Valerie was what he thought of as Hollywood pretty. She was tall, imposing, with the body of a goddess. She had a pretty face, there was no denying that, but he knew what lurked beneath the face: the bitchy comments, the nastiness. And to him, Valerie was ugly.
Callin forced himself to smile at Valerie.
“I just thought I’d drop in and see how things are going,” he said. “With it being your first day on this set and everything.”
“Oh, everything’s great,” Valerie gushed, twisting a piece of her hair around one finger.
“Good,” Callin smiled.
He knew she was lying. Not that everything wasn’t great, because it was, but Valerie would find fault with it. She could find fault with anything. This nice girl act was just that—an act. And Callin knew what it was about. She was jealous of the way he had looked at Brianne, and she wanted him to think that she wasn’t the worst person in the world. It wasn’t going to work on him. He had seen too many of her true colors to be fooled by one smiling sentence.
“Are you finding everything okay?” he asked.
“Yes, thank you,” Valerie said. “Although my assistant here seems to be having some trouble with that.”
Callin turned to Brianne, grateful to be able to look at her again without making Valerie angry. He could handle Valerie and her anger, but he didn’t want to make life any more unpleasant for Brianne.
“What is it you can’t find?” he asked her kindly. “Maybe I can point you in the right direction.”
“I… I don’t know,” Brianne said, looking confused. “I seem to be finding my way around okay.”
“Ah, so you’re just useless and slow, then,” Valerie said with a smug smile. “I was giving you the benefit of the doubt, assuming you were having trouble negotiating your way around the set.”
Brianne’s bottom lip quivered slightly but she bit it quickly and looked down at the ground.
“Sorry,” she mumbled.
Valerie was rolling her eyes as Callin turned back to her.
“Look, Valerie, I know you’re not accustomed to being the star of a movie, so let me give you some advice,” Callin said. He knew his choice of words would rankle with her and he was right. She shifted uncomfortably on her feet, and when she smiled and nodded for him to go on, he could see her smile was fake. It brought him great pleasure which he was very careful to hide. “Punctuality is important, but no one is going to be mad at you if you’re a couple of seconds behind schedule. And everyone knows this is your first time on a big set like this; by extension, they know it’s Brianne’s first time on a big set like this too, and everyone will cut her some slack until she finds her feet.”
He turned and gave Brianne a subtle wink, letting her know he wasn’t really blaming her for anything that might happen. She gave him a quick flash of a smile.
“I see,” Valerie said through gritted teeth. “I just don’t want production to be held up because of any… incompetence.”
Callin leaned back against a cabinet and folded his arms. He smiled at Valerie. His smile was as fake as hers, but he was a good enough actor that he knew the smile looked entirely real.
“There’s one thing I can tell you. If you really want to look like a pro, then it all comes down to how you treat people like your assistant and the crew. The pros treat them with respect as they understand the hugely important role they play in all of this. I mean, think about it. We’re the least important people on this set, aren’t we? We’re just prancing around saying stuff. It’s the writers that bring the words to life, the director that puts us in the right place at the right time, the lighting crew that makes us look good, and hair, make-up, and wardrobe that hide all of our flaws. And the filming crew that captures the best angles. We’re pretty much props.”
Callin glanced at Brianne again. She was smiling more widely now. He looked back at Valerie, who gave him an amused-looking smile.
“Oh, you don’t need to do all of that fake modesty here, Callin,” she said. “We both know that despite all of that, it’s our names that sell the movie.”
“Perhaps,” Callin conceded. “But we’re a small part of a big team. You don’t even need to take my word for this. Just watch when you’re on set. The real stars, the ones who are confident of their place in the world, they’re pleasant and polite. The ones who snap at people, who are mean and nasty and, quite frankly, act like spoiled little divas for no good reason, they’re the ones who doubt their place here. The ones who need to belittle someone else to boost their own egos.”
“What exactly are you saying?” Valerie snapped.
Oh, she knew exactly what he was saying, but Callin had come here to appease her and he wanted to find a way to do that and get his message across too.
“I’m just saying that you should be yourself. Act like a real person instead of the stereotype people have when they think of Hollywood A-listers. Despite the misconception, you will be thought of as much more professional if you’re kind. And if things take a few minutes longer than planned, no one will go off on you if they think you’re one of the good ones,” Callin said.
Valerie smiled at him, a genuine smile this time, and he knew he had fooled her. He had gotten his message across without it sounding like an accusation. She didn’t know he had heard her berating Brianne, and she didn’t know that the camera crew was already laughing at her behind her back because of her attitude.
“Thanks, Callin. I’ll bear that in mind. I guess I’m so used to having to yell and command to get anything done at home, that I thought maybe I needed to bring that here too. But you’re right. The people here are professionals, not amateurs,” she said.
Okay, maybe he hadn’t fooled her entirely, because that was an obvious dig at the pack. But it was certainly some middle ground, and even if Valerie didn’t really believe his speech had been spontaneous, maybe she would still listen to him. The one thing Valerie hated was to be seen as anything other than an A-list star, and if she thought being nice would gain her that title quickly, then she would be nice. He hoped.
“Well, I’d better get on over to make-up,” Callin said with a smile, pushing himself up off the cabinet. “I just thought I’d come and see how you’re settling in. My assistant will be pissed if I’m late for ma
ke-up.”
“Your assistant tells you what to do?” Valerie asked, clearly surprised to hear this.
“Shauna is worth her weight in gold. She gets me where I need to be when I need to be there, and yeah, sometimes she gives me the ass-kicking I need if I’m slacking off which includes running late because I can’t stop talking. That’s what’s great about our assistants, though, isn’t it? How utterly lost we’d be without them and they know it, yet they don’t lord it over us.”
“Indeed,” Valerie said tightly.
“So be nice to Brianne. She keeps you right,” Callin said. He winked at Brianne, this time making it clear for Valerie to see. “And they bring us coffee and snacks, and I’d hate to think I’d pissed off the person who could bring me a sneezer.”
Brianne laughed softly and Callin felt the tingling inside of himself again. Her laugh was infectious, and he knew he would happily spend forever finding new ways to make her laugh like that. Valerie barked out a fake laugh and nodded her head.
“I think Brianne is far too professional to do anything like that,” she said.
Callin knew that was a thinly veiled threat, but he also thought Valerie had taken his hint about being nice to Brianne. It was unlikely that Brianne actually did sneeze in her coffee, and if she did, then good for her.
“It wouldn’t matter anyway,” Brianne said. “It’s not like any of the coffee I bring you is ever good enough for you to actually drink.”
She was laughing when she said it, made confident by Callin’s presence. But Callin could hear the truth beneath the laughter.
“What can I say? I’m fussy when it comes to my caffeine fix,” Valerie said with a fake laugh.
Callin left the trailer and headed toward the set. He didn’t know if he was secretly amused by Valerie and the way she acted so differently when she was around him compared to the stories he heard about her behavior with other people, or if he was utterly disgusted by her. He thought maybe it was a combination of both. But mostly it was disgust.