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“Maybe you should hold my hand and guide me,” he said in a low voice that he usually reserved for the bedroom.
Double damn.
“If it will make you feel safer.” Her voice was huskier than normal too and her pupils had almost swallowed the emerald green of her irises.
Triple damnation. She was turned on.
He willed himself to step back.
Nothing happened.
She stared up at him, silent but for the short little breaths she took.
His head began to lower while his libido cheered and his brain shouted at him to go to the men’s room and soak his head under a cold faucet.
Her mouth opened slightly, ready for his to descend.
“Miss Sinclair?” It was Ralph, the security guard. “I just got off the phone with the prop master. He wanted to request you not tour his room.”
Alan found his lagging self-control and sprang backward.
Jillian sidestepped and moved toward the security guard. “I don’t know what he thought we would do.”
“Probably break something. He’s pretty protective of his stock.”
Jillian made a little growling noise. It was cute. “Yes, I know. He’s quite the artiste,” she muttered aside to Alan. “We just won’t tell him we already toured the room, yes?”
“Whatever you say.”
“If he asks, I’ll tell the truth,” she said on a sigh.
“Let me know if he asks.”
Her brows drew together. “Why?”
“So I can keep our stories straight.”
She groaned. “I hate subterfuge.”
“I know.”
That made her eyes widen, almost with fear. Like the idea of him knowing her worried her. The woman was a 3D Chinese puzzle and he planned to have all the pieces put together before this case was over.
“Thanks, Ralph.”
“No problem, Miss Sinclair.”
She turned back to Alan, her smile almost too bright. “So, what were we talking about?”
“I had asked if you planned to do movies once this series has run its course.”
“Maybe . . . I’d like to do a movie or two, but mostly? I want to work behind the camera and I’m hoping I can make that happen in a full-time way.”
“What’s stopping you?”
“From directing? Experience. Mostly. From producing, which is my real love . . . the green stuff. It takes a lot of seed money to build a name as a producer, not to mention some killer scripts.”
“Another reason to rent rooms out in your house.”
She laughed. “That’s mostly to cover living expenses. My friend Amanda has almost all of my acting income in an aggressive investment plan. She’s helping me realize my dreams.”
“She sounds like a good friend to have.”
“We’ve always been there for each other.”
“I’ve got a brother like that. He’s my best friend.”
“That’s great. That you’re close to your brother like that. It’s the way family should be.”
“Do you have any siblings?”
“Yes. A younger brother. I haven’t seen him in a while.”
“Why?”
“It’s hard to get home. He’s talking about coming to visit. He might even transfer to the University of Vancouver next year. Our parents aren’t too happy, but I’d love it if he lived closer.”
“I hear that. My brother and I do a lot of IM-ing, e-mails, phone calls . . . it helps. But sometimes, we just have to get together face-to-face. Even if we didn’t want to, Sir would insist on it.”
“Who’s Sir?”
“My grandfather. He raised us since our parents died when we were teens.”
“And you call him Sir?”
“He’s got his quirks, but he did a good job with us.”
“I’m sure he did.”
“What about you? You’re originally from Southern California, right? I bet you call your parents by their first names.”
Jillian laughed, but the sound was edged with something not in the least humorous. “No way. We had a very traditional home. At least once my mom married my stepdad. I had to call him Dad even though my own father is still living.”
“That must have been hard.”
“It was, but not because of any feelings of disloyalty I felt toward Scorpio. The truth is, he never played much of a parental role.”
“Scorpio, the painter?”
“Yes.”
Well, he knew where Jillian got her red hair from. But she didn’t seem to have much else in common with her famous father. Scorpio was legendary for his affairs with young, gorgeous women and throwing parties that rivaled the decadent depravity of ancient Roman orgies.
“I guess you were lucky to have a stepdad then.”
“You’d think so, wouldn’t you?”
“You don’t.” He was getting tastes of Jillian’s secrets and they only made him thirstier for more.
“One thing I learned growing up is that appearances can be and are often deceptive.” She sighed. “Not that I think living with Scorpio would have been better. Sometimes, life doesn’t give you any good choices. But you know? I realized after moving out that it could have been a lot worse too.”
Despite his temporary insanity that prompted his request she hold his hand, Alan kept his distance for the rest of the tour. If Ralph hadn’t shown up, Alan would have kissed Jillian senseless. He couldn’t believe his own behavior. No matter how strongly she impacted his libido, he was not some rookie agent to be derailed by a pretty face. Or even a beautiful face. And an intriguing personality. And a charming personality. And the same sense of humor as his own.
Practically growling with frustration at himself, Alan forced out question after question about how things worked and who did what on the set and in the studio.
True to what she’d told him earlier, Jillian had enough knowledge to give him elucidating responses to every single query.
