He is one of only five men to be selected Sexiest Man Alive twice!
Grayson calls that achievement “one of the highest honors of my career.”
His first acting role was in a tiny blip of a movie calledMy Love on Top(which was received terribly), costarring none other than his latest leading lady, Emmy Harper!
Chapter Four
I’ve already been in the hair and makeup chair for two hours the next morning before Grayson comes sauntering in. We’re filming in the local coffee shop, so we’re set up in a trailer in the parking lot, and the entire energy of the decidedly small space shifts when the door opens, letting in cold air and a bad attitude. Any sliver of calm I might’ve achieved during all my deep breathing and staring at the snow soul-searching the evening before flies out the door and off on the wind.
Grayson plops into the chair next to me and greets our hair stylist Amanda with a charming grin. “Grayson West. Pleasure to meet you.”
Amanda is a stunningly gorgeous white woman with a mane of red hair I would kill for. She shakes his hand, and I can tell by the glint in her green eyes that she is immediately swayed by that smile and those perfect lips.
Even though my eye makeup has already been applied, I close my eyes so I don’t have to look at him. But even with my lids shut tightly, I can feel him looking at me.Probably with a cocky-ass grin on his face. I peek out of the tiniest slit I can manage. Make that more of a smirk.
“Morning.” His voice is all rumbly and gravel-like, as if he just rolled out of bed. Which he probably did because his call time is a whole two hours later than mine.
“Morning,” I mumble back.
“Open up for me, sweetie,” the makeup artist, Sam, instructs.
I do as I’m told, making sure my eyes don’t stray at all to my right. Instead, I focus on Sam’s smooth dark brown skin and his warm brown eyes.
Sam tilts up my chin, examining my face from every angle. “Perfection.”
I give him a genuine smile because up until Grayson walked in the room, Sam was doing a great job of subtly soothing my nerves, filling the space with happy yet inane chatter. “Thanks, Sam.” I start to push out of my chair.
“Hold up. I’m not done with you yet, Emmy.” Amanda looks up from where she’s currently tousling Grayson’s hair with some kind of thick pomade. “Sit that fine ass back down.”
My cheeks heat, either from her compliment or the way Grayson’s eyes travel over to me, as if trying to catch a glimpse of said fine ass. I plop back down in my chair before he has the chance.
He catches my eye in the mirror in front of us. “Ready for today?”
I arch one perfectly stenciled eyebrow. “Are you?”
He has the wherewithal to look somewhat embarrassed. But he doesn’t say anything about his abysmalperformance the day before, instead turning his attention and charms fully on Amanda. The two of them make small talk without including me in the conversation. Sam excuses himself to go grab coffee while he waits for Grayson to be ready for makeup, leaving me to fend for myself.
Which is fine because it gives me a chance to go over my lines. Ones that, you know, I wrote and definitely already have memorized.
Luckily, Grayson’s hair doesn’t take too long, and once I’m back in Amanda’s chair, she only needs a few minutes to touch me up before she sends me off to go get changed. I push out of the trailer without saying a word to Grayson, the tension thick between us. Which I’m sure bodes well for a great first day of filming.
After I’m dressed in a soft turtleneck sweater, designer jeans, heeled booties, and a gorgeous camel coat, and then decorated with gobs of stylish gold jewelry, I make my way into the coffee shop. Liz is consulting with her assistant, Deidre, but she pauses to throw me a smile and a thumbs-up.
The coffee shop is perfect, exactly as I envisioned it while writing. There’s a butcher block counter at the front, along with a pastry case full of delicious-looking treats. Even though the shop is closed for business today, the smell of rich coffee and freshly baked cookies permeates the air. The space is small, so there aren’t a ton of tables, but a few mismatched pieces of furniture are scattered throughout the room. If our shooting schedule ever allows for it, I’m certain to come back here for some writing time.
Grayson enters the shop a minute later, dressed in faded jeans and a blue sweater that perfectly matchesthose stupid eyes. Deidre hands him an apron and walks him over to the counter, pointing out the various props and presumably showing him how to fake make a latte.
Liz approaches me with a wide smile on her face. A smile I know to be false because Liz doesn’t ever smile like that.
