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She was so confident of her success that she knew she had to stay away from Serge. She would see him on the set, of course, but she was going to do her best to make sure they were never alone together again.
At first, the fact that he desired her had seemed like a brilliant stroke of luck. She would never use sex to get what she wanted if she wasn’t attracted to the man, but if she was…
Well, why not exploit a mutual attraction? A man with his head in his pants was a man who could be led around by the nose. She knew that much from personal experience. It was how her late husband had been seduced by a girl young enough to be his granddaughter.
Too bad her own attraction wasn’t so easily managed. She wanted Serge and had craved the release he’d given her so badly that all her defenses had come tumbling down. Afterward, all she’d wanted to do was to curl up on his lap, snuggle into his chest, and thank him for giving her such profound pleasure. She’d wanted to drop the armor, put away the tough girl act, and give in to the temptation he offered.
She had wanted to trust again, to hope again.
“Fucking crazy,” she muttered as she changed into her workout clothes in the locker room at the gym.
She hadn’t cussed the entire afternoon. She had been sweet as pie and friendly and charming and all the rest of it. Poor Matthew had been teased mercilessly by the rest of the staff, none of whom could believe she was capable of being the terror he had told horror stories about for the past week.
Kat felt sorry for the kid. But if he hadn’t exposed her to situations that made her an emotional wreck, he wouldn’t have brought out the worst in her. From what Serge said, the show wasn’t looking for that kind of manipulation, and she believed him.
She believed him, this stranger she barely knew.
She must have finally lost her mind.
“Hi, Kat.” Molly, a pretty brunette without a mean bone in her body, greeted Kat with a smile as she headed out to the treadmills.
“Hi, Mol, how’s the shop?” Molly was the owner of Kat’s favorite lingerie shop, Secret Things, which always had the most luxurious selection of underclothes.
“So good! Can’t wait to have you come by. We’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you, too,” Kat said with a laugh. “And your seamless black thongs.”
“Girl, we’ve got those in five other colors now. You’ll have to come take a look. See you soon.” Molly gave a little wave, leaving Kat to set the speed on her machine and start off at an easy jog.
See there? Kat could be nice when she was allowed to be.
She had been responsible for the public relations campaigns of more kings, rock stars, and A-list actors than she could count on two hands. You didn’t work for those kinds of people unless you knew how to play well with others. Of course, you also had to have a tough side when it came time to convince people to see your client’s situation from your perspective.
But in the last few years, she had let her tough side become her only side. That’s why it had been so wonderful to let go with Serge, to let herself feel relaxed and safe for a few minutes. From the second Serge pulled her onto his lap, she had felt simultaneously more aroused and calmer than she had in years. The arousal had faded, but the calm had remained with her the entire afternoon, making it easy to walk into the first day of filming with an open mind.
But the fact that he’d made her go soft was why she had to avoid him. The last time she’d been in love, her heart had been broken and her control annihilated. She’d done horrible things, things that had landed her in the dungeon for five years and nearly killed a sixteen-year-old girl.
Love had turned Kat into a monster t
he first time around, and she couldn’t handle the idea of becoming that person again. She might not be a “good girl” all of the time, but she never wanted to get close to hurting anyone again, including herself.
“Do you do this every day?” a deep voice asked from beside her.
Shit. Think of the devil…
It was Serge, on the next treadmill over.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, with a scowl. Let him think she was an ugly old sourpuss, anything to keep him from getting his hands on her again.
“I was beginning to think I had imagined the pinch-faced shrew.” His smile was so sexy she wanted to leap onto his treadmill and beg him to fuck her against the console. “You were so lovely to observe today.”
“I’m nice to people who are nice to me,” she said as she upped the speed on her machine.
What was he doing here? She’d never seen him at her gym before. Had he followed her here after the filming?
The idea was both faintly creepy and incredibly exciting.
“I thought I was very nice to you.” His voice left no doubt as to what he was referring, making Kat’s nipples tighten against the stiff fabric of her sports bra. “And I am sincerely curious about your running habits,” he added after a few moments had passed with no sound except the steady fall of their footsteps as they jogged.
