Just like that she’d stripped back all the bullshit and hit right at the heart of it. “It is. I guess you’re never lonely. Constantly connecting with people like this.”
Her eyes shuttered, but all she said was, “You’d be surprised.”
We stared at each other for just a second longer. The spark of something deeper than physical attraction flared between us and left me shaken.
She stood and dusted off her pants, clearly ready to change the subject. “We don’t have much time. Let’s walk through the scenes in the first act and talk about his baseline motivations and emotional charge for each so you can be thinking about that as we keep doing lessons. Grab your script.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said.
She glared. “Ugh, ma’am? Really? Am I your school teacher?”
“Sorry. It’s how I was raised. I’ll try not to do it again.”
We pulled our scripts out and she slid her hands lovingly over hers.
“Why does this book mean so much to you?” I asked.
She looked surprised. “It’s hard to explain. I fell in love with books because reading let me live in someone else’s head for a while. I fell in love with psychology for the same reason. It was other people’s stories, but I would get to be part of their journey and maybe ease their path a little. The dungeon was that on steroids. It was like getting access to the hidden romance section that my hometown librarian tried to keep people away from lest it corrupt our minds.Crown of Swordsfeels like it gave a whole bunch of people keys to that hidden section, like it opened something in their minds. I don’t care what anyone says about it, there’s power to that and I love seeing how it’s impacted people.”
I laughed. “No pressure. I hope I can live up to that with the film.”
Her lips quirked. “Don’t fuck it up, Mr. Chase.”
12
Elena
“How does this look?” I asked Ophelia, modeling a black pencil skirt, striped blouse, and stilettos sharp enough to eviscerate someone.
She considered me for a moment from where she lay sprawled across my bed. “Perfect. Classy. Like a sexy assassin librarian.”
We’d spent far too long working in a dungeon.
“I’m not sure I’m going to be assassinating anyone when I can’t open my legs more than three inches in this pencil skirt, but I like where your head is.”
She jumped up and started rifling through my toy closet, testing out various crops and floggers.
“I’m watching you.” I narrowed my eyes, as she looked a little too comfortable with my favorite signal whip.
“Where are you going again?” She flicked the whip lightly back and forth across my ass.
“Some bar where Hollywood types congregate.” I sighed. “I already hate this shit. I hate how fake everyone in his world is and I’m actually nervous at the idea of having to socialize with a bunch of sharks tonight. I can happily deal with naked kinky strangers, but small talk freaks me the fuck out.”
“Dude. Put your big-girl panties on. You can run circles around their games. It’s child’s play. You’re Lady Elena.”
I kissed her on the forehead and she wrinkled her nose in distaste at the affectionate gesture. She’d told me exactly what I needed to hear. I could see through these games and that’s why they made me uncomfortable.
“Is the skirt supposed to be like a chastity thing so you can resist Alex Chase?” she asked.
“Watch the sass,Mistress.” I liked poking at the fact her title was technically lower in the hierarchy than mine. “I have no trouble resisting Mr. Hollywood Swagger. I just need to make it look believable that we’re together. He’s smug and entitled and condescending…”
Who was I trying to convince?
She clapped her hands together. “And hot.”
“And arrogant.”
“And hot. Don’t forget hot.”
