“Why?” Tripp asked.
“You booked it beforeOld Flameblew up into a phenomenon.”
Phenomenon? Maybe I do need to watch it.
“And you know how it is. You’re only as hot as your last release. I don’t want to see you tie your new rise to a stinker that’s going to drag you down.” Gesturing toward his desk, Tony said, “I’ve got an offer for a blockbuster spy thriller. Not the lead, but his number two. The booked actor is—” He caught himself before glancing at me. “You signed an NDA?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Good. Remember that I’ll enforce the fuck out of it even if Tripp is too nice to.”
“Tony,” Tripp bit out with a glower.
I had no intention of breaking the contract, so the threat was meaningless to me. I subtly touched Tripp’s arm with my fingertips to let him know there was no reason to come to my defense. “Not a problem.”
Mostly because I don’t give a shit.
Realizing I was still touching Tripp, I discreetly but quickly yanked my hand away.
I need to stop doing that.
I’d never been an overly touchy person, yet I’d done it at his party and again right then without thought.
“I’m just making sure we’re on the same page.” For all his concern about NDAs, Tony had no problem sharing something he probably shouldn’t have. “Anyway, the booked actor is checking into rehab, so they need someone to fly to Londonfast. They don’t even want you to read for it. The role is yours.”
Okay, maybe I won’t see any filming yet since the commute between Coastal and London would be a smidge hard to do daily.
Tripp’s smile grew as Tony spoke, and I thought he would leap from his seat to accept what had to be a major opportunity. But despite his obvious happiness, he shook his head. “I’m not interested in traveling right now. I just got back to a new house I don’t even know. I’m not kidding, I keep going into the wrong room. And I’ve done the action thing a lot, Tony. It’s boring. There’s no challenge beyond dehydrating myself enough that my muscles look tight but not so much that I pass out. Iwantto be a love interest.”
“You did that.”
“One who doesn’t turn into a psycho stalker.”
A psycho stalker?
No maybe about it. I definitely need to watchOld Flame.
Realizing there was no convincing him, Tony took the rejection and quickly pivoted to support his client. “Some variety in your credits would be good. Shake things up, keep it fresh. There will be no shortage of action movies to pepper in.”
The rest of the meeting was what I’d expected. Tony and I exchanged contact info as he helpfully listed out the kind of things he’d need from me. Most of it sounded like glorified babysitting.
Tripp must’ve agreed because he interjected to offer an explanation I didn’t ask for. “Once filming starts, it’s a lot of long hours on little sleep while I spend most of my day livingin a fictional world. I’m not bad about keeping shit straight, but having some help for once would be good.”
I wasn’t sure if it was the sheepish expression taking his face from hot to endearing—yet still hot. Or the honesty in his words. Or how badly he’d been screwed over by his previous assistants.
Or maybe it was just that these added expectations were within my skillset, and I finally felt confident in my ability to do the job.
Whatever the reason, I offered him a genuine smile. “I can handle that.”
His smile wasn’t as big, but it still packed a punch. As did his softly whispered, “I know you can.”
My brain fritzed out, and I didn’t catch a thing they said before they suddenly stood. I followed on instinct, trying to stay back and out of the way as they headed for the door.
Tripp didn’t let that happen.
With a hand on my lower back, he quickly shifted me so I walked beside him as Tony led the way out to the waiting area. They spoke for another couple of minutes about scheduling a round of golf—yawn—before Tony returned to his office, and we moved to the elevator.
After he pressed the down button, Tripp leaned toward me and kept his voice low. “Told you that you’d be great.”
