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“You’re the best. Promise you’ll always love me?”
There was that sly tone again. I’d been trained to be observant. Trained as a killer to notice every little detail.
“Did you do something that I’m not going to like?” I asked darkly.
Her hesitation was followed by a nervous giggle.
“No. Of course not. What could I do that you wouldn’t like?” She was protesting too much, but I didn’t let her know I noticed. I was also trained in knowing when to show your hand and when not to. “Call me when you get done on Thursday.”
I didn’t ask her what she and Harris were up to, but for her to know the job started on Thursday, they’d most definitely discussed things. “Will do. Take care, sis.”
I hung up the phone and headed out to my Mustang which I’d buffed to a high shine after Katherine had left on Sunday. Round two with her over breakfast had been even better than the night before that, but I still didn’t see her being anything steady. A repeat, maybe, but with the blonde’s card burning a hole in my pocket, I had a feeling that by Wednesday night, I’d have plans for the weekend.
This was shaping up to be a pretty good week, and if everything went well on Thursday, it would be, blonde or not, though I hadn’t had many turn downs in my life. In the military, I’d been infamous among my brothers for breaking hearts, but there was only one I deeply regretted breaking. And I’d been a worthless fucking coward in how I’d done it.
CHAPTER FOUR - RACHEL
“Jefferey!” I called out to my assistant to give me his opinion. He came from across the room and folded one hand across him with his other hand to his chin. I let out a long breath. “It’s too big. We’re going to have to cut it down. I don’t think it will be in the shot.” The problem with set designs for film was that all the important parts had to be visible on camera and there were specific props that had to be used.
“I think you should just push it back a bit. It might help, and you’d do better trying before taking a saw to it,” Jeffrey noted.
“That’s not going to give me enough. Get the specs list and let’s see if we missed anything else. I’m not about to present this to Brock until it’s absolutely perfect.”
We took the list and right away I saw the issue. I pointed my finger on the sheet. “That’s supposed to be five feet instead of eight. My messy handwriting strikes again.” I took a deep breath and turned to my carpenters who stood against a counter I’d been using as a makeshift desk. “This has to lose three feet, let’s make it happen, please.”
They gave me some murmurs, and two of them took to the mock up stage and pulled the board down and carried it out while the other four stood around trying to look useful.
I turned my head to Jefferey. “Remind me why we need all of them?”
“Well, it certainly isn’t because they’re nice to look at.” He made a sour face to the crew who looked about as good as they smelled. They were a cranky bunch. Jeffrey pulled me into his arms to console me. It had been a rough day already and it didn’t seem like it was ever going to end.
I broke away from him and turned around glancing over my shoulder . “Okay, that should put us on track, I’m just going to—”
I slammed right into a solid wall of chest. The smell of his cologne hit my nose with a dose of nostalgia, and I lifted my head to his gorgeous hazel eyes which were just how I remembered them, and left me just as breathless.
“Duncan Kelley.” The name rolled from my lips before I could even stop it. Even though he nodded, I didn’t think it was real. “What are you doing here?” My heart twisted like someone gripped it with razor sharp teeth and all the old feelings came rushing back to me; the love and the pain.
“Don’t tell me. You’re the set producer?”
He took a deep breath, and I couldn’t stop taking in the sight of him. His hair was much darker than it had been when he was younger, making those pale, hazel eyes seem like they were glowing in their sockets. There was more of him too, the thick cord of muscle across his chest and down his arms had my fingers twitching to touch him. Then there were the tattoos. I’d never imagined he’d have so many, the black markings enhancing his muscles and made him look like the warrior he was.
He appeared even more fierce than the day he ripped out my heart. Suddenly, anger ripped through me. He had some nerve showing up at my job. What was he even doing here? “Well?”
“I’m security.” He glanced over my shoulder at Jefferey. “Don’t let me interrupt you and your boyfriend. I’m supposed to be checking in.” His voice was also a lot deeper than it had been when he was in school like it had weathered with age and experience. Perhaps it had.
“Jefferey is my assistant and friend.” I folded my arms around my waist and pulled my lips into a tight line. I didn’t owe him an explanation, though my mind went back to the time he’d seen me paying the lawn boy my mother had hired. Duncan had come across the yard so fast that the poor guy had tripped over himself to get away. He’d always been that way until they day he’d decided that he didn’t care anymore.
He’d come to me talking about the Navy, and I’d been so supportive. I’d have not been so inclined if I had known then that he was going to leave me. I’d even promised to wait for him, to be there when he got out, but a week later, all I’d gotten was a lousy text telling me there was no future for us. He’d told me that I had a whole big life in front of me and he wasn’t getting in the way. He hadn’t even given me a choice, just like my father, he’d made the decision then and there what my life, my future would be. At least my father had always had the guts to say it to my face though.
“You can go wait over there. I have to make a call.” I walked across the room and stepped behind one of the larger props I’d designed and pulled out my phone. I had a bone to pick with my best friend.
Her voice was already filled with caution as she said hello. “Please tell me you had nothing to do with this, Shauna.”
“With what exactly?”
I could hear the worry in her tone.
“Don’t play stupid. You’re the smartest woman I know, which leads me to think you were having an off day when you decided to put me and your brother in the same place!” I tried to keep my tone level, to keep it from turning as harsh as Duncan’s natural tone when she began to apologize.
