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Chapter Four
She was pissed.
Nate’s mouth tipped into a grin when he saw Kris standing in Hilltop Park, her eyes sparking with fury as she watched him approach. With her white dress, dark hair streaming in the wind, and deep scowl, she resembled an avenging angel on the verge of smiting the poor mortal who’d dared cross her.
Except Nate was no mere mortal. She needed him. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t have called for an in-person meeting a week after she’d listed a few creative places where he could shove his counteroffer and hung up on him.
Nate had taken a huge risk with the counteroffer, but if there was one thing he’d learned about life and business, it was this: always negotiate. The opening offer was rarely the best one, which was why he’d tested the waters and upped the price to $15,000. An extra five grand may not mean a lot to Kris, but it meant a shit ton to the Reynoldses.
As for the kiss part of the deal…well, it’d surprised Nate as much as it did Kris when the words fell out of his mouth, but the more he thought about it, the more he wouldn’t mind confirming whether her full lips tasted as sweet as they looked.
He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her since they met, and it was driving him insane. Nate wasn’t the type of guy who worked himself into a tizzy over a girl. Normally, he barely had to lift a finger before members of the opposite sex threw themselves at him, promising everything from BJs to threesomes to the kinky shit you only found on porn sites.
Then again, nothing about this situation was normal.
“You’re late,” Kris said flatly.
Nate hitched his shoulder up in a shrug. “Sorry. My audition ran over, and Long Beach is a long way from Hollywood, especially during rush hour.”
The audition had been for a minor role in an upcoming crime thriller, and he was sure he’d nailed it. The role comprised only a few lines, but it involved direct interaction with Oscar Bravo, the biggest action star in the world.
Nate thrilled at the thought. Oscar was one of his idols.
Kris huffed. “First your ridiculous counteroffer, now tardiness. You’re pushing your luck.”
“If it’s so ridiculous, why are we here?” Nate leaned against one of the stone columns bracketing the low concrete wall.
True to its name, Hilltop Park sat perched on a hill overlooking Long Beach, Rancho Palos Verdes, and downtown L.A. in the distance. It wasn’t huge—just a round space dotted with benches and surrounded by a rolling carpet of lush grass. The only other people there were a high school couple too busy making out on a bench to pay attention to Kris and Nate.
“None of the other actors I hired could get the job done,” Kris grumbled.
Nate’s eyebrows shot up. “It’s been a week. How many did you hire?”
“Three. And no, I didn’t pay them all $10,000, just a hundred each to flirt with Gloria and see if they could catch her interest.” A frown creased her smooth brow. “No dice.”
Thank God.
Nate had been consumed with dread and guilt all week, thinking he’d thrown away ten or fifteen grand by being too bold in his negotiations, but now, his usual confidence made a comeback.
“You think I’ll be different?”
Nate knew he would; he just wanted to hear her say it. He wasn’t the boasting type, but he also wasn’t going to fake humility over his looks. He was aware of his effect on women—including Kris. The heat in her eyes wasn’t entirely due to anger.
Nate hadn’t had sex in a public space since he banged Sheri Cummings at the beach when he was sixteen and learned the hard way that beach sex was not, in fact, that sexy. It’d taken him days to get all the sand out of areas he didn’t even know he had.
But there was no sand around now, and Kris was so small he could lift her with one arm and use his other hand to—
“You better be, given your terms.” Kris’s cold words snapped Nate out of his X-rated fantasy. Instead of dampening his arousal, they only turned him on more. He loved a good challenge, and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had to do more than smile to get a girl into his bed—or car, or bathroom, or whichever surface was nearby.
Nate didn’t drink. Didn’t gamble. Didn’t do drugs. Sex was the one thing he indulged in regularly, though it had been a good two weeks since he’d seen action from anything besides his right hand. He’d been too busy.
“…plan, which is going to guarantee her interest in you,” Kris finished.
Shit.He’d missed the first part of what she said.
“What makes you so sure it’ll work?” Nate asked, hoping to draw more details out of her. He didn’t want to let on that he hadn’t been paying attention, not when their deal wasn’t set in stone yet.
“It’ll work. Gloria’s a vindictive, envious bitch who wants everything I have.” Kris pulled a manila envelope out of her giant purse and shoved it at Nate. “I’ll discuss the plan in more detail after you sign the contract and NDA.”
