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A laugh spilled from Audrie’s mouth before she could stop it. She saw Landon’s head turn as he looked at her. Yeah, he wouldn’t understand the laugh.
“There’s one restaurant in town,” she explained. “They get doughnuts from the market and sell them, so there’s really no other choice.”
“Glazed cake,” Christian explained, glancing down at the stack of boxes. “We pretty much cleaned the diner out this morning.”
“Why not go to the market and get the doughnuts fresh?” Landon asked.
“The market’s not open this early.” Christian smiled at him, but his words were said like it was completely normal for a grocery store not to be open at nine o’clock on a weekday. “I’m going to get these doughnuts into the trailer before the hair and makeup team starves.”
“The actress stomped off to the main house.” Audrie hitched her thumb toward the trailer behind her.
“Yes, but Peter’s in makeup and Tracie was waiting for hair,” Landon said.
“Come on,” Christian told Audrie. “I’ll introduce you.”
Audrie was staring at Landon, flabbergasted. Someone was in there, waiting for her to do her hair, and he hadn’t said a word about it. What exactly was his role here?
She just came right out and asked him. “What exactly is your role here?”
Maybe the question had come out sounding rude, but he should have explained by now. She’d blurted it out mostly from impatience.
“He’s the consultant,” Christian said. “A retired California rancher who now works for Sugar Cookie Productions.”
“The company president is my brother.” Landon shrugged. He gave Audrie another one of those smiles that made her heart melt. “We both grew up on a ranch, but I got all the experience while he was…doing other things. So, he’s counting on my advice here.”
“You coming?” Christian called out.
By then, Christian and Poppy were halfway to the trailers, which was exactly where Audrie should be going. She was standing there making eyes at a member of the crew, essentially.
“I’ll see you around.” Landon gave her a smile. It seemed on the flirtatious side.
Audrie nodded, tore her gaze away, and rushed after Christian. Before she’d even caught up with him, though, she knew exactly what her best friend was thinking now. If she didn’t watch herself, she’d go down the same path she always did, and that never led anywhere good.
No, she had to keep her distance from Landon Dixon. She had to do it for herself, her career, and the future of Christian’s ranch.
2
The doughnuts weren’t bad. They weren’t the best Landon had ever had, but he’d expected stale, dry, and tasteless, when these had been packed with flavor and tasted like they’d just been made. They were soft and fresh—as fresh as the ones he normally had back home.
By the time Landon got to the main house, Jessica, the star of the first movie they were shooting, was already on her way back to the trailer. Somehow, Landon’s brother Rourke had managed to talk her off the ledge, but there was always another emergency just around the corner.
“We need them on set, pronto,” Rourke said.
These sets were normally stressful, but the stress on this one was magnified. They were trying to get four Christmas movies finished and out for distribution ahead of the holiday season, but they were operating with a slim crew, which meant there were fewer production assistants to do things like fetch actresses from hair and makeup.
Maybe he should have protested a little more. The fact he obediently fled the house and headed straight to the hair trailer might alert his brother that he didn’t mind doing these chores so much. Especially when the chores had him spending time around Audrie Bishop.
He knocked before entering. No way would he barge in. Film production wasn’t the only area where he was a newbie. He’d steer clear of a woman who might possibly be changing clothes or something. He’d grown up with just a brother, so he wasn’t used to sharing space with women.
“Come in,” a female voice called out.
The voice was pleasant and full of warmth, so he knew it didn’t belong to Jessica. Jessica could only turn on the syrupy-sweet stuff when she was on camera.
Landon pulled the door open and took the three steps into the trailer. Jessica sat in a chair, staring at her phone, while Audrie held a curling iron of some sort with a section of the actress’s hair wound around it.
“They’re ready for you, I think,” he said.
I think?Since when did he get so indecisive? Jessica’s head lifted, and her narrowed eyes landed on him.
