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Instead, it was Rourke who was seated alone. He wasn’t the right Dixon brother. Why did he want to see her? Did it have something to do with the heated conversation she’d seen between the two brothers when she entered?
A sick feeling washed over Audrie as she stood to head in that direction. She glanced over at Christian and Poppy and said, “I’ll be right back.”
Hopefully, whatever was about to happen would just take a few seconds. Maybe he’d give her some brief instruction about how to keep Jessica happy, and everybody would be fine. But that wasn’t how it was going to go. She could tell by the look on his face as she approached.
Rourke was chewing and staring at his phone—both of which he didn’t stop doing, even when she was standing right in front of him. She gripped the back of a chair with both hands and stared straight at him with confidence.
“You wanted to see me?” she asked.
At that, he lifted his head, took a deep breath, and looked around, setting his phone down, followed by his fork. His movements were slow, drawn out, as though he were trying to make this as dramatic as possible.
After wiping his mouth with his napkin, he gestured toward the chair she was gripping. “Have a seat.”
She didn’t really want to have the kind of talk that would require getting comfortable, but he was in charge here. He was technically her boss, even though she really would be fine if he fired her. She’d just go back and take over her previous appointments—the ones her sister was helping her with. The only reason she wanted to stay on this property was because it meant being around Landon.
Okay, so the daily fee they were giving her was more than she’d make in her salon. Far more. But not enough to have her sacrificing her dignity.
“For Landon,” she whispered to herself as she pulled the chair back.
She took a quick look around as she sat down. There was no sign of Landon anywhere. Not at the food line, not here, and definitely not at the table where she’d been seated just seconds ago.
Whatever was happening, she wished Landon would have done the job himself instead of having his brother talk to her. This was extremely intimidating.
Rourke cleared his throat and sat back in his chair, his food seemingly forgotten for now. “You and my brother have been spending some time together,” he said. “And that appears to have upset my lead actress.”
Hislead actress. There was a protectiveness in the way he said that—like she was his child or his pet. But Audrie got it. She was money in the bank for him.
“Landon and I are just—”
Before she could finish the sentence, Rourke held his hand up to stop her. “I already talked to Landon. He gave me the scoop.”
The scoop. What was the scoop? That they’d kissed? That they’d agreed to keep their attraction to each other top secret for now—at least until Jessica was gone? It put her at a disadvantage not to know.
“The thing is, we love having you on this set,” Rourke said. “But I can’t have my production put in jeopardy for a one-sided crush.”
A one-sided crush? Okay, he had to be talking about Jessica now.
“I don’t think Jessica really has a crush on Landon,” Audrie said. “It’s more the challenge of getting his attention. Plus, I’m pretty sure all this is just an attempt to make her ex jealous.”
Rourke was shaking his head by the time she got to the end of that sentence. “Not Jessica. You.”
For the longest time, Audrie just sat there, staring at him, completely speechless. He’d said someone had a one-sided crush. Was he saying that person was Audrie?
Finally, she found her words. “You think I have a one-sided crush on Landon?”
“I think Landon doesn’t have a crush on you,” he said. “In fact, I know that. He told me as much. Plus, it’s clear to everyone here that you’ve been chasing him around the set all week. Last night, you tracked him down inside the main house and were sitting in the living room with him. He was trying to get some alone time.”
Anger surged through Audrie, but it was mixed with something else. Something she finally identified as pain. This conversation was paining her.
“That’s not why I went inside,” she said.
He started shaking his head, and the move stopped her from saying any more. “The details are pointless. It’s not about what you did or didn’t do. Landon needs to stay away from you. He knows it’s bad for the production, and he’s trying to keep his distance for that very reason, but you won’t let it go. So, I’m here to say please stay away from my brother. Just until the shoot is over, or until we line up another hairstylist. For your trouble, I’ll double your day rate. We need you, Audrie, but we need you here as a professional, not…”
He waved his hand in the air, as though that would cover all the words he wasn’t saying. Then he looked around. Audrie kept her gaze focused on him, though. She didn’t want to see Jessica or Landon—if either of them was even here.
Finally, Rourke turned his attention back to her. “I know Jessica can be a handful. I knew that going in. But she gets good ratings. She’s our moneymaker this Christmas. We’re hoping we can sell the movies we make here as a package to the top network. And we’re going to use Jessica’s movie as the big selling point. Her movies make money. They get ratings. Networks want her name on the movies they show.”
This conversation was making Audrie’s head spin. She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know what to think. But what she did know was double the money could allow her to put some funds into advertising and expand her business beyond Corbin and a few nearby towns. She could make sure she and her sister were well taken care of. She could set some money aside just in case they ever needed it.
