Off Script

by Anna Paige

  I wadded up my clothes and stuffed them into my duffel bag, looking around the bedroom with a deep feeling of longing. I didn’t want to leave. These past two days—okay it was only a day and a half but still—had been amazing. Gavin had been amazing. I let the weekend replay in my mind on an infinite loop as I grudgingly packed my belongings and prepared to head back to my new reality.

  We really had made love in every room in this immaculate beach house, and on the sand, and in the hot tub, but we’d also found time to drive up the coast and eat freshly-caught seafood while watching the surfers catch a few waves. We’d walked the Heritage Square Farmer’s Market and eaten peaches so warm and sweet the juice had run down our arms, necessitating another swim when we returned to the beach house.

  We’d watched the sun rise and set in each other’s arms and laughed until our sides hurt.

  We’d created memories I knew neither of us would ever forget.

  I yawned into my hand as I fumbled with the zipper of my bag and Gavin walked in, yawning himself. He had two huge cups of coffee in hand and I could have kissed him as he handed me one. Instead, I slapped his ass and followed him out to the balcony for one last quiet moment before we had to fight traffic and airport security.

  He took a sip from his steaming cup and nodded out to the waves. “They’re bigger here than on the East coast.”

  “Everything is bigger here. The houses, the cars, the cities…all huge and intimidating.”

  “Nah,” he said. “Not intimidating, just different. And bigger isn’t always better.”

  I quirked a brow and winked. “Not always but in some cases…”

  He skimmed his gaze down my body, taking in my thin tank top and cotton shorts. “You keep looking at me like that and we’ll miss our flight, new girl.”

  “Keep it in your pants. Bryce will kill us if we don’t make it to work in the morning.”

  An irritated look crossed his face. “He’d just have to get over it.”

  “Careful, Hollywood. We’re under contract, though mine is probably a little less binding than yours.” I tried to remember the exact phrasing.

  He scoffed. “Not for much longer. The entire lead cast is up for renewal after this season and if he pisses me off, I won’t sign a new one.”

  “Really? All of you are up for renewal at the same time?”

  “Yep. The initial contracts were for one season, then extended for one more before we realized how popular the show had become. Then we all signed three-year deals and those expire at the end of this season.”

  “So, theoretically, you could be off the show if contract negotiations don’t go well?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “Does that scare you? Or should the suits be the ones who are worried?”

  “I think they’re confident that they’ll be getting all of our signatures, and most of us are expecting to ride this out until the end—whenever that may be. Makes new contracts not such a big deal. The only time either side worries is when they think the other side won’t play ball.”

  “Meaning the network could decide not to sign you or you could decide not to sign.” I nodded. “Like me not knowing if I’m slated to be on the show next season and them not knowing if I’ll be willing to sign on even if they want me.”

  “Exactly. They like to keep people guessing, they think it motivates us to do our best when we’re worried we won’t get contracted for the next season. Your short-term contract is mostly because you signed mid-season, but yeah, they might decide Meadow isn’t the right fit and write her out. Nothing is ever locked in.”

  I considered that for a bit. “I don’t know which way I want it to go. Is that weird? Not knowing if I want to stay on the show?”

  “If it is, I’m weird too.” He stood and started toward the sliding doors. “Let’s make a couple of coffees to go. The driver will be here in five.”

  If it is, I’m weird too.

  I thought about that comment all the way to the airport.

  When we landed in Wilmington and made our way to Gavin’s car, I finally switched my phone back on. I’d let Evie know we were going to be out of contact before I left and set my phone to airplane mode. As soon as I turned it back on, a string of messages had it chirping in my hand.

  Evie.

  I laughed as I scrolled them, reading them aloud to Gavin as he navigated us away from the airport.

  Evie: Hey, superstar. Why didn’t you tell me there would be teaser trailers?

  Evie: I just saw one while waiting in line for a latte. I scared the shit out of everyone when I squealed like a lunatic and started jumping up and down.

  Evie: Some poor guy spilled his coffee. It was so embarrassing! It’s all your fault for not warning me.

  Evie: You looked amazing, even on that tiny coffee shop TV! Call me when you get all the sand out of your crack and dismount your boyfriend’s face long enough to watch it. I’m dying to know what you think of this!

  Gavin laughed, shooting me a look after that last one. “Dismount my face, huh?”

  “Inside joke,” I muttered, searching the show’s website for the trailer and marveling that I could still blush in front of him after all we’d done over the weekend.

  “She may have been kidding, but you do know I’m always game to have you sit on my face, right?”

  I squirmed in my seat and made a non-committal noise, pretending to be distracted by my phone. Nothing was ever enough to divert my attention from him, though. I was keenly aware of his proximity at all times, had been from day one. I was playing it off because his blunt statement—and my reaction—was shocking.

  It took very little to get me going, which I blamed on his general hotness instead of my quick libido.

  Totally his fault.

  I found the teaser trailer and hit play, my heart racing as the images flashed by, images of all of us from the upcoming episode—my first episode. It was surreal to see myself as Meadow. It was me but it wasn’t, not really. I was her, in her skin, giving her unique mannerisms and expressions. She was real—finally coalescing into a separate person in my mind as I watched her interact with Tyler and Tia, introducing herself over the dramatic background music. The montage made it seem like Meadow was the catalyst that was about to bring irrevocable change to the show. It was exciting as hell, and that shocked me more than anything. I was excited that people would be watching me, energized and ready to see what was in store for them all.

  For once, I wasn’t thinking about the past or letting it get in my way. I was winning my battle with anxiety and it felt amazing.

  It was the first time I thought this acting thing might be my calling.

  When we arrived at my apartment, the first thing I did was drop my bag on the floor in the dining room and shove my phone into Gavin’s hands. “You’ve got to see it!” I chirped, bouncing on my heels.

  I’ll never get to sleep tonight.

  I glanced at the clock, okay. It was already Monday morning, but even the thought of having to be at work in less than four hours couldn’t thwart my surge of energy. I was too jazzed to rest.

  Gavin was grinning when he handed my phone back and kissed the top of my head. “Evie’s right. You are a superstar.”

  I cocked a hip in his direction, giving him a saucy look. “Does that mean I get the star treatment tonight?”

  “Damn right it does. I want to revisit that conversation in the car, the one where you ride my face…”

  I really hoped Gavin was okay with not sleeping either because I intended to keep him up all night long.

  Fourteen

  Gavin

  “I think I sprained my tongue,” I muttered, yawning as I poured us both a cup of coffee to go.

  “You? I’ve got a serious case of cock jaw. And yawning only makes it worse so stop doing that. You know it’s contagious.” Her hair was wet from the shower and she looked like her energy had finally run out.

  Damn shame too, because I was kind of hoping she’d be abl
e to drag me out to the car since my legs weren’t cooperating—barely shuffling me from one end of the apartment to the other. The idea of shooting on the beach set this week made me groan into my pitch-black coffee. I already felt like I was trudging through sand.

  Fuck it, no better time to buy an ATV. That’ll be so much easier than walking.

  Kaiti eyed me over her travel mug, dark circles under her eyes. “Would I be a total wuss if I cried uncle and asked for a twenty-four-hour hiatus from all the sex? As impossible as it sounds, right now I kind of want sleep more than orgasms.”

  I shook my head, snapping the lid on my cup and grabbing my keys off the counter. “Not at all. I was thinking the same thing. My fantasies have shifted from wanting to ravage you for hours to wanting to find a shady spot on that beach today and grab a nap.”

  She moaned her best sex moan, nodding. “That sounds so fucking hot. Say it again.”

  “You and me…” I began, giving her a smoldering look. “Sneaking off, hiding from prying eyes, lying in the warm sand, getting so close our limbs tangle together, and taking the world’s longest, hardest, deepest nap.”

  “Yes, yes, yes!” she cried, throwing her head back even as she grabbed her purse. She tugged on one of my hats and moved toward the door. As she held it open and waited for me, she asked, “Was that as good for you as it was for me?”

  “Better,” I chuckled, totally ignoring the semi I was sporting. While I waited for her to lock up, I thought about how perfect my Kaiti-girl really was.

  Goal for the day: napping with my love.

  “Wait, so they have us on a beach but we’re not supposed to get sand on us?” Kaiti looked down at the PA who was dusting the sand off her calves with a little brush, careful not to smudge the bronzer they’d applied to even out her skin tone.

  “Pretty much,” the girl replied, shrugging. “Just wait until the wind picks up and I have to fix your hair every five seconds. Entire takes ruined because of wayward bees, the occasional chopper flying over trying to snake pics of you guys shooting… It’s a circus out here but it beats hearing shit from the critics about us shooting on a sound stage all the time.”

  “I got clipped by a rogue Frisbee once,” I told her, nodding along with the PA—Vicki? Nicki? I couldn’t remember her name, which I felt kind of shitty about. She’d spritzed my abs with oil more times than I could count—the least I could do was remember her name.

  Maybe I’m more like Michael and Sky than I thought.

  How disturbing.

  “Vicki, you know this place pretty well, right?” Kaiti asked, smiling. Of course, she knew the woman’s name. She would have asked right off and shaken her hand, making friends because that’s just who she was.

  Vicki—whose name I vowed to never forget again—nodded. “I helped set everything up when we first found this place for the show. Why?”

  Kaiti looked at her with a sly smile. “So, theoretically, if someone wanted a quiet niche to take a cat nap, you’d be able to point one out?”

  Vicki chuckled and nodded. “The best spot for theoretical naps would be behind the catering tent because the dunes behind it are pretty big, so they offer great shade and privacy.”

  “You sound like you know from experience.” I grinned at Kaiti as I teased Vicki.

  She blushed and looked down, brushing a few stray grains of sand from Kaiti’s ankle. “Something like that.”

  I gave Kaiti a wink and went to scout the location, just to be sure.

  When I returned, Skylar and Jenna were with Kaiti and Vicki, and my jaw clenched at the sight. Jenna, I wasn’t worried about, but Skylar needed to step off. I knew her friendly act was precisely that—an act, and she needed to go peddle her bullshit somewhere else.

  I gave Jenna a friendly nod and turned to Vicki, who was standing after being shooed away by Skylar. “You were right, Vicki. Thanks for the tip. Maybe you can join me and Kaiti for lunch later, if Bryce and Joey aren’t running you ragged.”

  She blushed a little as all eyes turned to her. “That’d be great, Mr. Lane.”

  “Call me Gavin, please.” I smiled brightly at her and felt something in me shift. Maybe it was the way Kaiti was grinning at me like I’d done something she was infinitely proud of, or the way Sky was sneering like someone had just stepped on the toe of her new Manolos. Either way, it was kind of awesome to think that one little gesture had made Vicki’s whole day.

  It also made me feel like an abominable asshole for not having done it sooner.

  Maybe it wasn’t the industry that needed to change, maybe it was me. Let the Skylars and Michaels of the world walk around with their perfectly sculpted noses in the air—that didn’t mean we all had to.

  Kaiti was right. I’d been so set on staying away from the assholes and phonies I’d missed out on some genuinely great people along the way.

  She was chatting with the other actresses, nodding at all the right times and making all the right comments, but I could tell the upcoming scenes had her on edge. She had wrapped her arms around her middle, one hand intermittently checking that the sarong she was wearing was still tied tight while the other did that finger tapping thing that meant she was struggling.

  The producers and directors wanted Meadow to seem out of place, so they’d suggested a more modest suit to go with her less than worldly background. She would stick out in her pale suit when compared to Tia, played by a barely-covered, preening Skylar, and sultry Layla—who Jenna played. They were both in black, bejeweled scraps of fabric barely thick enough to floss with and didn’t seem to mind the attention they were drawing.

  Personally, I thought Kaiti blew them both out of the water. She was curvier, with perfectly toned skin, not too sun-kissed and not too pale, which was a perfect match for the sky-blue suit she was wearing.

  I’d been looking at her for over an hour and I was still fighting to find my breath. And my dry mouth was from it continually hanging open.

  Note to self: when you’re surrounded by some of the tiniest bikinis allowable by state law and still only have eyes for the woman in the Carolina blue one-piece who keeps giving you subtle smiles, you know you’re truly, madly, thoroughly in love.

  “Hey Kaiti, did you see that you’ve already amassed a following?” Joey strolled over, his pant legs rolled up, feet bare from when he’d ventured into the water.

  Kaiti did a double take when she realized he was serious. “After one trailer? I only said like five words in the whole montage.” Her wide eyes shot to me and I gave her a shrug.

  “The fans are going crazy already, speculating which one of the guys Meadow will throw in with—evil Warren or our golden boy here.” He hooked a thumb in my direction.

  Skylar scoffed, tossing her hair behind her shoulder. “People really need to find better things to worry about.”

  “You weren’t saying that when Tia’s fiancé got splattered and your pic was all over the place. Poor Tia, how will she ever recover?” I rolled my eyes, turning back to Kaiti. “She ate up that attention like she was starving for it. Don’t let her fool you, baby.”

  Sky made a disgusted noise. “Jesus, now you’re calling her baby? Whipped much?” She loved taking her little jabs, feigning like they were all in fun.

  Until she smarted off to the wrong person like she’d just done.

  “Jealous much?” Kaiti shot back, eyes flashing with anger.

  Skylar leaned in but stayed well out of reach as she sneered. “Been there, done that. Repeatedly. So why would I be jealous?”

  Kaiti gave her a cocky grin that made my dick twitch. “Because if you were as good as you say, he wouldn’t be calling me baby these days, now would he?”

  Sky looked my way and said, “We’ve all gone slumming a time or two, right Gavin? I mean, Michael was a nobody when he and I had our fling and now look at him—his name in the headlines all over the world. And he has me to thank. Just like Kaiti will owe her career to you and your indiscriminate dick.”

  “It st
ill discriminates against some people because lord knows nothing deflates my cock like the sound of your whiny, nasal voice.” I winked. “Guess that surgery for your deviated septum had some unfortunate side effects.”

  “Bastard,” she hissed, even as Kaiti and Jenna chuckled under their breath.

  She whipped around and poked a finger in Jenna’s direction. “What’s so funny?”

  Jenna shrugged but couldn’t wipe the smile off her face, though she did try.

  Skylar stormed off a minute later.

  It was a low blow but she’d had it coming.

  And she really did talk like she had a cold ever since her nose job, I wasn’t lying about that. I just hadn’t seen fit to bring it to her attention until she’d started in on Kaiti.

  My Kaiti-girl, who had oozed confidence in the face of a pretty ugly reminder of my past and didn’t back down from anyone—especially Skylar.

  My Kaiti-girl, who was most definitely getting the good loving as soon as we both had the energy.

  On the way back to Kaiti’s, she was quiet. The shooting days were shorter when we were at the beach location, but not by much. Night scenes always came into play and could be more soul-sucking than any other segments of the show because lighting issues were the general rule rather than the exception. It also took a long time to set up for them in the first place, which I was grateful for today simply because it allowed Kaiti and me the time to catch some shut-eye, even if we’d had to forego the outdoor nap in favor of sneaking off to my trailer.

  Outside would have been more fun, but the crew had invaded our little hiding place to store some malfunctioning equipment. We’d had to scout a new location since clearly, that one wasn’t as secluded as it had been back when Vicki first discovered it.

  For now, my trailer was fine, though.

  And once Kaiti’s trailer arrived, we could spend a little time breaking that in, as well.

  “Penny for your thoughts,” I said, watching her from the corner of my eye as I drove us home. Home. I tried not to think too hard about how rarely I used that word, or how long it had been since I felt like I really had one. Not a house, of course—I had four of those scattered all over the country. Home was different, deeper than a set of walls could reach.