Caleb made a face of disgust. “Sounds like a nightmare.” He shook his head. “Every once in a while we got a diva like that on set but they never lasted long. One thing those types don’t realize is just how little influence they really have. Piss off the writers one too many times and—” He made a slashing move against his neck.
“Is that what happened to you?” she asked.
He laughed. “Nah. They told me outright that they needed a big ratings booster. All the soaps are scrambling because their ratings are in the gutter. They needed something big to draw in some old fans.” He shrugged. “Apparently killing off one of the longtime stars and introducing some new blood was their big plan.”
That sucked. She wanted to say something comforting, but was at a loss. Also, this was the office. She wasn’t here to console him or be his friend, she was here to be his supervisor. Shifting slightly, she folded her hands in front of her and tried to pretend he was just another intern.
“Caleb, I know you’re here to learn new facets of the industry, but with Mr. Hermithead off on a self-declared hiatus, we’re at a bit of a loss.”
His brows drew down and she saw his suspicion.
“It wouldn’t be forever,” she started.
“You can’t be serious.”
She met his stare with what she hoped was a businesslike seriousness. Oh shit, she was going to laugh. Think of dead puppies. Think of Grandma’s funeral. Do not laugh right now, dammit.
She let out a weird little snort instead. Not much better, really.
His eyes went comically wide. “You want me to be a clown?”
“He’s not a clown, exactly,” she said quickly. Too quickly. They both knew he was a clown. Or a mime. She didn’t exactly know how to classify the Hermithead character, to be honest.
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
She pressed her lips together. This was serious. She needed someone. An actor, preferably. And he was here. She didn’t have time to find a new candidate and they couldn’t risk word getting out that their star had gone missing… again.
“It would be temporary,” she said.
His eyes narrowed. “You say that word a lot, you know.”
She felt a wave of… something. Guilt or shame or embarrassment. Whatever it was it was stupid and it made no sense. They’d both agreed to the temporary plan. And it was a good plan. The right plan. He’d said so himself.
But that was beside the point because she needed him to focus on business. “Look, I can’t force you to do this. It doesn’t fall within the scope of your internship. But I’m hoping you’ll look at it as a chance to be a team player around here.”
She’d used her best HR tone—the same one she used when she gave the annual lecture on sexual harassment laws.
In return he raised one brow and gave her a look that said, “Really? You’re going to use your schoolmarm voice on me?”
What he actually said was, “I am all for being a team player. But a clown? For a kids’ show?” His horror and disgust were obvious, and she couldn’t entirely blame him.
Still, she threw her last card. “I thought you said you didn’t have a big ego,” she said. “I thought you said it wasn’t about being a sex symbol or a leading man.”
His brows drew together as he frowned at her.
He was way too hot when he was pissed.
But then she watched as his shoulders slumped and he let out a long exhale. “All right, fine. You win.” He held up a warning finger. “But this is only temporary.”
She nodded quickly. “Absolutely. We’ll have you back to making copies and running out for coffees in no time.”
He was clearly not amused by her humor.
He was brilliant. She supposed she shouldn’t be surprise, but she was. She totally was. She’d watched from the sidelines as Caleb interacted with the director, the props guy, the costume people, and then… the kids.
Holy hell, was he adorable with the kids. She didn’t even want kids and she could hear her ovaries weeping at the utter adorableness before her when he played with the kids, both on camera and off.
The best part was, it looked like he was having fun. Or at least, he looked like he was into it. Again, she probably shouldn’t have been surprised by his good attitude considering the eagerness with which he approached his internship. But still, she was surprised.
If he was mortified by the extraordinarily unsexy outfit or if his ego was pricked by the silly makeup and the fact that he was often the butt of the joke—he didn’t let it show. He honestly seemed to be enjoying himself.
And the kids loved him—they laughed and shrieked and had more giggly fun than she’d ever seen outside Disneyworld. The atmosphere on the set was more lively and contagious than it had ever been with the rogue star.
If that translated to the TV audience at home, Caleb could make the show an even bigger hit than it already was.
She shook her head, stepping out of the way of a crewmember as she kept her gaze fixed on the stage. She needed to get a grip. There was no way Caleb would want this gig even if the higher ups approved such a major casting shake-up. The casting people would have to get involved and then they’d have to find a way to buy out—
“Don’t tell me you forgot about lunch.” Emma’s southern drawl brought her back from the brink of insanity.
Turning she found her roommate standing behind her, her hands planted on her hips. “We were supposed to meet at that café on the corner, remember?
Shit. She’d totally forgotten about their lunch plans. She winced. “Sorry. It’s been kind of a crazy day.”
Emma’s gaze had moved past her to the set where Caleb was rehearsing the next bit, making the kids laugh like hyenas at his antics. “Oh. My. God.”
Kennedy’s gaze followed hers. “I know.”
Emma’s sigh was slightly sickening. Granted, she’d been over here drooling over the adorableness before and she didn’t even get into that stuff. She could only imagine what this did to Emma, who actually wanted a family, the dog, the backyard, and all that crap.
She turned to watch her friend who was watching Caleb.
Something heavy and sickening fell to the pit of her stomach making her instantly queasy.
Emma was his dream woman. She was everything Kat and Yvette had described even when they were jokingly exaggerating. Emma was the freakin’ Disney princess come to life—she was sweet, funny but not sarcastic, she loved animals… and people, for that matter. She was nurturing and would make the ideal mother and wife for someone who was looking for that sort of thing. She was smart but not a know-it-all, she was strong but not abrasive or pushy.
Oh fuck. Emma was perfect for him.
Maybe Emma felt her stare because she turned to face Kennedy with a quizzical frown. “What’s up? Why do you look like you might murder me in my sleep tonight?”
Kennedy shook her head. “Nothing. It’s nothing.”
They both turned back to watch the stage. Apparently both of their appetites had taken a backseat to outright ogling the hottie on stage.
Her hottie.
The possessive thought came fierce and loud in her mind. Mine. He’s mine.
Right on the heels of that thought came terror, plain and simple. Kennedy didn’t often get afraid, but when she did, it came in the form of night terrors. Although, at this moment she was definitely awake so she supposed night terrors wasn’t the right term. But it was the only way she could think to define this crippling, immobilizing, sickening dread.
He wasn’t hers. He wasn’t supposed to be and she didn’t want him to be. This was the damn hormones talking again.
Emma was watching Caleb with that sweet smile of hers and Kennedy had the distinct impression that she was watching the beginning of a love story. The part when the heroine first catches a glimpse of the hero being awesome and then they meet and he says something funny and she says something cute and then boom. Sparks fly, birds sing, and the adorable couple finds true love.
The bi
tchy, sarcastic sidekick friend is left to watch from the sidelines as they fall madly in love and find happily ever after.
Shit. Fuck. Why was she feeling sorry for herself? She didn’t do self-pity and there was nothing to feel sorry about. So she’d be missing out on great sex. No big whoop. She’d made do with adequate sex before and she could do it again.
Somehow that thought was not even remotely comforting at this particular moment.
Emma turned to her with a grin. “Girl, you are so lucky. That guy is too good to be true.”
Kennedy stared at her for a moment. And there it was. The start of this hero and heroine’s meet-cute. And really, they deserved each other. They were both kind, lovely people. They were two romantics who wanted the same things, most likely. They’d make the perfect couple. She should be happy for them. “You should ask him out.”
Emma blinked at her. “What?”
“You should ask him out.” Even to her own ears, her voice sounded weird. Robotic. Monotone.
“What are you talking about? You’re sleeping with him.” Emma said it slowly as though she was an idiot who didn’t recognize the sexy stud in makeup.
“Yes, but we’ve agreed it’s only short term and I think you two would hit it off.”
Emma muttered something she couldn’t hear. Then she said, “You can’t be serious.”
Something was wrong with Kennedy. Her emotions seemed to have shut down entirely. It was a good feeling, actually. Freeing. For the first time since that disastrous night, she felt sure of herself. She felt like herself. No weird giddiness or giggling, no odd angsting over someone she logically knew she shouldn’t want.
Once she took her emotions out of the equation, it was all so simple, really.
“I’m totally serious,” she said. And she sounded totally serious. “You two would like each other.”
Emma was still staring at her with her mouth partially open and her eyes wide with something akin to horror when Caleb came over to them.
He flashed Kennedy a wicked smile which she did not return. She needed to end this. Now. Things had gone too far. A little siren was going off in the back of her head every time he looked her way.
Now he too wore the same look Emma did. It was part concern, part confusion. She couldn’t worry about that now. She was having some sort of out of body situation going on and she needed to go with it, because for the first time in what felt like forever, she felt like herself.
Sort of.
Well, she felt like a shell, actually. A hollow automaton that was nodding and going through the motions as her brain raced and her heart said “see ya.”
That earlier surge of possessiveness had been the wakeup call she’d needed. She was in too deep. It was time to get out.
She watched Emma and Caleb make small talk. This… this was her perfect escape hatch.
Studiously ignoring an incessant stabbing pain somewhere in the solar plexus region, she focused on the task at hand. Run. Escape. Abort, abort!
Caleb made it easy. Turning to Kennedy, he said, “Some of the crew were talking about going out for drinks after work to celebrate.” He shrugged, all modesty as he added, “Apparently today’s shoot went way smoother than usual.”
Not surprising since he was far more professional and less needy and demanding than the usual star.
“Do you want to come?”
She shook her head. “No, thank you.” She ignored Caleb’s hurt look as she turned toward Emma. “You should take Emma. You guys would really hit it off.”
Emma stared at her. She could feel Caleb staring too.
She tried to encourage Emma with a look. Come on. You said it yourself, this guy is too good to be true. Just like you. Take him. Have him. He’s all yours!
In reality, what she said was, “What do you say, Emma?”
Emma stared for a moment longer and if she was trying to telepathically speak to her, Kennedy did not get the memo. Suddenly and abruptly Emma’s entire demeanor shifted. She went from stunned mute to bubbly Southern charmer in a heartbeat, flashing that dazzling pearly white smile in Caleb’s direction. “Of course! I’d love to go.”
Caleb looked… stunned. Like, literally stunned as though he’d just walked into a glass door. It might have been funny if Kennedy didn’t feel like her stomach was about to empty itself at his feet.
Her chest was hurting and her stomach churned. Yet, her emotions were still in mute mode.
Later.
She’d have all the time in the world to deal with whatever emotional tsunami was to come once she was safely out of harm’s way.
And this… She watched Caleb, whose confusion and hurt were like a shouted indictment of her prickly, non-romantic ways. This guy was danger personified.
“Oh, um… yeah, great,” Caleb said. He gave Emma a smile, even though he was still casting questioning looks in Kennedy’s direction.
Kennedy started to back away. Sure he looked hurt now, but give him some time alone with Emma and he’d see that this is for the best. They might have been having fun but it wouldn’t last. He knew that as well as she did.
She kept her voice even as she walked backwards several more steps. “Great. You two have fun.”
They stared at her as she turned and she could feel his eyes on her as she walked onto the elevator that would take her back to her office.
It wasn’t until the doors clicked closed behind her that the reality of what had just happened hit her.
Chapter Twelve
Caleb found himself facing a cute, short blonde who was giving him a smile of sympathy. Actually, it might’ve been more like pity.
Fuck.
There went his hope that maybe that interaction hadn’t been as weird as he’d thought. Something gross and unsettling made him queasy as he attempted to return the pretty blonde’s smile. What was her name and who the hell was she?
Apparently she was his date for the work outing later.
Awesome.
Meanwhile, the woman he was sleeping with had just run away from him as if had the plague or something. Was it something he’d said? Had he done something wrong?
He’d seen her that morning and everything had been fine. What the hell had happened?
He had to talk to her, but first… His gaze moved back to the blonde and he realized she’d said something.
“Sorry, what was that?”
Her expression grew even more pitying.
Fuck, this could not be good. She was clearly friends with Kennedy. What did she know that he didn’t?
He’d find out, just as soon as he could chase after Kennedy without being a total ass. Quickly and unceremoniously he rattled off the details for the impromptu work outing after the shoot ended.
He was already heading toward the elevator when she replied. “Great, see you there.”
Yeah, great. He wasn’t sure what exactly had just happened but he was pretty sure his lover had just set him up on a date. With her friend.
This was so great.
He knocked on her office door but didn’t wait for a response before he let himself in. Time was of the essence since filming would start up again in twenty minutes. Hopefully that would be long enough to figure out what the hell had just happened down there.
Kennedy didn’t look shocked to see him. She just looked… hard. Weirdly distant, not just her usual reserve. “Can I help you?”
And now suddenly he was back to being just another intern. “Yeah, you can,” he said. “You can explain to me what’s going on.”
She folded her hands on the desk. “I don’t know what you mean.”
He crossed the room so he could see her better. Like hell she didn’t know what he meant. “Why were you acting so oddly down there?”
“Oddly? How so?”
There was something so off with her. She sounded like a robot.
And he looked like a clown. For the first time since taking off after her he remembered that he was still in that ridiculous clown costu
me and makeup as he stood here trying to figure out why he was suddenly in the doghouse. He was pretty sure he’d experienced more emasculating moments in his life, but at the moment he couldn’t think of one. “Kennedy, talk to me. What’s going on here?”
She shrugged. “There’s nothing going on here, Caleb, and I’d ask that you keep any personal issues outside the office.”
His jaw fell as he studied her. Who the hell was this person and what had she done with his Kennedy?
Well, not his Kennedy, but the Kennedy he’d come to know and love.
Well, not love love, obviously. That was just a saying. He didn’t love her.
Did he?
No. He couldn’t. She was all wrong for him. This was just a hookup.
So why the hell was he so bent out of shape that she’d set him up on a date?
Unless it wasn’t a date. Maybe she’d just wanted them to be friends. Maybe she wanted him to be friends with her friends because she liked him.
“Was there something work-related that you wished to discuss with me?” she asked, interrupting his inner dialogue that was making him more confused by the second.
Nothing in her attitude, tone, or expression led him to believe that she was currently so smitten with him that she desperately wanted him to hang out with her friend without her.
He was so freakin’ confused.
She stood behind her desk, her attention apparently captured by a stack of correspondence in her inbox. “Caleb, my calendar is packed today. If there’s nothing more you’d like to discuss, then I’d appreciate it if you could close the door behind you on your way out.”
On autopilot he found himself backing out of her office. He didn’t trust himself to speak even if he knew what to say.
Hell, he didn’t even know what he was feeling except blindsided. Physically he felt sick. And winded. Like he’d just run a marathon after eating several Big Macs.
It was not a pleasant sensation.
He closed the door behind him as she’d requested but he found himself standing there staring at the closed door for a full minute, waiting for her to open it again to apologize or tell him she’d been kidding.
Desire for Days (Sexy in Spades Book 3) Page 10
