Unveiled

by Alice Raine

  ‘That’s the vampire drama, isn’t it?’

  Intent on keeping the conversation professional, I found myself relaxing at these easier questions. Anything was better than replaying that glorious kiss in my head. Again. ‘That’s the one. Some of the props are gruesome,’ I said, glancing towards the prop area out on set and wishing I could run and hide over there with the fake blood-covered masks and plastic flesh wounds.

  Suddenly, my mouth got the better of me and I found myself blurting out the question at the forefront of my mind. ‘So, what are you doing here? I thought Fire Lab was filmed on the other side of the complex?’ I tried desperately to keep the accusation from my voice, but his raised eyebrow showed that I might not have been completely successful in my aim.

  I winced at how much I’d just given away … by admitting that I knew where his set was, I’d made it pretty bloody obvious that I'd been checking up on him. This realisation was probably the cause for the tiny hint of pleasure I could see in his expression. Damn, damn, damn.

  ‘Who’s stalking who now, Caitlin?’ he murmured teasingly, but the soft, affectionate look on his face wasn’t nearly as gleeful or smug as I had expected, and actually threw me off balance a bit.

  Briefly licking his lips – an action which always seemed to draw my gaze – Jack took pity on me by continuing the conversation, which was just as well, because I was quickly losing the ability to think straight.

  ‘You’re right, Fire Lab is filmed way over the other side, but I have a weekly meeting with someone over this way and we popped in to grab a coffee.’ He gave me a long thoughtful look before cocking his head to one side. ‘I have to say, I’m rather glad we did.’

  His penetrating gaze never left mine once, and like complete traitors my eyes wouldn’t break the sizzling stare now passing between us.

  This was definitely acceptance.

  I now fully accepted the fact that I was attracted to Jack Felton. Really attracted to him. I just wouldn’t declare it out loud. He appealed to me on so many levels that it was difficult to put my finger on why he of all people was the one to gain my attention after four years. He was handsome, obviously, but my attraction to him was more to his confidence and the way he was at ease with himself. It was almost at complete opposites to my character, and it fascinated me.

  Practically wrenching my eyes towards the floor, I cleared my throat and shifted awkwardly on my feet. ‘I … uh … I really need to go now, I’m already late as it is. Thanks for the coffee. Bye.’

  ‘Goodbye, Caitlin. I’ll see you around.’ That seemed to be his stock departure phrase, and once again his words sounded like a promise rather than a casual parting, but I didn’t dare risk another look at him. Instead, true to tradition, I simply placed my empty cup down and turned and walked away from him.

  At least I had said goodbye to him this time, so I supposed I was making progress.

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  Cait

  Friday night was here, I had survived my first full week at work, and this evening was bringing my first social with my new colleagues. Meeting a big group of people had seemed a bit overwhelming when Mel had pointed out the poster about the social event, so I had invited Allie to come along. Friends were allowed to come, and besides, Sean was filming night shoots so I didn’t want to leave her in the new house on her own.

  The event was being held at a baseball centre, and I had been clueless about what to expect. As I looked around I decided it basically seemed to be a bit like a bowling alley but for baseball. There were rows and rows of ‘cages’, (which were actually not metal cages, but enclosures made of thick mesh netting) that contained machines which bowled a baseball for you to hit. The netting, or cage, was purely for the safety of everyone else around you, which given that I’d never even tried to hit a baseball before was probably a very good thing.

  As well as the cages, this place had a bar and small café and the studios had hired it all out for the night. I’d thought that seemed a bit of a grand gesture at first, but now I could see just how many employees had turned up, it made sense.

  Grabbing a bottle of water each, Allie and I wandered across to join Mel and Lisa in the shade as we waited our turn. I did the introductions, and as expected they all hit it off immediately; with Allie’s bubbly personality, Mel’s jokes, and Lisa’s non-stop chatter, the four of us were giggling away happily within minutes.

  ‘When I imagined this place I thought it would be indoors, like a bowling alley. I never thought we’d be outside,’ I remarked, looking across the row of batting cages to the darkening, late afternoon sky.

  Mel gave me a fond smile, as if my Britishness amused her no end. ‘You can get indoor cages, but this way we can catch some rays as we watch. You guys ever hold a baseball bat before?’

  I shook my head just as Allie clutched at my arm and gave me a light shake. ‘Yeah, we have. Well, sort of …’ Allie grinned at Mel and gave me a cocky wink. ‘Cait and I joined an adult rounders team when we were doing our teacher training. We rocked it. It can’t be that different.’

  My competitive side was excited by the idea of this evening, so I couldn’t help joining in with Allie’s enthusiasm, even though I suspected that it was going to be vastly different to our rounders days. For starters, the bats were much longer, but more importantly, the machine that fired the balls at you – apparently called a pitching machine – looked way quicker than any bowler I’d ever faced. She’d got one part right though, we had rocked the rounders team. Without Allie and me and our top scoring ways the team would have completely flopped.

  ‘I’m just going to the loo,’ Allie murmured, before shoving her water bottle into my hand and disappearing.

  ‘So how long do we have to wait?’ I asked, impatient for my go, and already trying on the baseball gloves Mel had loaned me for the night.

  ‘It varies, but seeing as the studio has rented the whole place out I think people will just be doing short sessions and keep swapping to make it more fun.’

  Lisa came between Mel and me and slung an arm around our shoulders before rotating us to the left so we were looking at a set of four batting enclosures. ‘I gotta say, ladies, I don’t mind the wait when we have that to look at, you know what I mean?’

  Scanning the cages, I just saw various people either hitting or getting ready to bat, so it took me a second to work out what she was talking about. Then, on my second glance I realised that inside the first cage wasn’t just anyone – it was Jack, preparing to take his turn.

  Oh. That was what Lisa was looking at.

  Or should I say who.

  For some reason, that realisation caused an irrational flare of possessiveness to flood through me, which was just ridiculous and made me feel rather uncomfortable. He wasn’t mine to be possessive over, so I had no idea why I felt that way, and try as I might to shake it off I couldn’t seem to dismiss it.

  Watching as he tugged a protective helmet over his floppy brown hair, he grinned cockily at the guys standing by his cage – an expression that was so stunning it actually made my stomach feel a bit weird and tense.

  This man really had well and truly screwed up my internal workings.

  Turning away from us, Jack then swung the bat in practice before cocking it over his shoulder and preparing for the pitching machine to launch the first ball at him.

  ‘You’re right, that is a pretty nice sight,’ Mel agreed, her voice low and lusty, which only heightened the uncomfortable, slightly irritated feeling swelling inside of me.

  ‘Is he single?’ Lisa asked, her head stuck between us as she ogled him. ‘Please tell me he’s single.’

  Swinging the bat as the ball flew towards him, Jack connected with it in near perfection, sending it sailing forwards into the protective nets and prompting a whoop of joy from his spectators. Wow. Both the strike and the man looked pretty phenomenal. The white T-shirt, grey jeans, and black boots he was wearing were a simple enough outfit, but were such a good fit that all his che
st and bum muscles were defined through the material as he cocked the bat over his shoulder and prepared for another hit.

  Simple, but highly effective.

  I was entranced.

  There really was no other way to describe it. He looked incredible: toned, athletic, tanned, skilful … the list could go on and on. Not to mention sexy as hell, I couldn’t drag my eyes away.

  Mel also appeared to be stunned into silence, so I was about to reluctantly say that yes, he was single, when she suddenly found her tongue and beat me to it. ‘Yep. But I hear that he’s more into guys than gals.’

  What?

  Those words broke the spell and I swiftly moved my gaze to gawk at Mel. Jack was more into guys? What the heck was she talking about?

  ‘No way! Really?’ Lisa sounded as shocked as I was. I couldn’t reconcile her words with the Jack I had got to know. He was into guys? He was so masculine, not to mention flirtatious, that it just didn’t seem feasible.

  ‘Yep, swings both ways, but his preference is for the guys,’ Mel concluded.

  ‘Shame. I’d love see those eyes gazing down at me in the heat of the moment. I swear they must be blue contacts. I’ve never seen eyes so pale and intense.’

  Blue?

  What. The. Heck?

  This conversation just got stranger and stranger. Jack’s eyes were definitely brown. I knew that with one hundred per cent certainty because I’d stared into them many times in an attempt at memorising the exact colour. They were somewhere between melted milk chocolate and fresh conkers, and a million miles away from being blue.

  Trying to work out what was going on, I watched as Jack hit another blinding shot and then turned to the guy in the next cage, laughing. The second man swung rather clumsily, missed the ball completely, and threw his head back in amused frustration.

  As I watched the second guy pull off his helmet, I belatedly realised who he was, and suddenly the girls’ words started to make sense. Christopher Shire, the actor in Dark Blood, voted one of the sexiest men on television last year and a seemingly terrible baseball player. He also had blue eyes. And apparently a preference for men.

  They hadn’t been talking about Jack at all. I felt a rueful smile pull at my mouth – my fixation with Jack had just led me to think that that was the case. What an idiot.

  ‘Christopher Shire …’ Lisa sighed. ‘He is literally the man of my dreams.’ I nearly laughed out loud at the dreamy quality to her voice, although some of my laughter might have been from relief, because for some reason, the idea of them ogling Christopher was a lot more preferable than them staring at Jack.

  ‘Jack’s there too, he looks hot. Not as hot as Chris, though,’ Mel giggled. Mel and Lisa were both around my age, and clearly both favoured Christopher, so I was obviously the only one with a thing for a slightly older guy.

  Looking at the two of them, I shook my head in bemusement. For me, there really was no comparison, Jack would get my vote every time.

  ‘They’re with some of the Dark Blood guys. I love that the actors come to these events, it’s awesome,’ Lisa said, taking a healthy swig on her beer.

  Awesome? I nearly blew out a frustrated raspberry at her words. It didn’t feel particularly awesome, not seeing as Jack had my emotions so messed up that I felt like I was standing on my hands with my head spinning in circles.

  I was attracted to him, and he returned my sentiments, but the newness and strangeness of those feelings made me want to run in the opposite direction. How could he make me feel safe when the thought of getting closer to him terrified me? And tonight’s development of my jealous streak was another thing I was unused to dealing with. What a gigantic mess.

  Blowing out a long, troubled breath, I forced my eyes away from him and looked back to the girls.

  ‘Yeah, awesome until they turn up to running club and see us dragging ourselves over the finish line like a couple of beached whales,’ Lisa muttered. Her comment had me laughing out loud as I remembered just how red her face had gone after running for just five minutes.

  ‘I don’t know why you’re laughing!’ Lisa joked, jabbing a finger at me. ‘You can run as well as the guys. It was Mel and me that looked like the most unfit women in LA!’

  ‘Hey, I stuck with you, I could have gone quicker!’ Mel complained amiably.

  ‘True. OK, the single most unfit woman in LA and her loyal friend.’

  Our loud laughter was drawing glances from some of the other crew, and I saw Jack and his friends looking our way. I couldn’t look away no matter how I tried, and a second later his eyes met mine and a small smile pulled at his lips as he left the cage and handed his bat across to the next person. His hair was ruffled from the helmet, and one sleeve of his T-shirt had rolled right up from his exertion, filling me with the peculiar urge to walk across and sort it out for him.

  Even looking dishevelled he still looked lovely, and I couldn’t help responding to his smile with a small one of my own.

  ‘Check you out,’ Allie suddenly whispered next to my ear, making me jump and clutch at my chest. A blush crept up my cheeks as I turned to her, wondering how long she had been back from the toilet. The knowing grin on her face spoke volumes. ‘I saw you smiling. You didn’t baulk, you didn’t run away, you didn’t blank him, and you didn’t freak out. See? It’s not so hard to be friendly with him, is it?’

  I was about to say that smiling at him was far easier when we had a huge distance between us, but my cheeks heated at her reminder of the awful things I’d done to Jack since meeting him.

  Given my appalling behaviour I was amazed that he still even wanted to smile at me. Shaking my head ruefully, I gave an embarrassed shrug before accepting a baseball bat that Mel was shoving into my hands.

  ‘Come on, let’s see the rounders champ in action.’

  ‘Just remember, this is my first time. Besides, I was more of a bowler than a batter, so if I’m terrible then that’s why,’ I muttered, feeling excited but slightly panicked at the prospect of the solid baseballs that would soon be flying at me.

  ‘Yeah, yeah, enough of the excuses, sport. Get yourself in there and show us how it’s done.’

  Jack

  I loved the batting cages. I could still vividly remember the first time my mum took me to one during one of our childhood trips to the US to see her family. My uncle taught me how to hold the bat, when to swing, and how to get the best from the hit, and I still recall his tips whenever I pick up a bat. I’d never played baseball at school because I grew up in the UK, but I was good enough that I could mix it up with my American cousins whenever we were over here.

  There was something incredibly satisfying about getting the perfect contact with the ball and watching it sail into the nets. Not to mention the adrenaline rush I got from slogging out a good hit or two. The power of the contact as it transferred down the bat and rushed up your arm was like a bolt of lightning sent straight from the skies. It was incredible, and after my few hits tonight I realised how much I’d missed it.

  I was getting quite an adrenaline rush now though, and it had nothing to do with hitting a ball, and everything to do with the excited giggles coming from the sweet British girl currently lining up to take her first ever swing at a baseball.

  I let out a long, low breath. Caitlin was so bloody lovely that I was having a seriously hard time keeping myself at a distance as I observed her with her friends.

  Watching as she tightened her gloves and chatted openly to a red-headed girl I vaguely recognised from running club – Mel, I think – I realised that this was the most relaxed and open I’d ever seen Caitlin. Her eyes were sparkling, her body relaxed, face lit with excitement, and her eyes twinkling with happiness.

  She really was gorgeous, a true definition of a natural beauty, and the sight of her looking so carefree was doing absolutely nothing to cool my attraction towards her. Taking another controlled breath, I took a swig from my bottle of water as I continued to watch her.

  Caitlin had even smiled at
me earlier, a small, cautious one, but she’d made direct eye contact and the smile had been long enough and real enough that I’d committed it to memory. Just like her nod, that was stowed away in my memory banks too. Surely a smile was a positive sign that we were moving in the right direction? Hopefully she was finally beginning to relax around me.

  I stood up a little straighter as I realised that Caitlin was nearly ready to take her first swing. The red-head left the cage and pulled the gate shut and I watched as Caitlin pulled a helmet on over her beautiful tresses, rolled off her neck, and slung the bat over her shoulder ready to face the pitch.

  The heavy clunk of the ball machine sounded in the air and Caitlin swung, and missed, her whole body swirling from the effort. Her friends giggled, but instead of laughing it off in embarrassment, I watched her weigh the bat more carefully in her hand, her eyebrows pulling together in concentration as she assessed what she’d done wrong and then retook her stance. I grinned, immediately recognising her competitive spirit because I had plenty of it myself. She obviously wanted to do well, and that thrilled me. I’d suspected she had spunk, but I loved seeing this new side to her.

  Pitch and swing. This time she clipped the ball, but not quite enough to send it moving forwards. For a beginner, her technique actually looked pretty good. My uncle would no doubt approve.

  Mel called some advice through the nets, and giving a nod of understanding Caitlin adjusted her stance slightly and stared straight ahead, waiting for the next bowl. I couldn’t help smirking at just how seriously she was taking this.

  This time, when the ball sailed out from the pitching machine, Caitlin prepared herself and using the torque in her body, rotated at the perfect moment and pulled the bat through to perform an almost flawless strike. The girls by her cage let out yelps of excitement and I even found myself expressing a cheer and clapping, which I noticed drew curious glances from a few of my colleagues. I didn’t care; I was single, Caitlin was single, and I had made my interest in her more than clear. If people drew the same conclusion then so be it.