She felt silly moping over this lack of a relationship. After all, she prided herself on her independence. But even feeling silly, even reminding herself that she was an independent woman, didn't take away the fact that she had to admit – albeit reluctantly – that she wouldn't mind having someone in her life. It was just too bad that there was no one she was even remotely interested in.
Suddenly, unbidden, an image of Ben popped into her mind. No! Shaking her head vigorously to rid herself of that thought, she purged the thought of him mercilessly from her brain.
No. Just...No.
There was absolutely no way that anything was going to happen between her and Ben Stevens. Yuck! She didn't even like him. He was arrogant, cocky, inconsiderate...annoying! Not to mention leaving. Soon.
Lauren wasn't looking for a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am sort of hook-up. One night stands did not appeal to her sensibilities, and, even if they did, she would certainly choose a more worthy partner in short-lived lust than Ben.
So then why, at the thought of one night with Ben, did Lauren feel her belly tighten and her pulse begin to race?
No. Stop this, she quickly reprimanded herself. Get a grip.
This reaction and the fact that Ben Stevens had occupied so much of her mind today only proved that he had gotten under her skin, nothing more. It was merely that he was an irritation. That was all. An irritation that would soon be gone.
Her phone buzzed, causing her to startle a little. Good lord, she really DID need to get a hold of herself! She took a deep breath and reached for it, hoping that it was the seller's agent calling to inform her that her clients' offer had been accepted.
However, when she picked up the phone and looked at the screen she saw Karina's darkly lovely face looking out at her. And, because it was Karina, of course she was sticking her tongue out in the photo. Lauren smiled and hit the button to answer the call.
“Hey, Kar, what's up?”
“Hey, babe. So, they ran out of daylight here at the house and production wants to get some 'day in the life' shots around Hope Falls. We're heading over to Sue Ann's to do a dinner scene. Could you meet us there?”
“I don't know, Karina. It's been a really long day and I'm waiting to hear back on an offer I just put in this afternoon.”
“Please, Laur? Pretty pretty please with sugar on top? Everybody's going – Amanda, Justin, Sam, Luke, of course Ryan...but it's not the same without you! Please please please please please....” Karina sing-songed.
“OK, OK,” Lauren cut her off with a laugh. She had seen Karina do that routine since elementary school and knew that she could keep it up for hours without breaking a sweat. “Let me run home and change. I'll meet you all there in thirty.”
Chapter Two
Lauren pushed open the familiar front door of Sue Ann's cafe on Main Street, but that was the point where the familiarity ended. The cozy cafe had been utterly taken over by cameras, lights, cords, and intense people with clipboards and headset mics scurrying to and fro. One of those serious individuals, a young woman in her early twenties, walked purposefully up to Lauren before she could even scan the room and get her bearings.
“Are you Lauren Harrison?” she asked briskly. At Lauren's nod, the woman took her arm and said authoritatively, “Come with me please.”
As she began to lead her across the room, stepping over bundles of cables as they went, the woman pressed a button on her belt and spoke into her mic. “I've got her, I'm bringing her over.”
Lauren felt vaguely as if she were being placed under arrest.
Through the forest of cameras and light stands, Lauren saw a large table emerge, with all her friends sitting around it. The production crew had taken several of the smaller rectangle-shaped tables from the middle of the room and pushed them together to create a large, family-style gathering.
Lauren was directed to sit in one of the two unoccupied chairs. She did as she was told, trying to take in the scene and process all of the chaotic energy.
“Hey, Laur, isn't this fun?” her friend Amanda beamed from the end of the table. Amanda leaned forward to be able to make eye contact with Lauren, her blonde curls bouncing as she did so, the china doll skin of her cheeks flushed rosy with excitement.
Lauren smiled and nodded her head pleasantly. She didn't share in her friend's enthusiasm, but she certainly didn't want to be a party pooper.
“I just like being on camera without it being all about me!” piped up Sam, the fourth member of the Fabulous Four, “Not to mention, no one's trying to make me dress skimpy, so that's a double bonus!”
Sam, the short, red-haired, and freckled athletic one of the bunch, had recently retired from a career in professional snowboarding. While the competition aspect of her career had been very satisfying, she had never been entirely comfortable with doing press photo shoots and ad campaigns – particularly when they tried to dress her in a bikini!
Lauren smiled at Sam, who turned back to her boyfriend, Luke, and continued chatting. Lauren glanced around the table. Yes, they were all here, and all coupled-up. Amanda with Justin, her first love, who had come back into her life a few months ago after a ten year absence. Karina with Ryan, the man she had fallen in love with as much for his poet's soul and musical artistry as for his sexy good looks. And Sam with Luke, the guy she had been crushing on since she was a teenager and who, a couple of months ago, had actually become Sam's first ever boyfriend, breaking Sam's long streak of being married to her sport.
Lauren sighed. Happy couples. She was surrounded by nothing but happy couples.
“We meet again,” she heard a voice behind her and felt her hackles raise before she even consciously recognized the voice as Ben's.
Lauren steeled herself and turned to face him, meeting his gaze just as he finished lowering himself into the seat next to hers. She saw that he had changed clothes and was now wearing a dark grey button-up shirt with dark, fitted blue jeans.
Before she could stop herself, Lauren caught her breath. He looked good, and despite Lauren's best efforts not to notice...she did.
Ben gave her a mega-watt smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. Hmmm, his eyes, she thought. His deep coffee-colored eyes...
She shook herself a little. She had gotten carried away by thinking about all those happy couples, she told herself. Yep. That's why thinking about the color of his eyes had started to send her off into a little daydream trance. Right? Right.
All that aside, however, she couldn't help but notice something else about his eyes, besides their intoxicating coffee coloring, and that was the dark circles beneath them that, up close, the stage make-up didn't entirely hide.
“Ben,” Lauren said stiffly in acknowledgment.
Once Ben was seated, it was like the room came to life, and everything started to happen very quickly. The director came over and instructed them to just speak normally. He wanted to create a natural atmosphere of friends getting together for dinner, to which Lauren's immediate thought was – then why is Ben here? This caused her to smile a little to herself.
Lauren heard someone yell, “Roll sound.”
“Rolling,” came a voice from the corner.
“Background action.”
“And...action.”
All of her friends started animatedly talking at once. This didn't seem very 'natural' to Lauren, but who was she to judge the mysterious world of reality television?
She felt Ben's attention turn to her and he asked, “So, Lauren. How long have you and Karina known each other?”
It was an innocent enough question, but for some reason it caused Lauren to bristle in irritation. She remembered, though, that she was being filmed and hid this reaction as she politely turned toward him and said, “Since we were in elementary school.”
“And what about Sam and Amanda, the same?”
“Yes.”
“And I seem to remember hearing something about a nickname. The Fabulous Four, I think it was?”
“That's right.”
“What's the story with that?” Ben's voice had something of an edge underneath it now, something that telegraphed less 'genial host' and more 'man on the hunt.' It was primal, intense, but it was just under the surface.
Lauren felt the back of her hand begin to tingle again with the phantom imprint of Ben's lips, but she sternly shut it down, scolding herself internally.
“No story,” Lauren replied, feeling a little self-satisfied that her short replies were bringing out an authentic side of Ben, cracking the perfect veneer, even if that rawness did still linger right underneath the perfect surface.
“Brothers and sisters?”
“One.”
“Brother or sister?”
Ben moved a little closer to Lauren, never breaking eye contact.
“Sister.”
Lauren desperately wanted to look away, but she felt powerless to do so. Ben was staring at her so intently she felt as though he could see into her very soul. It was quite unnerving. However, she knew if she looked away first then he would be the victor in this subtle power play they were locked in, and Lauren didn't enter contests with the intention of losing. No. She was not going to let that happen.
“Older or younger?”
As Ben spoke, he inched ever closer to Lauren.
“Older.”
Lauren noticed as he moved closer to her that his eyes, which had appeared at first glance to be dark chocolate through and through, actually faded into a lighter caramel shade in the center. It was hypnotizing.
“Are you close to your family?”
“Somewhat.”
Lauren was surprised at the ease in her own voice as she heard the answers to these questions, which she considered quite personal, leave her lips. Normally, she would not have been comfortable discussing a topic like her family with someone she had just met, regardless of the short and shallow nature of her responses. It was almost like Ben had lulled her into a trance.
Not to mention, she knew that cameras were rolling all around her and she needed to appear as if she was happily engaged in a friendly conversation. Yes, Lauren decided, that must be it. It had everything to do with the fact that the cameras were rolling and nothing to do with this so-called “spell” she imagined that she was under.
Ben scooted even closer to Lauren and for a fleeting second she thought he was going to close the short distance between them and kiss her.
She felt her eyes widen, heard her breathing start to hitch. She heard a tiny, low moan come from Ben's throat as she absently licked her lips.
He smirked playfully and leaned in, but to Lauren's surprise, his lips brushed past her mouth and continued back. She felt his hot breath against her ear as he whispered gruffly, “Ever thought about removing that stick from your ass and loosening up?”
With all the physical sensations that Ben's nearness and touch were causing to flood through her, it took a moment for Lauren to process what he had just said. When her brain finally caught up to the conversation, she jerked away from him, hissing, “Excuse me?”
“CUT!” she heard a voice ring out across the room.
Ben looked away, his attention diverted by the director, who had walked over to speak to him.
Holy moly.
What in the world had just happened?
Lauren looked clandestinely around the table to see if anyone else had noticed the interaction which had just taken place between her and Ben. It seemed that she was in the clear, and she relaxed a little bit more with every single one of her friends that she glanced at. They were all completely engrossed in conversation and flirting with their significant others, and she could not have been less on their radar.
That is, until she reached Karina. When her eyes met Karina's, Karina was looking at her and held her gaze while a slow, sly smile spread across her face. Karina then raised her glass in a faux toast, winked at Lauren, and wiggled her eyebrows up and down.
Lauren wanted to die. She narrowed her eyes at her friend, hoping to convey that there was no funny business going on.
She was fuming. Ben! Argh! She could not believe his nerve! Who in the hell did he think he was? He didn't know her. He didn't know anything about her. What an arrogant jerk!
After speaking in hushed tones to Ben, the director stood, “OK, people that was great!” he enthused, “We're gonna reset and go again. I like everyone's interaction. You don't have to do exactly the same thing as you did last take, but if we could get the same feeling, that would be awesome.”
I'm not so sure about that, Lauren thought to herself.
--- ~ ---
What in the hell was going on? Ben could not believe what had just happened. He almost felt like he was having an out of body experience. Like he was just watching himself alienate Lauren, powerless to do anything to stop it. He needed to get it together. Never in his life had his charm and ease with people failed him.
So what in the name of all that is holy was happening to him now?
It was as if another person had come in and taken control of his body. And that person was an asshole.
He knew he was pissing Lauren off, but he just couldn't seem to stop himself. Why was she having this insane effect on him?
Sure, admittedly, he was attracted to her. No question about that. She was gorgeous. Luminescent green cat eyes, silky white-blonde hair, and legs so long and shapely that just the sight of them made his mouth water. But (drool-inducing legs aside) she was not even remotely his type.
He liked girls that were easy, and not in the sexual way (although that certainly didn't hurt). He liked girls that were no stress, no drama. Girls that made no demands on him. Girls that didn't want any more than what he was willing to give – which was basically a good time. He never lied to them, never promised anything, he was always upfront – he simply didn't 'do' complicated. It wasn't in his relationship wheelhouse.
And, hoo boy, if there was one thing Lauren screamed, it was COMPLICATED.
His behavior made absolutely no sense to him. He knew he should just keep his mouth shut around her. Do his job as painlessly as possible and get the hell out of there, never to see her again.
But, damn. Shutting his mouth seemed to be the last thing he was able to do around her. It was like she was a beehive and he was a little kid who just couldn't resist the impulse to keep poking it with a stick.
And now it was even affecting his work. His director had just had to come over and tell him that this wasn't a date, for God's sake, and he needed to talk to some of the other people at the table.
He shook his head to clear it. He was WORKING! He never let anything distract him when he was 'on.'
And this disturbing phenomenon had not just started at this dinner scene shoot. No. All day after he had met Lauren, he hadn't been able to shake her from his thoughts. He had felt completely off balance during the entire Karina Black shoot, as well. Probably the most important shoot of his life.
He needed to lock this down, and quickly. They were scheduled at this location for three more days and he needed to have his head in the game for every minute of it from here on in.
He had worked too long and too hard and had too many people depending on him to let something like this come in from left field and undermine his confidence.
Ben heard the assistant director's voice call out, “Roll sound.”
“Sound rolling.”
“Background action.”
“Action.”
Ben took a deep breath, pasted a smile onto his face, and dove into his role.
--- ~ ---
“Cut!”
Lauren leaned her head back and rolled it from side to side, attempting to work out the kinks and knots that the stress of this long day had put into it. This was the fifth time that the director had yelled cut, only to be followed moments later by the word 'reset' – meaning, move everything back into its original place, because they were going to film another take.
Lauren didn't know how many more moments of faux frivoli
ty she had left in her.
However, this time the director's voice didn't give the instruction to reset. This time, blessedly, came the words, “We got it, folks. That's a wrap.”
Hallelujah, Lauren inwardly rejoiced. She wanted nothing more than to go home, pour herself a glass of wine, get lost in some hot water and bubbles in her luxurious oversized bathtub, and bring an end to this long and bizarre day.
She slung her purse over her shoulder and, waving only the quickest and most perfunctory of goodbyes to her friends, strode purposefully toward the door.
Her plan was thwarted, however, by one of the clipboard-and-mic brigade, who stopped her before she reached her destination.
“Are you the real estate lady?” the young woman asked. For all Lauren knew, it may have been the same one who had ushered her to the table when she had come in. Their identical headset mics and identical busy-and-bustling attitudes had made them all start to blend together for her. When Lauren affirmed her identity as 'the real estate lady' she was told to wait there, and the woman hurried off before Lauren could even provide her grudging agreement.
As she was waiting, Karina sauntered up with a wicked grin and a sparkle in her eye, “Hey, Laur. So what did Host Boy whisper in your ear that got your panties in such a bunch?”
Lauren crinkled her brow. She seriously did not want to get into this with the girls, certainly not in her current state of exhaustion, and CERTAINLY not in the middle of Sue Ann's Cafe with television production personnel still buzzing all around the place.
“Nothing, Kar. Honestly.”
“Tell me,” Karina insisted, her wicked smile not losing any of its wattage.
Lauren sighed, “Not here. We'll talk later.”
“Nope. Tell me,” Karina continued to tease.
“Tell you what?” Sam and Amanda asked in concert as they walked over and joined the conversation. Lauren groaned and began to rub her temples.
“Oh, what exactly Handsome Host Man whispered in her ear during the first take that got her cheeks burning like they were on fire.”
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