“She probably would.”
“I’ll have to warn you, there’s a lot of standing around and waiting in between takes, but I promise you the end result is always worthwhile. What’s your housekeeper’s name?”
“Martha.”
“You and Martha come on out to the set. I promise it’ll be fun.”
There were a million reasons this wasn’t a good idea. But then there was Martha, and he hated the thought of cold sandwiches. “What time?”
“I’m usually in makeup by six a.m., so we should start shooting by eight.”
“You get up that early? I thought all you movie stars slept ’til noon.”
“Now who’s funny? I’ll let the crew know you’re coming.” She lifted her arms over her head, stretched, then kicked off into a run, waving at him. “See you tomorrow, Logan.”
Why the hell he’d agreed to that, he had no idea. He had more than enough to do, and losing a day would put him behind.
But at least Martha would be happy.
DES MADE IT back to the film site and ran straight into Theo, her director.
“Des. Where’d you run off to?”
“I took a run to get some exercise. Did you need me for something?”
“Yes. We need to do a reshoot of one of this morning’s scenes. I told you not to disappear.”
“Sorry. I’ll head over to makeup and hair.”
“Too late now. I’ve already dismissed the crew for the day, and the lighting isn’t right. We’ll pick it up later.” He walked with her as she headed to her trailer. “I wanted to go over tomorrow’s scenes with you, though. How about dinner tonight? My trailer?” He put his arm around her shoulder.
Her skin crawled and she immediately wanted to shrug him off. Theo was a notorious, disgusting, very married womanizer, who liked to hit on his leading ladies, especially on location. But he was also a brilliant director, so one had to take the bad with the good. “I need a shower after my run, Theo. And I’ve already made plans to run lines with Colt over dinner. You’re welcome to join us, though. We could knock out discussion about tomorrow’s scenes then.”
Theo paused, then shook his head. “No, that’s all right. We’ll do it in the morning during prep. I’ll see you then.”
“Okay. See you tomorrow, Theo.”
She stepped up her pace before Theo came up with any more pervy ideas.
“Cornered you, did he?”
She smiled at Colt Stevens, her costar. “He did. Why weren’t you loitering nearby to save me?”
“Sorry, babe. I was on the phone. I saw Theo hook on to you as soon as you got back on set. Did you have a good run?”
“I did. Did you have a good phone call?”
His eyes gleamed. “I did.”
Des looked around to make sure they were alone. “And how is Tony?”
“Pining away for me, as always. I wish he could be here.”
“I wish he could, too.” Des wrapped her arm around Colt’s waist. “Why don’t you just come out of the closet and be done with it already?”
They’d reached her trailer. Colt opened the door for her, and Des stepped in. Colt followed and shut the door. “Oh, right. Smokin’-hot movie star who gets all the sexy, romantic roles comes out as g*y.”
Des shrugged. “So? It’s the twenty-first century, Colt. And you kiss better than any leading man I’ve ever worked with. I doubt any of your future leading ladies would be deterred.”
Colt sat on her sofa, stretching out his long legs. “Thanks, babe. Tony thinks so, too.”
She laughed. “Seriously, though. We have chemistry through the roof, and it shows on-screen. If you can pull that off, who cares who you love offscreen?”
“Well, I sure don’t. And you don’t. And probably most of America doesn’t give a shit, either. But my management team does care. And they say no to coming out.”
She plopped onto the sofa next to him. “I’m sorry. You should be able to live your life freely and not have to parade around with a bunch of women you don’t care about while Tony is stuck loving you behind the scenes.”
Colt let out a sigh. “I know, love. But it is what it is, and I guess it’s going to stay that way for a while. Maybe someday we’ll be able to change that.”
She pushed off and stood. “Hopefully sooner rather than later. I want you to be happy.”
“I want you to be happy, too.”
She gave him a smile. “I am happy. I’m living my dream here.”
“Sure you are.”
“Did you get dinner ordered?”
“Should be here in about fifteen.”
“Pop open a bottle of wine for us, then. I’m going to hop in the shower.”
Des stripped and got into the shower, washing away the body makeup from the day’s scenes and the sweat from her run. She thought about Colt. They’d known each other since before either of them had even gotten their first part in film, when they’d bunked together in a one-bedroom apartment in Hollywood. They’d become fast friends and had stayed that way. She’d found out right away that Colt was g*y—hard to hide that kind of thing from your best friend and roommate. And when they’d started getting roles together, they’d bonded and supported each others’ careers. Fortunately, they’d also been lucky enough to score roles in films together. Which, of course, made love scenes sometimes awkward to film, because as close friends, it was hard to play lovers. But they were professionals and they were actors. And because they were so close, they had a natural chemistry that lent itself well to the camera, so they worked at using that chemistry. They were comfortable together and lit up the screen. They were often linked together in the gossip circles, which Colt found hysterical.
So did Des. She didn’t mind bearding for him, and often went to premieres and out to dinner with him to give him a cover when he didn’t feel like playing the role of a straight guy with some other woman.
Until she’d met James and had started a relationship with him.
Which had recently gone up in flames. But she wasn’t going to think about him anymore. He’d already wasted enough of her time. She was never going to have a relationship with another actor.
Now she was free to hook up with Colt again. At least on the surface.