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over you off set.
That seemed to take the wind out of Olivia s indignant sails. All she said in response was,  Oh.
 So. If you don t like him, why are you going out with him?
 Because it s good business. The paparazzi will photograph us. We ll get tabloid coverage
because everyone loves a good on-set romance. The movie will get free publicity. I ll get free
publicity. And you ve got no right to comment on my decision. We had a deal, Blake. You set the
conditions. It was just business. No emotions. No attachments. Strictly secret, remember? I m keeping
up my end of your stupid deal, so you ve got no right to be mad at me.
A real need to do violence bubbled dangerously close to the surface of his mind. Enough so that he
knew it was time to disengage. He bit out,  Have a nice time on your date, then. Maybe in between
getting his rocks off, Jeremy will get around to giving you an orgasm or two. Don t forget to scream
for him. That s a big turn on for most guys.
She gasped and raised her hand. He turned on his heel and stormed out of her trailer into the cold
night. The crash of something large against the door as it slammed didn t slow his steps. He prowled
the set until his blood pressure came back down to something resembling normal. It took a long
damned time.
He didn t feel like couch surfing with the stunt crew, and instead he made the long, lonely drive
back to Palm Springs. He found an open liquor store and bought two bottles of Jack Daniel s finest
one for tonight to wipe away the memory of Olivia all but screwing Jeremy on set, and one for
tomorrow night to wipe out the images of what Jeremy was going to do to her once the bastard
maneuvered her into his bed.
How could she be so damned gullible? She was too smart not to see what McDumbass was up to.
But no matter how much Blake ranted at the walls of his hotel room, it didn t change a thing.
He was jealous. He wanted her and all of her crackling sexual energy for himself.
He flopped on the edge of his bed, stared at the whiskey bottle beside him, shocked to realize he
didn t want it. He d rather wallow in this pain and still be able to think about Olivia than be numb
and wipe her from his mind. He already missed her. A giant black hole gaped back at him when he
tried to examine his feelings. He d felt crappy when he found out about Carmen s betrayal, but this
was worse. Carmen might have had fucked up his career but&
Olivia had fucked up his heart.
Putting conditions on sleeping with her had been idiotic in the extreme. She d said so herself. Their
deal had been stupid. At least the two of them could agree on that. He should have left the door open
for a real relationship with her. Or at least for extending their friends-with-benefits arrangement
beyond three lousy days.
Except the memory of that intruder slouching in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to strike,
chilled him to the bone. He dared not endanger Olivia by hanging out with her. He had to stick to their
original deal. If he gave a damn about her safety at all, he would walk away from her right now and
never look back. It was the honorable thing to do.
Olivia was right about one thing. Honor did suck.
&
Olivia winced as the town car pulled up in front of the restaurant Jeremy had chosen for their date.
Blake would never have chosen a place this flashy. It wasn t his style. He d have gone for someplace
understated and classy. She should have guessed, though, that Jeremy would take her to the trendiest
place in Palm Springs where people went to  be seen. A pair of bored photographers lurked out
front.
She eyed them through the tinted car window and asked Jeremy,  How many paparazzi do you think
will be waiting for us by the time we come out of the restaurant?
He eyed her slinky little dress critically.  I m guessing twenty. You?
She shrugged.  Depends on how many are in town tonight, I suppose. I bet by close of business
tomorrow there are fifty hanging around.
 Yeah. Especially if they get wind of us dating, he said with relish.
They so weren t dating. If her own motives for going on this date hadn t been every bit as selfish
as his apparently were, she would have told him so. But this date was her glass house, too. No sense
throwing stones at it.
The driver opened the door and she stepped out. One of the photographers threw her a disinterested
look but then did a quick double take. He nudged his buddy. Jeremy joined her and planted a hand in
the middle of her back. Whereas Blake would have done the same thing by way of courtesy or moral
support, from Jeremy the gesture was nothing more than a pose.
But hey. The guy knew how to work the paparazzi like nobody s business. He was one of the most
frequent cover subjects of the big tabloids in Hollywood. She gazed up at him with a look adoring
enough to send the gossips into conniption fits and the flashes of cameras duly captured the moment.
 Okay, that s enough, guys, Jeremy announced.  We re on a date, here.
Like that wouldn t enflame these paparazzi even more oh. She saw what Jeremy was doing. She
added coyly,  We really would like some privacy tonight.
On cue, Jeremy threw her what she supposed was meant to be a steamy look. Frankly, she thought
he looked like some kind of creepy stalker. More pictures ensued, and then Jeremy herded her into the
restaurant.
Of course, he wasn t done making a spectacle. He made sure to speak loudly and ask for a table
smack dab in the middle of the dining room. Stares and heads coming together here and there
indicated that the two of them, or at least Jeremy, had been recognized.
It was weird eating a meal knowing everyone in the room potentially watched her take every bite.
The service was slow, the portions tiny, and the food over-garnished. It took her less than halfway
through the main course to start counting the minutes until this interminable meal would end.
Their conversation ran out of topics as soon as they got done trading  how did you get into the biz [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]