“Dallas, let me introduce you to Emil, who works for my father. Actually he’s his Simon,” she pointed back at her own guard, “and until things calm down, he’s going to work for you.”
“I appreciate your thinking about me, but there’s no way I can accept.”
“This doesn’t have to do with Bob, but with what happened to Rick and what it means to me and our business. Things happen that I can’t control, and if something happened to you, I wouldn’t be able to accept the fact that I could’ve prevented it.”
Emil stood with his hands behind his back until Remi finished. “Ms. Montgomery, you’re not even going to notice I’m around.” Remi had to cover her mouth with her free hand when he said that.
“Do you really think someone’s going to come after me?” Dallas asked.
“You met Nunzio Luca. Do you think he’d be the type to do that?” Instead of having this talk outside, Remi walked them toward the elevator. “Once this is over we’ll go back to normal, if that’s what you want, but please consider my proposition.”
“Does he have to start today?”
Dallas glanced back at Emil, and Remi could tell she wasn’t thinking of her well-being, but of Bob’s reaction. “If you have to, blame it on me and the studio. Tell him it’s a new section of your contract.”
“As long as you think he won’t have to stay with me forever.” Dallas looked back again and smiled at Emil. “Not that I have anything against him, but this is a bit out of my norm.”
Dallas kissed Remi good-bye, still feeling uncertain as Emil followed her out. When she met Bob, she asked Emil to wait outside for a minute while she explained his presence. Emil agreed to stand outside the door but not to a closed door.
He explained, “Not that I don’t trust you, Ms. Montgomery, but I can’t do my job if we have too many barriers between us.”
“Everyone at the studio is getting their own security?” Bob asked in a low voice.
“That’s what they told me when they sent Emil over here.”
Bob got close enough to put his lips to her ear. “Before the day’s out, find a way to ditch this guy so you can tell me where you’ve been. You know how much I don’t like it when you disappear and don’t return any of my calls.”
“Ms. Montgomery, are you all right?” Emil asked, poking his head in the door.
“Fine, thank you.” Dallas pushed away from Bob.
“This isn’t going to work for me,” Bob said.
Dallas held her hand up toward Emil. “Just a few more minutes and we’ll be ready to go.” She took a deep breath before facing Bob again. “My next job is the sequel, and if I want to do that, I don’t have much choice. Do you have a better idea?”
“Let me do all the talking at the meeting, and I’ll take care of this.”
The studio offices had been set up one block into the French Quarter in a building that had started as a coffee- roasting plant. Like Remi’s condo, it had a good view of the river, and the top floor, where the management team was housed, was opulently decorated. After walking around the waiting area to admire the collection of movie posters, Dallas stopped at the large window at one end of the room and tried to forget the two men watching her intently for two different reasons.
They had driven over with Emil and hadn’t spoken a word, and Bob acted more uncomfortable than when he went off about something. She pressed her fingers to the glass and thought about her relationship with him and how it would affect her relationship with Remi.
“Hello, Dallas,” Steve said, then turned his attention across the room. “Dick, I hope you haven’t been waiting long.”
“We just arrived, thanks,” Dallas said, returning Dwayne’s wave.
“Can we get you anything?”
“No, thanks. How about you, Bob?” she added, to be nice and avoid an argument on the way home.
“Actually we need to borrow Dickey for some preliminary stuff that we don’t need to bore you with,” Steve said.
“Then I shouldn’t keep you. Should I wait here?” she asked, earning a glare from Bob when she didn’t correct his name.
“Enjoy the view. Let’s go, Dickey, we’re set up in the conference room,” Steve said, and slapped him on the back so hard the much-shorter Bob stumbled.
“If you need anything, Dallas, just ask,” Dwayne said, and winked on his way out.
Dallas walked to the windows overlooking the river and watched the steamboat make its way downstream. After a few months off she was anxious to return to work. Getting swept up in a new project would help clear her mind of everything wrong with her life, like it always did. She was a good actress because she could pretend to be something she wasn’t. Before she got too lost in thought, she felt the heat of a taller body behind her and knew instantly who it was.
“Do you have an appointment to see someone?”
“I’m here to see the boss, as a matter of fact.” She placed her hands over the ones that had pulled her into a hug from behind.
“Are you okay?”
“Are you asking if Bob hates that you’ve hired Emil to keep an eye on me? I’m okay with it and he’s not, but we’ll all have to deal with it, won’t we?”
