She returned to Catriona’s apartment and wrote bored on a piece of paper a dozen times in a dozen different styles.
While staring out the window and stretching her neck, Fiona caught a glimpse of someone walking past Catriona’s apartment on their way to the gate.
Bet they’ll let him through without threatening to commit.
She stared daggers at the free man, and then something struck her about his hair and gait.
I know him. What’s his name, what’s his name...
Ah.
Pete.
The studio’s resident doctor. She’d tried to talk him into doubling her Xanax prescription once, and he’d been surprisingly difficult to bend to her will.
A studio doctor with scruples.
What’s the point of that?
His last name was something that rhymed with No-See-Um, his nickname for the way he kept his mouth shut about the various indiscretions of the actors. That, she appreciated.
Hello, Pete.
She tugged on the window but it didn’t budge.
“Dammit, what the—”
Lock. Duh.
She twisted the lock and tried again. It slid open just as Pete began to disappear from her direct view. She craned out the window.
“Hey, Pete!”
The blond man stopped and turned to squint back at her.
“Hey.” He paused and cocked his head. “Are you wearing a wig?”
“It’s Fiona Duffy. I’m Catriona’s sister.”
“The reality show actress?”
Fiona felt her lip twitch. “Just the actor is good, but yes.”
“I remember you. Right, you all like to be called actors now, huh?” he added, clearly trying to be funny and failing miserably.
“You know what no group of people like to be called?”
“What?”
“You all.”
Pete laughed. “Point taken.”
Fiona broke into a broad grin.
Don’t piss him off, Fiona. He’s your ticket out.
“I’m kidding, Pete. You can call me whatever you like, just as long as the paychecks keep coming.”
Pete took a few step forward. “So you’re Catriona’s sister. Did I know that?”
Fiona lowered herself to her knees so she could stare out the window without having to hunch. “I don’t know. Probably not. We didn’t know it until recently.”
“Huh.” Pete looked down and rocked from heel to toe. “I haven’t talked to her lately. She’s been…busy.”
“You mean she’s been with that giant slab of beef.”
He shrugged, but Fiona could tell she’d touched a nerve.
Ooooh, somebody has a crush on Catriona.
She thought for a moment.
That means he’s straight. That hadn’t been her first guess.
Hope abounds.
“Why don’t you come up here and have a drink with me?” she asked giving him her best saucy wink.
He seemed uncomfortable. “Are they there?”
“Who?”
“Cat and Sean Connery-on-steroids.”
“No. They’re not coming back until tomorrow. It’s just me and I’m so bored.” Fiona tried to lean forward so Pete could get a better look at her cleavage. If she could have, she would have removed a breast and tossed it down to him—anything to gain her ticket out of Boredom Town. “Come on up and keep me company.”
“I don’t know...”
“Please?”
Peter’s head began to nod. “Yeah. Okay. Why not? I was just going to pick up some Chinese.”
“We’ll order out here. We’ll get some wine and pick up a pizza.”
She had no intention of eating carbs but pizza seemed like a thing a man would like.
“That works. Be up in a second.”
“The door has a code. I’ll come down.”
“I know it.”
Really. How intimate.
She was about to pull back in when she realized she didn’t have to spend so much time talking Pete into what she really wanted.
I’m doing this all wrong.
She thrust forward again. “Hold on. You know what? It’s weird to be in Cat’s place. Let’s take a road trip and get dinner. You said Chinese. My treat.”
Pete grinned and thrust his hands in his pockets. “Did you just ask me out on a date?”
As if.
“Why not? Down in a sec.”
Fiona shut the window and adjusted her boobs to maximum bumpage before jogging to the bathroom to check her face. While in there, she caught a glimpse of a black dress she’d noticed in Catriona’s closet.
Hm.
It will probably be too large but…
It was worth it to look her best and look as much like Catriona as possible.
Though, in my opinion, those two things are mutually exclusive.
NoSeeUm was her ticket out. If he liked Catriona, she would be Catriona.
Fiona slipped into the only pair of heels in Catriona’s closet and searched for her keys before realizing she’d walked all the way from her place to her sister’s after her run-in with Rune.
Dammit. No car.
No matter. The good doctor would have a car. And with him crushing on Catriona and Catriona obviously smitten with the Highlander, she could get Pete to do anything for her. Wasn’t Cat’s sister the next best thing? Revenge against the woman who’d spurned him—priceless.
Fitted as well as possible into Catriona’s dress, Fiona strode into the hall and took the elevator down. As the doors opened she spotted Pete waiting outside, his hands still in his pockets. The payroll office was dark, closed for the night.
Thank god. The payroll woman was so chatty. On and on about nothing.
Fiona slowed before opening the door, so as to appear poised and in control as she made her exit.
Like a pro.
Pete’s gaze roamed her body like a hungry buffalo across the prairie as she made her exit.
Bingo.
“Is that Catriona’s dress?” he asked. The words seeming to stick in his throat.
“Hm? Oh, I needed to borrow something. Do you like it?”
“She bought that for emergencies. She’s worn it to almost every job
