Valerie looked a little hurt that Callin had walked away from her so quickly, although she tried to hide it. The chemistry might not be real on Callin’s side of things, but it was definitely real on Valerie’s side. Brianne already knew Valerie planned to marry Callin one day. She told her about it often enough, but until that moment, Brianne had believed Valerie when she said it was simply a tactical move, that she planned on running the pack with Callin by her side. Now, she saw there was more to it than that. Valerie might not be ready to admit it, maybe not even to herself, but she definitely wanted Callin for her own. And not just because of the status boost it would give her.
“Brianne? Would you fetch me a glass of water, please?” Valerie said as she moved across the set and headed toward the seating area to the left of it.
“Of course,” Brianne replied, heading immediately in the opposite direction toward the refreshments area.
Brianne was shocked that Valerie had not only said please, but had asked her to get the water rather than demanding she got it, or worse, yelling at her for not already having it. She had even used a reasonably nice tone of voice. Either Callin’s words from earlier had really gotten through to her or she wanted to act like they had when he was around. She would take either one if it meant that Valerie was civil to her, even if it was just pretend. Pretend manners were still way better than being yelled at all of the time.
Brianne was halfway to the refreshments area when she felt someone fall into step beside her. She looked up with a half-smile which instantly widened to a full one and made her heart beat a little bit faster when she saw it was Callin beside her.
“Hi,” she said a little bit shyly.
“Hey,” he replied. “So, how’s it going? Are you finding your feet okay?”
“Yeah, I think so,” Brianne smiled.
“Let me guess,” Callin said, lowering his voice and glancing around to make sure no one could overhear him. He grinned conspiratorially at Brianne. “Everything’s fine except for being stuck working for Valerie.”
“I didn’t say that,” Brianne said with the same conspiratorial grin Callin had given her.
“And I didn’t say your smile is the most beautiful thing I’ve seen all day. But that doesn’t make it any less true,” Callin said.
Brianne felt a shiver go through her, despite the fact that Callin’s words made her skin flush red and hot. She didn’t know what to say to that and she opened her mouth, hoping something intelligent would come out. It didn’t. She just stared at Callin and made an umm sound. He laughed and nudged her gently with his elbow, sending more shivers through her where they touched.
“Oh, come on. Don’t tell me you don’t know how your smile lights up your whole face,” Callin said. “Because if you don’t know it, then I’ll feel bad for pointing it out so casually.”
Brianne laughed softly and some of the awkwardness left her. The sexual tension between her and Callin stayed, though, as did the patch of heat on her arm where he had touched her. Brianne could almost feel the electricity sparking in the air between them. She felt as though she could reach out and touch the sparks.
“So, anyway,” Callin said with another of those grins that set Brianne’s heart racing, “the best way to get around Valerie and get her to thaw a little bit is just to agree with everything she says. No matter how crazy it is. And then you can join the crew when they laugh at her after she’s gone.”
Brianne giggled a bit, but she shook her head.
“And they say loyalty is dead,” she smiled. “Does your assistant do that?”
“Well, I’d like to say no because I treat her with respect, but the truth? Yeah, probably,” Callin said.
Brianne laughed again. She was starting to think she had been wrong in assuming Callin would be an asshole just because Valerie was one. Now that she thought about it, it was like assuming every human was an asshole just because she had met one that was. On the contrary, Callin seemed to be down-to-earth, funny, and self-deprecating rather than full of himself and arrogant like Valerie.
“Brianne? My water?” Valerie said, coming to join Callin and Brianne. “Honestly, Brianne, you’ve got to stay on the ball. Getting some water was a pretty simple task.”
“I’m so sorry,” Brianne said, instantly feeling herself deflate.
She hated that Valerie had shown her up like that in front of Callin, but for once, she couldn’t even bitch about the woman in her head, because she was actually right this time. Getting some water was indeed a simple task, and Brianne had dropped the ball completely by letting herself get distracted by Callin.
“It’s my fault, Val,” Callin said. “I was trying to find out how much you pay Brianne so I could offer her more money and tempt her away from you.”
“You just keep your hands off my assistant,” Valerie said to Callin as Brianne hurried away to grab the water.
Valerie had laughed a little when she said it, but Brianne thought that beneath the joking tone Valerie used, there was an icy-cold threat there. And she knew it was about a lot more than who she may or may not work for. She decided then that she definitely needed to keep her distance from Callin, because Valerie seemed like the sort of woman who would do whatever it took to get her way—even if that meant making someone disappear.
6
So far, things seemed to be going well on the set, but it had only been a couple of weeks since filming began. Still, though, Callin was pretty happy with how things were going. After the first day when Valerie
