He wandered out of his trailer. None of the other trailers had any lights burning in them and the only sign of any other life on the set were the two burly security guards who stood at the entrance. One of them raised a hand to him and he returned the wave as he headed for the main building. It was possible Shauna was in the small office a couple of the assistants shared, but he was starting to think it was unlikely when he saw how dead the place was.
Callin made his way to the shared office. His hopes were raised slightly when he saw the light was on through the window in the office door. It looked like Shauna had stuck around after all. He opened the office door and looked around.
“Dammit,” he cursed under his breath.
The room was empty. Shauna had obviously just forgotten to switch off the light before she left for the night. Callin reached for the switch, but as he did so, a movement caught his eye behind one of the desks. He felt his dragon stirring, his body tingling, as Brianne crawled out from beneath the desk and got to her feet. She started slightly when she saw him standing there.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said.
“It’s okay,” she smiled. “I was just about ready to head out and I had one last email to send. The internet wouldn’t work and I finally figured out that one of the cables had come loose. I’ve put it back in now, so fingers crossed it works this time.”
As she spoke, she moved around the desk and sat down. She reached out and clicked her mouse. She smiled and made a little whoop sound.
“Finally,” she said. She looked up at Callin and smiled at him. “What are you even doing here anyway? I thought everyone was long gone.”
“I was looking for Shauna,” Callin said.
“Oh,” Brianne said. “Umm…”
“Don’t worry, you’re not going to get her in trouble by telling me she’s left for the night. You’ll just save me the time wandering through the whole place looking for her. I told her to leave hours ago, but often she ignores me and hangs around until I leave. I just wondered if that was the case tonight,” Callin said, interrupting Brianne when he saw she was debating on what to tell him.
“She left about half an hour ago,” Brianne said. “Is there anything I can help you with?”
“It looks like Valerie has already left you with more than enough to do if you’re still here at this time,” Callin said.
“Oh, for once I can’t blame Valerie. I would have been finished hours ago if it wasn’t for me fighting with the internet for so long. It took me over two hours to find and reset the damned router and then it wasn’t even that causing the problem.”
Callin smiled.
“Yeah. I can imagine. The IT team does a great job, but my God, the mess they make in their server room,” Callin said. “Just miles and miles of cables tangled around each other, and the things we need actual access to buried beneath them all.”
“That sounds about right,” Brianne agreed with a grin.
“It’s fine if something goes wrong when they’re on-site. Somehow, they seem to know where everything is. But if they’re not there, then that’s when the problems start,” Callin said.
Brianne smiled again and nodded her head. They fell silent for moment, just looking at each other, and Callin felt his dragon stirring within him. He tried to ignore it, but it was hard when he was so close to Brianne.
“So?” Brianne prompted him after a moment, breaking the silence that had fallen between them.
“So… what?” he repeated, with no idea of what she meant.
“So, is there anything I can help you with? Now that you don’t have to feel bad about my workload,” she smiled.
“Actually, yeah, if you’re up for something that’s not technically in your job description,” Callin said.
“Go on,” Brianne said, one eyebrow raised and her interest clearly piqued.
“Well, I wanted Shauna to read a few lines with me. I’m worried this scene is a little stiff. Are you up for it? I understand if you’re not and it can wait until…”
“I’m up for it,” Brianne said, interrupting him. “It sounds kind of fun. And how many girls can say they got to read lines with Callin McKenzie?”
Callin smiled.
“Surprisingly few, actually,” he said. “Let’s go down to the set. Nothing ever feels quite right in the wrong setting.”
Brianne grabbed her things and shut off the office light and then she followed Callin down to the set. He took her to the scene set up to mimic a parking lot and nodded to the side where the cameras would be.
“You can leave your stuff over there,” he said.
Brianne went over to the area and put her handbag and her coat down and then she came back onto the scene. Callin watched her, and he realized this was his moment. When this was done, maybe he could ask Brianne if she wanted to grab a quick bite to eat. Yeah, way to go, Callin, take her out when the only places open are all-night diners. A greasy burger and a milkshake. That’ll show her you know how to treat a girl.
“Where do you want me?” Brianne asked as she came to stand beside him.
That was a loaded question, one Callin refrained from answering honestly. The honest answer was in his arms. In his bed. In his life.
“Over there,” he said instead, pointing to the trunk of a red car. “That’s your character’s car. You’re just about to get into it when you spot me and turn toward me. Then we have this bit of dialogue here.”
He handed Brianne his script and pointed to the section he was referring to. She walked toward the car, reading the script as she went. He thought he saw her stiffen a little and he
