“Valerie,” Callin said.
Brianne pulled her hand out of Callin’s jeans, looking at him in disgust as he stepped away from her.
“Did you just call me Valerie?” she demanded.
“God no,” Callin said, fastening his jeans. “She’s coming this way.”
Brianne glanced over her shoulder and saw what Callin had already seen. Valerie was on her way across the parking lot, heading for her trailer.
“Fuck,” Brianne said.
“It’s okay,” Callin reassured her. “She won’t suspect a thing.”
Brianne jumped up and rearranged her clothes, hoping Callin was right. By the time Valerie reached the trailer steps, she had her hands back in the soapy water, washing the dishes.
“Bri?” Callin said from behind her.
She glanced back at him, sucking in a breath when she saw how fucking good he looked once more. His jeans were fastened again and he had pulled his shirt out to hide the tell-tale bulge there.
“This isn’t over,” he said.
Brianne felt another shiver go through her and she found that she couldn’t speak, so instead, she just nodded. His words raised all of the questions she had been struggling with before he appeared that morning, but they answered one question. What they had between them was real and Callin felt it too; this was no one-night stand.
Valerie stepped into the trailer.
“Callin? What are you doing here?” she asked, all smiles at Callin and completely ignoring Brianne for the moment.
Brianne was pleased about that. She had been afraid her voice wouldn’t come out right and would give her away.
“I came to speak to you about the first scene we’re filming today,” Callin said smoothly, as if seconds ago, he hadn’t been on the verge of fucking Brianne. “I thought it sounded a little stiff so I’ve had a word with the writers and they’re re-working parts of it. Nothing major, just a few tweaks.”
“And you couldn’t have told me that on the set?” Valerie said.
She didn’t sound annoyed, she sounded pleased. Brianne frowned, but she concentrated on the dishes, trying to make herself invisible.
“I could have, but I thought you might like a heads-up,” Callin replied.
“Thanks,” Valerie smiled.
Callin nodded and excused himself. He slipped out of the trailer with a last look at Brianne. A look that made her core clench. It was a look of promise, a reiteration of his statement that this wasn’t over. As Callin closed the trailer door behind him, Valerie clapped her hands together, making Brianne jump slightly. Brianne turned her head to look at Valerie, waiting for the list of orders, but instead, Valerie clapped her hands together again. She was practically jumping, bouncing up and down on her toes, and she smiled happily at Brianne.
“He could have told me that on set,” Valerie gushed. “But he didn’t because he wanted to see me sooner than that. It’s finally happening. He’s finally seeing me as his future mate.”
Brianne made a grunting sound that really didn’t mean anything, but Valerie was too excited to notice and she went on gushing about how Callin had finally seen the light. If Valerie had ever been anything but a bitch to her, Brianne would have felt as guilty as hell because she knew Callin hadn’t come to the trailer to see Valerie; he had come to see her. Instead of feeling guilty, she felt insanely happy. But beneath that, she felt a niggling fear. She couldn’t help but wonder what Valerie would do to her if she found out the truth.
She won’t find out about us. She won’t find out anything, Brianne told herself. At least not until after this production is wrapped up and I’ve quit my job.
“Leave those,” Valerie said, nodding to the dishes. “Let’s have some coffee.”
Brianne nodded. She dried her hands and reached for her car keys, but Valerie shook her head.
“Just the stuff from the cafeteria will be fine,” she smiled. “If you can stomach it?”
“Sure,” Brianne said.
God, she really is happy. She has to be if she’s not only inviting me to have coffee with her, but taking my preference into account too, Brianne thought as she hurried to the cafeteria. Brianne knew in that moment that however this whole thing turned out, it was going to end badly for her.
* * *
The whole morning had passed pretty much without incident. The rewritten parts of the script really made the scene come to life, and as Brianne watched it being filmed, she couldn’t help but rehash last night in her mind. How she and Callin had read the lines together, and how, when the scene ended, he had taken the script and thrown it aside, kissing Brianne and then making love to her. She felt heat flooding her face, her neck, her chest, as she recalled the moment Callin had entered her, making her gasp and writhe beneath him.
She could feel herself getting wet again, and she forced herself not to think about last night. She forced herself to look away from Callin and focus on Valerie instead. Anything to slow her racing heart. She couldn’t help but notice how pretty Valerie was, how stunning her figure was. She had to question why Callin had chosen her over Valerie. But maybe the answer to that was quite simple—maybe Callin didn’t want to date an ice-cold bitch just because she was hot. Maybe he saw past that and saw something in Brianne that he appreciated.
Callin and Valerie were moving closer to each other, and when their faces were mere inches from each other’s, the director yelled cut and Callin stepped away from Valerie. For a
