“Travis, can you carry my purse for me?” she purred as the driver let her out of her side of the car.
Travis looked down at the large white leather bag with bright colored flowers splattered across it and groaned. Thank God no one in the pack could see him out here on this set. It was in the middle of nowhere in a forest, a horror movie. She was running through the woods in lingerie for some reason.
It was the same thing she’d been doing for the past three days and, according to one of the crew members he’d overheard, two days over schedule because she couldn’t get her lines right when confronted with the killer chasing her.
“If this keeps up, I may stab her myself,” another joked.
“I don’t see why they wanted her. They knew she was high maintenance, and she’s not even that attractive without all the makeup and hair extensions,” a woman beside them added.
“She rolled up in here with four bodyguards too. I guess she needs them with her personality. Who wouldn’t want to punch her in the face?” a younger-looking girl joked.
Travis cleared his throat, feeling like an eavesdropper, even though he’d made no effort to overhear their conversation. Even though he didn’t look in their direction, he heard the silence that acknowledged they were aware of him, one of the aforementioned bodyguards and an imposing figure—a large man carrying a fucking flowery purse.
“I’ve decided to stay in town this weekend,” she told him on their way back to the hotel.
“I’m not available Saturday evening,” he replied.
“What do you mean you aren’t available? I need you the whole weekend.”
“I was told my work week was only weekdays, and the other bodyguards would handle weekends as you would be returning home for those.”
“Perhaps, but this is an exception. I want to stay, and I need my local protective services to assist me in securing the places I go.”
“As I said, I’m sorry. I have plans,” he told her.
“Mr. Porter, if you review your contract, you will see there is a stipulation in there that you be available to me seven days a week, despite whatever primary shift you are assigned.”
Travis gritted his teeth. He needed this, but he didn’t like being yanked about after being told something he’d accepted as truth. He most certainly didn’t want to have to cancel his plans with Kat. Perhaps he could catch this fly with some honey instead.
“I appreciate that you would like me to work, but I have a date. It’s our first official date, and I don’t want to cancel on her.”
“Alright. I can be reasonable, despite what people say about me. When is your date?”
“Saturday at six,” he lied, wanting to give himself some flexibility.
“Fine. You’re mine until, say, five on Saturday, and again on Sunday? Start time eight a.m.?”
“That works. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she replied, seeming quite pleased with her negotiation skills as she turned to watch as the remote part of the county they had been in turned back into city.
Travis said nothing. He considered that perhaps he really might need to read the contract after all before he got sideswiped by something else he didn’t see coming. Granted, having to cancel a date wasn’t the end of the world, but he wasn’t much for having things dropped on him like this. It just wasn’t his style.
Of course, he wasn’t surprised at all when his Saturday at five turned out to run late. It was almost six when she finally got him back to the hotel with fake apologies about how she was sorry she was making him late for his date. She wasn’t even a convincing actress at that.
He was glad he had lied to her.
Back at the hotel, he ran up to his room and grabbed the keys to his truck, heading back out before she could conjure up any other reason for him to be detained. He drove back to his house for a quick shower and change of clothes before going to pick up Kat.
Despite feeling a little rushed and aggravated, he found it subsiding as he got closer to Kat’s house. He was looking forward to tonight. It some weird way, he felt connected to her. Of course, he had no idea what they were going to do tonight. He figured they’d just start with dinner and then see what they felt like getting up to after that.
She opened her door wearing a simple white dress with spring flowers that hugged her upper body and then flowed into a long skirt with a slit up to the knees that could only be seen as she began to walk out to the truck. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail that hung down between her shoulder blades, laying against her skin where the dress plunged downward almost to her waist.