I nod abruptly and jab the down button.
“Sadie, what the hell?” Blake has reached us.
“Those questions weren’t on the list,” Sadie replies. “You knew that, but you never stepped in.”
“You were handling those questions fine,” Blake says. There’s an impatient, irritated expression on his face as if he shouldn’t have to deal with this. “If I made a big deal about it, the interviewer would’ve written you up as an uptight, lying bitch who is only nice on screen.”
“Or someone who didn’t want to answer invasive questions, Blake.” I step in between the two of them.
“And who the fuck are you to be talking for Sadie?”
“I’m her b—”
“My boyfriend. And if you’re not going to do the job to protect me, of course he is.” She ducks under my arm.
“You’re the fucking bodyguard.” Blake snaps his fingers.
The elevator arrives. I push Sadie inside. “Yeah, I am.”
Blake’s face turns red. “What a fucking prick. You’re boning your clients now? Talk about conflict of interest. You’re not going to work in this town again.”
I laugh. “We’ll see.”
The doors close, leaving his furious face behind. Sadie tries to move out of my grip. “Where are you going?”
“I didn’t think about how this would make life difficult for you.”
I haul her back to my side. “Sadie. I own the security company, and let me tell you, no manager in Hollywood is putting me out of business. Not to be an asshole, but the people who pay my bills own managers like Blake and directors like Randle Beckstrand. They’re the ones who back the films, not the ones who work on them. I’ll be fine, and so will you. I meant what I said earlier. You’re my girl.” I don’t actually work with a lot of actors. I’d taken this job as a favor at first. Then I saw Sadie. I’d made it personal.
“What does that mean?”
“For us? It means that we get hitched, and I run Locke security while you do whatever you want, whether it’s acting or knitting sweaters or running an art gallery.” The elevator car stops on the basement floor, and the SUV is waiting.
“Art gallery?”
“I don’t know. I was just pulling shit out of my ass. The point is you do what you want.”
I hand her into the car. A flower delivery kid runs up to me and shoves a bouquet in my face.
“Sadie Monroe, right? Delivery for you.”
Before I can get rid of them, the kid darts off, running into the building to deliver other bouquets. I stare at the wildflowers in my hand. Sadie said in an interview she loved wildflowers. “I guess these are from a fan. There’s no card. You want them or should I dump?”
“You can’t throw flowers away.” She holds out a hand. “It’s against the rules.”
I shake them, but nothing dangerous falls out. I hand them over and punch the roof. “Let’s roll.”
Chapter Thirteen
Sadie
“Do you have my phone?” I ask Locke as I continue to dig through my purse in search of it. “I should text Charlie to tell him we’re not meeting for lunch.”
“Yeah.” Locke reaches into the inside pocket of his jacket, pulling it out and handing it over. I skip over a bunch of texts, going straight for Charlie’s. I quickly read over them, realizing he’s already canceled on me. “Weird. Charlie sent a message canceling our lunch.” It’s so unlike him to ditch me. Especially via text message.
“That bother you?”
“No.” I shake my head as I text him back that I’ll see him at the next interview.
When I lift my head, Locke's eyes are on me. Normally when we’re in a room, he is always having to scan every inch of it to make sure I’m safe. But right now, I have all of his attention.
“You know he’s only my friend, right? People make up stories about us being together, but we’ve never been more than friends and coworkers.”
“That’s only because you don’t want more.” I swear there is a note of jealousy in his tone. One I shouldn’t like but I do.
“That’s not true.” I shake my head at him.
“Trust me. He wants you. I’m surprised you don’t have more stalkers.”
“I’ve had more in the past. This one is just more persistent than the rest of them.” And way scarier. Locke sucks in an irritated breath.
“What are you doing?” he says when I unbuckle my seat belt and crawl over into his lap. He makes no move to stop me, though. I settle in on his lap, straddling him. I can feel the outline of his thick cock pressed up against me. I love the fact that I turn him on.
“Charlie and I have gotten close because neither of us has a thing for the other. I’m pretty sure he’s already in love with someone. I just can’t put my finger on who it is yet.”