“I see you and Willow have made up for lost time?” she asks.
“Yes,” he answers at the same time I snap out a no. His smile grows, and Kirby laughs.
“Right-o. Well, I’ll leave you two while you’re not making up for lost time. Alli smelled cookies, so I was on a mission. By the way, Willow?”
I meet her eyes. “Yeah?”
“Your lip gloss looks great on Kane.”
My eyes shoot over to his lips—those full, delicious lips—and I feel my cheeks heat when I notice the glossy shine coating his. How did I miss that? Oh, that’s right, you were too busy succumbing to his charm and falling into the desire that his touch ignites. How is it that he makes it so easy to forget any misgivings I could have about him … or whatever this is between us?
He smiles but doesn’t move to wipe his mouth, just dips his tongue out and—slowly—licks over the shiny coat. And God help me, I moan, not even the least bit ashamed he’s brought that reaction out of me. What is this man doing to me? I’ve never reacted like this toward a man before, and Kane, a man I hardly know, knocks down all my insecurities in one fell swoop. Or better yet, a few kisses.
Kirby and Kane continue to talk about her schedule for tomorrow—going over the call sheet for the day and how early the leading actress needs to be ready for her first scene. I tune them out and move to clean up the mess I made during the last batch of cookies. Alli comes running in a few times, completely ignorant to the movie star before her, and scrambles off with as many cookies as her little hands can carry.
“Willow? Did you catch that?” Kirby questions, and I move my attention from the mixing bowl I had been scrubbing.
“Catch what?” I ask, rinsing my hands and turning off the tap.
“Kane said he needs you to help him with some things tomorrow. It will be a light day for me since only Alessandra and two other actresses are in my chair, and then I’m just sitting on the sidelines waiting for touch-ups, so it won’t be a problem for me.”
“Uh … isn’t the point of me being here to help you?”
Kirby looks at Kane, and they seem to communicate briefly without words before she looks back over and shrugs.
“It was the point, Willow, but I’ve decided things are going to be a little different now. We’re at the tail end of production, so there aren’t as many demands on Kirby’s plate. And per her contract, she does have one other makeup artist at her disposal. Unfortunately for me, my PA, Sam, was called away for some business he needs to tend to back in LA, so I need a little help until he can return.”
“Help?” I look back at Kirby for some direction, but she’s avoiding my probing gaze. “What exactly do you mean by that? I’m sure I’m not qualified for anything you could need help with.”
Kane chuckles. “You couldn’t be further from the truth. I think you’ll find you have all the qualifications I desire.”
Kirby clears her throat, but I don’t move my eyes from Kane. It’s obvious he isn’t talking about anything work related at this point.
“I’m sure your desires are not something I would be able to meet, Kane.” Actually, I would love nothing more than to meet his desires, but just the thought of taking things further than the few kisses we’ve shared has me hitting panic level DEFCON 5.
“Yes, well … that’s the beauty of trying, Willow. You’ll find I would never lead you down a path you couldn’t handle while enjoying every second of it.”
“You two …” Kirby pauses and pulls at the collar of her tee shirt while fanning her face with her other hand. “You could light a fire with the amount of heat you two are sparking.”
My eyes narrow when Kane winks at me.
“Take a chance,” he tells me, his voice a low rumble for my ears only.
I study his eyes. Their blue depths pleading.
I nod, and his relief is evident when he lets out a deep exhale.
“If you’ll excuse me,” I tell them and walk around them both and through the house until I reach the bedroom I had claimed.
Yes … if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go silently freak out where no one can see me.
I’M NOT SURE WHAT I expected when we pulled onto the set of Impenetrable, but what I got definitely wasn’t it. Kane had literally taken over a good portion of one of the local high schools. Kirby explained on the way over that the school was on break for the next week, and they will be filming all of the scenes they need at this location in seven days. Seven days that she would be on set for almost eighteen hours, but because she wouldn’t be needed during every second of those eighteen hours, she would be taking breaks to see Rob and Alli. They would be coming to visit her on the set as well.
“There’s Kane,” Kirby tells me, snapping me out of the shock over seeing my first movie set. “Watch your step,” she adds, but naturally, I miss what step I should be watching because I still had my eyes glued to where she said Kane was.
“Crap!” I gasp when my foot hooks on a power cord that had bunched up despite the tape placed around it to keep it from … well, tripping someone. I’m sure if someone had a slow-motion camera on me right now, this would be hilarious to replay. But true to my history of run-ins with Kane, it wouldn’t make sense for me to just glide into the building without a mishap.
My hands hit the ground at the same time my knees painfully collide with the unforgiving flooring. Heat warms my face and my vision blurs with the tears that rush forth from the pain from my hands and knees.
“Shit, Will. Are you okay?”
I don’t look up at Kirby. I just nod my head and pray that the earth swallows me up. Even with the hum of activity around us—the rush of the production team, camera crew, extras and all milling around—I know that my little spill didn’t go unmissed.
I see Kirby drop her kit next to me then her rolling bag full of supplies next to it, and her face fills my vision. “Are you okay?” she asks again, this time low enough that I hope no one else hears her.
“Tell me he didn’t see that?” Seriously, is there ever going to be a time when I’m not completely making a fool out of myself in front of this man?
“Yeah, I can’t do that,” she responds. “Come on. Let me help you up,” she continues, and I shake her off.