Hot as Heller (Aster Valley 3)

Me: You didn’t say you wanted dirty talk…

“Who are you texting?” Kix asked.

I lifted my head up from the phone and grinned at him, feeling my face heat. “Hey. I didn’t know you’d still be on set. How’d your day go? You were filming that scene at the baseball field, right?”

He nodded. “It was hot as hell, and all they had for us was bottled water. There was some mix-up with craft services. Anyway. Sorry about tonight. That sucks.”

“What sucks about tonight?”

Kix looked surprised. “Your scene. The one on the rock face.”

I got an uneasy feeling in my gut. “What are you talking about?”

A familiar head poked his head into the trailer. Bo looked apologetic and out of breath. “Sorry, I thought you’d gone back to your chalet. I didn’t realize you were still here. Nolan and Joel want to shoot the Slye Peak scene tonight.”

I let out a huff of laughter. “You’re kidding.”

He shook his head. “No. I wish I was. I’m beat. I can only imagine how you feel. But they changed their mind and want it filmed at sunset. Apparently they got a deal on the helicopter to keep them on a few more hours. Makeup and wardrobe are expecting you in an hour. Can I get you anything to eat before then?”

I stared at him. “You have to be joking. I’ve been on set since six this morning. It’s almost seven already. If they’re expecting me in an hour, when is the set call?”

“We’ll depart for Slye Peak at eight thirty, and the actual set call is nine fifteen,” he said, referring to a sheet he then remembered to hand me.

I looked at it in disbelief. They had plans to keep us on the mountain until eleven at night. The sun would be fully set by eight thirty. This couldn’t be real.

My phone buzzed, and I glanced at it. Declan.

I answered the call. “Hey.”

“Don’t leave a man hanging like that, Finnegan,” he said. The familiar sound of his voice washed over me with reassurance. I sat down hard on the sofa nearby.

“Sorry, I…” I took a breath. “I need a rain check on the staring thing.”

The teasing tone was gone when he spoke next. “What’s going on?”

“They added another call tonight. A climbing scene.”

“Tonight? They’re filming another climbing scene tonight?” He sounded as confused as I’d been. “Are they yanking your chain?”

“I don’t know. But I need to eat something before reporting to makeup and wardrobe in an hour.”

He sounded like he was trying to control his anger. I didn’t blame him. “Did you know you’d be climbing in the dark and they just moved the shoot forward?”

“No. No mention of shooting a climbing scene in the dark. This is the first I’m hearing about it.”

“Do you feel safe climbing in the dark?”

I opened my mouth to say no. I might feel safe climbing in the dark if I was fresh. But climbing at night after the day I’d already had? No way. But I didn’t say it because the person I needed to say it to wasn’t Declan Stone. It was the director who was playing fast and loose with my safety.

“Well, your hesitation answers that,” he muttered. “This is ridiculous.”

“I need to go,” I said, knowing I’d lose my nerve if I didn’t move quickly. I wanted to call my agent first and make sure I knew my rights before going to Nolan. “I’ll call you later?”

“Finn, wait,” he said.

“No, I need to do this. I promise I’ll call you after, okay?” I hung up the phone and dialed Iris. When she didn’t answer, I dialed her assistant, Dawson, who answered after the first ring.

“Finn! How’s it going in Colorado? From all accounts, you’re doing an amazing job. No surprise there, though.”

I didn’t have time for chitchat. “I need to talk to Iris, but she’s not answering.”

“She has a fundraiser at the Getty tonight. You might have caught her getting her hair done. What can I help you with?”

I explained my situation to him and the urgency of my request. “I need to know if I can refuse.”

“Re… fuse?” he asked, like he was unfamiliar with the concept.

Kix’s eyes lit up from across the small trailer, and he began nodding. “You should,” he hissed. “You sooooo should. Give Nolan an ultimatum. What’s he gonna do? Fire you? Pfft.”

Something about Kix’s words got under my skin. There was no way in hell he’d ever give the director of a feature film an ultimatum. But he wanted me to? Did he want me to stir up drama? Get fired?

I focused back in on what Dawson was saying. “I’ll have to pull your contract and have an attorney—”

“Nope. I need it now. And I need you to get Iris on the phone for me. Make it happen, Dawson. I’ll be waiting for your call.” I took a page out of Declan’s book and hung up after making my statement.