Stunt Doubled: A Movie Star Standalone

“Come on,” he crooned. “There are all those empty trailers right over there. Let’s go grab one before they all get taken.” He moved in again, his hand sliding down my back to palm my ass.

“Back off!” I shoved him and he took a few stumbling steps before he caught his balance.

“Don’t be like that—” he began, making another approach. But then he came to an abrupt halt, and I soon saw why. Someone had yanked him back by his collar.

“She said to back the fuck off.” Tanner’s voice sounded more forceful than I’d ever heard it, and I was glad he was there. Not that I couldn’t handle Jared, but it was nice that I didn’t have to.

“I didn’t mean any harm,” Jared said in a sniveling voice.

“Go play with your props.” Tanner gave him a bigger shove than I had, and the props master stumbled off into the dark. “You okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Did he hurt you?”

“No.” I took a deep breath. “But I appreciate you getting rid of him. Thank you, Tanner.”

“You’re welcome,” he said as he strode off. “And I’m Aiden.”

12

Tanner

“This. Is. Awesome!” Ronnie shouted as we flew down the open road. She handled the Camaro like a pro, which was a good thing since the speedometer was nearing a hundred. “How long can we do this?”

“Until we run out of gas.” I was watching Ronnie more than I was watching the road, which probably wasn’t the wisest thing ever. After all, I was the one trained in stunt driving, including driving at high speeds. But she just looked so damn happy. Her eyes were covered by sunglasses, but her rosy lips were pulled back in a huge grin. The window was open a crack and her dark hair streamed out behind her. I bet she’d look even sexier in a convertible.

A curve was coming up, not a sharp one, but any curve was dangerous at this speed. I talked her through it, and she seemed eager to learn from me. She was a totally different woman than the one I’d met at dinner almost a week ago. Not that I blamed her for that night. She’d been under a lot of pressure. That was why it was all the more gratifying to see her enjoy herself today.

“Our turn-off is in a mile and a half, so you need to slow down.”

She was having too much fun to do that. “But it’s not for a mile and a half.”

“At our speed, we’ll be there in less than a minute. Slow down.” I channeled Aiden for the last two words, putting some force behind them. It worked. Though she pouted—which looked sexy as fuck—she took her foot off the gas.

By the time we were at the turn-off, she’d downshifted and she made a right into the entrance of the state park. It made me admire her all the more. Was there anything she couldn’t do? She fought in the ring with Ford. She was learning stunts. She could drive a stick. Ronnie was definitely a tomboy, but she was the prettiest one I’d ever seen.

There was only one main path leading through the park, so she followed it at a leisurely pace until I pointed out the fork that led to the scenic overlook. The road grew steep, but Ronnie handled that well, too. I didn’t imagine there was anything with this much of an incline where she’d come from. At last, she parked in the small lot and we both climbed out, taking a moment to stretch.

Then she came around to my side. “That was incredible. Thank you.” She placed her fingers on my chest, raised herself up on her toes, and gave me a quick kiss on my cheek. She was gone, walking toward the overlook before I could get my wits back. What had that been? Appreciation, like when she’d hugged her driver the other day? Or maybe a stepsister thing? Or something else?

My mind—and my cock—hoped it was something else. Something more, perhaps. Not that that was likely to happen. She seemed to have warmed up to Ford a lot quicker than she was warming up to me. And you could never count Aiden out of these kinds of things. Yeah, he’d been a dick to her, but women always went for him over me. It made no sense because we looked exactly the same, but I’d seen it happen time and time again.

It would’ve been easy to chalk that up to women being shallow, going after the guy with fame and money. It was a nice theory, but it wasn’t true. Even back in grade school, he was the one girls liked, not me. And he sure as hell didn’t have fame and fortune back then.

I caught up to Ronnie as she leaned against the railing, looking at the view. “It’s beautiful,” she said with a sigh as I approached. Since I was currently checking out her ass, I had to agree. “It reminds me of the pictures I’ve seen of Bryce Canyon.”