Stunt Doubled: A Movie Star Standalone

“Great, then I think you’re all set. I hope you have fun.”

I was pretty sure I would.

24

Ronnie

Early Friday morning, I tiptoed down the stairs, not wanting to wake Ford or Aiden. Tanner was already waiting for me in the living room. He looked good in his black jeans, work boots, and a tight olive-green t-shirt. He had a leather jacket and a bag slung over one arm. “Ready to go?”

“Yeah. Did you have breakfast?” I followed his lead by keeping my voice low.

“They’ll have something for us on the flight. Have you ever flown in a private plane?”

“No.” I gathered up my things and followed him out the door.

“You’re going to love it.”

Tanner opened the door of the SUV for me, taking my jacket and bag until I climbed up. Tucson wasn’t likely to be any cooler during the day than here, but it would’ve felt weird to fly somewhere without anything more than my halter top and jeans. Who knew if the plane might be cold, or a restaurant or something.

We made small talk on the drive to the airport. “I tried to get a flight directly to Moab when I came here, but there were none, at least not without a gazillion connections, so I flew into Grand Junction instead.”

Tanner grinned over at me as he sped down the highway. “The private jet is going to spoil you for life.” He looked hot in his sunglasses even though the sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon.

It was easy to talk to him as long as I steered clear of any mention of his childhood. I didn’t even mind if he spoke about Aiden—I just didn’t want to hear how Mac had been an instrumental part of his formative years.

We mostly talked about his job, stunts he’d done and stars he’d met. The former was definitely more important to him. Everything he talked about—epic fight scenes, car chases, motorcycle jumps—it all sounded pretty damn exciting to me.

He seemed to notice. “Most women aren’t interested in that stuff—either hearing about it or doing it.”

“I’m not most women,” I said. “But I read that eleven percent of stunt people are female. That’s not nothing.”

“True,” he said. “I think it would be fun to work with female stunt people, but as you may have noticed, there aren’t a lot of women in an action film like this. Chase Cooper’s love interests never fight—they mostly just need rescuing. And even if there were female characters who fought in the film, I doubt they’d pair any up with me. Usually, if there’s a woman fighting in a movie, she’s fighting another woman.”

I hadn’t really thought of it before, but I realized he was right. Like in group fights, where the hero and heroine were fighting a bunch of bad guys, the heroine usually ended up fighting the token female on the other side. “I’d like to try a longer fight sometime,” I said. “Where more moves are strung together like with the sex scene last weekend.”

Tanner looked amused. “How much like the sex scene?”

“You know what I mean. I want to make it look like a real brawl.”

“You’ll get there. You’re still new to this,” Tanner said. “That is, if you want to continue. Have you decided what you’ll do after the desert shoot wraps up?”

“No.” And that wasn’t something I wanted to talk about, so I quickly changed the subject. It wasn’t usual for me to shy away from big decisions, but it also wasn’t usual for my chosen career to come crashing down around my head.

We made it to the airport with time to spare. The studio’s jet was in a private hangar, and I felt like a celebrity myself when I climbed up the steps. The inside was gleaming with ten leather seats. Since we were the only two passengers, Tanner and I sat in a pair of seats with a table in front of us.

The jet took off smoothly with none of the deafening roar of a much larger commercial airliner. As Tanner had predicted, breakfast was served, and it was delicious. The flight was short, so for the rest of the trip, I enjoyed the view out the window—and the feeling of Tanner’s arm around my shoulder. I even dozed off for a little because it was just so damn comfortable leaning against him.

When we landed in Tucson, we had to go through the terminal to get to ground transportation. To my surprise, Tanner put on his leather jacket, a dark cap, and his sunglasses even though we were indoors. When I asked him about it, he got a little flustered. “Sometimes in places like this, I’m mistaken for Aiden, and people go a little nuts.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Don’t worry, your handler’s here. I’ll hold back your adoring fans.”