She stared at her cell phone, heart pounding against her rib cage, reading the text a second time. This couldn’t be—
That would mean—
What the hell!
Claire: It was Jake I went on a blind date with. He switched with Josh, who wanted to teach you a lesson. What did that rat do? :(
What did he do? Only take her out to a snooty restaurant, bore her silly, and pretend to be a successful businessman! And what kind of “lesson” was he teaching her? What was his ulterior motive? To brag, brag, brag in a ridiculous attempt to make her want Jake and then do a Scooby-Doo reveal that it was really Josh, the arrogant obnoxious bane of her existence that she wanted? Wrong-o!
To fool her into thinking she was good enough to hobnob with the wealthy elite? Or just to make a fool of her? He’d probably been secretly laughing at her nervous discomfort at that super-fancy restaurant.
She looked up to find Josh staring at her intently. “How could you!” she shouted.
“What’d you do this time?” Mad called with a laugh.
They both ignored Mad.
Josh just looked at her, his soulful brown eyes meeting hers in an intense gaze. Just like when he’d fooled her with that dinner and gave her that weirdly intense look! He was reminding her! As if she needed the reminder.
She leaned forward and growled a solemn vow. “Josh Campbell, you will never date in this town again.”
“Get a grip,” he said.
She huffed. “You are out of my business plan forever!”
Josh rested both hands on the bar in front of her and leaned close. She fought the urge to lean back. His voice was a husky whisper that gave her an involuntary shiver. “I never wanted to be in it.”
“Then why did you…what was all that…augh!” She put her palm out. “I want all my money back.”
“I don’t have it with me. You’ll have to come back to my place.”
She pursed her lips. “Uh-huh. Where I suppose it’s in your bedroom.”
One corner of his mouth lifted. “How’d you know?”
She jabbed a finger at him. “You just hit number one on my shit list.”
“That’s better than number two.” He laughed.
She wanted to throw something. She wanted to leap over the bar and throttle him. But she didn’t. She kept it together, not wanting to give him the satisfaction. “I will get my revenge. You won’t know where or when or how, but it’s coming when you least expect it.”
His smile was slow and devious. “Bring it on, princess.”
She bit back all the most awful swear words she knew because—
She. Was. A. Classy. Lady.
Argh! She turned and stalked out the door.
~ ~ ~
Claire was not about to accuse Hailey or anyone else in the book club of snitching to the press. The sooner she found out who was behind it, the sooner she could relax around Jake. And she really wanted to enjoy him. It had been so long since she’d felt really comfortable with a man. So long since she’d felt that spike of desire just from a look or a touch. And he understood the need to keep them out of the spotlight.
She headed back to her trailer for a short break, her silent shadow following her as she thought back to the day Ty had given her the message that Josh knew who she was. Blake and the usual crew had been with her. She had a good relationship with the crew, and Blake had never done anything to hurt her before. Though Blake had been extra bitchy and diva-like on set lately. This was the first time she’d directed him. Did he have a problem with her being the boss? He’d signed on for all of the Fierce trilogy movies. Why would he risk it? Maybe he thought he was untouchable, in no danger of being fired. Oh, fuck. She nearly slapped her forehead. It all made sense. Blake had nothing to lose. He could do whatever the hell he wanted because he knew the fans wouldn’t accept a substitute Damon. Everyone loved him for the role. She couldn’t very well use a different Damon for the second and third movies of the trilogy.
She went inside the trailer, not liking what she knew she had to do. If Blake was leaking stuff to the press, stabbing her in the back, she had to know before it completely torpedoed the movie. She took a deep breath and made the arrangements for a private lunch meeting in her trailer the next day. Frank would be stationed right outside if she needed him. She didn’t think Blake was the violent type, but you could never be too careful.
The next day, Blake arrived right on time with a no-carb, high-protein lunch—rare steak and spinach. He smiled. “It’s been too long since we had a quiet lunch just the two of us.”
The last time had been when she’d talked to him about taking the role of Damon. “Too long,” she agreed, taking a seat with her own lunch of salad with salmon and two skinny breadsticks. Her stomach turned, knowing what she had to ask him, and she knew she couldn’t eat.