Stunt Doubled: A Movie Star Standalone

“Yeah, I could see him doing that. He’s a prick.”

Kylie shook her head. “Are any men on your movie set not assholes?”

“Some,” I said, thinking of Tanner and Ford.

Kylie got called away again, and when she returned, she had news. “A man over there in the corner wants to buy you both a drink.”

“Not interested,” Sierra said, and I shook my head.

“He says he’s your driver.”

Sierra and I looked over to see her driver waving from a corner table. “Then yes, we’re interested.” She waved back.

“Wait, he’s not drinking, is he?” I asked.

“No,” Kylie assured us. “He ordered the spicy meatloaf special, so it’ll still mess up his stomach lining, but he should be fine to drive.”

“Can you send him dessert after he’s done eating?” Sierra asked.

“Sure,” Kylie said. “We have some really good cherry cobbler in the back.”

“Then why don’t we have some?” I demanded.

Kylie grinned. “I can fix that. And hell, maybe I’ll get one for myself, too.”

15

Aiden

The filming went well Thursday afternoon—much, much better than the love scene rehearsal with Sierra earlier. That had been a disaster. We were going to have to either let her go or just write her out of the script. I could probably generate more heat making out with a snowman than her.

The kicker was that I’d tried. I’d really tried. I’d talked to her beforehand. I explained what I was going to do each time before I touched her. And she still looked like a scared little virgin who’d never acted a day in her life.

Something had to be done, but I’d been a professional. I’d channeled all my anger into the scene this afternoon where I confronted the bad guy and challenged him. Once we added Tanner’s fight scene after it, it was going to look fucking awesome.

And once this damned shoot was done, I could take a vacation. Maybe rent a yacht and tool around the Caribbean. Or anywhere that was far from pretty, pampered young women who—

“Aiden?”

I kicked a rock across the dry, sandy ground and looked up as Ronnie approached. “I was just thinking about you.”

She was smart enough not to take that as a compliment. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Sure.” Did she think I was some kind of ogre who got his kicks screaming at women? She probably did.

“It’s about Sierra. She talked to me a little about the rehearsal this morning, and—”

I put a gentle hand up to stop her but gave her a warm smile. “Wait, you’re looking for Aiden? He went to see Mac after the shooting wrapped up.”

“Oh, sorry, Tanner.”

“Happens all the time.” I reached out and touched the bare skin of her upper arm the way I thought my brother would. God, her skin was soft and smooth. “See you back at home.”

“See you,” she said, and she turned and walked away.

There were some advantages to being an actor—and a twin. Plus, as a bonus, now I got to watch her hips sway as she moved away from me. But then she stopped and whirled around.

Crap.

Ronnie marched back to me. “Nice try.”

To my surprise, my lips twitched into a reluctant smile. “I need to brush up on my Tanner impression. When we were kids, we got away with that all the time.”

She frowned. “Him too?”

“Hell yeah. Whenever an adult showed up ready to give us a scolding or chores, we’d claim to be the other brother.” Ronnie looked a little less pissed now that she knew Tanner engaged in that kind of behavior, too. “So what gave me away? Do you two have some nauseating terms of endearment for each other or something?”

“You’re the one who calls me princess.”

I almost laughed. “Touché.” Ronnie sure as hell wasn’t a shrinking violet. Maybe it was the fact that she was Mac’s daughter. I wished that my costar had even half the gumption that she did. “So what did you and the Stepford wife talk about?”

Ronnie frowned at the nickname. “She’s upset that it didn’t go well this morning.”

“That makes two of us. Or, counting the crew, at least ten of us.” Of course, I wasn’t in danger of getting thrown out on my ass. Sierra definitely was.

“Can’t you give her a break? This is her first big movie, and she wants it to go well.”

“It’s not. And for your information, I was on my best behavior this morning.”

She cocked an eyebrow. “You have good behavior?”

“If the situation warrants it.” Some of the frustration drained out of me as I looked at Ronnie’s earnest expression. “Contrary to what you might think, I don’t want her to fail.”

She nodded, appearing to accept that. “This has been really hard on her.”

“It was hard on me when I started out, and no one sent a committee over to get my costars to be nicer to me.”