Page 159 of My Five Daddies

She stares back at me and doesn’t blink. I know she recognizes me. I can see it in her gaze. She remembers the long nights sitting up on her daddy’s porch, talking about our lives, what we wanted from the future. She remembers the way it used to be between us. Even if she’s pretending that she doesn’t, I can seeit.

“You’d like that, wouldn’tyou?”

I have to look away from Tara and over at Holly Hall. She’s tall, blonde, fit, and very pretty. She’s an up and coming star, just like me, and I suspect she’s doing this movie just for a quick buck. She’s playing my love interest in the film, and from the way she’s looking at me right now, she’s either a fantastic actress or she wants to make real life look like themovies.

“You know what I’m saying, girl,” I grumble at her, reading from the script. My character, Brock Brockhard, is a CIA contracted hitman with a dark side and a desire forflesh.

“We’re on this mission together. One pinky out of line, and I’ll break it off.” Holly is playing Helga, the woman from the CIA assigned to make sure that Brock doesn’t get in too much trouble. Of course, she eventually gives herself to him, because women can’t resist a bad boy forlong.

As I damn wellknow.

“All right, be like that. Sit over on that bed, pretend like I ain’t here. But tomorrow, I’ll kill for you, and afterward you won’t see me the same.” I’m trying to act my best, but I can’t help but glance at Tara. She’s watching me, not reading the script like she shouldbe.

“That’s what you do. You’re akiller.”

“I’m a man. With fuckingneeds.”

“You think I care aboutthat?”

“You will.” I pause for two beats. “You fuckingwill.”

“Very good!” Lionel, the German director guy cuts in, and the crowd claps. He has a splash of white hair on top of his gaunt, wrinkled face. He looks like he runs marathons for fun. I don’t know much about him, but I can already tell he’s going to be a pain in the ass to work with, and I bet this movie won’t be halfbad.

“That’s lunch,” Tara calls out. “We’ll be back in anhour.”

The group stands up and starts to mill around. I stand and start toward Tara, but she walks off as fast as she can away from me, and I know I can’t chase her down. I watch her go with a slight frown, but I’m not making a scene on my first fuckingday.

“Hey, that wasn’t toobad.”

I turn around and Holly is standing there, a pretty smile on her red lips. I don’t trust her, not one bit. I’ve seen what girls like her can do with just asmile.

“I think it won’t suck,” I say toher.

She laughs at my stupid joke. “That scene’s a little heavy-handed. But we can make it work. Just needs a little chemistry on screen,huh?”

“Yeah,” I grunt. “You’re right aboutthat.”

She laughs and pats me on the arm. “Come on, let’s grab something toeat.”

“Sure,” I say. I glance around for Tara, but I can’t find her. Looks like I’m stuck with Holly fornow.

Lunch passes quickly. Holly isn’t too high maintenance. She’s nice enough, not really my type, but I think she won’t be too difficult to work with at least. She can act, does her own stunts, and she’s not bad to look at. I’ll be able to handle her, atleast.

We get back to work after eating. We read through the script, Lionel makes some comments, and Tara runs the whole thing more or less. She’s like the director’s right-hand lady, and she looks better every time I glance ather.

Her deep blue eyes strike me in a way no other woman has ever been able to before. And I’ve been with plenty of women. I’ve fucked my fair share of groupies and fame-seekers ever since my big movie came out, and plenty more before that, too. Not so much during my time overseas in the SEALs, but still. I’ve done pretty well formyself.

Tara is on a whole other level. Thick dark hair, deep blue eyes, smooth pale skin, gorgeous figure. She looks a little uptight, but I think that’s because she’s uncomfortable with menearby.

I don’t blame her. She doesn’t know why I left, or at least I never told her. I never answered her letters, never made any attempt to contact her. Back then, I thought it would be better for both of us if I justdisappeared.

It wasn’t, not at all. Not even fucking close. I thought about her every day those first few years. And slowly she faded, but she never wentaway.

When I got home, I tracked her down. I found out that she moved out to LA and so I moved out here too. That’s how I found myself in this crazy situation. I thought I’d become a stunt guy, earn some cash, get myself in good shape, and then look her up. Instead, I became a moviestar.

My plan hasn’t changed, though. I’m still here to hunt her down and make hermine.

The read-through goes well for the rest of the day and when it’s over, everyone stands around the table and talks about the movie. Normally the cast and crew would go out and celebrate a little bit, do some of that team bonding bullshit. I’ll go if everyone else does, but I have something more important to dofirst.

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