Page 14 of Ruthless Passion

"I'm so glad this is the last we'll deal with each other. The both of you can fuck off." Duke spews with venomous hatred. He gets to his feet, shaking his arm, and sidesteps away from me to retreat. A smart decision on his part. When I turn to Josephine, she's red in the face, on the brink of tears.

"Thank you so much. He's never apologized to me…ever." She gazes at me with heroic appreciation and desire.

My motions are fluid as I grab her, pull her into a hug. Moving the loose wavy curl out of her face, behind her ear, the pull between us is undeniable. I kiss her. It's deeper than the passion from our kiss at her audition. This kiss nearly erases my interaction with Duke as I dip my tongue into her mouth and her body molds into mine.

Eventually, we separate, taking a beat and observing our surroundings. It doesn't look like anyone is paying attention to us. "Hey, I'm sorry about that. I hope I wasn't out of line. I'll never stand by to let the likes of that guy disrespect you, or anyone else in front of me."

"It's fine. He's such a shit, but at least we're done."

"Divorced?" I ask, my eyes dropping to the envelope in her hand.

A snort and laugh perk her up immediately. "God, no. I'm already tied to him for a lifetime. That was Jett's father. My son is about to be nine and Duke just handed me documents to terminate his parental rights."

"What a piece of shit." I spot Duke already across the street. He has too much of a bounce in his step for a guy walking away from his responsibility and an armbar hold. Assholes like that are always sore losers. I'm certain that he's up to something. This is far from over.

"That's the average opinion of him. I want to make up for having to deal with Duke this morning. Where should we grab coffee and breakfast?" she asks.

"My place," I tell her without thinking, my gaze still on Duke as I pay attention to the car he's getting into. I make a mental note of the license plate before turning to Jo who's blushing red.

"That kiss was great and all, but don't you think that's moving too fast?" she jokes, but I sense the seriousness in her tone.

"Shit. I should have said more words. “The tentative script is at my house along with all of the production reports. I was working on the contracts last night, but in my rush to get down here this morning, I forgot them at home. We can swing by my place to collect them and head wherever you want after."

"Oh." Relief sighs from her pouty lips. "I guess I can follow you? Did you drive down here? Where did you park?"

I glance up at the skyscraper not too far from us. She turns to see where my line of sight is traveling.

"Impressive." She grins. “I guess I’ll be going with you, then.”

That's the exact reaction I want as I escort her to the top of the Nuvola Scura highrise. The pilot's waiting for us as we hustle under the powerful whirring blades of the helicopter.

White leather seats with gold and wood accents give the interior of the machine a sense of clean comfort. Josephine leans back, relaxing and letting the sound of us fly off to my house on a cliff fill the silence between us.

It lands on the roof of my three-story home. Josephine's face lights up as she stares out at the sea. The drop off isn't steep, but it's a jagged slope; a rough two miles down to a private beach.

"This is gorgeous. It's funny, you know? I drive across the Golden Gate Bridge all the time and see the houses on this cliff side. I can't believe I'm actually standing on one."

"Come, let me give you the tour." Josephine's hand feels small in mine as I lead her around the house. "The garage and helipad are at street level. We can take the elevator down to the two other floors."

The kitchen, office, and entertainment spaces are on the middle level. My bedroom, the guest bedroom, workout area and infinity lap pool on the lowest level. I take her into my office, which is the most impressive room in the house to me. Large windows let me watch ships and waves, while one wall of beige and red bedrock shows the ingenuity of my build team. She runs her hands over the exposed stone of the mountainside.

"How did you do this?" She asks, peeking around the edges of the exposed wall.

"The house has to be anchored into the bedrock of the mountain. Lots of dynamite, steel and an incredible team of engineers." I sort through the pages on my desk. The room's not as clean as I'd like it to be, but the clutter doesn't seem to bother Josephine.

"Is this movie really going to happen?" Josephine blurts out, ending our tour and getting right back to business. It’s a pity. I’d love to see her in my bedroom.

"It is. I think we can go over the script and tweak it to make this a short film. It can be a prequel to the Darkness at Dusk film."

"That's the role I read for yesterday, right? How can the Starlight movie be a prequel if I'm in both films?"

"I've been thinking about that. The premise of Starlight is a siren's revenge on men. Darkness is a story about a zombie uprising. We can say that the men drowned by the siren are the zombies attacking everyone in the movie you read for. Your role as Amber will be to see the aftermath of her drowned victims and inevitably fall victim to her own prejudice and judgment."

"So, no love story?" She frowns but shrugs her shoulders. "That's fine. It's going to be a great movie. Where do I sign up?"

"I thought you'd have more questions. I have Gina, my sister, working on the daycare angle. We have a few people on staff who can use something like that on the studio lot."

"Your sister?" She raises an eyebrow.

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