Page 53 of Bad Reputation

“Thanks, Maggie.” There was a long pause, and then, more heavily, Tasha said, “Thank you.” It was clear she was trying to communicate several things with that, and Maggie appreciated every one.

“You’re welcome” was all she said. Tasha obviously didn’t want to have an in-depth conversation about each and every one of her feelings. At the end of the day, Maggie could only be pleased that they’d finally gotten to a productive place.

When Tasha left to change and return her costume to the assistant waiting outside the rehearsal room, Cole shrugged back into his regular shirt—which was a bit of a shame. Those were a lot of lovely muscles.

Maggie felt a little guilty about even noticing that. When this was over, it would be nice to go back to ogling him without feeling an uncomfortable twinge.

“That was great,” he said enthusiastically. “This is going to be awesome.”

“Yup, it’ll be instantly iconic. It’s going to launch a zillion GIFs.”

At minimum, Maggie was certain that she’d be watching it on repeat.

“Your notes today,” she told him, “they were really good. You get this guy, and you have great instincts.”

He scratched his cheek. “I don’t always feel great about weighing in.”

“You’re doing amazing work onWaverley, Cole. I get the sense you don’t always feel confident about it, but you should. I’m here anytime you need to be reminded of that.”

“Anytime?”

For a second, the question hung between them, crimson and glowing as a brand fresh from the fire.

I wish I could be.That was how she wanted to answer.

But as always, Cole saved her. He let the heat drop from his eyes; then he kicked his feet into his shoes and scooped up his bag before leaving Maggie alone.

Which was exactly how she didn’t want to be. Not anymore.

Chapter 13

INT. COLE’S TRAILER

There was an ancient Hollywood joke about how you did the acting for free; the paycheck was for the waiting around. As Rhiannon would probably say,Where’s the lie?Two hours into twiddling his thumbs in his trailer, Cole was grateful for the distraction when his phone rang.

“Drew, you’re up early.” As far as Cole could tell, his agent never slept. He seemed to rise with the sun, spend the entire day in the office, and make appearances at parties late into the wee small hours—every night.

The man might actually be a vampire.

“Gotta hustle for my favorite client.”

The next time he was at a Hollywood party, Cole was going to ask around and figure out by what order of magnitude that was a lie. Cole knew it wasn’t true, and Drew knew Cole knew. The compliment was that Cole was important enough to be on the receiving end of the ass-kissing.

“What’s up?”

“I strong-armed Brett into letting me make this call. But honestly, this is thanks to me.”

Parsing these things was impossible. Drew could be telling the truth, or he could be taking credit from Cole’s PR guy. Drew did thatsometimes. But then again, he was the person Cole was supposed to be able to trust the most. It wasn’t that big a deal if Drew assumed the wins and the losses for the entire team.

“Look, right after you finishWaverley, you’re going to shoot”—Drew paused for dramatic effect—“the cover spread forGQ.”

“No way.” That was legitimately a big deal. Cole had doneMen’s Healthseveral times, but there seemed to be some barrier keeping him from the higher-profile stuff. AGQcover was several rungs up the ladder.

“Yup. It’s happening because Videon is thrilled—I meanthrilled—with the footage. They’re talking a big Emmy campaign, For Your Consideration ads everywhere, the works. This cover would just be the spear tip of what they want to do. And here’s the best part: Jake Cloobeck can do it, but it has to be two days after the wrap party.”

Damn it. Cloobeck was one of Cole’s favorite photographers, but they’d never been able to work together. Cole tended to get stuck with folks who were a little less established and who had less of a vision. That was the reality of life on the almost-B-list.

“What if the shoot runs over?” Zoya was keeping things on track, but Scottish weather was unpredictable.

---