Page 64 of Bring me Back

“So, you were a jock, right?”

His eyebrows shot up. “Is now the time…?” He trailed off, confused.

I shook my head, raising my hand. “What I mean is, you were on an assembly team before.”

Daniel’s lips quirked up. “The way you say it sounds like I was a part ofOcean’s Eleven. But sure, I played ball in school.”

I nodded.

“And college.”

I winced. I had to keep my prejudices in check. “What’s happening is that the main cast got so much work done they can carry a scene. But the rest of them… They need practice. They need to interact with the rest of the team.”

Look at me, speaking sports.

“I think for some of them it's still a little awkward to be on stage.” I thought out loud. “Like thread going from one texture to the other. The transition needs to be seamless, but right now, most of them barely belong.”

“They need to feel like they are part of the team.” He repeated, thinking about my advice. “Will we call Helen and…”

“No.” I was firm. “I think you should do things your way. We know the problem. We won’t be able to do things like Mrs. Carr, because we aren’t her. And I could tell the last phone call was a nightmare.”

Daniel sagged his head down. “That’s an understatement. Helen works on feelings, emotions and whatnots. I wanted directions, and she told me parables of the bible.”

“Really?” I scrunched my nose.

He lifted one shoulder up. “She might as well.”

“One more reason for you to take the reins. Just get them acting like a team, use an exercise, involve everyone. I don’t know. But don’t do it Mrs. Carr’s way, because I’m sure we will suck at that.”

He nodded, looking away as the thoughts formed in his mind and then turned back to me. “Were you always that smart, Ms. Delos Santos?”

“Yes.”

That made him chuckle, and I did too. “After dinner… when they go to bed… Do you want to meet?”

He asked like I was ever going to say no. My body has been buzzing since our kiss. I looked him up in his eyes and nodded. We were lost in each other when a throat cleared, bringing us back to Camp Nightfall. I gulped when I found the kids back, all of them watching us with smirks.

Great.

Just… ugh.

Irubbed my mouth as I looked out front, determined not to get distracted.

Hallie was wearing one of her denim shorts over a swimsuit. Black and backless. It was tame, sweet and perfect for swimming with teenagers, but my dirty mind was too far gone. Her legs were long and perfectly shaped. Her skin was pale and smooth. I couldn’t look in her direction. I simply couldn’t.

We brought the kids to the hot springs. I prepared myself for the worse, so I lectured the boys non-stop before we even left the cabin. I told them they weren’t allowed to lurk on the girls, to make them uncomfortable or comment on their bodies. I said it so many times, I was pretty sure they were now avoiding all eye-contact.

I didn’t think about how Hallie would affect me, though. I brought the boys first, and then a couple of minutes later, the girls came along, guided by Hallie.

My mouth went dry when I saw her. Her hair was piled on top of her head, and all I wanted was to taste her long, graceful neck. The swimsuit had a small dip in the front and I wanted to drag down and expose her tits. So I did just like the boys, and avoided eye contact.

I brought my sunglasses further up my nose and kept as far as I could from Hallie as we both watched the kids frolicking in the water. They were all in a good mood since our first disastrous rehearsal. After I came up with a few silly exercises, they relaxed and the next time we tried was a tremendous improvement.

Later that afternoon, Pandora had them for a full hour and she seemed thrilled. Her advice was much more technical than I could understand, and she seemed to take a shine to Delilah.

Sure, I hated the Campbell family, but even I couldn’t deny that Delilah was a good actor.

Scott Garcia, who seemed to decide he was Puck reincarnated, jumped in the water again, splashing everyone, including me.

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