Page 8 of One Life to Loathe

“Isn’t that what we’re supposed to be doing?” he replied as he finally released me. “We’re playing love interests on the show unless I’m mistaken.”

“Oh, right.” I felt like an idiot. Somehow—even though I’d known him for a grand total of nine hours—he always made me feel like an idiot. “I meant what are you doing here?” I gestured toward the door he was standing in front of.

“Oh, you mean my room.” He looked back at the door, his nose wrinkling. “Yeah, I’m not sure why they put us across from one another. I guess they wanted to make sure you didn’t have to search high and low when you wanted a glimpse of me.”

His ego was out of control. “You’re not even that good looking,” I lied. Honestly, he was the best-looking man I’d ever seen in person. I didn’t get to work with the likes of Brad Pritt and George Clooney, though, so that wasn’t necessarily that impressive of a feat.

“Oh, really?” This time when Leo smiled there was genuine amusement in his eyes, and it made him look years younger. That hard edge he carried around with him—seemingly constantly—disappeared. “Just out of curiosity, who do you think is better looking than me?”

The question caught me off guard. “A lot of people.”

“Name one. Brad Pitt and George Clooney don’t count because everybody says them.”

Crap. He was definitely trying to catch me unaware. I said the first name that came to my mind. “Jason Kelce.”

Leo stilled. “The football player?”

“The retired football player, podcaster, and genuine hunk of burning love,” I replied, warming to my subject.

“Don’t you mean Travis Kelce?” he asked finally. “The brother. That’s the one the women find most attractive. The other one is kind of a bear.”

“That’s what makes him hot. He’s a devoted husband, a fun father, a responsible pet owner and he does it not giving one lick what people think about him.”

“Huh.”

I hadn’t even realized we were walking toward the elevator until Leo pushed the button to call it. “Is that all you have to say?” I demanded when he hadn’t spoken for several seconds.

“I’m just impressed,” he said finally.

“Really?” I told myself it was another trap, and yet I walked right into it anyway.

“I thought you would go for a pretty boy. I’m glad to see you appreciating the bear.”

Still waiting for a trap, I stared at him out of the corner of my eye as we got on the elevator. “I don’t trust you,” I said finally.

“You shouldn’t.” He looked deadly serious now. “Nobody who has ever trusted me ended up being rewarded for it.”

Now I was confused. “What is that supposed to mean?”

He just shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. What do you think they’re feeding us for dinner?”

“It’s here in the hotel, right?”

“The bar, but I guess they already ordered off the catering menu. We get to take over the entire bar for the mixer.”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “I’m open to almost anything. Well, except liver. I’m guessing they’re not serving that, though.”

“Probably not,” Leo agreed. He waited for me to exit the elevator first in the lobby. “Just out of curiosity—I can’t remember what my contract said—but is this a naked show?”

That was so not the question I was expecting him to ask. “What?”

“Is it a naked show?” he repeated. “Like … do we get naked together?”

“No!” At least I didn’t think so. I always checked the box that said I was willing to do nudity no matter what. I figured it was better to get the part and then argue after the fact than give them a reason to believe I wasn’t a team player. “Why would you even ask that?”

“Just curious.” Leo gave my legs a long, slow look. “I like your dress.” He moved toward the bar after he said it, as if it wasn’t unexpected and weird.

I watched him go, dumbfounded.What is wrong with this guy?Just on the face of it, it seemed there was a great deal wrong with him. He wasn’t my problem for right now, though. Now was the time for me to meet the rest of the cast. I honestly couldn’t wait.

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