Page 28 of Out of the Shadow

Our conversation is interrupted when a gift shop door opens in front of us. None other than Poppy Mayflower strolls out. Great. I’m sure this isn’t a coincidence. For someone who wants nothing to do with our show, she’s ensuring she makes her mark on it. Taking a deep breath, I say, “Hi, Poppy.”

She jumps and twirls around to face us in a less-than-convincing show of surprise. Rubbing her hand over her perfectly coiffed blonde hair, she replies, “King,” and walks toward me, arms outstretched.

I bring her in, and she gives me air kisses. Before she pulls back, she whispers, “I see you’re shooting that awful show. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Now, Poppy. Is that any way to talk to a leading man?”

Fake smile on her face, she replies, “Withthatas your leading lady, I wouldn’t be boasting.”

Praying Angie didn’t hear her, although there’s little chance of that given she’s standing two feet away, I wink and step back. “What brings you to this part of town?”

She flips her hand. “Oh, you know. This and that.”

Behind us, Kaitlyn yells, “CUT!”

Thank fuck. “That’s our cue, Poppy. We better get back.”

Poppy makes a show of looking both of us up and down. “I can see how seriously you’re taking your real estate role, wearing bathing suits. Making a total spectacle of yourselves, if you ask me.”

“We weren’t,” Angie snaps.

Angie’s nostrils flare as she stares Poppy down. Her bravery, her audacity, thrills me. For her part, Poppy grimaces. “Can’t say I’m surprised to see you out here wearing that, Angie. With a pathetic group of reality show cameras following you.”

Angie straightens to her full height—still barely to my shoulder—and stares Poppy down. “Upset because they didn’t pick your agency?”

“Ha. I wouldn’t be caught dead on that stupid show. And none of the reputable real estate agents out here would either. So they obviously had to go slumming.”

Angie laughs. “Sure. Tell yourself that’s the reason, and not the fact that the camera doesn’t like your—”

“Okay, ladies,” I intervene. This is escalating into dangerous territory, although I can’t deny part of me enjoys seeing Angie this worked up. I wrap my arm around her waist, ignoring the way she stiffens next to me. “We have things to discuss, Poppy. See you.” I forcibly turn away, all but dragging Angie down the sidewalk toward the office, her silky brown hair brushing against my naked torso.

For the sake of my sanity, I release my co-star. “I was handling her,” I say. “But thank you for sticking up for the show, and for us. You’re fierce, do you know that?”

She tugs on the bottom of her hair. “I’ll take that as a compliment. One you’d better not forget.”

I lick my lips. “When you’re fighting on my side, you make me feel all special.”

She elbows me in the ribs. “Don’t be a dick—I just hate that woman.”

We stop in front of Kaitlyn. Ignoring how right Angie felt against my body, I pay attention as Kaitlyn hands us notes for tomorrow’s shoot and says we’re going to start at nine o’clock.

While the crew packs up from today, I stop at Angie’s desk. We haven’t had time to change yet, but Angie pulled a multi-colored dress over her bathing suit. Shelley in wardrobe said we could keep them. “What’s on your agenda for the rest of today?”

She consults her calendar, which looks empty to me. “I was thinking about reviewing these notes.” She puts her hand on top of the stack of papers Kaitlyn gave us. “Besides, I have to sort through all the paperwork from the new clients we brought in this morning.”

I suspect we’ll be lucky to end up with one real client out of this morning’s shoot, but it won’t help to say it, so I rub my stubble. “Want to go over the notes together?”

“Shouldn’t we do that separately? We may be doing this together, but it’s sort of a competition.”

I rap on the top of her desk, causing Marlene’s head to pop up over the reception desk. “We can still help each other strategize. Make it a more interesting show. How about this? We’re both dressed for the beach, why don’t we go out there and take our homework with us? We can go over these notes and you can share some real estate insights that I might not have learned for the test.”

“Well, I don’t know.” She tugs on her hair again, and I have to bite back a smile.

“Come on, it’ll be fun. I’ll get you back before your husband gets off work. Consider it a planning session.” For some reason, I want to spend more time with this off-limits woman. Maybe it’s because she went all She-Ra on Poppy. Or because none of my usual ways work on her. Or perhaps I admire her dedication to her profession—a career that unexpectedly intrigues me.

Maybe it’s all of those things.

At my suggestion, I swear she flinches, but it’s a momentary thing and I’m not sure I saw it. She turns her head and looks at Marlene before replying. “I really shouldn’t.”

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