Page 37 of Shooting for his Heart
“Oh, I thought that was obvious.”
“Are you getting hungry? I’ve been eyeing that food truck with the curry goat.”
“Curry is too spicy for me, but I would love to have some oxtail.”
“Well, let’s eat.”
Marshawn understood that I was a foodie, and he loved it. Over the past couple of days, we had spent almost every waking moment together. As much as I loved working on the film, I was dreading everyone coming back. I didn’t want to think about what that meant for Marshawn and me and whatever we were doing.
I was so afraid that things would go back to normal. I wasn’t going to make things awkward by asking a bunch of questions. It wasn’t like I had never had sex with no strings attached, but this felt different. The more time I spent with Marshawn, the more time I wanted to spend with him. I just hoped I wasn’t becoming too attached and setting myself up for disappointment. Lord knows I’d had enough of that to last a lifetime.
As much asI loved what I did, it was kind of bittersweet having to go back to work after the week Vonnie and I spent together. It was important for me to maintain a level of professionalism while at work, but I missed being able to lean over and touch or kiss her at will. To avoid any speculation, I’d stayed away from her and Gia’s workspace for the past week. I hadn’t invited them back into my space since we started filming again.
I hoped Vonnie didn’t feel like it was because we’d had sex. Well, it was… but it wasn’t because I had fucked her every night for the past week, and now I was done with her. It was actually the complete opposite. Now that I had a taste of her, I wanted her even more. I wanted to take things to the next level, but I knew not to let what we had interfere with our work. Vonnieappeared to be on the same page because the only time we saw each other now was in the middle of the night.
Things with Vonnie were easy and fun—two things I didn’t even know I needed in my life. She was so carefree that her mere presence made me feel good. As promised, we’d seen our share of second lines while we were out exploring the city. This girl had even gotten me to jump into one with her. We danced along and followed the line for an entire block where she’d convinced me to crash a fucking wedding. Never in a million years would I have ever crashed a wedding, not even in my drunken college days. The bride and groom thought she was so cute and hilarious that they invited us to stay for cake. Even if I couldn’t say how smitten I was with her out loud, deep inside, I was absolutely in love. I dreaded the end of filming as if it were my last movie.
I watched from afar as she worked on touching up the makeup of a few of the cast members. My jaw tightened as one of the generals chatted her up. Tate Tucker was a veteran actor and a known ladies’ man in the industry. His charm was apparent by the way Vonnie giggled as he made one of his corny-ass jokes. I wanted to storm over there and snatch him up just for talking to my girl.
“Marshawn, are you listening to me?”
I hadn’t even noticed Gia and Anton coming over, so hell no, I wasn’t listening to anything he said.
“Not really,” I confessed.
I tried to ignore the way Gia narrowed her eyes after following my line of vision. Luckily, she didn’t say anything as Anton repeated his series of questions. His issues were simple, so after I gave him simple answers, he was on his way. Unfortunately, Gia stayed behind to give me the third degree.
“So, the feelings are mutual,” she stated from the observations she made.
“What feelings?” I asked, opting to play dumb rather than showing my hand.
“That deflection was confirmation, Shawn. Why don’t you tell her that you’re into her? She’s afraid to get fired, so she’s never going to admit she has a crush on you.”
“What makes you think?—”
“Cut the bullshit, Marshawn. Tell the girl how you feel. You’re running out of time. We’ll be done filming soon.”
“Thank you for that unsolicited advice, Gia.”
“You’re welcome,” she said, plopping down in the chair next to me.
“Who told you to sit in my chair?”
“How is this your chair when you’re in your chair?” Gia quizzed.
I couldn’t come up with a response because after Vonnie’s hearty laughter filled the air, my eyes were once again on her and Tate. He wasn’t getting anything done, so I really needed him to move around. This was part of the reason I didn’t mix business and pleasure. Now that our shit was already mixed, I wasn’t about to let some fool try to sweet-talk Vonnie out of her panties. Pushing out of my seat, I marched over to them.
“Can I holler at you for a minute, Evonne?”
“Uh, yeah. Give me a minute, Tate,” Vonnie requested.
“Nah, you don’t have to. Find something productive to do, Tucker.”
The face Tate made almost made me smack the shit out of him, but thankfully, he went on his way. It wasn’t his fault he didn’t know he was pushing up on my woman. She didn’t even know she was mine yet.
“What’s up?” Vonnie asked, oblivious to the fury erupting inside me.
“Keep that nigga out of your face.”
