Page 19 of Behind the Scenes

After she finished speaking, she turned on the table light and sat down in a chair opposite the couch, casually folding her long, tan legs underneath her.

Had she woke him up to ask him why he was sleeping?

“I need to be close to you if I’m going to protect you and find out who’s stalking you, Alexis.”

He watched as a confused look came over her. “But you can’t sleep here on the couch.”

“I told you that’s what I was going to do when we talked earlier.”

“I know, but I figured you’d go with the others until we got things straightened out here.”

“I’m fine. I don’t require much more than a place to lay my head for a few hours each night.”

Alexis leaned forward, clearly interested in what he’d just said. “You don’t sleep much?”

He shook his head. “Haven’t for a long time. Goes back to my time on the force.”

“Me neither,” she said, frowning. “Some nights I’m lucky to get two or three hours of sleep.”

Hunter studied her face and wondered how she could look so beautiful getting so little sleep. Maybe she did something with makeup to make her look that way, but she seemed so natural and unmade up. Then again, he knew nothing of how women made themselves look the way they did. He just appreciated the final outcome.

“Is that because of the letters you’ve been getting?” he asked.

“No. I haven’t been able to sleep much ever since my modeling days. Everyone tells me I should take something to help me get to sleep, but I won’t.”

“Why not?” he asked, curious why she’d choose to not go to sleep.

“That’s a road to ruin,” she said, shaking her head. “I don’t want to become addicted to anything. Not sleeping pills or anything like that.”

Her strength came through loud and clear, impressing him. It would have been nothing for her to have doctors giving her whatever she wanted for anything that ailed her. That she didn’t showed Hunter he’d been wrong about her. She wasn’t the person he thought she was when he first got this assignment.

“That’s smart. Lots of stars have gotten trapped in that world. They don’t come back from it sometimes.”

She smiled. “I bet you’re surprised to say that about me. That I’m smart.”

Hunter shook his head, knowing his denial was at least a half-lie. “Why would you say that?”

“Because you probably thought I would be just another Hollywood diva and not very smart. I mean, I never went to college, but I’m no dummy, Hunter.”

He didn’t know what to say to that. He’d never judged her to be stupid. He hadn’t even thought of her intelligence, in fact. The truth of the matter was like with many other beautiful women, he’d never considered her in any other way than what he saw of her looks in the tabloids and what he heard from Gideon and Xavier before he met her, and that had colored his view of her from the very beginning. Then when he saw her acting spoiled, that seemed to just reinforce what he’d already thought of her.

She fidgeted in her chair and began to look uncomfortable. A few seconds later, she stood and said, “I guess I’ll go to bed now. Have a good night.”

He watched her hurry away toward her room before he lay back down on the couch, unsure what to think of Alexis Marchand. He’d been prepared for a spoiled diva, but her strength and confidence surprised him. Staring up at the ceiling, he thought to himself that Gideon and Xavier had no idea of who Alexis really was.

A flurry ofactivity woke him up a second time, but now at least he’d gotten a few more hours of sleep. Lauren and Carla rushed through the living room with arms full of office supplies, but Hunter’s eyes weren’t focused enough to ask why or really even care. Alexis sure had a way of keeping those women busy.

Whatever they were doing, he had to get a shower if he ever expected to wake up. And coffee. But first, a shower. He grabbed his gun from the floor and stuffed it into his bag behind the couch before slinging it over his shoulder and heading toward the bathroom furthest away from the bedrooms.

As he passed by the office, he saw every piece of furniture had been moved out. Mumbling to himself, he said, “That explains why those two were running around with notepads and whiteboard markers.”

Curious where everything had gone to, he backtracked down the hall and found Alexis’s entire office stacked up in the dining room. Slowly waking up, he looked around and wondered why.

And where the hell was Alexis?

He’d find out soon enough, he felt pretty sure. Making his way back to the bathroom, he ran into Carla. “Where is Alexis?”

She stopped short and a box of pens fell to the floor. Crouching down, she scrambled to pick them up as she explained, “She and Lauren are downstairs waiting for a delivery. But don’t worry. She had the guys here early to help her, so they’re not alone.”

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