Page 65 of Behind the Scenes

The smile slid from her face. “Well, when you put it like that, I guess not. But I still love this place.”

The knock at the front door he’d been dreading since he pulled away from the guard shack came a second later. Hunter knew Freddie would tell anyone who would listen who he’d seen in the car with him, but he’d hoped he and Alexis would have more than a few precious minutes alone before the rest of the estate descended on the cottage.

No such luck, though.

Alexis looked over at him wide-eyed, so he took her hand in his and kissed her softly. “I had a feeling we’d have guests. You’re pretty popular with a few of the guys here. I can send them away, but I’ve got to answer the door at least.”

“Oh, they’re fans of mine?” she asked in a surprised voice.

“Yeah. It seems I’m the only one who’s never seen any of your movies. I need to get out more, I guess.”

She smiled at his tepid attempt at a joke. “I like that you haven’t. It means you like me for me.”

“Well, I do, but brace yourself because these guys like you for entirely different reasons.”

As he walked toward the front door, he just hoped the men he worked with would behave themselves when they met her. Something told him they wouldn’t.

Opening the door, he saw Xavier and Gideon standing there wearing shit eating grins and behind them stood Persephone with a far more serious look on her face. In the distance, Julian hurried across the lawn to join them.

“Hi, everyone. What’s new?” he asked casually.

“We heard you brought a friend home with you. We just came to welcome her,” Xavier said as he leaned around Hunter to peer into the cottage.

“It was a long drive, so maybe later. You know, after we have a chance to relax a little,” Hunter said, trying to put them off.

The way Persephone’s eyes narrowed to slits told him it was no use. They would be coming in, whether he wanted them to or not.

“It wouldn’t be very polite of the owner of this estate to not at least introduce herself and make one of her guests welcome, Hunter,” Persephone said icily.

Gideon and Xavier grinned even wider when he said, “No, I guess it wouldn’t. Please, come in everyone.”

He stepped off to the side and watched as they filed past him directly toward Alexis. Closing the door, he hurried over to help her as they descended on her like a pack of wolves, but she handled them easily. In fact, Hunter felt proud of her as he watched her deal with them with grace and confidence.

Persephone pushed the men who towered over her aside and smiled at Alexis. “It’s very nice to meet you, Miss Marchand. My name is Persephone Gilmore. I’m a huge fan of yours, as are my employees, clearly. What brings you to our little corner of the world?”

Everyone but Alexis picked up on the edge in Persephone’s words. Smiling, she shook hands with the head of Project Artemis.

“Oh, please call me Alexis. I asked Hunter to take me to where he lives, so we got in the car and drove down here from my new apartment in New York City. Your home is gorgeous, Persephone. Thank you for letting Hunter bring me here to see it.”

Hoping his boss wouldn’t turn on Alexis’s kind words, Hunter waited to see Persephone’s reaction and breathed a sigh of relief when she smiled in that way he knew meant she genuinely liked Alexis. What she thought of him he suspected tended toward another emotion entirely.

“Well, I hope you enjoy your stay here. Please come to the main house so I can give you a tour before you leave. It’s not Hollywood, but it’s home.”

“Oh, I will, for sure. Thank you.”

“I need a few minutes of Hunter’s time, so I’m sure you’ll be in capable hands with Gideon, Xavier, and Julian here.”

And with that, Persephone’s sweetness turned as she spun around to look at him while he cringed at her mention of any of the guys having their hands on Alexis. The leader of Project Artemis walked toward him with a flinty look in her dark eyes and her mouth set in a straight line across her face.

“Come with me,” she said in a low voice before walking outside onto the back porch of the cottage.

He followed her, and closing the door behind him so no one would hear what she had to say to him, he walked over to where she stood with her arms folded across her chest. She grimaced at him and didn’t say anything for a long moment as Hunter braced for what would come when she finally did begin to speak.

Her body language alone practically berated him.

“I let you get away with things I shouldn’t because of what Nick thinks of you. But he’s not here at the moment, and I’m going to tell you right now this whole thing is unacceptable, Hunter. You are a good man who I’ve come to rely on, but this is too much. You’ve endangered everything we do here, and for what? So some movie star can enjoy a few days away? Why aren’t you working on the case you were assigned in the place where it’s happening?”

“I work hard for this mission. You know that,” he said, careful in his defense not to anger her more. “You don’t have to worry about Alexis. She won’t tell anyone about this place. I promise.”

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