Page 10 of Behind the Scenes

As she watched in horror, the door opened against her explicit instructions and Paul walked in with a man Alexis had never seen before. Smiling, her manager showed the man off like he’d just created him in a lab or something.

“Alexis, this is Hunter McKary. He’s the man we talked about earlier today. He just arrived, so I wanted to introduce the two of you.”

Her gaze traveled from Paul to this Hunter person and then down the full length of his body, from head to toe. Her first impression was he looked like a cop. Or someone who could play a cop in the movies. He had short brown hair a little too much like that ex of hers, but his face had a rugged look she liked in men. This Hunter certainly didn’t have a pretty boy appearance so many of her co-stars had lately.

He didn’t smile, which unnerved her. There he stood in her home and he couldn’t even crack a tiny smile on their introduction? That seemed rude. He was probably one of those stereotypical overly serious bodyguard types she’d never liked.

She did like how that rugged look made him appear tough, so maybe she could tolerate the sour puss thing he had going on. For once, though, she wished the men who came into her life didn’t look like stone cut outs of real men.

As that drifted through her mind, her gaze slid down to his body again. He looked hard there too, like he could protect someone. Well, if his job was going to be doing just that for her, he fit the bill.

“Alexis, did you hear me?” Paul asked, tearing her out of her thoughts about Hunter.

She stood up and extended her hand to shake his hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Hunter. How long have you been a bodyguard?”

He shook her hand for a moment and then pulled his away abruptly. “I’m not a bodyguard. I spent time as an LAPD detective, and now I work for Project Artemis as a specialist helping people who need protection. A bodyguard is what the world will think I am, but trust me. I’m far more than just a mere bodyguard.”

She stood shocked at how terse he’d been. Unnecessarily terse considering she’d been more than polite with him.

Cocky men were top on her list of things she didn’t want to deal with in life, so she needed him to understand she wouldn’t be treated rudely like that, no matter how much Paul thought of his boss.

“Well, if you’re anything like the cops in LA now, I don’t see what you could possibly do for me. They haven’t been able to find out the identity of my stalker for months, and I’ve had to move clear across the country because they couldn’t do their jobs.”

Hunter remained stone-faced as she spoke, and when she finished, he said nothing to her. Not a single word. Instead, he turned toward Paul and said, “I need to know the layout of this whole place. Anywhere someone can get in, I want to know about it.”

Then he walked out, leaving her standing there feeling insulted and wondering what made this guy think he could pull that cocky shit on her. How dare he ignore her like that! He worked for her. Who did he think he was?

Paul remained behind, smiling as if things had gone swimmingly. God, did he ever not think everything was just fine?

Pointing at the door Hunter had just walked through when he left so rudely, she asked, “And you think that person is going to be the one who helps me get my life back?”

He looked away and nodded. “Well, he isn’t exactly the chattiest guy in the world, but I trust Persephone. If she thinks he can help, I say give him a chance.”

“Says the man who promised me that moving cross country to this awful place would solve my problems. I’m guessing this Persephone finds his Cro-Magnon routine perfectly acceptable, but I don’t. If you think I’m going to take being treated like that in my own home by some for-hire security guard, you can forget it. Tell him to go find a job at the mall because I’m not having it!”

Alexis sat back down on her comfy chair and folded her arms across her chest as steam practically shot out the top of her head she was so furious at Paul for bringing that man to her home. She wouldn’t be treated like some insignificant thing who didn’t even deserve an answer by any man, least of all some stranger in her own home.

“Lexi, just listen to me. Give him a chance. I promise you Persephone wouldn’t have sent him if she didn’t think he could help. Just give him a week. If you don’t like him by that time, then he’s gone. Promise me you’ll give him at least that long, though?”

The look on Paul’s face told her he was worried, and he had good reason to be. She’d had enough of men pushing her around for an entire lifetime. She wouldn’t be taking this Hunter guy’s shit not one more time.

“The problem isn’t with me, so you’re wasting your breath talking to me, Paul. The problem is with him. He’s rude to the person he’s supposed to be helping and in her own house, no less. If he can’t change his attitude, then he’ll have to leave and not after a week. Now. So you have a choice. You can continue to stand here and stare at me with that terrified look in your eyes, or you can go find your friend’s guy and explain to him how things go here at Casa Alexis. Whatever you do, shut the door on your way out and tell Lauren I want to see her.”

He scurried away, knowing full well she meant every word she’d said. She didn’t make hollow threats. Not to men who cheated on her and then thought she’d merely stand idly by when they stepped out with other women, and certainly not about a man she’d just met and already didn’t like enough to want him thrown out into the street on his ear.

Reaching down, she picked up the script for Haunted By Love off the floor and flipped to the last page she’d read. After only a few lines, it became apparent trying to focus on anything would be a complete waste of time, so she threw the script across the room in frustration. It knocked over a lamp, which crashed to the floor and smashed into a million pieces.

This day just got better and better.

Her head began to pound from a stress headache as a result of Hunter McKary and his rudeness. She didn’t want to play a victim in any more films or in her own life either anymore. Even more, she didn’t want to be someone the Hunters of the world thought they could ignore so easily and never pay a price.

She heard a light tap on the door she recognized as Lauren’s signature knock and called out, “Come in!”

Her best friend and assistant peeked her head around the door and smiled. “Paul said you wanted to see me?”

Alexis nodded and waved her in. “Yes. I need to see a friendly face after meeting that odious man.”

Lauren closed the door and came over to sit down on the floor in front of her. With her usual sweetness, she touched her hand and smiled. “It didn’t go so well? He looked very handsome, at least.”

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