Page 23 of Grumpy Billionaire Boss Protector

“You sure you don’t need help going into another room?”

He shakes his head and pats the crutches propped up beside the couch. “Once I’m done with work, I’m heading straight to bed. That won’t be too much of a problem.”

I nod and start for the door.

“And Carter?” Luke says. I turn around to face him. “I know you’ve been through a lot, but it’s okay to let someone in. You never know. Maybe this time it’ll be the real thing.”

For a moment, I don’t say anything. I’ve already carved out a life for myself that makes it far too easy to keep people out. Aside from my best friend, I’ve been certain for a long time that no one can be trusted. Mia is no different. She may have helped inspire my show, so she’s now assisting me in honing out the details, but that’s where her prominence in my life ends.

“I’ll talk to you later, Luke,” I say, ready for this discussion to be over.

I turn around and head for the exit before Luke can interject any further.

Chapter 11

Mia

“Whatdoyouthinkabout Paris?” I ask Gavin, the head screenwriter for the romcom series.

We’re sitting at the conference table in Carter’s office, seated side by side so I can overlook Gavin as he works on the script. Carter stepped out for a meeting about twenty minutes ago but said he wouldn’t take long. Honestly, I’m hoping he comes back sooner rather than later. He promised he’d bring back coffee for us since his meeting was at a café down the street.

Gavin nods at my suggestion, and his golden-brown hair bounces a little. “Paris would be great,” he says. “As long as the filming regulations can support our filming demands. I would suggest having some other choices, too. Just to be on the safe side.”

“Filming in Europe is a lot harder than I thought,” I say, clasping my hands together on the table.

“You’ve never worked on a production filmed overseas?” Gavin asks.

I study his kind expression. He has to be around my age. Despite having my strict no-friends-at-work rule in place for the duration of my internship, I have to admit I’ve enjoyed working with Gavin so far. He’s a lot of fun to talk to and is willing to teach me the aspects of production that are new to me.

I shake my head. “The last company I worked at was much smaller, so we kept all of our productions local. We actually had a budget.” I chuckle.

Gavin smiles. “Not here at Cogswell Productions.” He taps the planner I have in front of me on the table. “The only limitations we work with are the regulations.”

I sigh. “I hope we can make Paris work. I don’t think we can get any more romantic than that. Monaco would be another ideal location.” I open my planner and thumb through it. “Actually, there were some locations in Italy I thought would be nice. At least, based on the images I found online.” Who knows if the actual location does the photos justice?

He laughs, humored by my ramblings. “For someone who’s never produced anything overseas, you sure know your locations.”

“I’m a visual person,” I say with a proud grin. “Once I get the perfect image in my head, Ihaveto make it work. That’s why Paris and Monaco better be willing to adjust their film regulations for us. Now that I really consider it, Monaco is my dream location.”

He snickers. “We could probably get away with filming in less restrictive locations outside of both areas. I think some countryside locations might actually be nice.”

“I agree.” I give him a thumbs up.

I haven’t been working at Cogswell Productions long, but I’m already having a lot more fun here than at my previous job. The initial frustration I felt is almost completely gone. Everyone here is so talented yet easygoing. Money and success might play a factor in this. Studio 42 was always reaching for cash any way we could get it, which put a lot of pressure on our productions. Here, it feels safe to fail. Of course, that isn’t my intention at all—I refuse for this show to flop—but it’s nice to have the pressure off for a change.

“Is it difficult working with a big screenwriting team?” I ask as I close my planner. “At my last job, we only had a single screenwriter for most of our projects. I can’t imagine how it must be working with multiple people.”

“It’s actually not that bad.” Gavin makes a few minor corrections to the page of the script he has open. “Once you, Carter, and I solidify the plot and locations, it’ll all be smooth sailing from there. It’s actually really nice to get input from a lot of people. I can’t remember what it was like coming up with everything on my own anymore.”

I sit up tall, thrilled to finally have someone to geek out on this kind of stuff. “That’s what I love about TV and film production. Everyone putting their heads and skills together to create quality storytelling.”

Gavin’s brown eyes peer over at me, lit up with the same enthusiasm I possess. “You seem pretty cut out for all of this,” he says. “I’ll definitely put in a good word for you when the internship nears its end. We need more people like you on our team.”

I set my hands in my lap and smile. “Thanks. I appreciate that.”

“I heard your writing samples were pretty good. Do you have any interest in screenwriting?”

I shrug. “I like to write, but it can become a bit tedious for me. I think I like producing better. I have more fun when I’m making decisions than actually writing.”

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