Page 16 of Resisting Her Playboy Boss

‘It has nothing to do with me.’ Ellie shook her head. The full-colour, double-page magazine spread featuring the popular movie-site tour company definitely had nothing to do with her given she’d only been on the payroll the last four weeks.

‘Oh, yes, it has,’ Bridie squealed back at her. ‘You’ve already got a name as the best guideevah—did you know that group of German lads set up a Facebook page as a tribute to the tour? Although the page is mainly about you—they put your picture all over it.’

‘They didn’t.’ Ellie gaped and embarrassment burned her skin from the inside out.

‘Uh-huh. It’s a brilliant piece of word-of-mouth marketing.’ Bridie tapped on her computer, bringing up the website. ‘Or pictures-of-tour-goddess marketing. Because as we know, a picture tells a thousand words. I put a link to it on our website as one of the testimonials, as well as liking it on our own Facebook page, of course.’

‘You didn’t.’ Ellie winced at the picture of her midspiel in front of the remains of the futuristic epic that had been filmed a few kilometres up the road a few years ago—the one that had been a massive hit in Germany. They’d pinched the picture of her from the official company website too, but at least in that one she wasn’t wearing a too-tight replica costume.

‘Yes, and its even been picked up by The List!’

Steffi Leigh was an insanely popular Australian influencer so to get a shout-out on her channel, The List, was just amazing.

‘Now we’re fully booked for the next two months and our Internet bookings are growing at a phenomenal rate and that’s before this article came out.’ Bridie’s smile faded. ‘Although I suspect some of our clients are going to be disappointed that it’s not you taking this tour this weekend.’

‘I’m not taking the tour?’ Surprised, Ellie turned from the cringe-inducing page up on the computer. She was all geared up for it—more than happy to work weekends and extra shifts. It wasn’t as if she had anything else to do. While she was the happiest she’d ever been career-wise in her life, her personal life was dead as a dodo—though she was happy about that too. She was in restorative mode, building her new career, working on her personal issues. That left no room for a man. And she refused, absolutely refused, to think abouthim.Of course last night she’d absolutely failed on that front. And the scenes her subconscious had chosen to replay in her dreams—well, they’d been equally impossible to control.

Now, for some reason, Bridie looked even more excited. ‘No, because I’m sending you on a reconnaissance mission.’

‘A what?’

Bridie looked about to burst. ‘You knowArche?’

Of course she knewArche.The multimillion-dollar dystopian fantasy duo had been filmed almost exclusively in New Zealand. It was one of her favourite film series; she’d listed it first in her tour-guide bio on the company website. There was one stop on her usual tour that had a twenty-second scene in the second film; she always stopped there and re-enacted it for the tourists. Inevitably there was at least oneArche-freak,on the bus who loved it as much as she did.

‘We might be granted access to it.’ Bridie looked about to burst.

‘What?’No one had been able to get into that set. The lower central South Island station where most of the action had been filmed was now one of those exclusive resort things for super-wealthy people. Some ancient South American rock star had opened it up for his equally famous and loaded buddies. It was absolutely the kind of place she wanted to avoid—those kinds of exclusive retreat places made her think about not-so-distant mortifying events.

‘They’re thinking of allowing one tour operator in. And they want one ofourreps to check it out.’

‘And you wantmeto go?’ Ellie gaped.

Bridie nodded furiously. ‘By special request. Apparently they had a mystery shopper on all our tours recently and you’re the guide who impressed them—so much so they want you to go check out the place and come up with some ideas for what you’d cover on a tour there.’ Bridie jumped up from her seat and zipped around the office like a centipede on speed.

‘But that’s crazy,’ Ellie screeched, collapsing into the nearest chair as her legs went woolly. ‘I’m the newest recruit. You can’t possibly trust me to do this.’

‘It’s not crazy.You’rethe one who knows those two films backwards—you can quote whole chunks of the dialogue, I heard you do it with one of those Brits the other day. You might be the newest recruit, but you’re the best, most dedicated guide we’ve got.’

‘But I can’t represent you, I can’t do the whole sales thing.’ While she’d worked heaps on contracts at the location company, Ellie didn’t have the experience to even think of it here.

‘Don’t worry about that.I’llbe covering all access and contract arrangements. All they’re offering at the moment is the opportunity for you to tour the property and come up with the kind of spiel you’d do. They’re concerned that as so much of the set was dismantled, there may not be enough there to build a tour around.’

Ellie rolled her eyes.

‘I know.’ Bridie chuckled near hysterically. ‘Our film buffs would do anything just to see a blade of grass that might have been on screen. All you have to do is take a camera, think about the fans and we’ll work on it when you get back.’

‘You’re not coming with me?’ Ellie’s hands went clammy with that mix of fear and excitement.

‘It’s the height of the season and our bookings have almost trebled. I’m taking your tour this weekend because you’re the best asset to scope this new opportunity. And I’m trusting you with this because I don’t want you head-hunted by another tour company and it’s only a matter of time before they start calling you,’ Bridie said, suddenly looking completely sober and intent. ‘I know it’s early days, but I know how much you love this and we both know how good you are. This is getting so big, so quick, I need someone like you heading it with me.’

Ellie had all but begged Bridie to give her this job when she’d hit the wall so hard at the location company. But it turned out it was the best thing she’d ever done because she loved it more than any other job—even the one where she’d got to fetch the twenty-dollars-a-bottle water for that mega Hollywood star. It was hard work, but it wasfun.And now? She couldn’t believe she had this opportunity. ‘Seriously?’

‘Absolutely.’ Bridie nodded, her smile returning.

‘Okay, then, when am I going?’

Less than twenty-four hours later Ellie stepped off the plane at Queenstown airport dressed in her favourite-fitting jeans, white shirt, boots and her hair swished into a high ponytail. A man waited at the rail with her name scrawled on his board. He smiled and took her backpack.

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