Page 96 of Heavy Shot

"Tonight? Roland planned for us to hit the party at Westin's."

"Roland planned foryouto hit the party at Westin's. I told him I wasn't going. I have other plans."

"You're my date, Jill," Kline said incredulously.

"No, I'm not. I told Roland last week that I wasn't going to that. I'm booked up with you next week and I wasn't going to spend one of my last free weekends watching the who's-who list snort coke at a stupid party."

"Well, that's just great. What am I supposed to do then? Go alone?"

"Or don't go, Kline," Jill sighed. "You can afford to say no once in a while. You're the celebrity, you know, not Roland. He works for you, not the other way around."

"He makes me the celebrity."

"Not true," Jill shook her head."You're a great talent.You were blessed with perfection in the gene pool.You've got a sexy voice.Put all that together and that is why you're a celebrity.You'd be A-list if you represented yourself. You're like the genius kid in the class who hires a tutor just to get that extra tenth of a point."

"Roland's done alright for me," Kline defended. "If he wasn't so good, why did you hire him?"

"I never said he wasn't good at what he does. He is. I think he’s the best at what he does, but just because he tells you to do something doesn't mean you have to jump and do it. I hired him because he's slick and he can get me what I want, but I make sure it's all on my terms. I think the problem is that you don’t have terms."

Kline looked away, cheeks flushed with upset. He refused to look back even when Jill took his hands in hers. "Kline," she said softly. "Kline, look at me."

He huffed but rolled his eyes back to her. "You deserve a break, too. More than a night a week at home with Jack?Don't you want that?"

"Of course I do!"

"Well, is it really smart to be doing all the parties in your legal situation right now? Don't go tonight. Stay home and play with your kid."

"What about the publicity build for the movie?"

"There is already tons of it and we haven't even started filming. Remember bumpwatch? I’m apparently pregnant by you. The work will ultimately speak for itself. When the time comes, we'll make all the appearances and do all the interviews and collect our awards and go home, but until then, take care of real life. That's what I plan to do."

"With Thad?You think that's real life?"

Jill just looked at him, real hurt creeping into her eyes."You know, I'm happy for you when good things happen, Kline. I didn't say I was moving in with, marrying, or falling in love with the guy. I said I had the best date of my life. I said I was happy.Can you not try to ruin that?"

"I'm not trying to ruin it. I just don't want to see you get hurt again," he said, seriously, as he gently rubbed the backs of her fingers. "You've been hurt enough."

"For once I'm not worried about getting hurt. I just want to live without worrying. If I make a mess out of it, I'll clean it up.I thought I'd die when you left, but I didn't. If that didn't kill me, I don't know what would."

Kline sighed and sat back, gently taking his hands away from her and reaching for his drink. "I'm sorry. I won't bring it up again. I'm glad you're happy."

They were silent for a few minutes then she said, "I've been working out more. For the nude scenes.I'm nervous about those."

He nodded. "I'm on two-a-days. I hired Luke Zocchi. He’s killing me."

She smiled crookedly."I can see a difference in how your shirts are fitting. You should let me do an inspection before we start shooting. Just so I'm not overwhelmed by the sight of you."

"You've seen it all before, love."

"True. Okay.Maybe I was just trying to get you naked." She winked.

"Don't tease me. It's not nice."

"Who said I was teasing? I really wanted to see you naked," Jill laughed."I missed all your pool pictures with Rhiannon."

"Yes, one of the more stellar moments in our relationship," he sighed. "I'm sure they wouldn't be difficult to dig up. Apparently, we're still a big hit on the internet. You really haven’t seen them?”

Jill shook her head, "No. I didn’t look. It seemed…intrusive. Just because the pictures were out there didn’t mean I needed to put my eyes on them, you know? Did you want me to see them?”

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