Page 79 of Beneath the Blindfold

But I never got used to the billboard. Lap after lap, she stared at me with eyes full of hunger and sex. I couldn’t stop staring at it.

“It shouldn’t be there much longer,” I said, my voice tight. “The movie came out today.”

“It’s porn.” Rob shook his head in disgust. “Worse. That spanking crap? No woman should want to be treated like that. Little girls see that billboard and think, what? That a whore is a role model?”

I ripped at the neck closure on my suit, opening it, and unzipped the front. I’d do anything to keep my hands busy so I didn’t tense them into fists. Rob would notice. And then he’d ask, and I wouldn’t be able to keep my goddamn mouth shut. We were too close to race day for me to unload on the judgmental asshole.

Anna played an escort in the movie, but it wasn’t porn—I knew because I went to a midnight showing last night.

By myself.

I’d put on a baseball cap and kept it slung low over my eyes, so no one would recognize me, and I probably looked like the biggest creep in the universe. I’d sat in the corner of the theater, wanting the movie to start before someone saw me, but also dreading the moment the lights went down. It was the point of no return—I wasn’t going to be able to unsee a completely naked Anna.

I hadn’t lied to Rob—I hadn’t slept well last night. Hadn’t really slept at all.

I wiped the line of sweat off my forehead with the back of my hand as I stalked to my RV, anxious for a shower. I climbed the steps inside, and as I stripped out of my suit, my phone in my bag chimed with a message.

Anna:How did your run go?

I sent back a GIF of a sloth trying to cross a road, its clawed arm reaching slowly across the asphalt.

Anna:Oh no! Was it the front again?

No, it’s because I’ve seen you naked, and it’s all I can think about.

Last year, I’d struck up a conversation with her and... it never ended. We chatted every day. Some nights we’d talk for hours. If she was filming or I was at the track, it would be a quick back-and-forth exchange. But I hadn’t gone more than twenty-four hours without chatting with her in months.

One year and more than a thousand messages, and Anna Douglas had become my best friend.

Me:This time it was the opposite. I was fighting the wheel the whole time.

Anna:I’m sorry. Was Rob any help or did he just bitch about the billboard again?

I’d had too many beers two weeks ago and accidentally mentioned Rob’s annoyance with the wall-to-wall promo forThe Blindfold Club. She acted like it was funny, but it was hard to tell through text, and I wondered if it bothered her. I wasn’t about to tell her what he’d said today.

Me:He was the same. We’ll figure it out.

Anna:Are you going to be ready to watch in a few hours?

I grinned. When I found out she hadn’t seenGame of Thrones, I talked her into watching. It only taken three episodes of her shooting me random commentary before I’d begun re-watching the show with her. We’d finished the Red Wedding episode on Wednesday while she was flying overseas, and naturally she was dying to see what happened next.

Me:I think so. What time is it where you are?

Her movie came out today, but the Hollywood premiere had been last week. She was in the European phase of her press tour now, jetting all over the place, and I couldn’t keep track. Was she still in Paris?

Anna:It’s 10pm. I’m in a cab on my way to a post-screening party. Side note: traffic in London is awful.

Side note: I’ve seen you naked, and you’re even more gorgeous than I imagined.

Me:Never been. How is it otherwise? Good sights?

Anna:I only know what the hotels look like. :-( It’s been one press junket to the next. Not to sound ungrateful, but I’m ready for this to be over.

Anna:I kind of want to go somewhere and just be a tourist, you know?

My ass hit the couch. The beginnings of an idea assembled in my head. I wasn’t a patient guy. When I figured out what I wanted, I went after it, and the first step of my plan was being in the same room as her.

Me:You need a vacation. Me too. Let’s do it.

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