What sort of magic spell did this woman weave?
Even her stuck-up attitude, which had initially been a turn-off, had become one of the things that made him hornier than hell. The sass that came out of her lovely mouth… He never knew what to expect next, half of her words making his hand itch with the need to spank, the other half making his c**k twitch with the need to bury inside her. A fair amount of what she said made him want to do both.
Yes, he’d have to find a way to see her again. And soon.
After he worked out how to see her again, he’d have a big decision to make. Tell her the truth about his career or continue to let her think he worked in Hollywood as a carpenter?
He glanced over at Erica’s sketch of his favorite spot in the San Gabriel Mountains that he had pinned on a bulletin board above his desk, the only remnant of his time with her. He should’ve thrown it out ages ago, seeing how it always brought up a painful ache when he looked at it. But, besides the fact it was a damn good piece of art, it served as a reminder of a dream he hadn’t yet fulfilled. One day he intended to build a cabin on that land. It was supposed to have happened with Erica. Now…
Now the plan had to wait. He couldn’t even think about it. Not while the sketch still held so many memories of his past, promises of a future that didn’t come to fruition.
He closed his eyes and let thoughts of her settle on him. Erica. She’d been an artist—a painter mostly—that he’d hired for a film he’d designed. It wasn’t love at first sight, but their feelings developed pretty quickly. He’d thought at first that her interest in him might be solely based on the fact that he was her boss—that he could get her places. Then they grew closer, eventually moving in together. Finally, he proposed.
He hadn’t set out to hide his past from her—it just never came up. How did you tell a woman that your father was in jail? That you had your own juvie record? He didn’t like to talk about it back then, so he didn’t share it with her. After they were engaged, and they began working on guest lists for the wedding and she wanted to know whether to include his parents, well, he had to tell her.
And she’d left. Because, as she had said, “Children follow in their father’s footsteps. How could I possibly have children with you?”
Funny, he thought he’d turned out pretty damn fine.
But he wasn’t going to hide his past from a woman again. It was who he was, what made him. Maybe he was going too far in hiding his present from Heather, but he didn’t trust as easily as he used to. His trust had to be earned.
Okay, maybe he was making excuses for himself, but he never said he was perfect.
His cell phone rang and he didn’t hesitate to grab it from the corner of his desk. He deflated when he looked at the caller ID. Joe Piedman. Not Heather. He’d suspected that she wouldn’t call him, but he still hoped, jumping every time his phone rang, and swallowing the disappointment when he realized it wasn't her.
Though he was disappointed this time too, a call from Joe might help him with his empty calendar. A fellow project designer, Joe was a good friend as well as a colleague. Often they’d throw work each other’s way when one of them was too busy to take a great offer. Hopefully that was why Joe was calling now.
“Joe, just the guy I wanted to hear from.”
“Oh, really?”
“I’m hoping you have a line on a job. I have a hole in my calendar.”
Joe chuckled. “That’s too bad. Something fell through?”
“Postponed. It’s a downer, but what can you do?”
“Just go with the flow,” Joe said. “Well, I do have a job, but not for you. Maybe you know someone who can fill it for me?”
Damn. Seth pinched the bridge of his nose. Back to square one on the job front. “What’s up?”
“I just took over as Production Designer on this film midway through pre-production. They had this guy before who completely screwed the whole job. Missed all his deadlines, hired flakes—I hear he had a coke problem, but that’s gossip so don’t go spreading that around. Anyway, they fired him, pushed out the schedule a few weeks and I took over, and what do you know? The lead carpenter was friends with the guy. He took his crew and bailed the minute he found out his bud got fired. So now I have a film that starts shooting in two weeks, no carpenter, no crew. My usual guys are already tied up. Do you have anyone you can recommend?”
Seth worked with a couple of crews on a regular basis that he suspected were probably free. The one he recommended to Joe would depend on the scope of the work. “What’s the movie?”
“Working title is Girl Fight. It’s a comedy. Don Frazier is directing. Stars Natalia Lowen and Heather Wainwright as these chicks fighting over a guy. Almost one hundred percent on soundstage so the—”
Joe kept talking but Seth’s brain was stuck back on the name Heather Wainwright. Instantly, he knew what he could do. What he shouldn’t do, but why shouldn’t he? He’d been lead carpenter on sets before, after all, and had been damn good at it, if he did say so himself. Getting a crew together shouldn’t be a problem. And his calendar was open.
Did it make him borderline creepy? Yeah, maybe. But he’d never claimed he was a saint.
“Joe,” he said, trying not to sound too eager. “I think I may have the guy for you.”
“Hey, Heather!”
Heather looked behind her as she walked through the sound studio toward her trailer and saw her costar Natalia jogging after her. Heather halted until Nat caught up.
“How do you think today went?” Nat’s bright blue eyes sparkled with enthusiasm.
Heather shrugged. “I’ve had worse first days.” How long had it been since she’d been excited about a first day on set? She couldn’t even remember.
“Totally.” Natalia twirled a strand of her recently dyed blonde hair around her finger. “But the scenes went well, don’t you think?”
Seriously? They were going to discuss the shoot like a bunch of amateurs? “Yeah, they went fine.” They’d been better than fine considering how preoccupied Heather had been all day. How preoccupied she’d been for the past two weeks. Every time she had a moment to think, her thoughts wandered to her belly and what might or might not be growing inside. She was hyper-focused on her body, wondering if every minor breast pain or belly cramp was proof that a pee test would scream positive.
When she wasn’t thinking about her possible pregnancy, she was thinking about the cause of that possible pregnancy. Seth Rafferty had gone from someone she wanted nothing to do with to someone who might be a very big part of her life. And she wasn’t that upset about it. In fact, she wanted to see him again. So much so that she’d even considered calling him. Many times.