“Since Time of Night. Yeah.”
Heather recognized the movie title, a suspense film that had come out several years before. Seth must have been on the crew. She could look it up on IMDb later. Maybe if she found out what this Brandon guy did on that film, she could figure out the strange tension that had begun when he showed up. Or she could just ask Seth later.
“So what brings you here?” Seth asked, redistributing his food to both arms.
“Our company is producing Girl Fight. It was my turn to stop by and check things out.” Brandon’s eyes raked up and down Heather’s body. “And things look good from where I’m standing.”
Did he think she didn’t know he was looking at her? She was two steps away and not stupid. One of the cons of her job—people thought she was an object instead of a real person. It really sucked sometimes.
If Seth hadn’t been tense before, he certainly was now. Despite the unease in the air, Seth’s reaction to Brandon’s wandering eyes gave her tummy flutters.
With gritted teeth, he said, “Brandon, isn’t your wife a fan of Heather’s? You know each other, I’m sure.”
Heather turned toward Brandon, having been invited into the conversation.
“We haven’t met officially.” Brandon took Heather’s hand. “Brandon Drake. My wife can’t wait for the premiere. She’s dying to meet you.” He continued to flirt with her while talking about his wife. How smarmy. Maybe that was why Seth was acting all weird—because Brandon Drake was a perv.
Whatever Seth’s beef with him, Brandon was also a producer of her movie. Her boss, in other words. So she had to play nice. “Aw, thanks.” She sweetened her tone to a ridiculous level that bordered on sappy. “Always nice to hear I have a fan.”
“I’m a fan too.” He winked at her, still holding her hand.
Until Seth cleared his voice, at which point Brandon dropped it promptly. “So what are you doing here? Did you take over as P.D.?”
Heather’s brow furrowed. “P.D.?” It wasn’t unusual for producers to not know their crews, but why would Brandon assume Seth was the Production Designer?
Seth ignored her question. “No, Joe Piedman is. Of course.” Despite the air-conditioned studio, Seth had a fresh layer of sweat on his brow. “You know he lost his crew on short notice.” And he was talking weird. “And we’ve been friends for a quite a while.” In short bursts. “So he called me.” As if making his speech up as he went. “I had a hole in my schedule. So I offered to come on board.”
“As lead carpenter?” Now it was Brandon who looked confused.
“Yep.” Seth’s jaw twitched.
Brandon’s brows rose. “Man, you must be really good friends.”
“Something like that,” Seth said under his breath.
“What was that?” Brandon asked.
Seth covered quickly. “So your team got nominated for the Globes last year. That must have felt good.”
Heather cringed at Seth’s attempt at acknowledgement. Everyone in the biz knew the Golden Globes were a crock of shit. The Foreign Press who gave the awards ran nothing but a giant popularity contest. Maybe the tech level wasn’t aware. Or was Seth trying to change the subject?
“Yeah, it was awesome.” Brandon’s teeth were gritted but he kept his smile. “And I heard that you might be up for—”
Seth cut him off. “I’d totally be up for getting some drinks sometime.” Though Heather didn’t think that’s where Brandon had been going with his statement. Yes. Totally weird interaction.
But before Brandon could react, his attention was caught by the movie’s director passing by. “Oh, hey, I gotta talk to Don. Catch up later?”
“Sure thing.” The tension visibly rolled off Seth the minute Brandon walked away.
“What the eff was that?”
“What do you mean?” Seth asked, turning back to the buffet table as though there might be something he still wanted.
“Do you not get along with him or something? Because the energy between you two was way wacko.”
“Between me and Brandon?” Seth shuffled through bags of sandwiches. “We get along. I just was surprised to see him, that’s all.”
“Uh huh.” Except that wasn’t all it was. Heather was sure. The conversation had just been…off. “Why would he think you’d be the Production Designer?”
He shrugged. “I have no idea. Maybe he remembered I’d been interested in that area. Or something. He must have assumed I’d moved up. Since we haven’t seen each other in a while.”
Now Seth was using that weird talk with her. She narrowed her eyes. “But how did he even know you if you were on crew?”
“I was good at networking.”
She wasn’t convinced, and she was pretty sure her face told him that.
“Look,” he said. “The Art Director on the movie we worked on was a drinking buddy of mine. He introduced me to Brandon at a cast party. The party got kind of wild, if you know what I mean. We haven’t seen each other since.”
Well, didn’t that open a whole slew of questions? Like what had happened between Brandon and Seth? And was it something she would’ve wanted to be part of?
But she’d done some crazy things at cast parties that she’d die about if brought out in the light of day, so she simply said, “Gotcha.” Still, even if the two guys had gotten mad drunk and made out, there was something else weird about their conversation. “It seemed like he was really surprised that you were working as a carpenter. Wasn’t that odd?”
Seth took a step closer to Heather and leaned in. So close she could smell his carpentry man smell that she loved so much. “What’s odd,” he said in a rumbly voice that clothed her in goose bumps, “is that we’re still here talking when we could be somewhere else completely not talking.”
Damn. She bit her lip as her lady parts were coated in a fresh pool of moisture. “Give me twenty. Don’t worry about knocking. Just come in.” She paused, wondering if it would be impolite to ask her next question, but decided—rude or not—it had to be asked. “You’ll be discreet?”
He grinned. “You mean not announce to the whole set that I’m about to meet you for wild monkey sex?”
She rolled her eyes. “I meant when you come to my trailer could you, like, make sure no one sees you when you walk in?”