The Unidentified Redhead (Redhead #1)(62)
Author: Alice Clayton

We got ready quickly, sadly with no time for boom boom, and headed out to the photo shoot. He promised we’d have time for boom boom later.

We held hands on the ride there, and we talked about dinner that night.

In lieu of the morning’s antics, I firmly put my foot down when he asked again if I would like to go out for dinner.

“Hell no. We are eating dinner in bed, naked, stopping only to screw,” I answered, bouncing on the seat in anticipation of this evening. He laughed as we pulled into the estate where the photo shoot was taking place.

“Well, after the shoot, I’m sure some of the cast will be going out for a drink.

Can I at least get you drunk first?” he asked. We had decided that I would skip the shoot today and would just hook up with him later on in the evening

“Hmm, that might be OK. Not that it’ll make it easier to take advantage of me. As you said … slut becomes me,” I joked, leaning over to kiss his neck.

“And now that I have had a little Hamiltonian Sex Machine, I don’t think I can do without,” I whispered in his ear as we pulled into the driveway.

He stopped the car where everyone else was parked and kissed me passionately, holding my face in his hands. He pulled away, and said, “Gracie, seriously, my ego can’t take the thought of you saying ‘little’ and ‘sex machine’

in the same sentence as my name,” he said, seriously. I laughed, and made to get out of the car when he swatted me on the butt.

“Damn, George, you need to watch that. I’m already bruised from the drilling you gave me last night!” I taunted, backing away from the car, watching him chuckle. I backed right into a wall.

A rather warm wall that was laughing.

I turned around to see Lane, smiling down at me, winking at Jack who was still in the car. Nice, Grace, way to keep it quiet. I blushed crimson and hung my head as he roared.

“Drilling? You got a drilling last night?” He laughed. “You got a naughty girl here, Hamilton.”

“Oh, man,” I mumbled, as I felt Jack come up beside me.

“She is naughty, but in the best way. Now back off, ass.” He chuckled.

“Yeah, back off, ass!” I cried, pushing on Lane’s well-muscled chest. He grinned at me, and I faked a punch at him.

He was cool. I think he has a meeting with Holly next week … interesting.

“See you tonight?” I asked, leaning into Jack’s side as he waved Lane away.

“Yep. I’ll get a ride with one of these guys when we’re all done. Call you later?” he asked, kissing my forehead.

“Call me later, yes.” I smiled, pulling his face down to me so I could kiss him a little less chastely. I could hear Lane whistling behind us, and we both rolled our eyes.

“Kick his ass for me, will ya?” I chuckled.

“Grace, have you seen the size of that guy?” he shot back, swatting me on the butt as I turned to get back into the car. He watched me pull away and then headed toward the trailers with Lane, laughing like a little kid.

When I got back to the hotel, I settled in with my laptop. I had an email from Holly’s friend in New York who was setting up where I would be living for the next few weeks or months. Turned out I would be staying at the W in Times Square while they got my sublet worked out. Times Square … a little touristy, but I did like W properties, and it would be close to the theater.

I also had an email from Michael, giving me some details about the rehearsal schedule that was due to begin on Friday. I’d have a few days to get my bearings before we went right into the first read on Friday morning. He had also attached some notes about the characters, as well as a new batch of rewrites. He wanted to get together Wednesday night to go over some character outlines so that I felt ready for the first reading.

I’d executed a one-eighty with Michael. He went from being someone I never thought of, to someone that I wanted to strangle, to someone I was glad to know again. It would be nice to have a friend in New York, and even though we hadn’t spent any time together since college, I was sure he would become a good friend again.

I filled my morning nicely with another massage and a facial at the hotel spa. I had a lovely lunch for one at the poolside café, and spent about an hour engaging in a mildly  p**n ographic texting marathon with Holly back in L.A., but who was I kidding? I was waiting for Jack to call.

When I saw his name on my phone screen, it immediately brought to mind the feeling of him inside of me the night before, and I answered the phone with a soft growl. Which may have come out like a cough.

“Are you choking?” he asked.

“No, it was my attempt to be sexy for you,” I managed, my face turning red as I wheezed. He waited and chuckled as I got myself under control.

“How’s the shoot going?”

“It’s good—will probably take most of the day, but I should be headed back to the hotel by dinnertime. What’ve you been up to?”

“Oh, a little of this, a little of that. I miss you,”

“I miss you too, Nuts Girl. Wait a sec, hang on … I’m on a call! I’ll be right there … with my girlfriend, if you must know.” I heard him talking to someone whose voice I could just make out … one I didn’t recognize. My heart jumped when he used the term girlfriend. Wow, was I someone’s girlfriend?

“Oh, tel Marcia I said hi!” I heard a woman’s voice chirp, and then a rustling as Jack clearly covered up the phone. My heart that had been jumping for joy now stilled in my chest. I was silent, waiting for Jack to come back.

“Grace?”

“I’m here,” I said quietly.

“Sorry about that. There’s some cast members here that I haven’t seen for a while,” he replied, struggling to keep his voice even.

“Well, I’ll let you get back to your shoot. See you tonight?”

“Right, see you soon,” he answered.

I hung up the phone and sat for a moment, not moving.

What did you really hear, huh?

Someone that still thinks this Marcia is his girlfriend, that’s what I heard.

Once again, I pushed this shit aside and went for a run. At some point, I really needed to deal with all the things I’d been repressing lately. But as I began my run, it all fell silent, and I concentrated on the view of the ocean and smell of the salt air. It really was pretty here.

I spent the afternoon mildly—oh, who was I kidding—wildly obsessing about this Marcia, and how to bring it up with the Brit. Admittedly, I had been a tad shady when I opened that text from him, and aside from the photos I’d seen on the internet, I had no basis for knowing anything more than what I’d overheard some woman say today. And the fact that she said it proved that they used to be an item. But the question was, how recently had they stopped being an item?