She was still beautiful, despite the ordeal she’d been though.
“Sit a sec,” A.J. said to her. “You need to rest. I’ll untuck the bed for you.”
“That’s beyond the call,” Naomi said, though she wasn’t objecting. She collapsed into a side chair and sighed. “God, I didn’t know I’d be this exhausted. I guess healing is hard work. I hope you’re not too pissed at Burgess for letting us sneak away. Christie and I are good at tricking people when we set our minds to it.”
“Why did you trick him?” A.J. had to ask. “If you’re that worried about safety, you don’t ditch your bodyguard.”
“Because he’d have called you if he’d known what we planned. I figured . . . I know it wasn’t right, but I figured we’d have a better chance of getting in here if we didn’t give you time to pull up the drawbridge.”
A.J. could admire her strategy. Her ethics, on the other hand, were problematic. Some aspects of Naomi’s character seemed not to have changed since they last met.
The model read the disapproval in her face, though she misinterpreted its cause. “You’re not going to fire the man, are you?’
A.J. pulled down the coverlet and the sheet. “I expect Burgess is beating himself up fine. Especially since his predecessor managed to keep you two on a leash.”
Naomi laughed at that. “Martin knows a con-artist when he meets one.”
It was
Martin
, was it? A.J. fluffed the pillows and hummed noncommittally.
“He speaks highly of you, by the way. Claims you’re your father’s daughter and then some. That’s part of the reason I wanted to crash here.”
Done with the bed, A.J. turned to find the model observing her with more interest than she expected. Naomi seemed to be hoping to divine some answer, but to what question she didn’t know. “It was
your
idea to come here.”
“Guilty as charged,” Naomi said sheepishly. “I like Christie, obviously, but I never spent so much uninterrupted time with her as I did in that hospital. I needed a break from her hovering. When she suggested I convalesce at her house, I convinced her that might out us as a couple. I said I’d stay with Luke instead.” Naomi rubbed the arms of her chair with graceful hands. “Christie doesn’t like Luke, and he and I having history doesn’t help. She wouldn’t hear of me coming here alone. I know it’s a pain in the arse for you, but thank you for not slamming the door on us.”
She seemed genuinely grateful. Without actually letting down her guard, A.J. relaxed slightly. “I work for Luke, not the other way around. He wanted you to stay.”
“He’s a good man. Maybe the best I know.”
“So even though you two aren’t . . .” She hesitated, trying to phrase it delicately.
“Shagging anymore?” Naomi suggested humorously. “Yeah, Luke and I are still mates. I knew him before he was a model. Got him into the biz, actually.”
“I hadn’t heard that.”
“I ate in a restaurant where he waited tables. Told him a face like his ought to be in magazines. I was starting out myself but as it happened, I had an eye for talent.” Naomi grinned naughtily, letting A.J. know she was referring to more than one sort. “I convinced Luke there were easier ways to earn rent. The rest, as they say, is history.”
“So Luke Channing wouldn’t be Luke Channing if it weren’t for you.”
“Well, he’d be someone. He stood out even then. Men as . . . intense as Luke do seem to have destinies.”
Her describing Luke as
intense
was interesting. A.J. thought he was too, but lots of people would have called him laidback instead.
“It’s funny,” Naomi continued, her tone musing. “I remember asking Luke why he came to the Big Bad Apple in the first place. Despite where he ended up, he didn’t have the usual ambitions that pull outsiders there. He didn’t dream of being a playwright or an actor or what have you.”
“What did he want?”
“He said he’d come to face down a fear, that every day he walked around and enjoyed himself, he was spitting in its eye.” Naomi shook her head. “He never told me what the fear was. New York itself, maybe. He did grow up in a small town.”
A.J. didn’t think that explanation cut it, but Naomi shrugged off the mystery, accepting A.J.’s offer of a hand to shift from chair to bed. She swung her slender legs up herself, and A.J. rearranged the covers over her.
The model sat back against the pillows, her attention still on A.J. Apparently, she was up for more chatting. “Now that Christie and I are here, I wonder how long Twitter will take to start conjecturing about threesomes between us and him. Half the Listie shippers will have conniptions. The rest will be in heaven. They have a huge fan fiction community.
Christie and Luke Forever
, they call it.”
“I didn’t know that,” A.J. said.
“Oh yes. They write stories about Luke and Christie having cute blond babies and moving to Italy.”
“Italy?”
Naomi waved her manicure. “Their characters talk about it in the
Final
movies. The fans think it’s romantic.”
A.J.’s mental gears turned a few extra revolutions. Hoyt-Sands had a receptionist who excelled at infiltrating social media forums where zealous types hung out. Maybe her dad could assign Tanisha to look into this one; see if she gleaned anything helpful.
Naomi took note of her reaction. “I gave you an idea.”
A.J. smiled. “You did. Enjoy your rest with a clear conscience.”
As she returned the smile, Naomi’s hazel eyes slanted. “You’re all right. I’m glad Luke has you looking out for him.”
This, A.J. knew, was an opening to leave politely. She did so after checking briefly on Christie. The actress’s manners weren’t as good as her girlfriend’s. Christie snapped that she’d contact Luke’s staff if she needed anything, the implication being that A.J. was something less useful than a maid. That was okay with her. She’d just as soon not fetch and carry for Luke’s costar.
Glancing at her watch told her this might be a good time to call her father. New York was later than LA. Parker Hoyt would be settled in at work and post-coffee. A.J. headed to the ops room to make the call. No need to let non-team ears hear them consulting.
Their conversation was the usual professional but pleasant back and forth. Her dad called her sweetie, sent her Pop-Pop’s love, and got down to business. A.J. updated him on Luke’s situation—with one exception. Though the omission cost her a smidge of unsureness, she didn’t mention his shrink. Her dad covered what his background checks had turned up thus far: no smoking guns, unfortunately. Two Dudes did have a key man policy for Luke but not a sky high one.
“Kevin Reyes is solvent at the moment,” her father added. “Not by a lot but enough to suggest he’s trying to stay out of debt. Unofficially, none of his accounts show the sort of withdrawals that would suggest he’d put a hit on Channing.”
A.J. understood
unofficially
meant someone who wasn’t supposed to share had given him that info.
“The maid who was fired for colluding with the paparazzi moved to Colorado. She’s working at an Arby’s and
really
can’t afford to hire hit men. Plus, her alibi is solid. And the suspicious fan mail arrived. There’s not as much as I thought. I suppose even crazies don’t write letters anymore. I’ll sic Tanisha on the fan fiction site you mentioned. Hopefully something will pop there. Martin says you’re handling everything else okay.”
A.J. snorted. Of course her dad had checked up on her with his partner.
“I trust you,” her father said. “Martin volunteered his opinion.”
Probably she should grateful Martin hadn’t mentioned what she’d gotten up to on Luke’s plane. “Martin knows you appreciate being reassured.”
“I’m still your dad. Even when I’m proud of you.”
He told her that easily—and without her leading him. A.J. knew not all daughters were so lucky. Luke’s words from last night returned.
I’m not your dad. You don’t have to stay on guard against me, bracing for the next time I let you down
. She did do that, and it wasn’t fair to her father. Not after all this time.
“I’m proud of
you
,” she said, heeding the impulse that prodded her.
“I’m not doing anything,” her dad said.
“I mean for pulling your life together. For staying sober all these years and building up the firm. You always tell me you’re proud, but I admire you too.”
The other end of the call was silent, which made A.J. feel ashamed. Her stunning him like this meant she really was grudging with her praise.
“Well,” her dad said after a small pause to clear his throat. “That’s nice to hear. Not necessary but . . . nice. Um, have you heard from your mother yet?”
A.J. confessed relief that she hadn’t. “You know I love seeing Mom when I’m out here, but she doesn’t understand I can’t cut out for lunch on a job like this.”
“Just call her,” her dad advised. “She’ll feel neglected otherwise.”
A.J. smiled but put the suggestion on her Think About It Later list. Her humor faded after she hung up. She was letting Luke change her: saying nice stuff to her dad because she knew he’d approve of it. Maybe she approved too, but she couldn’t recall doing that for man before.
Doing it for Luke unnerved her.
Unnerved or not, she went to touch base with him next. She found him in his light-filled home office, leaning back in a swiveling chair behind a heavy rococo desk. His feet were up on the blotter, his cell attached to his ear. A.J. waited in the open doorway but heard enough to realize the conversation must be with someone from Galaxy, relating to the movie’s delayed opening. Though Luke’s sounded calm, he was pinching one eyebrow.
He hung up soon after spotting her. He swung his feet down and leaned in her direction. The tension in his face relaxed. She couldn’t mistake that he was happy to see her.
“Hey,” he said, gesturing her to come in. His voice wasn’t businesslike anymore. Instead, it was a wow-I’d-like-to-get-you-naked-again croon.
Fighting the rise in her temperature, A.J. tugged the front of her jacket straight. “I came to see if you needed to go anywhere today.”
He cocked his head, reacting to her professional tone. “I’m not sure. I could work from home. I have a zillion calls to make. Unless—” He hesitated. “Maybe I
should
go out. Maybe I’ll get more paranoid if I hole up here.”
A.J. had stepped to his desk and now touched the edge of it. She saw he wasn’t sure what to expect from himself. “It’s perfectly natural to be uneasy about the thought of exposing yourself to risk, especially after an incident.”
“It’s not that,” he said. “Or not exactly. The idea of you taking a bullet for me is freaking me out.”
“Because we slept together.” She said it matter-of-factly, but her cheeks warmed.
Luke nodded. “I know it’s not logical but yes. Seeing Naomi again, looking like she’d been steamrollered, brought the realness of the danger home. Whatever else we are, you’re my lover. And I’m a guy. I feel like I should protect you.”
“Guarding you is my job. If you’re too concerned about my safety—or my competence—to let me do it, you’ve no business paying me.”
Luke’s mouth twisted ruefully. “Maybe I didn’t think that part through when I hired you.”
“Or when you seduced me.”
He didn’t seem to mind her dry humor. His green eyes smoldered. “That I’m not sorry for.”
She wished she could set a rule preventing him from using that suggestive voice on her. Her nipples tightened and heat coiled between her legs. Too late, she realized she’d been caressing his desk’s front edge for the last minute.
As Freudian slips went, that one was obvious.
She dropped her arms and stepped back from temptation. She needed to get this conversation back on a business track.
“Why don’t we try something simple?” she suggested. “Maybe run an errand or schedule an appointment. Get you back in the saddle, so to speak.” Okay, that wasn’t the best choice of words. She tried to continue without visibly grimacing. “We could do it this afternoon. That’ll give my team some lead-time to ensure the trip goes smoothly.”
Luke leaned back thoughtfully. “I could show my face at the Two Dudes office. Maybe meet Jerry for dinner.”
“Jerry is your agent, right?”
“Yes, and he’s smart enough to follow precautions if you set them.”
“Okay,” she said. “A restaurant you don’t always go to would be ideal. And maybe close by. The LA team knows the turf if you need a suggestion. We’ll make the reservation for you under an assumed name.”
“I know a place where that won’t be a problem.”
“Great,” she said. “I’ll set it up.”
She turned on her heel to go.
“A.J.,” he purred, throwing some sticky tape in her getaway. “Any time
you
want back in the saddle, I’m completely available . . .”
*
Two Dudes Productions was headquartered on three floors of a shiny Century City skyscraper. To A.J.’s relief, Luke’s visit went smoothly. He hugged and backslapped a bunch of people who seemed sincerely happy to see him safe and sound. Kevin Reyes was in the office, which set her teeth on edge, but nothing untoward happened. He didn’t flirt like he had on the plane. Actually, he didn’t communicate with her at all except to nod curtly.
After Luke made the rounds of their employees, he and Kevin shut themselves in the conference room. Sensing Luke would rather she stay outside, A.J. didn’t make a fuss. She watched their body language through the glass wall. They were having a serious discussion—a personal one, she thought. She could see Reyes didn’t enjoy everything he heard, but he didn’t lose his temper.
They’re talking about his drinking
, she realized. Luke must have accepted her assertion that his partner had a problem. Reyes appeared resigned rather than defensive, like maybe he understood Luke was trying to give him a wakeup call. For Luke’s sake, A.J. hoped he took it.
Luke was very quiet when he emerged again.
“Home?” she asked.
“Please,” he said, and nothing after that.
The silence was what she was used to from most clients. The part of her that liked Luke wanted to encourage him to talk—anything to lighten his dark mood. The part of her that collected a salary told the other part to shut up.