Emily Forbes – Taming Her Hollywood Playboy (страница 6)

She stepped under the covered walkway that ran from the pool to the hotel foyer, seeking the shade. She called her father, letting him know she’d be late and checking that he was happy to wait for dinner. As she finished her phone call she heard the pool gate slam shut behind her. She turned her head and saw Oliver walking her way.

He had a beach towel slung over his right shoulder but he was still wet. He was bare-chested, his skin smooth and slick and golden brown. Damp swimming trunks hugged his thighs.

Kat’s mouth went dry as she tried not to ogle him, but it was a difficult task. Eventually she lifted her eyes and saw him smiling at her. His smile was incredible. It started slowly; one corner of his mouth lifted first and then his smile stretched across his lips before they parted to reveal perfect white teeth and a wide, engaging smile.

‘This is a pleasant surprise. I didn’t expect to see you. What are you up to?’

He stopped at her side, took the towel from his shoulder and started to dry his chest. There was a purple bruise on his right shoulder and Kat was going to ask about it, but that was before she got distracted. Oliver’s arm muscles flexed as he rubbed the towel over his body, diverting her attention. He ran the towel over his abdomen and she couldn’t help but follow his movements. His stomach muscles rippled as he twisted to reach his hand behind his back and Kat’s heart skipped a beat as she forced herself to concentrate. She was yearning to reach out and run her hand over his shoulder and down his arm. To feel his biceps tense and flex under her fingers. If she thought he was attractive fully clothed then he was something else altogether when he was partially naked.

She swallowed as she tried to rein in her imagination. ‘I’ve just brought George back—we went to scout some locations.’

‘You’ve already got the lingo, I see,’ he said as he slung the towel back over his shoulder. ‘What are you doing now?’

‘I’m having a drink at the bar. George is going to introduce me to a few people.’

‘Great, I’ll see you inside.’ He started walking towards the hotel and Kat focused on walking beside him, on putting one foot in front of the other.

He held the lobby door open for her but stopped at the entrance to the bar. ‘I’m not dressed appropriately—I’ll get changed and come back. Are you OK to go in by yourself?’

Kat wasn’t used to people checking on her; everyone in town knew her and the locals expected people to look after themselves. On the whole women weren’t treated any differently to men but she stopped herself from giving a short reply of ‘of course’, as she realised he was just being polite. He was just treating her with courtesy, showing some respect. It was something her father would have done for her mother.

Her father would have been horrified if her mother had gone into a hotel unaccompanied. When they had been courting there would have been separate bars for the men and women, and women would never have been permitted in the ‘public’ bar, but times had changed and no one now would bat an eyelid at a woman going into a bar alone. Kat knew she would feel uncomfortable in a different setting, in a different town, but everyone knew her here; she still appreciated Oliver’s manners though. She nodded. ‘Yes, I’m fine, thank you.’

The bar was cool and softly lit. It was in the original part of the hotel, dug into the hill. Its walls and ceilings were the colour of ochre, the same colour as the land, but the walls had been coated with a clear lacquer to stop the dust that would otherwise coat everything in its path. It was a large room and felt spacious even though there were no windows. Indoor plants helped to delineate the space, creating smaller areas and a sense of privacy while helping to disguise the fact that they were several feet under the surface.

George was waiting for her and introduced her to several of the cast and crew as she nursed the drink he had purchased for her. She tried to focus on who everyone was but she was constantly scanning the room, waiting for Oliver to return. She hated knowing that she was waiting for him, looking forward to seeing him, but she couldn’t help the feeling.

She did a slight double-take when a tall man walked in—his build and even his gait were so similar to Oliver’s that it wasn’t until he removed his cap that she registered that not only was he not Oliver, but he also had a shaved head and was not nearly as good-looking. But his movements had been similar enough that she’d had to look twice, so it was no surprise when George introduced him as Chris, the man who was Oliver’s stunt double. Kat shook his hand, noticing his brown eyes even as she noted that the touch of his hand didn’t set her heart racing. He was pleasant enough, fit and young, but very definitely not Oliver.

‘When you see Oliver,’ Chris said to George after shaking Kat’s hand, ‘let him know I’ll meet him in the gym for his training session.’ He turned to Kat. ‘Good to meet you, Kat; I’ll see you on set.’

When Oliver finally entered the bar, Kat wondered how she could have mistaken Chris for him. There was an aura about Oliver, something drew her to him and she found it almost impossible to turn away.

‘Hello, Kat.’ He was looking at her intensely. Did he look at everyone like that? she wondered.

She felt as though he could see inside her, see all her secrets. Not that she had any. Something about him made her wish she was a little mysterious, wish she wasn’t so ordinary. She wished there was something about her that could intrigue him.

‘Chris is waiting in the gym for you.’ George was speaking to Oliver and his voice brought her back to the present.

‘That’s OK, I promised Kat a drink first. Chris will wait.’

Kat opened her mouth to object—Oliver hadn’t promised her any such thing—but before she could speak he winked at her and grinned and she kept quiet.

George’s assistant, Erica, came to the table and spoke softly in George’s ear.

‘If you’ll excuse me, I need to speak to Julia. It appears she is having a crisis.’ George stood before adding, ‘Behave yourself, Oliver.’

Oliver just grinned in reply, apparently brushing George’s warning aside without a thought as George left the table, leaving them alone and leaving Kat a little nervous. To fill in the pause in conversation she asked, ‘Will she be OK?’

‘Have you met our leading lady yet?’ Oliver replied.

Kat shook her head.

‘Julia is always in the middle of a crisis,’ Oliver told her. ‘I attract scandals, she attracts crises. We probably shouldn’t be allowed to work together. There’s always a danger of too much drama.’ He laughed and Kat found herself relaxing. ‘Now, tell me, what are you drinking?’ he said.

‘Are you sure you shouldn’t be meeting Chris?’

Oliver shrugged and shook his head. ‘Not yet.’

‘Won’t you be in trouble?’

‘I’m used to it. Trust me, you are far better company than Chris, not to mention better-looking, and I might not get this opportunity again.’ He smiled his slow, drawn-out smile and Kat’s stomach flipped and fluttered in response. It was almost as though his smile kept time with his thoughts but she felt at a distinct disadvantage because, while she could hazard a guess, she actually had no idea what his thoughts were.

‘Besides, I told you trouble is my middle name.’

Kat smiled back. There was no denying his charm. ‘Maybe trouble should have been your first name.’

Oliver laughed as he stood up and even his laugh was perfect. Deep and rich, he sounded like someone who laughed often. ‘Chris will make me sweat for making him wait. I might as well enjoy a beer if he’s going to take his revenge in dead lifts and push-ups anyway.’

‘OK, thank you; a beer sounds good,’ Kat said, accepting his invitation.

‘Explain to me how the stunt double thing works,’ she said when Oliver returned from the bar. ‘I get that Chris has a similar physique to you and even moves a bit the same, but he doesn’t look like you. Is that a problem? Is that why you’re doing some of your own stunts?’

‘No. Chris has been my body double on several movies and he wears a wig if needed, but in this movie he’s often wearing a helmet, so his hair, or lack of it, is irrelevant.’

‘What about his eyes?’ Oliver’s were such a distinctive, vibrant blue, Kat couldn’t see how they could work around that.

‘He’s not in any close-up shots, so we don’t need to see his eyes, but he could probably wear coloured contact lenses if necessary. The make-up girls are good and nowadays there’s always CGI.’

Oliver was distracted by something over Kat’s right shoulder. She wondered if Chris had come to force him into the gym and so was surprised when she heard her name.

‘Kat?’

She turned to find her cousin, Dean, and his wife, Saskia, standing behind her. While she knew almost everyone in town, she hadn’t been expecting to see any familiar faces in this particular bar. The Cave Hotel was expensive and usually frequented exclusively by tourists.

Kat stood up and greeted them both with a kiss. ‘Hi. What are you doing here?’

‘Dean is taking me to dinner at Mona’s. It’s our wedding anniversary.’