Drew maturely refrained from a full-fledged fist pump, but Nina caught the miniature version and shook her head. “And I thought you were good at getting your way when you were ten.”
Drew batted his eyelashes and leaned over to kiss her cheek. He’d missed her. “You taught me everything I know.”
Fine. So he was an enormous diva. No one was going to argue with results.
Chapter Two
FORa moment, when Hilary asked if she could speak to him privately, Steve thought she was going to fire him. Lord knew actors could be fickle—Steve had plenty of firsthand experience to that effect. But then she led him down the hall from the conference room to her office, closed the door, and turned around.
She was nervous, yeah. But not drawn-in-on-herself nervous.Excitednervous. She had a natural pink in her brown cheeks and kept fidgeting with her fingers like she needed an outlet for her energy. “So.”
“So?” he prompted.
“So Drew Beaumont wants you to be his costar.”
Steve stared at her. “He what?”
“He thinks you should costar. He says you’re cute and have good comedic timing.”
Steve fought the blush he could feel rising in his face—partly at the compliment but mostly because of its source. “Oh.”
“He’s probably going to throw a full-blown fit if you say no,” Hilary went on, her tone turning cajoling. “Could derail the project for weeks until we find the right replacement. Might have to scrap the whole thing.”
Steve narrowed his eyes at the blatant manipulation. “I know what you’re doing.”
“I should hope so.” Hilary dropped onto her couch. “Well?”
He should say no. He wasn’t an actor, even if he did have the talent and the training. The more publicity he got, the closer the press would get to the truth.
On the other hand, most of the guys who’d auditioned today were truly off-the-charts awful, and it was hard to say no, even by proxy, to a megastar who thought you were cute. He sighed. “You gonna represent me again?”
Hilary grinned a shark’s grin. “And I’ll only take half my usual rate this time.”
“Truly you are a benevolent goddess.”
“And don’t you forget it.” Then the grin vanished. “Seriously, though. If you really don’t want to do it, we can try pushing production back a little. We had interest from a couple non-nobodies. Austin Sparks wanted in as soon as he heard Drew’s name. I swear his agent has some kind of Google alert or something.”
Steve frowned but didn’t let himself react further, at least not outwardly. “Didn’t he and Beaumont do a movie together?”
“Yeah, they just came back from the press tour three days ago. Believe me, if Drew wanted Austin anywhere near this movie, he’d be here.”
“I did get that impression.”
“I promise he’s not actually difficult to work with. He’s a little spoiled, but he works as hard as anyone.”
As if it mattered. Hilary had already told him Beaumont asked to do this movie and not the other way around. Steve was getting a pretty big head start on writing a successful film just from that. “You honestly think I’m the right guy for the job.”
“Steve. You have chemistry.” Hilary shrugged. “Lots of people have chemistry with Drew, but never in a comedy. At least not so far. If you’re comfortable, take the money and run with it.”
It was probably stupid. But Steve had never claimed to be a genius, and he couldn’t deny the appeal of bringing his own script to life—or of acting opposite one of the most successful, most attractive actors Hollywood had to offer. Even if the consequences could be… interesting.
“What the hell,” he said. “Not like I have anything better to do.”
Hilary clapped. “That’s the spirit.”
STEVEdropped his bag on the kitchen table and his keys in the bowl on the counter, grateful for air-conditioning and the comforts of home, tiny as it was. It had been a long day, and tomorrow was likely to be more of the same. He needed to recharge.
He needed to figure out how this movie ended.
