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Chapter 1

Anna

From inside the bathroom stall, the reporter yelled, "What the hell are you doing?"

If this weren't so awful, I might've laughed. The guy wasn't yelling atme. He was yelling at Flynn, my so-called date, who crossed his muscular arms and replied in a voice of quiet menace, "I'm waiting."

"For what?" the reporter demanded.

Flynn gave the stall's door a cold smile. "Guess."

I felt myself swallow. I knew that smile. Cripes,everyoneknew that smile. My date wasn't just a guy I'd known in high school. He was also Flynn Archer, the brooding, sword-wielding bad boy who starred in the biggest movie production on the planet.

And that smile? Well, let's just say it was usually followed by the lopping of someone's head – on the big screen, anyway. Still, I said a silent prayer of thanks that his infamous sword was nowhere in sight.

From inside the stall, a second male voice hissed, "I thought you said it was cool."

"Itwascool," the reporter insisted. "I mean, I put up a sign."

"Yeah," the other guy said. "And he ignored it. I told you he's fucking crazy."

I gave Flynn a sideways glance. He was tall and well built, with dark, wavy hair and dark, dangerous eyes – the kind of eyes that saw too much and revealed too little.

But was he crazy?

We were three months into our arrangement, and I still wasn't quite sure. He was definitely makingmecrazy.Did that count?

From inside the stall, the second guy spoke again. "If you ask me, your sign sucked." He gave a snort of derision. "Dumb-ass."

I knew which sign he meant. It was that stupid "closed-for-cleaning sign" that the reporter had slapped onto the restroom's main door.

And why?

It was because the guy didn't want any company – well, other than his current bathroom-buddy, that is – as he ambushed me alone in the women's room.

The second guy was a photographer.

And how did I know this?

It was because I'd heard the click and seen the flash upon exiting that very same stall. Maybe I should've felt lucky that he hadn't crawled under the door to catch me in mid-stream.

I snuck a quick glance at his camera, lying in several pieces near the far wall. At least it hadn't been shoved up his ass.That was good, right?

That had, after all, been Flynn's original threat.

Still, I couldn’t help but worry. The restroom was located in the most expensive restaurant in the city.Ihadn't picked it, because I wasn't the one paying.Good thing, too.The place was well beyond my budget, now and probably forever.

Unlike Flynn, I was no superstar, not even close. My name, Anna Burke, would never grace any movie poster, which was fine by me. I hated drama. I hated being the center of attention. And I hated the fact that I couldn’t tell anyone the unvarnished truth.

I didn't belong here.

I was a total nobody. Or at least, Ihadbeen until just three months ago when I'd been lifted from safe obscurity thanks to a whole series of implausible events.

I hesitated.No. That wasn't quite right.

None of this was by chance. Rather, it was all because ofhim, the guy standing next to me. He was still eyeing the stall, looking like he wanted to rip that flimsy door right off its hinges.

In truth, I was half-surprised he hadn't already.