Page 13 of Tactically Acquired

Her face flushed red just before I turned and walked away. Yeah, I felt a tiny bit shitty for what I said, but damn, that woman had it coming. I shook my head at Thumper as I set the juice in the cart, ignoring the way he smothered his laughter behind his hand.

“I’m gonna fucking kill you,” I hissed.

“Man, I’m so sorry,” he chuckled. “I couldn’t resist.”

“Couldn’t resist what?” I asked, getting the feeling that was a setup.

“Well, in all honesty, you’re not the first man I’ve seen her do that to.”

“You—” My jaw clenched hard as I stared at my teammate. Fuck, I was gonna kill him. I was gonna give him to the butcher and have him chopped up for Fox to use in shawarma.

“If it makes you feel any better, you’re the only man that’s left her speechless.”

“Yeah, I feel so much fucking better, asshole.”

“What?” he laughed as I pushed the cart away. “You could have had something really special with her!”

5

AUDREY

My trailer door swung open and Grouper, the cameraman, let himself inside without so much as a knock.

“Hey, the boss wants to see you out front in five.”

Thankfully, I had just pulled on my skintight black leather pants that left very little to the imagination. Which Grouper made perfectly clear as he let his eyes roam over my body as if he had every right to blatantly stare at me.

“Thanks.”

When he didn’t move, I turned and crossed my arms over my chest, raising a brow at him. I was used to men staring at me like this. When you were a kickass action star who always dressed in tight clothing, men tended to stare at you like an object instead of a person.

“Grouper. Did you need something else?”

“What? Uh?—”

Spencer stepped into the trailer behind him, his large frame dominating Grouper’s smaller one, immediately casting a shadow over him and threatening to swallow him whole. The look on Spencer’s face was pure malice, the complete opposite of what I knew to be true. There wasn’t a single mean bone in Spencer’s body—not that he would allow anyone on set to knowthat. When it came to me, he was a tad overprotective. We’d been working on films together for the past ten years, and in every single one of them, some douche tried to cop a feel. Just Spencer’s presence made men scurry. Only his true friends knew just how much of a softy he was.

Grouper turned to Spencer, swallowing hard as he faced the man’s chest and then slowly looked up into Spencer’s green eyes. “I uh…no. There was nothing else.”

“You should run along,” Spencer grumbled in a low voice.

He didn’t budge as Grouper shuffled around him, scrambling down the steps and slamming the door behind him.

I smiled as Spencer breathed a sigh of relief and walked further into my trailer, plopping down on my chair with a sigh. “You know, you don’t have to keep doing that. I know it makes you uncomfortable.”

“I have to keep up my image,” he grumbled. “What would the world think if they found out their beloved action star was actually someone who hated guns, action, and violence in general?”

“They would think the same thing as me,” I grinned, walking up behind him and swallowing him in a hug. “That you’re a kind man with a big heart.”

We both knew that he would do anything for anyone, especially me. He’d proven that time and time again.

He huffed in annoyance. “Can’t we do a love story next?”

I grimaced at the thought of it. “We’re doing love stories now.”

“Blowing people up with a kiss thrown in here and there is not a love story.”

“It’s the most romantic thing I can think of,” I grinned, walking around to the chair opposite him and flopping down with a sigh.

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