Page 74 of Rescued Heart

Man, that guy. Eddie rolled his shoulders back. He needed to focus on his task and not worry about Carter. No wonder Bianca had said sometimes crews didn’t bond.

Eddie took his mark on the front step.

At Leo’s call to action, Eddie touched the door handle with the back of his hand like he would on a real fire call to feel if there was any heat on the door. It was cool. He opened the door and rushed in.

Smoke fogged his vision. Except this was nothing like a real-life fire or their practice simulations. Only in movies and on television did a fire scene still have enough visibility to actually see where he needed to go.

He moved through to the back room and turned to the right.

But instead of a dummy, like in their fire drills, Bianca lay on the ground in the corner. His boots thumped against the floor beneath him, but she didn’t move when he entered.

His chest squeezed tight. Had something gone wrong?

He rushed to her and fell to his knees beside her. “Bianca!”

“Don’t talk,” she whispered. “Just scoop me up. And wait for my lines.”

Carter had been right. Eddie was no actor.

He picked her up and easily cradled her to his chest.

She gasped and placed her hand on his cheek, stopping Eddie’s legs from moving.

“You came. Why did you give up those clues? I can’t believe you traded something that valuable for me.”

His arms tightened around her body, hugging her against his chest. Somewhere in his brain, Eddie knew she was quoting her lines.

Except in reality, she was far more valuable than she realized. Not only to God as a person but who she was becoming to Eddie. Even days ago, he’d hoped she’d come to their baseball game. Not that he’d shown it well after Scout got hurt. He’d gone out of his way for a stupid milkshake because he’d wanted her to share her genuine smile with him.

She was worth diving into the river. Braving a car. Now stunt doubling. He really would go to any length to save her. Because of his training and his job…or for something that wasn’t feeling so fake between them?

Eddie stared at the woman looking back at him. She’d somehow seeped into his life, and he didn’t hate it.

Lord, could this really be the woman for me? Because it doesn’t make sense!

“Eddie?” she whispered.

Right. The movie. Their deal. All pretend. Or at least on her part.

He spun around and sprinted back out of the house.

“Cut!” Leo squinted at the playback camera. “We can use that. Thanks, Eddie and firefighters. Now, let’s get the next scene with all the extras. Carter, jump in there.”

Carter stopped in front of Eddie and held out his arms. “I’ll take her off your hands. It’ll give us extra time to practice our kiss.”

Kiss.Eddie’s eyes found Bianca’s lips as if on their own.

Of course costars might kiss on film.

Bianca met Eddie’s gaze. “It’s only pretend.”

Pretend. Just like she’s doing with me.Here he’d been thinking how a future together may not be that crazy of an idea. But this was work to her. Only a deal to get what they both wanted.

She tapped her fingers on Eddie’s shoulder. “You can put me down now.”

Eddie set her feet on the ground as Carter stepped next to Bianca. Carter pulled from his pocket what looked like the scene’s script. “Won’t be too much longer until our big scene.” He rolled up the script, and his grin slid from her to Eddie. “Then it will be my turn to have her all to myself. It’s about time too. My views have been suffering.” He sent Eddie a hooded glare.

With his arms now empty, Eddie needed something to hold on to. He folded his arms across his chest. What Carter said shouldn’t matter. Bianca was an actress, and the most important thing Eddie needed to remember was that they weren’t really dating. Didn’t matter what false hope Zack had planted in his head.

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