Page 20 of No Interest in Love

“It’s notjustthat.” She stops biting her pinkie nail, bringing her hand back to rest around my phone. “Carletta just split with her agent. If I get you this audition, the role, then maybe…Well, I know you and I aren’t the dynamic duo of the century, but…” She does a couple of tiny shrugs with a side of a giant smile that shows all her teeth.

A smug grin hits my lips. “You want me to talk you up?”

“A contractanda client? That would be big.”

“Big enough that they’ll look past you royally screwing up?”

She taps a finger to her nose.

“Well,” I say, interlocking my fingers and resting my head on them. “That’s quite a pickle you’re in.”

“I didn’t see you gluing your butt to the hotel bed.” She finally moves her ankle away from the Smurfs, adjusting the ice pack and prodding it with her fingers. “Why’d you jump in the car so willingly?”

“Isn’t money and fame enough?”

Her eyes flick up to mine. “I can tell when you’re acting.”

My arms drop from behind my head, and I watch her poke at her sore ankle. Even that’s getting me going. Could’ve been the fact that she had her foot in my lap. Could be the fact that she’s still slightly muddy, wet hair dripping onto the skin of her arms, soaking into the oversized hoodie. Could be that I’ve tried not to notice that she’sobviouslycold. But Woody is rising, despite the wet jeans, and, damn it, Ineedthat one-on-one with Carletta.

“I need to get laid,” I blurt, tearing my eyes away from her chest. The people in the booth next to us both stop talking to give me the same slightly amused look.

“Um…what did you just say?” Shay’s holding back a laugh.

“You probably heard me right.” I toss my head back. “It’s been…a while.”

“I get it,” she says. “I usually try to have sex every couple hours.”

“That is the dream, isn’t it?”

“And what does this have to do with…” The light clicks on behind her eyes, and a slow, amused smile spreads across her face. “Carletta sleeps with her leading men.”

I tap my finger to my nose.

“Here I thought Jace Carver couldn’t surprise me anymore.” She pushes her lips together, and my brain takes a side road…I haven’t heard my real last name in over a year. I’m surprised she even remembers it.

She puts the ice back on her ankle and scoots up in her seat. “I really didn’t think the reason was so—”

“Shallow?” I smirk. “Thought you knew me better than that.”

“I wasn’t going to say ‘shallow.’ I was going to say ‘carnal.’ ” She taps her nails against the table briefly before she gives me a quizzical look. “For the record, I haven’t had sex in ‘a while’ either.”

“Explains why you’re so uptight.”

“Does your dry spell explain why you’re an ass?”

“Nah, I’ve always been this way.”

She ignores me. “Is sex really more important to you than the potential leap of your career? You land the role, you’ll probably have to fight the women off of you.”

“In theory,” I mutter. Some version of that is what I’ve fantasized about ever since I started acting. Money, fame, women…It’s partly why I don’t want just one girl, because my hopes are high to get to the A-list and havethemflock tome. But that’s all just pipe dreams at this point. The Stinson dream.

“Look, there’s no guarantee I’ll get the role. And if I do, what if the movie flops? Or I end up sucking at the chick-flick stuff? Or Carletta and I show zero chemistry on-screen? There are too many unknowns at this point in the game, but there’s something I do know. Carletta saw my tape, and she wants me.”

“She wants you to screen test—”

“For the lead.”

“So you think you already have an in with her?”

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