Page 6 of Stunts and Sparks

“Correction,” Heather shot back. “Youtook that risk. You gave me no choice in the matter.”

“Either way, it will set us apart from other stunt doubles, won’t it? It’s the only way to get ahead in this industry. You have to stand out.” He was so sure of himself that it disgusted her.

“Oh, you’re standing out all right. You’re standing out as a security risk! An insurance nightmare! A lawsuit waiting to happen!” She took a moment to compose herself. “Both of uscould have been hurt by your ‘spontaneity,’ and then we’d be out of a job. Do you know what that’s like, Cole? Because I do.”

“But we weren’t hurt, were we? I broke your fall well enough, didn’t I? You’re fine.”

“I amnotfine!”

“Sure you are. Where does it hurt?” He reached out, and she slapped his hand away. “See? Just as spunky as ever.”

Cole was clearly trying to get Heather to laugh, but she was far from laughter right now. She’d never been so completely disrespected in her life — or if she had, she couldn’t recall it in her current storm of indignation. “You’re an asshole,” she muttered.

“What was that?”

Louder, she repeated, “You’re an asshole. I don’t think you care about anyone other than yourself. And if you think you were doing me a favor with that move, you’re beyond wrong. The last thing I want to do is get injured again and have another career door slammed in my face. You want to take risks? Fine. That’s your prerogative. Forcing me to do the same is a dick move, and I think you know it, you arrogant jerk. You must get away with so much in your everyday life. You think you can just charm your way out of any consequences, don’t you? Well, I promise you, that won’t work with me. And if you ever do anything like what you did today again, I’ll do everything in my power to get your ass kicked off the project.”

Cole had started to defend himself several times during Heather’s speech, but she wouldn’t let him get a word in. She was shaking, and as soon as he noticed it, his mouth snapped shut. Probably, he thought she was overreacting. He’d neverknow how completely false that assumption was. This was not possible to overreact to. Careless, reckless people who never learned infuriated her. She owned her own mistakes. She wasn’t about to own his, too.

In the dark of the hall, he took several steps away from her.Good, she thought.Let him worry for a change. She straightened up and squared her shoulders. “Do you understand?” she said in a commanding tone.

His lips quirked into half a smirk before he corrected his expression, and answered. “I understand.”

CHAPTER 4

COLE

It was just Cole’s luck that he’d be stuck with someone like Heather, someone unwilling to take risks and less fun than a pile of rocks. He’d done his best to make good with her, applying all his charm when they were in the courtyard together, but it hadn’t been enough. She wasn’t going to allow him to work the way he wanted to, and that was starting to stress him out.

Cole had been a stunt double for several years now, so he was technically her senior, and she refused to listen to him. He tried one last time. “Listen. This director likes his actors and their doubles to be spontaneous. He’s always asking for improvisation from his actors. He won’t ask us because he knows he can’t, contractually. But if we can read between the lines, if we anticipate his wishes, we’ll go far in the industry.”

“Not if we get injured, we won’t.” She glared across the hall at him.

Cole sighed. “If you’re trying to avoid injury, you’ve gotten into the wrong business, sweetheart. You’ve got to know that. You won’t be able to avoid injury forever. Regardless, though, I wasn’t going to allow you to get injured. I know what I’m doing.Why can’t you just trust me? If you trust me, I’ll further both our careers.”

He could see her bristle at his words. “First off,” she said, “my name is Heather, notsweetheart. And secondly, I don’t trust you at all. Why should I? You just perfectly demonstrated how not trustworthy you are.”

“I mean, I disagree. If your goal is to stand out in this industry, then I’m extremely trustworthy.”

She planted her hands on her hips and glared even harder, if that was possible. “My goal is to make my own decisions, thank you very much. If you want to do some crazy version of a stunt, fine. Ask me first. Let me choose.”

He thought about it for a minute. Of course, if he really did ask her, he knew what her answer would be. The wordnoseemed to be permanently waiting on the tip of her tongue, ready to be unleashed at a moment’s notice. Although, she did have a point, albeit a less-than-perfect one. He had broken her trust a bit, even though he had no doubts he had made the right choice as far as the stunt was concerned. He would be willing to bet a month’s salary the director would go with the first take, just to capitalize on the authenticity.

The more Cole thought about it, the more he realized how useless this argument was. The director had his shot. They just had to do a couple more takes to ensure it. Any more time spent trying to get Heather to see things his way would be a waste — at least, today, it would be.

“All right, sweet—” He cut himself off and corrected himself. “All right, Heather. Let’s make a pact, just so we can get through today. I’ve already done the scene the way I’d like to do it, andnow I’ll do it your way. We’ll do our extra takes and go home. Deal?” He held out a hand for her to shake.

“Deal.” She gave him a firm handshake. Cole thought it was a little too firm, actually, and he became convinced she was getting a little of her aggression out in that handshake.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s get back to work. I may be untrustworthy later, but today I just want to go home and have dinner. So, we’ll do the stunt your way, and that will be that.”

“Fine.” She walked away from him, clearly expecting him to follow. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t have given her the satisfaction. But this time, he had something to lose, and so he decided to play nice. He convinced himself that wanting to play nice had absolutely nothing to do with how gorgeous she was, and how he would use any excuse he could to get away from her today. She was too distracting for him to be around for long. The entire time she was shouting at him in the hall, all he wanted to do was shove her against the wall and kiss her until she couldn’t remember what she was even saying.

Just walking behind her was becoming a problem. Her costume was tight leather, and his eyes kept wandering down against his will. He told himself to stop drooling and focus on the task at hand.

On the rooftop again, the two of them stood on their marks. Cole stood opposite Heather and waited for her to run at him. He caught her wrist, let her tumble away from him. It was all exactly by the book, and he’d never been more bored in what he’d always assumed was a dream job for people who just wanted challenge, adventure, and a little danger in their lives. As a stunt double, he’d never worked this closely with a partner before, especially not one as attractive as Heather was.

When he had her by the wrist, he pulled her close and looked into her dark green eyes. He felt himself falter a moment. She was so close, and he could feel the electricity between them. He stepped back, taking her with him, and together they went over the edge of the building exactly the way they had both rehearsed it. They landed on the mat side by side, instead of Cole breaking Heather’s fall the way he did before. The whole thing was just… disappointing.

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