Page 16 of #Starstruck

“My friend? The girl you did the scene with today on the bowling alley set?”

“Right.” He shook his head. “I’m not interested in Lexi.” Then he flicked me a glance that made me think he might be interested inme.

I really hoped that set medic was still hanging around. I needed her to perform CPR on me. Because my heart had stopped.

“Anyway, One-F said he’d be willing to e-mail you anything you need to know. The ER doctor said it was a minimal fracture, and he should be in a cast for only a few weeks.”

A few weeks? I wasn’t sure I could be around Chase for a few weeks. My body might spontaneously combust. But instead of telling him that, I just latched on to something innocuous. “Why do you call him One-F?” A single drop of sweat escaped Chase’s hair and made its way down his broad shoulder, over his pec, and then dropped into his lap. I forced my gaze up to meet his.

“His real name is Jef, and he spells itJ-E-F. And whenever he meets someone new, he always introduces himself as ‘Jef. One F.’ When I was first starting out in film, one of my directors misheard him and called him ‘One-F’ for the entire shoot, which we thought was hilarious. It just sort of stuck.”

I probably should not have been wondering what his skin tasted like. If the sweat had turned it salty. Which, I acknowledge, is slightly gross, but don’t judge.

“Before I forget.” Chase leaned in toward me and instantly fried all of my nerves. My pulse exploded, hammering hard inside me. What was he doing? Was he going to kiss me?

But he was only reaching across me to get two envelopes off the side table. “This is for you and Lexi.”

I prayed he didn’t notice how badly my hands were shaking when he handed them to me. I opened mine and saw a few hundred dollars. “Lexi said something about getting a check from production for today. What is this?”

He looked a little sheepish. “I told one of the producers I was going to add a couple of extras to today’s scene. She said that hadn’t been budgeted for, so I took care of it.”

“You just told your boss you were adding extras, and nobody told you no?”

“People generally don’t tell me no.”

Boy, did I believe that.

And boy, did I blush at his underlying implication.

“So”—my voice sounded wobbly—“you’re paying us out of your own pocket.” Why was I repeating things he’d already clarified?

His eyes twinkled at me. “Don’t worry. I can afford it.”

“But ... why?”

Had he moved closer to me? I could feel the warmth he gave off, and I wanted to lean into it. Wrap it around me. Like his bones were made of magnets and mine out of metal. I found it almost impossible to resist the pull.

“Because I wanted to meet you. You are the first fan who ever told me I wasn’t amazing at something. And it was so refreshing. Like I told you in that message, I started reading everything you’ve posted. It made me realize you can learn a lot about a person from their Twitter time line.” He put his hand over mine, and the entire world ground to a halt. “Something about you intrigued me. I wanted to get to know you better. Then Lexi showed up, and it was like this huge sign from the universe.”

There were so many questions I wanted to ask him about what he had just said, but all that was going through my brain on repeat wasCHASE COVINGTON IS TOUCHING ME!

I was incapable of speech. Even when he slowly pulled his hand away, I sat there frozen, like I’d accidentally side-eyed Medusa. He started talking about the assistant job and what it entailed, and it essentially sounded like running errands and being available in case he suddenly needed me to run said errands. Then he told me the hourly rate, and it was more than double what Mrs.Henderson had paid me, and they had been overly generous.

“I can’t ...” I closed my eyes for a second. I could form words. I had been doing it for decades. I knew I probably should turn him down. But I wanted it in a way that I’d never wanted anything before. “I have responsibilities. I’m in my last semester of college, and I have a twice-a-week internship. Plus, my family and other obligations. I can’t be available to you twenty-four/seven.”

“That’s a shame.” His voice was low and teasing, and I felt his words humming inside me.

“I’m serious. I can’t be your beck-and-call girl.” OMG, I had just called myself a call girl.

Which he totally caught, given the size of his grin. “I didn’t expect you to be. We’ll work something out. If that’s a yes.”

“Yes.” I hadn’t intended to say yes. I had intended to thank him for his very nice offer and go back to my regularly scheduled life.

But the word just slipped out.

“Awesome.” He stood up, and I did the same. “Send me your e-mail address and cell number through DM when you get a chance. I’ll be in touch.”

“K.” It was like I couldn’t even manage two syllables. “Okay” wasn’t that hard to say.

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