Page 1 of Jason
Chapter One
Once upon a time in Hollywood,Mallory Price needed a job.
She was an actress, but admittedly, not a very good one (funny how those high school roles didn’t translate into bankable talent as an adult).Her acting gigs were few and far between.
She was also a filmmaker and, if no one minded her saying, a pretty good one.Filmmaking was her passion.But she had only an old used camera, and so far, no one was interested in her short films, in spite of having entered three into various contests around town.
Mallory had run out of money and had to face facts.So she’d combed through job postings for three weeks and the only lead she’d found was “customer service specialist” with the county tax department.
That job had sounded like death on a stick.
Unfortunately, eating was also a personal passion of hers, and she’d been on the verge of taking that really awful sounding tax clerk job.But then, just like in the movies, the heavens had parted and the sun had shone and fortune had smiled its lovely countenance upon her, because she stumbled on an opening for the perfect job.
Mallory was ecstatic.She’d put in her application, and by the time she’d finished folding the laundry, a bot responded to her submission.CALL OFFICE TO ARRANGE INTERVIEW.So Mallory did.A woman who sounded frazzled and out of breath answered on the fifth ring.Mallory told her why she was calling.The woman said, “Great.Can you come in this afternoon?”
So Mallory raided her roommates closet, found a very cute pink dress, and decided she might as well borrow some shoes, too, and two hours later, she was sitting in the frigid air of the reception area at Blackthorne Entertainment.She felt like a million bucks in Inez’s dress and shoes.She felt confident.She was practicing the art of positive thinking, steadying her breathing and chanting her mantra,I will get this job.
A woman, about Mallory’s age of twenty-eight, suddenly appeared.She had dark hair that she wore in a messy bun—unclear if by design or necessity—a shirt that appeared to have some sort of stain on it, and a pair of jeans ripped at the knees.She had dark circles under her eyes, and without a word, she marched to a desk, picked up an enormous tote, and started shoving things into it.When she had filled it, she hoisted it on to her shoulder and started for the door.That’s when she seemed to register Mallory’s presence.
She paused.“Are you here for the interview?”
“Yes,” Mallory said, and stood up.“I’m Mallory Price.”She extended her hand.
The woman made no move to take it.She glanced at the binder Mallory was holding.“What’s that?”
“Background material.”
The woman blinked.And then burst into laughter.“Good luck with that,” she said, and walked out the door.
“But…” Mallory’s voice trailed off.
“Are you Mandy Price?”a male asked behind her.
“Mallory.”She turned around to the voice and stood, speechless, because the man looking back at her was one of the most gorgeous men she’d ever seen with her own eyes.
He looked her up and down.He scraped at his beard.“Well, come on then.Let’s do this.”He turned and started walking down the hall.
Her mind leapt to a very strange and sexual place when he said that, but she quickly shrugged it off.“And you are…?”
He barely spared her a glance over his shoulder.“Jason Blackthorne.”
Jason Blackthorne.He sounded like a character from a spy movie.
Mallory followed him into an office at the end of the hall.The office, with its view of a parking lot, was filled with papers and equipment for viewing digital films.There were stacks of scripts on a shelf, and a couple of shirts and a jacket tossed over a chair.A Chinese food container had been left on a small table.Jason Blackthorne was sexy as sin, but his office was a mess.
He perched on the only free spot at the edge of his desk and gestured her into a chair.
Mallory’s belly felt tight, and she was aware that her palm was damp from holding the binder.But she plastered on a smile, remembered all she’d learned from YouTube tutorialPutting Your Best Foot Forward: Strategies for Job Interviews, and said, “Thank you for seeing me today.I just want to say, I am a perfect match for this opportunity.”
“Oh,” he said.
She sat a little straighter.“May I tell you how?”
“Sure,” he said, and folded his arms across his middle.
Mallory began to talk.She was aware of how hazel green his eyes were, how thick his hair.He was wearing a hoodie over a T-shirt and jeans, and Jordans on his feet.He had an air of casual sophistication, which, for the first time in her life, Mallory got.
He was terribly distracting as she rattled off her qualifications for the job.
