Page 4 of Jason
“So sue him for the inconvenience.”
“A snow storm blew in while the assistant was shopping for the jacket that could have been shipped, mind you, but Jason Blackthorne wanted it first thing in the morning.The assistant’s flight was grounded.”
“Okay.Superinconvenient.”
“It was three days before he could get back.His plants died.His dog didn’t recognize him.They’d declared him dead and rented out his apartment, and he got post-traumatic stress, and then, Jason Blackthorne fired him.”
“Yeah, okay,” Mallory said, scowling.“I see what you’re doing.”
“I’m just saying,” Inez said, and picked up her fork.“There’s something else, too.”
“Let me guess—he hates babies.He kicked a cat.”
“No.He’s super good-looking.”
Mallory perked up.“You have no idea.”
“Oh, I’ve seen him.And I know how you get.”
“How Iget?”
“Yes.You turn into a spineless doormat when you’re attracted to handsome men and organize the shit out of their lives.It’s bad enough you domylaundry.”
“That is ridiculous,” she scoffed.“And you’re mixing your metaphors.”
“Sam Harris.”Inez punctuated that by stuffing an enormous bite into her mouth.
“That was different,” Mallory said.“He was very good at making me believe he liked the things I did for him.”
“Carlos.”
“Carlos is your cousin!I didn’t do anything for him.”
“He said you were ironing his T-shirts.”
Mallory sensed the theme.“I wasn’t doing it on a regular basis, I did itonce.Because they were ridiculously wrinkled.”She leaned forward and said low, “Henevertakes his clothes out of the drier.He actually pulls clothes from the drier and wears them.”
“Don’t tell me,” Inez said.“But you are the only one who started doing his laundry.You do everything for everyone, and then you’re, like,superhelpful if they’re hot, and you end up getting used, Mallory.”
“For the record, it is really hard to date someone in wrinkled shirts.Instant turn off.But here is the difference.I am not planning on dating Jason Blackthorne.I’m not even going to look at him.I will not be doing his laundry.”
“Sure.I’m just saying, he’s the kind of guy to run right over a woman, and you’re the kind of woman to be run over, especially if he’s hot.”
That might have been insulting to hear from anyone else, but Mallory could not deny there was some truth to it.She held out her hand.“If I regret even a moment of it, you have my permission to say I told you so.Pinky swear.”
Inez wasted no time in taking advantage of that swear with her pinky.
Mallory clasped her hands together in prayer pose and bowed her head.And then she speared a tomato from Inez’s plate.
“I’m going to go ahead and get a jump-start on this,” Inez said, picking up her fork.“I told you so.”
In the weeks and months that followed, Inez never missed an opportunity to tell MalloryI told you so.And she didn’t just say it, she gloated.She laughed roundly when Mallory complained about Jason, which Mallory did a lot,usually spurred on with lots of wine.
Because Inez was right—Jason Blackthorne was hell on wheels.He was demanding, he was disorganized, he had no respect for Mallory’s time, he asked what she thought then dismissed her opinion.He wanted the impossible and never seemed to fully appreciate when the impossible was accomplished.
That was enough to make her almost hate him.He could be insufferable, even when Mallory could see his vision and how important this show was to him.He’d said more than once he had a lot riding on it.He was a driven man.
But Inez was right about something else—he was a very handsome man.He smelled like honey and lemon and something else that was entirely masculine and could rev up Mallory’s mojo like she was on steroids.Couple that with his great ideas, and the passion he had for filming stories that matched her own, and Mallory had developed a not insignificant crush on him.And she wasn’t entirely sure he hadn’t developed one on her.She was probably imagining things, but it seemed like every time they were in a room together, the air sizzled.And there was the time she was copying a script, and he’d had to squeeze by, and he’d squeegeed his package across her ass.He apologized profusely, but the way he looked at her and she looked at him was pretty thrilling.And that was just the tip of the iceberg.
