Page 28 of Act Like You Don't Care
The actor grinned up at me. "Well, that was fun. Come on, I'm going to be late." He took my hand and began pulling me down the hall at high speed until he made a hard right into another room, nearly taking me off my feet in the process. “I’ll find you someplace to sit.” He pulled me across the hall and into a large, open space dominated by a huge green screen. He started tracing his way over the cables and between equipment, obviously heading someplace particular, then paused just outside the halo of light that lit up the stage. “I suppose you’ll need to pick a spot,” he said thoughtfully, with that expression on his face like he’d forgotten what I was there for and hadn’t liked being reminded.
I squeezed his hand and tugged until he shuffled a little closer to me, then I leaned in as if to whisper sweet nothings in his ear. “You show me where I can sit without being in the way, I’ll let you know what works for me. You and I, we’re a team in this.”
He put his free hand on my shoulder and just stood there for a moment, his chest rising and falling as if he’d just come in from a run. His eyes, when he raised them to mine, were dark with emotion. My subconscious picked out need and fear and loneliness in the split-second before he took control of his face again and I was faced with the version of himself he showed the world.
“Thank you. Any of the chairs behind the line are fine,” he said quietly and, quick as a bird after a seed, he pecked a kiss on the corner of my mouth like he wasn’t Tam Laydon the untamable omega, before bolting onto the stage, leaving me behind with my worry and a suspicion that I’d just lost my heart to a man I could never have.
Tam
We finished on time, to my great surprise. I’d expected to be really off my game today, but the sleep last night had done me more good than I’d realized.
Miles had been quiet all morning and had done a pretty good job of staying out of the way and not being noticeable. He played the new boyfriend to perfection, to the point where a couple of times I sort of forgot that it was all an act and I maybe did or said things that weren’t very fair to him. After all, I wasn’t planning to sleep with him, no matter how warm and safe he made me felt.
The only other people that made me feel like that were my family.
Something to consider. Maybe I did need a bodyguard.
Will had packed a couple of suitcases for me for the trip, with my ID and everything else I would need. Miles was met at the airport gate by an older woman, who handed off a dark green suitcase and a carry-on bag, gave Miles a kiss on the cheek, then shook my hand and introduced herself as Miles's mother before she disappeared back out the door.
"Wow, my head is spinning," I joked. "It's like watching the roadrunner."
"She's the coordinator for the family business. It keeps her going pretty much all the time."
"All by herself?" I'd done my own research—or, well, had Will do some research in between tasks today—and discovered that Ad Astra, while not the biggest personal security firm in Hollywood, was one of the best-respected and certainly one of the busiest in the town.
"Sometimes Dad helps," Miles said absently as he fiddled with his carry-on.
I whistled, imagining how much work that had to be. And was suddenly glad that I only had to work those kinds of hours when we were behind on filming.
They called us over to boarding. Someone took our larger bags and stacked them on a cart. Miles slung his carry-on over his shoulder and reached for mine.
"I'll get that," I said and snatched it back. I didn't need an alpha to carry something that I could easily carry myself. I was not a helpless omega.
"Just trying to get the boyfriend thing down. It's been a while," he replied, a hint of stiffness in his words.
I...Did I just hurt his feelings?
Shit.
Really?
"Don't you need a hand free in case someone attacks me?" I countered. Okay, backpedaled. I didn't like that I'd hurt his feelings, it made me feel like a jerk.
He shrugged. "I'm adaptable."
Still salvaging. Help. Someone?"You could put that arm around my waist," I told him and grinned at him as if I could see under his clothes just like the TSA. "That way you can get loose quick if you need to."
He paused and I wondered what he was thinking. It had been a while, I realized with a start, since I'd bothered to do much thinking to make a relationship work. Personal ones, anyway.
"You don't have to," I rushed to assure him, then hid a wince. "I don't really know how to do this," I confessed. "I'm being an ass, right?"
This time, he laughed. "No, you're not. Let's go be awkward together."
His hand felt so right on my waist.Remember, real for the screen...Except my peen seemed to be having other ideas.
Miles
I'd kind of pegged Tam as one of those people that just lived out of their suitcase, but as soon as we'd gotten checked into our hotel room--and it was a room, not a suite, which had also surprised me--he immediately unpacked everything into the dresser drawers and hung up anything that needed to hang. I caught him eyeing my case and was hit with a giant light bulb of a realization.
