“Too late now. I’ve already dismissed the crew for the day and the lighting isn’t right. We’ll pick it up later.” He walked with her as she headed to her trailer. “I wanted to go over tomorrow’s scenes with you, though. How about dinner tonight? My trailer?” He put his arm around her shoulder.
Her skin crawled and she immediately wanted to shrug him off. Theo was a notorious, disgusting, very married womanizer who liked to hit on his leading ladies, especially on location. But he was also a brilliant director, so one had to take the bad with the good. “I need a shower after my run, Theo. And I’ve already made plans to run lines with Colt over dinner. You’re welcome to join us, though. We could knock out discussion about tomorrow’s scenes then.”
Theo paused, then shook his head. “No, that’s all right. We’ll do it in the morning during prep. I’ll see you then.”
“Okay. See you tomorrow, Theo.”
She stepped up her pace before Theo came up with any more pervy ideas.
“Cornered you, did he?”
She smiled as Colt Stevens, her costar caught up with her. “Why weren’t you here to save me?”
“Sorry, babe. I was on the phone. I saw Theo hook on to you as soon as you got back on set. Did you have a good run?”
“I did. Did you have a good phone call?”
His eyes gleamed. “I did.”
Des looked around to make sure they were alone. “And how is Tony?”
“Pining away for me, as always. I wish he could be here.”
“I wish he could, too.” Des wrapped her arm around Colt’s waist. “Why don’t you just come out of the closet and be done with it already?”
They’d reached her trailer. Colt opened the door for her and Des stepped in. Colt followed and shut the door. “Oh, right. Smokin’ hot movie star who gets all the sexy roles comes out as gay.”
Des shrugged. “So? It’s the twenty-first century, Colt. And you kiss better than any leading man I’ve ever worked with. I doubt any of your future leading ladies would be deterred.”
Colt sat on her sofa, stretching out his long legs. “Thanks, babe. Tony thinks so, too.”
She laughed. “Seriously, though. We have chemistry through the roof and it shows on screen. If you can pull that off, who cares who you love off screen?”
“Well, I sure don’t. And you don’t. And probably most of America doesn’t give a shit, either. But my management team does care. And they say no to coming out.”
She plopped onto the sofa next to him. “I’m sorry. You should be able to live your life freely and not have to parade around with a bunch of women you don’t care about while Tony is stuck loving you behind the scenes.”
Colt let out a sigh. “I know, love. But it is what it is, and I guess it’s going to stay that way for a while. Maybe someday we’ll be able to change that.”
She pushed off and stood. “Hopefully sooner rather than later. I want you to be happy.”
“I want you to be happy, too.”
She gave him a smile. “I am happy. I’m living my dream here.”
“Sure you are.”
“Did you get dinner ordered?”
“Should be here in about fifteen.”
“Pop open a bottle of wine for us, then. I’m going to hop in the shower.”
Des stripped and got into the shower, washing away the body makeup from today’s scenes and the sweat from her run. She thought about Colt. They’d known each other since before either of them had gotten their first film role, when they’d bunked together in a one-bedroom apartment in Hollywood. They’d become fast friends and had stayed that way. She’d found out right away that Colt was gay—hard to hide that kind of thing from your best friend and roommate. And when they’d started getting roles together, they’d bonded and supported each others’ careers. Fortunately, they’d also been lucky enough to score roles in films together. Though it was hysterically funny to film love scenes together, they were actors and professionals. And because they were so close, they had a natural chemistry. They were comfortable together, and lit up the screen. They were often linked together in the gossip circles, which Colt found amusing.
So did Des. She didn’t mind bearding for him, and often went out to premieres and to dinner with him to give him a cover when he didn’t feel like playing the role of a straight guy with some other woman.
Until she’d met Jason and had started a relationship with him.
Which had recently gone up in flames. As did most of her Hollywood relationships. Actors were self-absorbed dicks. Except for Colt, of course, who she was now free to hook up with again. At least on the surface.
She got out of the shower and put on a pair of shorts and a tank top. The smell of dinner made her stomach clench. She was hungry, so she hurriedly combed out her hair and went into the main room of the trailer, where Colt was laying out forks and plates.
“Chinese food?”
“Yeah.”
“All that salt. I love looking puffy in front of the camera.”
Colt grinned. “You couldn’t look puffy if you tried. Sit down and eat.”
They ate and chatted about the day, and roughed out tomorrow’s scenes between bites.
“I met Logan McCormack, the owner of the ranch, today,” she said as she grabbed a fortune cookie.