Rachel plopped down next to her. Her blue eyes sparkled with mischief. “I couldn’t let you be the only one staring at that hot bod all day.” She reached across Natalie and snatched Riddle Beach. She turned over the DVD. “This one has nudity. I vote for this one first.”
“Fine.” Just what she needed-an image of what he looked like undressed for Monday morning. That wouldn’t be at all awkward. What’d you do over the weekend, Natalie? Oh, stared at your naked body on DVD.
She grabbed the burgundy throw from the arm of the couch and helped herself to a handful of popcorn. At least there wasn’t a chance of this Chase catching her looking at his hot bod.
The opening scene came on the TV. Alexis was the female lead in this movie. Her body flowed across the room with grace and elegance in her forties dress. Her outrageous red lips jumped from the screen.
Natalie’s hand formed a fist around her blanket. “Alexis Brandt came by the office tonight.” The words spewed from her mouth before she could stop herself.
“Oh, do tell. Dirt before it even hits the stands. How cool is that? Were they, you know, together?” Rachel tucked her legs under her. She couldn’t spend an hour without checking the entertainment blogs or news.
Tightness spread through Natalie’s chest. Maybe she was coming down with something. She reached over for her drink and took a sip before answering. “I don’t know. She did the air kiss, and I left them alone in the office.”
“A little office nookie.” Rachel’s voice quivered with excitement. “Oh, I bet they are having sorry-things-didn’t-work-out sex all over the office. I wonder if they’ll go to the Globes together.”
Natalie gagged on a piece of popcorn. Rachel thumped her hard on the back. Chase having sex in the office-yet another image Natalie didn’t want in her brain for Monday morning. Or any morning, for that matter.
On the TV, Chase walked on the screen. Dressed in a long trench coat and derby hat, he sat at a table to watch Alexis’s character sing a soulful version of “Fever.”
“That’s probably not even her voice,” Natalie murmured under her breath.
“Is he really that good-looking in person?” Rachel didn’t wait for her answer.
Of course, Natalie would have had to admit he looked better in real life. On screen he was larger than life, but in reality, he seemed like a normal guy. A gorgeous normal guy. She could feel the heat flood her cheeks from just thinking about him.
“We have to have lunch this week. I can come to the office to pick you up and try to snag a view of Mr. Sexiest Man Alive for myself.”
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea. I have a lot of work to do next week.” Natalie reached for another handful of popcorn.
Rachel was more Chase’s type than she was. Her dark hair never had a strand out of place. Rachel also had killer curves. Natalie knew from experience that men wanted Rachel.
Not that Natalie wanted Chase to want her.
“It’s just lunch. Nobody would fault you for going to lunch. Besides-” she shoved her hand out toward the TV, “-you can’t deny me my one opportunity to meet the man of my dreams.”
Natalie snorted. “I thought the man of your dreams was Matt Damon.”
“Well, normally, but since Matt isn’t available I’ll settle for Chase. C’mon, Natalie, you know you can’t say no.”
A fact her roommate used against her constantly. But one she wasn’t willing to fight about right now, or anytime, for that matter. Confrontation made her ill. The camera pulled in tight to Chase’s eyes, and she coughed to cover the sigh that tried to escape.
“You know I’ll just keep pestering…”
“Fine, we’ll do lunch, but I meet you at the door and if he isn’t around, we leave. Now, can we just watch the movie?”
Rachel squealed and shook Natalie’s arm, knocking popcorn all over the floor. “I get to meet Chase Booker. Oh, this is the scene where he walks across the room naked. Shhh.”
Natalie wanted to roll her eyes, but couldn’t take them off Chase’s body. It had to be touched up in editing or a body double. No one could look that good in real life.
Of course, Monday morning, Natalie found herself staring at Chase as he walked by. The images from the movies played in her head. She tried to detect a difference in the walk to see if they’d used a body double. But his swagger was definitely unique and the perfect butt was again outlined in jeans that should be a sin for him to wear.
“How’s the audit going?” Martin’s stern voice rang out behind her.
She jumped in her chair. Her face flushed from being caught watching the owner’s butt as he strolled down the hallway. Picking up a few papers, she turned. “I’ve been making progress. I’ve pulled all the expense reports and started itemizing them in a spreadsheet.”
His mouth tightened. “Good. I expect you to continue working late until we get this thing figured out.”
“Yes, Mr. Morrison.” Though it wasn’t really “we” working this out.
He nodded to her and returned to his office. Turning back to her desk, she lost herself in expense reports for all sorts of weird things: haircuts, manicures, massages, personal trainers. Not so weird for a Hollywood production, but really weird to her, especially the amounts for each one.
When she got to a claim for toilet paper, she stopped. Sliding off her glasses and setting them on the desk, she closed her eyes and rubbed them. The numbers had begun to swim on the page. In her business class, they’d gone over legitimate expenses. Even though this was a movie set, the expenses were ludicrous. Who needed twenty-four dollars’ worth of toilet paper for two days at a shoot? Maybe he had diarrhea. She smiled slightly.
“You look like you’re in a good mood.” Chase’s voice curled around her ear and slid down her back, leaving a pleasant shiver in its path.
Resisting the urge to groan, she uncovered her eyes to stare at the blurry blob of Chase Booker.
“Did Velma lose her glasses again?”
She could hear the smile in his voice. Patting the desk in front of her, she gripped her glasses and forced them back onto her face. Maybe she’d have been better off not wearing them. At least when he was a blob, the only thing seducing her was his voice.
“No, I was just…” Her gaze dropped down to the huge amount of paper on her desk.
“Trying to find your way out of the recycling bin?”
Her gaze met his. The smile on her face froze as the unbidden image of him naked on the TV screen flashed in front of her eyes. The heat crept up from her chest until she swore it was going to pop out of the top of her head.
“I like it when you do that.” His voice was soft and intimate.
Oh, God. What did he like? That she was visualizing him naked? Was she that obvious?
“There it goes.” His eyes sparkled.
“What?” she managed to get her thick tongue to say.
“Your smile.”
Seriously, flames should be bursting from her skull any moment. Her papers-she could look at her papers. Numbers didn’t make her heart race, her palms sweaty or her mouth dry. She couldn’t take her eyes from his, though.
“Have lunch with me.”
“What? Why?”
When he smiled, his eyes lit from within and crinkles formed at their corners. Why was he asking her? Did he do that with all the employees? Was she reading too much into his question? Was his interest in her only as an employee?
“There you are, Natalie. I waited up at the front like you said, but… Oh, hi.” Rachel stopped next to Natalie’s desk, turned on her hundred-watt smile and tossed her perfect black locks over her shoulder.
Natalie kept her eyes on Chase, trying to read his expression. Once men saw Rachel, Natalie became invisible. Or worse, they pretended to be interested in her to get close to Rachel.
She knew she shouldn’t have let Rachel talk her into lunch.