Hollywood Dirt (Hollywood Dirt, #1)(64)
Before his six years with Nadia, he’d screwed plenty of costars, most of them. It was normal, with four months together, socializing with the crew a non-possibility, for the leads to gravitate toward each other. Lines were often run late at night over drinks. And lines and drinks typically led to drunk kisses and drunker sex. Costar sex had often been good but never great. Then he had met Nadia, fallen for Nadia, and never looked back, never been tempted, never yielded to a costar’s pathetic play at an affair.
And sex with Nadia had always been good, it had been the basis of their relationship, now that he stepped back and examined it. But sex with Summer… that experience had been another league entirely. He had lost his mind in those moments in her bedroom. Touching her, the feel of being inside her, her kiss, her sounds… he had let himself, in her bedroom, enjoy her, want her, worship her. He’d been, in that moment, completely hers. And that, more than their tension, more than Brad DeLuca and his threats, is what scared the absolute hell out of Cole.
He rounded the bend and headed home, extending his stride and pushing the last half-mile hard. He needed to shower. Jack off. Get in some type of a reasonable mind-set before he called DeLuca back and then headed into town.
SCENE #22. That was on the docket today. Rewritten to incorporate the kiss that didn’t happen yesterday. He kept his eyes straight ahead, on the narrow strip of clay, and didn’t look to Summer’s house. A kiss. Child’s play.
Between the swing of his stride, he felt himself grow hard at the thought, and he groaned in protest.
He was f*cked. Absolutely, unequivocally, f*cked.
CHAPTER 71
“I need you in California this afternoon.” Brad DeLuca didn’t mince words, his greeting skipping straight to the point. Cole stuck the end of the hose in the kiddie pool and twisted the nozzle. Cocky liked the kiddie pool, especially on a day like today, where it was gearing up to be in the high nineties.
“I can’t go to California today.” He watched the pool fill and lifted the towel from his neck, drying off his head, still wet from the shower.
“Yes, you can, and you will. I spoke to your director, and he’s shifting the shooting schedule, said it will be no big deal.”
“You spoke to my director.” Cole mused, spraying a burst of water in Cocky’s direction, when DeLuca had time to sleep.
“I wasn’t going to waste your time by calling you for something that couldn’t be done. I verified that it can be done, and now you’re going. Justin has already set up a flight for you at eleven.”
Eleven. Cole breathed a little easier. Plenty of time to shoot twenty-two and then hit the airport. Worst-case scenario, if Don wasn’t happy, they could reshoot it later in the week. “Why do you need me there?”
“You’ve been summoned. It’s an initial play at mediation. Nadia’s team is trying to look good; though, I can tell you from the tone of our communication, they are anything but cooperating.”
“So it’s a waste of time.”
“Not at all. I spoke to them this morning and gave them an ultimatum. Told them tomorrow is their last chance to stay out of court. They gave us three options on dates for the mediation, and this is our best shot. If we could knock out The Fortune Bottle issue now, especially since you’re clean as a f*cking whistle, then the rest is easy. You could be fully divorced by Christmas.”
Clean as a whistle. He didn’t feel clean. With everything happening with Summer, he felt dirty as f*ck. He said nothing and opened the back door, Cocky perking up his head. Divorced by Christmas. That would be good. And Nadia would definitely want to avoid court. Maybe this mediation could be it, one giant stress removed from his life.
“How are you handling things?”
Cole looked at Cocky and contemplated bringing him to the set. He’d have to ask Summer to watch him while he was gone. There wasn’t really anyone else.
“Cole?” DeLuca prodded. “I don’t want you drinking your feelings away. Nadia’s not worth it. You’ll know that one day.”
“I’m fine,” Cole snapped, leaving Cocky in place and pulling the back door shut and heading for the front, grabbing his keys off the counter.
“Don’t give me that. You want to play tough on the set, fine, but be upfront with me. I have a shrink that is brilliant. Why don’t you talk to him? Just vent, or break down, or do whatever it is that you Californians do when you have a broken heart.”
Cole laughed, his hand on the front door, the cordless phone pinning him to the house when he really wanted to get to the Pit. “Brad. I’m fine. I swear to you on God’s green Earth that I am not pining over Nadia.”
“So you’re over Nadia.” Brad’s voice was skeptical, and it ate up valuable time. Cole glanced at the rooster clock by the door and tried to calculate how many takes they’d have time to fit in.
“Yep,” he said shortly.
“I thought I told you to stay away from *.”
Cole’s attention returned to the call. “What?”
“You can’t get into a relationship right now. Absolutely not. We’re walking into our first round of mediation, and we need you to look wounded and struggling. If you’re in a new relationship it’s going to paint Nadia’s affair in a different light.” The man’s words rolled out focused and deadly.