Perfectly Imperfect(35)
“Oh,” Kirby says, faltering as she walks into the room. Her eyes move from Kane’s smiling face to my shocked one before she quickly recovers. “Mr. Masters, nice to see you again.” She walks forward and reaches out to shake his hand, looking over at me with an expression that tells me she’ll demand answers as soon as possible.
He ignores her hand and pulls her into a friendly hug. “Kirby, it’s a pleasure. Thank you for getting here so quickly. I apologize for not coming in earlier. I had some things on set that needed my attention.”
“Earlier?” she asks, knowing dang well what he’s talking about.
“Yes, I should have had Willow pass on my regards, but we were busy,” he pauses and looks over at me wickedly, “discussing other things.”
“I’m sure you were, Mr. Masters.” Her words say one thing, but what I hear is ‘We’ll be discussing this in more detail later, Willow.’
“Kane, Kirby. I’ve told you already, please call me Kane.”
“Kane it is, then,” she smirks. “Busy day exploding ovaries?”
I gasp at her audacity, which really shouldn’t surprise me with Kirby, but Kane just laughs.
“I only care about one set of those, Kirby. Glad to see you haven’t lost that sense of humor.”
She smiles, and I look back and forth between the two of them, my brow crinkling in confusion. “You two are so strange.”
They both look over with matching smiles, and I roll my eyes.
“I see you and Willow have made up for lost time?” she asks.
“Yes,” he answers at the same time I snap out a no. His smile grows, and Kirby laughs.
“Right-o. Well, I’ll leave you two while you’re not making up for lost time. Alli smelled cookies, so I was on a mission. By the way, Willow?”
I meet her eyes. “Yeah?”
“Your lip gloss looks great on Kane.”
My eyes shoot over to his lips—those full, delicious lips—and I feel my cheeks heat when I notice the glossy shine coating his. How did I miss that? Oh, that’s right, you were too busy succumbing to his charm and falling into the desire that his touch ignites. How is it that he makes it so easy to forget any misgivings I could have about him … or whatever this is between us?
He smiles but doesn’t move to wipe his mouth, just dips his tongue out and—slowly—licks over the shiny coat. And God help me, I moan, not even the least bit ashamed he’s brought that reaction out of me. What is this man doing to me? I’ve never reacted like this toward a man before, and Kane, a man I hardly know, knocks down all my insecurities in one fell swoop. Or better yet, a few kisses.
Kirby and Kane continue to talk about her schedule for tomorrow—going over the call sheet for the day and how early the leading actress needs to be ready for her first scene. I tune them out and move to clean up the mess I made during the last batch of cookies. Alli comes running in a few times, completely ignorant to the movie star before her, and scrambles off with as many cookies as her little hands can carry.
“Willow? Did you catch that?” Kirby questions, and I move my attention from the mixing bowl I had been scrubbing.
“Catch what?” I ask, rinsing my hands and turning off the tap.
“Kane said he needs you to help him with some things tomorrow. It will be a light day for me since only Alessandra and two other actresses are in my chair, and then I’m just sitting on the sidelines waiting for touch-ups, so it won’t be a problem for me.”
“Uh … isn’t the point of me being here to help you?”
Kirby looks at Kane, and they seem to communicate briefly without words before she looks back over and shrugs.
“It was the point, Willow, but I’ve decided things are going to be a little different now. We’re at the tail end of production, so there aren’t as many demands on Kirby’s plate. And per her contract, she does have one other makeup artist at her disposal. Unfortunately for me, my PA, Sam, was called away for some business he needs to tend to back in LA, so I need a little help until he can return.”
“Help?” I look back at Kirby for some direction, but she’s avoiding my probing gaze. “What exactly do you mean by that? I’m sure I’m not qualified for anything you could need help with.”
Kane chuckles. “You couldn’t be further from the truth. I think you’ll find you have all the qualifications I desire.”
Kirby clears her throat, but I don’t move my eyes from Kane. It’s obvious he isn’t talking about anything work related at this point.
“I’m sure your desires are not something I would be able to meet, Kane.” Actually, I would love nothing more than to meet his desires, but just the thought of taking things further than the few kisses we’ve shared has me hitting panic level DEFCON 5.
“Yes, well … that’s the beauty of trying, Willow. You’ll find I would never lead you down a path you couldn’t handle while enjoying every second of it.”
“You two …” Kirby pauses and pulls at the collar of her tee shirt while fanning her face with her other hand. “You could light a fire with the amount of heat you two are sparking.”
My eyes narrow when Kane winks at me.
“Take a chance,” he tells me, his voice a low rumble for my ears only.