All That Lies Within (25 page)

“Good morning.” Dara lingered in the doorway, striving to appear nonchalant. Rebecca looked spectacular in a pair of worn, low-cut jeans and a shape-hugging sleeveless v-neck top. Her lips…

“Good morning. Come on in.” Rebecca stepped aside and Dara walked into the room. “Sorry. I didn’t have time to make the bed.” Rebecca stood, self-consciously shifting from foot to foot.

“It’s a hotel. I’m pretty sure you’re not expected to make it.”

“Good point.”

From the looks of it, Dara deduced that Rebecca preferred to sleep on the right side of the bed, and she was a neat sleeper.
And you’re thinking about this, why?

“Have you eaten anything?”

“No. I turned off the alarm and promptly fell back to sleep,” Rebecca admitted.

“Well, there’s a great restaurant called The Polo Lounge right here in the hotel that serves an awesome Sunday brunch.”

“That sounds perfect. But I really think I need to square things away with my head of department, first.”

“Of course. Maybe I should’ve worn something more revealing.” Dara winked.

“I doubt that would help this time.” Rebecca sat down heavily on the end of the bed.

“Why? What’s the matter?”

“It’s just… I know Alistar. He’s an old-school guy who’s never been a big fan of technology. Now that the thrill of talking to ‘the’ Dara Thomas has worn off—”

“So soon?” Dara batted her eyelashes but stopped clowning around when she saw Rebecca’s troubled expression. “You’re really worried.”

“I really am.”

Dara sat down next to her and gave her a reassuring one-armed hug. “Are you familiar with the Law of Attraction?”

“The what?”

“The Law of Attraction. The basic principle is that you attract to yourself that which you think. In other words, if you’re expecting the worst, you’ll get the worst.”

“Let me guess. Correspondingly, if you expect the best, that’s what you draw to yourself.”

“You’re a quick study,” Dara said. “So, how about if we assume that old Alistar is fully on board with all of this and bring that outcome to us. What do you say?”

“I say, I’d love it if that were true.”

“Then let’s call him and make it so.”

Rebecca got up and went to the window. She flipped open her Bluetooth and dialed.

“Hi, Alistar, it’s Rebecca again. There have been some additional developments I need to share with you.”

Dara watched as Rebecca paced around the room, seemingly no longer aware of Dara’s presence, completely absorbed in trying to convince her boss that this could work. Dara cocked her head as Rebecca gesticulated with her hands, soothed with her voice, and argued a strong case.
Impressive.

When she hung up, Dara tried unsuccessfully to read her expression. “Well?”

“He’s not happy.”

“But he’ll go along with it, right?”
Please, say yes. Please, say yes
.

“He’s given conditional approval.”

“Terrific.” Dara clapped her hands. “Wait. What’s the condition in the conditional?”

“First, he wants to see and approve the setup the studio’s putting together today. He’s understandably skeptical that everything can be done in a day.”

“Okay. I can help ease your mind there. These are the guys that build entire sets in a day. I’m pretty sure they can handle putting together a virtual classroom in that amount of time. Piece of cake.”

“And they just happen to be in Vermont?”

God, you’re even prettier with a furrowed brow.
“Studios work with unionized crews. Those unions have members pretty much everywhere in the country. So the powers that be will just go down a list using a location filter, for say, New England, and they’ll put a crew together in less than an hour.”

“Huh. Okay. Well, maybe we can get past that hurdle. But that’s just one item on Alistar’s list.”

“What’s next?”
And why don’t you come back and sit next to me again?

“He wants assurances that I’ll make myself available to my students just as I would if I were holding regular office hours.”

“They don’t have to be the same hours, do they?”

“No. But they have to be equivalent hours.”

Dara raised her eyebrows. “Meaning three to four hours a day?”

“More or less, yes. I don’t know how often I’ll have to be on set, but…”

Dara calculated. Their days on set would be ten to twelve hours long. Depending on George’s predilections, that could mean a fourteen to sixteen hour day for Rebecca, every day for three months. 

“Too many for you to be able to keep regular office hours. That’s ridiculous. He’s asking too much of you.”

Rebecca came and put a gentle hand on her arm. “I appreciate your righteous indignation on my behalf. I do. But it’s okay. He’s within his rights. My job contract requires that I offer a certain number of office hours.”

“Yes, but this is an extraordinary circumstance. He should make allowances.” Dara wanted to snatch the cell phone from Rebecca and redial her boss. She put her hand in her pocket.
She’s just a business colleague, Dara. Relax. This isn’t your battle to fight.
 

“I don’t have office hours every day. Usually only on days when I have classes, so it’ll be all right.”

“How many days is that?”

“Three, this semester. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday.”

“I still think it’s unreasonable.”

“Noted,” Rebecca said. “You know what I’d like?”

“What?”

“Breakfast. All that groveling has made me famished.”

“We’ve got an app for that,” Dara said.

“Don’t I need to check out first?”

“We should have time to grab your stuff after brunch, but if you’re already packed, we can do it now and throw your gear in my car.”

Rebecca laughed. “It isn’t like I was planning to be here for long. All I have is this.” She held up a small carry-on bag.

“Okay. You make the call. Pack now or pack later.”

“It’ll only take me a minute. Let’s just do it now and then we won’t be rushed over brunch.”

“I like the way you think.” Dara got up and moved to the sofa to get out of the way. She observed Rebecca as she hustled from the bathroom to the bed, where the carry-on lay open, and then to the closet where she’d hung her pants and blouses.
Efficient. Organized. Neat.
Dara shook her head at herself.
What? Are you taking notes for an evaluation?

“Okay. That’s it.”

Dara made a show of looking at her watch. “Less than four minutes.”

Rebecca blushed an appealing shade of red. “As I said, I didn’t bring much.”

“Which brings us to the next item on our agenda after brunch,” Dara said, as she rose and headed for the door. “Clothes shopping…”

“What do you think about this?” Dara held up a pair of stonewashed skinny jeans and a silk tank top.

Rebecca blushed, again. It felt like she was doing that a lot today. Everything Dara had picked out for her so far was form-fitting and sexy. Rebecca rarely wore such things in everyday life, and never to work.

They were in a small, trendy boutique in Hollywood where Dara obviously was a regular customer. The sales staff called her by name and immediately began pulling items off the racks in her size until she stopped them and told them she wasn’t the customer today.

“Just try it on.” Dara shoved the items at her. “Please? Humor me.”

Reluctantly, Rebecca took the items and disappeared into the dressing room.

“Don’t forget to come out and model for me this time. How am I supposed to be able to gauge your style if I don’t see the results?”

The jeans fit like a glove, and Rebecca had to admit the top hugged her in all the right places. Still, it was a sea change from what she was accustomed to.

“Well? Let’s see it.”

Rebecca ducked outside the dressing room and Dara whistled appreciatively, which resulted in yet another blush. “Really?”

“I’d never lie to you,” Dara said. Rebecca might have imagined it, but Dara’s voice sounded husky to her. “You look hot. If you show up on the set looking like that, there’ll be a lot of heads turning in your direction.”

“As if with you anywhere nearby anyone would be looking at me.” It slipped out without permission.
You’re an idiot. She’s a business colleague. And, worse still, you just made yourself like everyone else in her life.
Rebecca wanted to cry.

“That would be their mistake,” Dara said. She came and wrapped a belt she’d picked up around Rebecca’s hips.

Standing this close, Rebecca could feel Dara’s breath on her face. Her perfume was light and clean, her eyes vibrant and alive.
You are in so much trouble.
She’s just a colleague helping you out. She’s just a colleague helping you out.
Maybe if she said it often enough, her stomach would stop doing cartwheels.

“Do you like it?” Dara raised an eyebrow, cocked her head, and smiled playfully.

“Oh.”
You actually need to answer her. Now would be good.
Rebecca looked down to see Dara’s arms around her hips holding the belt in place.
Not helpful.
“Um, yeah. If you think it works.”

“It absolutely works.”

Unable to stop herself, Rebecca squirmed. She was human, after all, and could only be expected to endure so much.

 Dara dropped one end of the belt and stepped back, evaluating her. “Mm-hmm. You’re a babe.”

 “I-I’ll just go get dressed. We’ve got enough clothes to get me through the week now. I’ll fly home on the weekend and get my things.” Rebecca retreated as quickly as she could. Heaven only knows what would happen if she had to stand there any longer with Dara looking at her like that.

When she came back out, the sales staff already had everything rung up for her.

“I was going to pay for it,” Dara said, “but I suspect the studio might wonder why they were reimbursing me for your wardrobe when I’m not supposed to know about you.”

“True.” Rebecca took out her credit card. She hoped it wouldn’t take too long for her to be reimbursed. The total was complete sticker shock and more than she would’ve paid for clothes in a year.

They walked out into the bright sunshine and Dara put on her shades. “Condo shopping next.” She checked her iPhone. “Looks like my agent has lined up a few prospects for us to check out.”

“Really? How did she know what to look for?”

Dara grinned. “Did you think I was grilling you about what kinds of places you’ve lived out of idle curiosity?”

“You mean you didn’t really care?”

“Oh, I definitely cared. But I also wanted to get my agent working while we were shopping. I gave her parameters based on what you said this morning.” Dara bit her lip.

Oh, please don’t do that.
Rebecca tried, with marginal success, not to stare at those luscious lips and resisted the urge to reach out and touch them with her fingertips.

“Is that okay? I guess it was a little presumptuous, huh?”

Rebecca shook her head. “No. It was incredibly thoughtful. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Dara used her hands to mock frame Rebecca’s face. “Definitely.”

“Definitely what?”

“Definitely you’re an ice cream kind of girl.”

Rebecca burst out laughing. “You can tell that just by looking, eh?”

“From the right angle, I can tell a lot of things.” Dara waggled her eyebrows. “So, how about if I take you to my favorite ice cream joint and then we’ll meet my agent at the first place? What do you say?”

“Sounds perfect.”
I can’t imagine anything I’d rather do, or anyone with whom I’d rather do it.
Rebecca sighed happily.
I am in so much trouble.
 

Dara answered Carolyn’s call on the second ring while she waited for Rebecca to come back from the bathroom. “Hi.”

“Hi, yourself. How’s it going?”

“Great.”

“Where are you?”

“We just finished eating ice cream. When Rebecca comes back from the ladies’ room we’re going to check out a few condos.”

“How did the shopping go?”

“She’s incredibly easy.”

“Excuse me?”

Dara felt the heat flow south from her belly. “She’s easy to buy clothes for. She looks good in everything.”