The Big O (An OTT Insta-love STANDALONE) (14 page)

I thought the casting session would never end. I glanced at my watch. It was now going on seven o’clock. I’d lost count of how many women I’d seen try out for the part of The Big O Girl. I turned to Olive who was taking notes and keeping track. She told me this was number 220, the last girl we were seeing. Fuck. I’d seen over two hundred girls and not one cut it. Hopefully, this one would.

The problem was that all the girls auditioning for this coveted role were cookie-cutter wafer-thin starlets or models, who’d probably never eaten a donut in their lives. They reminded me of some of my stuck-up skin and bones hook-ups, who I never wanted to see again. Women with no substance either mentally or physically. Donut King was a down-to-earth brand, and despite the sexy direction our new marketing campaign was taking, I needed a down-to-earth spokesperson to sell our donuts. That I knew for sure. We were not selling sex, but dreams.

Feeling somewhat despondent (and partially because I hadn’t been able to get to my safety deposit box to retrieve my mother’s ring), I told Jaime’s assistant to hold off on sending the last girl in. I needed some questions answered first.

“Jaime, where’d you get all these girls?”

“We put out a major casting call yesterday right after our meeting, using the specifications your marketing director Mallory gave to us.”

While Mallory smirked, the muscles behind my eyes tensed. “And what exactly were they?”

“At least five-nine. Under a hundred twenty pounds. Big tits even if surgically enhanced. Previous major modeling experience required. Thanks to my wife, I was able to convince some Gloria’s Secret models to try out for the part.”

Fuck. And fuck Clint. That was so not my image of The Big O Girl. She needed to be hefty and wholesome—exude sugary goodness. Someone who could sell both donuts and dreams. Really have an orgasmic experience when she bit into a donut. Maybe this last auditioner would.

“Send in the last girl,” I told Jaime’s energetic assistant. Fingers crossed she would cut it.

I inhaled a deep breath as she entered the room. My heart sank. She was more of the same. No different from the others. A skinny bottle-blond Amazon with head to toe surgical enhancements. To most men, she might have been a wet dream, but to me she was as bland as toast without jam. I quickly read over her headshot vitals. Great. Her last big job was doing an infomercial for a dietary supplement that was guaranteed to make you lose pounds fast. Something told me this girl wasn’t even capable of a Big O and probably faked all her orgasms.

Jaime’s assistant handed her the script. All she had to was bite into a donut and react. The box of fresh donuts was sitting on the credenza. We’d replenished them throughout the day.

Upon hearing her directions, the aspiring actress, whose name was Crystal, made a face.

“What!? I can’t eat one of these! I’m gluten-free!” She stormed out of the conference room to my relief. It spared me from having her kiss me, which was the second part of the audition. In fact, none of the girls had made it that far. Thank God, because it would have pained me to have my Olive watch other women kissing me even if they didn’t mean it. The only pair of lips I wanted on my lips, make that anywhere on my body, were hers.

“Fuck,” shouted Jaime, banging his fist on the table. “We’re out of luck. We’re going to have to set up a whole other casting session on Monday. This may really screw us. With the tight timeline we’re on, we may miss the Super Bowl.”

I met Jaime’s eyes, mine fierce with determination. “There’s one more person I’d like to try out for the role of The Big O Girl.” I paused. “My assistant, Olive.”

“What!?” shrieked Mallory, leaping to her feet. “That girl’s a nobody.”

If I had it my way, she was about to be a somebody. And something in my gut told me, she would be.

I told Clint to sit down and shut up. Reluctantly, she did as I asked though smoke was coming out of her ears. I shot my shocked Olive an encouraging smile.

“Princess, give it a try.”

M
y heart did a somersault as I jolted in my chair. Did I hear that right? Owen King, The Donut King, wanted
me
to audition for the commercial? Jaime Zander confirmed it.

“Sure, Owen. Let’s give her a shot. At this point, we have nothing to lose.”

Owen met my shocked gaze. “Olive, please, don’t keep Jaime and his team waiting. It’s been a long day and I’m sure they all want to get out of here.” He turned to Jaime’s assistant. “Can you please give Olive a script?”

“It’s okay,” I stammered. “I know what to say and do by heart.”

With Mallory’s malicious eyes on me, I slowly rose from my seat. I ambled over to the giant box of donuts on the credenza. There were slim pickings, but any one of them would do. After I mentally debated which one to choose, I picked my favorite—the cream-filled one.

“Relax, Olive,” instructed Jaime. “All you have to do is bite into the donut and react according to the script. Just be sure to look into the camera.”

With the donut in my hand, I turned so that I was facing the corner of the room, where a production assistant was operating a small camera on a tripod. He had been videotaping all the auditions so that both Owen and Jaime could play them back and review them. I was going to be the last one at least for today.

Inhaling through my nose, I took a deep breath to fortify myself. I remembered what my acting teacher had told me. To draw from experience. For example, if the script called for tears, then to think of the death of a loved one. I took one more calming breath.
Okay, Olive. You’re ready for your close-up. You can do this.

Slowly, I put the donut to my lips and then sank my teeth into it. Oh. My. God. The custard-filled donut was every bit as good as I remembered. Every time I ate one, it was always the same reaction. I felt like I’d gone to the moon and back. Savoring the sweet gooey deliciousness, the scripted words poured out of my mouth.

“Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!” I screamed out, saying the word louder each time. Jaime and Owen were both looking for someone to have an orgasmic experience. Before yesterday, I didn’t even know what an orgasm felt like, let alone the Big O, which I’d read about in romance novels. I didn’t even think they actually existed, but now I knew better. As I swallowed, all the memories of making orgasmic love with my king danced in my head. His fullness filling me, taking me to the edge. My ovaries imploding. My temperature soared as I squeezed my eyes shut. I swear I was more than having a mental orgasm. A tidal wave of pleasure crescendoed inside me, rolling through my core, as I shouted out a deafening, “OHHHHH!” that seemed to go on forever.

“Cut!” shouted out a male voice and then loud applause sounded in my ears.

I blinked my eyes open. If I wasn’t already flushed, I was now definitely as red as jelly. Everyone in the room was on their feet, applauding me with a standing ovation. Well, everyone except Mallory, who was foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog.

“That was absolutely brilliant,” beamed Jaime. “Owen, I have to hand it to you. Your instinct was spot-on.”

While I stood there motionless and stunned, not sure what had just happened, Owen winked at me.

“Jaime, before we cast her as The Big O Girl, I’d like to be sure she can handle kissing me. Should we give it a?”

“I don’t think we have to, but sure, why not?”

While I was still orbiting in outer space, Jaime informed me that all I had to do was give Owen a kiss right after he said his line. Owen wasted no time joining me and together we faced the camera.

“On my count of three,” called out the cameraman. “One…two…three.” He gave Owen a finger signal to begin.

“I’m The Donut King. Let me put the big ‘O’ in donuts.”

On cue, I stood up on my tippy toes to give Owen a kiss on the cheek just as the script called for, but to my utter surprise, he swept me into his arm, dipped me, and then leaned down to give me one of those swoon-worthy kisses you only see in movies. Stars flashed in my head as his lips consumed mine with wild passion and longing. I thought I might faint, but he broke the kiss just in time. Once again there was a bells and whistles standing ovation. Owen helped me regain my balance, but I was still shaky. While I was all heated up, Owen didn’t seem the least bit flustered.

“What do you think, Jaime?” he asked, adjusting his tie.

Jaime laughed. “I’d say you overacted, but Olive was perfect. I think we’ve found our Big O Girl.”

My eyes shifted to Mallory. She was stewing.

“Great,” said Owen. “What’s the next step?”

“I’ll have my business affairs people draw up a contract. Olive, do you have a lawyer or agent we can send it to?”

“Um…uh…”

Owen came to my rescue. “Just send it to me. I’ll take care of it.”

“Terrific. It’ll be your basic standard talent deal based on AFTRA royalty rates. And, of course, we’ll need Olive to get Taft-Hartleyed if she isn’t already a member since we’re a union shop.”

“Of course.” I nodded, not knowing a thing about AFTRA. This was all so unreal. Yesterday I was a starving actress and today I was going to star in a TV commercial. And I had to join a union and sign contracts. Oh my!

Full of enthusiasm, Jaime filled us in more about the timeline of the commercial. He was eager to shoot it. Over the next twenty-four hours, his team would look for a location or a soundstage where they could build a mock Donut King shop, hire extras as well as put together a crew. In post, he wanted to communicate the nutritional benefits of “DK” donuts—that they were made with 100% natural ingredients and contained no trans fats. Owen was impressed that Jaime had done his homework.

“Actually, Olive sent me all this information yesterday after our meeting along with the history of your company. The fact that you inherited your parents’ mom and pop shop and turned it into an empire blew me away.”

Owen’s brows lifted. I hadn’t told him that I’d taken it upon myself to make sure Jaime knew everything there was to know about Owen’s company. A dazzling smile curled on his lips.
Oh those lips!

“I have a very talented assistant. I plan to keep her around for a long time,” he replied as Mallory once again sent eye daggers my way. My gaze stayed on her as she jumped up and huffed.

“Well, just for the record, I think the choices that are being made today are the kiss of death. Every woman in the world wants to be thin. No one is going to want to buy donuts from some plus-size nobody who doesn’t even have a college educa—”

Jaime cut her off. “Actually, Ms. Clit—”

“CLINT!”

“My wife Gloria did some quantitative research and discovered that not only do men prefer curvy women, but the average woman in America wears a size 14. She furthermore noticed a trend among bestselling romance novels to feature big, beautiful women. Big, beautiful women want to feel like they can land Prince Charming just like their thin counterparts. That’s why she’s created a sexy line of lingerie targeted to plus-size women. It’s selling like hotcakes.”

“Whatever,” retorted Mallory. “I have a Harvard MBA and I know I’m right. I might as well be looking for a new job.”

“Maybe you should start now,” Owen said coolly. “I’ll give you a glowing recommendation.”

Mallory scoffed at him as Jaime looked my way. “You know, Olive, I should introduce you to my wife. You’d be a great catalogue model for her new plus-size line and you could even walk the runway in her upcoming Gloria’s Secret fashion show that’s taking—”

His face hardening, Owen stopped him. “Jaime, I want Olive to be exclusive to me. I hope you understand. It’s a deal breaker if she’s not. Olive belongs to me.”

“No problem, man. I totally understand. My wife Gloria is mine. I’d kill the man who got near her.”

It quickly became obvious to me that Jaime Zander knew I was more than Owen’s assistant. And he was beyond my boss.

He was my lover. My savior. My dream maker. My hero.

The man who I hoped to spend the rest of my life with. I loved him with all I had.

Owen was about to end the meeting when Mallory got in her last two cents.

“Owen, while your new assistant was ‘busy’ gathering information yesterday, I was doing my own information gathering. My research findings may dissuade you from going the direction you’re going.”

Owen arched a brow. Mallory shot me a smirk and then focused her gaze back on her boss.

“There’s something I think you and Jaime should know…”

A giant knot formed in my stomach as my pulse pounded in my ears.

“It seems that your new assistant is a…”

Leaping to my feet, I fled the room before she could say the word.

I was going to be sick.