Hitman's Hookup: A Bad Boy Romance (48 page)

A few minutes later, Fox came back, his hat firmly back in its spot on top of his head. "Okay, this is what I want from both of you. I need you to leave
this
, whatever it is,
off-screen
. Just pretend for an
hour
that whatever happened didn’t happen. You both look like two people who'd rather drink poison than work with each other. Well, that's how Olivia looks. I'd almost rather have Hailey back here.”

Olivia looked up for the first time at those words, her face the picture of hurt and offense. Fox grabbed her hand.

"You misunderstand, Olivia. If I brought Hailey back I’d be replacing this asshole over here, not replacing you.” Then he laughed maniacally, the same way he had after firing Hailey.

She nodded, biting her lip. It looked like she almost wanted to smile.

Fox turned back to me. "You, dearest,
darling
Wilder, look like a sad, sick, pathetic puppy. Which would work if we were shooting a Hugh Grant rom-com. But we're not. It's a romance-action adventure, and I need you to channel your goddamn inner James Dean, fuck 'em and leave 'em attitude that you're so fucking famous for. I need you to
not
be Nicholas. I need you to be
Wilde
. And I need you to stop drinking.”

It was the first time I'd ever heard him use my real name. I hadn't been aware that he knew what my real name was, honestly. I took a deep breath.

"Alright," I replied.

"Okay. So we are all on the same page here, then?"

Olivia spoke. "Yes. I am anyway." She walked back up the hill, her ass wiggling in her waist-high pants. I tried not to stare.

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

OLIVIA

“Has he even tried to apologize yet?” Lydia asked me.

She had four sewing pins in her mouth and was hand-stitching a lacy bra while we sat in her hotel room. I picked fried potato slices off of her abandoned room service plate.

I pulled my bathrobe closer around me. I was practically living in the thing since the breakfast with my mother.

“No,” I replied after I’d finished chewing. “Asshole,” I added as an afterthought.

Lydia sighed. “He was upset about his dad. Give him a little bit of a break? How would you have reacted if
your
dad showed up out of nowhere?”

I shifted uncomfortably. I knew that she was right. But I was too stubborn to agree or apologize. I absentmindedly tied the waist of my robe shut.

“Keep those puppies out,” Lydia admonished. “I’ll need them again in a minute.” She set the pins down and held up the bra. “Ta-dah!” she said.

“It’s gorgeous, Lydia,” I told her. I tried not to think about wearing it in front of Wilder on set. Our sex scene was happening in a few days; the last day of shooting.

Lydia snapped her fingers. “Turn around, robe off!”

I did as I was told, and a minute later my breasts were encased in the softest lace I’d ever touched in my life. I spun around so Lydia could see. She stared at my chest appraisingly.

“I think I did a good job,” she said. “Considering I had to enlarge it by three cup sizes.”

I walked over to the bathroom mirror and looked at myself. It was gorgeous and supportive.

Lydia walked up behind me and seemed to be reading my mind. “It’s going to be weird having to pretend-fuck your stepbrother in front of a bunch of people isn’t it?””

I almost laughed. “When you put it like that, yeah.”

Lydia tilted her head and frowned. “Probably not as weird as pretend-fucking your estranged lover, though.”

I sighed and turned around so she could unhook the bra. “Well, thanks for
that
reminder.”

I crossed my arms over my naked chest and wandered into the bedroom, pulling the robe back on.

“The press has backed off a bit on the idea that you and Wilder are a couple, by the way. I guess they had nothing to feed that fire but idle speculation. And besides that, Hailey hasn’t been seen in public for a while.”

“Good for her,” I said absentmindedly. The truth was that just hearing Hailey’s name made my stomach turn over. “How’s Brian?” I asked.

Lydia shrugged. “I don’t know. He won’t answer his phone. I’m pretty sure he’s done with me.” She guffawed. “It’s just as well. I’ve been eyeing one of the waiters downstairs. He keeps flirting with me, and I’m pretty sure it’s for more than just tips, honestly.”

“How can you do that? Just…jump from one thing to another?”

Lydia smiled. “Easy. I have no soul.”

“Seriously.”

She sighed and folded up the bra into a neat circle, tucking it into the pocket of a hanging garment bag.

“I honestly wasn’t that interested in Brian. He was…convenient. I think we both just got complacent. It was
easy
for us to still be together, but easy doesn’t make it
right.
” She stared out the window at the sinking sun. “It’s easy to move on when you have nothing really to lose.”

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

OLIVIA

Fox clapped his hand on my shoulder.

“You doing okay, kiddo?” he asked me.

I stared up into the bright lights in the makeshift makeup area. It was the final day of shooting. I couldn’t believe that we were almost finished. Wilder and I were still not talking to each other.

I smiled at Fox while Bev doused my face in anti-shine powder. “I’m great, thanks,” I said to him.

“I just wanted to reiterate what we talked about yesterday.”

I nearly sighed. Fox and Janna had spent half an hour with me the previous night going over the mechanics of filming sex scenes. I’d been trying to focus on their words but instead had only managed to daydream about my bathrobe, a phone call to room service and a marathon of Italian-subtitled Kardashian episodes awaiting me in my room.

“It'll just be a few of us on set. Most of production is off in the countryside shooting some action shots with your stand-ins and b-roll. Janna is going to be taking care of things over there. So it will be you, me, a makeup person and Lydia from wardrobe, along with two camera guys and the sound person."

He ran his fingers down the list of names, checking them off with a flourish as he said them.

"And Wilde, of course. It will be very, very basic. It's supposed to be a full day of sun today and this hotel suite is north-facing. It will mostly be lots of up close shots and suggestions of intimacy. Olivia, I want nothing more than your comfort, alright?"

I nodded. “Got it. Thanks.”

Bev swiped lip gloss across my mouth with a delicate brush. She applied it with the tiniest of strokes.

"Like I said yesterday: very tasteful. Nothing that makes you uncomfortable, and if you
do
feel uncomfortable at any moment, all you have to do is say the word and we stop.”

“I’ve got it, Fox. Thank you for being so thorough with me. I really appreciate it.”

Fox nodded. “Again, you say the word. This is your show.  You’re running this.”

Bev moved away from my face to grab a mascara wand and I smiled up at Fox. He nodded and left the bathroom; going back out into the main space of the suite where the camera people were setting up.

I closed my eyes and tried to breathe through my nose.

"You okay?" Lydia’s voice asked from the door. I opened my eyes and saw her pulling in a metal rolling rack that had a few different pieces of lacy black lingerie on it. "You look sick."

“Thanks, Lydia,” I said sarcastically.

“It’s the truth,” said Bev from behind me. I whipped around to look at her. “Why do you think Fox keeps coming in here to reassure you?”

I didn’t know what to say about that. Bev came over to take out the loose bobby pins that were holding back the bedroom curls the hair team had executed an hour earlier. My hair fell down against my face softly.

Lydia pulled a silky black teddy off of a hanger and held it up. "This should fit you. How do you feel about it?"

“What happened to the bra you sewed for me?” I asked.

“I want you in something over the bra and panties for when you walk to the bed for the scene. Usually actresses of your size and shape
request
that they are more covered up. So that’s what audiences are used to.”

I laughed. “Wait, so I’m considered fat now and I shouldn’t scare the people in the audience?”

Lydia shrugged. “You don’t have a flat stomach. This is how it works.”

I felt something long-dormant stir inside of me. It felt something like spontaneity. “No. Let me walk in with only the underwear.”

Lydia raised her eyebrows. “If Fox thinks-“

“Fox said this is my show. I’m not comfortable covering up in a teddy. I just want to come in with my stomach showing. That’s what I want.”

Lydia put her hand on her chin and stared intently at the bras and panties. Then she looked back at me, something like a mischievous smile across her face.

“I love it. God, working with you is so pleasant. Usually there are eighteen meetings discussing underwear with actors. They want
just the right pair
that makes their ass look
just right.
Doesn’t seem to matter the gender of the actor, either.” She clapped her hands together and rubbed them with vigor. “It's only for your entrance, anyway. The rest of the time I'll be artistically draping sheets across you and Wilder to keep your private bits covered." She paused, inhaled deeply and turned to face me. "Is it weird?" she asked.

"Is what weird?"

Bev finished snapping closed the lids of makeup pans. "Hey I'll be right back. I need some water. Do you need anything?" 

Lydia and I shook our heads. She left with a click of the door handle.

"Is what weird?" I repeated.

“I know I asked you yesterday and you already answered. But seriously. You’re going to be simulating sex with your
brother
on camera. You know how many people are going to show up to see this movie? Between the Hailey engagement scandal and the illicitness of pseudo-incest...damn. This could be the shittiest movie in the entire world but it's going to make a
ton
of money."

I exhaled. "It's really not a big deal, honestly," I said. "It's just acting. It's not like we'll
actually
be having sex." My cheeks burned slightly.

But we
would be
skin-to-skin. I had a hard time seeing how I wouldn’t find that arousing. I’d read once that actors who said that filming sex scenes wasn’t arousing were full of shit. I already had a suspicion that was accurate.

Lydia helped me into the underwear and bra.

“I’ll be right out of frame the entire time if you need anything,” she said. “You’ll be great. You
look
great, anyway.”

I wondered if this was how people felt before they walked down the aisle.

“I feel like a naked bride,” I said, laughing. I took a deep breath and looked at myself in the mirror. Between the subtle makeup and curled hair, I hardly recognized myself. This actually helped. I felt like I was in another person’s skin.

Like the entire act was a costume.

I was as ready as I was ever going to be.

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

WILDER

Actors who say they hate filming sex scenes are full of fucking bullshit.

Sex scenes are awesome and arousing and the only bad part is the little sling they put my dick in that keeps it against my leg because it’s uncomfortable. In PG-13 movies I would always get nude-colored, tight underwear.

In this R-rated one, I would be getting the sling, since my ass would be in the shot.

I stood next to the bed eating a banana Harrison handed to me. I wasn’t sure if I had imagined it, but he seemed jumpy. I could have sworn that I saw a bead of sweat form on his forehead.

“You okay?” I asked him, squinting. “You don’t look great.”

Harrison grimaced at me and nodded. “Just not feeling very well I guess.”

I handed him the spent banana peel and shrugged. “Go to your room. We’ll be filming for the next six hours or so.”

“I was going to wait outside the door in case you needed anything,” he said. I knew he hated when plans changed. It made him anxious.

“Come back around two. I won’t need you until then.”

Harrison swallowed and nodded. “Thanks,” he said. He began walking away but he stopped. “Mr. Wilder, I actually really need to tell – “

“Okay everyone, we are ready when you are,” Fox called out. “All non-essential personnel please
exit
the room!” He said, waving dramatically toward the door like he was guiding an AirBus down the runway.

“Not now, Harrison,” I said to him dismissively.

A shadow crossed Harrison’s face and he turned around to leave the room. I took off the bathrobe and threw it onto a chair out of frame. I stretched my arms into the air, cracked my neck, and crawled into bed. Lydia came over to arrange the sheets around my body.

“Lydia,” I said as a way of greeting.

“Wilder,” she replied, nodding.

“How’s Liv?” I asked under my breath.

She raised one perfectly-penciled eyebrow my direction.

“Imagine how easily you could have gleaned that information by, I don’t know.
Talking to her?”
she slapped the sheet against my leg and I recoiled.

I had been wondering if Olivia was talking about me to Lydia. Apparently she was. That was a good sign; if she had been
really
angry she wouldn’t have been able to even mention my name. Lydia walked away sighing.

The bathroom door opened and all of my thoughts evaporated in an instant as I saw Olivia.

She stood there, in a black lace bra that barely held her tits in place. Matching black boy shorts with tiny red bows were the only things that could draw my eyes away from her chest.

I’d never been so happy to have that dick sling in my life. Olivia saw me looking at her. She almost looked pleased. Her hair fell in curls down her shoulders and across her clavicle.

I felt like I’d just disappeared into a dream.