Aced by Ella Frank, Brooke Blaine Page B

dimples appeared, I felt my heart start to pound.
    How was I supposed to look at him all day? And more importantly, how was I supposed to remember my lines when right now I was having trouble remembering my own damn name?
    As the two of them moved closer, Dylan turned to look ahead of him, and when he spotted me standing there, a slow smile split his lips.
    God . One smile and I was right back in my bedroom with him, and I was reassured that what had happened there wasn’t all in my head. He felt it too.
    When the two men stopped in front of me, Russ flashed a grin and held his arms out to the side. “So what do you think, commander?”
    I somehow managed to drag my eyes away from Dylan to give Russ a sweeping once-over. “Not bad for a petty officer. Not bad at all.”
    “Thanks. I think I scrubbed up okay. I mean, no one can look as good as pretty boy here, but we can at least try.”
    I glanced at Dylan, whose eyebrow had arched. “Pretty boy, huh?”
    Russ bumped shoulders with Dylan, then winked at him. “Oh yeah, Dylan here was a model before he came to try out. He’s even got a billboard in Hollywood.”
    “You don’t say,” was my automatic response, and I could’ve sworn I caught a flush hit Dylan’s cheeks. Then again, it could’ve been the sun heating him in his outfit. Either way, I couldn’t help myself from slowly checking him out before speaking again. “I think you might be right, Russ.”
    Dylan shook his head. “I’m pretty sure once you put some clothes on, no one will even notice me.”
    “But if I walked around naked no one would?” The words were out of my mouth before I even thought about them, and that was exactly what I’d meant when I said he made me forget myself.  
    Around Dylan the tease was easy, the feeling was right, but I didn’t have the luxury to just say what I felt. I had to constantly think. Constantly be on. And not in the turned-on way I seemed to be when I was near this guy.
    Lucky for me, Russ didn’t seem to be too clued in on what was going on in that moment, because he let out a loud laugh and clapped me on the shoulder. “Pretty sure if you walked around naked, everyone in the world would take notice. No offense, Dylan. But Ace would trump you for sure. He’d likely wind up on the cover of every magazine on the planet.”
    And wasn’t that the damn truth. With that glaring reminder of how under the microscopemy life was, I took a step back both physically and mentally and chided myself for my reckless behavior. Saturday night had been a one-off, careless move, and though the man now watching me through narrowed eyes was everything I could’ve ever wanted, I knew I had to be smart. I had to fucking think, which was close to impossible in his presence.
    I stepped to the side and held my hanger up, motioning to my clothes with a nod. “Right. I’m gonna go and get changed before my makeup melts off my face,” I said, and even to my own ears my tone was dismissive, and judging by the confusion on Dylan’s face, the change in my mood was obvious. “I’ll see you inside.”  
    As I headed toward my trailer, I could’ve sworn I heard Russ say, “You don’t think I pissed him off again , do you?” And though I was curious when he thought he’d pissed me off the first time, there was no way I was about to stick around for Dylan’s response.

    * * *

    IT HAD BEEN an uneventful few hours, and as I piled my plate with a chicken salad sandwich and sides, I marveled at how I could’ve worked up such an appetite simply by waiting on the sidelines. Apparently, the term “hurry up and wait” was one I needed to get used to, since it seemed the majority of the time had been used to get the lighting right and to shoot about ten seconds worth of Ace walking into a room.  
    I wasn’t sure this movie stuff was for me.I much preferred just going in, doing the job, and getting out, but I had to admit, it hadn’t been all terrible. The view had been pretty