Caught on Camera by Meg Maguire

all he’d said was, “PA needed on location for new reality / survival program. Crap pay, great travel opportunities.” He’d been hoping for maybe a beach bum kid, some twenty-something wannabe pro surfer with a taste for adventure and an up-for-it attitude. A hard worker, but relaxed and adaptable, competent with a camera and mics. Someone like himself, whose only dream was to get paid to travel and have fun. The woman who arrived that morning wasn’t any of those things, as best Ty could tell.
    â€œTell me about your experience, Miss…Somersby,” he said, squinting at the take-out menu he’d scribbled her name on the previous evening when she’d phoned. He tried to sound professional, but he really had no idea what he was doing. He’d never expected the channel to pick up the pilot he’d taped on a climbing acquaintance’s beer-fueled dare. But a rival network had recently begun production on a similar series, and they’d been eager to try to beat the competition out of the gate. That Ty demanded little in the way of budget, schedule or staff had clinched the deal.
    â€œI can do anything, Mr. Tyler,” Kate said, her smile all unnaturally white even teeth framed in lip gloss. She took a seat on the hotel room’s desk chair and Ty sat on the edge of the bed. “I’m highly organized and have no personal obligations, so I’m at your complete disposal, twenty-four hours a day.”
    â€œWell, that’s certainly…accommodating. How old are you?” he asked.
    â€œTwenty-six.”
    â€œDid you recently graduate from college?”
    â€œNo,” she said, and Ty noticed her bubbling energy diminish by a degree. “I didn’t go to college.”
    â€œWell, that’s not a problem. Just making small talk. Do you like the woods?”
    â€œI grew up in Massachusetts,” she said, which meant nothing to Ty, literally hours off a plane from Sydney. “I’ve been camping and hiking before,” she offered.
    â€œYou like camping?”
    â€œSure, it’s fine. Like I said, I’ll do anything.”
    Ty took a deep breath, knowing he needed to scare this girl straight, get her to back off and spare them both the embarrassment of an outright rejection. “Are you strong? Could you, say, carry a fifteen-pound camera on your shoulder for an hour at a time?”
    â€œI’m sure I could,” she said brightly, unruffled. “I go to the gym every morning.”
    â€œHow about asthma? Allergies? Food requirements? This job demands a lot of exotic travel. You okay with centipedes and snakes and things?”
    â€œI can handle anything you need me to.”
    Ty tried another angle. “What about family? Friends? You’d have to be away for months at a time.”
    Her smile was tight. “I’m not particularly attached to anyone, Mr. Tyler.”
    â€œâ€˜Ty’ is fine.”
    â€œSo is ‘Kate.’”
    â€œRight, I’ll be honest with you, I don’t think this is going to work out.”
    Her brows pinched together. “Why not?”
    â€œWell, this job is really demanding, physically, for one.”
    â€œI’m sure you’re not implying that I can’t do this because I’m a woman.”
    Damn, was he? He didn’t think so, but perhaps subconsciously, Ty’d pictured his PA as a man, that was true. “No, of course not.”
    â€œI’m glad to hear that.”
    â€œYes, well… I’m just saying, this job’s going to be very taxing, and the filming’s going to be on location for days at a time. Maybe weeks. There could be wild animals and rough weather, even simulated shipwrecks or arctic conditions…”
    â€œThat sounds just fine.” Kate offered another million-dollar smile, as if he’d just broken it to her that her company car wouldn’t be the color she’d hoped.
    Ty laughed tightly,