He gave her a sly smile and dropped his palm.
Her chest felt as if it had been scorched, inside and out. She shook the feeling and moved for the doorway. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
Chuck followed her. “Lesson number two: don’t say clichéd things like that.”
She glared over her shoulder and stepped into the bedroom. “Sorry I’m not up on the lingo with you and all the other C-list actors.”
“It’s B, and don’t say ‘lingo’ either.”
“Your narcissism is still intact, I see.”
“As is your self-righteousness.”
“Still leaving the seat up too?”
“Now more than ever.”
“Of course you are, because being inconsiderate is an intrinsic part of your personality.”
“I’m also still tall, and I know how you love to take offense to things I can’t change.”
“Olivia! Chuck! Right on schedule,” Parker greeted them when they came through the back door. He held his arms out like he planned to hug them, and they both blew right past him.
“I only want you to change the things that make me want to scream,” Olivia snapped back.
“Well, by my count that’s everything,” Chuck retorted.
Olivia ignored him and crossed to the pool deck’s shaded corner, which had clearly been set up for filming. They’d moved three of the patio chairs into a small cluster with a garden table between them with a vase of flowers on it. Olivia plopped down in a chair without direction, assuming she’d end up there anyway. Chuck sat in another chair and straightened his collar.
“And I see we’re having a great afternoon,” Parker mumbled, following them as they bickered.
A crew of techs swarmed them. The makeup artist from earlier swiped a brush down Olivia’s nose and across her forehead. The sound tech reached behind her and clicked on her microphone’s pack. Olivia noted out of the corner of her eye when he did the same thing to Chuck, and she realized their mics were never on.
Heat pooled into her lower belly and pushed up into her face at the thought that Chuck had used the hot mics as an excuse to touch her off camera.
She glanced sideways at him, still feeling the heat of his hand on her chest, but he wouldn’t look at her. His eyes stayed forward as the makeup artist gave him a final brushing too.
“So!” Parker said, drawing their attention with a clap of his hands. “We’re eager to keep things rolling.”
TJ Price chose that moment to join them. He entered from the kitchen wing’s back doors wearing a blazer and jeans. A makeup bib fluttered around his neck like a doily, and he shoved the end of a sandwich into his mouth. He took a hard swallow and removed the bib. “Let’s do this, huh!” he said witha beaming grin, and joined them in the makeshift studio. He sat in the chair adjacent to them. The techs pounced on him like a pack of wolves.
“Right,” Parker carried on, sounding exasperated. “We’ll be starting with a couples interview. We want to give the viewers a chance to get to know you both. They’ve all seen the video from the street—and Chuck’s backlog of work—by now, I’m sure.” He gave Chuck a wink, and Olivia tried not to scoff when Chuck beamed like he had just been patted on the head. “But we want to give themmore. We want them invested. Sound good?”
“Yes,” Chuck said with a nod at the same time Olivia said, “That depends on what you’re going to ask us.”
TJ chuckled. “I like her,” he said as if everyone there were his personal audience. “I like you,” he said again, directed at Olivia. “I knew you were something special from the moment you demanded we double the prize money. Actually, from the moment you flipped off everyone in the street.” He chuckled, and Olivia winced in chagrin.
“That was aimed at me,” Chuck butted in.
The panel lights they’d set up blinked on, and Olivia flinched in the high beams despite already being outside in the daylight.
“Quiet, please!” someone called from off set where she could no longer see.
TJ chuckled again, darker this time. “Sure, Chuck. But I still enjoyed it.”
“It wasn’t yours to enjoy…” Olivia thought she heard Chuck mutter as if he wanted full possession of her ire.
Her lip twitched the tiniest bit upward at the thought.