Sweet As Sin

7

“I do not accept.” I enunciated each word carefully, holding Nico’s gaze. My heart pounded as if it were trying to break out of my chest. “As I said, I’m not interested. The answer is no.”Completely ignoring me, Kenji danced around the rack of wedding dresses and began rifling through them, first whistling in happiness, then muttering something to himself about sample sizes and girls who ate too many carbs.

I made a mental note to remind myself to stab him later. Ten times for ignoring every word I’d said as if only Nico’s opinion mattered, and another twenty for that crack about the carbs.

I made another mental note to myself to lay off the chips and salsa.

Then Nico Nyx uttered a sentence that made me reconsider my position. “Avery’s day rate is thirty thousand bucks; you’ll get the same.”

All the breath left my lungs as if I’d been punched in the solar plexus.

Thirty.

THOUSAND.

Dollars.

I can’t speak for the rest of the world, but for me that was a fuckload of money. For basically doing . . . what? Prancing around in a wedding dress for an afternoon?

He’s still a world-class asshole, chastised my feminist side. His sweet, beautiful, helpless girlfriend shows up wasted on set, and he has his driver take her home? Epic boyfriend fail. Do NOT go into the light!

Yes, he’s an asshole, countered my pragmatic side. A RICH asshole, who just offered you more money for a few hours’ work than you make in half a year. Don’t be stupid. You can put half of it toward the mortgage, and use the other half to pay down your credit cards, then never see him again. Go INTO the light!

But what about Avery?

It’s not your fault she can’t stay sober!

What if seeing another woman in her man’s video will push her over the edge?

Bitch, PLEASE!

The two sides of my conscience were screaming at each other, and I was beginning to feel like a candidate for a mental institution. I had to make a decision, quick.

I took a breath and made it. “No nudity.”

Nico lifted one shoulder. I took it as an affirmative.

“And no other . . . funny business.”

Nico chuckled. “It’s a music video, babe, not a porno. You don’t even have to talk. Just stand there and look sexy.”

Just look sexy? Did I look like I knew how to “look sexy”?

Did he think I looked sexy?

Kenji chimed in. “Trust me, lovey, you’ll do great. I’ve done a million of these things. They’ll do a few takes of each scene, and make it look perfect in editing. No sweat.” He turned away from the rack of dresses to look at me. “So, I’m thinking you’re a size four?”

I hadn’t been a size four since about the sixth grade. I figured he was trying not to embarrass me in front of Nico, so I merely nodded, trying to look cool.

Kenji winked, confirming my suspicions, and turned back to the dresses. “This,” he enthused, pulling out a slinky, side-slit number, “is it!”

Nico grunted his approval. I stared in disbelief at the gown. The fabric was so thin, and there was so little of it, I could have folded it up like a handkerchief and stuck it in my back pocket.

“No way, Kenji! And Nico, isn’t there some kind of paperwork I should sign? You know, like a contract?”

He tipped his head back and examined me from beneath his lashes. “Why, you think I’d stiff you for the cash?”

God, every word this man said sounded s****l to me. Hearing him say “stiff you” made my ears go hot. “I’m not about to find out, because that’s what contracts are for.”

I smiled sweetly at him. I was rewarded with his chuckle again, which I liked far too much for my own good. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed.

“Barney, bring me thirty Gs from the safe when you come back, man. Yeah. See you then.” He disconnected and sent me a slow, knowing smile.

I was floored. “You’re paying me in cash?”

“You’d prefer a payment plan?”

This whole situation was amusing to him, evidenced by the twinkle in his eyes and the way his lips pressed together, as if he was trying not to laugh. I, on the other hand, was so flustered I was finding it hard to focus.

“That’s a little . . . unorthodox, don’t you think?”

He grinned. “That’s rock ’n’ roll, baby. Just go with it.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. I didn’t like him calling me “baby.” He’d called Avery “baby.” He’d also, in the span of mere minutes, called me “darlin’” and “babe.” I guessed he called every woman other than his mother one of those three. I decided then and there that this little flirtation had gone far enough.

“Okay,” I said, all business. “I’ll go with it. One day of filming, thirty thousand bucks. But let’s get something straight. My name’s Kat. If we’re going to work together, you need to call me by my real name, because that’s the only thing I’ll answer to.”

His grin vanished. A muscle flexed in his jaw. He nodded, then directed Kenji, “Twenty minutes, then bring her up to the master suite on the second floor.” He looked back at me. “We’re shooting the bedroom scene first. Kat.” He turned and walked away without another word.

The bedroom scene? My pulse went arrhythmic. What the hell had I gotten myself into?

“Oh, no you didn’t!” Kenji laughed under his breath as he watched Nico stalk away, shoulders stiff.

“Unfortunately, I think I just did.”