Chapter Two
West Rycroft was an asshole.
It wasn’t like she wasn’t used to dealing with assholes, but she’d kind of hoped for some older lady who might view her as a daughter type. She could hang with older people. When she’d been young, her mom had been preoccupied running her sister, Brynn’s career, and she’d been left hanging around movie and TV sets. There had been a couple of older women who had taken her under their wing. The woman who’d run the costume shop on Brynn’s long-running TV show had taught her how to knit.
Which was what she did now as she sat in the small break room waiting for her stepdad to finish up with the Taggarts.
She pulled out her knitting needles and cast on, starting with a garter stitch. It was the easiest stitch, but she wasn’t really trying to make something. This was self-soothing.
Do I make myself clear, Allyson?
He’d loomed over her, every inch of him masculine and commanding. Those stark green eyes of his had stared down at her, and she’d had the most ridiculous impulse to turn her face up. To see if she could tempt him into kissing her.
She was such a stupid girl.
“Aren’t you that person on TV?”
She glanced up, and the goth kid was standing there. Maybe not goth, exactly. The girl wore ripped jeans and combat boots, a concert T-shirt with her hair in a high ponytail. She looked an awful lot like Charlotte Taggart now that Ally really studied her. “I am. Shouldn’t you be in school?” There was probably a reason, and sympathy welled hard and fast. “Yikes. Suspended?”
The girl shrugged. “I’m always in some kind of trouble, but not this time. In this case, it’s a teacher in-service day and I’m grounded, so I have to be up here. I might have snuck out to see a friend a couple of months ago. At night. In the middle of the city. It also might have gone really wrong. Anyway, I’m stuck here for all vacation days. Fun. I’m Kala Taggart. The big scary guy is my dad, and my mom’s one of the owners of the company. What are you in for?”
Ally’s hands moved out of long habit, the rhythm of knitting soothing her. “Asshole guy killed a bunch of birds and presented them to me as a message that he wants to kill me.”
The girl’s face wrinkled up in distaste. “He killed birds?”
It was good to know that was worse than the death threats to this girl. Ally approved. She tended to like animals more than humans as well. “Yeah. I thought that was awful, too. At least my sister’s dogs weren’t around. I would have hunted that fucker down if he’d laid a hand on them.”
“Duke and Dolly are the best.” The girl sat back, seeming to relax a little.
Ally would bet this young woman didn’t reach out to many strangers. Her sister had gotten married and left show business behind, but she still visited, and for years, that had meant being on Match Made in Hollywood . Her husband, Major, hated it, but Duke and Dolly had become canine stars. “They are. I love them. When my life gets a little more settled, I’m going to get a couple of my own. It doesn’t seem fair to leave them in crates while I’m working. Are you in high school?”
“I’m a freshman. You are not what I expected. You’re really cool on the show. My sisters love it. Actually, everyone loves your show. The girls at my school freaked out over the Christmas special.”
Her mom had gotten them all together for a series of specials in the last couple of years. Her mom claimed she wanted to keep the brand going. Ally wanted to level with this girl, though. “You know it’s not all real, right?”
“You didn’t break up with Kellan?”
She shrugged. “Oh, I did. He was a total dickhead who only dated me because of the show.” That had hurt more than she’d thought it would. “I’m talking about the big argument with my mom. They exaggerated that. We’re cool, me and my mom.”
“So you’re not as much of a bitch as you seem?” Kala asked, and immediately her cheeks went red. “Sorry. My mom says I have no filter.”
Ally didn’t mind. “I rarely bother with one. Why should I? I mean, I try not to go around insulting people, but isn’t honesty better? As to your question, well, it’s all in the editing, isn’t it? I mean, did I do and say all those things on the show? Sure. Did they always show my motivations? They showed whatever made the best TV. It’s okay. It’s a good question to ask.”
“If it helps, I actually think you’re pretty cool,” Kala said quietly. “Like you’re not fake. A lot of the shows my sisters watch are about fake people. You seem more real. And it’s funny how you take down the fake people. Your sister seems a lot like mine.”
Ally wrinkled her nose, feeling a kinship with the kid. “Yours perfect, too?”
“Yeah, but I have two of them. And one of them is my twin.”
Ally whistled. “That’s rough. It’s hard to be the one who always gets into trouble. I can’t imagine having to go to the same school as my sister.”
“It’s not easy. She gets along with everyone. She’s probably going to be in the spring court,” Kala said.
“Spring court?” Ally hadn’t gone to a regular school. Her mom hadn’t wanted to be tied to some school’s schedule, so she’d done distance learning.
“Yeah, our high school has this thing called spring formal, and Kenzie is all freaked about it, and even my best friend wants to go,” Kala said with a sullen look. “She’s a couple of years younger than me, but she’s in the same grade because she’s super smart.”
“Sounds like fun,” Ally said. “Do you not want to go?”
A slim shoulder shrugged. “There’s a stupid dress code. There’s always a stupid dress code. I don’t wear ball gowns.”
Something about the way she said the words made Ally think she was putting on a front. “I love wearing them. Not all the time, of course, but it’s fun to step out of your normal self sometimes.”
“I think people would freak if I showed up in some poofy dress,” Kala insisted.
Oh, she knew this girl. She’d been this girl. “You know I have this thing I like to do every now and then. I’ll do something completely out of character and throw off my haters. It’s got to be something I want to do. Something for me. Kala, do you think you would enjoy going to the dance?”
“There’s this guy,” she said. “I thought it would be cool to see him there, but I don’t think he would want to see me. I think he feels comfortable that I won’t be there so like his friends don’t see him with me. His friends don’t like me.”
Poor baby. “What might be cool is putting on a dress that will blow his socks off and dancing the night away with someone else.”
“Yeah, I thought about that. But like this is my look. This is who I am.”
This was her armor. Ally understood the importance of armor, but she’d learned a few things over the years. “You can be anyone you want, Kala. Even if only for a little while. It can be fun to see yourself in a different way.”
“Like playing a part?” She seemed to think about the idea.
“Sort of, but even when you’re playing a part, you’re always in there. You can learn a lot about yourself when you try new things.”
“You don’t think people will make fun of me?”
“Sweetie, I know they will. People suck. What I’ve learned is they only really win if you let them control your life,” Ally explained.
“I wouldn’t let them…” Kala sighed. “I kind of want to wear a pretty dress, and I’m letting the idea that they might laugh stop me.”
“The clothes you wear, they’re cool. You look good in them. But they’re also a kind of armor. They’re your costume. But even if you put on a different costume, that doesn’t make you less you. You are whoever you say you are, and screw anyone who tells you differently.”
She nodded, a look of determination coming on her youthful face. “Screw ’em.”
“There you are.” Charlotte Taggart stood in the doorway.
“Yep. I’m still here. Haven’t been kidnapped or anything.” Kala stood with a long-suffering sigh. “I’ll go back to my desk and do something boring.”
Charlotte’s eyes closed as though she was counting mentally as her daughter stormed past. When she opened them, a businesslike smile crossed her face. “Are you all right? Can I get you anything?”
“I’m good. Just waiting on my stepdad. She seems like a great kid.”
Charlotte looked to the doorway as though trying to figure out if there had been another kid in the room. “Really? I was worried she would say something to upset you.”
“Not much upsets me. She actually reminds me a lot of me. It’s hard to have perfect siblings.”
“Kenzie isn’t perfect.” Charlotte took a deep breath and sat down in the seat her daughter had occupied. “Tasha is, though. I will admit Kenzie is easier to deal with. Kenzie is every bit as stubborn as Kala, but she somehow seems easier.”
She knew this scenario. “She probably says all the right things and then goes and does what she wants. It’s what my sister did. We often did the same things. I was honest. She placated everyone around her. Because she was more pleasant, I often got worse punishments.”
“Well, Kenzie never snuck out of the house and got herself kidnapped by a rogue agent,” Charlotte said, her jaw firming.
So Kala was totally interesting. “Yeah, Brynn never did that, either. Kala seems cool. We all have issues. Hers are laid out for all to see, and that can be hard.”
Charlotte seemed to think about that for a moment. “I never thought about it that way. I’ll consider it. Now how did things go with West? He’s not usually so serious. I thought he would be the best person for the job because he’s normally fun to be around.”
That didn’t surprise her. “Oh, I bring out the bad side in many men.”
“Bad side?”
“Let’s just say he’s made it plain that he’s not a fan.” Before Charlotte could say anything, Ally shook her head. “It’s fine. It’s better, honestly. We can both do our jobs and not worry about anything else. It makes things easier.”
She wouldn’t have to worry about falling into bed with him. She wouldn’t have to think about how good his hands would feel on her skin or how long it had been since she’d been so wickedly attracted to a man.
“Are you sure? I can talk to the other two guards. Tessa can’t take the lead on this one, but I might be able to convince Wade to approve of Matt. That would cut down on the time you would have to spend with West. I’m really surprised. He’s usually quite charming.”
This was a conversation she’d had many times before. “Trust me. It’s me, not him. You bring my sister in and he would be sweet as pie to her. I irritate all the little boys. I kind of got the feeling I irritated your husband. It was cool how he did that lower his voice and the world suddenly seemed cold thing.”
“He’s got that down, and everything irritates Ian. Don’t worry about that. I think if he spent time with you, he’d likely find your honesty refreshing. He’s a lot like Kala. Oh, here’s one of the people I wanted you to meet. Matt, come and meet Ally Pearson. You’ll be working with her for a couple of months. Ally, this is one of our newest employees, Matt Edwards.”
A man who looked to be in his late twenties/early thirties stepped into the break room. He was handsome, with dark hair and blue eyes that would probably catch the attention of most women.
He looked far smoother than West, and for some reason, that turned her off.
“Ms. Pearson, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” He reached a hand out.
She put her knitting down to shake his hand. Instead of shaking it, he placed his other hand over hers, surrounding it. It irritated her because it was far too much intimacy, too fast.
Although she wondered if she would think the same thing if West had been the one to do it.
“You, too.” He was slightly shorter than West, but she would bet he was more muscular. West’s strength seemed to be all lean while Matt barely fit into the tight dress shirt he wore. “I hope this is a totally boring assignment for you.”
“I doubt it.” He gave her a ready smile. “I doubt anything about your life is boring. I’m ready for some adventure.”
“There will be no adventure,” a deep voice said.
Well, her hidey-hole was getting full. West Rycroft walked in, staring down at her hand between Matt’s.
She pulled her hand away, not liking the weird sense that went through her. Like she was betraying someone. Which was stupid since it wasn’t even like West considered her a decent person. “It’s nice to meet you, too, Matt.”
“I bet it was,” West said under his breath. “Ally, it’s time to head out.” He frowned. “Are you going to kill someone with those?”
It took her a second to realize he was talking about her knitting needles. “Are you offering?”
“I was just wondering what you were doing with them.”
“Knitting, asshole.” She stood, packing them and her yarn away. “I’m sure that it will come as a surprise to you that I can manage to do anything beyond order my next latte. Speaking of, we’ll need to stop somewhere to get a latte. I need my fix.”
She wasn’t going to win with this guy, and she wasn’t a masochist, so she wouldn’t even try.
It wouldn’t be the first shitty relationship she’d had with someone she was working with.
“West?” Charlotte’s eyes had gone wide. Likely because she’d never seen him act this way.
Ally simply walked out because it was nothing new to her.
It was time to ship her stepdad out and then she could concentrate on the movie.
And utterly ignore West.
* * * *
“What was she like? Does she have the most perfect skin or is that all a filter they use?” Martin Rehn sat at the bar in the two-bedroom condo West shared with his twin, Rand, in Lower Greenville.
Soon it would be Martin’s condo because once West had enough cash, he was buying his own place.
After all, Martin and Rand would be newlyweds soon, and they deserved to start their lives off right.
His brother had felt like he’d had to hide who he was for most of his adult life. It was good he didn’t have to hide here.
Rand grinned as he entered the kitchen and winked his fiancé’s way. “Are we talking about Ally Pearson?”
“Of course. Your brother is now a bodyguard to the stars. I’m star adjacent,” Martin announced. “It’s all very exciting. Especially for me.”
He liked the hell out of Martin. Martin was the reason they’d moved to Dallas. Not that they’d known it at the time. They’d moved because Rand couldn’t handle their small town a second longer. There were some small towns that would have accepted Rand for exactly who he was, but Broken Bend was not one of them. It was still the town that had turned a blind eye to years of abuse suffered by Genny before Wade had finally come home and brought her back with him. When Rand had come out as bisexual, watching the way people they’d grown up with cut his twin out of their lives had been heartbreaking. They’d moved to Dallas for the possibilities it offered, and one of those possibilities had been Martin.
“Well, I wish you were the one packing up to spend most of the next three months with this woman.” He grabbed a box of protein bars since he had no idea if they would be taking meal breaks. He was on Ally Pearson’s schedule now. It was better to be prepared. “I spent the afternoon with her, and we managed to say maybe three words. I don’t think she likes to talk to the help.”
Rand leaned against the counter, his arms crossing over his chest as he considered West. “Really? She seems like she would be talkative.”
“You’ve watched her show?” He was surprised. His brother generally preferred sports and action films.
“I made him watch the whole thing with me in anticipation of this year’s Christmas special. I might be a little obsessed with it,” Martin admitted. “Diane Pearson is iconic. If she’d been my mom, I would be the dancer I always thought I should be. And you have to admit Gavin Jacks still has it. I was surprised he wasn’t gay, though.”
“You think every hot guy in the world is gay,” Rand pointed out, an indulgent look on his face. “Though I have to admit, I find them both very attractive.”
“That’s the bi guy in you,” Martin retorted. “But the real star of the show is Ally. She’s like April Ludgate got dropped in the middle of Hollywood. I love her so much. I hate to hear she’s snobby. On the show, she takes down everyone. Rich, poor, in the middle. She treats everyone with the same brutal and painful honesty. Oh, I just realized she’s my grandmother but in a young, hot body.”
She’d definitely been hot. And she’d obviously found someone she liked far more than him. She’d been holding Matt’s hand, looking up at him. She hadn’t even noticed when he’d walked in the room.
Matt was a good guy, but he was something of a player. He wouldn’t care that she was rude and looked down on everyone who wasn’t from her lofty world. He would hop right in bed with her and enjoy the good time.
Rand was frowning his way. “What are you not saying? Was she mean to you? Did she throw her cell phone at your face or something?”
“She’s not a thrower,” Martin corrected. “She slays with words.”
“I wouldn’t say she slayed anything.” It wasn’t like she’d insulted anyone. She’d been off-putting. “She has zero focus. We’re there talking about her situation and she’s zoned out. When Big Tag asked her if we were boring her, she said yes.”
Martin laughed, slapping a hand on the bar. “Now that sounds like the Ally we know and love.”
“I wish I’d been there to see how she handled Big Tag,” Rand admitted.
She’d barely looked Big Tag’s way. Most women he’d ever met stared at the big guy and did whatever he asked of them. Or they argued with him and told him what an ass he was. Either way, most women were interested in getting the boss’s attention.
The only guy here I thought was my type was you.
He wasn’t going to think about that, but he did need to figure out if there was a way to repair the relationship. Despite what she’d said, he still half expected her to fire him.
“He told her she could leave if she was bored, and she tried to,” he admitted. “It was actually kind of fun to see someone who was in no way intimidated by Big Tag.”
“So you liked her?” Martin asked the question with an anticipatory air.
“I did not say that.” He was shutting that shit down now.
“But you didn’t not say that,” Martin countered.
He wasn’t even sure he could follow that line of thought. “I didn’t like her. She was rude and obnoxious, and she’s way too sensitive for her own good.”
Rand snorted. “No, she’s not. I mean, say what you like about her, but the girl can take a hit and get back up. Do you have any idea how many auditions she went on? That woman spent years getting rejected, and every minute of it was filmed. I’ll be honest, I would have quit if I’d gone through what she did.”
“I’m sure it’s terrible to not get a role and have to go back and hang out at your parents’ mansion.” He wasn’t buying that she was some pillar of strength. The worst thing that happened to the girl in a day was she chipped a nail.
Or had people break into her house to terrify her.
Rand had that look on his face, the twin-sensors-going-off look. “What is going on in your head? Because you don’t judge people this quickly…unless…shit. You’re attracted to her.”
Martin sat up, his hands clapping together. “I knew it. This could be my every fantasy come true. It’s a little like watching you with a Hollywood star because he’s your twin, but I don’t have to share you. If they get married, can we have a double wedding?”
“You don’t even know how she feels about same-sex marriage,” West pointed out.
Both of the other men stared at him like he’d said something stupid.
“So she’s cool with it?” They obviously knew something he didn’t.
“Half the charities she works with are LGBTQIA.” Rand said the words with a shake of his head, and it took everything West had not to point out that up until a couple of years ago, Rand himself wouldn’t have known what all those letters stood for.
“That’s good to know, and I’m not attracted to her.”
“You’re not attracted to one of the most beautiful women on the planet?” Rand asked, skepticism obvious.
“Honey, I’m attracted to her, and I’m gay,” Martin added with a shake of his head.
“Fine, she’s pretty, but it’s not going to go anywhere because I’m not playing stud to some reality star,” he explained.
Rand snapped his fingers like he’d just figured something out. “Oh, this is about the princess person.”
Some of it, maybe. But Ally Pearson had her own set of issues. “She wasn’t as bad as Princess Amelia, though she was rude. But all of that said, I was not as professional as I could have been, and maybe that was about the princess assignment. Maybe I was a little too aggressive.”
“What did you say to her?” Martin asked.
They were treating her like she was their friend or something. “I might have pointed out that she was being rude.” It was worse than that. She probably would have shrugged that off and agreed with him. “I might have also accused her of trying to hit on Wade.”
“What did she do to Wade?” Rand’s eyes had gone wide. “Does Genny know?”
“She didn’t actually do anything. She asked about him.”
Rand raised a brow. “She asked if Wade was single?”
Yep, this was the part where he was the asshole, and he needed to slow his roll because now he was worried Rand was right and he was being affected by something she hadn’t done. “She asked if he was my brother.”
“Oh, she was doing that thing where she tries to guess everyone’s story,” Martin said like it was a perfectly normal thing to do. “It’s one of the best parts of the show. It’s a segment called Ally Reads the Room. She makes up a story about new people she’s met. Some of them are just funny, but she’s right a surprising amount of the time.”
She’d mentioned that, and he’d doubled down. He sighed. “I was kind of an ass… I was a total dick, and she hates me. I’m serious about not getting involved with her…not that I think I could. What I’m saying is there’s no potential romantic connection between us, but it would be nice if she didn’t hate me. I think she really liked Matt. It would suck to get replaced as lead by Matt.”
He and Matt got along fine. They were buddies who grabbed a beer after work often, but he’d been surprised at the nasty feeling that had taken root in his gut when he’d seen Ally’s hand in his. It made zero sense since he should be thrilled. He hadn’t wanted the job anyway. He was doing it for the money and to please his older brother, but there were other ways to accomplish both. And the idea of Matt taking over pissed him off.
“Matt?” Rand exchanged a glance with his fiancé.
Not a good one. “What’s wrong?”
Martin shrugged a single shoulder. “I don’t like that man. And he doesn’t like us. He’s not the same when you’re not around.”
West looked to his twin. Even when they were dumbass kids, Rand had always been honest with him. West had known about his sexuality almost from the minute Rand had the revelation. He didn’t like the thought of his twin keeping something from him. “What did he do? Did he say something to you or Martin?”
“Oh, I love it when one of you gets all protective. You bulk up. I mean it. It’s like you grow extra sets of muscles,” Martin said with a happy sigh. “Sometimes I wonder if we should go to that town in Colorado.”
Where threesomes were a thing. West couldn’t help but laugh. “I don’t think Rand and I would be good at sharing.”
“I don’t think you would be good at the man sex thing,” Rand said with a grin. It faded, and he got serious again. “As to Matt, no, he’s never said anything specific. It’s more a feeling. An instinct. He doesn’t like us, and it’s not about our sparkling personalities. I’ve also seen him try some fairly skeevy lines on women. Watch out for him. As for Ally, did you apologize?”
“Yeah, but I don’t know that I meant it at the time. I don’t know that she would believe me even if I did again,” he admitted.
“Bring her Flamin’ Hot Cheetos,” Martin suggested. “She loves them, but she won’t buy them for herself because she says the camera adds five pounds and she’s always got at least four cameras on her at all times. That’s how to win her heart.”
He didn’t want to win her heart, but some peace between them might be worth it.
Two hours later, he stepped into the big suite Ally was staying in at one of Dallas’s luxury hotels. Tessa Santiago-Hawthorne grabbed her jacket and met him in the entryway.
“All’s good here. We had a quiet dinner, and she worked on her lines.” Tessa glanced down at the bag in his hands. “You planning on snacking all night, Rycroft? By the way, she thinks you’re an asshole.”
Well, of course she’d made herself plain. “I bet she didn’t think the same thing about Matt.”
Damn it. Why had he said that?
Tessa’s lips curled up like a cat who’d found the cream. “Oh, that’s interesting. She actually did ask me about Matt.”
“Good for her. She’s a girl who goes after what she wants.”
“She’s a woman,” Tessa corrected. “And she asked if Matt was a perv. She thought he held her hand too long. She didn’t like him.”
That weirdly did something for him. “Well, she hates me, too, so hopefully you’re the bright spot for her.”
Tessa seemed to think about what she wanted to say next. “I don’t know about that. There’s dislike and then there’s pulling your armor around you because you know you’re going to get hurt. If I was a betting person, I’d lay money on the latter when it comes to you. All right. I’m off. See you the day after tomorrow. She’s got her first read-through this week, and no matter what she says, she’s anxious about it. Go easy on her. She’s not a bad kid.”
“She’s not a kid.”
Tessa chuckled. “I swear all twenty-somethings look like kids to me. I’m heading out. I’ve got a professor to meet.”
Tessa left, and West locked the door behind her.
He took a deep breath and forced himself to walk into the main room. She was probably watching herself on TV or doom scrolling on her phone.
Soft music was playing. It was folksy but modern. Not at all what he would expect. And she wasn’t in front of the TV. She sat at the dining table which was covered in… Were those puzzle pieces?
“Hey,” he said. “I’m here for the rest of the night and through tomorrow. Was Tessa okay?”
Her head came up, and she damn near took his breath away. She was in pajama bottoms and a tank top, her face scrubbed free and hair piled on top of her head. She was every bit as gorgeous this way. “She was great. I liked her a lot.”
“But you didn’t like Matt?”
Her lips turned down. “Well, now I like Tessa less.”
He set down his duffel on one of the chairs and set the grocery bag on the table away from the numerous puzzle pieces. She’d started working on the edges, and it looked like she was a sorter. “Don’t. It’s literally my job to make sure you’re okay. She’s going to give me any information I need.”
“Did she tell you I thought you were an asshole?”
For some reason, that made him smile. “She did. And I was. And if Matt does anything at all to make you uncomfortable, I expect you to tell me. Ally, I had a job go weird a couple of weeks ago. I know men are supposed to want any pretty woman who comes their way…”
She sat up, her expression turning distinctly sympathetic. “Someone tried to sex you up when you didn’t want to?”
That was one way of putting it. “She was very aggressive, and it bothered me more than I realized. I think I took a little of that out on you today, and for that, I am truly sorry.”
“Did she look like me or something?”
“Not even close,” he said with a huff. “Like she wasn’t as… No, she didn’t look like you. But she was something of a celebrity. She was a European royal.”
“Please tell me it was Kate.” Her eyes had gone super wide like this would be the best gift ever.
She would so get along with his brother and Martin. “It was not. She’s a minor royal but a major pain in my ass. I’m sorry. I hope you’ll give me a second chance.”
She stared for a moment as though assessing the situation. “Are those Flamin’ Hot Cheetos?”
“My brother’s fiancé swears you like them. His name is Martin, and he’s a big fan.”
Her shoulders relaxed, and he would have sworn that girl…woman…glowed. “That’s so nice. If he has any time, he could come up to the set and have lunch with us. And he’s right. Gimme. I love them, but the camera adds five pounds and…”
“You always have four cameras on you.” He handed her the chips and sat down. It would be a much quieter night than he’d counted on, but he kind of liked that.
She opened them and had one of those suckers in her mouth very quickly. She sighed, obviously content. “Not now I don’t. All right, Rycroft, we start again. And Matt’s probably fine. You’ll know he’s done something wrong if he has to go to the hospital because I kicked him in the balls. Pass me that blue piece. I think it goes here.”
He handed her the piece, and they got on with their first night.