Lucy inhaled the scent of cinnamon rolls and coffee as she came downstairs at the local bed-and-breakfast. Most of the cast had been provided rooms here, and although it was hardly fancy, it was nice and homey and had helped Lucy relax after her stressful day yesterday.She couldn’t help but blush in embarrassment—and anger—as she thought of Carter Roberts. His stupid, grinning, handsome face, and how he seemed to love needling her as much as humanly possible. She had no idea what his deal was, and she was determined to avoid him as much as she could.“Good morning,” said Gwendolyn Parker, the owner of the Hazel Island Bed and Breakfast. Tall and curvaceous, with curly red hair, Gwen was as sweet as apple pie and probably the nicest person Lucy had ever met. It probably helped that she got to live on this beautiful island and not deal with men like Carter Roberts.“Good morning. Those smell amazing,” said Lucy. The first floor of the bed-and-breakfast consisted of the dining room, w
Carter was no stranger to people coming up to him and asking for autographs and photos. When he’d first started playing for the Seattle Orcas, he’d always been surprised whenever someone had actually recognized him. But in the years since he’d first been drafted, he’d gotten used to the attention. It came with the territory of being one of the best ballplayers in the league.“Can I take a selfie with you?” a boy who looked maybe ten years old asked. He already had his phone out.“Sure,” said Carter. He draped his arm over the boy’s shoulder, took his phone, and snapped the photo for him. That resulted in the crowd growing larger, with more and more people asking for photos.“When are you going to play again?” a man about Carter’s age asked him. “The team’s playing is shit without you pitching.”Carter’s good mood vanished at the reminder of his injured shoulder. “That’s all the autographs and stuff for today. Thanks, guys.” He waved and stepped around the perimeter of the crowd. Lu
Lucy watched as one of the extras—Meredith? Marianne?—slid her hand up Hayden’s arms and batted her fake eyelashes. Not that Lucy had anything against fake eyelashes, but this M-named woman looked so fake overall that the eyelashes were the cherry on top.“If you glare any harder, you’re going to singe a hole in her arm,” said Erin.“I’m not glaring.”“Okay. Staring, gazing upon. Whatever term you wanna use, babe. But don’t be too obvious.”Lucy forced herself to turn her head so she could no longer see what Hayden was doing. She’d thought they were connecting earlier. But then Hayden had gotten distracted. Lucy couldn’t compete against multiple other women vying for his attention, not unless she did something crazy, like flash him.She wasn’t yet so desperate as to show him her breasts in public, thank God. The green snake of jealousy still slithered around inside her, especially when she heard Hayden laugh.“Didn’t you think there’s something between us?” said Lucy. “He was tal
“Why did you come here?” said Lucy. “You said you wouldn’t.”“I never made any promise like that.” Hayden looked away, his expression rueful. “Did you think I could stay away from you, Miranda?”It was their first rehearsal together in Hayden’s trailer, and they’d been working on this particular scene all morning. Hayden preferred to play Gabriel as stoic, almost emotionless, but Lucy could feel the brimming emotion underneath. It was a testament to Hayden’s skill that he could imbue every word of the script with such feeling.Lucy/Miranda stepped toward a table. She traced a figure eight on the tabletop before picking up the discarded ring. “I don’t need this anymore,” she whispered.“Wait,” said Hayden, ending the scene. “Shouldn’t Miranda be angrier in this scene? Gabriel did cheat on her, right?”“I think it’s more complicated than that. She is angry with him, but there’s still love there, too. She’s torn between two different emotions. She wants to hate the man she still love
That evening, Carter felt antsy. He considered going to a bar, maybe finding a willing woman to return to the bed-and-breakfast with him. There had to be bachelorettes on this godforsaken island, right? Ones who were as cynical about life as he was right now.The thought of taking some stranger back didn’t appeal to him, strangely enough. Normally it would have. Feeling out of sorts, Carter decided he’d wander around the island and see what he found.Hazel Island was only about ten square miles, its one town was named Hazel Town, but nobody called it that. Outside of the town’s center, there were houses scattered throughout the island. Some overlooked the cliffs for which the island was famous.Carter wandered down a street that ran parallel to a large park. It was a few hours before sunset, and families and singles walked up and down the sidewalk. Some turned into the entrance for the park, while others were most likely on their way home.Nobody stopped Carter for an autograph or
The moment Carter saw Lucy step out of her room wearing an emerald cocktail dress that hugged her body, he knew he’d made a huge mistake.When he didn’t say anything, Lucy shuffled her feet. “Something wrong?”He was tempted to tell her to go back into her room and find something else to wear. Preferably a burlap sack, because dammit, she was too sexy for her own good, wearing a dress like that. That dress could tempt the pope to forsake his vows. The green fabric left little to the imagination, and the sweetheart neckline put the lovely curves of her breasts and shoulders on display.The dress hit right above the knee, but it certainly showed enough of her legs to tempt a saint. And Carter was no saint to begin with.And neither is Hayden Masterson.Scowling inwardly, he finally said, “Let’s go, before we’re late for our reservation.”When they were seated inside the restaurant—a quaint little Italian place that overlooked the water—Carter felt like he’d gotten a hold of himself
That weekend, Lucy had the afternoon off from filming, as the crew was currently filming scenes that only involved Hayden. Gwen had invited Lucy to go to the beach with her and two other friends, and Lucy had accepted without hesitation.It was a brilliant, cloudless day, and everyone on the island seemed to be on the beach this afternoon. Wearing her favorite dark blue bikini, Lucy lay on a blanket and soaked in the sun. Despite living in Los Angeles, she hadn’t gotten a tan in ages since she was always busy working.“Lucy, I want you to meet someone. Or someones, really,” said Gwen.Lucy opened her eyes to see two women sitting down on Gwen’s blanket, one of whom had brought a beach chair with her. One woman was a curvy brunette with olive skin and wore a vintage red one-piece; the other was a pale, tall blonde, her swimsuit a demure black. When the blonde turned her head to get something out of her bag, Lucy noticed that she had what looked like a birthmark on her face.“Lucy, t
Another week passed in the blink of an eye. Lucy’s days and sometimes nights were kept busy with filming.On her fourth evening working overtime, Lucy was in rehearsals with Hayden once again. They’d gotten into a routine together: warming up in the morning and going over lines, rehearsal if necessary, then onto filming.Hayden, though, proved to be a total perfectionist. He would often demand multiple takes, sometimes for his own performances, but other times for other actors’. One afternoon they did twenty takes for a ten-second scene. Jim, despite his best efforts, didn’t have enough sway to ignore what their star actor wanted.Lucy was glad that Hayden’s wrath didn’t land on her very often, and if it did, it was tempered with a flirtatious smile. Lucy knew that Hayden was into her: he touched her whenever he got a chance, and he flirted with her so blatantly that Erin had commented on it.Now, Lucy was in Hayden’s trailer working on the upcoming scene that was going to be filme