Her struggles tangled the sheets around her legs, impeding her ability to fend him off.
“Want me to fuck you like a Marine?” he taunted under his breath. “Pound you like artillery until you bleed?”
God, his eyes lit up like hurting her turned him on.
The bulge in Jeremy’s thong got harder and more insistent between her legs as he continued to whisper nasty things to her. If this was some sort of sick method acting to drive himself into a frenzy, it was working. The guy’s eyes had glazed over and he looked completely mesmerized by whatever he was imagining inside his sick, twisted brain.
In truth, they’d probably only been filming a few minutes, but it seemed like a lifetime. Regardless, she’d had enough. “You need to stop now, Jeremy,” she said loud enough for the microphone booms to pick up.
He slapped her hard, snapping her head to the side. “Shut up, bitch,” he snarled.
Although Adrian yelled cut, Jeremy reached between them and pulled aside his thong. His member sprang free against her inner thigh.
But he’d loosened his grip on her wrists and she yanked her right hand free. Remembering Blake’s advice, she slugged Jeremy in the nose as hard as she could.
A big, fast-moving blur slammed into her co-star, knocking him completely off the bed.
Blake
. Olivia jumped to her knees as Jeremy crashed to the floor with Blake on top of him.
She caught one glimpse of Blake’s eyes and looked into the face of death—cold, calculating, and utterly inhuman. “
No!
” she screamed. She lunged forward, threw herself at Blake, and wrapped her arms around him. “I’m okay. He didn’t hurt me. Come back to me, Blake. Look at me,” she demanded urgently.
Jeremy started to whimper. Oh,
now
it dawned on the dipshit that he might have gone a wee bit too far?
Another fast moving object entered her field of view. Jackson Motta grabbed Blake’s elbows from behind at the same time she put a hand on each side of Blake’s face and forced him to look at her.
“I’m safe,” she whispered urgently. “You got to me in time. He didn’t do anything to me. It’s all right.” Slowly, slowly, the terrible tension drained from his body.
“You gonna stand down?” Motta rumbled cautiously from behind them.
“Yeah,” Blake bit out. “I’m good.”
His arms came around her and he stood up, sweeping her against him. He crushed her so tightly she couldn’t draw a breath, but she didn’t care. He was past that awful moment of icy, protective rage.
Jeremy scrambled to his feet and commenced screaming at the top of his lungs, demanding that Adrian fire Blake and yelling that he was going to call the police, have Blake arrested, and sue him back into the Stone Age.
Blake stiffened, and for a second Olivia panicked. But then she realized his reaction was more irritation than fury. Blake had himself firmly under control.
He lifted his face away from her hair and snarled, “McDaniels, four cameras just filmed you assaulting your co-star. Do you seriously want to call the police? I’m all for it. In fact, I’ll make the call, you sick sonofabitch.” Blake turned her loose with one arm and fished in his back pocket for his cell phone.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Adrian cut in. “No one’s calling anyone just yet. I’m sure we can work this out. Olivia, are you okay? You’re not hurt?”
Her cheek was on fire and felt like it was starting to swell. But she replied bravely, “I’m okay, Adrian.”
Adrian stepped in front of Jeremy and asked, “Are you injured?”
He started ranting, and Blake cut him off with a sharp, “I didn’t do any damage to him. If I had laid a hand on him, you’d be calling paramedics right now, and someone would be performing CPR on him.”
Olivia half-turned in Blake’s arms in time to catch Jeremy glaring furiously. She intervened before her co-star complained again. “Adrian, did you get enough footage to cut together some sort of half-believable love scene?”
The director frowned, apparently startled by her question. “I believe I did. If I edit in some of the leftover footage from the first love scene, I think it would work.”
“All right, then. I’m done shooting love scenes for this movie. You’ll have to work with what you’ve already got.” She looked over Blake’s shoulder at Jeremy. “And as for you. If you ever lay a finger on me again, I’ll tell Blake to kill you.”
“He’ll have help,” Jackson Motta growled.
One of the grips, a big, muscular guy Olivia didn’t recall ever having spoken to, added, “The authorities will never find what’s left of you when we’re done.”
Tyrone stepped forward and managed to look positively menacing. He jabbed a comb in Jeremy’s face. “If you happen to escape the entire crew, I’ll personally see to it everyone—and I mean
everyone
—in Hollywood knows about this little stunt.”
That last statement seemed to worry Jeremy more than the threats they all knew were just angry rhetoric. Tyrone would really follow through. He turned to Adrian. “You can’t let them threaten me like this! Get control of your crew!”
“I’m in complete agreement with my crew,” Adrian answered. “We’re done for the day. Everyone go home, get a good night’s sleep, and get a little distance from today’s…misstep.”
Jeremy stormed off the set without another word, jaw set, gaze burning.
Adrian turned to Olivia. “I’m sincerely sorry for that. I had no idea he would be such an asshole. You did your job under the most trying and inappropriate of circumstances and salvaged what would otherwise have been a complete disaster at great personal sacrifice. I won’t forget it and I’ll make sure my fellow directors know what a dedicated professional you are.”
With that, he turned away and trudged toward the bank of monitors.
“Your trailer.
Now
,” Blake bit out, every inch a Marine officer giving her a direct order.
Loving his strength, she followed him toward the exit, relishing how he stood so ready to protect her. Sheila, Jackson, and Tyrone fell in beside her, asking whether she was okay to be alone with Blake.
“Of course,” she snorted. “I trust the man with my life.” She realized with a start that she actually did. His honor and self-control were iron clad.
He prowled the length of her trailer and back while she waited for him to wind himself down. Finally, he stopped in front of her, shoving a hand through his short hair.
“God, I’m sorry, Liv.”
Okay, that was the one thing she had
not
expected out of him. “What on earth do you have to apologize for?”
“I busted into the middle of a scene you were shooting. It was totally out of line. Hell, I know what your job entails. I’ve got no right to freak out when other men get naked with you and put their hands and mouths all over you.”
“What Jeremy did was
not
normal or acceptable. He stepped way over the line. I’ve never been so glad to see a fast moving flying object go whizzing past as I was when you tackled his skinny ass.”
Blake stared at her doubtfully.
“Besides, the scene was already over. I slugged Jeremy in the nose a millisecond before you slammed into him.”
A slow grin started at the corners of Blake’s mouth and spread into a broad smile. “Did you, now? I didn’t see it. I was zeroed in on my target.”
“I remembered what you told me and hauled off with my fist as hard as I could.”
He pulled her into his arms. “The first part of the scene, before McAsshole went apeshit, was smoking hot.”
“Hot enough to deserve a little spanking?” she asked hopefully.
“Mmm. Definitely,” he murmured against her lips.
Her lower body reacted hard and fast, muscles tightening into knots of hot and throbbing lust as blood rushed to the region in anticipation. A ringing noise from his back pocket interrupted the moment, and she made a face.
“Hold that thought,” he laughed as he pulled the phone out. He looked at the caller I.D. and swore quietly.
“Who is it?” she asked quickly.
“My boss.”
Even though Blake put the phone tightly to his ear and moved well away from her, she heard the voice at the other end—and its owner was
pissed
. Blake’s face went tight and grim as he listened to the tirade in silence.
And then it hit her. Jeremy, that obnoxious asswipe, had called Blake’s boss. No doubt he’d accused Blake of attacking him. She bet he’d also demanded that Blake be fired immediately. Given the upheaval in Blake’s career already, this would be the end of it. Would he be thrown out on the street to fend off the Russians by himself? If Jeremy had put Blake in danger, so help her, she’d kill him herself. Cold, hard fury took hold of her, and when Blake turned away, she slipped out of the trailer and went in search of her co-star.
She had to pass Jackson Motta’s trailer en route as she stormed past and he jumped up and fell in beside her. “How are you doing, Liv?” he asked cautiously.
“I’m fine,” she snarled.
“Going somewhere?”
“I’m on my way to kill Jeremy. Wanna help?”
“I thought we decided to let him live. Wasn’t that the point of stopping Blake from ripping his head off?”
“Jeremy called Blake’s boss, who’s now screaming at Blake on the phone and undoubtedly firing him from this assignment. This will not only destroy Blake’s career but put his life at risk.”
“Whoa, there. His life? What’s this all about?”
She explained about Russian agents harassing and threatening him.
Jackson moved in front of her, forcing her to stop marching toward McDumbass’s trailer. “Listen to me, Olivia. Me and my boys, most of us are ex-military. And some of us were Special Forces. We know how to deal with the Russians. If anyone tries to come after Blake on our watch, they’ll have to get through us first. I’ll have a little chat with our security guys—who also happen to be damned sharp, by the way. Adrian’s team is not the run of the mill rent-a-cop variety. He hires ex-cops and ex-soldiers. This set is probably the safest place Blake could be, shy of a lock-up on a military installation.”
“Are you just saying that to make me feel better?”
“It’s the God’s honest truth.”
She stared at him for a long time before finally nodding her acceptance
“Speaking of our boy, have you told Blake how you feel about him?”
“No. Why?”
“Because Blake can use the good news. I know Jeremy McDaniels. You can be damned sure he lied his ass off to Blake’s boss. My guess is he demanded that Blake be arrested and hauled off the set. Hell, knowing Jeremy, he probably called the local paparazzi to come and cover it.”
Her blood ran cold. That was exactly the sort of stunt Jeremy would pull.
“His boss won’t believe a word Jeremy had to say. But in the face of such serious accusations, Blake’s boss is still going to have to pull him out of here until this mess can be sorted out. Blake will be on the first plane out of here under military guard back to Washington, D.C. Once his boss has the situation contained, he’ll get around to sorting out what happened and verifying that Blake’s telling the truth. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if his boss hasn’t already got a couple of MP’s from the nearest military base on their way here to escort Blake off the set. If you love him, you’ve got to move fast.”
Escort Blake off the set
? But he would be safe here, and he might not be safe somewhere else! She replied blankly, “But Jeremy
assaulted
me. We all saw it. Heck, it’s on film.”
“Yes, but Blake’s boss hasn’t seen the film. Based on Jeremy’s lies, He’ll have to remove Blake until he can see the proof of Blake’s innocence for himself.”
“Do you know how to reach Blake’s boss?”
“No, but I know who does. Come with me.”
Jackson took off running and she followed, her heart in her throat. He screeched to a stop in front of Adrian’s trailer and pounded on the door.
The director opened it, looking harassed. The reason for that expression leered over the man’s shoulder.
Jeremy
. Olivia glared daggers at him.
“What can I do for you two?” Adrian asked in surprise.
“I need your phone, sir. Now.” Jackson used the exact same firm, brook-no-disobedience tone that Blake used when he got really annoyed.
A momentary frown creased Adrian’s brow and then sudden comprehension lit his eyes.. “Sure.” He coughed up the cell phone, and then herded Jeremy back into the trailer and closed the door behind them.
“C’mon,” Jackson said, striding away rapidly. He scrolled through what looked like Adrian’s contact list as he walked a hundred feet or so away from the trailer. Out of Jeremy’s earshot. Smart.
“Hah. Here it is,” the stuntman announced. He poked the phone a couple of times and then passed it to her. “Guy’s name is Colonel Frank Santerros. Call him ‘sir.’”
She took the phone and held it to her ear just in time to hear a woman answer. “My name is Olivia Harper, and I need to speak with Colonel Santerros, ma’am.”
“I’m sorry, he’s on another line right now.”
“I know,” she replied wryly. “If you could please ask him to stop yelling at Major Ramsey long enough to speak to me, I promise I won’t take long to say what I have to.”
The secretary sounded amused as she intoned, “One moment.”
A very, very irritated male voice came on the line. “Miss Harper? If you’ll forgive me for being blunt, I’m already aware the charges that my officer attacked your co-star and ruined your scene. I’m taking care of it as we speak.”
She replied before he could hang up on her, “And are you also aware that my co-star was in the middle of attacking me and Major Ramsey saved me from a potentially serious injury, possibly rape? He’s a hero, sir. He’s not the villain of the scenario. That role belongs to my co-star, who, by the way, is not renowned for his honesty. The whole thing is on film so you don’t have to take anyone’s word for it.”
“Come again? Attacking you?” the colonel sputtered in disbelief.
“Blake saved me.”
“Thank God. That sounds a hell of lot more like the officer I know.”
“I think you should speak to Adrian Turnow and get the whole story from him. Please, don’t do anything rash. None of this was Major Ramsey’s fault. He did nothing but act with the highest integrity and honor.” She added in a rush, “And the security team and stunt crew can keep him safe out here, sir. Please don’t take him away from their protection.”