Heat Wave (5 page)

‘
Erotic Island
wasn't a movie, sweetie, it was a reality show.'

‘TV?
Reality
TV?' I couldn't keep the sneer out of my voice.

Mum didn't notice. ‘It was so wonderful! The Australian couple were just divine, and the royal boy and his African bride, and don't even get me started on the Japanese girl …' She sighed happily. ‘I'm so excited about the sequel.'

‘Sequel?'

‘Yes, schnookums, keep up. Max is in Sydney for
EI2
, and she said she has a position for you as a crew member. You have to be at Circular Quay by six tomorrow morning. Oh, and take a bag; they're filming on board a ship! Isn't that exciting?'

‘Mum, Mum, slow down—'

‘I know, I should have rung you yesterday, but I spent all day at the spa with the girls, and then we had a few too many, and my afternoon nap just finished now. But don't worry, it's five there now, so you've got all night to pack.'

‘It's five in the
morning
here,' I said, mind blown that my mother still couldn't understand time differences after all those years.

Mum squealed. ‘Oh! Well, hurry, my gorgeous child. Get to the quay, ask for Max, and have a wonderful time. Love you, mwah,
mwah!
'

‘Mum, wait!' She was gone. ‘Crap!' I tried to call her back, but my phone slipped through my fingers and into a slimy puddle of Sydney rainwater. If I wasn't out of options before, I was now.

I slid down the wall and sat in a crumpled pile, contemplating my life. I hated reality TV with a passion—I'd promised myself when I started working as an AD that I'd never do television full stop, let alone something as loathsome as those revolting shows.

But the girl who made those promises hadn't been homeless or broke.
And, it's on a ship
—
that means food and shelter, right? I can do anything for a few months. Get in, get paid, and get out. I just won't put it on my resume when I'm done.

I didn't even have a watch to look at, but I knew that I'd have to run if I was going to make it. Standing up, I shrugged on my backpack and began to jog.

***

At five to six, I hit the quay, pounding along the same wooden boards I'd walked the previous night with Tanner. Refusing to dwell, I saw the only ship at the moorings and sprinted faster, my veins pumping gluggy blood around my system.

Two men were raising the gangplank to the enormous cruise liner. ‘Wait!' I yelled, desperate and waving. ‘Wait! I'm with the crew.'

They stopped, looking doubtfully at me as I screeched to a halt, Road Runner style. In my ripped, soggy clothes, topped by shagged hair and blood-shot sleep-deprived eyes, I must have looked like a maniac.

‘Got any ID, girlie?' asked one of the men, his nose wrinkled in disdain.

Panting, I tried to say, ‘M … Max, tell, tell, Max, I'm Maddie, p … please …'

The big man spoke into a walkie-talkie, received a crackly answer, then turned to me, his eyebrow raised. ‘Alright, you can go aboard.'

‘Thanks.' I scampered up the gangplank, the entrance to the ship leading inside the grand foyer, four stories high—a homage to decadence and beauty. Everywhere I looked, there was marble and plush carpet and crystal.

‘Wow.' I wondered if I'd get a chance to change before meeting Max, to make a better impression.

‘You must be Maddie. I'm Maxine.'

Of course not.

I turned to face my new boss. In a flawless white suit and shiny red heels, she was immediately intimidating. With an accent that made the Queen sound like a cockney bum, she said, ‘Is this normally how you dress for your first day of work?'

‘Mum just rang me half an hour ago,' I explained.

Waving a dismissive hand, she turned and walked away, still speaking. ‘You should be aware I'm not one for excuses, Maddie. Just results.'

I followed her meekly. ‘Yes, Maxine. Uh … Mum was a bit short on the details. What, exactly, is my role?'

We padded down a long corridor with immaculate white walls, Maxine strutting and me squelching into the rich scarlet carpeting. ‘You will be a production assistant.'

Inwardly, I felt another small piece of my pride break off and float away. I'd been an AD for years; it was a drop of several levels to a mere assistant.

Maxine continued. ‘I had a young man lined up, but he took another position at the last minute. Your mother said you're good at relaxing people, getting them comfortable on camera. Is that true?'

‘It is.' I wasn't bragging; I had a skill with actors, talking to them and getting the best performance possible.

‘Good. You'll be working with Beau, as one of his rotating assistants. You'll conduct his interviews, give him his schedules, that sort of thing.'

The name Beau caught in my mental teeth for a moment. Tanner's first name. God, would there be anything ever again that didn't remind me of him? Forcing myself to concentrate, I took a stab in the dark. ‘This is a sequel, right? Was Beau a contestant on
Erotic Island
?'

‘Yes, one of the most popular cast members on the show. Women all over the world have been clamouring to see more of him.' She smiled, a strange look for her. ‘We've been chasing him for months to do this show. He's a gold mine to us, and you need to keep him happy.'

We ascended a flight of stairs and emerged onto a deck. The sky had cleared, Sydney Harbour sparkling around us in the morning light as we streamed forward.

Maxine railed on me. ‘Now, I looked you up before I agreed to take you on as crew, and I found a great many people unwilling to talk about why you left your last job. Tell me the story right now, or I will see to it that you are placed in a lifeboat and rowed back to shore.'

I didn't doubt it. ‘I was seeing the first AD of the second unit of
The Hobbit
,' I said, my cheeks crawling with shame. ‘We were sleeping together, but he failed to mention he was married until his wife visited the set and tried to gouge my eyes out. The film didn't want any more bad press, so they fired me.'

Maxine surprised me by tilting her head and asking, ‘Did he lose his job as well?'

‘No.'

‘This industry is full of bastards,' she said simply. ‘It's your job to protect yourself from them. You're a stupid girl for mixing work with pleasure; you opened the door to your own doom.'

‘Yes, I did.'

‘So, hear me well.' Maxine brought her face close to mine and said in a low tone, ‘I will not tolerate fraternisation on my set. If you so much as hold hands with one of the dishwashers while on board this ship, I'll sack you, and sink your career so deeply you might as well book a ticket on the Titanic. Do we have an understanding?'

‘Yes, ma'am.' She was truly terrifying, a devil-woman.

‘Excellent. Now, I'll introduce you to Beau.'

‘Great.' Can't wait to meet the pompous a-hole lady-whore.

Maxine led me across the vast deck, but my eyes caught a blurry glimpse of a black-and-white shape streaking away behind us.
I could have sworn that dog looked familiar …

A man lounged on a deck chair, shirtless, with a cowboy hat drawn low over his face. A photographer snapped away at him, while a gaggle of makeup and hair ladies swooned nearby. I had to admit, the man had abs forever.

‘Perfect! God, you're a pleasure to shoot, Beau. The camera loves you!' the photographer cried, practically wetting himself in excitement.

‘Beau?' Maxine called out. ‘May I borrow you for a moment to introduce you to the last of your production assistants?'

The man stood, his hat still covering his face. He moseyed towards us, thumb through the belt loop of his jeans, the confident swagger of a man who knew the world was watching.

As he reached us, he tipped his hat back and my world stopped. ‘Tanner?'

Maxine spoke. ‘I see you've done your research. Maddie, this is Beau Tanner, star of
Ship of Lust
.'

Chapter 5

After so many years of dealing with dramatic actors flouncing about the set causing issues over the slightest inconvenience, I'd acquired a default pattern when it came to conflict. Smile, nod and act as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

It was a skill that came in handy at that moment. With the biggest grin I could muster plastered over my face, I stuck out my hand and said, ‘G'day,
Beau
. It's nice to meet you.'

Tanner, on the other hand, was speechless. In a daze, he grasped my fingers and shook them weakly, then donned the shirt proffered to him by the wardrobe supervisor.

I had to concentrate to keep from staring at Tanner's fingers, the ones that only a few hours before had been dancing over my most intimate places. Forcing myself to look at his left ear rather than his confused eyes, I trilled, ‘I'm so excited to be working with you. I'm afraid I've just come on board, literally, so as soon as I'm up to speed with my duties, I'll check in with you. Sound good?'

‘Uh … I'm not sure …' Tanner was flummoxed; he'd flipped from the suave TV star to the bumbling teen I'd known in less than ten seconds.

It wasn't like I was doing any better; I was just better at hiding it. Inside my body, wars were being conducted—joy at seeing him again, shame for leaving him. Anger at discovering his so-called career, lust for the sexual tension that stretched between us.

Fortunately, Maxine seemed to buy my act. ‘Lovely! I'm so glad the two of you have hit it off. Actually, Beau, if you don't mind, I've arranged for a cameraman to meet you in your room. Maddie, can you please walk Beau back to his suite and conduct his pre-interview? We've got a lot to get through before the deck party tonight.'

She handed me a tablet with a list of questions on it and a choice flashed before my eyes; ram it down her throat, run for the railing, hurl myself overboard and swim back to Sydney, or suck it up and do the job I'd been hired for. Crushing all my feelings down, I said, ‘Certainly. Beau? Shall we?'

I arched an eyebrow at him, congratulating myself on being so cool, calm and collected. Then, I turned to go and crashed straight into the makeup lady's trolley.

The three-tiered trolley smashed down and I landed heavily on top, jarring my wrists and already sore knees. A thousand items scattered across the deck, clattering and tumbling in an endless extension to my embarrassment.

The poor olive-skinned makeup girl ran over shrieking, trying to grab as many foundation pots and eye-shadow tubs as possible, while everyone else rushed to help. A fluffy brush rolled swiftly towards the edge, and the girl cried, ‘Not my favourite!
No!'

It vanished over the side and into the ocean without a sound.

Meanwhile, I lay still entangled with the trolley, my right arm trapped beneath the wheels and my knee wedged between two trays. I couldn't release one without the other, so I just lay sprawled there, hoping that a very selective tidal wave would wash on board and carry only me away.

Gentle hands wrapped around my waist and suddenly I couldn't breathe. ‘Hang in there, Miss Maddie, I'll get you free in jiffy.' Tanner's voice was soft against my ear, his warm words sending shooting waves of liquid desire roaring through me.

Stop that!
I told my body. It didn't listen.

Finally, I was loose. I stood shaking, while the makeup lady narrowed her dark eyes at me and the other assorted women scowled. ‘I'm so sorry,' I said tragically, but the evil greasies continued.

What the hell is their problem?
A flutter of fingers from around my waist gave me the answer; Tanner still had his arm around me, and it felt so natural, so right, that I hadn't even noticed.

Coughing and awkward, I slipped out of his grasp and tried to bluff my way through. ‘Thanks for your help, Beau. Let's try that again, hey?'

There was a twinkle back in his eye. He wasn't the smug TV star, but the man I'd seen the night before. ‘Lead the way, Miss Maddie. Thanks, Maxine, everyone. See y'all later!'

With the balance restored and Tanner's arms safely off my bod, everyone seemed to relax. The ladies tittered and waved as we left, but as I turned to dart a quick glance at Maxine, her face was twisted in suspicion.
Shit …

I led Tanner back into the cool of the ship interior and headed for the lifts. We were silent as we entered the elevator, neither of us willing to go first as Tanner hit the button for the top passenger deck.

When the doors slid open, I followed him along a corridor with only a handful of doors. The one at the end read ‘Home Range Suite.' The door opened onto yet another stunning room, not unlike the one we'd enjoyed the night before.

For a cruise ship suite, it was expansive, with full windows displaying the sapphire blue ocean and a long balcony snaking around the outside. Inside, comfortable couches and rustic furniture posed artfully in earthy tones of red and pale blue, much like the Texan palette.

‘Another amazing room,' I said, unable to help the cold feeling of indifference I was feeling towards the excessive luxury. ‘They certainly know how to look after a star around here.'

‘Maddie …'

Tanner's voice was filled with sadness. My chest constricted and I pushed through, trying to override the emotion with professionalism. Dropping my bag on the floor, I said, ‘Right, where's that cameraman? We'll set up in the corner near the window. The lighting will be—'

‘
Maddie.
' He stepped in front of me, his mocha eyes pained. ‘What … what are you doin' here? What happened to you?'

For some reason, my temper flared, a combination of grief and lack of sleep with a shock coating. ‘What happened to me? What happened to
you,
Tanner? You're a reality star? On a dating show? Why would you want to prostitute yourself on TV? Twice!'

His face coloured with shame and rage. ‘Only God can judge me, Maddie. But since you asked, I did it for the money the first time, to save my land. And I wouldn't change a damn thing. Plus, I told you yesterday I was willing to blow off this gig for you. So if there's judgement to throw around here, it's on you. You left me, Maddie, in the middle of the night, without even having the decency to wake me up and say goodbye.'