Imminent Danger (Adrenaline Highs) (7 page)

Was that because Nathan was dodging all his clients? Interesting. No,
disturbing
was more like it.

“I want my files,” the old guy said. “Now.”

Bonnie shoved her glasses farther on her nose. “Um. But…I don’t think I’m supposed to.”

“I don’t give a flying fuck what you think you’re supposed to do. I’m telling you what you’re going to do. Go into Nathan’s office and get my files. Carl Wyncott.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Now.”

No reason not to get on this boat. “Me, too, Bonnie. I’ll just take my files.” Maybe the old guy had info that Leo didn’t. Something was definitely fishy. Leo needed his money and he needed it now. At least a chunk of it. He needed to access his investment accounts. Nathan had handled all things financial for almost twenty years. Leo just wanted to ream out the jerk before he actually left him.

“Why don’t I text Nathan and see—”

“Why don’t you get your fat ass into the filing ca—”

“Hey!” The blonde faced him, hands on her hips and murder in her eyes. “I’ve had just about enough of the way you treat people.” Her green eyes sparkled with fire. “If you don’t apologize to her this instant, you can kiss my help goodbye.”

Leo hid his smile. He liked this chick. Fluff on the outside and steel within. She reminded him of a stuntwoman he worked with a few times over the years. That blonde also had green eyes. Leo still felt like shit when he thought about her. Years ago, he’d misread her signals big time and made a move when he shouldn’t have. He’d paid the price with a bruised rib. Laughing had hurt like a bitch for a week. Hell, taking a deep breath had hurt. He’d stayed seriously clear of her after that incident. Later he wanted to apologize to her in private, but she never gave him the chance.

The old guy, Carl, clenched his jaw as Bonnie scurried to the back office. He headed toward the door and spoke to the blonde over his shoulder. “Get the file, I’ll wait for you in the car.” Poof, he was gone, out the door in two seconds flat minus the apology she demanded.

The wide-eyed surprise on the blonde’s face told the story. She probably felt all of two inches tall right about now. Leo checked out her ring finger, relieved to see it empty. At least she wasn’t married to the asshole.

“Who peed in
his
Wheaties?” Leo asked, hoping to elicit a smile.

Her flat stare landed on him. No smile for miles. Ah…she was one of
those.
That fraction of the population who hated him because of who he was, a single, wealthy, famous actor who had the world at his feet, not a care, without a shred of commitment, or drop of conscience in any of his marrow. Times like this he wondered if he’d gone a little too far with his act.

He gave her his best smile and stuck out his hand. “Hi. I’m Leo.”

She sighed, looked at his hand and considered something before shaking it in a brief hard squeeze. “Yeah, hi. I thought so.” Then she turned back to the desk and waited for Bonnie.

Leo leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling for a second. Uncomfortable much?

“Usually, when someone introduces themselves, it’s customary for the other person to reciprocate.” He really did want to know her name. Any time he made a boner move, he thought about Ellie Morgan, the stuntwoman, and her right elbow. Now anytime he saw a green-eyed blonde in fuck-me stilettoes, he’d remember this chick.

She faced him. “Is it really necessary? We’ll never see each other again.” It wasn’t so much her tone that irked him as the thought that she didn’t even want to give him her name.

“Exactly, so I’d like to know the name of the woman who put Carl Wyncott in his place.” Leo had never heard of the guy, but obviously he had importance to someone somewhere.

She looked toward the back office where she found no sign of Bonnie to save her, before facing him again. “Kim. My name is Kim. Happy?” She gave him her back. And a very nice back it was. A year ago, Leo would’ve been working hard to score with this woman, but now, he couldn’t imagine it. Strike that. He
could
imagine it; he just didn’t want to.

He had to laugh. The times had changed.

Kim turned back around. “Did I say something to amuse you?” She had not one inch of playfulness in her and if she did, she hid it well.

Leo shook his head. “Nope. Not a thing. I was just thinking you really must have disliked my last movie to hate me bad enough that you can’t even look at me.”

A faint blush crept up her cheeks and an equal dose of retribution filled Leo’s chest. He should be used to the judgmental looks he got on a regular basis, but sometimes they hurt just like anything else. Granted, he usually received adoration from pretty women, not condemnation, so maybe that’s what pricked at him.

She sighed and her eyes didn’t waver. “Actually, I loved the last movie I saw you in.”

This was more like it. “Yeah, which one was that?” He’d had two releases in the last eight months.

“Dangerous Race.”

Huh.
He shot that film years ago. He must have had five or six movies released since then. “Wow.” Okay, so there had to be a reason she quit seeing his movies, even though she said she liked it. “If you liked it so much, how come you didn’t see any more recent films?”

“The movie was based on true life incidents. My business partner was one of the people involved.”

“No shit?” Now this was interesting. “Who’s your business partner?”

“Chelsea Harding. She’s Trace Bradshaw’s—”

“Twin sister,” he finished for her. “I know. I did my homework.” Even though they’d used a different name for her in the film, he knew the players. “How is she anyway? That was a pretty rough time she had.”

“She’s fine. About to have a baby. She’s living the dream.”

Leo held back a snort. “Her dream maybe.”

“But not yours, I take it?”

He shook his head. “Not in this lifetime. Some people are meant to be parents. Others are meant to make fun of those people.” He raised his hand. “I’m the latter.”

She glanced up at the ceiling, so he apparently said something wrong. Nothing new there, but he usually did it on purpose. For the second time, she gave him her back. “You’re going to be one lonely man,” she muttered under her breath.

This time he did snort. He was already a lonely man. “Was I not supposed to hear that?”

She sighed. “Does it matter?” She craned her neck, clearly looking for Bonnie.

“I guess not. I mean, it’s not like I have any feelings or anything. Why don’t you go ahead and tell me something else about my future. I’m interested to hear it.”

Kim turned around again, her head canted to the side. “I only know what your reputation tells me.” Her eyebrows lifted. “Oh, and I know that you cornered a female crewmember while you were filming
Beyond the Realm
and held her against her will against one of the trailers.”

Jesus, he’d just been thinking about that encounter. How the hell did this woman know about it? “She’d been flirting with me until that point,” Leo pointed out. “If I’d known she didn’t want to play, I wouldn’t have touched her.”

“Right. I believe you.” With her arms crossed over her chest, her body language said something very different.

“How’d you find out about that?” he asked. It happened at least seven years ago, maybe eight. Talk about a skeleton in the closet. It shouldn’t bother him, since he’d worked for so many years to cultivate the bad-boy-without-a-clue persona. Maybe Ellie had said something to someone after all. But this many years later and he was just finding out about it made him rethink that idea. Shit, he should’ve found the privacy to apologize to her.

“The production coordinator on
Dangerous Race
was a P.A. on
Beyond the Realm
. He saw the incident. Chelsea overheard him telling someone at the premiere party. She told me.”

Leo shook his head. This town was too damn small. Hell, the world was too damn small, and he was getting tired of playing the sleazeball.

“For the record, I never make moves on married women and I don’t tangle with anyone who doesn’t want to play, but I can’t help it when they make passes at me.” Usually, he never asked about relationships. It was easier to not know. He also stayed clear of anything younger than twenty-two. He’d learned the hard way to check for ID.

She opened her mouth to say something, but Bonnie reappeared with a few files and a flash drive. “Sorry it took me so long,” Bonnie apologized. “Here you go.” She handed everything to Kim.

“This is all of it, right?” Kim asked. She clearly didn’t want to face the wrath of Carl.

“Yes.” Bonnie put her palms up and spread her arms wide. “I promise that’s everything.” She looked at Leo. “Mr. Frost, I’ll get yours next. Just give me one minute.” She disappeared behind the same door.

Kim juggled the files and the drive, and Leo sprang to open the door for her. “I’ve got it,” she grumbled, just as a loose note from inside the top file slid out. Leo caught it before it fell on the floor, but the move brought them up close and personal. She had the most amazing eyes he’d ever seen. Not sea green as he originally thought, but a bright emerald green.

“Anyone ever tell you how beautiful your eyes are?” he asked.

“Oh for God’s sake.” She sidestepped him and elbowed her way out the door. Leo smiled as she strutted toward the Bentley, her ass swaying with each precise step, her back straight and killer legs that he imagined would feel like perfection wrapped around his hips.

Good bye, Kim. Nice to meet you.
Too bad he’d never see her again. She was worth a second look.

As she headed to the car, the trunk on the Bentley rose. At the same time, a black GTO pulled in and parked next to Stella. Leo went back into the office to wait for his files. A minute later, a man came in. He was big and black. As the door closed, a breeze blew his shirt up and the gun handle sticking from his waistband made Leo wary. His research for roles had taught him that most undercover officers or PIs used some type of holster for their weapons. The man looked around the office with hard eyes.

“Where the fuck is everybody?” he asked.

Yeah. Not an officer of the law. “Are you a client?”

“Who the fuck wants to know?” His eyes narrowed as recognition dawned. “Well, fuck me,” he muttered.

“I’ll pass,” Leo growled back.

When Bonnie came out, her eyes widened and she froze for a second before snapping her gaze to Leo’s. “There is one more thing, if you can wait just one minute and I’ll get it for you. It’s in the very back office.” She handed Leo his stuff then turned to the new, big guy. “Can I help you?”

What the hell? Why couldn’t she finish with him so he could take off? Unless she didn’t want to be alone with the guy.
That
he understood.

The dude had the cool swagger that Leo had perfected on screen. “Yeah. I’m looking for Nathan,” he said.

Wasn’t everyone?

Bonnie swallowed. She looked extra nervous, more frazzled than before. “He’s not in. Are you a new client?”

The guy looked around before he focused on Bonnie. “You know what, I’ll come back later when you’re not so busy.” He sauntered out the same way he’d come in and Bonnie sighed when the door clicked closed behind him.

“Thanks for staying,” she said, hand over her heart.

“I take it the guy isn’t a client?”

She shook her head. “Never seen him before. He was kind of intimidating.”

Kind of?
Try,
very.
“Ah, he was nothing. I could’ve taken him.”

Bonnie smiled, the dreamy, thankful grin of a woman who loved him. “I’ll be right back. Let me get that flash drive.” Her cheeks flushed as she turned. She was one of those women who thought he walked on the moon. A fan until the bitter end. Nathan had told him as much. She thought he was the man who appeared on the big screen. The action hero who could handle five adversaries a la James Bond, straighten his tie and bed the beauty all before the sun went down.

If she only knew.

Chapter Five

The hot bright sun of late morning beat down as they exited the police station. Abbey’s brain hadn’t caught up to everything that had happened after the detectives left with the composite. Blake had been kidnapped by the man who’d chased her? It seemed unbelievable and only reminded her how little she really knew about him. She’d never known what to say about his kidnapping or if she should ask about it. If he were anything like her, he wouldn’t want to relive it. She sure wouldn’t blame him for that.

Her phone rang and she checked the screen. “My agent.” Her pulse raced like it always did when her agent called. It usually meant an audition. Abbey had begun to land more and more dance jobs. Most were only one or two day shoots at the max, but Julie had to make do without her. Though Abbey felt a little guilty, they both knew she never planned to stay on with Julie forever. Assistant jobs were revolving door positions. Abbey had been upfront about her desire to dance and Julie had understood. “Hi, Mallory. Whatcha got?”

“Hi, Abbey. You’ve got an audition in Hollywood this afternoon. Can you make it?”

Julie didn’t have anything major planned for her today, just a few errands that she could manage around an audition. “You know it. What’s it for?” Abbey asked.