LITMIR.BIZ

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left one of the production assistants to supervise Tabitha’s medical treatment,” Kiki replied.

      “Which P.A.?”

      “I don’t know.” Kiki sounded snippy and impositioned. “Debbie, I think.”

      “Darla?” Meagan asked, hopeful.

      “Yes. Darla.” Kiki waved a hand. “But it doesn’t matter now. I just hung up with Darla. She called me because she couldn’t reach you. Tabitha is fine. All is well in tooth-fairy land.”

      Over and over Meagan had asked Kiki to start remembering everyone’s names. She treated the cast horribly and tension jumped every time she was around. If Kiki wasn’t related to one of the executives that had approved her show, she’d already have talked to Sabrina about firing her.

      “What exactly does that mean?” Sam asked.

      She shrugged. “You’d have to ask the P.A. What’s going on here?”

      “I called Darla myself,” Josh said. “After the hospital checked her out, a dentist fitted Tabitha for some sort of temporary tooth held in with a mouthpiece, and she’s now in her room resting.” He glanced at Meagan. “Sam likes answers. I try to have them.”

      “Thank you,” Meagan said, but she felt that announcement like a blow. She couldn’t get answers, but Sam could?

      “Why don’t we head down to the property?” Sam suggested. “Then everyone can get some rest back at the hotel.”

      “Yes,” agreed Meagan, her gaze touching his. “That sounds like a good idea.”

      Sam motioned her forward, falling into step beside her, while Josh and Kiki followed them. Sam glanced behind them, apparently making sure they had some distance away from the others, before softly saying, “You’ll have to tell me who you ticked off to get saddled with Kiki.”

      It helped to hear she wasn’t being overly sensitive about Kiki, and that Sam read Kiki the same way she did. “I didn’t make anyone mad, except for you, that I know of. I’m pretty good at that.” If there was a God of dance, she’d have said that was who she’d angered. In that case though, she would have thought her knee would have been the ultimate sacrifice, but apparently not.

      “I think it’s the other way around,” he commented. “I’m good at making you mad.”

      “You are a master of that craft.”

      He laughed and darn it, she felt the sultry male baritone of it in every nerve ending of her body. There was so much about the man that appealed to her, and so many reasons not to act on what she felt for him. Yet he’d been there for her tonight in so many ways.

      They cleared the trees, bringing a large shadowy property into view and Meagan paused, drinking in the cool, clean ocean air as it washed over her, calming her, if only slightly. “I already love it here. I love the ocean.”

      “I sure hope there are lights,” Kiki said, stopping next to Meagan.

      “There are,” Sam answered, motioning Meagan onward, and she had the distinct impression that no matter how attractive Kiki might be, Sam wasn’t impressed. The idea pleased her a little more than it should have. Another reaction she wasn’t going to try to analyze at present.

      Sam ran down the basics of the property as they walked.

      “The house is 5,000 square feet with a 2,000-square-foot mother-in-law house in the back of the main property.”

      “That does sound perfect,” Meagan replied.

      Motion detectors flickered to life, illuminating an impressive contemporary stucco house, with a balcony that wrapped around most of the second floor.

      “The water is so close,” Kiki exclaimed, rushing forward and calling over her shoulder. “It’s amazing.”

      Sam sighed as Kiki expanded the distance between her and them. “I better catch up with her before she gets hurt and calls it the curse.” He headed after her.

      Josh fell into step with Meagan. “Kiki seems to like this place so far. Surely that’s all you need to know.” He grinned to let her know he was teasing her.

      Meagan snorted. “That’s about as true as me dropping my cell phone. I used horrible judgment by not going back to my room for my phone. It’s just that if I’d gone back, I knew I’d get cornered by someone wanting to talk, and it would be even later by the time we made it out here. Still, I should have known better. Thank you for being loyal to your boss and covering for me.”

      “I spent the entire drive listening to Kiki talk trash about you.” They started up the porch stairs, where Sam waited, having already let Kiki inside the house. “She gloated on the drive over here about how she’d saved the studio millions, insisting you’d be a failure. The worst is that she had to have known I might tell you. It’s like she wanted you on edge by announcing her intent. I hate saying this because it feeds into her strategy, but Meagan, she’s a cobra. Watch for the next strike, because it’s coming.”

      Meagan crossed her arms in front of her chest, tension curling in her stomach. She had confirmation of what she’d hoped wasn’t true. Not only was Kiki a true enemy, she wasn’t even trying to hide her agenda.

      They joined Sam at the door.

      Josh glanced at Sam. “Don’t worry, boss. I’ll go in first, and strategically engage the enemy.”

      “Good luck with that one,” Sam said dryly, stepping aside to let Josh enter, and then moving again to block the entrance. The porch light played on his chiseled features and full, sensual mouth—the mouth she shouldn’t be looking at, but couldn’t seem to resist.

      “Everything okay?” he asked, towering above her, and she was struck again by the way he used his broad shoulders to shield her, this time from Kiki’s potentially, most likely, prying eyes. Protective. That was the word that came to mind, rather than dominant and bossy.

      “Everything is just peachy,” she assured him. “In fact, tonight is just one big bucket of peachy.”

      Kiki peeked around Sam. “Are you coming in or what?” She disappeared.

      “See,” Meagan said. “Peachy.”

      He didn’t move, his eyes narrowing a barely perceivable amount. “What’s wrong?”

      She lowered her voice. “You were right about watching my back with Kiki. Josh said that she bragged about saving the studio millions by getting rid of people like me. It sounds like she doesn’t want the show to succeed. But—”

      “Now isn’t the time to talk about this, but I have your back, Meagan, and I mean that. You do what feels right and you make this as good a show as you can make it. Don’t let her get to you.”

      Her chest tightened at the unexpectedly supportive, and yes, protective words. Right then, she realized that Sam had snuck through her defenses, into her life, and for the first time in a very long time, if only for tonight, it was a relief to not feel alone. She nodded. “I know. You’re right.”

      “I don’t think you do.” There was nothing accusing in his tone, no taunt, none of their normal word play.

      “I do. I know.” Her lips lifted ever so slightly. “But it helps to be reminded. Thank you.”

      He studied her and then gave a small incline of his head, flattening himself against the door to let her pass.

      As Meagan moved by Sam, her shoulder brushed his chest. She froze with the impact, her gaze momentarily meeting his, heat glimmering in the depths of his stare. And she didn’t look away, or hide from him, or herself. She wanted Sam. She was so very tired of denying herself this man.

      But their window to be alone was now gone. Meagan had no doubt that Kiki would notice if they disappeared after this and didn’t show up back at the hotel,

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