Paranormal Talent Agency Omnibus Read online

  “Why?”

  “If we’re going to be poking around on set, we need to make sure that we both get cast and it’s best that he not know we’re together.” I had a feeling this partial answer would not be satisfactory.

  “And, I ask again, why?” He sounded genuinely perplexed.

  “We don’t want him to know we’re investigating him,” I answered, and it sounded lame even to my own ears.

  “That doesn’t make any sense,” Ryan argued. “People in this town know and talk to each other at auditions and on set all the time. There would be no reason for him to suspect that we’re investigating him.”

  A quick glance in his direction showed me his eyes had narrowed.

  “What aren’t you telling me?”

  Asked a direction question, I refused to lie. I sighed instead. “When I talked with Derek yesterday, he said he had an ulterior motive for getting involved with this movie.” I paused and Ryan waited for me to continue.

  “And?” He prompted me with the question after a long silence.

  I rolled my eyes. “Ugh, he says he wants to win me back.” I heard Ryan’s heartbeat accelerate and knew he did not like this news.

  “Really,” was all he said.

  “He has no chance,” I assured Ryan, though was unsure why I cared so much. Yes, we obviously were attracted to each other. But, we were focused on clearing Jim’s name. Well, Ryan was. The jury was still out on that for me.

  “He doesn’t?”

  “Not. At. All.”

  Ryan laughed, low and sexy. “Good.”

  I saw the two-story building ahead and used that as the perfect distraction to the tension.

  “We’re here,” I announced cheerily. I pulled into a parking spot and killed the engine. I turned to face Ryan, who had done the same. “You go in first. I’ll wait five minutes. Then I’ll go in.”

  “And you’re sure this is necessary?”

  “Trust me. It’s much easier this way. If Derek thinks we’re together, you’ll never get cast. I can promise you that.”

  Ryan shook his head. “Okay. I’ll see you inside.”

  He exited the vehicle and I watched his backside while he entered the ground floor storefront. Dang, the man looked good coming and going.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Exactly five minutes later, I swung open my car door and prepared to snoop, I mean, audition. Once inside the building, I saw a young woman behind a desk and a few people sitting on chairs around the room. I avoided looking at Ryan. Everyone held audition sides, preparing.

  “Hi, you’re here to audition,” the cheerful woman behind the desk stated. I idly wondered if she was a production assistant or casting assistant.

  “Yes,” I confirmed.

  “Please sign in and take the appropriate sides for the character you’d like to audition for,” she instructed, indicating a clipboard and two rows of single sheets of paper.

  I signed-in on the appropriate line, noting Ryan’s was the only one above me. That was bad. If there was a side with a couple, we might end up auditioning together. Derek wasn’t stupid. His animal instincts were strong; he’d notice the sexual tension. I quickly reviewed the available sides and saw that, unfortunately, there was only one character I was right for. The romantic lead. I sighed and snatched the side off the table.

  I sat on a hard, plastic chair, reading over the selected scene’s dialogue. A young man came through a door next to the reception desk. He checked the clipboard and called out the name before Ryan’s. I gave Derek credit; at least the audition was running smoothly. It was such a crap shoot in this town, pun intended. Some auditions, you were in and out within thirty minutes. Others, the ones we described as cattle calls in the industry, could result in hours of waiting. Those sucked.

  The owner of the name followed the young man and five minutes later returned. Checking the clipboard, the young man called out Ryan’s name and he disappeared behind the door. Five minutes later, they both came out. Except that, instead of leaving, Ryan retook his seat. Shoot. Sometimes I hated when I was right.

  The young man, who smelled like a vampire, I realized, called my name. He introduced himself as Orlando. I smiled broadly, confirmed my identity, and followed him through the door. We walked down a short hallway to a larger room. There was an X on the floor, a camera on a tripod five feet in front of it, and four people sitting in a ragged half-circle behind the camera.

  “Evelyn Jones,” the young vampire announced and then faded into the background.

  This obviously wasn’t my first time at an audition. I handed my headshot and resume to the person holding her hand out, and walked over to the big X. I was curious to see how Derek handled this. He sat closest to the camera, watched me through dark eyes.

  “Hi, Evie,” Derek called out. “So glad you could make it to the audition.”

  I smiled my biggest, fakest, actress smile at him. “Of course. Glad to be here, Derek.”

  “Show us what you got,” he encouraged, “though I know you got it.” He winked lecherously at me and I was pleased I refrained from gagging in response. The others in the room, not understanding the undercurrent, chuckled like the sycophants they likely were. Newbie vampires. Ugh.

  I performed the side as requested. The woman sitting beside Derek gave a redirect. I performed the side again. Everyone smiled.

  “Thanks for coming in, Evie. If you’ll wait out front, we’ll have you read with one or two of the other actors,” Derek said.

  “Of course, thank you.” Then I was back in the waiting room. The occupants had dwindled to me, Ryan, and another couple. My guess was I’d read with each of the men. And I was right. Soon, only Ryan and I remained in the waiting area. We’d done a good job ignoring each other, but I was a little anxious about how reading with him would go.

  Orlando entered the room. “Evelyn and Ryan? We’re ready for you.”

  Ryan and I looked at each other, smiled at the vampire, and followed him back through the door. Here went nothing. Or everything.

  The female vampire I previously handed my headshot to indicated where Ryan and I should stand. “From the top,” Derek intoned dramatically, and we began.

  I stared into Ryan’s eyes, embodying the words I was reading. So did he. His voice was husky, his eyes dilated as we read. I mirrored his physicality. He was good. We went through the entire scene. I’ll admit it helped doing a romantic scene when you were already attracted to someone. We finished and remained staring at each other, for a beat too long apparently. Someone coughed.

  We tore our eyes from each other and looked out at the half circle. I noticed with mild alarm that Derek now wore a half-frown. The female vampire, however, was smiling.

  “That was fantastic,” she crowed.

  “Yes,” Derek slowly agreed. “That was quite good.” His eyes narrowed. “Have the two of you worked together before?”

  “No,” we responded in unison, and I inwardly sighed. The answer was true, but who spoke at the same time? Couples did, that’s who.

  The expression on Derek’s face hardened at our response and I realized I needed to do something now or the plan would be over before it started.

  “No,” I repeated, “but it’ll be nice working with you.” I hated the saccharine tone in my voice and sensed Ryan tensing beside me. However, the ploy worked. Derek focused fully on me, a seductive smile curving upward.

  “Yes, yes, it will,” he agreed. I channeled every ounce of my inner actress to maintain my mildly flirtatious expression and attitude.

  “When will we get the good news we’ve been cast?”

  “We?”

  I heard the alpha male in Derek’s voice. Dang it, he was so sensitive. “Oh, come on, Derek,” I said breezily. “My reading with—” I paused and looked questioningly at Ryan.

  “Ryan,” he supplied, suppressing a small smile.

  “My reading with Ryan was better than with the other guy. Unless
you plan on callbacks because you saw someone fantastic earlier this evening, it has to be us.”

  Derek laughed. “My little minx.”

  I cringed internally at the word, but outwardly did the cutesy eyes downcast thing that certain men seemed to respond to.

  “We’ll review all the tape and let agents know by the end of the week,” he answered my earlier question.

  We made eye contact again and I fought down the revulsion to continue the charade. Miraculously, it worked. “That’s wonderful,” I purred. The female vampire rolled her eyes and I wondered how often scenes like this played out between Derek and actresses. Despite his expressed intent to win me back, I suspected this happened all the time.

  The female vampire stood, smiled broadly at Ryan. Her smile dimmed slightly when directed at me. “Thank you both for coming in. We’ll let you know.”

  Ryan and I echoed her thanks and then began to leave.

  “Evie, can you stay a minute?”

  I immediately stopped. Ryan wisely chose to keep going, like he didn’t hear Derek’s question. I could tell by Ryan’s physical reaction that he did, and he wasn’t happy. I’d deal with that later. I turned to Derek.

  “Of course.”

  The other vampires scattered, presumably to give Derek and me privacy. Ugh. He approached and I plastered my big fake grin on again.

  “That was fun,” I told him. That part was true; I enjoyed reading with Ryan.

  Derek touched my cheek and I was impressed I didn’t flinch away. “You’re so beautiful.”

  “Thank you,” I responded, though my words sounded stiff to my own ears and I was unsurprised to see his smile dip.

  “I told you why I’m in town. Yet you still auditioned. And you’re here today pretending to flirt. Why are you really here?”

  Uh-oh. A direct question. I needed an answer that wasn’t a lie. An omission, by the way, was not a lie. “I really want to do the film,” I answered, and I was somewhat surprised to realize that was true. The script sounded fun and even though I wasn’t sure how Derek became a part of it, the production company was legit, according to Catherine.

  Derek stared at me, as though trying to read my mind. He smiled. “I believe you. And you were flirting just so you could get cast?”

  “Yes,” I admitted, feeling sleazy, hearing it said aloud.

  Derek laughed uproariously. “There was no need. Once I knew you were auditioning, I planned to cast you in the lead. You didn’t have to flirt.” He took my hand. “Though I enjoyed that you did. How far do you want to go with it?” His voice lowered and his eyes were liquid desire. Oh no, no, no.

  I snatched my hand away. “Not that far,” I retorted and his expression hardened again. The vampire really didn’t like not getting his way. Sheesh. I smiled to soften the blow. I didn’t want to screw this up in the home stretch. “Let’s take this one day at a time.”

  Derek returned my smile, reached out to caress my cheek again. “Okay. I can understand why you’d be hesitant. We’ll take it one day at a time.”

  His quick acquiescence surprised me before I realized he knew it was the smart play. “I’ll see you on set, then,” I stated, effectively ending the conversation.

  He knew what I did, shook his head slightly. “See you then.”

  He walked away. I stood there for a long moment, trying to unfeel the touch of his fingers on my face. He hadn’t touched me like that in decades. I hadn’t missed it.

  I spun on my heels and headed outside for the expected showdown with Ryan.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Ryan materialized out of the dark the instant I left the building. Before he could open his mouth, I quietly directed him otherwise.

  “The car, first. We don’t want anyone here to see us together, remember?”

  He followed the instruction and quickly put about ten feet of distance between us. We met again at the car, opened the doors, took our seats, and slammed the doors shut, all in about ten seconds. Ryan remained quiet until we pulled out of the parking lot.

  I sensed the tension rolling off of him and waited for the challenge. In three, two, one…

  “What was that about back there?” Ryan asked, trying and failing to keep the question light.

  “What do you mean?” I questioned back, even though I knew exactly what he meant.

  “You know what I’m asking. What was up with the flirting? I thought you didn’t like your ex.”

  “Oh, come on, Ryan,” I responded, exasperated. “You’re a smart man. You have to know why I was flirting with Derek.”

  Silence greeted my statement. I waited him out. The silence stretched through one traffic light and then a second. I still waited him out.

  “Okay,” he said.

  “Okay?”

  “You’re right. I did know why you were flirting with him. To make sure you were cast.”

  “We,” I corrected.

  “What?”

  “To make sure we were cast.”

  Ryan smiled. “Right. To make sure we were cast.”

  “Derek suspected we knew each other. I mean, he flat out asked us if we’d worked together before. That would have been a dangerous road to go down.”

  “That’s true. I guess I’m still not clear why that would have been such a big deal. If we had worked together before.”

  I hesitated to answer. I heard irritation in his voice again and I was unsure if I should address it; Ryan surely felt the sexual tension between us. Right?

  “It’s not like we’re a couple or anything,” Ryan continued when I didn’t respond.

  I didn’t like his statement, so for misdirection, I agreed with him.

  “That’s certainly true,” I said with a forced chuckle. “But, I know my ex. He’s a classic alpha male.”

  Ryan laughed. “I got that impression.” His expression sobered. “Still.”

  “Still, what?”

  “I don’t know,” he admitted. He paused to collect his thoughts. “It still felt like you were playing both sides,” he finally allowed.

  That shocked me. “What? What does that even mean?”

  “That maybe you’re using our mission as an excuse to explore the possibility of getting back together with your ex.”

  My jaw dropped open and I risked a glance at him. I noted the clenched jaw and rigid posture. “Are you kidding?”

  “Do I look like I’m kidding?”

  “No, you don’t. And I have no idea why you’re overreacting like this.” I was facing forward again and I heard the rustle of his clothing when he shifted in the seat to look at me.

  “You think I’m overreacting?”

  He asked this with a genuine question in his voice. I looked at him and nodded. “Yes, I do. What I don’t understand is why.”

  Silence again. I assumed Ryan was deciding how, or whether, he wanted to answer what I was asking. I had taken the highway exit to his neighborhood when he sighed deeply.

  “Did I tell you I was married too?” He said this almost sheepishly because he already knew the answer. “I didn’t,” he answered himself.

  Somehow, I was not surprised. “And?”

  “We married young. We were married for five years. I don’t think either one of us knew how to be married.”

  “It’s a learning curve for everyone, I think.”

  “I honestly thought love would be enough. If she was ever really in love with me.” He paused. “I didn’t know it until the last year that she cheated on me almost every chance she got. I don’t know how I missed it.”

  “Trust me, cheaters know how to cover their tracks,” I assured him.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ryan’s head turn toward me again. His expression was almost accusatory.

  “I never cheated on my husband,” I defensively responded to his look.

  Ryan sighed again. “Sorry, I’m projecting.”

  “Projecting?” That was a therapy wor
d if I’d ever heard one.

  “I was in therapy for the last six months of my marriage,” he said as if reading my mind.

  “Ah,” was all I could think of to say.

  “My best friend saw her out with her latest boyfriend and he finally told me,” he continued. “I didn’t believe him. I said some horrible things. Lost the friendship,” Ryan said, muted anguish audible in his voice.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “When I first questioned Maureen, she called my friend a liar and denied it.”

  “Of course.”

  “But, when I provided the details of what my friend had seen, she spilled it all. That’s when I learned the current one was only the latest of a string of men. She had been cheating since we returned from our honeymoon,” Ryan stated in a flat voice.

  “Wow.” I was clearly a brilliant conversationalist, but I honestly didn’t know what to say.

  “After six months of therapy – alone, since she told me she cheated because she should never have gotten married in the first place – I finally filed for divorce. That was five years ago. I haven’t dated anybody seriously since then. I guess you could say I have trust issues,” he finished with a shake of his head.

  “Now I understand.” And I truly did. He clearly didn’t want to acknowledge any attraction between us, but he knew it was there, so when I flirted with Derek, his subconscious really did interpret that as playing both sides like he accused.

  “I’m glad. What about you?”

  Oh dang. Here came the expectation of reciprocity. I considered and discarded the option of telling him my ex-husband was also my sire and then wiping his mind of the conversation when we got to his house. “Derek and I were married for a short time. It didn’t work out and I haven’t seen him in a while.” Like decades.

  A total pregnant pause followed my statement while Ryan waited for me to elaborate. Luckily, I was saved from having to give an even less helpful explanation.

  “We’ve arrived at your home,” I announced unnecessarily when I pulled into his driveway. “Door to door service.”