Laura laughed.
“Yeah, you always did like an adventure.”
“I did and I do.” Laura was clearly flirting with me. Maybe she’d be cool with a one night stand after all? But I never mixed work with play. If I wanted to seduce a woman I worked with, I waited till the movie was in the can. And then I made damn sure the woman really wanted it. I was not a Hollywood predator who struck business deals just to get sex. Those kind of men disgusted me. But it was clear Laila wanted me — I’d known that for a while. But why focus on Laura? Sure she was a hot redhead, but only last night I’d brought a woman to my beach hangout in Malibu. A woman who would make most men blush…her techniques in bed were so advanced even I learned something. I smiled as I felt myself getting turned on just thinking about it…
“Camera rolling…and action!” Laila’s voice interrupted my reverie.
Quickly I jumped up on the horse and it shot off. It was a magnificent sensation. We were on location a few miles outside of L.A. in the Santa Monica Mountains and the scenery out here was unreal. Galloping through the field, surrounded by mountains and lush greenery I felt alive. The adrenaline was pumping through my veins. I loved my job.
I got down to sit down behind Laura, pressing myself against her. Behind us the sound of roaring engines could now be heard — we were being chased by the bad guys.
I was enjoying myself, holding onto Laura and grabbing the reins off her. We were riding bareback. It was a marvelous sensation — wild and free. And with a hot woman right in front of me…
I expected Laila to cut the scene, but instead I heard a loud noise and looking around I saw people throwing themselves to the ground, while our horse started rearing. My grip on the reins and around Laura intensified.
“It’s an earthquake,” Laura shouted. “Shit!”
“Stay calm,” I ordered. “Come on, big boy, come on Larry, you can handle this. Calm down.”
I was scared we’d both be thrown off. We knew how to land safely if we could at all manage the fall, but we needed to avoid trampling and there were vehicles behind us that could run us over too unless they’d stopped…
Larry, the horse, kept galloping, but he wasn’t rearing.
“That’s it boy, take it easy. Easy.”
Slowly, the horse came to a trot and then a halt.
“Good work boy,” I said and jumped off, so that I could stand in front of him, holding him. I wasn’t sure if there’d be more tremors. Chances were there were.
“Get off Laura and away from the hooves. We need to get this one back to the stables before he runs off if there’s an aftershock.”
***
That evening, as I drove home along Mulholland, I felt spent. I knew I was returning home to a kid and I was already exhausted. Monica, our maid/nanny/life savior would have everything under control, but Shaun would want me to sit with him. And I wanted to. The earthquake hadn’t made me fear half as much for my life as it had his. Yet I knew if something happened to me…I was everything to Shaun. I knew I should get remarried…but I didn’t want to. I wasn’t interested in love. I’d met the woman of my dreams and she’d died.
I enjoyed my single life. It was just…Shaun. What if something ever happened to me? Damn. I swore as I hit the steering wheel. Why couldn’t life just be simple?
