“Don’t call me sweetheart.”
“My mistake. Spock.”
“Well, actually, Spock had feelings,” Allegra threw in.
“Very true,” I agreed and turned back to Aria. “Agent Smith.”
She scowled at me. “Agent Smith?”
“The Matrix.”
“You’re a child.”
“That’s exactly what he’d say.”
Aria’s hands clenched into fists at her sides, her knuckles turning white, and I took a perverse pleasure that she couldn’t hide how much I annoyed her.
“I don’t have time for this nonsense.” She gestured to her sister. “Get your butt out of this gym while he’s in here.”
Genuine anger filled me. “I resent the implication, Aria.”
Perhaps it was my use of her name, but she stiffened. “I didn’t mean it that way. I don’t want my sister bothering my guests.”
“Oh, so now I’m a guest?”
She sucked in a breath like I was fraying her patience, and I tried not to smile. Cutting her sister a look, she ordered, “Finish up in here. Now.” And with that, she marched out of the gym without looking back.
Feeling Allegra’s gaze, I turned my eyes from her retreating sister to her. She grinned mischievously at me, and my lips twitched. “What?”
“What the hell did you do to her?”
“Me? Nothing.”
“Well, she’s usually the epitome of professional and cordial with the club members.”
“Her? Cordial?”
Allegra nodded, still grinning like a madwoman. “You pissed her off, didn’t you?”
Jumping off the machine, I decided I was done for the day. “By breathing, sweetheart. I pissed her off merely by breathing.”
“Uh-huh.” She didn’t look convinced, but I wasn’t about to protest my innocence. “Seriously. What did you do to her?”
Swiping my towel and water bottle from the floor, I strode past her and said, “If you find out, let me know.”
I attempted to brush off the encounter with Aria as I showered and changed back into my regular clothes. Still, her comments played around and around in my head, driving me to distraction. What was it about that bloody woman?
Thankfully, a better distraction came in the form of Harry.
As I walked back to the castle in the cold, my phone rang and my agent’s name appeared on the screen. The urge to answer it was real, but I forced myself to let it ring a few times before I picked up. Thankfully, I didn’t sound desperate when I did.
After we exchanged pleasantries, Harry got down to it. “Here’s the situation: The studio is in contention with Blake and Lisa over you.” Blake Forster, the director, and Lisa Helman who’d written the script. “Lisa wrote this part with you in mind.”
Shock halted me. “I didn’t know that. She never said.”
“Well, she probably wanted to keep your ego in check. But she sold the idea of you as the leading man to Blake when he came on board, and neither of them can see the movie without you in it. But the studio is looking at the response online from the public and thinks you’re a bad investment right now.”
I flinched.
