Yes, he is, and it's fine, he can break Anderson's heart by being completely uninterested.
The owl, not wrongly, said,He'sactinginterested!
Anderson is stupidly attractive,Kayla said, still grinning hugely.He affects a lot of people like that. Straight men, gay women, the occasional ace enby.
"I amdesperateto learn how you know Kayla," Anderson purred with an expression that wouldn't melt butter in his mouth. "We could discuss it over coffee, unless you know a nice little intimate hole to snug up into around here."
"I. Oh. I. Gosh. That would be swell." Poor Jordan looked like a deer in headlines—or maybe an owl, given how wide his eyes were—and Anderson lit up.
Kayla couldn't help it. She dissolved into laughter and stepped up to elbow Anderson, who had apparently forgotten he was cold, now that he had a new man to flirt with. "We're filming, Andy. Come on. Don't worry," she told Jordan. "He has that effect on everybody. Just don't agree toanythinghe says until you've had a chance to examine it for double entendres, because anything he suggests is going to be full of them. Besides," she added to Anderson, "I've got dibs on coffee first."
Jordan was still trying to catch up, first gazing at Anderson and apparently reviewing what the film star had said for possible double-entendre, then blushing furiously as he found one. The blush was still in full force as he also caught up to what Kayla had said, and brightened like a star on a Christmas tree. "Really? Coffee? That's great! When are you free?"
Anderson cast her a positively betrayed glance and sniffed, stalking back to his place for the next take. Cyril hadn't made an appearance, suggesting someone was keeping him apprised of the situation. The crewweresetting up for another take; they just were doing that and watching everything with Jordan, Kayla and Anderson unfold all at the same time.
Kayla hadn't fully intended to agree to coffee with her old-classmate-slash-new-fated-mate. On the other hand, at the speed Anderson could move, Jordan might have found himself agreeing to a wedding date before anybody could even get a cup of coffee, and Kayla was comfortably confident that Ethan Anderson, no matter how attractive, was not the person Jordan wanted. "Honestly, I'm not absolutely sure I'm free until Saturday, which is the crew's day off."
"Oh." Disappointment flashed across Jordan's handsome face, though he dismissed it quickly. "Right, no, you're the star, right? So you're probably in almost every scene, and—do movies really film six days a week?"
"Usually, yes. Sometimes seven."
"Ten hour days?" Jordan's eyes were still huge with interest. Kayla's owl preened and fluttered inside her mind, like his big eyes could see it showing off for him. "That's what it was like on the things I was an extra for. Is it always that way?"
"A lot of the time, unless it's twelve or fourteen hour days," Kayla admitted. Jordan looked so interested she couldn't help smiling. "Look, why don't you give my assistant your number, and I'll text when I can meet you for coffee? I'll try to give youenough time to actually prepare, I'm not snobby enough to think your schedule is at my beck and call."
"Oh, it is. I mean, it could be. I mean, I'm just dog sitting right now. No regular hours. But I'd love to catch up, Kylie, you're?—"
"Kayla."
Jordan blinked. Her owl blinked back, so emphatically Kayla had a hard time not doing it herself. After a second blink on both Jordan and her owl's parts, Jordan said, "Kayla, right. Why is that? I like the name Kylie."
Kayla laughed. "So does an international pop star. And I didn't want to be easily traceable to Virtue, because, you know." She shrugged and gestured around at Virtue, making Jordan follow her motion with his gaze before he brought his attention back to her.
"…because it's a boring small town? I don't know, it seems to me like having a movie star from here makes us a hundred percent less boring right away. It was kind of wild a couple years ago when Zane came back for a while and all of a sudden people actually cared about Virtue."
"Well, I know, it might be good for the economy, but Zane definitely knows there are all the other reasons to kind of keep Virtue off the map, so I wish he hadn't, even if he was stuck doing it."
Jordan shook his head. "Yeah, people kind of talk like that, but I've never understood it. It's a great little town and I think we should show it off. The town website is decades old, for God's sake. That's embarrassing!"
"Yeah, but—" Kayla looked away as the crew started to call for places, then glanced back at Jordan. "But you know the reasons to keep this place off the beaten path, right?"
He smiled. "Nope. Like I said, no reason I've ever heard has seemed to hold any water. Hey, I don't want to get you introuble, so if you'll point me to your assistant, I'll give her my number and then get Barney out of here so we don't ruin another take."
"Oh, yes, of course. That's Trina there in the pink coat. It was nice to see you again, Jordan. I'll be in touch." Kayla wanted him to hurry off, the black and white dog at his heels, and let somebody usher her back to her place and pile her with holiday gift boxes again. She missed her first cue, swore apologetically, and tried to get her head back in the game. It was harder than it should have been.
She certainly hadn't expected to find her fated mate when she came home to Virtue, but thelastthing she'd expected was that even though he'd been born and raised in Virtue, Jordan Rhodes would have no idea that it was a shifter town.
Chapter 4
"I'm very mad at you," Jordan whispered to Barney as they slogged away through the snow. "You were very naughty. But also, I'm totally in your debt and I'll buy hot dogs for you to have for dinner tonight.Kylie Quinn," he said, awe-stricken. "Who'd have thought she would grow upthatgorgeous? She was always cute," he informed the dog. "But wow.Wow. Okay, we're watching movies tonight, buddy. I had no idea I'd gone to high school with a movie star. Yes, okay, I know, she wasn't a movie star then, but you know what I mean."
The collie, who was not only smarter than many people but at the moment looked as if he thought he might be smarter than Jordan in particular, cocked an ear at him and then, Jordan was fairly sure, rolled his eyes. "Watch it, bud," Jordan told him sternly. "I don'thaveto buy hot dogs." He did, of course, stopping off at the store for hot dogs, popcorn, and, after a moment's consideration, ice cream, because if he was going to spend an evening indulging in romcoms, he was going to do itright. Then it was a brisk walk home, to the brightly-painted colonial-style house he'd inherited from his parents when they'ddecided they'd had enough of upstate New York winters and fled south for warmer climes.
Barney was polite enough to stop just inside the door on the carpet meant for wiping feet, and to dance around on it until most of the snow had melted or dried off his feet. Then he bounced through the house, searching for anything that might need herding while Jordan fried up some hot dogs for himself and cut a couple more into the dog's food bowl. Barney gobbled it as politely as a dog could, then came to sit at Jordan's feet, looking forlorn, until it was clear he wasn't getting any more hot dogs. "But you can sit on the couch with me while we watch movies," Jordan promised him, and half an hour later, once the kitchen was clean and the popcorn was popped, that's where they were.
"Let's see what we've got here." Jordan pulled up a streaming service, searched on Kayla's name, and let out a startled laugh. There were eleven movies, seven of which she was the marquee name on. "I can't watch eleven movies tonight," he informed Barney. "Or even seven. Let's try this one, it's from last year." He pressedplay, pushed Barney's questing nose away from the popcorn bowl, and ninety-seven minutes later was sniffling in his sleeve as Kayla Walsh got married to her handsome home-town hero on screen. "That was pretty good," he told the dog, hoarsely. "Are we up for one more tonight?"
The dog, who had gone to sleep at some point, rolled one eye open, wriggled onto his back, stuck his tongue out, and went back to sleep. Jordan, still sniffling, said, "I'll take that as a yes," and put the second movie on.
