I closed my eyes.
Winced.
“You should get that,” Sawyer said. “Could be Ellis Jones calling about your big break, right?”
I rolled my eyes. “Probably not.”
“Don’t jinx it with your pessimism,” he said, then sat up and pulled me with him, gesturing toward the pants I’d discarded on the floor. “Go.”
I grabbed my jeans off the floor, fished my phone out of the pocket.
Unknown number. Los Angeles area code.
My heart skipped a beat.
I looked at Sawyer. He was leaning back on his hands, the blankets pooled around his waist, looking like a goddamn Greek god.
I answered.
"Hello?"
"Daphne." Ellis Jones's voice was unmistakable—flat, direct, no preamble. "It's Ellis."
I sat down on the edge of the bed.
Sawyer scooted forward, trying to listen.
"Ellis." My voice came out steadier than I felt. "Hi."
I looked at him. He raised his eyebrows. I nodded and mouthedholy shit.
"I'm not going to waste your time," she said. "I want you for my next film. Lead. I've been sitting on this script for twoyears and I finally know who I want in it." A pause. Almost imperceptible. "It's you."
My mouth opened. Closed.
Sawyer was watching my face.
"I'm—" I stopped. Tried again. "I'm listening."
"It shoots in the Texas Hill Country. March through July. But…here’s the thing. Part of the reason I want you is because you were so onboard with doing your own stunts, but this one is going to needa lotmore riding experience. We can afford to pay for it out of the film’s budget.”
“You’re going to…you’re going to pay me to learn how to do stuntwork with horses?’
“Yeah,” she said. “And there’s this great trainer out in the area—you live out there in your time off, right? Texas. There’s this great trainer outside San Antonio, you met him on set forDevil’s River, you remember?”
I looked at Sawyer.
"Sawyer Holt," I said carefully. "Yeah. I remember him."
Sawyer pressed his lips together, suppressing a laugh.
"He's the best I've worked with," Ellis said. "I already reached out to him this morning. Waiting to hear back."
"Oh," I said. "Interesting."
Sawyer produced his phone from a little shelf near the head of the bed. Looked at it. Looked at me. Held it up so I could see the screen.
Ellis Jones - missed call, 7:14am.
