at length. He reached for a piece of paper and a pen. "Jot down your name, address, Social. I'll get you on the payroll this afternoon."
She jotted while he watched her every move. When she finished, he took the sheet, looked at it, then at her.
"Anything else?" she asked.
He licked his lips. "Yeah." He got up from the desk, stood next to her, and bent low to pull open several drawers. His forearm brushed her thigh and she closed her eyes and wondered if an attraction this potent could possibly be for real or if she'd accidentally eaten a dose of Spanish Fly with her morning granola. This close, she could smell him - the soap he used, no cologne. He wasn't a cologne kind of man. And she could feel him - his body heat.
He finally straightened with a six-inch-thick stack of pages, which he handed to her. "This is the story arc for the season, along with the breakdowns for each episode. You're going to need to get familiar with it. Fast."
She took the heavy stack, rose slowly to her feet.
"I'll be in touch later, to let you know when we've scheduled your meeting with the writing team. You have any questions?"
She had a thousand, but right now she just wanted to get out of there. She couldn't think straight this close to the man. So she just shook her head from side to side.
"Good. Go on home, then. Read. I'll see you later."
She turned and left the studio. And it wasn't until she was in her VW Bug and heading home that she realized she had actually landed the job of her dreams. Smiling widely, she thanked the Goddess and kept on driving.
Alex figured his mind settled back into working order when she got about fifty yards away from him. He sank into his chair. It was still warm from her body. "What the hell was that?"
He didn't get an answer. He didn't believe in magic. And it was a good thing, or he'd have thought the woman had cast some kind of a spell on him. And yet, he had no doubt he'd chosen the right person for the job. The show - his creation - was in trouble. The ratings were dropping, the actresses were feuding, the sponsors were fading, and the right-wing zealot groups were boycotting the sponsors. He was no Hollywood insider, but he was sure as hell swimming with the sharks now.
The charm he wore around his neck burned against his skin. A deep whisper echoed in his mind.
Perfect. It'll all be perfect. You have the Midas touch, you know.
He frowned, looking around the office. But he saw no one there. It must have been a snippet of dialogue from one of the nearby soundstages. Sounded excellent. Creepy, with an otherworldly hollowness to it. They must be working on a horror flick or something.
He leaned back in his chair and turned on the radio to drown out the noise, and then he tried again to figure out what it was about the woman that had hit him so powerfully.
Part Three CHAPTER 2
Melissa drove to the beach house, an hour away. She had rented it for the summer, with the option to buy if things worked out for her here. And it looked as if they were about to work out Big-Time.
A little voice whispered misgivings - it wasn't like her to experience such intense feelings for a man she'd just met. It was more than unlike her; it was unprecedented. And she had the niggling feeling there was something more going on with Alex than was apparent - something hidden beneath the surface. Something... unnatural.
Her body's reactions to him puzzled her - simultaneous chills and heat, fire and ice, assaulted her at once. She was curious, wary, and attracted.
And she knew better than to feel any of those things. The man was her employer! She had to get her head straight. She had to get to the beach.
She loved the sea, the shore. The East Coast had always beckoned her, touched something deep inside her, and been her home.
The Pacific had a different energy to it. A darker, older feel. As well it should. The sun set here. It rose in the east. The two seas were opposites and yet they were reflections of the same cosmic whole, the great pouring sea of death and rebirth.
She left her VW Bug in the driveway and hurried into the house she was quickly coming