a frown I can tell is just an act. “We’re trying to work here.”
Interesting that he dodged the question about why we’re in the waterpark instead of his office. His posture is relaxed and easy, but I’m picking up an odd, coiled energy about him.
“We’re working, too.” Lauren jerks her thumb toward the waterslide. “We need some shots for the opening sequence.”
Gabe’s got the camera on his lap, fiddling with buttons and switches. “I’m telling you it’s pointless. It’ll be a lame shot without people.”
Lauren fires off a look of intense exasperation. “We’ll get people in it eventually. We just need to get the lighting figured out.”
“Hey!” Gabe looks up and points a finger at Dean. “How about you do it?”
Dean frowns. “How about I do what?”
“Ride the waterslide.” Gabe laughs so hard he nearly knocks the camera off his lap. “Come on, we won’t use the footage. We just need a sense of composition and setup.”
Lauren cracks the first smile I’ve seen from her. “Excellent idea. Make yourself useful, big brother.”
Dean gives her a withering look. “I’m in the middle of making myself very useful. Maybe you’re familiar with the need for funds to get this show up and running?”
Lauren turns her steely-eyed gaze on me. “It’s after five. Doesn’t seem very nice to keep the new CFO working late.”
I open my mouth to insist I don’t mind, but she keeps going. “How about it, Vanessa? Come on, you’ve gotta be dying to try the waterslide, right?”
She does have a point. My inner kid has been squealing and bouncing from the moment Lana showed it to me.
I flick my gaze to Dean, expecting him to answer for me. I can’t read his expression at all, but my brain grabs hold of a memory I’d forgotten. I was eight years old, and my sister and I were at a waterpark outside LA with our mom. Val and I desperately wanted to ride the waterslides, so I stepped up to make the plea.
“Absolutely not,” our mother said, tossing her perfect hair. “These places are breeding grounds for germs, and besides, you might get hurt.”
“But—why are we here then?” I tried not to let my lower lip quiver, but I couldn’t help it. “You brought us to a waterpark and we can’t play in the water?”
“It’s a place to be seen.” She stretched out on a lounge chair, adjusting her wide-brimmed hat as I tried to figure out what on earth she meant by that. Be seen?
“Go play.” She waved me away before I could ask. “Just stay away from the water. Go work on your tan or something.”
I blink myself back to the present, looking from Lauren to Gabe to Dean. “I’d love to try the waterslide.”
Lauren blinks. “Really?”
“Absolutely.” I glance up at the swirling spiral, my insides churning with excitement. “It looks like fun, and I brought a bathing suit.”
It’s Dean’s turn to look surprised. “You have a bathing suit?”
“Yep. Right here.” I pat my bag, grinning.
He shakes his head slowly. “I’m seriously impressed by that purse. Should I worry what else is in there?”
I ignore the question, but yeah, there’s a lot of crap in my bag. I’m big on being prepared. “I was hoping I’d have a chance to swim laps at the end of the workday.”
“Which it totally is.” Lauren makes an exaggerated show of pointing to the clock on the wall. It’s definitely after five. “Let’s get to it, girlfriend.”
Gabe’s full-on smirking, staring down his older brother. “You’re not going to make her do this alone, are you?”
Dean glares at him. “Let me just pull that Speedo out of my back pocket.”
“Ha!” Gabe smacks the table. “I’ve got trunks in my car right outside. Next excuse?”
Dean looks over, and I can see him trying to read me. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. Lauren can be kind of a bully sometimes—”
“Hey,” she protests.
“But she does know how to take no for an answer,” Dean adds firmly. “So if you don’t want to do this, it’s definitely not a job requirement.”
“No, I want to.” I hop to my feet and rummage through my bag. “It looks like fun, and we were wrapping up anyway.”
I can’t tell from Dean’s expression if he’s horrified or amused. This is the downside of working with someone from a big acting family. They’re impossible to read. He’s watching me with those eerie hazel eyes, his big hands spread on either side of his laptop.
I hate how much