Page 42 of Nico

I had to bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from laughing. "Five."

"Five, huh?"

He studied the armour again. Somehow, he'd gone from insisting he'd never wanted to look like an elven knight to actually considering it.

I was enjoying this far too much. I turned away before he could see just how much his expression affected me.

We spent far longer in the armory than we probably should have. I looked at almost everything, stopping every few feet whenever something caught my eye.

Isaac followed me from rack to rack, occasionally asking a question whenever I started explaining some detail from the game, and I was more than happy to tell him everything I knew.

Every now and then, I'd catch him watching me, only for him to look away as though he'd been caught doing something he shouldn't.

I couldn't quite figure out why, but the way he looked at me made my stomach flutter.

Eventually, I checked my watch and frowned. "How long have we been here?"

"Too long. We're running late."

Isaac caught me by the arm and steered me toward the exit.

"Come on."

His hand remained around my arm for half a second longer than necessary before he let go.

Our third stop was a temporary production area set up for reviewing footage from the previous day's filming. A large monitor stood beneath a canopy, with several rows of canvas chairs arranged in front of it.

I recognised some of the people gathered there immediately.

The director, one of the producers, the cinematographer, and several other senior members of the production team were there. A few people I didn't recognise sat farther back, presumably family or friends who'd been allowed to watch.

I had no idea how Isaac had managed to get us in here, but apparently he had.

A production assistant was already waiting for us, looking annoyed. "You're late."

Isaac gave her an apologetic smile. "I know. Sorry."

She narrowed her eyes. "And you still owe me."

"I'll get you good tickets."

She sighed, but finally waved us through. "Fine. Go."

I stared at Isaac as he led me toward the chairs. "You bribed her."

"I negotiated."

"With baseball tickets?"

He shrugged. "Logan's name goes a long way."

He guided me toward one of the chairs near the back and waited until I sat down before taking the seat beside me. This was completely different from what I usually got to see on set.

I spent most of my time in Logan's trailer or dealing with whatever IT problem had decided to appear that day. Now I was sitting among the people who actually made the decisions.

Yesterday's footage began to play. I watched, fascinated, as the scene I'd seen being filmed came together on screen.

Little details I'd barely noticed while watching the actors and crew work suddenly became important once I saw how they fit into the finished footage.