Page 59 of Love On and Off Set

“No dogs, cats, or girlfriends who might miss you?”

I shook my head. No boyfriends either. There’d been no one since…never mind. “I swore I could do this. And I can.”

“Great. I’ve got Colette working with Norah. I’m not expecting any real problems. Vancouverites are pretty chill about film shoots. My biggest concern is Andreas. The tabloid reporters are probably going to try to catch him in a compromising position. With his new notoriety—and his big break starring in a film with Norah—he’s ripe for the picking, so to speak. You might also be facing down fans who want a piece of him. Thinking he’s available because of that entire thing down in LA.”

“The debacle.” Repeating his word to show I was paying attention.

“Right.” He nodded. “So, we’re good? He’s got orientation first thing. I’ll be on hand for that.” He squinted. “Oh, you have any plants?”

I shook my head, unclear where this tangent had come from. “I kill everything I touch.”

“Ah. So do I. So I leave it up to Myles. Of course we have to have cat-safe plants because, you know, our four rescue cats.”

“Sounds adorable.”

Hallstein laughed. “They keep me on my toes. And have an entire room to themselves. You should come over and meet them. I think Claude would like you.”

“Uh…”

“Once filming is over, of course.”

“Of course.” Say something a normal human being would say. “I love cats.” Not a lie…I just didn’t spend much time around them, and they didn’t tend to love me. Oh well, I’d figure this all out before I ever had to show up at Hallstein and Myles’s house in North Vancouver.

“Great. Sorry for the short notice on Andres. I had someone else lined up, but his girlfriend’s mother just died, and my guy wants to be supportive.” He sighed and picked up a folder. “I also wanted to wait until you agreed to this before… Yeah, so here it is.” He handed me the folder.

I opened it—completely baffled. As I quickly shuffled through the papers, I understood. “You’re worried about Andreas’s fans.”

“There’s nothing in there to intimate violence. Chances are, this will be a run-of-the-mill assignment for you.”

Impossible. I held my focus, though. “Run of the mill sounds good. Keeping our talent away from these…” I squinted. “Okay, men and women.”

“And girls and even a couple of boys. Some of those accounts are from folks who are underage. Our cyber person hasn’t detected anything worth reporting to the authorities, but I need you to keep an eye out for anything untoward. You know we have amazing security—”

“Yep.” The team had been fantastic before Hallstein had taken over—at least that’s what I’d understood. Since he’d taken the helm? Rock solid.

Of course, that had been about three months after the shooting on the set. Nothing any security personnel could’ve done about that one—a member of the catering staff had shot a lead actor out of jealousy. No one had seen that coming.

“Thanks for this. I think I can handle it.”

“Don’t get cocky. Cocky leads to mistakes.”

I nodded. “Of course. I just…I’ll keep him safe.”

“You might need to be more concerned about saving him from himself. Val…” Hallstein rubbed the back of his neck. “Val’s worried about self-destructive tendencies.”

My ears perked. “Does he know something?” As one of the most talented executive producers—as well as just a guy able to read people—Valentino Langston was an invaluable member of every movie or television show he worked on.

“He didn’t offer specifics. Just that Andreas comes across as happy-go-lucky, but has some depth. Capable of introspection. And that introspection can get…serious.” He winced. “I might be reading too much between the lines.”

Nope, that’s Andreas nailed perfectly.

And I can’t say anything. “His performances can be intense. I think…” I searched for the right words. “People underestimate him because of his looks. They just see the pretty face.”

Hallstein nodded. “Yes. Like people think Cole Hamilton’s all about his looks when vain is the last thing he is.”

Cole was one of the studio’s greatest assets—star of their biggest network show. And the sweetest guy.

“I’ll watch out for Andreas—I promise.”