Page 60 of Hate To Be Mine

And Bernadette? Well, that was complicated. But it was a complication I found myself not minding.

“You look happy,” Annika said, appearing at my elbow.

“I am happy. Everything is coming together.”

“Mm-hmm.” She gave me a knowing look. “And it has nothing to do with a certain insurance representative?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Sure you don’t.” She patted my arm. “Just be careful. The crew is starting to notice how you two look at each other.”

“We don’t look at each other any particular way.”

“You look at her like she hung the moon. She looks at you like she can’t decide if she wants to kiss you or kill you. It’s very obvious to anyone paying attention.”

“We’re being professional.”

“Of course you are.” She walked away, still smiling that knowing smile.

I looked over at Bernadette, who was organizing something with the wardrobe team. As if she felt my gaze, she glanced over. Our eyes met. She gave me a small smile before turning back to her work.

Careful, I reminded myself. We needed to be more careful.

I found myself thinking that maybe careful was overrated.

I was going to enjoy it for now. I’d deal with the fallout later. I just wanted to live in the moment, and that included watching my Little Bee buzz around looking hot as hell—literally and figuratively.

22

BERNADETTE

The public beach location made me nervous from the moment we arrived. It was much busier than our previous spots. Tourists lounged under umbrellas, kids ran shrieking through the surf, local vendors walked the sand selling coconut water and fresh fruit. There were uncontrolled variables everywhere I looked.

I didn’t like it. Maybe I could convince Sebastian to move to another beach. Why did it have to be this one? It was too busy.

A frisbee sailed past one of our lighting setups. A dog chased seagulls through the area we’d marked off with cones. Three teenagers completely ignored our DO NOT ENTER signs and walked right through the middle of our shot.

It was a nightmare.

“Bernadette, you’re going to give yourself an aneurysm,” Annika said, watching me frantically update my risk assessment notes.

“There are children everywhere. Children who could trip over cables, knock over equipment, get hit by a frisbee. Anything. Everything! This is not a controlled environment.”

“The frisbee is not going to hit anyone.”

“You don’t know that. Frisbees are unpredictable. Anything that defies gravity is a risk.”

She patted my shoulder sympathetically and went back to organizing swimsuits.

I knew I sounded neurotic. I felt neurotic. Normal people looked at the beach and saw a fun day. I saw disaster at every turn.

Maybe I needed to get laid again. It had worked wonders for me before. Today felt like a nightmare.

But I’m not going to get laid. At least not while I’m here unless one of the camera guys wants to mess with Buzzkill Bernadette.

What was I thinking? No. Absolutely not. I wasn’t going to make my way through the crew because Sebastian awakened some inner beast I didn’t know lived inside me. I felt like a predator on the hunt for more sex.

But not just any sex—Sebastian sex.