Page 13 of Keeping Zita

The fact that she’d realized he was dealing with some intense emotions stirred up by that scene—particularly, the reunion he’d had with Buck, after he’d been missing for two long weeks in the jungle in South America—and had done what she could to support him without making a big deal out of it, soothed him in a way he hadn’t even known he needed until she’d done it.

He’d said that she was easy to be around, and she was. But he’d done a lot of observing of his own…and she was also restless. Kind of like him. She didn’t like to sit still. Was constantly walking around the set, talking to people, asking how they were, observing what was going on, offering her help.

It was fair to say Zita Darlington intrigued him. And it had been ages since Obi-Wan was intrigued by any female. So he’d impulsively invited her to come to Anchor Point.

What he really wanted was to ask her over to his apartment. Cook her dinner. Get to know her better without anyone else around. But he was a coward, so he thought the barrier of his teammates—and Laryn and Mandy—would be safer. Maybe he’d discover she had some super-annoying trait he didn’t know about yet. Maybe she was a closet lush, an alcoholic. Or too loud and rowdy when she got drunk. Or maybe she smacked her lips when she ate. Or chewed too loudly.

Obi-Wan mentally rolled his eyes at himself. He was being ridiculous. And he couldn’t go back on his invitation now regardless. She’d already accepted and said via text that she was looking forward to meeting up with him and his friends tonight.

PT that morning had been brutal. Casper had driven them harder than normal, saying they’d gotten soft with all the meetings they’d been sitting their asses in lately. Obi-Wan wasn’t sure if that was the true reason or not. Casper and Laryn had seemed…stressed the last couple of days. Neither was talking to anyone about what might be bothering them, but Obi-Wan hoped like hell they weren’t on the verge of breaking up.

That would be awful. He loved Laryn like a sister and thought she and Casper were great together. They complemented each other in a way he’d rarely seen. If those two couldn’t make a relationship work, there wasn’t a chance in hell he could.

So after less sleep than he needed and a grueling workout, Obi-Wan was tired, and kind of grumpy, and irritated about some changes to the script that made the main character sound like a douche. He was confused about his feelings toward Zita when he definitely wasn’t looking for a relationship, so he’d planned on staying away from her this morning…but that didn’t stop him from buying her usual coffee on the way to the set.

So as soon as he arrived, the first thing he did was look around to see if she was there yet.

Instead of finding Zita, however, he caught Carmen’s eye.

Shit.

The second she saw him looking her way, she abruptly turned from the cameraman she was flirting with and headed toward him.

Feeling like he was caught in the crosshairs of an especially dangerous force, all Obi-Wan could do was stand there. For someone who was really good at making decisions on the fly, he was doing a piss-poor job of figuring out where to go, who to talk to, so he could avoid the upcoming conversation with Carmen.

She’d tried several times over the last few days to get him alone, but thankfully he’d always been busy or had someone else he needed to talk to. Since he’d just arrived, he didn’t have that excuse at the moment.

Resigned to the inevitable conversation, Obi-Wan steeled himself. He felt bad about having such harsh feelings toward someone he really didn’t know and had only talked to a handful of times. But each of those times had been…trying. The woman didn’t take no for an answer, and she honestly seemed to think there was no way anyone would turn down any kind of sexual overture on her part.

“Hi!” Carmen said perkily as she stopped in front of him. Well inside his personal space.

Taking an obvious step backward, Obi-Wan nodded at her.

“It’s a great day today, isn’t it?”

He grunted. His sore muscles disagreed with her. The sand he swore he could still feel in his underwear, even after a shower, disagreed with her. And the fact that he hadn’t been able to find Zita yet, so he felt like an idiot holding two cups of coffee, also made him disagree with her.

“Is that an extra cup of coffee? I’d kill for something decent, unlike what they serve on set.”

She reached for the cup he was holding in his left hand, but Obi-Wan moved it away so she couldn’t take it from him. “No.”

He was being abrupt, but he really wasn’t in the mood for her. Hell, he should probably turn around and leave. He wasn’t going to be a help to anyone today with the way he was feeling. Off-kilter. Irritated. Worried about Casper and Laryn.

Carmen looked taken aback, but she quickly rallied and smiled. “We haven’t had a chance to sit down and talk. Get to know each other," she said with a pout. “I’m filming a few scenes this morning, but maybe you could come to my hotel tonight. I’m staying at the historic Cavalier Hotel, near the beach. We could have a few drinks. Hang out.”

It took everything in Obi-Wan to keep his thoughts off his facial expression. “Sorry, I can’t.” He didn’t elaborate.

The pout on Carmen’s face deepened. “I’m getting the feeling you don’t like me for some reason. Have I done something to offend you?”

Obi-Wan was uncomfortable. He wasn’t good at this kind of thing. He honestly didn’t want to hurt Carmen’s feelings, he just wanted her to back off. Not be so aggressive in her pursuit of someone who clearly had no interest. “No. I’m just here for the job, that’s all.”

She stared at him for a long moment. Long enough for Obi-Wan to start feeling annoyed. But again, none of that showed on his face. He was too well trained to let anyone see what he was truly feeling.

“We can be friends though, right?”

“Sure,” he answered tentatively.

“Great. And friends hang out together,” she said with a satisfied smirk.