Page 34 of Keeping Zita

That was it. Obi-Wan was done. “When have I ever given you any indication that I was interested in you, Carmen? In fact, I’ve told you the exact opposite—multiple times. You’re beautiful, and successful, and obviously very popular. But I told you from the get-go that I wasn’t interested in dating,” Obi-Wan said bluntly.

Her eyes narrowed. “You sure seemed interested in dating that weird medic when I saw you canoodling together at that backwoods bar.”

Obi-Wan blinked in surprise. Not because of what she said, because she wasn’t wrong. He was very interested in…canoodling…with Zita. But more because of the absolute fury in her tone.

She was an actress, could turn the tears on at will. For the first time, Obi-Wan realized what a good actress she really was. She’d hidden her anger, jealousy, and irritation over his attention toward Zita extremely well. He’d kind of thought she was an airhead, almost oblivious to the fact that she wasn’t making any headway with him at all.

“I can’t believe you’d choose that instead of this.” She gestured to her body, arching her back to show off her tits and cocking her hip to the side.

There were so many things Obi-Wan wanted to say, but deciding silence would be the best way to go here, he simply shrugged. Which seemed to inflame her further.

“You’re going to regret saying no to me. You have no idea how much influence I have. How many people would bend over backward to do what I want.”

Obi-Wan stood up straighter. “Are you threatening me?” he asked incredulously.

“No. Of course not.” Her voice had changed. Lost the acrid tone. Now she sounded sickly sweet. As if she was nothing more than the airheaded actress she projected to the world once more. “I’m simply saying you’re missing out. I could’ve given you the world, Obi-Wan.”

“I don’t want the world. Just my little corner of it. And I’m perfectly happy with where I am in my life right now—without you in it, thank you very much.”

Her eyes narrowed again, but then her face lost all emotion. It was actually kind of impressive how she could lock down everything she was feeling and project nothing but serenity to those around her.

But Obi-Wan had seen through the smoke screen she hid behind. She’d let her shields slip. Deep down, the woman was poison. Spoiled rotten and used to getting her way. She might not throw a tantrum in front of the cast and crew…but she was planning something. Obi-Wan had no doubt about that. And while she claimed she wasn’t threatening him, he’d been around enough to know that when someone was experiencing high emotions, the words coming out of their mouth were usually more true than not.

He sensed movement behind him and glanced over his shoulder to see Silas standing there. Carmen’s bodyguard had probably heard their entire conversation. The question was, what would he do about it? It was obvious the man was besotted with his client.

Thankfully, he didn’t do anything other than follow behind Carmen when she turned away in a huff and stalked off.

The air around him literally seemed to lighten the second the woman was out of his personal space. Taking a deep breath, Obi-Wan watched as Carmen approached the director after he called cut.

To his amusement, Grubbner didn’t even look at her, simply waved her away.

Two rejections in as many minutes probably fanned the flames of resentment in the actress, but Obi-Wan didn’t hang around to see what she’d do next. He was done with her. D.O.N.E. After today, the set would be a much more relaxing place. He wouldn’t have to be on his toes, wouldn’t have to try to avoid running into Carmen.

It didn’t take long to find Zita. She was in the makeshift break room that had been set up by catering to provide light snacks to everyone on set throughout the day. Obi-Wan had been impressed on his first day to find not only large tables overflowing with nonperishable snacks—both healthy and not so much—but also several little round tables with chairs. It kind of looked like a café of sorts, but without the specialty coffees and servers.

“Morning,” he said, walking over to the small table where Zita was sitting. He placed the coffee he’d gotten for her beside the laptop she was using and took a seat opposite.

“Caffeine,” she practically moaned, making Obi-Wan’s cock twitch in his pants. He could imagine her moaning just like that, with pleasure, under entirely different circumstances. He was glad he was sitting, and that his flight suit had some extra room in the crotch.

She immediately reached for the cup and took a sip, closing her eyes and moaning for real as the sugary coffee hit her taste buds.

Obi-Wan couldn’t take his gaze off her. Couldn’t stop his mind from picturing the woman with her hair spread out on his pillow as he watched her from between her legs.

Her green eyes opened and her gaze met his. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Obi-Wan echoed.

They stared at each other. It felt as if they were the only two people in the world at that moment. Sparks shot between them, an intense connection that felt so right.

Her cheeks pinkened, and she looked down at the screen in front of her.

“Whatcha doin?” Obi-Wan asked, taking another sip of his own coffee, just to keep himself from scooting over next to her and tasting the coffee she was drinking straight from her lips. He couldn’t help but remember their kiss in his Jeep. It had thrown him off balance with how amazing it was. So much that he’d kinda taken a step backward, unsure about what the hell he was doing. But after several days of not being able to talk to her like he wanted, like he had the night he’d taken her to Anchor Point, he was over his reticence.

To his surprise, Zita would no longer meet his eyes. She kept them glued on the screen in front of her as if it held the answers to world peace or something.

“Zita?”

She sighed. “Don’t read into this, okay?”