Hitman's Hookup: A Bad Boy Romance (54 page)

Nobody could pull that off but her.

Then my eyes met Wilder’s from a hundred feet away. It was like someone had turned the volume down on the crowd. I knew that he saw me. There was a pained look in his eyes. I nodded at him. He nodded back. Hailey saw us looking at each other and pulled him toward the first cluster of cameras.

This is going to be a long night
, I thought as Janna pushed me toward the next interviewer. I pasted on a smile and jumped back into gleefully describing Italy and how grateful I was at the opportunity.

“One more, and then you’re almost done,” Fox whispered to me. “We’ve got Nancy O’Flannigan and then the cast is going to take a few group photos.”

I felt my stomach drop and bile come up in my throat.

“Remember the last day of filming? You say the word. If you’re not comfortable…”

I sighed, exasperatedly. “I got it. Everyone keeps saying that to me. But it still puts it on
me
to make the decision when I’m not even the one who – “

Janna grabbed my arm, a toothy smile on her face. “There are microphones
everywhere
, Olivia. Smile and get through this,” she said through gritted teeth.

I swallowed hard and let Fox pull me toward a beaming Nancy O’Flannigan, the mother of all entertainment television.

“Olivia, who are you wearing tonight?” she shrieked at me.

“Lydia Smithson,” I replied. “She was the costume designer on the film. Isn’t it gorgeous?”

“It truly, truly is,” Nancy intoned. She was like a robot. She switched her face to sadness and I knew what was coming. “I know it must be hard for you, with all of the gossip swirling around, but what is it like to see your would-be lover with his pregnant girlfriend here tonight?”

I nearly opened my mouth to tell her where she could shove that question when I felt a strong hand on my lower back. I didn’t need to see the thrilled look on Nancy’s face to know who it was.

“How’s my favorite interviewer?” Wilder asked in his husky voice.

I felt my knees start to tremble. He was my kryptonite.

“Better now that you’re here!” she shrieked, reaching a red-clawed hand toward his muscular bicep and squeezing. “You’ve been out of the press for a while…and I know you’re probably
feathering the nest!”

I felt a stone drop into my stomach and my smile become even more fixed that it already was.

Nancy threw her spray-tanned hand over her mouth, gasping and looking at me. “Oh, I shouldn’t bring that up in front of you, Olivia!” Then she applied a look of fake concern to her face. “Is everything alright? I know that you two had your…moments together. Tell me what it’s like to be here again, with your costar tonight. What a whirlwind year for you both, after all.”

She practically threw her microphone at my mouth waiting for a response.

I was saved from answering by Wilder. “Nancy, I just have to say, Olivia was nothing but professional through the entire shoot. You should really know better than most people not to believe what you read in the press.” I looked up at him. His eyes were blazing.

Nancy took the hint. “Well, I must say that I have a little birdy who snagged an early screener.” She leaned forward conspiratorially. “He says it’s some of the best acting he’s seen from you, Wilde.”

Wilder cleared his throat and nodded toward me. “Olivia is incredible to work with. It was somewhat of an unorthodox start to production, but I honestly owe it all to her. Truly. She brings out the best in me.”

I stared at him, open-mouthed, feeling my eyes start to well up. It was incomprehensible to me that I had even a drop of saline left in my tear ducts after the last twenty-four hours. I swallowed hard and turned to Nancy.

“The feeling is mutual. I wouldn’t have had the confidence to do this without him. Wilder was wonderful to work with.”

Nancy wiggled her eyebrows. I knew that she was thrilled to be the only reporter here to get
both
of the star-crossed lovers in front of the camera together. She was clearly warming to me.

“My
confidant
, so to speak, told me to expect a breakout performance from you as well,” Nancy said with a smile.

I laughed nervously. “Well, I don’t know about that. But I did have a lot of fun.”

Nancy wrapped up the interview with a string of pleasantries that I was having a hard time focusing on. Wilder’s tuxedo-clad arm was pressing into my fur-covered one. Even through the layers, I could feel the heat. I felt like I was buzzing. A moment later, Wilder was pushing me away toward the photo area. He leaned forward as we walked, his mouth almost nuzzling my ear.

“You did great,” he whispered.

Chills went down my body. “Thanks,” I said.

A moment later we were standing in front of a bevy of photographers. Wilder put his arm around me and we posed, our bodies touching. I tried my best to control my breathing.

Wilder whispered to me through a clenched smile. “I’ve missed you, Liv.”

I pretended to laugh for the cameras’ sake and looked up at him.

“Congratulations on the baby,” I muttered.

His face clouded over slightly.

He said nothing else, and soon we were shunted into the theater.

I didn’t know how I was going to make it through this.

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

WILDER

Somehow the assigned seats were like this: Olivia, Fox, Hailey, and then me.

I wondered if Hailey had somehow fixed it to be like that. I wouldn’t put it past her. But I had been hoping to be next to Olivia. I wanted to talk to her, even if I felt like there was nothing I could say. It was like a magnetic longing between us – connecting us.

I had felt her the instant I’d stepped out of the limousine.

Fox said a few words to the buzzing crowd; I remembered nothing. People laughed and cheered. I clapped along robotically. As the lights dimmed, he climbed over Olivia and into his seat, rubbing his hands together with excitement.

“This is it!” he said, beaming.

The opening scenes of the movie had been edited in post-production to be black and white. The idea was that the audience was being transported into the past; it was simple and effective. The sweeping shots of the Italian countryside along with the soaring opening score gave it a cinematic quality I certainly couldn’t have anticipated when I’d been presented with the original script late last year. Judging by Fox’s unbridled excitement, he was clearly pleased with the finished product.

The cameras whizzed through vineyards. Then the camera moved through a digital layer of pure, white clouds; when the camera emerged, the scene turned to color, showcasing dazzling shots of the city of Milan. A few people in the crowd actually gasped at the effect.

It did feel real, even to me.

I tried to sneak a glance over at Olivia, but she was staring resolutely ahead. Hailey saw me looking and grabbed my thigh, digging her sharp fingernails into my tuxedo pants. She grabbed my hand and set it over hers. I tugged it away, feeling disgusted.

Olivia onscreen was breathtaking and enchanting. She was also unbearably fucking sexy. I couldn’t rip my eyes away from her image when it filled the entire screen.

She was an absolute star.

The movie was pretty fucking great. It was funny, witty, and fast-paced. It had an old Hollywood glamour to it and the chemistry between me and Olivia was undeniable. I was so wrapped up in following the storyline that I’d almost forgotten where it was heading.

Then came the sex scene.

Hailey had a death grip on my knee as onscreen Olivia stepped out of the bathroom in her underwear. I felt like I could smell Olivia’s perfume. I’d been transported back to that day – that day where everything had seemed like it was finally going to be perfect. And then it had all gone to hell.

I glanced over at Olivia and saw her stand up and shuffle across the row. I felt a wild urge to chase after her and got out of my seat, physically peeling Hailey’s hand off of my body. She sent me a look that said ‘If you fucking leave now, I’ll kill you.’

“Bathroom,” I whispered.

She rolled her eyes.

I excused myself past the half row of producers and even the head of the studio. A bored looking usher leaned against the wall in the hallway.

“There was a woman who just came out here, red dress – “

He hooked his thumb toward the right without a word.

I ran, ducking into the woman’s bathroom. “Olivia?” I said tentatively. She didn’t respond. I realized there was nobody in there.

Had she paid the usher to lie to me?
It was a ridiculous thought. And also entirely plausible when I stopped to think about it. I ran out into the hallway and toward the side entrance of the theater. I burst through the double doors and into a full-on New York City rainstorm.

The water was
freezing
. It poured down my back and seeped through the fabric of my tuxedo like it was made of tissue paper.

I saw Olivia’s red dress disappear around the corner and took off after her.

“Olivia!” I yelled, just as a crack of thunder erupted over my head, a near-simultaneous flash of lightning reflecting off of the buildings. She was about to climb into a waiting limo.

“Wait!” I yelled.

She turned around. Makeup was running down her face, her fur coat that she’d tossed around her shoulders soaking wet. I could see her hard nipples poking through her dress and tried not to think about that. I rushed over to her.

“Please,” I said to her. “I love you.” Cars were already starting to honk. The limo was blocking traffic.

Olivia bit her lip. She looked like she might cry. “Wilder, please. I need to move on. Do you not understand that?”

I grabbed her hands. She didn’t stop me from touching her. “You don’t understand. I
had
to leave you. I didn’t have a choice.”

Olivia stared at me with her round, gorgeous eyes. “I want to believe that. But I just don’t, Wilder. I just don’t.”

“FUCKING MOVE, LADY!” came the angry voice of a Brooklynite from the window of a cab.

“FUCKING GIVE US A SECOND!” I yelled back. I felt exasperated. I just wanted her, more than I’d ever wanted anything in my life. “I can explain everything. You just have to give me some time.”

Olivia looked for a second like she wanted to believe me. Then she shook her head, letting go of my hands. “I can’t.”

She stepped into the limo and pulled the door shut. It pulled away immediately into traffic. I was left standing there in my five thousand dollar Italian leather shoes. They were filled with water.

I watched her drive away, feeling like my happiness was tucked in that limousine with her.

***

I took the longest, hottest shower of my life back at the hotel.

I felt soaked through to my bones with the cold. I’d begged off dinner with Hailey. She claimed she wasn’t that hungry anyway. She’d said nothing about my leaving during the sex scene or even the scene itself. She also didn’t seem like she was planning something. It was almost like the pregnancy was sucking out some of her evil.

I didn’t question it. I just stayed in the bathroom until I was sure she was passed out asleep.

It worked; she was snoring lightly when I walked out of the bathroom. I crept into the living room, closing the door behind me, and walked in the complimentary robe and slippers into the kitchen. There were tiny boxes of cereal and a crystal pitcher full of milk in the fridge.

I poured five different boxes into what was probably supposed to be a salad bowl and covered the multicolored contents with milk. I grabbed a spoon and stood there, crunching. Tomorrow was the wedding. I’d have to see Olivia again and be reminded that there was nothing I could do to get her back.

I was trapped with Hailey forever.

I heard a door open to my right. It was Robert. He looked around nervously.

“Are we alone?” he mouthed.

I looked at him with skeptical confusion. “Yeah. Why the fuck does that- “

He rushed over to me with a finger on his lips. Then he waved toward the hallway door. I was clearly meant to follow him. I set down the bowl of cereal, my curiosity growing.

He quietly opened the front door and let me walk out first, carefully shutting it so it didn’t make a sound.

“What-“ I started in a normal voice.

He hushed me. “Not here,” he said, walking away from me again, briskly. He pushed the elevator button and the door opened immediately. He stepped into it and I followed him. The doors closed and the elevator started moving.

A few floors down, he hit the emergency stop.

The signal blared, and I reached up to cover my ears. Robert moved his body in front of the tinny little speaker to muffle it.

“I’ll make this quick,” he said.

I started to laugh and looked around the elevator. “The fuck is going on?” I asked him. “Is this some kind of prank?”

He held up a hand. “We don’t have long.” He pulled out a black thumb drive. “This is your leverage.”

I palmed it, gaping at him. “What the- “

“I recorded Hailey talking about blackmailing you. It’s all there. She was bragging about it a few weeks ago to one of her friends. She never notices when I’m around. I just thought – well. I thought it might come in handy.”

“Why are you doing this?” I asked him.

“Because you’re the first person around here to actually acknowledge that I’m not just portable furniture,” he said. A dark look crossed his face. “And I found out how much she paid Harrison to keep quiet. That’s more than I will make in forty-five years of working for her.”

Robert cleared his throat and smoothed his t-shirt. “There’s also something else on there that will probably interest you.”

I still couldn’t believe this was actually happening. “Thank you,” I replied.

Robert pushed the emergency button again and the alarm stopped. The elevator reanimated almost instantly. He hit the button for the conference floor.

“You should use one of the business center computers to play it. Just make sure no one’s around and use a low volume, okay?”