Rescue Me (2 page)

Seth burst through the door and back out into a waiting area still full
of excited young men and women, all waiting for their chance to impress the
beautiful Maya. He regretted his harsh words to her. Making her feel guilty
about something that wasn't her fault hadn't been fair.

He shrugged off the thought of her as he pushed on a glass door and
stepped out into the hazy LA afternoon. A zebra print Cadillac cruised to a
stop in front of the building, and Seth watched in amazement as a middle-aged
guy, dressed from head to toe in the same pattern, got out of the car.

Seth ducked his head and put his Stetson on to hide his grin as the guy
walked past him. It was time to get back to Texas. He sure as hell wasn't cut
out for Hollywood!

Chapter Two

Maya walked into Larry's Bar and out of the stifling heat of the Los
Angeles night, sure that her nerves were only slightly less frazzled than her
hair. Dumping her bag on the counter, she kicked off her shoes and lifted the
dark mass of curls off her neck, fanning at her heated flesh with an
ineffectual hand.

Looking around to see how many people Larry had in for the night, her
gaze was drawn to a large guy sitting at the end of the bar. Her body reacted
to hunk of gorgeous male staring back at her a split second before recognition
slammed through her.
Seth Coulter
.

Hundreds of people had worked their way through her line of vision
during the auditions, dimming her memory of his handsome face for a moment, but
she hadn't forgotten his words. He stared right back, the beer bottle dwarfed
by his huge hand and suspended halfway to his mouth, like he'd forgotten what
he was supposed to be doing with it. Maya smiled, and he blinked a couple of times
before taking a long pull on his beer, his throat convulsing as he swallowed,
his light blue eyes barely visible through slit eyelids but still fixed on her.
She watched him drain his drink and held his gaze until he wiped the moisture
from his lips with the back of a tanned fist and grinned, revealing dimples she
hadn't noticed earlier. She smiled back, happy to see he wasn't holding a
grudge over what she'd said earlier.

"Down, girl," someone whispered beside her.

She turned to find Larry, the owner of the cocktail lounge and her best
friend since the day she set foot in LA, grinning with barely restrained glee.
He put a drink down for her on the bar, taking care of her without being asked,
as usual. "You look like you're gonna eat that boy alive."

"Well, I am pretty hungry..." She laughed as she left the
words hanging, aware that Larry knew as well as she did how long it had been
since she'd even looked at a guy, never mind touched one.

"I think you might find this one a little rustic for your tastes."
Larry swiped a cloth across the counter, trying to hide the fact he was
gossiping. "He's a cowboy to the core and, unfortunately for me, as
straight as an arrow."

"Oh my God ... you didn't?" Larry didn't usually flirt with
the trade, but maybe he'd made an exception? Considering the fact that the man
in question was six feet four of gorgeous blond Texan, Maya couldn't blame her
friend for breaking a personal rule.
Larry raised his eyebrows. "Girl, please! That guy wouldn't ping my
gaydar
if he walked in wearing a Dolly Parton wig."

She snorted, covering her nose with her hand as she remembered how
unattractive
that
looked and cast a
glance towards Seth just as he rose from his seat.
Damn! Is he leaving already?

But he didn't leave. He left his jacket on the chair and his hat on the
bar and headed for the bathroom, walking past her towards the back of the room.
Maya watched him go, letting her eyes roam over his tousled blond head, to the T-shirt
stretched taut across his broad shoulders and down past his torso to finally
land on his denim clad ass. He had dimples there, too.

Larry sucked in a ragged breath, and she turned to find him staring
after the cowboy in slack jawed admiration.

"What? I get hungry, too." Larry tried to look innocent but
gave up on that and leaned in close, as if ready to compare notes, but a
customer approached the bar right at that very moment. "Fix your
hair," he muttered as he walked away.

Casting her gaze to the mirror lining the back wall, she groaned when
she saw the carnage that used to be a sleek curtain of dark satin tresses. The
humidity brought out every bit of kink and wave she'd inherited from her
parents,
and Maya could do no more than smooth away the
strands sticking to her face and neck. She'd learned from experience not to
play with her hair once it started to frizz. Her eyeliner hadn't fared much
better, and she swiped at the dark smudges under her brown eyes.

A sudden tingle down her spine made her scan the room behind her in the
mirror, and she found Seth approaching. Her eyes locked with his, and awareness
slammed through her again, as if the hours away from him had done nothing to
lessen the way her body had reacted earlier when the two of them were in the
studio. Seth dropped her gaze as she turned to face him when he drew level with
her.

"Maya, I owe you an apology."

She shook her head. "No, you don't. It's I who should apologize.
I've been in the TV industry so long I forget that the people I am talking to
have lives, you know? I really didn't mean to imply that I don't respect what
you do."

"Don't make me feel any worse than I do already." Seth placed
his hand on her shoulder, adding to the heat building in her groin since the
second he'd groaned out her name in that sexy drawl. "Can I get you a
drink?"

She nodded her agreement, unable to speak while his touch lingered. Maya
watched as Seth summoned an unusually discreet Larry with a flick of his
finger. Larry's poker face gave nothing away as he took Seth's order of a beer
for himself and the martini she'd requested.

Seth's hand slid from her shoulder, the slightly calloused tips of his
fingers caressing her skin with a feather light touch as he let his hand drop
to the bar. His attention seemed to be fixed on the mirror, and she cast a
glance that way to see what he was looking at, only to find his blue eyed gaze
blazing back at her. The smoky glass muted the color of his eyes, making them
dark and full of promise, and the shadows cast from the overhead light did
wonderful things to his bone structure. The firm line of his lips was slightly
exaggerated in his reflection, and she found herself staring, left almost
breathless by the thought of them following the path his fingertips had blazed
across her skin.

Maya felt a tightening in the pit of her stomach, and she dropped Seth's
gaze, a little frightened by the blatant invitation in his eyes. He turned away
from the mirror and smiled at her again, seemingly unaffected by her nervous
reaction. His demeanor was so different from what it had been earlier in the
day that she wondered if he already knew he hadn't made the cut.

Realization dawned just as Larry arrived with the drinks. Seth wasn't
interested in her. He was just trying to make sure he got on the show!

She waited until Larry had served them and couldn't help but smile,
despite her irritation, when her friend moved no more than two feet away,
probably so he could overhear their conversation. If Larry was expecting to
hear something juicy, he was about to be disappointed.

She turned to speak to Seth. "Look, this drink is on me, okay? I'll
pick up the tab. I hope you don't mind, but I've had a hell of a day and I need
a few minutes to relax before I head home."

Maya picked up her bag and her shoes and took her drink to a booth in a
dark, secluded corner of the bar, disappointment eating at her gut. Okay, so
she wasn't surprised that Seth thought he might influence the outcome of the
auditions by flirting with the show's producer. Maya had seen it a million
times before. But for once, she' was actually attracted to the guy—before she
knew what he was up to, of course.

Clasping her hands around her glass, Maya kept her gaze cast downwards,
fighting the urge to look over at Seth and gauge his reaction to being
dismissed. His would just be another of the hundreds of disappointed faces
she'd already seen today.

Annoyed as she was at Seth's attempt to seduce his way into the show,
certain parts of the job had never been easy for her. Shattering people's
dreams was hard work. She indulged in a little acting herself at those times,
putting on a cold, uncaring mask so she could deliver the bad news. Maya often
cried when they left the room, haunted by the desolation etched into their
features. Despite the advice of Larry and her colleagues at Real Studios, she'd
never quite managed to shut down her emotions over the whole process.

A dark shadow fell across the table, and she looked up to find Seth
standing over her with a puzzled frown marring his handsome face. "What
just happened?"

"Just let it go, Mr. Coulter."

Seth gave her a half grin, casting a fresh dimple into one of his
cheeks.
"Again with the Mister?"

"Look, you didn't get into the show, okay? I'm sorry if my staff
neglected to tell you, but it's true. So you can just give up on the seduction
routine because it's not going to get you anywhere."

Maya looked down at her glass, afraid he would see the mist of tears in
her eyes. She had no idea why she was crying, but the thought Seth had simply
being trying to use her for his own gain upset her more than was feasibly possible
considering how long she'd known him. Maybe she was tired? This weekend, she
planned on doing nothing at all and catching up on some sorely needed sleep.

The huge shape blocking out the light didn't move, and Maya was forced
to look up at him again. When she did, he placed his beer on the table and
spread his large hands across the surface as he leaned forward to stare into
her eyes.
"My God, lady.
What kind of world do
you live in?"

Maya fought the urge to shrink under his angry glare.
"The
kind of world where people are always looking out for number one."

"Yeah?
Well that's not my world. In mine, we check our facts before we throw
accusations around."

His eyes turned a dark blue, and at such close range, Maya could see a
nerve ticking in his jaw. Seth was fighting to hold on to his anger, and she
realized she'd offended him once more.

"Is it so hard to believe that I might simply want to spend some
time with a beautiful woman?" His voice had dropped to a husky whisper,
and Maya found her brain reacting to his words as her body reacted to this
tone.

Seth's gaze held her pinned to her seat as it roamed over her face. Maya
felt the heat crawling up her cheeks, and she sucked her lip between her teeth
to suppress a gasp. His eyes followed the movement, and she saw them narrow a
little as he stared at her mouth for a second, until he twisted his own into a
mocking grin and he straightened up. He turned to walk away but stopped when
Maya lunged forward without thinking and wrapped her hand around his wrist.
Seth glanced down at his arm then up at her, a look of surprise on his handsome
face.

"I'm sorry, Seth. I've lost count of the number of times some guy
has thought he could seduce or bully me into giving him what he wants, and I
forget not everyone has an ulterior motive.
 
Please accept my apology."

Maya tried to take back her hand, but as it slid over his forearm, he
turned his palm upwards and caught her fingers. She held her breath and didn't
try to resist his pull as he tugged gently on her arm and helped her to her
feet. Just as she wondered why he would want them to go back to the bar—and
Larry's waiting ears—Seth grabbed her by the waist and dragged her against his
body.

"Seth!"

"Maya?" he replied, a slight smile making his dimples threaten
to pop as he stared down at her but didn't move. She put her hands on his
chest, meaning to push him away … until her palms found warm, rock hard muscle
and she just couldn't make herself let go. Seth leaned closer, and Maya had to
tilt her head to stare into his eyes, her lips parting involuntarily as his
chest brushed hers and his breath wafted over her hair.

Seth is going to kiss me!

"This isn't a good idea..." Maya hoped her voice sounded more
convincing to him than it did to her. She got her answer when his grip
tightened on her waist, and his mouth came closer still.

"Probably not, but I'm heading home first thing tomorrow, and of
all the things I regret about coming to this damn crazy town, I don't want to
have to add not kissing you when I had the chance."

"And what if I don't want to kiss you, Mr. Coulter?" she
whispered.

He chuckled under his breath and ducked his head, stopping when his lips
were mere inches from hers, so close she could almost feel them. Maya swayed,
her body aching to close the gap between them. Seth's fingers pressed into the
small of her back and she groaned aloud at the question in his touch. She
closed her eyes and drew in a shaky breath, unsure until the very last moment
if she would tell him to back off ... or press her lips against his waiting
mouth.