“Good to see you again, Ms. Brenner.”
She laughed lightly. “Do call me Sutton, please.”
He flashed a crooked smile. “Sutton it is then. How’s your dog? The Artful Dodger, right?”
Sutton grinned brightly. “You remember.”
“Little chihuahua-mini pin, right?”
“He is absolutely the love of my life. He’s such a darling.”
“What does he do when you’re at work?”
“Why, he goes to dog day care, of course,” she said, playfully. Then she laid a hand on Reeve’s thigh. “As if I would leave my darling alone.”
“Dogs rock. They’re just the best creatures ever, aren’t they?”
Sutton beamed at Reeve, and squeezed his thigh. “I am so glad I called you.”
This might work out better than she planned. Reeve was her type physically, he liked movies, and he liked dogs. He was the perfect pretend boyfriend. Not to mention, she rather enjoyed the feel of his thigh beneath her palm. His legs were strong and muscular, and his jeans were the best kind of tight. He worked out, but he didn’t work out too much, and that was vital.
Perfect—she was attracted enough to pull this off. But she’d keep up her barriers so it would be all business. “Reeve, I have a part for you. It’s a bit unconventional, and it’s sort of a live theater type of role.”
“Can’t wait to hear about it,” he said and Sutton admired his voice. It was silky and melodic, the kind of voice that could sell you anything.
“It’s also a part that’s, how shall we say, off the books? Sort of a secret deal.”
“Secrets make everything better,” he said, with a playful wink. He waited for her to say more.
“Reeve, you know I’ve always found you incredibly attractive.”
“Oh yeah?”
She bit the bullet. She wasn’t one to dance around propositions or offers. “That’s why I want you to pretend to be my boyfriend for a week.”
He laughed, sounding shocked. “Why?”
“I have an opportunity to land a job I want badly, and it seems the producers were under the mistaken impression that I recently got engaged. Because, you know, Sutton McKenna…” she said, and made a rolling gesture with her hand. Reeve surely knew the other Sutton. She was one of the few theater actors with enough star wattage to open a Broadway show on her own.
He nodded, and snapped a finger. “Ah, Sutton McKenna. She was in ‘Oklahoma’ last year, and she recently got hitched to her manager I heard.”
“Right. Exactly. And that’s the thing. The producers fancy themselves as being a bit of a family-centric company, so when they congratulated me on my ‘engagement’ and seemed so delighted with it too, well, I decided I should just go along with it.”
Reeve smiled and shook his head in an admiring sort of way. “Clever.”
“I’ll be clever if I can pull it off. And that’s why I called you. I want you to take on the role of my fiancé for a week.”
“So this is the acting job you called me in for?”
“I’ll pay you.”
“What’s the job you’re trying to get?”
“It’s for the film Escorted Lives,” she said. Then she watched and waited as Reeve’s delicious brown eyes lit up. His lips curved into a grin. His face said everything. Every actor wanted it on this movie.
Escorted Lives was one of the bestselling books in the last few years. It started as a self-published novel and shot up the charts with its red-hot story of a woman who runs an escort service, but also has her own particular sexual peccadilloes. After one too many cheating episodes by her husband, she turns to voyeurism for her kicks and gets off watching her stable of hot young men handle the ladies they’re paired with. It had been jokingly referred to as the novel the world beat off to. Every actor wanted a role in the flick; it was bound to be huge, no pun intended.
Funny that just last night, he’d told Jill he had no interest in being an escort for Upper East Side ladies. And here he was being offered something of a man-for-hire gig.
“I’m prepared to pay you $5000,” Sutton said, and the thought of the money made his heart beat faster. But then he flashed back to his parents, to his dad who’d been a cop his whole life. To his mom, who taught high school English. His parents had a hard enough time accepting that he wanted to be an actor and make a go of it in New York City. But to take money for a fake boyfriend job? Fine, Sutton wasn’t asking him to put out, and even if she had, he honestly wouldn’t have minded. But there was something he wanted more.
“I want something besides money. I want an audition for the producers and for the director. I want a chance to get the lead role.”
He watched as she took a deep breath and considered his request. It was unconventional to bypass the casting director, but then, this deal was unconventional. Besides, it wasn’t every day that he landed an opportunity like this. He’d be paid in the currency he coveted most—the chance for a role in a feature film. Reeve would have liked the money, but he couldn’t bring himself to take it. Besides, he planned to do everything differently from the Joss Whedon audition. He’d be natural and he’d be authentic when he tried out for Escorted Lives.
She nodded. “Reeve, I’ll get you an audition for them,” she said and flashed a smile, then winked. “How strange would it be if my fiancé—such a fine specimen at that—didn’t get an audition, right? But if for some reason I don’t nab the job, I will insist on paying you.”