Her heart lighter, Anna stood taller. Her next task was to meet her two lead actors. She hadn’t worked with them before, but rumors swirled around the two. Whether that was due to real problems or the media scouring for any hint of a scandal among B-list celebrities, she wasn’t sure.

The extras and crew members stumbled out of the van. A man stepped out, dressed in a comfy hoody. His hair was tousled from sleep, and his bag was thrown across his shoulders. She couldn’t see his face, but she took in his broad back and the muscular thighs under his jeans. He leaned into the trunk to pull out a duffel. He looked distressingly familiar.

Anna shook her head. Imagining past hookups in a parking lot in Rome represented a new low for her. It was time to get on with work.

Chapter Twelve

John’s first day on set, his wake-up call had come early. Rolling out of bed and into the van, John exchanged nods with his fellow passengers, but little else. No one spoke on the trip to the studios. Their quiet ride was a mutual concession to everyone’s exhaustion. Tired from the flight and its two layovers, John sat at the small counter of the hotel bar, low wood ceiling hanging above him, chitchat and laughter surrounding him. He drank a beer and hoped to learn something about the production, but no one had offered up any useful insights. Although everyone had agreed it’d been a mess.

John exited the van, stumbling on his feet. Picking up the duffel from the back of the van, he dismissed those thoughts and focused his attention on the present challenge of the movie shoot. John walked across the parking lot to the soundstage.

He looked forward to getting to work. The steady rush of problems on this shoot would be more than enough to help him forget his troubles—even his attractive troubles, ones that laughed at his jokes and could argue for hours over the best Hitchcock movie. John cringed, thinking about the way he’d treated Anna at the premiere party. He felt like an ass for pretending he’d never heard of her movie, but she had been cruel too. They might be a good match during a quiet afternoon in a bar, but nowhere else. Not when he was a screenwriter-slash-bartender and she traveled in circles that included Tom Melton’s rarified crowd, even if they were exes.

Better to forget about it. If he could AD this movie into submission, then he would be one step closer to fulfilling his dream. Everything would work out. All he had to do was get through the next four weeks.