The Movie Star Rescue Read online

  “I sure do. Just think how I feel having him call me that after finding out about all his affairs. Do you know, he had a pet name for all of the other women, too?”

  “Ugh, the more you tell me about what he did, the worse it sounds. I can’t believe how much the paparazzi love to act like he’s the greatest gift to Hollywood since Al Pacino.”

  “It’s because he has a great agent that lands him all the right roles,” Nicole pointed out.

  “But not as good as yours,” Matt said as he came up to them. “No one is as good as Marcos Carpathy—and he just proved it for the twentieth time when he got you double the pay compared to Kutcher’s last co-star.”

  “He did? That’s amazing,” Nicole gushed, temporarily forgetting that it meant she had to star in another rom-com.

  “You can thank me now for landing Marcos as your agent,” Matt stated with a wide grin. “I told you to trust me that he was the shark you wanted.”

  She nodded, excited and already planning what she could do with the money. “That means I can give even more to the orphanage I support in Thailand. They’ve really been needing a new dormitory. This is going to help so much.”

  “And you can also take a much needed vacation,” Britney pointed out. “Of course, I’m sure you’ll need your stylist to come along to make sure you look on point the whole time,” she added with a wink.

  “You know I don’t go anywhere without you, Britney,” Nicole promised. “We’re a team. All three of us are,” she said, wrapping her arm through Matt’s. “Thank you, both, for working so hard for me.”

  “Nicole, Nicole, I just photographed you with Hank Cruise. Does that mean the two of you are back together?” a man with a camera asked as he barged through the lobby towards her. “Did he finally convince you to give him a second chance?”

  Nicole forced herself not to react to the paparazzi’s intrusive questions. Instead, she politely smiled while her manager rebuffed the reporter. “Miss West is here filming her newest movie and would appreciate her privacy.”

  “Speaking of your newest film, how have you handled the switch from comedy to drama?”

  Nicole didn’t think the questions could get any worse. It was bad enough to be asked about her ongoing problems with Hank, but she had to also defend her choice to branch out and try new acting roles.

  “Again, Miss West isn’t going to be able to comment,” Matt stated firmly, using his towering figure and penetrating glare to make it clear the other man should leave Nicole alone. “And this is a private resort, so if you don’t leave her alone right now, I’ll be alerting security.”

  The man glanced around, as if debating what to do. He shrugged as he turned his attention back to Nicole. “This is a free country, and this resort is open to the public. I’m not breaking any rules.” He moved closer until he was only a few inches away from her, snapping photos the whole time.

  Normally, she could handle being hounded by the press, but today was an off-day for her. She stumbled back, exhausted from Tayla’s constant barbs, and Hank showing up unannounced. Unable to handle it a moment longer, Nicole spun around and took off, rushing away as quickly as possible. She wasn’t sure where she was headed, but anywhere was better than here. After making it across the lobby and turning down a hallway, she found herself in the shopping area of the resort.

  Just as she came around a corner, she smacked into the solid surface of another person. Her eyes flicked up until they rested on a handsome man with a strong face, dark eyes, and brown hair. What surprised her is that he didn’t instantly recognize her, or if he did, he didn’t seem to care about who she was. It was quite the opposite from the normal reaction she got, and it was made even more evident by the irritated frown on his face.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there,” she stammered out, stepping back with embarrassment.

  “Obviously,” he retorted with a smug look. “I’m lucky you didn’t knock my bags right out of my hands the way you were bulldozing right through here.”

  Her eyes darted to the floor, wanting to avoid the penetrating glare from the man in front of her. To her utter shock, for the first time she noticed a large white dog sitting next to him. From his gruff demeanor, she wouldn’t have expected the man to be a dog person. Her eyes shot back up to look at him with puzzlement.

  The man tilted his head to the side as if he was analyzing her in return. A moment later, he asked, “What’s wrong? Was bumping into me too much for your delicate senses?”

  She wasn’t sure what to make of his gruffness. He didn’t seem to care that his blunt nature was abrasive. Wanting to get as far away from him as possible, she sidestepped past him, saying as she moved around him, “If you’ll excuse me, I need to be getting to my room, and for the record, I’m not delicate.”

  3

  James watched as the petite blonde hurried away. When she’d first bumped into him, he’d been annoyed, just wanting to take off with his supplies from the general store and head to his cabin without interruption. He hadn’t expected to have his bags nearly knocked out of his arms by anyone, let alone a woman, who, if he had to admit it to himself, was drop-dead gorgeous with her silky blonde hair, pretty blue eyes, and heart-shaped face. If he’d let himself think about her as anything more than a nuisance, she’d be the kind of trouble he didn’t need. That’s exactly why he was so caustic in his reply. It was better to keep to himself while he spent the required time off ordered by his commander. He couldn’t help but let his mind drift back to the conversation from the previous day.

  “I’m sorry for having to do this, Franklin, but you’ve been distracted ever since the incident in Santa Fe,” Master Sergeant ‘Sarge’ Trevor Young, the middle-aged, salt and peppered brown haired DCSRA commander sympathized with a tight frown. “Canter mentioned that you missed a few crucial cues with certain trainees during the last session. No one got hurt, but it’s a sign that you need some time off. I should have ordered it when you got back, but I honestly didn’t realize it would affect you so badly. I mean, we’ve all lost victims over our career, but it’s our job to compartmentalize it and move on with our job. Somehow though, this is different for you.”

  James stiffened under the criticism. It was rare for him to receive negative feedback, and it felt foreign. He could argue with Sarge, but he knew it wouldn’t get him anywhere. It was better to do what he said and follow his orders to make this go away as quickly as possible. “How long do I need to take off?”

  “Let’s start with two weeks and go from there. I’ll have the Deputy Commander fill in for you while you’re away, but your spot will be here when we both feel you’re ready to come back.”

  “You’re the boss; I’ll do what you tell me to,” James deferred, hating that he was being forced to take a break from the job he loved. Part of him knew Sarge was right. He hadn’t been concentrating on work the way he should; his mind continued to drift back to Melanie Price’s face as she realized he wasn’t going to be able to pull her up in time. It bothered him that no one cared that Melanie Price was dead. It seemed all that anyone cared about was the fact that he saved the governor’s daughter with Ross’ help. If he was in charge and had a distracted instructor, he would order him to take a break, too. There was, however, no way he was kenneling his partner while he was gone. “I’m taking Siku with me though.”

  Sarge nodded. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

  A day later, he arrived in Colorado and drove up to the cabin he’d inherited from his parents. Sarge might be able to order him on vacation but the DCSRA commander couldn’t force James to leave the mountain behind altogether. He’d grown up hunting, fishing, skiing, and hiking on Clear Mountain; he knew every inch of the land. If he had to go somewhere and hang out until he could prove he was fit for work, he preferred it to be at his second home.

  “You know who that was, right?” José Gomez, the black-haired, tan man who was head of the ski patrol for the resort and James’ childhood friend asked as he ca
me up besides James.

  “No, I have no idea,” James admitted with a shrug.

  “That was Nicole West.” The way José said her name, it was as if he expected James to know who she was.

  “And?” he asked with raised eyebrows. “Am I supposed to recognize that name?”

  “You’re kidding me; you don’t know who Nicole West is? She’s the number one box office sweetheart in America. Everyone loves her hilarious romantic comedies.”

  “Not me; I’ve never even heard of her.”

  “I can’t believe you blew her off like that. Are you crazy? You totally had an opening to ask her out on a date,” José pointed out.

  “I’m not here to date anyone—I just want to hide out in my cabin until I can go back to work.”

  “It never ceases to amaze me how you pay no attention to pop culture. Even when we were kids, you didn’t care about going to the movies or spying on the celebrities that visited the resort.”

  “What can I say, I’d rather spend my time outdoors, than cooped up inside.” Shifting the bags in his arms, James started to move towards the exit of the resort. Over his shoulder, he said, “I’ll catch you later, José.”

  “How long are you going to be here this time?”

  “A couple of weeks,” he said, leaving out the reason for his forced stay.

  “Good, tomorrow is my day off. Let’s hit the slopes in the morning. I’ll text you with a time and place to meet.”

  James’ first instinct was to reject the offer, but he figured it couldn’t hurt to hang out with José since he had the time. He was a good guy, and knew James well enough not to push him to do things he didn’t want to do, like socializing with people or participating in small talk. “Sounds good. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  A short twenty-minute drive later, James arrived at his cabin. He unloaded Siku from her spot in the passenger side of his truck, then grabbed his duffle bag before they headed inside. He started the generator, turned on the propane tank, and opened the curtains, grateful that the cabin’s fully off-grid, self-sustaining system was still functioning. Next, he pulled out the ladder from his storage shed and climbed on top of his cabin, salting the roof and gutter before the storm hit tomorrow night.

  While he stayed busy opening up the cabin and putting away his belongings, he was distracted enough that he didn’t think about anything else. The issue was when he settled down on the couch next to Siku, he couldn’t concentrate on the training manual from DCSRA. His mind couldn’t stay focused long enough to think about what he wanted to adjust for his department. He couldn’t shake the image of Melanie’s fear-filled eyes from his head. When Canter cut the rope and she was taken by the avalanche, the last thing he saw was the terror in her eyes. Her look of shock and betrayal still haunted him whenever he wasn’t busy doing something.

  “Well, Siku, obviously sitting here trying to read isn’t working,” he said, as he rubbed the spot between her ears. “What do you say, should we go for a hike?”

  Siku barked, jumping up from her spot on the couch and racing towards the door. “I guess that’s a ‘yes,’” he chuckled, standing up from the couch. “Just give me a minute, girl, I need to change into my snow outfit and get my boots on, and then we can head out.”

  Try as he might, even when he was outside where he always felt like he belonged, it did him little good. Even as he pushed himself harder and harder as they climbed the mountain, he couldn’t erase Melanie’s frightened face from his mind.

  4

  “I want everyone to head straight back to the resort. We’ll pick up first thing tomorrow morning, weather permitting,” Donald explained, as they finished up closing the set down for the day and loading the gear onto the back of the various snowmobiles.

  “Is there any way I can stay for a little bit longer and go over my solo scene?” Nicole inquired, glancing from the script in her hand to Donald. ”I think being in the environment will really help me nail it.”

  “I’m sure you’ll do fine, Nicole, but if it will make you more comfortable, you can stay and go over it a few times,” Donald relented.

  “I’m going to stay with Nicole,” Britney said, coming up next to her friend and client. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t stay too long.”

  “I think that task would be better left to me,” Matt stated with a sigh. “You’ll get distracted by something and completely lose track of time. I’ll make sure my star client gets back to the resort safe and sound.”

  “And I’ll have the crew leave you a set of snowmobiles for your return trip. Don’t wait too long though. This snowstorm is supposed to be a doozy,” Donald explained as he climbed onto the back of one of the vehicles.

  She nodded, causing her blonde ponytail to graze the middle of her back. “We won’t be long.”

  Donald took off with the majority of the crew. A few members of production stayed around, putting the last of the cameras and lights onto the backs of the final snowmobiles.

  Nicole walked over to grab a bottle of water and a snack from the back of one of the vehicles. She overheard two of the production staff discussing the progress of the film and her impact on it. She ducked down, worried they might see her.

  “I can’t believe Donald hasn’t recast her yet. She’s dragging down the quality of this movie,” one of the women whined. “This is the first big production I’ve assisted on, and after she’s done with it, it’s going to set back my resume by years.”

  “You may not even want to list this one,” the other woman stated with a snort. “Unless it can be salvaged in post-edits, it’s going to flop. No one is going to want to watch Nicole West stumble through a dramatic crime drama when she should be sticking to rom-coms.”

  Nicole’s mouth went dry and a lump formed in her throat. She knew Tayla didn’t think she was doing a good job, but she hadn’t known this opinion was shared by the entire crew. While the women continued to poke fun at her, she slipped back over to the spot where she would be filming her monologue. It was the pivotal scene where she would trudge through the snow-covered forest to find the killer.

  “What’s wrong, Nicole? You look discouraged,” Britney asked with a concerned expression on her face.

  “It’s nothing. I just want to work on my scene. Do you mind watching me while I work through it? Let me know if I’m doing anything that looks weird, or say my lines wrong.”

  “You could never look weird,” Britney stated with a shake of her head. “But I’m here for you, so I’ll let you know if I see anything you can maybe perfect a little bit more.” Britney glanced out of the corner of her eye and scrunched up her face when she realized that Matt wasn’t paying attention. She elbowed him in the side, gesturing with her head. “Don’t you agree, Matt?”

  He glanced up from his phone, mumbling, “Yes, yes, whatever you need, Nicole. I was just checking the weather and that storm that was supposed to hit in the middle of the night looks like it will be arriving here in a couple of hours. We need to be back at the resort before that happens.”

  “We will,” Nicole promised. “I just need like an hour out here, and then we can be on our way.”

  The rest of the crew took off over the next half hour, asking if Nicole needed anything before they went. She told them she was fine and would see them back at the resort. It was easier to work once the final crew members left, knowing that she could experiment with how she did the scene without prying eyes critiquing her every choice.

  Nicole went through the scene three times, and during each attempt the snow started to come down harder, but it didn’t keep Nicole from doing it again.

  Before the fourth time, Britney reached out and stopped her. “I think you should stop for the day. We need to head back now. The falling snow is really thick now,” she shuddered, rubbing her hands over her arms. “Even with my thick, winter coat, I can feel the chill setting in.”

  “She’s right,” Matt added, glancing around with apprehension. “We don’t want to get caught out here
in the dark. We’ll never find our way back if that happens.”

  “Just one more time,” Nicole begged, still worried that she didn’t have the right movements and inflections down for the scene. “I want this to be my best performance ever.”

  Matt let out a sigh, then gestured towards the woods. “Okay, one more time, but that’s it. We have to go back after that.”

  Nicole smiled and reached out to squeeze his arm. “Thanks, Matt, I really appreciate you understanding.” She started back through the scene, this time adding more stumbling into her movements and stress in her voice. She could feel the emotional words of anger and desperation spilling from her lips, and she used them to make tears form in the corners of her eyes.

  “That’s it, that was…amazing,” Britney shouted with excitement. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen such an impactful performance as that. You need to do that tomorrow and you’re going to wow the socks off everyone.”

  Nicole stopped and turned around, pride pouring from her. “You really think so?”

  “It’s the best acting I’ve ever seen you do,” Matt confirmed. “It was top-notch.”

  Nicole was blown away by their reactions. Britney could be over the top, sure, but if Matt agreed it was her best performance, she knew she’d finally had her breakthrough.

  “I don’t mean to ruin this moment, but I’m freezing. Can we head back to the resort now?” Britney begged. “The sun is hidden behind the mountain, and we’ve lost almost all the daylight.”

  “Yes, let’s go,” Nicole agreed. “I don’t want Donald to panic if he hears we’re not back yet.”

  “Nicole, why don’t you hop on behind me,” Matt suggested. “And you can follow behind us on the other snowmobile, Britney.”

  “Want to protect your biggest asset,” her friend teased. “I see where I rank in things. At least, I’ll be in a dry, warm bed in a couple of hours.”