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does.”
    Our eyes met again. I hadn’t realized just how close we’d been standing to each other. Had one of us moved? Or had we been this way all along? No way of knowing, but we were definitely this close now. Really close.
    Abruptly, Rachel took a breath and drew back a step. “Anyway.” She stifled a quiet cough. “I should, um, get going.”
    Was that disappointment weighing down the center of my chest?
    “Yeah, it’s getting late.” I swallowed. “Tomorrow’s going to be a long day.”
    “It is, yeah.” She bit her lip. “Well. Good night.”
    “Good night.” Without really thinking about it, I put a hand on her waist and kissed her cheek. As I drew back, we both paused, our faces just a few inches apart.
    We held each other’s gazes. My heart pounded, and a ball of nervous excitement grew just below my ribs. I was close enough… I could easily… We could…
    She moistened her lips.
    Oh God…
    Still have to work together, Lee. Music video set. Tomorrow. Remember?
    Abruptly, we both stepped back, avoiding each other’s eyes and clearing our throats like a couple of nervous teenagers.
    “I, um…” Rachel gestured at her car. “I should… I…”
    “Right. Right.” I took another step back. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    “Bright and early.”
    “Bright and early.”
    Her car doors unlocked with a loud click, and my heart skipped like someone had fired a gun. I waited until she’d gotten into the driver’s seat and started the engine—the curbside equivalent to making sure she got safely into her house—and then started down the sidewalk toward my own car. Even as her car faded into the constant hum of Los Angeles background noise, the hairs on the back of my neck still prickled like she was right there behind me.
    God, this was weird. Really weird.
    This morning, I’d been starstruck and nervous, not sure what to expect when I met Olivia. How was I to know that a few hours later, I’d be walking away on shaking knees and wondering what the hell just happened?
    A few hours ago, Buck Harder hadn’t been sure what to make of being in a music video with Olivia Taylor.
    Lee already regretted not working up the nerve to kiss Rachel.
     
     
    I pulled up in front of my condo. My headlights lit up the garage door, and the idling engine purred in the background, and for a full minute or so, I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do now.
    Running on autopilot, I finally killed the engine and got out. I searched my pockets for my house key for longer than I cared to admit before I remembered it was on the same ring as my car keys. Same ring it had been on since I bought the place three years ago. Same ring that had been in my hand since I stepped out of the car.
    Yep, definitely losing my mind.
    Exhaustion. That was all it was. After all, I’d been up ridiculously early, and it was already almost midnight. I definitely needed to get some sleep because five thirty came early, but I was too wound up to go to sleep yet. All because of Rachel. I kept thinking about her. Or about the evening we’d spent together. Or about everything we’d talked about and everything we hadn’t done. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t stop thinking.
    It all came down to five simple words:
    Why hadn’t I kissed her?
    I almost had. Almost. Almost .
    But we still had to work together tomorrow. It was awkward enough at first today. No sense making it worse when the cameras were actually rolling.
    And there was still the issue of the cameras that would be rolling after the video was in the can. The cameras that would likely be following Rachel all over the planet in search of juicy details about her personal life, and the cameras I’d be performing in front of that would make me a juicy detail those bastards would dearly love to sink their teeth into. Holy fuck, but this could end in disaster.
    Assuming it even got off the ground. Most women could at least pretend to forget what I did for a living right up until the