Free Exposing Alix by Inara Scott Page A

room when we’re shooting. It’s more comfortable than watching the
dailies in the editing room.”
    Alix nodded. She was nervous, more nervous than she’d been
in a long time. Ryker wasn’t one of the male floozies who’d hit on her hundreds
of times before. He was an electric male, dominating her gaze with broad
shoulders and narrow waist, dark honey-colored skin, and sensual lips.
    He touched her back and guided her into the building.
Currents of heat ran from the edges of his fingertips through the soft silk of
her dress.
    Alix bit her lip and nursed the tiny cut she inflicted
with a worried tongue. They were here to work. Ryker knew that as well as she
did. Other than his eyes straying occasionally to her cleavage—which, she
had to admit, she appreciated—he had been a perfect gentleman at dinner,
giving no hint that he wanted anything more than to establish a good working
relationship.
    Thank goodness.
    The interior hall was dark, but Ryker strode forward
without pause, guiding Alix with a touch on her elbow. They passed two opened
doors and then entered a room with a collection of tiny lights glowing from a
console on the wall. Ryker hit a switch beside the door that illuminated a bank
of bulbs above a large screen. A couch sat in the middle of the room, flanked
on either side by a black leather Eames chair and a matching upholstered
armchair. A tall counter with a smooth marbled surface curved around the far
left corner of the room, with three silver barstools guarding the front. A
crystal decanter half filled with amber liquid sat on one end.
    Ryker picked up a remote control and motioned for Alix to
sit down. “Gunther brought me here when he introduced me to Garden of Eden .
It’s quieter than the editing room and much more comfortable.”
    She looked around the room for a moment and contemplated
sitting in one of the armchairs. Too obvious? Pathetic, that she couldn’t even
sit next to him without panicking? She steeled her courage and plunked down in
the middle of the couch. Surely he wouldn’t sit next to her. Surely he’d take
one of the armchairs.
    “Like to take your half out of the middle, do you?” he
said, voice low and amused as he wedged himself between her and the side of the
couch.
    Alix scurried as far away as she could, though it gave her
only an additional foot or so of room. Goose bumps rose on her traitorous skin.
She pulled her knees together and tried for calm. “So, what are we watching?”
    He pushed Play and then immediately froze the film. A
still image of Lena, wearing a low-cut black nightgown and lying across a
crumpled bed, filled the screen. “This is the scene where Lena tricks Jake to
get him in her room so she can seduce him. We first shot this scene about a
month ago. I knew it wasn’t right, but when Gunther saw it, he nearly flipped.”
The teasing light faded from his eyes as he stared at the screen. He leaned
forward, elbows on knees, and jabbed the remote control with one irritated
finger. “Might as well get this over with.”
    Jake entered the room, gun drawn. “I heard something at
the window,” he growled.
    Lena crawled out of bed, rubbing her eyes as if she’d just
awakened. She stretched, arching her back and forcing her breasts to strain
against the top of her gown. “There’s no one there. It’s just your
imagination.”
    He turned, gaze immediately falling to her breasts. She
looked away as if embarrassed, but the camera caught the hint of a smile on her
lips, hidden behind a black waterfall of hair.
    “Imagination, huh? I suppose my imagination has been
working overtime lately.”
    She laughed, a breathy, nervous sound. “About what?”
    “You have to ask?”
    She peered out from beneath her hair, seeking and
tentative. “But the other day, you…you asked what I knew about Paulo, and I thought…”
    He stood over her, a full head taller. With one hand, he
reached out and touched her arm. “I need to find out the truth, Salva. It’s