Free Aim For Love by Pamela Aares

decided to head over to Derrick’s and surprise him. Take a bottle of wine and her script, maybe some takeout from the Thai place down the street from the hotel. It’d be good to get back to work. At least she’d have a break from thinking about her arm. And maybe Derrick would take her mind off her disturbing thoughts about Kaz.
    Once she was dressed, she piled her hair under a baseball cap and donned the clunky sunglasses she’d bought in the airport gift shop. No self-respecting Hollywood actor would be seen in such glasses; at least she hoped they’d help disguise her. Maybe the Bel-Air had been a bad choice if she wanted to go unnoticed, but it was familiar, and familiar helped keep her centered and staying centered helped keep the nightmares in check.
    She picked up the takeout that she’d had delivered to the concierge and stepped into the cab the doorman called for her.
    When the cab pulled up to Derrick’s house, a sports car was parked across the drive, blocking it. Apparently the driver thought that courtesy could be ignored.
    Derrick’s house was one of those Bel Air houses that didn’t quite scream mansion, but it was close. She stepped through the gate and up to the front door. There were lights on in the upstairs windows, so she knew he was home. She shifted the takeout bag to rest against her sling and rang the bell.
    When he didn’t answer, she rang again.
    “Coming!”
    She heard the irritation in his voice.
    He opened the door.
    “Sabrina. I thought you were a political canvasser.”
    “Do they usually bring Thai food?” She held out the bag and the chilled bottle of wine. “You going to invite me in?”
    “Yes.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Of course.”
    Shuffling on the stairs behind him said he wasn’t alone. One of the stuntmen from Exigent came down the stairs. His usually meticulously coiffed hair was tousled and his clothes rumpled.
    “That’s David. You might remember him from the set. We were blocking out some fight scenes.”
    She remembered David. He was a talented stuntman with amazing moves. A handsome single man. What woman wouldn’t have noticed him?
    “Hello, David. Are you hungry? There’s enough pad Thai for three.”
    “Hey, Sabrina.” David didn’t look her in the eye as he picked up a backpack from a table in the foyer. “Thanks for the invite, but I was just leaving.” He glanced at the sling on her arm. “Still bad, huh?”
    “A little better. I’m working on it.”
    “Try red flower oil. Works for me every time. See you on the set.” He hurried out the door.
    “David likes all that esoteric stuff,” Derrick said.
    “Everybody has their pet solution, but red flower oil is one I haven’t heard.”
    “Personally, I prefer painkillers.”
    “Masking a problem doesn’t solve it.” One thing she didn’t like about Derrick was his insistence that his way was the right way.
    “Who said anything about solving?” Derrick grinned. “I just like the buzz.”
    They ate the Thai food at Derrick’s vast stainless-steel-topped kitchen island. She turned down a second glass of wine. Derrick filled his glass to the top.
    She noticed a pile of envelopes stacked at one end of the island. Bills, she guessed. And likely late. Derrick gambled. She’d been with him at a casino when they were shooting on location in Tahoe. If she hadn’t dragged him from the roulette table, he would’ve lost more than the ten thousand dollars he’d already blown.
    “I need to hire an assistant,” he said, nodding to the pile of papers and envelopes.
    An assistant wasn’t going to solve Derrick’s gambling addiction and keep money in the bank. More than once Sabrina had gently suggested that he might try a twelve-step program for gamblers, but he didn’t see his gambling as a problem and he sure didn’t like the idea of being involved with a group he judged as losers.
    She picked up her plate and loaded it into the dishwasher. The appliance was stacked with a