Free Behind the Scenes by Mari Carr Page A

ridiculously devoted to each other. In fact, Emma had fallen in love with her Black Jack while acting out a pirate fantasy on the Scoundrels stage.
    “So call in another actress.”
    Emma shot her a dirty look. “Inspired idea, Bec. You think I haven’t thought of that? Shea’s upstairs right now, dialing the phone off the hook, but even if she manages to find someone, there’s no time to get them in costume and character.” Emma glanced at her cell. “I need my actress here in the next ten minutes in order to start this show on time.”
    “What about one of the waitresses?” Becca suggested.
    Emma looked around the bar area, considering the idea. Then she sighed. “No. None of them would last five minutes with my actor. I need someone stronger, more self-confident, not easily intimidated.” Emma’s gaze landed on Becca and held.
    Becca raised her ha nd. “Forget it. I don’t act.”
    “You d on’t have to.”
    Becca frowned. “What does that mean?”
    “It won’t be an act for you because it’s your fantasy. Remember when we went to lunch at Bouchon in Beverly Hills a couple months ago?”
    Becca nodded, catching Emma’ s drift immediately. “What have you done?”
    Emma grinned guiltily. “I was struggling to come up with an idea for this month’s show and your fantasy was pretty hot. I decided I could do some wicked things with the lighting and the music and with the right actor…” Emma gave her a hopeful look.
    “I’m not going on stage to perform for the entertainment of three hundred perverts.”
    Emma laughed. “M y patrons aren’t perverts. Much.”
    “ Everyone’s a pervert deep down. How many men do you have backstage, ready to act this out?”
    Emma rais ed her eyebrows wickedly. “Three.”
    Becca’s mouth went dry, recalling when s he and Emma had indulged in a margarita lunch date at Bouchon. The alcohol left them both giddy and talkative. When Emma revealed that she and Jack enjoyed exhibitionism—sex in public, Becca suddenly understood why they thrived on the Scoundrels stage. The fantasies they recreated were so hot, they melted the paint off the walls. After Emma shared her secret, Becca let it slip that her darkest desire was to be taken, captured, held down by two men while ravished by a third.
    Now Emma was offering her a chance to live out the fantasy. It was a tempting gift, if only it didn’t come with the damn audience. Then another memory hit. “Who’s the leading man?”
    Emma didn’t reply immediately, her friend’s silence setting off an alarm in Becca’s mind. “Give me an answer first.”
    “Excuse me?”
    Emma didn’t relent. “Say you’ll do the show and I’ll tell you who the actor is.”
    Becca scowled. “What kind of game are you playing?”
    Emma looked at her phone again, biting her lip nervously. Then, she raised her gaze to Becca and said the one thing guaranteed to put her on the stage. “Please, Becca, help me.”
     
    Becca stood outside the dressing room door, feeling like the world’s biggest fool. Offering to help Emma by the bar had seemed easy. Then she’d walked backstage and made the mistake of looking out into the audience. Every seat was filled. She was so fucked.
    Before Emma could tell her who the leadin g man was, a small scuffle broke out near the entrance. Emma had told her to get in costume—apparently there was a nightgown hanging behind the door—and she’d be along soon to give her a breakdown of the show.
    The Scoundrels show s always ran for one month. Different actors enacted each night’s unscripted performance, so the show was never exactly the same. Emma simply created a sexy scenario and encouraged the performers to put their own spin on the plotline.
    Becca entered the dressing room. The room was dimmer than she’d expected, illuminated only by the lights surrounding the mirror.
    Great. The mysterious leading man wasn’t even here yet.
    Tonight was destined to be a bust. She started to flip the light