Free Not Looking for Love: A Cowboy Romance by Mae Martini Page B

Look I gotta go.”
    “Okay, I’ll call you tomorrow.”
    She paused. “Bye, Richie.” She hit the end key, sighed, and stared at her phone a moment before tossing it in her bag. She wound up buying nothing that day, instead she went straight home to sulk.
    It was driving her crazy. Why should he matter at all to her? She knew what they had was just a little fun, nothing more. On Tuesday, he did call, but she didn’t pick up. She noticed he didn’t leave a message.
    When she strode into work on Wednesday and saw the scene she was supposed to do she stormed into Poppy’s office. “You know I don’t want to work with that animal, Poppy. Why’d you schedule it?”
    Poppy was on the phone and picked his head up. “I’ll call you back,” he said into the phone. He tapped the end key and set it down. Don’t you knock before you enter an office?” He leaned his elbows on the desk and clasped his hands.
    “Why?” she asked, ignoring his question.
    He blew out a breath then removed his signature rimless eye glasses and tossed them on the desk. “I didn’t schedule it. Ray did, and he is one of my finest directors. He only came on board after I gave him free rein. He’s gonna put Velocity on the map, baby.”
    “Oh, come on, Poppy, don’t—”
    “Both Ray and I spoke with Danny. He is to be on his best behavior. He’s on warning.”
    She tilted her head and twisted her mouth. Shaking her head, she turned and walked out and headed straight for the locker-room. Simone knew it was no use arguing. Everyone in the organization knew Lou was one thing but Ray Brodsky was his boy, and if Ray wanted something he got it.
    In the dressing room while she was prepping, she listened to a couple of other women talking about ‘the big break’. She laughed to herself when it was revealed that the big break wasn’t main stream movies, no, these women were talking about signing with the biggest agent in the industry. Mentally shaking her head, she chuckled to herself. They’re looking to become big porn stars and I’m looking to get the hell out of this business.
    Simone kept them waiting on set, but eventually she couldn’t think of anything else to do to stall, so she walked out. She caught Danny’s smirk and wanted to smack it right off his face.
    “Alright, let’s get this rolling,” Ray said to no one in particular.
    Simone was not enjoying the pounding Danny was giving her. She knew he was taking it to the limit with her and was smiling the whole time. As for her, she’d wait until Ray would tell her to act like she was enjoying it before she would even utter a moan.
    By the time she walked out of the building, when it was over, she was fit to be tied. While showering, she just couldn’t get Danny’s essence off of her and scrubbed herself raw. Only towel drying her hair and throwing on a pair of ripped-at-the-knees faded jeans and a small white T-shirt, sans bra, she walked toward Poppy’s door, ready to complain again.
    “He’s gone for the day,” Diamond D, a long time aging star in the business, said from the doorway of the office next to his.
    “Thanks,” Simone replied and without another word, and with her large Chanel hobo bag on her shoulder she walked toward the back door to her car.

Chapter 11
     
    Simone kept her head down, as she walked through the parking lot, in deep thought about not wanting to end up like Diamond D. She had seen early movies of the woman and she was gorgeous. Now, though, she looked used and abused. She had taken to wearing wigs for the past few years. No one has seen her real hair in a long time. Her fake boobs sagged and Simone saw the wrinkly indents around them that Richie had pointed out to her a while back. Diamond D used to have the cleanest, clearest complexion, minimal make-up was used, but now it always looked caked on. She overheard Poppy talking about how used up Diamond was and only used her occasionally. There was a small market for aging fans who wanted to