Not a Fairy Tale: HarperImpulse Contemporary Romance Read Online Free PDF Page B

me. I need to be able to walk and talk like her. Now when I walk into a room, people see the girl next door, maybe a little sassy, a little outspoken, a bit of a klutz, but no one would think of me as a badass. I want to be able to walk into the casting director’s office and have her think Lara Croft just walked in.”
    He raised an eyebrow. “And you think I’m going to be able to teach you all that?”
    She grinned, expression cheeky. “You’re the most badass person I know.”
    “I’m not badass. I live in the suburbs and drink green tea.”
    “What can I say? I don’t get out much.” She cast him a sideways glance, all but batting those too-long fake lashes of hers. “Besides, you wouldn’t really want me to go hang out in some biker bar to learn to be badass, would you?”
    He frowned. Not that he believed she would, but even the mere thought of Nina in a bar full of drunken men was enough to make his fists clench. “It takes most people a lifetime to become badass. How much time do you have?”
    “Six weeks. But I’m an actress. With the right training, I can fake it.”
    He looked at her, saying nothing, and she hurried on, “There are so many things I haven’t yet done in my life that Sonia would know how to do. That’s all I’m asking, is for you to help me do a few of those things.”
    “Things like?”
    “Load and fire a gun, be able to hold my own in a stage fight, take a fall.” She grinned. “Ride on a motorcycle and walk on a beach at night.”
    “There are stunt schools that teach those sorts of things.”
    She shook her head. “And have a whole bunch of people watch as I make a fool of myself? No thanks! I trust you.”
    He ignored the obvious flattery. “A stunt school would be more all-rounded. You need trainers who can do vehicular stunts and pyrotechnics and weapons training. I’m a martial artist with a specialty in falls.” And he wasn’t even good at those these days. He flinched at the memory of his last fall, from a Paris hotel balcony to a snow-covered lawn. Without the luxury of airbags or protective clothing. It had been one jolt too many for his already- damaged body.
    “But you have the connections,” she persisted. She made her eyes big and round. “Please?”
    He did have the connections. And he could do this. The risk was minimal. But whether he should was another matter entirely.
    Mistaking his hesitance for reluctance, her face clouded over. “I’ll pay you well.”
    He shook his head. “It’s not about money.”
    “You already have plans for the next few weeks?”
    He looked away. “I haven’t got any work booked in.” And he’d love an excuse to postpone the surgery. “Why do you want this role so much? Tell me about this script and what you need to learn and I’ll consider working with you.”
    The radiance in her face was enough to take his breath away. He’d be the first to admit his ego needed stroking a little now and then, too, and when a woman looked at him like that it made him feel like a hero. He needed that feeling more than ever these days, now that he’d been forced to face his own mortality.
    They strolled back the way they’d come, and as they walked, she talked about the role. Here in the quiet of the beach, with no one else around, her voice washed over him, slow and sensual and mesmerizing. But was that a soft, Southern accent creeping in? He’d been sure she was from somewhere in the Midwest.
    He shook his head. Perhaps he’d imagined it.
    What was certainly not his imagination was the passion she felt for this script. More than simple admiration for the role, it was as if she wanted to
be
Sonia.
    “This story really means something to you.” He sat down on a sandy spot high up the beach and patted the ground beside him.
    Nina sat beside him, pulling her knees to her chest, and looked up at the sky, not answering him for a long moment. “I read the books at a very hard time in my life. Sonia’s story helped me through