He turned the channel to the basketball game. The cheers from the crowd felt like they were for him. He sat back on the couch and grinned.

Three

Anna was five minutes late on the first day of the shoot for the ad campaign. That was not a power move—she liked to be right on time to things like this, especially at the beginning, to make it clear that she respected everyone else’s time and wasn’t a diva. Well. Not much of one.

She walked from the hair-and-makeup tent over to where the crew was, and the first person she saw was Ben. She gave him a wide smile, and he smiled back at her. They’d emailed on and off since those first few emails—when he’d booked the crew, he’d sent her examples of their previous work, and she’d thanked him for it, and then congratulated him for his quick work when they’d set an official start date for the filming, only about a month after that first meeting.

“How did you manage to have perfect, fog-free weather on a beach in San Francisco?” she asked him.

His eyes crinkled at her.

“Oh, I didn’t mention this at the pitch meeting?” He leaned in closer to her. “I’m magic.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“You’re magic?”

He nodded.

“I don’t like to tell a lot of people about it—sometimes they get spooked, sometimes they treat me differently, I’m sure you get that kind of thing, too—but I can control the weather. I try not to use my powers too much, offends the gods and all, but for you? I managed it.”

She laughed out loud.

“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that.” She flashed the full force of her smile—a smile that People magazine had called “dazzling”—at him. He dropped the clipboard he was holding into the sand. She smirked. Still got it.

“Well, you’re very welcome.” Ben picked up his clipboard. “Can I introduce you to everyone? Unless you’d rather wait over in the tent for us to be ready?”

Anna nodded. She was glad he’d offered.

“Yes, thank you, I’d love to meet everyone.”

He looked slightly surprised by her quick reply.

“Excellent,” he said. “I always find with these things that we’re all more comfortable if we at least can put a name to a face.”

Ben took her around and introduced her to the camera crew. They were all still in the middle of setting up their equipment, so at least she didn’t feel as bad about being late. Then he brought her over to his assistant.

“Glad to see you again, Vanessa,” Anna said. She didn’t miss Ben’s quick grin at his clearly nervous assistant. That was sweet.

Everyone was very nice and low-key and only a little starstruck, which was exactly how she liked it—people who were too obsequious really stressed her out and made her feel embarrassed, but people who basically ignored her seemed like assholes. So far, no assholes here.

Ben had a low-voiced consultation with the camera guy while she was chatting with Vanessa, and then turned back to her.

“It’s time to get you mic’ed up, but our sound guy is stuck in traffic, so I’m going to fill in for him for right now, if that’s okay with you?”

Anna nodded.

“As long as it’s okay with them, it’s okay with me,” she said.

Ben picked up the tiny microphone and its attached battery pack from the table. He stood in front of her and looked her up and down in a very clinical way.

“You don’t have any pockets in this dress, do you?” he asked her.

She shook her head.

“Unfortunately not.”

He made a face.

“I was afraid of that. Okay, do you mind if I attach the battery pack to your bra, or do you want to do it?”

Anna shrugged. She was used to this.

“I don’t mind.”

Ben came closer to her and held up the mic.

“Okay, I’m going to clip the mic to your neckline, if that’s okay.”

Anna took a step forward.

“Of course.”

Ben gently lifted the neckline of her dress and clipped the mic on her. He didn’t even touch her, but as she watched his nimble fingers on her dress, a shiver went down her back. He moved slowly and narrated everything he was doing as he did it.

“Great, it’s clipped on there, all set. Now I’ll just tuck the pack down back here,” he said as he walked around her.

She lifted her hair and moved it out of his way. She could feel his warm breath on the back of her neck. She wanted to move closer but stayed right where she was.

“Now I’ll slip this down your dress and clip it to your bra here.”

She appreciated the way he told her everything he was about to do and warned her every time he was going to touch her. She’d been mic’ed up thousands of times by now, and this kind of care and attention to her comfort was rare. Most of the time it was a quick and silent procedure, though she’d had her fair share of guys, early in her career, who took the opportunity to grope her. No one had tried that in a long time, but she also couldn’t remember the last time someone had made her comfort such a priority.

One of the things that had surprised her, a few years back, after she’d gotten that Oscar nomination and had hit so many magazine covers and so many more people knew who she was, was how many people felt entitled to her. To information about what she was doing and where she was going and who she was with, to her attention whenever they wanted it, and especially to her body. People would interrupt her when she was with her family, they would reach for her as she walked through a crowd, fans jumped to take selfies with her without asking and would throw their arms around her. And of course, men at parties and on set would casually brush her ass or the sides of her breasts like it was nothing, like her body was theirs for the taking.

But Ben touched her in such a businesslike, matter-of-fact way, and made it clear she was in control the whole time. He could have easily taken this opportunity to flirt with her some more, or touch her neck or waist or back. But he didn’t do any of that. She was certain, more than ever, she’d made the right decision about this shoot.

“Okay, we’re all set,” he said, and took a step back. He looked over at the cameras. “And not a moment too soon. I think it’s time for you.”

She smiled at him and met his warm brown eyes.

“Great. Thanks.”

They turned and walked across the sand to the cameras, where Anna did a series of sound checks to see how her voice and the mic held up against the waves and the wind.