“I was just asking Karen if she wanted to go out for a few drinks. There’s some pretty great clubs downtown, but I’m having trouble tearing her away from here.” Aiden gave me a nudge.

“Oh really?” Ryan questioned me.

I hoped he could see I was annoyed. “I tried to tell him no but he—” Keeps interrupting me.

“Ahh,” Aiden groaned. “You’re just afraid of having a good time.”

See what I mean?

He turned to Ryan. “Hey, before you take off . . . I don’t want to embarrass her and she’s probably too shy to ask, but do you think maybe she could get a picture with you?” Aiden fumbled and dropped his cell, mumbling how he would text it to me later.

I wrapped my arms around Ryan’s waist, ready to go back to our condo. Ryan’s shirt was damp with sweat. It had been another long day and I could tell he was exhausted. I also had a pile of clean laundry for Mike to take with him since the on-set laundry service was only offered to the talent, not the keepers of the talent.

“I can’t turn my back for one minute,” Ryan groaned in my ear, letting his restrained irritation be known. Even though he was acting jealous, I decided that this emotional flare of his was going to be rewarded handsomely in the shower later.

“Believe me, I did nothing to encourage it.”

“I know, babe.” Ryan squeezed me, brushing some of my hair back. He cupped my face in his hand and kissed me wickedly.

I heard Aiden scoff. “Dude! What the fuck?”

Slightly embarrassed, I took a step back when Ryan ended his territorial display. Aiden’s mouth hung open, totally abashed. He also appeared to want to take a swing at Ryan.

Ryan stared him down for a few seconds, then tried to play off his level of anger as if he were teasing.

“This one’s mine. Apparently you haven’t been properly introduced to my fiancée, Taryn. I’d appreciate it if you stopped hitting on her. We clear?”

The following day, Aiden avoided me like the plague. I sort of expected that. He apparently had moved on from me, flooding Nicole with his attentions. His flirting was over-the-top.

Aiden tried like hell to be extra chummy with Ryan, which I could have called as well. Ryan was as friendly as he had to be, not taking too kindly to another wolf sniffing around his mate. It was things like that that made me question whether it was a good idea for me to be around him when he worked.

Nicole, however, appeared to be quite jittery.

I presumed it was because she and Ryan had to do a kissing scene again, which seemed to have him slightly agitated as well, but I wasn’t sure. Ryan was usually so aloof, but this time he was eyeing Nicole warily.

I watched the scene get set up, cameras in place, actors on their marks, and direction given. I couldn’t turn my eyes away no matter what my heart told my mind to do. Seeing the man I love kiss another, even though I knew it was pretend, twisted my heart in ways no words could ever describe.

Confusion tore through me when Ryan abruptly broke from the kiss. His face puckered like he had just swallowed a nasty bug coated in sour dirt instead of kissing a cute actress. His grip around her arm became less than friendly.

Jonathan pulled his headset off when Ryan started to curse at her.

Ryan spat onto the ground twice, right there where they stood. “Tell me that wasn’t what I think it was.”

“You don’t understand. Things have been really hectic and I—”

“I warned you!” Ryan cast her off with great offense.

“Ryan, wait,” Nicole pleaded. She looked crushed by his rejection.

“Where’s Parker? I want a fucking meeting, in my rig, now,” Ryan barked as he stormed away.

The second we climbed into Ryan’s RV, he grabbed his toothbrush and started scrubbing his teeth, spitting and rinsing his mouth repeatedly into the small kitchen sink. I didn’t say a word.

There was a loud rap on Ryan’s door and I jumped up quickly to answer it. Parker Shay and Jonathan Follweiler were on the other side.

“Ryan, what’s going on? You wanted to see me?” Parker asked.

Ryan was livid. “I want her gone. This is bullshit, Parker.” He wiped his face with a small towel. “I can still taste the fucking crank in my mouth.”

Parker appeared just as lost as I was. “The what?”

“Nicole,” Ryan growled. “She’s a fucking meth head.”

Parker rested his hands on his hips, taking this new information in. “Meth? As in methamphetamines?”

Ryan nodded. “She’s snorting the shit.”

Jonathan looked like he’d just been struck. “Are you sure? Did you see her using or something?”

“No, but I just had her spit in my mouth a few minutes ago. Believe me, I know what the shit tastes like and I can tell you that I’m not going to put up with it. I tasted it on her before when we did the bedroom scene and I warned her about it, but that drip I just caught was fresh.”

I felt my knees start to become unsteady, so I sat down in one of the chairs before I’d keel over from this revelation. I didn’t know which news shocked me more—Nicole doing illegal drugs or my fiancé knowing what illegal drugs taste like.

Ryan spat in the sink. “What the hell, Parker? This is our second film together. I thought you had my back.”

“I do, Ryan. Believe me. I had no idea she had drug issues.”

“This shit may fly with the cable networks but it’s so not happening with any project I’ve got my name on, I can tell you that.”

“Ryan—man, I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I’ll take care of it.”

“Damn right you will,” Ryan barked. “Because I am not stepping one foot in front of any cameras until it’s dealt with. We’ve only filmed for a couple of days. Fire her and get another actress. Someone professional that doesn’t have a drug problem.”

Jonathan looked just as angry and frustrated as Ryan was, glaring at Parker in his own way.

Parker sighed heavily. “You know it’s not that simple, Ryan. We’ve already shot the promos, the stills.”

Ryan continued to freak out and argue. His emotional rant was making this entire situation worse. I had to do something. The moment I locked eyes with Parker, I gave him a subtle nod in the direction of the door, hoping he’d give me time to calm Ryan down.

“We’ll take care of this, Ryan. Just relax. Let me make some calls.” Parker pressed his phone to his ear on his way out.

Ryan was behaving irrationally, even punching one of the cabinets with his fist.

“Ryan . . .”

“What?” he snapped. “And before you start, I tried it a few times back in college, way back when. You know I don’t do drugs.”

It was good to hear it, but him punching stuff was more my concern. “I know you don’t. Honey, listen.

I know you’re furious, but lashing out and demanding that she gets fired is not the way to handle this.”

“You’re not the one with chemical poison in your fucking mouth, Taryn!”

“I know. But I also know what was written in the executive producer agreement that you signed.”

That got his temper to come down a big notch. There were several pages of legal mumbo-jumbo tossed in his direction that day he signed the paperwork; of course he didn’t read it all, trusting that his lawyer giving him the general okay was confirmation enough. But with several million dollars on the line, I read every damn word of his copy, not leaving anything to chance to be filtered to him through his lawyer.

“You have dual obligations to this film now. You accepted the responsibility to make sound decisions when you signed on for those rights. All of the producers are required to consult each other for any changes to main talent, so you need to support them and handle yourself professionally, not freak out on everyone.”

Ryan flexed his fingers in the air. “I just want to wring her goddamned neck.”

“I know, but you can’t.”

He wiped both hands down his face. “Grr. Fuck. What am I . . . how do I . . . ?”