Captive Hearts - Natasha West Page 0,4

KTN not two hours later, sitting in Bernie’s office, having her arse kissed. ‘You don’t know the favour you’ve done me, seriously.’

‘You’ve already thanked me, Bernie.’

There was a hard knock at the door. ‘Ah, that’ll be Ashley,’ Bernie said through a too-wide smile. ‘Come in!’

The door opened, and there she was, Ashley Quick. Gina had about three seconds to think she was kind of hot. Tall, she was a clothes horse in her little dark suit. She had coiffed long, caramel hair, coiffed everything actually. Sharp, dark eyes and a slightly severe, yet somehow sexy mouth. Then she opened that mouth. ‘Is this my new camerawoman, Gina?’ she demanded of Bernie but didn’t wait for an answer before turning to Gina. ‘Bernie said you usually shoot movies. I hope you’re not going to try and do fancy shots. I don’t have time to explain why we can’t do contra zooms or crane shots or whatever it is you usually do.’

Gina smiled with one side of her mouth. ‘It’s going to be a lot of medium close-ups, right?’

Ashley nodded. ‘Right.’

Bernie stood from behind his desk. ‘Well, I think that’s introductions done. Why don’t you two get downstairs, I think we’ve got something for you to get to.’

Gina stood. ‘I’ll follow you then, shall I?’ she asked Ashley.

Ashley nodded, and Gina followed her out of the office and into a lift. ‘So, how long have you been doing this?’ Gina asked Ashley.

‘I’ve been working in news for eight years, here for three,’ Ashley said briskly.

Gina thought Ashley might ask her a question in the name of getting to know each other, but it didn’t happen. They just stood in silence for the rest of the elevator ride. Gina wasn’t exactly starting to regret her decision to give this news thing a go yet, but she was beginning to wonder exactly what it was that was so far up Ashley Quick’s arse.

Three

Ashley didn’t like the sound of her new camerawoman from the get-go. ‘Why would you get someone from a different industry? You’ve got a list of news camera ops as long as your arm you could call,’ she said down the phone. She was on the train, hanging from a strap like a stressed-out chimp.

‘I know that,’ Bernie said. ‘I called them. They’re all busy.’

‘All of them are busy?’ Ashley smelt pungent bullshit. ‘No one wanted to work with me, did they?’ she asked him plainly.

‘No, no, no!’ Bernie cried, horrified. ‘I’m telling you; everyone was booked up!’

Ashley frowned. ‘You know I’m not buying that, right?’

‘I know.’

‘So this woman’s my only choice?’

‘Pretty much. She’s due in an hour, come up, and I’ll do introductions. I think you’ll like her.’

When Ashley walked into Bernie’s office, she knew immediately that wasn’t going to be the case.

It wasn’t an appearance thing. In general, camera operators weren’t an attractive subset of humankind, but Gina? Gina was a real exception. She was a very wholesome-looking blonde in her late twenties with sparkly blue eyes and her shiny hair up in a ponytail. She was small and lithe, except for the arms that popped out of her t-shirt. They were a serious set of biceps. Ashley thought they looked like the arms of a country girl raised tossing bales of hay for fun. All in all, she was easy on the eye.

What boiled Ashley’s piss from the outset, however, was her lazy slouch in that chair. Who the hell slobbed out like that on their first day of a job? She was clearly one of those absurdly laid-back types. Ashley had never understood people like that, and she certainly didn’t want to work with one. How was she going to get this woman to run with her pace? Ashley liked a certain energy to the day. She liked momentum. Gina didn’t look like she had any drive at all.

But she took Ashley’s interrogation on the chin, which was something. Maybe she’d just do as she was told and not make a fuss. Not like Mac. Ashley had been arguing the toss with him all day, every day. It was tiring. Maybe Gina would just roll with whatever Ashley needed?

She took Gina downstairs in the lift. It was a quiet ride. She’d never been good at small talk. She could make the words come out of her mouth alright, she knew what people asked. ‘How are you, did you have a nice weekend, what did you get up to?’ Not so hard. The part Ashley struggled with was making