Part 9 (1/2)

”Of course.” Daphne settled back and fastened her seat belt. ”In some ways, it's probably a good thing.

You take my breath away, Jack, in more ways than one. I could use a little time right now to...sort of get used to the idea. Do you understand?”

He smiled as the car rolled smoothly out of the lot onto the street. ”Yeah. But I like the 'take my breath

away' bit.””Well, heck. You don't hear me complaining, do you?””Would you?” He shot a quick glance at her before returning his attention to the road.Hmm. Interesting question. Daphne considered it. ”You know, I think I would. With you, I would.

But...and it's a huge 'but'...I can't imagine anything to complain about. Not between us. You've opened a new world for me, Jack. One I'd read about in novels, or seen in movies, but couldn't begin to think of being in myself. And yet here I am...” She squirmed slightly. ”Sitting bare-bottomed in your car, and not shrieking in horror. I even gave you my thong.”

He laughed. ”Yes, you did.””Um...you don't have a wall of those hidden away someplace, do you? Or an alb.u.m or something?””Daph.” He frowned at her. ”I meant it when I said you were the first-theonly -woman I've ever asked for her lingerie. Please believe me on that.””Okay.” She sighed in contentment as they pulled up in front of her apartment.”I'm sorry our night has to end like this, babe.””Hey...I had a great time. The Wildwood, Casablanca and...and you. And chocolate mints, too.”Jack chuckled. ”Look, let me make it up to you. You free tomorrow? It's Sat.u.r.day. Let me plan a special treat for us, okay? Something that may even help in your research.”She tipped her head sideways and frowned at him. ”My research?””Mmm hmm.” He narrowed his eyes. ”This is my 'man of mystery' look.”She giggled. ”Good thing you explained it. I thought it might be indigestion.”He snorted indignantly. ”Well, h.e.l.l, babe. Guess I'll have to ditch that expression. So what do you say?

Tomorrow?”As if she'd say no.”When and where?” Daphne was long past the point of obeying any of the ”rules of dating”. No ”I don't know, Jack...” or ”Well, I did have plans, but I guess I can change them...” None of that stuff.

She wanted to be with Jack. And that, quite simply, wasthat .Chapter Eleven Jack seethed as he flashed his pa.s.s at the night guard covering the studio gate. Of all the times for a

problem with the audio they'd recorded during the week to screw up...this had to be the worst.

He should be up to his neck in Daphne right now, not issues of some ill-defined buzz spoiling the soundtrack of his just completed movie.

He pulled into his designated spot and killed the engine, muttering imprecations against the G.o.ds of AV equipment.

”Jack. Sorry, dude. Just caught it.”Chuck's apologetic voice greeted him as he strode into the sound studio. A phalanx of monitors flickereda welcome at him, which he ignored. ”What the f.u.c.k is it?”

Chuck shook his head. ”Near as I can figure out, it's either some chopper noise from overhead or anodd echo of the biker movie they're filming over on Lot 14. I swear, Jack, we had it all blocked. It nevercame through our earpieces. Not one little murmur.”

He twisted dials and hit b.u.t.tons, and a crackling sound heralded the last bit of soundtrack recorded at the

end of the movie.

Sure enough, there was a hum...a distinctly noticeable hum, and there wasn't one fricking thing anyone could have done about it at the time.

Jack sighed and pulled out a chair. ”Okay. Let's pull it up on the editing software and see what the h.e.l.l

we've got here.”

For the next three hours, the two men worked side-by-side, isolating various portions of the soundtrack, accentuating some, deadening others, and finally producing a mostly clean audio.

”G.o.d f.u.c.king d.a.m.n, Jack, you're good.”Jack sat back and sighed. ”Good and p.i.s.sed. I had a date, for chrissake.”Chuck glanced down. ”So I noticed.”Jack followed his gaze to where a slip of white lace protruded from his pocket. He quickly stuffed it back out of sight. ”Yeah. Well.”

Chuck laughed. ”So was it Donna with the beautiful t.i.ts? Or Maxine...you know, the one who comes forhours and shudders like a force five earthquake?””Neither.”Chuck blinked. ”Really? Oh...wait. I'll bet it was one of those newbie wannabes, right? The tall redhead? She looked d.a.m.n hot at the auditions last week. And she sure knew who to play to, as well.”

”No.”

Silence fell for a moment as Chuck stared at Jack. ”Whoa, dude. Wait up a minute here. You're dating af.u.c.king civilian? You? Big John Johnson's boffing a freakin'civvy ?”

Jack swallowed. ”So what? None of your business who I date, Chuck. Let's get that straight right now.”Chuck held up his hands. ”Sorry, dude. You're right. Just sort of a surprise, that's all. Of course, itmeans more p.u.s.s.y for the rest of us. I ain't complaining.”

Jack stared at Chuck, feeling an odd kind of emotion welling up behind his eyes. ”I'm also sincerelyhoping you ain't talking, either,dude .”Chuck gulped.

”Because my private life is just that. Private.Capische ?”Chuck nodded. ”I gotcha, Boss. Nothing to do with me. I guess working around all this...s.h.i.+t...” Heglanced over at the writhing bodies now silently f.u.c.king on the nearest monitor. ”Kinda makes a manforget there are real women out there.”

”Yeah. Well, I happen to have found one. Let's leave it at that, okay?””You got it.”Jack couldn't help noticing the grin on his friend's face. Well,f.u.c.k .”Chuck, I'm closing the set tomorrow.””Huh?””You heard me. I'm closing the set tomorrow. Day off for everyone. No tweaking the special effects, no re-recording, we're on target, film's in the can, and the rest of the post-production stuff shouldn't takemore than a week. We've all earned a break. Pa.s.s the word in the morning, would you?”

Chuck eyed him cautiously. ”Uh, sure. This is a pleasant surprise.””It just came to me.”You lying sack of s.h.i.+t. You've been planning this for a couple of hours now.Ever since you decided that Daphne might enjoy seeing the inside of the studio.

”What about Sunday?”

Jack glanced over. ”What about it?”

”You shut the set down tomorrow and a lot of folks are gonna take that as a blanket invitation to disappear for the weekend.”

Jack ran his hands through his hair. ”You mean go get truly blitzed and not surface until Monday morning?”

”If then.” Chuck grinned.

”Sure. What the h.e.l.l. We all need a break. We've been pus.h.i.+ng ourselves to get this one in on time, meet those f.u.c.king exec deadlines. We've d.a.m.n near done it.” He sighed. ”Okay. I'm officially declaring this weekend a holiday. No personnel need report until Monday, but they'd better show up at some point during the day. We need to finish off the post-prod stuff. I'll be glad when this is done.”

”You sound...tired, Jack.”

He stood and stretched his spine. ”I am, Chuck. Very tired. Of everything.”

Chuck's eyes narrowed. ”That's a pretty profound comment.”

Jack snorted. ”Chalk it up to the late night Friday blues, okay? I'm outta here.” He grabbed his jacket and waved a casual farewell to the engineer.