Rock Me: Sexy (New Adult Rockstar Romance) (New Adult Rock Star Erotic Romance) (6 page)

Kaitlyn tucked a stray curl behind her
ear. “Look. Just being honest, but the demographic that’s going to watch this
show isn’t going to be a great fit for pediatric organ donations, but I
understand that it’s important to you and it will give your cause a certain
platform. And personally, I think it’s a very noble and worthy cause, so we’ll
work it in.”

“Okay. Thanks.” He knew she was placating
him, but if it brought more attention to his cause, he’d take it.

“Tyler, you leave the show in my hands,
and I can make it a success. A huge success.”

This time he decided to give her some of
her own medicine. “Oh that’s right. You mean you can spin gold from crap?”

She wrinkled her nose. “I’m sorry we got started
off on the wrong foot. You could have told me who you were, by the way. I
almost made an ass of myself in that meeting. But that’s all in the past. Now I
want to learn all about the band. And, obviously you’re very talented with
millions of fans. I’m looking forward to hearing your work. Would I recognize
any of your songs?”

What cave did she live in?
“I don’t know. Do you listen to the
radio?”

She shook her head. “Not really. I only
listen to classical music when I work. And I work a lot.”

“So you know nothing about rock music?”
How
in the world did she get this job?

She thought for a moment. “Well, I
watched Season 1 of American Idol. And I used to listen to rock music when I
was a teenager. All the time. So I’m not completely clueless.”

Uh huh
. “What were your favorite bands?”

Her eyes lit up. “Oh, ’N Sync, 98
Degrees, Backstreet Boys, you know, the usual.”

She was completely clueless
. “Yeah, we’re not really that kind of
band.”

“Oh. Are you more like heavy metal?” she
asked.

“No.” Tyler tried not to sound impatient.

“Well, I’m sure you’re quite talented
anyway.” It was like she was giving him a pat on the head.

“Kaitlyn, what’s the last concert that
you’ve been to?”
Did he really want to know?

She brushed aside his question. “Don’t
worry about it. This show is going to be the best thing that’s ever happened to
Cold Fusion. You just concentrate on your stuff and I’ll take care of the show.
Trust me.”

My first meeting with the band was about
a week before their tour started, only a week before we started filming. Up
until that point, I had been completely immersed in pre-production planning and
set-up. I had a huge staff to coordinate, but even with all the footwork they
did, I still found myself frequently bogged down in the nitty-gritty details.

I had approved the final production
schedule and the crew had been hired. Our shooting schedule was falling into
place. Scouting the locations, essentially following Cold Fusion’s tour
schedule, was daunting. Filming permits, location agreements and special
equipment were needed for each potential location, and laws varied from state
to state, even county-to-county. It was a massive undertaking.

When I felt satisfied that the production
schedule was under control, I started focusing on marketing. Without a huge
pre-launch push, this show would be dead on arrival. I needed strong ratings right
out of the gate, or else the show, right along with my career, was finished.

The past week, Tyler had done a local
interview on a Dallas station that had gotten picked up by some national
networks. When they talked about Rock Star Diaries, they described the show as
The Jersey Shore of the rock scene. At first, I had bristled at the comparison,
but I had slowly come around. If we could grab half those viewers, we would be
off to a great start.

Bruce, my marketing lead, had promotional
ideas that never seemed to gel with my vision for the show, but he always
acquiesced cooperatively to my demands. I liked to think that my ideas were
just so brilliant that he couldn’t help but see that they were better than his.
Probably, it was just that he had no backbone.

I decided our promotional material was
going to revolve around the beach, trying to lure in our young demographic and
the ripe reality television crowd. I arranged for a shoot in my rock band’s
home state of Texas, at a beach on the southern Gulf Coast, since they were
already located nearby awaiting their tour kick-off.

I arrived at the shoot early; still, I
was pleasantly surprised with the progress when I arrived on location. The
equipment had all been loaded from the trucks and a perimeter to keep the
public at bay had been established. Not that there were too many people on the
beach in late January.

I poked my head into the wardrobe tent.
Racks of clothing, mostly tiny bikinis, filled the small structure, but there
was enough room for the models to change. I had picked five models from a local
agency off the internet and just prayed that at least two of them looked as
good as their portfolios. Despite the cloudless sunny day, there was a cool
wind blowing; I didn’t envy the poor girls who had to strip down and pretend
they weren’t freezing.

The next tent was larger. Three sides
were paneled closed, but the remaining side facing the ocean was open. Three of
my models had shown up so far and were sitting in chairs under the canopy. A
makeup artist was attending to a stunning blonde girl. I had deliberately
picked girls that didn’t look any younger than twenty; still I couldn’t help
but feel pangs of jealousy seeing the fresh young faces on these beauties.

These girls weren’t New York City models.
They were locals whose portfolios so far had consisted of magazine spots and
television commercials. They wouldn’t be accustomed to working with celebrities
and I wanted them focused on their jobs, not on the rock stars.

“Hi ladies. My name is Kaitlyn Winston,
and I’m the Executive Producer and Director of Rock Star Diaries.”

The girls, who had given me a bored
once-over when I first arrived, immediately took a renewed interest in me.

“I wanted you to know that I am still
casting for Rock Star Diaries and if you have any interest in a spot on the
show, I’ll be watching today for professional behavior from you and a good
chemistry with the band members. You’ll have no chance at a spot if you act
like screeching, adoring fans of the band. Got it?”

The girls nodded and one couldn’t help
but giggle. I rolled my eyes as I left the tent. Because we didn’t have much
time to work with the advertising agency to develop multiple campaigns and run
them through focus groups, I had one shot at this to get it right. How could I
go wrong with scantily clad women and outrageously sexy rock stars?
Please
let it work
.

I headed over to introduce myself to the
crew. The videographer was nowhere to be found and the photographer was too busy
setting up a large light reflector. We planned to disperse still shots
throughout our opening sequence, so we needed to film and take stills all in one
session. It added to the complexity of the shoot, but I was not going to skimp
just because we were short on time. I wanted fresh exciting material in our
promotional ads and teasers. The first episode would air in a few months. In
that time, I planned to saturate the media with our material.

I checked on everyone’s progress as they
worked to set-up while I nervously waited for the band to show up. They were
twenty minutes late, but finally they all arrived together.

From the moment I had parted with Tyler
at the Vibe’s headquarters, I had eaten, slept and breathed nothing but Cold
Fusion. I had studied them inside and out. Any scrap of information that was
available to the general public about them, I could recite by memory. I could
even sing most of their songs by heart now. I had warned the models not to act
like giggly fan girls, yet here I was suppressing a squeal of genuine
excitement at their appearance.

The band was headed toward the shoot
location when Tyler spotted me near the cast tent and pointed me out to the
others. I waved and they adjusted course heading directly towards me. Tommy had
brought his surfboard as I had requested, Alex had his arm around a girl and
Nick and Tyler led the way. I was glad that I had been staring at their
pictures for so long now that I could pretend to be calm when confronted with
the overwhelming combined good looks of these four guys in the flesh.

They made their way over to me and the
whole time I kept thinking how crazy it was that I was going to spend the next
few months of my life in their constant company. I always got so engulfed by my
work, to the point of obsession. Hell, I had fallen in love with a 200 million
pound space rock working on my last documentary. What would happen working side
by side with something far more appealing? Like sexy rock stars.
Especially
one gorgeous bad boy in particular
. I had to be careful because I had felt
the stirrings of sexual attraction from the moment I first laid eyes on Tyler. I
ignored the warning bells going off inside my head. I had worked with Hugo for
years and was always able to maintain a professional relationship with him. I
counseled myself that this would be just the same.

They were joking about something when
they made it over to me. All four guys looked at me expectantly, but it was
Tyler’s perusal that seemed to burn my skin with its intensity. My stomach
fluttered. I had forgotten how insanely beautiful he was in person.

“Hi guys. Nice to meet you all. I’m Katie
Winston the Executive Producer and Director for Rock Star Diaries. We’re
crunched for time, so we’ve got to get rolling. I’m hoping we’ll have time to
talk after the shoot. Tommy, thanks for bringing your surfboard.”

Tommy nodded. “I’m hoping I can get some
surf time in if we finish early enough. I brought gear for Tyler, too. I’ll
have to drag his lazy ass out there though.”

Tyler frowned. “Wet suit or not, the
water is fucking cold.”

“Okay. If everything goes well, you might
have some time.” I smiled. “So, I just want you guys to relax and have fun with
this. Act naturally. This part is supposed to showcase your personal side. It
should be fun and sexy and exciting for the viewer to watch. Like they wished
they were hanging out with you. In the ad, these shots will be interspersed
with snippets from your concerts. That footage has already been chosen and it
showcases your talent, your raw energy and intensity. It’s very powerful.”

Alex glanced over at the filming location.
“So, what are we going to be doing while they film?”

I glanced at my watch. “The videographer
will give you direction. Just listen and try not to act stiff. Remember this
part is supposed to look natural and lighthearted.”

Tommy started shifting on his feet as if
he was uncomfortable. “Oh God. It’s not going to be like the Monkee’s, is it?”

Nick looked annoyed. “What the fuck are
you talking about, Tommy?”

“The band, the Monkees. They had a TV
show in the 60’s or something. My girlfriend made me watch it. In the opening
credits, the band does all this crazy stuff, they have surfboards, they all run
towards the surf and then run back out...”

Tyler turned to him. “Jesus, Tommy. This
is something Crazy told you about? No fucking way we’re doing anything like
that.”

Tommy protested. “Shit, no. Livvy thought
it would be cool, but I don’t want to either. I just got nervous when Katie
asked me to bring my board.”

I decided to ease the tension. “I’m not
really familiar with The Monkees, but that’s not exactly what I had in mind.
We’re aiming for something very current and hip. Nothing retro. Okay, we’ve
gotta get moving guys. Everything is ready. The models are all ready to go.
We’ll start shooting as soon as you’ve got wardrobe and makeup.”

I waited for objections to the word
‘makeup’ but no one said anything. These guys were used to photo shoots and
television spots. Hopefully their experience would make everything go smoothly.

I handed the guys off to Valerie in
makeup. “Val, we’re going to start off with them in their street clothes, so
just tidy them up and make sure they’re ready to go. Then we’ll switch to beach
wear.”

The girl that arrived with Alex turned to
me and spoke loudly. “Ooh yeah. Are they going to be in speedos?”

I could hear Alex muttering about speedos
as Val led them away.

“So are you a friend of the band?” I
looked at the beautiful girl beside me.

She smiled. “I’m Lena. I’m Alex’s
girlfriend. I hope it’s okay that I came today. This is our last week together
before he starts touring again.”

“Sure, no problem. As long as you stay
out of the way.” I frowned. “Tommy mentioned a girlfriend, too. I didn’t
realize they had girlfriends.”

Lena walked next to me as I headed over to
the shoot location. “Nick has a girlfriend, too. They’re pretty serious even
though he seems miserable all the time. Yeah, Tyler’s the only free guy right
now. But he more than makes up for the rest of them.”

Her words caused me pause, more than I
cared to admit. “So Tyler’s a player, huh?”