Chapter 1

David

They pulled up in front of the ITV studios to film the James Bond special. Frank got out first and hurried inside ahead of David. His PR guy wanted to talk to the producers to get a rundown on the questions they planned to ask.

David took a moment to gather himself. A few days ago, he’d been just a college student; it had been over five months since he’d been on a movie set. He hadn’t really thought about this life since he walked onto campus.

“Nervous?” Kristen asked.

David glanced over and was surprised to see genuine concern.

“Not really. I’m one of those rare people who isn’t bothered by something like this.”

“Not me; I would be terrified. I mean, you’re doing this live, and it will be rebroadcast worldwide. How do you do it?”

He thought about it for a moment.

“I think I misspoke. I am nervous and probably have all the fears of what might go wrong that you could guess. And it doesn’t help that this will be live because that means only one take. But I’ve learned that you can’t let self-doubt stop you from doing your best,” David explained.

“But how do you get past the self-doubt?” Kristen asked.

He gave her one of those smiles that earned him so much money.

“It’s not easy at first. Like anything, you have to work at it, or at least I did. My mind still goes in circles when I have to make a decision, and I can be a terrible procrastinator when I know that I don’t really have to decide yet. But when I do decide, I commit to it,” he said and thought of another way to put it.

“My uncle taught me a valuable lesson: how to be a man of my word. Doing that can seem like a double-edged sword. If something better comes along after you’ve given your word, it can suck. But you do what was asked because you said you would.”

“But...”

David held up his hand to slow Kristen down.

“The other side, besides the benefit of people knowing they can rely on you, is that it takes the pressure off. When I signed to do this movie, I was also obligated to do the press junket to help promote it. So there’s no getting out of it.”

“You said you still get nervous.”

He nodded his agreement.

“I do. A good example is that I usually throw up before football games because of my nerves, but I simply move past it when I set foot on the field. I step into the role and play it. I refuse to let my doubts stop me. If I did, I would never have accomplished everything that I have,” he said.

“But I’m constantly scared of stuff,” she admitted.

David really looked at her and could see that she was serious.

“Admitting it to yourself is the first step in getting past your fear.”

He barked out a laugh when she rolled her eyes at him.

“Sorry. My uncle’s a farmer by day and a psychologist at heart. I must have been channeling him,” David admitted, which caused Kristen to give him a slight smile. “It takes a conscious effort to push past things that make us uncomfortable. To learn to do that, you must recognize when it’s happening. When it does, stop and ask yourself: will I let this stop me, or not?”

“And that works?”

“Maybe not at first, but it does get easier. Now, I don’t really have to think about it; I just go ahead and do it,” he explained.

“Then why are we sitting in the car?”

Another car pulled up behind them, and four men got out.

“I was waiting for our security.”

“Oh,” Kristen said as she gave him one of those looks like she felt silly.

David sat patiently as he watched Fritz, his head of security, deploy his men. Then a flock of drones was released. When everything was in place, Fritz came to the door and opened it.

“Ready?” David asked Kristen.

“Absolutely.”

He got out of the car. His security had attracted the British stalkerazzi, a particularly nasty strain of paparazzi. He put a fake smile on his face and walked past as they took his picture and shouted inappropriate questions.

’You sleep with one princess ... and you get this,’ David thought.

Once they made it inside, they were escorted to Studio One. One of the production staff directed him to his dressing room so he could get ready.

Frank found David in his dressing room, and his PR man didn’t look happy.

“They’re up to something.”

“Oh my God! Did they find the porn stash on my tablet?” David asked, looking worried.

“Porn stash?” Kristen asked.

“Ignore him. David thinks he’s funny at inappropriate times,” Frank said to David’s PA and then turned back to his client. “They said they didn’t have any set questions; they would just see where the interview went.”

“If it gets too intense, I’ll show them my new eyebrow trick,” David said as he proceeded to make them dance back and forth.

Frank was having one of his migraines, while Kristen looked jealous of his talent.

“Chill out,” David said. “How long have I been doing this?”

“They also switched who is interviewing you. It’s Harriet Chanson,” Frank said.

“That’s not good,” Kristen worried.

David got a big grin. They’d planned to have Freddie Leister interview him. He was an entertainment reporter who was well past retirement age. Harriet, on the other hand, was young and relatively new. She’d gotten a name for herself by asking wildly inappropriate questions. The Brits loved people who made snarky, hurtful comments.

What made David grin was that she was currently on his top ten list of women in the UK he’d like to spend quality time with. He’d made the list after finals to kill some time. He had a hunch Harriet was a naughty girl in the sack.

Frank caught his grin, which was immediately replaced with David’s ‘I’m a little angel’ face that he’d worked on since he was five. The PR man had the same reaction his parents did when they saw it: he scowled.

“Relax. Everything will be fine,” David predicted.

He made a point of not going to the set until the very last moment. He didn’t want to give Harriet a chance to ‘chat him up’ beforehand.

“We are back in four, three, two...” came from the control room.

David took his seat at ‘two’ and saw the relief on Harriet’s face. Then the cameras’ red lights came on, and she immediately assumed her professional reporter demeanor.

“With us is David A. Dawson...”

She droned on, giving his credits and the obligatory mention of his Academy Award win.

“David is in the latest release in the James Bond franchise, Devil May Care, where he plays Ian Bond. Welcome.”

“Thanks for having me,” he said, giving her his sexiest half-smile.

Adrienne, the supermodel, as well as David’s friend and modeling mentor, would be proud of that one. Most women found that smile arousing. His friends called it ‘the panty dropper.’ Harriet appeared to be immune.

“The franchise’s sales have been declining since its peak in 2012 when Skyfall was released. That film grossed about 700 million pounds in worldwide sales. What do you attribute that to?”

David had been taught to go quiet and think through his answer when he was thrown a curveball. He knew they would cut out the dead air in a taped interview, but this was live. Harriet knew he would have no answer because it wasn’t his job to market the film and get butts in the seats.

David sorted through his options and then picked one.

“I wondered why they worked so hard to get me to sign on.”

His answer threw her off her game. After a momentary pause, Harriet asked, “Why do you say that?”

There is a rule when interviewing. You tried to never ask a question you didn’t think you knew the answer to.