When Caia left Steve at the foyer of the hotel, he assured her he would see Mireille that evening at the gym and make his move for a second date. He told her with confidence that it should result in a more serious involvement with him. He did not want to say more, confirming Caia's unhealthy jealousy earlier on the beach. He just told her he felt the mission he was on was soon to be fully in motion. She accepted this and told him she would be in touch with him by phone in a day or so.

For the first time as Steve entered the hotel, he felt relieved to be away from Caia. He also looked upon his plans for the evening with Mireille as especially deceitful and more troubling than before. He nevertheless knew he must proceed with the role to bring about her romantic involvement with him, as agreed to. He wanted this even more now, not so much for the money he was to make in the process, but rather to declare the job finished and be out of the picture entirely with both sisters whom he now saw in a real and pathetic light.

Though the two were both undeniably beautiful physically and alluring in identical ways, he found it hard to imagine Mireille was as cunning and wicked as her sister Caia who hired him. Yet he had to believe something of a similar nature must have occurred between them for Caia to be so eager to inflict such an extreme type of revenge upon her own sibling.

When Steve returned to his room, he found a small note on his door. It was from his friend Kate who informed him she was out by the pool and would love for him to join her for a late day swim. Once inside his room he quickly changed into his bathing suit and slipped on the hotel robe. He grabbed a towel before taking the elevator to the hallway that led out to the pool area.

When he found Kate, she was in a bright blue bikini, with her eyes hidden beneath over-sized dark sunglasses. He couldn't see if she was awake or asleep, but she looked content to be reclining in the days last sunlight. He quietly bent down closer to her face.

"So how's our future movie star?" he asked softly so as not to startle her.

She quickly turned her head toward him, smiled, reached up top touch his face and removed the dark glasses.

"Hey, come on. No jokes about that. You know I'm not proud of that whole audition, Steve."

"I know, Katie. It's just . . ."

"I'm only doing that as a temporary thing. You know that, right?"

"And I'm going to hold you to it."

She reached over and took his hand, allowing him to pull her up to a seated position on the sunbed. He found it odd that she then proceeded to cover herself with a large towel. This in light of what he had seen of her total body and what she had boldly performed in front of him only a day before.

"Steve, I just wanted to thank you again for being so supportive of me . . . and I guess protective as you were. I wouldn't have done any of it if you weren't in that room with me."

The compliment made him feel good. And as he looked at her classically featured face, he tied not to picture it as he had seen her before, that face displaying the contorted waves of pleasure she was projecting during the sex video audition."

"Well, you were pretty damn convincing. That's all I'll say, Katie."

"Why do you say convincing?"

"I guess because you really were acting, right? I mean you were playing to a computer which was showing nothing. But you performed the whole thing so realistically. I can see why that guy, Kevin, told you what he did."

"So you still think I faked that?  The orgasm?"

"Well, yeah. You're a damn good actress, Katie. What else could it be?"

"Um . . . an orgasm, maybe?"

"Seriously?"

"Steve, I guess it's time to tell you again. And you must believe me. I had a guy in my mind as I was doing that. To make it so real. Imagining he was doing all that to me. And the reactions . . . yeah, they were real."

"Wow. OK, so . . ."

"Steve . . . it was you I was fantasizing about on that bed. And I guess it made it even more exciting for me that I knew you were watching me. I just put Kevin out of my mind. "

"Oh my God. So you weren't just saying that before?"

"Sweetie, I honestly couldn't have performed anything like that without you in my mind, and you in that room."

"Well, I just didn't really think . . ."

"It's not the first time I've fantasied about you, Steve. I just played an old familiar video of us in my mind . . . things I had imagined some time ago, back when we met in San Diego."

He was gradually reacting to what she had just told him, both mentally and physically. It was a revelation he had truly not expected. Nor the growing stimulation it was causing him at that moment as he easily remembered her fully naked body as it now was coyly hidden beneath the towel. She seemed to want to keep her curvaceous form covered in a way that teased his recollections while they spoke.

There never was a doubt in Steve's mind that he was genuinely attracted to Kate in a way that didn't compare at all to Caia or Mireille. He had firstly always respected her, mainly for her efforts to survive in a world of little monetary rewards through acting, and by having to experience, as he had, a lot of rejection along the way. The few times they were in close contact in the past, through work, it just never fully allowed them to cultivate much of a deeper relationship. And this had always been due to their different schedules and unpredictable audition venues. Yet, there never seemed to be a limit to his attraction for her whenever they had by chance connected. Now it seemed with this moment in the fleeting sun and with the availability of time they would need to physically connect, something magic might happen for both of them.

Suddenly Steve's meeting with Mireille at the gym in only several hours began to enter his mind. Yet with Kate sending him a virtual green light about her feelings and attraction for him, he began to envision the afternoon providing the time and place where, through acting out their physical desires, it might elevate their friendship and admiration for each other into something even greater.

The ball seemed squarely in Steve's court now as Kate seemed to be waiting for his reply—some words of affirmation toward her bold confession.

"Katie . . . I know it took courage to tell me that and really confirm it. It's lovely that you did. You should know my feelings for you have never changed. When we met up here in Santa Barbara by coincidence, I confess my heart jumped. In the past we just never had the chance to . . ."

"Well this is an opportunity for us, Steve. Here and now. While we're in this gorgeous city. There may not be a tomorrow the way our lives are pulled around."

"Yeah, we've both seen that a lot these past years, huh? Trying to get discovered. But in the process, I guess we've both always stayed attracted."

She caressed his fingers within her hand. "Now we're here together in this beautiful city, Steve, let's make the best of it."

At that moment, he stood and removed his robe and sat down on the sunbed next to her. Kate also removed the towel from her body, now glowing in the slanting light. While Steve took her hand again in his, she reached over and ran a finger slowly from his chin to the center of his bare chest. Let me please you, Steve. Even more than you saw me yesterday . . ."

* * *