'No, I do. After I reached twenty-one and tried to unravel some of the trusts Mom had supposedly set up for me, I realized I was almost broke. I managed to retrieve enough money to buy myself a place to live and I've been there ever since.'

Great, so her mom had stolen all her earning as well. Mom sounded like the perfect match for Dakota's birth-father, the notorious Beau Turner, ex-football great and current oil magnate. The pair of them made him want to puke. Awkwardly he patted Robyn's thigh.

'You can stay with me until you figure out what to do.'

She sighed. 'I don't know how long that will take. I'm kind of out of ideas.'

Dakota studied her. Would this be a good time to tell her he'd like to meet the a.s.shole and string him up or would that be coming on too strong? After all, they weren't even really a couple and his caveman act might scare her away completely.

'Listen, stay with me, we'll figure something out.'

He flinched as she flung herself at his chest, wrapped her arms around him and kissed his cheek.

'Thank you, Dakota.' She kissed him again, this time on the mouth. 'You really are too good to be true.'

He tried to pull away. 'Don't say that. I'm just a c.r.a.ppy guy.'

'But you're my c.r.a.ppy guy.'

He let her draw him into the kiss, enjoying her softness and the simple pleasure of her in his arms. Was it really possible to be too nice? Did she really see him as her guy or was she just messing with his head? He drew back and cleared his throat.

'Time to get moving. If we get a wiggle on, we'll be in California by nightfall.'

She released her grip on his shoulders. 'That's good, isn't it?'

'If you want to get out of this truck, then yeah.'

She shoved the hair out of her eyes and stared at him. 'I suppose it is, but I've kind of enjoyed spending time with you.'

He managed a smile. 'Driving me nuts, you mean.'

'You are so easy to tease, Dakota Scott.'

'Right back at ya.' He tipped an imaginary hat and headed toward the tiny bathroom. Her laughter followed him inside and he grinned at his reflection in the mirror. Best to keep it light, best not to tell her how he was starting to feel. Every time they got close, she used her wits to back away from him he understood that now, even enjoyed the challenge. His smile died. But would she ever take him seriously? Did she truly believe she'd destroy him?

Robyn stared at the flimsy bathroom door as Dakota slid it shut behind him. He was way too good to her. She knew it and yet it was hard to resist the temptation to be cherished and looked after. She flopped back down on to the bed, arms spread wide.

She hadn't intended to tell him about Damien Pardini and the situation with her apartment, she'd intended to handle it herself. Not that Dakota had suggested he would interfere, but she knew him well enough now to recognize what he would consider the right thing to do. She almost wished he would beat the c.r.a.p out of Damien, but she knew it wouldn't be right. If there was any justice in the world, Damien would get his, without her or Dakota's interference.

Dakota was willing to let her stay with him until she was ready to leave. The fact that she wanted to stay frightened her. Had she simply leapt from dependency on one man straight to another? She shook her head. No way. Her relationship with Dakota was different. He liked her, he allowed her to be her b.i.t.c.hy self, and even though he was bigger and stronger, she never felt in the least bit threatened. He just wasn't the type of guy who would hit a woman; she knew it in her heart.

Idly she wondered how long he would stay in LA. Long enough for them to get to know each other better, she hoped.

'G.o.d, no!'

She clapped a hand over her mouth and hoped Dakota hadn't heard her over the roar of the shower. How many times did she have to remind herself that she wasn't in a healthy enough place to have a relationship? Dammit, it had taken her ten years to reach a point in her life where she'd begun to believe her feelings and opinions mattered, only one year for Damien to knock her right back down again.

She sat up and reached for her hairbrush. Combing her hair always soothed her when she was agitated. But had Damien pushed her right back down? No, she hadn't started taking drugs or abusing alcohol again. She'd gotten out of the situation and walked away from him with her pride intact. That was good, right? She'd learnt to protect herself.

Her fingers began automatically braiding her hair. A small sense of pride settled in her stomach. Finally she'd learnt something. If she chose to stay with Dakota, she also now knew that she had the ability to walk away.

Chapter Twelve.

'G.o.d, I hate LA.'

Dakota frowned as he tried to change lanes on the freeway and was met with a barrage of horns and shouted insults. The only good thing was that with the size of his rig, no one was too keen to get in his way. He maneuvered the truck into the inside lane and abruptly came to a dead stop. Luckily, the brakes were working fine now. The traffic never seemed to get above five miles an hour and there seemed to be no reason for it either.

'That's the exit you want.' Robyn jabbed at the map and then pointed to the right.

'Yeah, I got that.' He clicked on his turn signal. 'Hang on, honey, big guy coming through.'

He managed to turn down the ramp and slowly drew clear of the tangled traffic on to another wide five-lane road.

'Jay wrote down the instructions to get to the Just Enough Productions film lot. They're in with the map. Can you read his scrawl?'

Robyn found the directions and started to read as Dakota slowly approached the next set of lights. He glanced at her again, noticed her brow furrowing.

'Can you make it out? I need some help here.'

She smiled at him. 'It's OK. I know where they are. They're quite close to Universal Studios.'

'And that is where?'

She looked up and surveyed the street. 'Not that far. Just keep going straight for another five blocks.' She folded up the bigger map and set the written notes on top of it. 'Haven't you ever been to Universal?'

'Why should I? I'm not an actor, I'm just a country boy at heart.'

'I meant to the amus.e.m.e.nt park, dummy.'

He adjusted his sun visor against the glare coming off the road. 'I might've when I was younger, but not in the last twenty years.'

'I had a job there once.'

'You did?'

'Yeah, in the lost years, as I call them. I needed money to feed my addictions, so I used to work as a character actress at the big theme parks when they needed someone to step in.'

'It sounds like h.e.l.l, being nice to kids all day.'

'It wasn't that bad. I kind of liked being a princess for a day.' She shrugged. 'It helped me forget about myself. Some of the other costumes, the ones you had to zip yourself into, sucked. I almost pa.s.sed out from the heat once right on top of some poor little kid.'

'I bet you made a beautiful princess.'

She looked over the top of her sungla.s.ses at him. 'What have I told you about being a suck-up?'

'That it's not necessary because you already think I'm perfect. Have I gotten that right?'

She snorted and hunched her shoulder at him.

He made a satisfied sound. 'See? Now you're speechless with awe. I like that in a woman.'

He flinched as she whacked his arm.

'Hey, no hitting the driver! That's not fair.'

'I'm not continuing this conversation, Dakota, because you are an idiot. I am going to tell you to change lanes because you need to turn right at the next corner.'

He grinned and checked his mirrors before moving to the right. He loved it when she got all cool and haughty on him. The light changed and he turned the wheel into a slightly narrower street shadowed by tall industrial-sized buildings.

'Hey, Robyn, I've just realized how you can earn your keep.'

She sighed. 'I've already told you, I'm not pretending to be your s.e.x slave.'

'You are my s.e.x slave. What I meant was, you know your way around LA. You can help me negotiate my way through all the c.r.a.p.'

Silence followed his words. He risked a glance at Robyn, found her staring straight ahead.

'Do you really mean that?' Her voice was tremulous.

'Of course I do. I hate big cities, I really do, and this one gives me hives.' He patted her arm. 'You can show me the good places to eat, the places to avoid and be my chauffeur. If you want to, of course.'

'It would be cool to be useful.'

Dakota spotted the logo of the film company and slowed down. 'Of course, I can only pay you with s.e.x. Does that sound OK?'

She smiled at him then. 'As long as there's a lot of it and it's of the highest quality, I think that will be all right.'

'It's a deal then.' He lowered the window as a guard from a small security booth approached the truck. 'Hi, I'm Dakota Scott. I'm due to film a commercial with Just Enough Productions this week. I was told I could park my horse rig here.'

The security guard checked his clipboard and then scratched his head, almost dislodging his faded baseball cap. 'I see your name, sonny, but I don't see no mention of you parking that truck here. I'll have to call Miss Stephanie.'

Dakota smiled. 'No worries, you do that. We'll wait.'

The guy retreated to his booth and Dakota turned up the air conditioning and his Garth Brooks CD.

Robyn poked him in the ribs. 'What's the hold-up?'

'The guard wants to check if the rig's allowed to stay here for the duration.'

She sighed. 'They don't seem very organized, do they?'

'I expect, back in the day, you'd have had a tantrum by now, wouldn't you?'

'I probably would have. But luckily for you, I've gotten over myself.'

He leant over and kissed her soft scented cheek. When he straightened he realized the security guard was by his window again with a young woman. He opened the door and stepped down out of the truck.

'Oh, wow, it's so cool to finally meet you!'

Dakota turned to the young red-haired woman next to the guard who was squealing and jumping up and down, her perfect b.r.e.a.s.t.s threatened to escape her tiny top. The rest of her was tall and thin, her black skirt so short he wondered if she could actually sit down in it. He held out his hand.

'Hi, I'm Dakota Scott.'

'I know! I'm Stephanie Ford, the production a.s.sistant for J.E.P. I have pictures of you all around my cubicle.'

She grabbed his hand with both of hers and clutched it to her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. He winced as her oversized plastic rings dug into his fingers.

'Nice to meet you, Miss Ford.'

'Oh, please, call me Stephanie.'

Dakota carefully disengaged his hand and heard the door on the other side of his truck thump shut. Robyn had obviously decided to take a hand in the proceedings.

'I was told I could leave my horse rig parked up here for the duration of the shoot. Is that still OK?'

Stephanie nodded so enthusiastically her huge sungla.s.ses fell off her head. 'Yeah, that's fine, that's perfect, that's '

'Here are your sungla.s.ses.' Robyn sounded as snotty as h.e.l.l as she picked up the gla.s.ses and handed them back, interrupting Stephanie in full flow.

'Thank you.' Stephanie glanced uncertainly at Robyn and then back at Dakota who couldn't repress a grin. 'Um, who is this? I only have you on my list.'

Dakota drew Robyn against his side and hugged her. 'This is my personal a.s.sistant, Robyn Cooper. She'll be taking care of all the details of my trip here.'

His personal a.s.sistant? What the h.e.l.l was that about?

Robyn tried to ease away from Dakota, but he held her far too tightly. She compromised by deliberately leaning into him and standing on the toe of his boot. He flinched but didn't let go. She bore down harder. Didn't he understand that she wanted to stay below the radar?

'Your a.s.sistant?' Stephanie looked as doubtful as Robyn felt.

'Yeah, didn't my brother Jay tell you?' Dakota frowned. 'Mind you, he's not the most organized of people, as I'm sure you know. Can you make sure that Ms Cooper gets all the necessary security clearance so she can stay nice and close to me?'

He winked at Stephanie, who blushed and visibly melted. Robyn ground her teeth. He was so going to pay for this.

'Yes, of course, Mr Scott. We'll sort that out right now. I have a car ready to take you to your hotel.'

'Which hotel is that?' Robyn asked, her smile as saccharine as she could make it. Dakota didn't know that, in this town, status was everything. Even the choice of hotel was an indication of your current standing amongst the great and the good.

'The Hilton at Universal City.' Stephanie looked anxiously at Dakota. 'Is that OK? It's real close and they have some nice rooms there.'

'Sounds good to me.' Dakota chuckled. 'I was half-expecting Jay to put me up in a barn.'