"But I've already been in one of your movies, Boze. Remember? I played two characters. I don't think it's for me," Mac insisted as his best friend filled him in on the details of his new spy romance. How appropriately fitting, he'd thought. Bozer wasn't buying any excuses though. He was relentless.
"Mac, don't hang me out to dry. The camera loves you. Besides, who else am I gonna get to do this without paying them in anything other than home-cooked meals?"
It wasn't like they had all the time in the world between missions, but Mac could use a distraction. After all of the mess with Desi had fizzled, he found himself with too much time to think. And extra time with Riley… which he quite enjoyed. But it was also a little dangerous, because the more time he spent with her, the less he wanted to be away from her. And he wasn't sure how she'd feel about knowing that.
"Fine," he gave in with a little sigh. Maybe this was a sign. A way to distance himself a little from Riley. Not that Mac wanted that, but it was getting rather difficult to keep things strictly platonic between them. She'd always been beautiful and intelligent; full of the charisma that any man would want. But perhaps it had taken a relationship with the wrong person to see what he'd been missing out on. Riley was loyal, but she was also so much more than that.
"Great!" Bozer beamed up at Mac before engulfing him in a brotherly hug. "After work tonight we'll go over the script and you can meet your leading lady. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised."
Mac wasn't so sure about that, but he patted Bozer on the back as his eyebrows arched inquisitively. "If you say so. This better not be another one of your set-up schemes."
It was– it absolutely was. But Bozer also knew chemistry when he saw it. Mac and Riley's crackled when they were around each other, and he was certain it would equally show on the big screen. He just hoped that Riley would be more easy to convince.
Surprisingly, she was.
"I better not find out you're using this as some sort of reality show or something," Riley scoffed between the smashing of buttons on the video game controller cinched in her hands. "Or blackmail. Remember, I can hack anything. That means all your socials, your phone... whatever I want."
Bozer laughed, even if the noise came out a bit intimidated and garbled. Riley could probably easily kick his ass if she wanted to.
"I promise it's not. You would be doing me a huge favor. And do you really wanna deprive the world of Miss Riley Davis? I mean, you're the coolest girl in the world. Everyone needs to see that."
A shy smile tugged at her lips, and Riley's elbow shoved gently into Bozer's. "Stop trying to butter me up. You knew I was gonna say yes the instant you said it would help you out."
Bozer nodded proudly before dropping a script onto the coffee table she and Mac shared. "Look it over and we'll meet here after work, alright? I'm not gonna say who your co-star is, except that you're gonna be thanking me later."
Especially when they got to page 54 and the kissing scene.