Derek Wills preferred his Scotch neat, his steaks rare, and his women a little dangerous.

That's why, for the life of him, he couldn't figure out why he was so drawn to Karen Cartwright.

She was everything that was against his type. Uncomplicated, unpretentious, unjaded. She was what he would actually call stable. And although it pained him to entertain the idea, there even was – for god's sake – an innocence about her.

Regardless, Derek found his thoughts constantly drifting to her. He had had bloody visions of her, for fuck's sake. Troubling, overwhelming visions of her as Marilyn – his Marilyn. Through them, Derek had come to realize that Karen Cartwright was The One for the starring role in his production.

And he had been right. Of course, he knew that he would be, but Derek was accustomed to selecting his stars through methods that didn't involve visions, of all things. Quite the contrary, he was used to being rational and objective while making decisions in his work.

Derek was also used to being rational and objective when it came to women.

He never came on to a woman or accepted her advances without a logical reason. He certainly never did it based only on a feeling. It was always based on whether or not he needed stress relief; or whether at that moment in time he was turned on or amused by her enough and it was convenient; or whether such a dalliance could further his professional objectives.

Derek certainly had never known the experience of actually falling for a woman, not only without a rational reason but in spite of one.

Until now.

Karen Cartwright might have been "green" in almost every way, but she wasn't stupid.

She learned quickly, and although the backstabbing, cynical ways of show business sometimes took her breath away, it wasn't long before she understood the basic lay of the land. Plus, she wasn't as naïve as everyone assumed her to be: The dark side of human nature reared its ugly head in Iowa every once in a while, too, you know.

It's just that, as a general rule, the wickedest faces of human nature had to slink around in the dark back home. Here, these faces strutted about in the clear light of day – and were often even celebrated.

And nobody wore this face so perfectly well, in Karen's estimation, than Derek Wills.

It wasn't that Derek was so openly demanding and rude and arrogant. His genius talent had earned him the privilege of being these nasty things and more in the arts world. After all, his my-way-or-the-highway-you-sodding-mother-fuckers approach had yielded success after success.

But Karen thought it horribly wrong that he would take this approach from the stage and apply it to his personal life. And in Karen's opinion, inviting an auditionee to his home after hours because he "needs to see everything she's got" and regularly screwing his actresses – his employees – unquestionably crossed the line.

That's why, for the life of her, Karen couldn't figure out why she was so drawn to Derek.

She should have been repelled from him, disgusted by the very thought of him.

Instead, she was drawn to him. And it went far beyond the flutter of attraction to his handsome face or his deep, sexy voice. Every time he spoke to her – and he actually did speak to her sometimes instead of just yell – she was rendered breathless and speechless. Every time he touched her – and he seemed to find plenty of opportunities to do so – she was overwhelmed.

There was no denying that Derek had some kind of mysterious power over her.

It puzzled Karen. But more than it puzzled her, it scared her.