Touching the Billionaire - Holly Jaymes Page 0,22

after Corrine said “cut”. The woman was making me crazy, second-guessing myself and my actions.

“You know, movies like this really do an injustice for women,” she said, balling up her sandwich wrapper.

I frowned, wondering what kind of complaint she was going to lodge now about misogyny in the movie. Before, I was irked when she’d complain. Now I was sort of amused. “Really, how's that?”

“For one, when I’m doing all the running, I’m not really wearing those high-heeled boots. I switch to sneakers. Women get the idea that running in heels is a thing.”

“Your body double is a woman and can run in them,” I pointed out. “We don’t want you to break an ankle because you’re the star of the show.”

She smirked at me. “Well, she also does an injustice to women. It can’t be comfortable to run like that. And of course she’s a trained stuntwoman, so she would know how to do it. If the average woman tried it, she’d probably break her neck.”

“Perhaps that’s why they call it the magic of movies.” I leaned to the side, nudging her shoulder as I popped the last bit of my sandwich in my mouth.

“It’s not much better for men. Only a little bit better but not much,” she said.

“How so?”

“Well, I don’t know how you come out at the end of the scenes looking so wrinkle-free and clean. Any other man could have their shirttails out, sweat stains in the pits, and their hair out of place.”

I laughed. “You’re right.”

“See, that’s the problem, because men want to be you. Handsome, strong, suave, never getting dirty or wrinkled, and of course, women want to have you.”

I bit my lip to keep from asking if she was one of those women.

“Then of course, women want to be like me, or at least like Nicolette. Glamorous, sophisticated, worldly, strong, intelligent, put together”

“Beautiful?” I asked.

She looked away, but not before I noticed a pink hue to her cheeks. The lovely Miss Fox was blushing. I considered calling her out on it, but then decided that was exactly the kind of thing a douchey guy would do, and I was improving my ways, so I kept my mouth shut.

We finished our lunch and were chatting amicably, when Corrine showed up, telling us it was time to get back to work. Madeline rose from the tarp and headed down back to makeup and hair to get ready to start shooting again.

“You know to be careful with all that, right?” Corrine said.

“What are you talking about?”

“Theo Wolfe, I don’t think you know the power of your appeal. You don’t want to get into a situation in which she thinks your interest is real, since all this is just an act to get a performance out of her.”

I stared at Corrine, wanting to correct her. I wasn’t trying to use some sort of super charm to get a performance out of Madeline. Everything that I was doing was genuine and authentic. On the other hand, she was right; authentic or not, I couldn’t have Madeline thinking that my attention was more than being friendly on set.

Still, I hadn’t seen Madeline show any indication that she was attracted to me, at least not anything that wasn’t supposed to be Nicolette. The only times she looked at me like maybe there was something there, we were in the scene together. Sure, she blushed when I suggested she was beautiful, but that was a natural response, wasn’t it?

“We’re just being friendly on set. I don’t see any indication that she is at risk of falling for my charms.”

Corrine rolled her eyes. “As strong and independent as Madeline is, no one, not even her is immune to you, Wolfe.”

There was a time in my life I would’ve responded to that with some sort of cocky, arrogant, comeback, such as I was indeed God’s gift to women. It was maturity or maybe just being tired of being a cocky and arrogant asshole that I didn’t respond at all.

We filmed another two scenes on location and then we took a break, and Madeline was done for the day, so she left the set. I had a little bit more work to do and by the time I left the set, it was close to seven in the evening. I was looking forward to getting home and making dinner, reading my lines for the next day, and going to bed.

As I exited the car to head into my building, it occurred to me