Touching the Billionaire - Holly Jaymes Page 0,24

a moment. “I was really nervous about it because as I told you, I’ve never kissed on screen before, and I wanted to make sure that I got it right.”

In my head, I had all kinds of cocky comebacks, but I held my tongue, although I couldn’t hold back the snicker that I had at my own nutty thoughts.

“What?”

I waved my hand and shook my head. “It’s nothing, it’s me trying to keep and control my baser, immature urges.”

“Baser urges?”

Oh crap, did she want to know what I was thinking? Should I tell her? I decided instead to reassure her. “It went fine. I saw the dailies and we pulled off exactly what we needed to do.”

“Oh, good.” She gnawed a little bit on her lower lip and it was so fucking sexy. “All of them?”

“All of them. Even at first when I stole that kiss.” Thinking of that kiss, hell, of all the kisses, I desperately wanted to know what a real kiss from Madeline, not Nicolette, would be like. Danger, danger rang through my head as I slid from the corner to the middle of the elevator next to her. I had only a few floors left to find out what kissing Madeline Fox was really like.

The Real Theo

Madeline

It had been a long time since I’d run into Theo in the elevator. In fact, I hadn’t run into him since the night he showed up at my place with a bottle of wine and I was sure he was vetting me for the role again. For a time after that, I wished I would run into him and then I’d chastise myself for hoping for that. I needed to be careful about how much I enjoyed spending time with him and talking to him. Yes, he could be a little bit arrogant and annoying, but he was also sweet and I appreciated how patient he was with me as I re-acclimated to the atmosphere on a set and how he was willing to help me and even listen to my ideas.

I was reminded of it today when he came to sit with me for lunch. I supposed, in some ways, going off and sitting by myself made it seem like I was the new kid on the block who had no friends. But in truth, I wanted to sit and enjoy the park and have a moment to collect myself as we got ready for the next part of the day’s filming.

As a kid on a set, it always felt a little bit like a playground. Acting was fun, a game. Now as an adult on the set, I was enjoying myself and enjoying the work, but I was also immensely aware of how much pressure Theo put on himself for this movie to go well, which in turn put additional pressure on me. Not only did I need to make this work for me, but also, I needed to live up to his expectations.

In many ways, the chemistry between us made working together easier. In other ways, it was harder. Not all actors who had great chemistry wanted to take it off-screen. I was certain that Theo wasn’t interested in me like that outside of work. In all those intense scenes with snap, crackle, and pop between us, he was acting just like I was, except my reaction to him had nothing to do with acting and everything to do with my body responding to the sexy Theo Wolfe bantering with me and kissing me.

Today, at least, there wasn’t any kissing or intense sensual situations. Mostly there was arguing and running. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t an intensity in being around Theo Wolfe. And so, I was taking a moment eating by myself to gather my wits about me again.

When he showed up and sat with me though, I wasn’t about to send him away. As it turned out, our conversation was light and fun, and it took my mind away from the work so I didn’t get overly stressed out about it. As a result, the work we did that afternoon went fairly smoothly.

I finished before him and headed home to shower and change, and then I met my sister for dinner at a restaurant near her office. Like any other woman, she was very much interested in knowing about Theo Wolfe. Was he nice? Was he as handsome up close and personal? Was his charm real or just something for show? Yes, yes and