Touching the Billionaire - Holly Jaymes Page 0,38
they were talking about, but when I went on the Internet to look, I found two photos of you with him. Now, I know he's a good-looking man, but I thought we agreed that for your career, you needed not to fall for his charms. If you are to be taken seriously, Madeline, you can’t become another notch on Theo Wolfe’s bedpost.”
Panicked now, I reached for my tablet, turning it on and doing a search using Theo’s and my name. Mom was right; there were two pictures there. In one, Theo and I were sitting in a grassy spot, looking like we were having a picnic. He was leaning into me and I was smiling at something he was saying. It was the day that we were filming in the park and he came to have lunch with me. The next picture was of me and him walking into the condo building together.
The fact that the story was true rattled my nerves, but these pictures could easily be explained away.
“This is tabloid trash, Mom,” I told her. “That first picture was on set and we are just having lunch and talking. The second one, going into the building, is of both of us coming home. It turns out he has a penthouse in the same building that Nadine lives in.”
My mother let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank goodness. I know that you’re a very good actress, Madeline, and I would hate for all that to be dismissed because people think you’re using Theo Wolfe to get ahead.”
“I feel the same way, Mom.”
My mother must have been satisfied with my explanation because she continued on with the conversation, asking me how the shoot was going. I asked her how things were over in England and considered asking her if she’d seen my dad who was doing a production of Death of a Salesman on the West End, but since they pretty much hated each other’s guts, I refrained.
Watching my parents’ relationship fall apart into utter hate and disdain, made me realize that a long-term relationship between actors was unwise. It was one reason I had to keep my thoughts of seeing Theo beyond the movie in check. My parents were proof that that kind of relationship didn’t work. In fact, the history of the entertainment world was littered with examples of failed celebrity marriages. I wondered if celebrities could have a successful marriage even with a non-celebrity. Their schedules required them to be gone a lot. Often there were love scenes like the ones I was doing with Theo. I didn’t know how any partner could endure watching the one they cared about kissing and making love to somebody else on the big screen for everyone to see. I was pretty sure the next time I saw Theo on screen kissing another woman, I’d want to rip her eyes out, and he wasn’t even mine. Not really.
When I got off the phone, I wondered what was the best way to get in touch with Theo about what was going on. I could call or text him but I wondered if maybe the tabloids had figured out a way to hack into our phones. I could just take the elevator up to see him, but maybe they’d paid someone in the building to leak information about us. I had a moment of panic, wondering if there were surveillance cameras in the elevator where Theo and I had spent several long rides up to his penthouse making out.
As I pondered my quandary, there was a knock at the door. I walked over and looked through the peephole. It was Theo. I opened the door to him. He was wearing a hoodie and a baseball cap, making me think he was wondering if there were eyes watching us in the building as well.
He moved inside, quickly shutting the door behind him. “We need to talk.”
“I’ve heard. My mother called demanding to know if I was risking my career sleeping with Theo Wolfe.”
He pulled his baseball cap off and ran his fingers through his thick blond hair. “My publicist is on it already, denying the rumor and shaming the tabloids for publishing the story.” He put his cap back on his head and stood in front of me with his hands on his hips. “He’s essentially calling the tabloids a liar and explaining those pictures away, which of course they can be, because one we were on set and two, we both live