Touching the Billionaire - Holly Jaymes Page 0,6

change her mind? I mean. if he was grabbing your ass and it wasn't in the script, you might have a complaint there.”

“Well, since I threatened to pop one of his balls, I'm not sure I actually have a complaint. I'd like to have the part but I don't want you to have to sacrifice your reputation or put me in a position where I'm going to have to deal with a bunch of animosity."

And I had to concede that he didn’t actually touch my ass, but still, the move felt aggressive to me. I couldn’t be sure if he was trying to grope me for his own satisfaction, or if, like he said, he was acting the way Jack would. Either way, I responded in kind. I’d have to take the fallout, whatever it was.

We hung up on the call and I entered my sister’s office building, taking the elevator up to her office.

“Hey, how did the test go today?” my sister Nadine asked when her secretary let me in to see her.

“Don’t ask.” I flopped down onto the couch in her office.

“Oh dear, what did you do?” She came around her desk and went to the little kitchenette she had in her office where she stashed her favorite whiskey.

“Why do you think I did something?” I was a little bit incensed that she figured it was my fault that everything went badly.

“Okay, so what did they do?” She held up her bottle of whiskey and shook it as a gesture to ask me if I wanted any. I held my thumb and forefinger up to indicate I wanted just a little bit.

“Theo Wolfe was about to grab my ass and so in response, I threatened to grab his balls.”

My sister laughed. “You’re the only woman in the world that would complain and retaliate at having Theo Wolfe grab her ass.” She poured each of us a finger of whiskey. She handed me a glass and then took a seat in the chair across from me.

“It wasn’t in the script!” I hated that I was having to defend myself.

“Doesn’t acting involve some level of interpretation of the characters and what they might be doing in the situation?” she asked.

“Well, I interpreted his almost grabbing my ass to mean I should almost grab his balls because that’s what my character would do. But I’m pretty sure I’m about to be fired.”

Nadine sighed. “So...are you here for legal advice?”

“No. I just wanted to come and say hi. It’s possible though I’m going to have to stay with you a little bit longer than I anticipated since I’m probably going to be fired.” Perhaps if I talked about my impending firing enough, it wouldn't hurt so much when it finally came. For a little added fortification, I downed my drink.

“You know you can stay as long as you want.” She downed her drink and looked longingly over the whiskey bottle and then gave her head a shake. After all, it was still the middle of the day. “I do have a thing that I’m doing tonight so I won’t be back until late.”

I stood and took my glass, putting it in the little sink in her kitchenette. “It’ll give me more time to wallow in my despair. I know you don’t want to be around for that.”

She rose from her chair and put her glass next to mine. “Just don’t eat all the ice cream. Or drink all my booze.” Then she grinned and reached out to give me a hug, patting my back as she did. “It’s all going to turn out fine, Madeline. You know how this business is. You might be a little rusty but you’ll find your footing again.”

“You know those are mixed metaphors, right?”

She rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean.”

“I do and I appreciate your support.”

Push and Pull

Theo

I watched as Madeline strode out of the room. I couldn’t decide if I was pissed that she was threatening my nuts or impressed that she had the balls to do it at all.

“You better not fire her,” Corrine said. “Come look at the test. You might not like that she’s a woman who isn’t impressed by you, Wolfe, but you’ll like what you see on the screen.”

“She acted exactly the way Nicolette would,” Jon said, going over to join Corrine to watch the playback.

I made my way over to watch as well. I knew they were both right. I could feel the power and tension radiating between