Touching the Billionaire - Holly Jaymes Page 0,64

as if he were praying, but I’d be surprised if God was going to help someone like Theo Wolfe. Then he looked back at me. “That's not what was going on.”

I stared at him, wondering how I could’ve fallen for him. “I don’t believe you.”

He stepped up to me, his expression looking a little bit more desperate. “Please, Madeline. It’s not what you think-”

“It doesn’t matter now, does it, Theo? I’m done on the film. You’ll be done shortly. It seems like now’s a good time to move on anyway. It’s not like any of this was real, right?”

“That’s not true. At least not for me.”

“It’s too bad that you can’t send this little performance to the Oscar committee, because I’m sure you would win.” I turned away from him, heading to my car that seemed a million miles away.

“Madeline, wait.” Theo caught up to me again but I pulled my arm out of his grip. “Please, we have to talk about this.”

“There’s nothing to talk about, Theo. You did your job. I fell for it. Now the job is over. We both move on.”

He looked around. The driver of my car was watching us and a few other people had stopped to see what was going on.

He let out an exasperated breath and then said in a low tone, “Come up to my place tonight so we can talk.”

“I won’t be coming up to your place anymore.”

I got into the car and was glad when the driver pulled out into traffic and away from Theo. He drove me back to the condo. As I rode the elevator up to the eighth floor, I realized now was as good a time as any for me to find my own place. I couldn’t go on living in the same building that Theo lived in. I didn’t think I would ever be able to face him again.

Of course, I would have to when the movie came out because there would be media appearances that I’d likely have to do with him. But that was nearly a year away. I had that time to get over what Theo had done to me.

When I got to my room, I saw the script for the historical movie set to film in Croatia. I called my agent and told her to let the director know that I was indeed interested and that I’d be flying out to California tonight so I’d be able to meet with him whenever convenient.

I bought a ticket on the first plane I could get that night, I packed my bag, ordered a car, and called my sister on the way to the airport to let her know my plans. I figured now was a good time to be away as she and her boyfriend were heating things up. As it turned out, his news was that he’d found a job at another firm, and since he wasn’t her boss anymore, they could date. In fact, now that I was gone, he could move in with her.

As the plane left the ground, my heart dropped, but I lifted my chin and looked out the window as New York fell away. I refocused on my plans. I was going to rebuild my career, and forget Theo Wolfe.

Time to Move On

Theo

Fuck, fuck, fuck! I watched with a mixture of panic and disbelief as Madeline ran away from me and got into the car to leave. What the hell had happened? Last night had been an evening of near perfection, and then today it all fell apart. I couldn’t wrap my head around what had changed. The only thing that I could think of was that she’d overheard Corrine talking to me. Or maybe Corrine had said something. Whatever it was, Madeline hated me.

I suspected something was up when she began to ad-lib her dialogue using angrier and meaner lines. But then she clocked me hard with her slap, and I knew something had to be up. When we did the scene again, she did it as written and performed it perfectly, which had me wondering if I misinterpreted her earlier take. But I hadn’t. She believed that everything between us had been fake. A ruse to make her perform, and she was pissed. Why the hell hadn’t I told Corrine the truth? Even more so, why hadn’t I told Madeline how I really felt?

For a moment. I considered telling her everything right there, out in the open in front of the driver and everybody