Touching the Billionaire - Holly Jaymes Page 0,7
the two of us during the scene. I was testing her and she knew it. She not only knew it, but also she stood up to it. She never broke character. I had to give her some credit for that.
Corrine played back a few minutes of the scene and she was right. All that snap, crackle and pop I felt bouncing between us showed up on the screen. It was exactly what this movie needed. And Jon was right that she did exactly what Nicolette would have done in the same situation.
Even so, I had so much riding on this movie. She’d proven herself in this one little scene but could she carry a movie? Could she continue to provide the level of tension and chemistry between us to make this movie work?
“So, what do you think? As someone who’s investing a lot of money in this project, I’m telling you, Theo, you need to keep her,” Jon said.
“I don’t know why you all think I’m getting ready to fire her.” I shoved my hands on my hips and glared at both of them, even though they were right, because for a moment, I had thought about firing her. I mean, who did that? Who grabbed their boss’s balls? Okay, so she didn't grab my balls, which might have been why I didn’t fire her right then and there. But her long fingers were precariously close to body organs that I highly valued.
“Besides, if you fire her, she might sue you,” Corrine said, looking at me intently.
“You know the contract is left open for us to replace her up until a certain time, right?” I replied.
Corrine shook her head. “I’m not talking about her suing you for breach of contract. I’m talking about her suing you for grabbing her ass.”
I made a face. “I was just interpreting the scene.”
Corrine got close to me, staring me in the eyes. “And she was responding to your interpretation with her own interpretation.”
“She threatened to pop my ball,” I said, feeling like a pussy for letting her get that close to me.
“She got as close to your ball as you got to her ass.” Corrine patted the camera. “I’ve got it all on film if you need to see it again.” She sighed and looked at me with a combination of annoyance and frustration. “Theo, she’s exactly what you said you wanted for this part. And to be honest, you were pushing her and doing it in a sexual manner. Now, I know that no woman has ever told you ‘no’ or suggested the way you are around them is inappropriate, but what you did was borderline harassment, and now you’re pissed because Madeline called you out on it which is exactly what Nicolette would do.”
Fuck. She was right. I knew I wasn’t a perfect man. I wasn’t a saint. But I also wasn’t a man who would put his hands on a woman who didn’t want them there. I wasn’t the type of person who would use his position to take advantage of a woman or to manipulate her. At least I thought I wasn’t. And yet, I was very much afraid that was exactly what I had done.
“You should call her and apologize and then congratulate her for a job well done,” Jon said.
“You definitely need to apologize to her,” Corrine agreed.
“You just need to make sure that you maintain that tension between you two,” Jon added. He put his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t make too nice with her or you might lose that chemistry.”
He had a point. Television history was filled with characters that had great chemistry from the push and pull in the tension between them but then lost it the minute they got rid of the push and indulged the pull. Chemistry wasn’t well understood, but it was known to be fragile and so I would need to work to maintain a constant push and pull between Madeline and me during this production. That didn’t mean I was going to continue to be aggressive and obnoxious with her. But it did mean I would have to continue to act in a way that brought out that fire in her eyes that I saw as my hand slipped lower along her hip and as she met me stare for stare, and action for action during the scene
“We’ll continue as scheduled. If you think she needs to be reassured, you call her.”
Corrine’s eyes narrowed in disapproval. “Don’t be an asshole,