Take Two (34 page)

Fudge flashed a badge and pulled her past the guards and through the double doors. “Micah was up next when I left him.”

Inside the room was abuzz with activity. At least two hundred people were spread around the small ballroom. Light bulbs flashed and boom mics bobbed above the photo area at the end of the room. Maddie stood on her tiptoes to see above the heads of the press.
There.
Posed in front of the America’s Choice Awards logo, looking like the hot god he was.

“I haven’t had a girlfriend in years,” Micah said in answer to a question Maddie hadn’t heard. “I have a lot to learn.”

“Micah, where did you meet Maddie?” a reporter near the front asked.

They were talking about her.

“You’ll dig it up soon enough.” Micah was all suave and charming. “Some of you are especially talented with that kind of thing.”

A few people laughed.

Fudge waved his arm, signaling to Micah.

Maddie, raised herself on her toes again and nearly choked on her own spit as she briefly met his glance. Her stomach flip-flopped at the look he gave her, his eyes wide, full of longing and love.

Fudge tugged at her sleeve. “We gotta get outta here if you don’t want to get photographed.”

Maddie followed as he crossed behind the crowd to a small room off the ballroom. “This is a lounge for while the stars wait for their turn with press.” He gestured for her to enter. “But no one’s been using it. I’ll tell Micah you’re here.”

Maddie entered the room, and found it furnished in old Hollywood décor. A white couch and two armchairs created a sitting area around a television showing a live feed of the award show next door. The winner of Best Director was giving his award speech. And it wasn’t Beaumont.
This night’s getting better and better.

After several minutes of unsuccessfully trying to concentrate on the show, Maddie paced the room. Where was Micah? What would he say when he saw her? What would she say when she saw him?

After spotting a sink at the bar on the opposite side of the room, she crossed to wash her hands, sticky from nerves and chocolate ice cream. While drying, she had the eerie feeling she was being watched. She turned and saw him, leaning against the door frame. Excitement and desire rushed through her and the only reason she wasn’t running into his arms was fear that her knees would collapse before she reached him.

Micah looked her over from head to toe. Her body trembled under his ravenous gaze. When his eyes reached her chocolate stain, he chuckled. Maddie cringed. Of course he’d notice all of her. He stepped into the room, still saying nothing.

She had an idea. In what she hoped sounded like a reporter’s voice, she said, “Micah Preston.”

He cocked his head.

She took a step toward him. “Rumor has it that you don’t believe you can have a successful movie career and a girlfriend. Do you care to comment?”

He relaxed, understanding settling on his face. “This is true.”

She tensed. Did this mean he still believed they had no future?

“I have historically stood my ground on the idea that romance has no place in Hollywood.” He stepped toward her. “But recently I’ve had a change of heart.”

She swallowed, taking another step. “A change of heart?”

“I still think it’s a difficult situation, don’t get me wrong there.” He moved again toward her. “But relationships are about sacrifice and compromise. And as long as we choose each other more often than we choose our careers, I think we might have a shot.” He furrowed his brow. “I’m not sure if she’s completely thought about the sacrifices she’ll have to make for her own career.”

Maddie took a deep breath. She’d thought about it, but she knew that wasn’t the same as experiencing it. It wouldn’t be easy, especially facing her Beaumont past again, but Micah had given up a way of thinking for her. She could give up things for him as well.
It takes two.

“Do you care what the press says about you? About her?”

“Not in the slightest.” He suddenly seemed to remember she was pretending to be a reporter herself. “No offense to you and your kind. But usually whatever you have to say is a bunch of bullshit.”

Another step toward him. “No offense taken. I’m sure she knows that as well. And if you can ignore them, I bet she can too. Since she loves you and all.”

His eyes twinkled. “You think she still loves me? Even after I’ve been such a dick?”

“I’d bet my life on it,” she said softly.

He beamed. Then his delight was replaced with a mischievous grin. “I’m not so sure.” He took two more slow steps toward her. “She can be pretty hotheaded. And stubborn. And non-compromising. Sometimes she runs away. Oh, and she can be a bit of a tease, so there’s that.”

Maddie raised a brow. “A tease? No way.”

“Yes, yes way. I’ve taken many cold showers because of her.”

“Hmm.” She was so near to him now, only a few feet away. She could touch him. But one more question. “With all her negative traits,” she said, her eyes lowered, “are you sure that you really…love her?”

He pulled her to him in one swift movement. “Oh yeah,” he said huskily, his mouth inches from hers. “I’m damn sure.”

His lips found hers, and she melted into his taste as her tongue darted playfully around his. She clutched to him desperately, and his body soaked her with his heat from the tips of her breasts to the place where his arousal pressed into her belly to lower where her own desire burned. She wanted him, and he wanted her, and she reveled in this as he kissed her so thoroughly that her insides turned into complete mush and her legs could barely stand without his support.

When she thought she couldn’t take it anymore—that if he lingered in her mouth a moment longer she’d have to rip off all his clothes and make love to him right there in the ballroom of the Ritz Carlton—only then did he tear his mouth away to whisper in her ear. “Oh, Maddie.” His voice was ragged and low. “I’ve been such a shit. I’m so sorry it took so long for me to come around. I could live the rest of my life without ever seeing another script or movie set again, but I can’t live another second without you. I love you. Please tell me I still have a chance, that we have a chance.”

“Oh God, Micah. All I needed was for you to believe we did.” Maddie blinked back hot tears. “Yes. Yes! I love you so much.”

He leaned back to search her eyes. “You really do?”

“I do. I always have. Probably since I met you on the bench in that backyard on my graduation night.”

His mouth possessed hers again, this time the heat of the kiss turned her arousal from a simmer to a boil. When Micah pulled away to meet her eyes, his were dilated with ravenous desire. “Oh, baby, I’d say we need to get a room, but I don’t think I can wait that long.”

His sexual promise had her teeming with excitement.

His eyes swept the room and settled on the sofa near them. “Later we’ll take it slow and sweet. But I need to be inside you now, and it’s going to have to be quick.”

Her mouth fell open in surprise as he lifted her and carried her to the sofa. He lay her down and reached under her dress to remove her panties.

Panic swept through her. “Micah, what if someone—”

“Shh, we don’t care about anyone else, remember. I have to have you.”

She relaxed, trusting him, letting herself give in to his need.

His hand slid up her thigh to the bud of her want. “God, Maddie you’re soaked.” He swirled her clit with his thumb, sending a shiver throughout her body, then dipped a finger inside her.

Oh, fuck. She needed him too. Now. She squirmed, anxious for him to fill her. “Come on!”

He unfastened his pants and his cock sprang free, causing a surge of excitement in her blood. “You ready?”

She answered by spreading her legs farther and bucking her hips.

He climbed into the V of her legs. “Is this what you want?” He plunged inside her and groaned.

“Yes!” Her memories of him—wonderful, heavenly memories—paled radically to the exquisite reality of his naked cock within her. And he still had farther to go. Her body opened to accept him and he slipped deeper inside.

Then he began to move. Not in the creative, circular motions that he usually tortured her with, but with sharp, piercing jabs. Each time, he stroked that spot—the one that made the lights flicker when it was hit just right and oh, was he hitting it right. So right in fact, that despite her concern that she’d never get off with people so close by, she found herself soaring over the edge in record time. Her orgasm was so fierce and so sudden she had to bite into Micah’s shoulder to squelch her cries.

“Yes baby, yes!” He pounded through her release to his own turbulent climax.

Seconds after they’d finished, before her brain could even process a cool-down, voices—or rather a voice—drifted in from outside the room. Fudge, speaking louder than usual, said, “Yes, Mr. Santini, Micah’s in there. But before you go in—”

Maddie and Micah scrambled to compose themselves as Fudge resumed a normal volume of speech. “It’s so great to meet you. I’m such a fan.”

“Where’s my panties?” Maddie hissed as Micah tucked himself in his pants.

He grinned. “Do you really need them?”

She narrowed her eyes at him.

He joined her search. “I threw them behind me. Oh, they’re on the lamp.”

But before he could reach them, Martin Santini walked in the room.

Maddie knew she must look petrified. One of the most prolific directors in the history of film had just walked into the same room and here she was with a fresh-fucked face, chocolate-stained boobs and her floral cotton panties hanging from the lampshade.

Thank God for Micah. He moved to the director and greeted him with one hand while deftly retrieving her underwear behind his back with the other.

“Great to see you, Marty,” Micah said, slipping her panties in his pocket. “This is my girlfriend, Maddie Bauers.”

Girlfriend.
After the heights of her orgasm, she was surprised he was able to thrill her further.

She put one hand on her chest to cover her stain and shook Martin Santini’s hand with the other. “I’m honored to meet you, Mr. Santini. You’ve been a huge influence on me.”

“Call me Marty, please. Glad to meet you.” He winked at Micah. “I’m guessing you’re no longer a douchebag.”

Micah chuckled. “Well, I’m not sure about that.”

She hit him playfully. “No, he’s still a douchebag. But it’s sort of endearing.”

“Good.” Marty clapped a hand on Micah’s shoulder. “I hope you don’t mind me talking business at a social event, but when I heard you were here, I wanted to check in. Did you get the script I sent to your manager?”

“I did, thank you. I loved it. I’m very interested in the part. My only hesitation is the time spent out of the country.”

“Micah…” Maddie was worried about being away from Micah too. But she wanted him to take the role.

But Micah shook his head, silencing her.

“Understandable,” Marty said. “Might the offer seem more attractive if I agree to move the training stateside?”

“That makes the offer a whole lot more attractive.” He winked at Maddie. “I would still have to discuss it with Maddie. I can’t do anything without her being on board.”

Before Maddie could give her wholehearted consent, Marty said, “Great way to run a relationship. My wife, as you may know, is a costume designer. And we’ve been married for over twenty-five years, and in this town, that’s a lifetime. We never would have lasted so long if we hadn’t worked our schedules out together. Anyway, you two talk it over, but can I at least set up a meeting?”

Micah looked at Maddie who nodded so enthusiastically she thought her head would fall off.

“Yes, let’s do that,” Micah said.

“Great. I’ll have my agent contact your agent. Now I’ll get out of your hair.” Marty winked again. “I think I may have been interrupting something.”

Maddie suppressed a giggle.

Marty turned to leave then stopped at the door. “Great meeting you, Maddie Bauers. I hope to see a lot of you both.”

The second the director left the room, Maddie and Micah burst into laughter. God, she loved the sound of his laugh. She loved him period. And he was about to land a Martin Santini role. “Micah, you have to take the part.”

“Only if you’re completely on board. We have to work our schedules around each other. We can’t be apart for too long. We need to put ourselves first.”

“Agreed. But I’ve already been thinking about it and I have a plan. I can finish up post-production of my movie with Three Spot while you’re doing your comedy. Maybe I’ll need another month or so, which, if you can get your training moved to the States is perfect. Then, I have a script I’ve been working on that would be awesome set in New Zealand. I could raise some money, rent another RED camera and shoot my movie while you’re shooting yours.”

“That is perfect.” He wrapped his arms around her. “Leave it to you to always be two steps ahead of me.”

She smiled into his neck, enjoying his words and his embrace and the crazy things he was doing to her lower parts. Again. “Hey, can I have my panties back?”