Take Two

Chapter Five

Micah sat in his director’s chair, script in hand, trying his damndest to get his lines down for the day’s scene. He usually was great at memorization, but in the three days since he’d arrived on set in Colorado, all his concentration had gone to shit. He blamed it on the mountains, told Beaumont he hadn’t adjusted to the altitude yet.

But it was her. Maddie was there, everywhere, every day. Her job as camera assistant kept her on set at all times. Focus puller was the term for her crew position. Focus puller was right—she pulled his focus anytime she was within a hundred feet of him. Most the time she was closer than that. Her job kept her near the camera. And since the camera was always in his face, so was she.

Maddie barely acknowledged Micah while she worked. She stayed out of the way during blocking and took all her camera measurements with the stand-ins. If she noticed he had missed a mark, she informed Adam instead of Micah directly. Which was what she should do. And it was what he had wanted. But it drove him crazy—having her so close yet so ambivalent about him.

Not that he was going out of his way to talk to her either. It took all his willpower not to find an excuse to touch her or strike up a casual conversation, but he’d managed so far. Just at the detriment of his concentration.

He looked at his watch for the fourth time in ten minutes. His costar, Heather, was exactly forty minutes late for call. She had a reputation for being unreliable, but this was the first time in several weeks that she’d blown call time. It was unprofessional, and a lesser star would have been blacklisted a long time ago. But this was Heather Wainwright, the top female actress in Hollywood. She could do whatever she wanted.

He sighed as he turned back to his script. He really wasn’t that pissed at the blonde diva—he didn’t mind the delay. He needed to work on his lines. No, his irritation came from the brunette camera assistant.

Without lifting his head, he glanced sideways at her. She was in video village, the area set up with monitors from all the cameras. Beaumont, Adam, and Joe—the show’s assistant director—stood talking with her, probably planning what to do about the scenes they were supposed to be filming. He smiled at her outfit, black jeans and a tank top, a black button-down shirt over it. The black absorbed light, rather than reflected it onto the actors. It was supposed to help her fade into the darkness, but Micah didn’t think Maddie could fade into anything. She shone, vibrant and gorgeous at all times, no matter what she wore. It surprised him that every guy wasn’t falling all over her. She was hands-down the most beautiful woman on the set. Probably the most beautiful woman in the state and no one, except that yuppie assistant Sam, seemed to notice.

Christ, he was absolutely pathetic. Pining over a woman? Maybe he should be making romantic comedies. Or movies for Lifetime, since he’d totally seemed to have lost his balls.

He glanced at Fudge, who sat who sat nearby reading a magazine. At least he didn’t know the reason for Micah’s pining. Fudge would never let Micah hear the end of it.

“Chin up!” Darla, his makeup artist fluttered over him, applying powder to his face. “Sugar, you keep sweating off all your makeup. Why don’t you sit under the tent where it’s cooler until they’re ready to shoot your scene?”

He shook his head. That was where video village was—where Maddie was. “No, I’m fine here.”

“But you’re getting too much sun, sweetie.” Darla mothered Micah, which was why he liked working with her.

Today it irritated him. “I said I’m fine.”

“He can’t stand to be too near the hottie that’s assisting Adam,” Fudge said. “He’s gotta bit of a crush.”

“What the… That’s not true.”

“Then I guess the hard-on you’ve been sportin’ since the airport is from that cheerleader assistant, Sam.” Fudge flipped a page casually in the magazine.

“You’ve been checking out my dick, man? That’s just weird.” Of course Fudge would have noticed Micah’s behavior regarding Maddie. But he didn’t have to bring it up in front of his makeup artist. Better yet, he didn’t have to bring it up at all.

Darla laughed. “Oh honey, you don’t need to be embarrassed. I’ve been working with you for five years now and this is the first time I’ve ever seen you so unfocused. It’s a nice change. You should go talk to her.”

“It’s not—” Micah cut himself off, then started again at a more reasonable volume. “It’s not the girl. It’s the altitude.”

“Whatever you need to tell yourself, sweetie.” Amusement sparkled in Darla’s eyes.

Fudge tossed his magazine on the grass. “What I don’t understand is why you don’t just hit it and get it over with.”

Now that was a good question.

Micah thought about it as Darla patted more powder over his face. Why the hell not? They had the chemistry. So she reminded him of the past. That didn’t have to interfere with his present. And he was already distracted by her. Wasn’t that what his no-strings rule was meant to avoid?

But he’d already been an ass to her. Who knew if she’d even be receptive? All right. If she showed some interest, then he’d consider pursuing it.

“By the way, that girl jogs by the hotel every morning,” Fudge said. “Her hotel’s about two miles away. It’s funny she chooses that same route.”

Hmm. That sure sounded like she was interested.

“I need more coffee.” Micah stood, rolling his script under his arm and grabbing his still half-full coffee mug from his cup holder. It was a lame excuse, but he couldn’t bring himself to say outright that he planned to corner Maddie.

“I can get it for you,” Darla offered.

“No, I’m getting it.” Micah heard Darla and Fudge chuckling at him as he made his way toward the main tent. Yeah, who was he kidding? They knew where he was headed.

He didn’t have far to walk before reaching the tent. Generally only a few members of the cast and crew hung out in the video village, but since the show was at a standstill without Heather, more people were around than usual.

Seeing that Maddie was still conversing with Beaumont, Adam, and Joe, Micah slipped behind her to the coffee center. A whiff of apples caught on the breeze, a scent he’d learned to recognize as Maddie’s. Was it her shampoo, her lotion? It drove him mad. He glanced at her, his cock stirring at the view of her curvy hips and round behind. God, she was beautiful. He could strip her naked and fuck her right then and there. Maybe that would help his concentration.

The sound of his name pulled him from his lustful thoughts.

“We could shoot Micah’s closeups,” Joe said. “That could keep us rolling at least.”

“Maybe that’s the way to go,” Beaumont said. Then, noticing Micah, he said, “Hey, Preston. We’re going to shoot your C.U.s now.”

His stomach clenched, hoping his lines were ready. On the bright side, he’d be on set with Maddie.

“That’s fine,” Maddie said, “but I need to get new focus calculations first from the blocking change you just made.”

Micah could let a stand-in do the setup like he usually did and continue working on his lines, but he’d decided he wanted to be near Maddie and be near Maddie he would be. “Sounds good. I’m ready.”

For the first time since he’d joined them, Maddie acknowledged him. Her dark eyes glimmered as they connected with his gaze. “Oh, you don’t need to…”

He winked. “It’s no problem. Let’s go.”

He’d winked at her.

One wink and her knees were jelly as they walked to the set. Thank God the A.D. had his ear while they walked so Maddie could give all her attention to putting one foot in front of the other.

Though she’d been disappointed that he’d forgotten her and disgusted by his superiority complex, the days that had followed had shown Micah to be less of a dick than she’d thought from the car ride. He actually seemed charming and an all-around good guy. Not to her. He hadn’t even spoken to her, but she’d watched him interact with the other actors and crew.

A couple of times she’d caught him eyeing her. Was that burning, hungry stare her imagination? She hadn’t noticed him ogling any other female crew members. But maybe that was because she didn’t want to notice.

What she wanted was to hate him, but working with him had only brought about a crush. A silly, stupid, fangirl type of crush. Her insides got all twisty and her palms sweaty every time she was within ten feet of him. She’d found the only way to deal with her unwanted emotions was to avoid him as much as possible. She got her focus calculations from the stand-ins and stayed in the shadows like a good camera assistant was supposed to.

But one wink and he was drawing her out with his stupid hot-actor charm, making her feel self-conscious in her boring black outfit.

Dammit all to hell.

Then there was Beaumont. Fortunately, he’d so far been his typical asshole self, and Maddie had been prepared for that. He’d greeted her the first day as if she were a new intern he couldn’t be bothered with, even though he knew her well. He showed his contempt for her in passive-aggressive ways. Three times he’d argued with her about her measurements in front of the entire cast and crew. Twice he’d actually taken over focusing for her. Once he sent her for coffee. The rest of the time he directed from his chair at video village, and Maddie didn’t have to deal with him at all. Like now, thank God.

That meant, for the moment, she just had to deal with Micah.

She could handle it. Totally. No biggie.

“Okay,” she said when they’d reached the set.

“Okay.” His lips curled up in a slight smile. Oh, his beautiful lips…

“Are you on your mark now?” She refused to look him in the eye, hoping he didn’t see the shakiness in her hands as she pulled her tape measure from the clip on her belt.

“Yes.” She felt his gaze as she did some quick mental calculations.

“Yep, they moved you quite a bit.” She handed him the end of her measure. “Do you mind?”

“Not at all.” He brushed her skin when he took it. His touch sent a chill through her body and she dropped the measure on his foot.

“Shit.” She squatted down for it. As she stood, her forearm accidentally bumped him. Bumped him there. And he felt sort of stiff. Oh, God, was he hard? Don’t look, don’t look. Before she could stop herself she glanced and there it was, detectable because she was so close, his growing erection. She froze, gaping.

“Enjoying the view?” Micah asked, his voice low and suggestive.

“Oh my God!” Maddie jumped up, shielding her eyes with her hand. Her face flushed crimson. “Oh my God, oh my God, I’m so sorry.”

Micah laughed. “Hell, Maddie, I didn’t know you were interested.”

Interested? That was the understatement of the century.

“I’m…I’m…” She moved her hand to her mouth, trying to stifle her nervous giggles. “I’m so embarrassed,” she said when she could speak.

Micah grinned. “I’m not.”

“You have absolutely no reason to be, believe me.” Did she really just say that? She flushed even deeper.

His smile widened.

She was mortified—brushing his penis was bad, staring at his crotch was worse. Complimenting his size? She wanted to crawl into a hole and stay there until the whole damn production was wrapped.

Added to her humiliation and confusing her thoughts was the response of her own body to his, uh, obvious desire. Lust spread through her limbs like wildfire. She wanted to touch him, to stroke him, to bring him to release. And why was he turned on anyway? She was the only female on set at the moment. Oh shit. The realization that he was, uh, like that because of her both thrilled and terrified her. Mostly thrilled her. Which was why she was terrified.

She turned away from him, looking for an escape, wondering if anyone witnessed their interaction. No, thank goodness. Because everyone’s attention was on her other nightmare approaching the set—Beaumont.

“I just talked to Heather’s assistant,” Beaumont said when he arrived. “She’ll be ready in twenty.”

Joe furrowed his brows. “Is it even worth it to try to get Micah’s shots done?”

“Actually,” Micah interjected, “I need to run my lines.” His voice so close behind her sent another wave of goose bumps up her arms.

Beaumont nodded. “Good idea. You’ve been a little rusty the last few days. I know, I know, the altitude makes me fuzzy too. Maddie, go help Micah with his lines.”

“Um, there’s probably someone else who would be better suited…” She couldn’t. She needed to be far away from Micah right now, not close and interactive.

Besides, who did Joss Beaumont think she was? Running lines was the job for a production assistant—Sam should be doing this, not first camera assistant. She should be taking care of the camera. Hell, she should be directing the goddammed film, not helping the star with his memorization.

“You can read, can’t you?”

Maddie burned at Beaumont’s words. Was it possible to hate him more?

She took a deep breath to control her anger. “Of course I can read.”

“Then you’ll do just fine.”

She pivoted away from the director before she said anything she couldn’t take back. “Give me your script, Micah. Where do you want to start?”

Micah handed her his rolled-up script. “Let’s go to my trailer. It’s easier to concentrate without all”—he waved his hand at the people around them—“this.”

“Sure.” Her voice was tight. “Fine.”

But it was far from fine. Alone in his trailer with Micah Preston and his hard-on? Lord, help her.