Sex Symbol

by Laurelin Paige

  He took another step toward her. Maddie swallowed, wishing the cabin weren’t so narrow. She had nowhere to retreat.

  ”Maybe I should keep it all. Not too many—”

  Maddie jumped on his mistake. “You forgot, ‘Permanently. You know—’”

  “Shit. Let me start that again.” He took a step back then walked toward her again as he began the line. “Maybe I should keep it all. Permanently. You know, I’ve been thinking. Not too many people would notice if you weren’t around anymore. It would leave less of a headache to worry about dragging your ass with us across these mountains. And I wouldn’t have to be concerned that you’d whore my brother out of his share.”

  “Fuck you.” Yeah, fuck you, she repeated in her head. Fuck you hard and long and—oh no, this was not going well.

  “Not if you were the last woman on earth.” Micah closed the distance between them and leaned his arm on the cabinet behind her head. Wow, he was so close, so unbelievably… close. Her eyes travelled to his arm propped near her, his perfectly formed bicep tempting her fingers to touch it.

  She resisted. Barely. He smelled of coffee and makeup and sweat, and something so entirely Micah, causing the warmth between her legs to heat up another couple of degrees.

  Maddie brought the script up to her face as if to place a barricade between them. Her next line came out in a whisper. “I hate you.”

  Micah curled his lip. His oh-so-sexy-lip. “Say that again?”

  “I hate you.” Man, these lines were hitting close to home.

  Micah put his other arm up, trapping her. “Again. Say it again.”

  “I hate you. I hate you. I. Hate. You.” She lowered the script. Here Micah was supposed to cut her—well Heather, off with a kiss. He didn’t, though.

  That’s a good thing, Maddie reminded herself despite the desire pulsing through her veins.

  But he also didn’t move away. He kept her ensnared underneath him. His eyes clouded as though he was conflicted, and then they lowered to her mouth, and her heartbeat doubled its pace.

  “Uh, that was really good,” she squeaked. “Do you want to run it again?”

  “I got what I needed.” His words sounded tight and gruff.

  “You did?” The intensity in his eyes, the closeness of his body—Kiss me. Kiss me!

  Micah’s eyes cleared. “Almost.” As though he heard her silent plea, his lips covered hers. He plunged his tongue inside her mouth, insisting that she open up to him.

  For one brief millisecond, Maddie considered pushing him away. She moved her hands to his chest to do so, but the hard pecs under her palms and the increasing demand of his kiss shattered her will. What was so bad about kissing him, anyway? Ignoring the hundred alarms going off in her brain that told her she wouldn’t think that if she weren’t so distracted by hormones and pheromones, and just plain old regular moans—was that her making that sound?—she closed her fingers around his shirt to pull him closer.

  His hands moved to cradle her face, helping him access the deepest recesses of her mouth. His facial hair burned deliciously against her lip and chin as days of pent-up longing released under his possessive strokes. This—she wanted this, like she wanted nothing else. She’d fantasized about it whenever she saw him kiss someone else on screen, tried to remember how his lips had felt, but all of her dreams and memories dwindled in the reality of this. She didn’t care if this was all she got, it would be enough.

  That wasn’t true. She wanted more. The fire between her thighs longed to be quenched. She wanted him, naked and inside her on that narrow expanse of bed at the other end of the trailer.

  Micah pressed the length of his body against hers and she felt his own desire long and hard against her hip. Yep, still stiff. She moaned, his erection kindling the blaze between her legs. She reached her hands around his neck drawing him deeper still into their kiss.

  He broke his mouth away from hers and circled her nose with his own. With ragged breath he murmured, “You taste so good. Exactly the way I remember.” And then he caught her lips again, his tongue resuming its exploration.

  Through her delirium and the exquisite sensations of his oral probing, she fought to grasp the meaning of his words. Something about her tasting good, which was nice, but also that she tasted the way he remembered.

  Um, what?

  Maddie pulled her head back, breaking the kiss. “Wait,” she said, halting him before he repossessed her lips. “You remember?”

  Micah smiled and nuzzled his forehead against her own. “How could I forget, Maddie from the party?” He replaced his forehead with his lips, kissing down the side of her face to her cheek.

  His touch felt wonderful, electric, and she knew it was only a matter of seconds before she’d be lost to him again. But she wanted to understand. With more strength than she knew she had, she returned her hands to his chest and pushed. “Hold on.”

  Micah groaned but stepped back.

  She waited until her panting was under control before she spoke, a million questions racing through her head. “I don’t get it. Why did you say you didn’t remember?”

  Micah ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t know. I just did.” She raised a brow, urging him to continue. “I didn’t want you to assume anything.”

  “Like assume what?”

  “Like…that we’d pick up where we left off. Or whatever.” His eyes shifted with unease.

  But she didn’t care if he felt uncomfortable. She folded her arms over her chest. “So it’s okay if you wanted to pick things up where we left off, but not if I wanted to?”

  “No. Not like that.”

  “What if I didn’t want you to assume anything about me?”

  “Then you were free to pretend you didn’t remember me. Which you did. Or you could have rejected my advances. Which you didn’t.” He crossed back to her, resting his hands on her elbows. “It’s just…different…for me. I have to be careful with women. Because I’m….you know.”

  She shrugged him off. “An arrogant asshole? Or a movie star? Because right now they seem to be one and the same.”

  “Maddie…”

  She cut him off with an upraised hand. “No, no, I get it. No need to explain. You’re a famous actor.” Could she help it if the word actor sounded like a curse on her lips? “You call the shots.”

  “Maddie, you’re blowing this out of proportion.”

  “Except I run the camera. So technically, I call the shots. At least I’m calling this one.” She turned toward the door, ready to bolt. The idea that he held all the power irked her. Just because he was famous? No, she didn’t go for that. He was a regular guy like everyone else.

  He reached after her, but a knock at his trailer door brought his hands back to his side. He groaned. “Yes?”

  “They’re ready for you on set,” Sam’s voice bellowed through the door.

  Micah screwed up his face in frustration. “Okay. Be right there.” To Maddie he said, “Can we please talk about this later?”

  “There’s nothing left to say.” She opened the trailer door. Before she left, she turned back to the disheveled man staring after her. “I’ll send your makeup artist. You need a touch-up.”

  Seven

  It took the entire walk back to set for Maddie’s heartbeat to settle down to its regular pulse rate. Even then, her head still spun from her Micah encounter.

  What the fuck just happened? No, don’t think about it. Think about work.

  Except there wasn’t any work for her to do. She’d adjusted her focuses earlier with the stand-ins and Adam didn’t need anything from her at the moment. She watched as Joe walked Heather through the blocking on the lone cabin where the scene took place. It was a beautiful location. The aromatic purple grape-like flowers—Maddie didn’t know their name—mixed with the tall green and yellow grasses against the rustic wood of the log home, creating a quite visually appealing setting. It would look good on film. Especially when the ruggedly handsome Micah was added to the scene,
leaning back against the rough post of the deck, thighs hard and…

  Stop!

  But she couldn’t stop thinking about it. Micah Preston had kissed her. He kissed her. And he had been into it. And he had wanted more. Then, did she end things? Yes, she was pretty sure she had. Was that really what she wanted? Yes, yes it was. There must be a good reason, though she couldn’t manage to think what it was. All she could think of were his lips, his hands, his bulging pants…

  No, stop it, stop it, stop it!

  Think about something else. Usually, she spent dead time on set working on her own movie, editing on her laptop. But her computer bag was in the crew’s trailer and that was too close to Micah’s trailer.

  Micah’s trailer…

  She pulled out her phone and scanned her Facebook newsfeed for distraction. Nothing interesting. She was tempted to update her status, but was afraid “Just made out with Micah Preston and am now lost in thoughts of him naked against me” was an inappropriate post. Though it would probably garner several “likes.”

  She pocketed her phone and looked up to see Micah, complete with fresh makeup, strolling onto the set. Even with several yards between them, he met her eyes and an undercurrent of electricity rushed through her. She tapped her foot to direct the frenzied energy somewhere. Did he do this to every woman or just her? Probably all women. She wasn’t special. But there he was, maintaining eye contact, looking at her with—what? Yearning?

  “Let’s talk,” he mouthed to her.

  She was confused. Should she talk to him? Why did he even want to talk to her? He was into women for a quick roll in the hay, and if he thought that was what he was getting from her, then he had another think coming.

  But that yearning look he gave her…Maybe he wanted something different from her. Something more.

  Right. And fairies were real and rainbows had pots of gold at the end of them.

  She wished she were invisible, wished she could fade into the background like she usually did. She closed her eyes, as if it could make her disappear. When she opened them, Micah had moved his attention to his scene partner. The absence of his gaze chilled her. Despite how easily she’d pulled herself from his embrace, she wanted him; there was no doubt of that. Wanted him so much she practically needed a change of panties whenever he was in the room.

  It was possible she’d been too hard on him. So he’d pretended to not remember her. That was shitty. But he was right—she hadn’t let on that she remembered him either.

  It was his reasons for pretending that bothered her. That he’d thought she’d want to take advantage of him just because he was a famous actor. He had some superiority complex.

  Except, maybe most women did that to him. Assumed things about him or showed an interest because he was who he was. She should give him a break.

  But that just illuminated the whole reason she shouldn’t get involved with him in the first place. He was an actor. A famous actor. And his life was, as he said, different. One main highlight being the rapid-fire way he went through women. All of it suggested that Micah was just a whole jumbled up mess of stuff not to get involved in.

  She was stupid for being attracted to him in the first place. It was the memory of him she desired—a fun night in the past. That was all.

  Well, and he was super hot. And famous. And charming.

  And he’d kissed her!

  This was so not like her. She was usually cool and collected and together, but Micah fuddled her up too much to sort out on her own.

  Maddie pulled out her cell phone again and typed a text to Bree. He remembers me after all.

  Yes! What did he say?!!?

  He kissed me. She shook her head not believing the words as she typed them. She rubbed her fingers across her swollen lips while she waited for Bree’s response, remembering the feel of his mouth on hers.

  OMG. Did you jump him???

  No! Maybe she shouldn’t have included the exclamation point. After all, she was considering it.

  R U gonna???

  Idk, that’s why I’m texting you. Maddie typed, then paused. That would be bad. Right?

  Long minutes passed before Bree’s response arrived. It’d probly b real good. Even though he’d break ur <3.

  Maddie scowled. That was a bit dramatic. Just because she had a tendency to fall in love with every guy she slept with when she was in college didn’t mean she still did. She was older and wiser now. Probably. Whatev.

  Her phone buzzed Bree’s incoming text before Maddie could return the slider. And make you cry.

  Maddie’s scowl deepened. Was she really so fragile that she couldn’t sleep with a guy and not have it mean anything? She didn’t have to be. She could sleep with him and not become a weeping willow. Sleep with him and not be affected.

  Rephrase that, sleep with him and only be physically affected. An important distinction, as she liked the delicious effect he had on her body.

  “We’re ready to shoot,” Joe said, interrupting Maddie’s thoughts of her and Micah rolling around in the grassy meadow in front of them, sans clothes. “Places!”

  Maddie cleared her head of the ridiculous fantasy she shouldn’t have been having in the first place and started toward the camera, toward Micah. She squatted on the dolly at the side of the camera. “Sound rolling,” Chloe, the sound technician, called from her cart.

  Sam stepped in front of the camera and read the clapboard. “Scene twenty-two, take one.”

  Adam shifted as he adjusted the camera. Maddie held her position, rolling with the dolly as the second assistant moved them along the track, circling into the scene.

  Micah began his lines, the very lines Maddie had read with him. As she watched him surrender to his performance, her body tingled. Not just in the usual physically turned-on way, but in the artistically turned-on way. He was really a good actor. She hadn’t paid attention before, trying her best not to notice him on the days since she’d arrived in Colorado. But now she saw it, saw how his whole body took on his character, his voice and movement changing into a persona very different from the man she had swapped spit with less than thirty minutes before. Yet at the same time, he was Micah Preston, more exposed and unveiled than she’d ever seen him.

  Holy crap, she was gaga over him.

  Her confession settled on her as she followed the camera, adjusting the focus at the appropriate times.

  Until Micah began walking toward Heather, and Maddie’s chest began throbbing.

  Painfully throbbing.

  She knew what came next—the kiss—and she didn’t want to see anymore, didn’t want to watch Micah’s mouth possess another woman’s. But she had to watch, it was her job. So she did, the ache increasing with each passing second. By the time Micah wrapped his arms around Heather and leaned in for the kiss, the stab of jealousy was so sharp Maddie wondered if she was having a heart attack.

  Impulsively, Maddie closed her eyes, blocking out the action before her.

  “Cut!” Joe called out and Maddie’s eyes flew open, realizing he’d ended before the scene was finished.

  Shit. She’d missed her final focus. Shit, shit, shit! She peered up at Adam, who was listening to Beaumont on his own headset. He looked down at Maddie questioningly.

  “I missed it,” Maddie said softly. This wasn’t like her. She never missed.

  “Adam, Maddie?” Joe asked. “What was with that last focus?”

  “Miscalculation,” Adam said, not pointing out Maddie’s error in front of everyone. “We got it now. Sorry.”

  “Let’s take it again.” Joe’s irritation sounded in his voice. “Reset.”

  Dammit, Maddie thought as she helped the second assistant roll the camera dolly back to its starting position on the track. This, this was why she couldn’t get mixed up with Micah Preston. She couldn’t even watch him act a scene with a fellow cast member without being overcome with jealousy. Without screwing up her job—a job that she was usually perfect at. Surely if anything more happened with him, this
feeling would only get worse. Right now it was already horrible. Achingly, maddeningly, horrible.

  Maddie avoided Micah’s eyes as his makeup artist came in to retouch his lips. She took the free moment to pull out her phone and type a final text to Bree. I’m not gonna jump him.

  4 the best. Luvs!

  Was it for the best? She thought she’d feel better but her decision seemed hollow. She swallowed hard, steeling herself for the second take of the scene.

  “Wait,” Joe said, his right hand lifted in a halting gesture. With his other hand, he pressed his headset tighter against his ear, listening to an order from Beaumont. After a minute, he pointed to Micah. “Micah, Beaumont wants to move your initial mark to here.” Joe tapped a spot on the ground with the toe of his foot. “Bruce, the light isn’t hitting the new mark. Can you arm it in, please?”

  A lighting adjustment and a change in blocking. She’d have to refocus too.

  She took a deep breath as she crossed to the mega-fine actor, blushing as she remembered the last time she’d calculated a focus for him.

  “Hey,” Micah said.

  “Hey.” She didn’t meet his eyes, didn’t ask him to hold her measure, but instead put it on the ground at his feet. She felt rather than saw him pick up the end. “Thanks,” she muttered. She walked the steps back to the camera and wrote down the new measurements then pushed the button to pull the length in, but it didn’t budge. She glanced back at Micah who still held tightly to the end. Seriously?

  She trudged back to him. “Can I have it back, please?”

  He crossed his arms, burying the edge against his chest. “Will you talk to me?”

  Heather broke into a laugh a few feet away, pulling Maddie’s attention. Her eyes narrowed as she glared at the actress flirting with Joe, still bristling from having just watched Heather make out with her man. Whoops! Not her man. Definitely not her man.