God, she was nervous. She had thought about texting Micah to tell him she was coming, but she wasn’t sure what his reaction would be. At least she looked good. Even though she wasn’t a girly-girl, she could clean up. The silver organza baby-doll dress Bree had sent her hit mid-thigh and, thanks to running, she had nice legs. The sweetheart bodice embellished with rhinestones did awesome things for her boobs and matched the rhinestones that decorated her black stilettos. Yeah, she looked damn good.
“You have to try these crab cakes.” Joe balanced a handful of hors d’oeuvres he had swiped from one of the trays.
“I’m not really hun—” He popped one in her mouth before she could finish. The cake melted on her tongue and surprised her with its deliciousness. “Okay, that was good,” she said after she swallowed. Truth was she hadn’t been able to eat much of anything. She was too anxious about the evening, about spending the night with hundreds of people she didn’t know and the one person she was starting to know pretty damn well. Especially because she had to pretend she didn’t know that person so well.
“The bruschetta is awesome too,” Joe said around a mouthful of crab cakes. “Grab some when the next tray comes along.”
Maddie felt a hand at the small of her back and she turned, hopeful, to face the owner.
“Wow!”
Sam. Not Micah.
If Micah had arrived, there’d be more buzz. And he wouldn’t touch her in public. He didn’t on set, and he definitely wouldn’t here.
“You look stunning.” Sam’s blue eyes sparkled, not in the lustful way that Micah’s did when he looked at her, but in a way that spoke volumes about his admiration for her.
She blushed, unsure how to handle his crush. “Thank you. You look great in a tux.”
“Ah, this old thing?”
He said more, but Maddie didn’t hear it over the commotion at the front doors. Cameras flashed and people pressed against the ropes that created a mock red carpet for the VIP attendees. She had a good view from where she stood at the bar, and crowds began to gather as Heather Wainwright made her entrance.
Maddie tensed. Fudge walked in, wearing black sunglasses in full-out bodyguard mode. He held the door open for Micah, who strode in with a beautiful brunette on his arm. He was handsome as ever in his black tux and tie. He seemed untouchable and godlike. Like the president or a celebrity.
Of course that was exactly what he was—a celebrity. Sometimes Maddie forgot.
It wasn’t hard to forget now. Micah posed and waved as he walked down the carpet, his smile wide and his eyes twinkling. Lulu stepped aside with Fudge to let Micah have his glory alone, though Heather stood by him in many of the shots. She looked beautiful at his side, her blonde hair standing out against the red floor-length gown that hugged her tightly around her curvy parts.
Maddie felt an undercurrent of jealousy spark under her calm exterior as she watched the spectacle over Joe’s shoulder, despite all that she and Micah had worked through. Their tryst in the woods had worked to make filming the sex scene a non-issue. Maddie knew she’d had the real deal and that everything on set was acting.
But she couldn’t say that now, because even though Micah had brought his mother, Heather was the one who got to walk down the carpet with him. Heather was the one who could lean over and whisper in his ear and laugh at some interviewer’s question, her arm casually resting on Micah’s shoulder. Heather was the one who could be photographed with him.
Maddie got to admire from a distance. Like a fan. Like a mistress.
“Hey, was that shrimp cocktail?” Joe followed the caterer, stepping out of Maddie’s sightline, giving her a clear view of the man she was fucking on a regular basis.
She recognized the minute he saw her. He was joking for the press with a fellow actor, when he stilled mid-laugh, his brows raised in surprise, his stare piercing her like a hot laser. Jaw set, his eyes swept up and down her body, devouring her.
She straightened as the electricity that passed through his heated gaze ignited every nerve in her body, warming her. Her face flushed with desire, her lower belly tightened, and she’d bet money he was hard under his black pants.
But it wasn’t just sexual energy that passed between them. It was more—something intangible and unable to name. The lobby that had held hundreds of people just a moment before now held no one but him and her, and the raw emotions that encompassed them. It frightened and excited her, that he could affect her so with just a look, that she could affect him in the same way.
Then a flashbulb went off and the spell was broken. Micah was back in character, charming and charismatic for the crowd.
“It seems the talent has arrived,” Sam said, leaning into her so she could hear over the din. His body heat lacked in comparison to Micah’s penetrating eyes and she shivered in their wake. “For once I think the crew got the better end of the deal.”
“Hmm, what?” She was distracted. How did Micah confound her so completely? How could she feel totally bereft of him one moment and then consumed by him the next?
And she still didn’t know if he was glad to see her there. How had he seemed? Surprised. Appreciative of her attire, maybe. What else, she couldn’t guess. And she wouldn’t be able to find out for hours, probably, since she couldn’t have a real conversation with him until they were alone at their hotel.
Yeah, the secret thing sucked.
But, if they decided to keep seeing each other, eventually it wouldn’t be secret. And then Maddie could walk in with him, though she’d likely still have to watch him pose with his costars while she stood off to the side as Lulu did now. No two ways about it, dating a celebrity was tricky.
Maddie moved her focus to Lucille Preston. Not surprisingly, she was as beautiful as her son. Her dark hair was coiffed short, framing her oval face. Her body, from what Maddie could see through the crowds, trim and fit for a woman her age. She appeared completely at ease in her short black formal dress and her son the center of attention.
Could Maddie be like that? Could she stand aside and watch her lover be pursued and pounced on by the press? It seemed…awkward and kind of a drag.
“It just doesn’t look very fun to be all paparazzi’d like that,” Sam said, continuing a conversation that Maddie kept forgetting they were having.
No shit.
Joe returned then with a plate full of shrimp cocktail and a few other members of the crew. “Look who I found.”
Maddie let the group surround her, grateful for the number so she could dissolve into the background. Minutes passed where she smiled and nodded automatically to whatever was said, not knowing what she was smiling and nodding at. All the while, she snuck peeks at Micah and his mother, always aware of where he stood and who he stood with—more often than not with Heather.
Maddie wanted to poke Heather’s eyes out with her stilettos. It would be a shame to ruin such a nice pair of shoes though, so she shut the thought out of her mind.
“Are we all sitting together?” Sam asked no one in particular.
“We’re together in the balcony,” Joe said. “The actors are in the orchestra, I think. Or they have box seats.”
Surprise, surprise. Segregation of cast and crew. Again.
Usually she wouldn’t think twice about it. Now it felt like a punishment.
“Oh, look, it’s our production crew.”
Maddie looked to the source of the voice and saw Heather pointing at their group.
“Familiar faces, Micah. Let’s go say hi.” Heather pulled Micah toward them with Fudge and Lulu following close behind.
Maddie’s heart pounded and her palms began sweating while they approached. She couldn’t decide if she was jealous or nervous or excited or all three mixed up into one impending anxiety attack. Whatever it was, Micah was getting close and her skin goosed as it always did in his presence.