“And Antoine, we need to change the script,” Maddie interrupts, finding her voice again. “I wouldn't have been at a museum on a Saturday. Saturdays are reserved for grading papers or yoga.”
“We’re not talking about your real life,”Antoine says, his patience wearing thin. “This is fiction. Remember why you are here, Madeleine. Remember Snorty."
Snorty lets out a little yip from her lap, as if reminding her of the stakes.
Maddie stiffens. The fight goes out of her shoulders. “Okay. I got it," she says, deflating slightly. “Rio and I met at a party. A mutual friend.”
“Fine,” says Antoine, making a note on his tablet. “I’ll make that revision. Now listen up, guys…”
I force myself to pay attention while Antoine instructs us on how to smile at each other at just the right moment, how to touch without looking possessive.
And how to project that Maddie and I are soulmates to a room full of sharks.
If I knew this would be my punishment, I never would have gotten drunk. I never would have picked up that damn snake.
"Now let's practice the likely questions to pop up during the press conference
Q&A. Rio, what made you feel Maddie was ‘the one’?”
I look at at Maddie and smirk. "Because I have a kink for schoolmarms with snapping dogs."
“Try again,” Antoine says sharply.
"I swept in like a rock god, saving her from a boring life of yoga and student loans. Right, Mads? Or was it the other way around. You saved me from myself?"
She glares at me, cheeks flushing in a way that's annoyingly hot.
"As if I'd touch that ego with a ten-foot mic stand."
Antoine laughs, clapping his hands. "Sparks! Good. That friction works. Next: What's Rio's most endearing habit? Maddie, it’s okay to lie convincingly."
Antoine's got us cornered, turning this press conference into some twistedNewlywed Game. Part of me wants to laugh it off. The other part wants to tease her until she cracks a real smile.
“Final question,” says Antoine. “Describe your first kiss. Maddie, you go first.”
Maddie's flush deepens. Her gaze locks on mine, and suddenly the air in the room changes. It gets heavier. Thicker.
Hate, heat, and history swirl in the space between us.
I feel it too. That magnetic pull I experienced when we fake kissed earlier today.
"Describe our first kiss? It was unexpected," she begins, looking to the left as if recalling a memory. "It was delicious."
The word hangs in the air.
Delicious?
I stare at her. Did she just saydelicious?
Maddie blinks, snapping back to reality. I didn't mean that!" she sputters, looking frantically from me to Antoine. "I meant 'pleasant.'"
I lean back, a slow, satisfied smirk spreading across my face. "Too late, Schoolmarm. You said 'delicious.'"
Though I'm curious where that word is coming from. Did she mean our boardroom kiss? It was a little too quick to be delicious. But there hadn't been any other kisses ...
... unless she meant that time I kissed her 'happy birthday' after dancing with her on her 13th birthday.Could she still remember that?If she still carries that ballerina notebook with her, maybe she does.
"Magnifique!" Antoine beams, oblivious to Maddie’s panic. "That is the word! It sells the hunger. Now, practice that 'loving gaze.' Hold it for ten seconds. The press loves authenticity."
