She placed her hand over mine—soft, deliberate. “Just tell me what it is.”
I turned toward her. All I wanted was to get lost in her eyes, drown in her kiss, forget everything but the way she felt against me. But I held back. I had to tell her what was coming. Although according to my contract with the network, it was the last thing I should be doing . . . apart from falling for her.
“As you might have guessed, this season isn’t going well.”
“I know. Cassie told me. And I’m sorry. I feel like I’m to blame. But you have to admit, everyone’s happy.”
I let out a dry laugh. “Everyone but my crew and the studio. The studio is particularly livid. Apparently people are picking up on what some are calling ‘palpable sexual tension’ between us.”
“Palpable sexual tension,” she purred. “I mean, it sounds kind of fun. And isn’t that what you want on your show?”
“Demi,” I groaned. “Not betweenus.”
“So you’re saying there isn’t any sexual tension between us?” She sounded faux offended.
I glanced at my hand on her thigh. At the little circles she was tracing on my skin.
“You know exactly how you affect me. You’re an emotional radar detector.”
“I know how you feel, and how guilty you feel about it.”
“Yet, here we are,” I sighed.
“Here we are,” she whispered, leaning in closer. Her chocolate-sweet breath tempted me to taste it.
I closed my eyes, fighting the pull she had on me. “Demi, we need to stop this. We need to focus on finding your true love.”
“I told you I’m working on it.”
I opened my eyes. “This is what you call working on it?”
“Maybe,” she said, all mischief.
The only thing she was working on was driving me insane.
“Demi, I’m being serious here.”
“So am I.” She drew closer, her lips already parted.
“Jonas is joining the cast tomorrow,” I blurted before I gave in and consumed her.
“What?” She blinked. “Why? No. Just no.” She put some distance between us, and I immediately felt the loss.
My first instinct was to reach for her, but I fought it and clenched my fists instead. “This is reality TV. The studio and my crew felt like things needed to be spiced up. He’s not the only ex joining.”
She shook her head, horrified. “He can’t come here. Why would you do this?”
Her tone made me worry there was bad blood between them. Or maybe he really was the guy she’d been in love with and it was a bad breakup and that’s why she didn’t want to tell me it was him. Except she’d said the man she had been in love with wasn’t in her past. This was confusing the hell out of me.
“It wasn’t my decision. I fought against it, but I had to be careful. People are talking about us. I could get fired. Or worse, lose my reputation. I’m under a lot of pressure here,” I tried to make her understand.
She took a breath, and her beautiful face softened. Her expression, though, was unreadable. Yet something flickered in her eyes. If only I could read her.
“All right,” she said calmly. “We’ll figure out a way to fix this and to help your show.”
That was the last thing I’d expected her to say. I probably looked like I’d been hit by a truck.
“I mean, I’m not going to play the villain or anything,” she added. “I’ll have to figure out a way to deal with Jonas,” she lamented. “I can’t even believe he agreed to come. He hates shows like this.”
