“You’re both okay?” Gretchen asked.
I looked down at Winnie, still under my arm, even though the mood had changed fromI want to kiss you until we can’t breathetoThank God we’re not stuck up here anymore. “We’re okay.”
“Good, we’re bringing you down, and Ralph is going to look at a few things before we send you back up.”
“Sounds good. See you in a minute,” I said.
“Next time, you’re taking a radio.”
“Oh, and Gretchen, could we get Winnie a real coat?”
Chapter Nine
Winnie
“Winnie, that was fabulous!”
It was the next morning, and Kallum was carefully setting my foot back on the floor, only letting go of my thigh when it was clear I had my balance again. I laughed a little at his considerate gesture, given that he’d just been fake-railing me against the wall hard enough that half the set had been shaking.
Gretchen hopped up on the stage with her headset around her neck and her face stretched in a wide smile. It was a genuine smile, but I could see the relief in her back and shoulders too. “You two nailed that take.”
“Ha, yeah, wenailedit,” said Kallum gleefully. “Up top!” And then he held up his hand for a high five, which Gretchen—sighingly—gave.
“Winnie, I’m not sure what Pearl managed to impart to you the other day, but I can tell that it’s had an effect.”
My cheeks burned a little; as much as I wanted to sing to the rooftops that the Peppermint Stick and I were ready to announce our engagement any day now, I wasn’t sure I was ready to admit it was a vibrator that had given me my breakthrough yet. Although, heck, Gretchen probably already knew, since Pearl was her girlfriend and all.
The important thing was that I’d held my own with this love scene. Thanks to Pearl and the Peppermint Stick, and Kallum coming in for the assist the other night.
But this was an easy one.A quick scene, straightforward choreography. And half my face had been hidden by my mussed hair, meaning I had a little leeway in how well I was selling the getting-plowed-by-a-young-Santa-Claus vibes.
So yes, I’d passed the test today with flying colors, but we still had so much movie left, and the trickiest sex scenes yet to shoot. This was only going to get harder, and I needed to be ready; I needed to be great. For the first time since coming here, the new Winnie was once again within reach, and I wasn’t going to back off now.
I was going to launch the new Winnie into the world with the sexiest, wildest splash possible, and I knew exactly how.
“Kallum!” I hissed from behind a bright red trolley two hours later. “Psst!”
Kallum, who’d been about to walk into the inn, turned on his heel. When he saw me, he immediately trotted over. The corners of his mouth pressed in, like he wanted to smile, butalso was trying to be cool about how much he wanted to smile, and that mademewant to smile.
Kallum Lieberman, the catalyst for my most traumatic tabloid shitstorm, made me want to smile. I didn’t think the Winnie Baker of just a few weeks ago would have believed it.
“Winnie Baker, we have to stop meeting like this,” he said as he reached me.
I glanced around us to make sure we were out of earshot of anyone else walking into the inn, and then said, as quickly as I could so I wouldn’t lose my courage, “I want to ask you something. Um. A favor.”
“Whatever you need,” Kallum said without a second’s hesitation. He looked like he meant it too: his mouth was curved in real smile now, soft and inviting, and his eyebrows were lifted in something like gentle concern. “Just say the word.”
“It’s more than one word,” I mumbled and then took a breath. “I want you to help me again. With... research.”
He blinked once, a long sweep of eyelashes the color of honey. His forehead was still etched in curiosity, but his smile had faded into something else. Something that reminded me how he’d looked the other night, kneeling in front of my chair.
“Research,” he said. He made the word sound utterly filthy, and my stomach flipped right over at the sound of it.
“Yes,” I managed to say. “I feel like—there’s so much more I need to know, and you’re a very good teacher.” The last few words came out breathlessly, and his tongue slicked slowly over his lower lip.
“Do you meanagainlike one more time, oragainlike until we’re done filming?”
His voice was still low, still husky.
