Page 32 of Unscripted with Mila

She smiled, although it didn’t reach her eyes. “Obviously.”

“And second, I find that hard to believe. A beautiful woman like you. Clever, smart, successful.”

She shrugged. “As you know, with fame, comes many people more interested in the by-product of success than the person behind it.”

I nodded thoughtfully. I had experienced that many times. Women were interested in being seen with me for publicity. For access to the right parties, the right people. Some were open about it. Others played a good game. I couldn’t recall ever sitting and having an honest conversation with any of them. Or enjoying their company the way I did Mila’s. It was an odd sensation.

“He used you.”

“He worked at one of the building supply businesses in town, and he knew my family. He knew what I did. Who I was. I didn’t think it mattered to him, but it was what he was really interested in. The money. The life he thought I would give him so he didn’t have to work. But he didn’t get very far. I have safeguards in place for my money. My family didn’t like him, so that was a warning sign. I fainted once, and he was embarrassed by my ‘weakness,’ as he called it. And when I refused…” She trailed off and cleared her throat. “Let’s just say, he wasn’t the person he led me to believe he was.”

“Refused?” I asked, curious. “To give him money?”

“To sleep with him.”

“You have every right to say no.”

“He didn’t think so. He thought he should be the one to relieve me of my so-called burden.”

“Sorry, I’m not following.”

Her cheeks colored, but she met my curious gaze. “My virginity.”

I was struck dumb. Mila was a virgin?

I blinked. “But you write—” I indicated the manuscript on the table. “Vividly.”

“I have a good imagination. I talk to my sister. My aunts and friends. I read.”

“Ah.” I took a sip of water.

She paused. “And I use porn sites a lot.”

I almost fell off the sofa, choking on my water. The image of Mila watching porn lodged itself in my mind. I shook my head to clear it.

She had to be pulling my leg.

“So you’ve never—” I twirled my finger “—ah, done that?”

“No.”

I swallowed, my throat suddenly thick. My pants felt constricted as well, and I shifted a little to hide that fact from Mila.

“But you’ve kissed before. I mean, you were great at it.”

She laughed at my obvious discomfort. “Yes. I’ve done other things, but I have never had actual sex. It has always felt very intimate to me. Precious, even—as corny as that sounds. I haven’t met the right person.”

I could only nod. I wanted to ask her more, discover more about her, maybe steer the conversation back to this topic, but she yawned. Wide and hard, her eyes almost watering. Internally, I shook my head. She’d had a long, difficult day. Had an episode. Been upset. She was exhausted, and here I was, wondering how to get her to talk to me more about the whole imagination and porn site thing and her virginity. Somehow, I thought it fascinating. And frankly, a total turn-on.

“I should go,” I said instead, forcing my thoughts down. “You need to rest.”

“Thank you for checking on me. You were so angry, I wasn’t sure you’d speak to me again.”

Her words stopped me. I cupped her face again. “I was worried, Mila. I couldn’t stay away.”

She covered my hand with hers, the palm warm and soft against my skin. Our eyes locked, and the tension between us mounted again.

“I want to kiss you.”