Page 10 of Followed By the CEO

Mills makes a choking noise. “Susan, this is the guy I told you about who used my card at the airport.”

“It would have been a lot fewer words to say stalker,” I say to Mills.

A slow smile forms on her luscious lips as she shakes her head at me. “I wouldn’t want to spook you. If I want you in handcuffs, you won’t be expecting it.”

Susan chirps, “Ooh, handcuffs. Now you’re talking.” She scribbles some notes, then turns away to record a voice text to someone, saying, “Hey, can you send over some fuzzy handcuffs? I want to try something.”

I’m confused. After Susan sends her voice text, I have to ask a question.

“Wait, I thought you said your friend was the director, not the casting director.”

Susan barks a laugh. “Sir, this studio is a glorified storage locker, not the Paramount lot.”

Apparently Mills’ friends are also comedians.

“Fair enough. Just put me where you want me.”

Susan lifts one eyebrow. “I like this one for you, Mills.”

“Susan!” Mills exclaims, blushing deeply.

I hold up my hands in surrender. “She meant for the part.”

Susan smiles at me and then tilts her head. “Yep. That’s all that I meant,” she says with an undertone that means a lot more than that.

“Okay,” Mills breathes. “Who’s the director here? Can we run the scene?”

“Let’s run through the dialogue first,” Susan says, handing me a script.

Mills stands facing me and Susan gives us the cue.

“It’s official. I think I’m ready for the next step in our relationship,” Mills says.

I read off my line. “Are you sure you’re comfortable? It’s kind of a big deal.”

Her voice goes husky. “What makes me uncomfortable is a smelly, intimate lube that’s full of chemicals and tested on animals. But Violet Sin’s Sex Lube is all-natural, not tested on animals, and it feels so good it should be a sin.”

“You make it sound so good I might need you to try some Violet Sin on me first,” I say, wondering if it’s too late to cut and run. What is this dialogue?

“Well, what are you waiting for? Bend over, and let’s give it a try,” Mills says, biting back laughter.

Susan, doing the voice-over, says, “Violet Sin’s Sex Lube, so smooth it’s better than the real thing.”

I don’t remember taking a step forward, but we’re somehow physically closer than we were before we started running through our lines.

“Good chemistry. Let’s do it again a few more times until you have it memorized,” Sue says.

Mills catches my questioning look. “It doesn’t have to be word for word, as long as we say the name of the product at least three times and mention all the attributes.”

This acting thing is tougher than I remember it being.

I don’t know if it’s the content, or just being close to her, but running the lines on repeat a few more times while looking deep into Mills’ eyes has my insides vibrating with the need to touch her, regardless of the cheesy dialogue.

“Awesome,” Susan says. “Let’s run the scene on the bed. I only have the studio for 30 more minutes.”

“As long as you’re okay with that,” I say.

Mills shrugs. “We’re all professional actors here, right, Mr. Chief Conquistador?” Oh god. She must have looked up the old commercials that I filmed for Conquest Sports back in the day, before the company became a big national chain. A publicist wrote the copy for me, and it makes me cringe to this day when I think about it.

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