Page 75 of The Match Faker

‘It was okay. I did a shoot, then came back later this afternoon for a phone meeting.’

‘What kind of meeting?’ She rested on her elbows and leant forward like she was genuinely interested.

‘With the intimacy coordinator for my next film.’

‘Intimacy coordinator?’

‘Yeah, they help out with the sex scenes to make sure we’re comfortable. Before we start filming they like to find out our boundaries.’

‘Oh! I thought you just got on set and just started going at it!’

‘No.’ I tossed the meat into the pan, then sprinkled on some herbs. ‘Everything’s coordinated. Before we start shooting, we know where we’re going to touch and what we’re going to do. Since the whole #MeToo movement, the studios realised just how important it is.’

‘That’s good. Must be weird getting naked and rubbing up against a stranger.’

‘We’re never completely naked.’

‘But sometimes you see their bits on screen!’

‘Nah. We have a Hibue or Shibue, which is a strapless thong that sticks to our pelvis so there’s no direct contact. And a lot of the time, when you see a man’s dick on screen, it’s not real. It’s a prosthetic cock. Same for the woman. They can wear a merkin, which is like a pubic wig. There’s never really any proper dick and pussy touching.’

‘Wow. I thought it was all real! But what about kissing? Don’t tell me you wear fake lips!’ she giggled and the sweet sound warmed my chest.

‘No,’ I chuckled, flipping the turkey in the pan. ‘Our lips are real, but the kisses are obviously fake. It’s not as enjoyable as it looks.’

‘Trudy was talking about us kissing earlier,’ Mia blurted out.

‘Us? Kissing?’ My eyes widened.

‘Er, yeah.’ She fiddled with the hem of her dress, avoiding my gaze. ‘She said we should… practise. That at some point, people will expect us to kiss. Like at the interview.’ Mia shrugged. ‘Stupid, really.’

‘Maybe we should practise.’

What the hell?

I really should think before I speak. I blame the tiredness. Kissing Mia was worse than letting her sleep in my bed. It was just asking for trouble.

‘Oh.’ She paused. ‘I-I didn’t think you’d agree.’

I didn’t. This was my horny dick talking. But now I’d said it, I couldn’t take it back.

‘Last time we were papped, we looked like we were kissing. So when we’re next in public, to be convincing, we might need to do it for real. And if our first time is in front of a load of photographers, it might look awkward.’

‘Good point.’ She looked up. ‘Maybe we should’ve discussed this at the beginning. Like you do with your intimacy coordinator person.’

‘Exactly. It’s good to know our boundaries.’

‘We need to think about whether we use tongues or not.’ Her eyes dropped to my mouth. ‘Or we could just peck on the lips?’

‘A peck won’t show them that we’re madly in lust, though. Maybe tongues are more convincing. Unless that’ll be too much for you?’ I didn’t want to make her uncomfortable.

‘No, no.’ She nodded. ‘We can… tongues are fine.’

‘And what about touch?’ I pinned my gaze on her. ‘Where are your boundaries?’

Mia’s eyes bulged.

‘You want to know where you can touch me? When we kiss?’

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