Page 65 of Bad Reputation

She sighed.

His eyes had adjusted to the dark, and he watched those small shoulders of hers rise and fall, settling lower than before.

Very softly, she said, “Directing feels like a thing I’m doingwithactors. Rehearsal and blocking are, can be, collaborative. But when it comes time to do the performance, they’re on their own. Mostly, that feels good. We’ve done the work, and then it flowers. Today ...”

She didn’t have to say the rest.

“We got through today because of you. And I know that Tasha is really grateful, too, and when she’s—”

“No, I don’t wantgratitude.” Maggie whirled to face him. Only a few tablespoons of light were making it around the door, and all of it seemed to have pooled in her eyes. “I felt jealous, and that’s ridiculous. I’m being ridiculous.”

“You’re ... jealous?” Cole’s heart was doing a burpee in his chest—a throbbing, bounding, squeezing exercise against his ribs—but his palms were dry, and his mind calm. Because something had fallen into place.

Maggie was speaking quickly. “Not jealous, exactly. That isn’t the right word. But today, you didn’t need me, and that’s ... good. It’s good that you didn’t need me. It means we rehearsed well, and I got you ready for that scene. So ready that even when it all went pear shaped, you were still able to execute it. And that’s exactly my job, right? What happened today means I can do this job. I’m just having some weird emotional glitch. I don’t know, I can’t explain it. Maybe it’s not even about this job. Maybe it’s the stress of the last year and a half, but ... I’m babbling. I’m sorry. Don’t worry about me. It doesn’t make any sense.”

No, it made perfect sense.

Less than a foot stood between Cole’s hands and Maggie’s waist. In a second, he could have his hands on her. His mouth on her.

It was suddenly extremely important for him to get his mouth on her.

Only his rules kept him from doing it.

He wasn’t Maggie’s boss. He had no control over her or over the production. But he was famous. Sort of. And he had power. Kinda.

Maggie was new to this job, new to this industry. Kissing her—at least kissing hernow—wouldn’t be fair.

Kissing her later? That was something else entirely.

“Anyhow, you’re fine. I’m sorry I’m being weird. But I was thinking about what you said earlier.”

“About?” His voice was even, without a hint of what he’d just decided.

“What’s it like when your self rushes back in after you’re done filming?”

The question was soft, barely above a whisper, but between that and the dark, he had trouble remembering what they’d been talking about. He had trouble remembering anything except why he shouldn’t tug Maggie into him.

“Um, it depends on the part I’m playing. It can be confusing, a relief, a—a disappointment.” Cole didn’t have a problem being himself most of the time. But when you got to pretend to be a superhero, to be perfect, to be larger than life, it was a rude awakening to return to reality where you were firmly middle aged, not exactly famous, and still trudging up the road to career redemption.

It might be easier some days to just go on being a character. At least then his lines were written for him.

Maggie squeezed his forearm, and even through his sleeve, he could feel the warm support there.

Could feel the wanting there.

She might not be willing to admit it to herself, but it was real, as surely as it was in his own chest.

“Real you is pretty darn cool,” she said. “If you needed validation about that. I ... I like real you.”

But real him couldn’t do what he wanted in response to that, at least not tonight. Which was a crying shame.

Chapter 16

INT. MAGGIE’S HOTEL ROOM

“Videon is apparently thrilled with the footage they’ve seen.”

Maggie didn’t know how Bernard had heard that. But even after only working together for a few months, it was clear very little went down in Hollywood that Bernard didn’t get wind of. Heck, he might have been hiding in the back of the screening room when Videon execs had watched theWaverleyfootage from Scotland.

---