Page 48 of How to Kiss a Movie Star
“You’ve really never lived anywhere else?”
She shakes her head. “I mean, high school at NCSSM in Raleigh, then college. But I was still in North Carolina for that. App State for my undergrad, then Carolina Southern for both my master’s and my PhD.”
“That’s right over in Hendersonville, right?”
She nods. “That’s where I teach. I’d love to do some traveling eventually, but I love it here, too. And my research is rooted in these mountains. To go anywhere else would be like starting my career over.”
I turn and lean my back against the edge of the pool. “And you grew up in Silver Creek? I still find it hard to believe I never saw you. Never met you.”
“But I wasn’t around for high school, remember? Just home for the summers. But trust me. Even if you had run into me? You wouldn’t have noticed me.”
I look at her pointedly. “I find that hard to believe.”
She flushes the slightest bit, then laughs as she looks away. “I’m serious. Every nerdy stereotype you can imagine, I was all of them. Braces. Big hair. Enormous glasses.”
“Whatever. We were all dorks in high school.”
She scoffs. “Nope.Iwas a dork in high school. The internet told me what you looked like in high school, and you were anything but a dork.”
“Are you admitting that you Googled me, Audrey? Is that what’s happening here?”
“You think I would agree to fly all the way across the country posing as your girlfriend if I hadn’t Googled you? I’m a researcher, Flint. Of course I Googled you.”
It doesn’t surprise me that she looked me up. But the internet isn’t always the kindest place for celebrities. “That’s fair. Just as long as you’re checking your sources. You know most of what the internet says about me isn’t true.”
“I hope so,” she says without missing a beat. “Otherwise, explaining my presence to your alien wife is going to be tricky.”
“Alien wife, huh? I must have missed that article.”
“Oh, it’s worth looking it up. They had pictures of your children and everything. And they didn’t look photoshopped. In one shot, you’re holding this tiny green baby close to your chest. Pretty compelling stuff.”
I frown, suddenly uncomfortable with whatever level of photoshopping was required to make images like that. Did they use actual pictures? Have I filmed any movies with babies lately? Do I need to call Simon and see if this is something I need to concern myself with?
But then Audrey smirks.
She’s messing with me. And it totally worked.
“Oh, that was mean,” I say. “Alien babies? For real?” I push my hands through the water, sending a tiny splash her way.
She screams and darts away from the spray, then uses her legs to kick water toward me, fighting back with splashes twice as big.
“Oh, it’s on,” I say, darting after her.
I catch her quickly, wrapping my arms around her waist as I tug her against me, her back pressed against my chest, and pull us both under the water.
She wiggles free, then jumps onto me, her hands pressing onto my shoulders until I’m back under the water again.
We keep going, tugging, pulling, dunking, chasing. I don’t know if Audrey is thinking the same thing I am, but for me, every tease is a reason to touch her, to hold her against me, even just for the short seconds it takes me to dunk her under the water.
I can’t get enough of this touching. Her skin against my skin. Her warmth seeping through my fingers, contrasting the cool pool water surrounding us.
After a particularly good dunk, she comes out of the water, spluttering, her smile wide, and lunges after me. Her hands land on my shoulders, and I catch her, tugging her against my chest. But this time, instead of splashing her or pushing her under the water like I have all the times before, I hold her, my hands around her waist, her body flush against mine.
Her breathing is labored, her chest rising and falling with each breath. Drops of water cling to the end of her nose and the tips of her eyelashes, and a dozen new freckles are visible on her cheeks.
I lift one hand from her waist and slide it across her cheekbone. “You have new freckles,” I say softly.
She lifts her hand to her cheek, touching the same spot. “Do I?”
