“Give in to this attraction. To this pull you have on me. I told myself from the beginning, I wouldn’t let this happen, but it did, and I don’t know what to do with it. Every time I’m around you I have to fight the urge to touch you. To kiss you. I’ve been scared to death that we’d get to the final scene, and I’d taste your lips and—”

“So, you decided to taste it beforehand? To get it out of the way?” I feel an ache in my chest like I never felt before.

“What? No. That’s not…” He takes a few steps, closing the distance I’d put between us. “I didn’t want to feel this way. Trust me. I tried not to. You’re the kind of person I swore I’d never get involved with again—”

“The kind of person?” I ask. “The not-famous kind?”

“Yes,” he replies. It feels like a punch in the gut. “I know the problems this can cause. I know the risks. But I can’t help it. I can’t help the way I feel about you.”

“The way you feel about me?” The words come out laced in sarcasm. “Despite all the reasons you have not to want me. That’s what you’re saying?”

“Against my better judgement,” he confirms. “I want you. I want you so much I’m scared of being near you. You make me feel like I’m not in control of my own feelings, and…” He brings his hand to my face, his index finger tracing my jaw with a feather-like touch. “And I’m scared of it. I’m scared of how much I want you, but I can’t hide my feelings anymore. And I… I want to be with you. Not because of the play. Not because Emily told us to fix our chemistry, but because I want you.”

My skin is burning at his touch, and I can’t think straight. His hand drops to his side when I take a step back and the lost of contact is enough to clear my thoughts.

Winter thinks he wants me. He thinks he’s got feelings for me.

He’s lost his mind.

“Aren’t you gonna say something?” he pleads.

“Say something?” I scoff. “Winter, what do you expect me to say? You come over to my house to tell me I’m not doing my job right. Then you kiss me out of nowhere. You kissed me,” I repeat more to myself than to him. “Then you tell me you have many reasons not to want me, including me not being famous, and still, you think I need to say something? What exactly do you expect me to say? Did you think I’d be flattered by this? That I’d jump at the opportunity to… to be with you? Despite your ‘better judgement’?”

“I didn’t—”

“I can’t think of one reason why I would want to be with you. Not one. But I can think of many for why I don’t. And even if you hadn’t come here and said all the atrocious things you said to me, do you really think I would want to be with someone who caused my sister’s heart to be broken?”

“That was not—”

“Do you deny it?” I ask, cutting him off again. “Are you really gonna stand here and tell me you didn’t convince Cameron to break up with her?”

“I did,” he admits. “I did tell him to do that.”

“Why?” I cry. Of all the things he’s said to me today, this is the one that makes me the maddest.

“You know why. Everyone knows about the hunt for husbands. I couldn’t let my friend be used like that. He had real feelings for her. He loved her, and she was using him.”

“Did Julia say she was with him for the green card? Was it her who said that?”

“You know it was Olivia.”

“Exactly. Did you give Julia the benefit of the doubt, or did you so quickly make up your mind? Did you judge her before giving her the chance to say her piece like you love doing?”

“I…”

“And Graham? Do you have an excuse for why you ruined his life as well? Why you took from him the best opportunity he ever had?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he hisses, his eyes darkening in anger. “You accuse me of being quick to judge, and yet you do the same. Whatever he’s told you, you took his word for it and never asked for my side of the story. You decided what to believe in based on how you feel about me.”

“I have reasons for the way I feel about you. From the first moment I met you, you have done nothing but show your disdain for me and where I worked. You judged my lack of experience and equated it to lack of talent without even seeing my performance. You’ve been arrogant and a snob, and you expect me to—”

“Forget I came here,” he snaps. “Forget this ever happened. I shouldn’t have come. I shouldn’t have thought you’d be willing to get over the first impression you had of me and see…” He turns and walks to the door. “Just forget it.”

He walks out and closes the door behind him, leaving me with the lingering taste of his lips on mine and the impossible challenge of forgetting all about it.

Chapter 15

When Olivia and Julia arrive home, I’m already in my bedroom. I tell them I have a headache, and they leave me be. I’ve never hidden anything from Julia, but I’m still trying to process everything that happened, and I feel that I need to do it on my own before I share it with her.