Page 16 of Hollywood Humbug (The Naughty List)

When I felt a presence beside me, I glanced up to see Kane staring down at me with an intensity that sent a shiver down my spine. Or maybe it was Hunter looking at Bianca. The scene we were about to film was another fight, one where the couple breaks up—before Santa brings them back together, of course.

“Scarlett! Kane!” Luca grunted. “Places.”

Kane gestured for me to go first, so I stood and walked onto the set.

Once we were directed into the right positions and the camera was rolling, I looked at my co-star and saw only Hunter.

“There is no us, Hunter,” I said tiredly. “It would take a Christmas miracle to mend what’s broken between us.”

Kane was silent for a beat, and I waited for him to say his line—Santa doesn’t bring presents to naughty little girls, Bianca.

“What about an honest apology and a lot of groveling?”

I’d been staring at the ground, but my head whipped up at Kane’s ad-libbed line.

“I should have trusted you,” he went on.

I expected Luca to call for another take any second, but as Kane continued, and not a word was spoken by anyone else.

“There’s no excuse for acting like a fucking asshole. But I can give you an explanation”—his expression was already somber, but a different kind of sorrow crossed his face when he finished—“I have no right to ask you to listen since I never gave you the same courtesy. But I’m not above begging, baby.”

He took a single step closer and watched me warily as though he expected me to run away. However, in the last few days, I’d realized that I wanted to clear the air between us. Maybe then I could finally move on.Because that’s what I should do…right?

“Why?” I croaked as tears clogged my throat.

“I was jaded before I met you. Experience had taught me that trusting led to pain and disappointment. So, I pushed you away the moment I had a reason to.”

“I don’t understand.” A tear slipped down my cheek, and he used his thumb to wipe it away.

Kane took two steps forward so that he was almost toe to toe with me and took my hands in his. “You scared me, baby. I’d never felt anything as strong as the emotions and attraction that I felt for you.” He closed his eyes and shook his head. When he opened them, the dark blue pools held no barriers and I felt like I was staring into his soul. “You have more power to hurt me than anyone ever has. So, yeah. I was terrified of you because I knew you had the power to crush my heart. When the opportunity to sabotage what we were building presented itself, I made the biggest mistake of my life.”

I untangled my hands from his and put them in my back pockets. “I can accept your explanation. Even forgive you”—His shoulders sagged, and I winced because I wasn’t finished and he wouldn’t like what I had to say—“But I’m not sure that’s enough.”

Kane stiffened once more and crossed his arms over his chest, his hands gripping his biceps with white knuckles. He often stood like this when he was frustrated, and I could tell that he was holding himself back from touching me. “What can I do to make this right?”

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair as I shuffled my weight from one foot to the other. “I don’t think you can. Trust is a two-way street, and it wasn’t only yours that was broken. I don’t want to spend my life waiting for the other shoe to drop. Like you said, you have the power to crush me. I don’t think I’d survive it again.”

Kane closed the gap between us and encircled me in his arms. “That’s the answer.”

“What?”

“Mutual destruction, baby.” A small, crooked smile curled his lips. “One cannot be crushed without the other.”

His logic surprised me, and my eyebrows rose. “So…we trust each other because we can’t survive without one another?”

“Exactly.” His head dipped low until our mouths were only a breath apart. “But there is something else that binds us altogether.”

I cocked my head to the side and asked curiously, “What’s that?”

“Love,” he growled before he sealed his lips over mine.

The kiss was so full of emotion that it nearly took my breath away. And the passion between us burst to life, making me weak in the knees. I curled my arms around Kane’s neck and went up on my tiptoes, tangling my tongue with his. I wanted to crawl up his body like a fucking tree, and I was seconds away from doing it when—

“Cut!”

The word was shouted through a megaphone, and when I went to spring apart, Kane held me close, burying his face in my neck. “Fuck,” he grunted.

“Kane,” I hissed. “Let me go.”

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