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And did she just admit that she wanted to compete over Micah?
Micah removed himself from the actress’s clutches. “Uh, Heather, we weren’t ever really…anything…”
Weren’t ever really anything?Maddie’s heart thumped loudly in her chest. Why would Heather think otherwise?
He leaned back on the boulder. “And aren’t you back with your boyfriend?”
Heather shrugged. “I was with him the last time we hookedup.”
“You were? I didn’t realize…” Micah’s voice trailedoff.
Maddie’s thumping heart dropped to her stomach. Micah and Heather had already hooked up. Heather had kissed and fondled and stroked and done all the things that Maddie longed to do with Micah. She wanted to throwup.
It doesn’t matter.He had been with so many women it didn’t matter if Heather was one of the hordes.
Except that the actress named as one of the fifty most beautiful women in the world by the biggest entertainment magazine in the industry was right there, right now, inches from him. Was he sleeping with her while he hit on Maddie? Please, oh please, let that be ano!
Maddie didn’t have to wait long for an answer to her questions. Heather’s proposition came soft but distinct over the headphones. “Come over tonight, Micah. We have tomorrow off. We could spend all day in the hotel like old times.” She leaned into him and whispered, “Doesn’t that soundfun?”
He stood up and turned to face his costar, leaving what Maddie considered an appropriate distance between them. “Heather, I’m just, you know, I’m not really feelingit.”
Yes!Maddie could have jumped for joy if she weren’t afraid of drawing attention.
Heather slumped down on the boulder, pouting. “What a shame. I thought I could always count on you for a roll in the hay. Are you sure you’re not coming down with something?”
“Ha ha ha, yes. I’m fine. I’mjust—”
“Micah,” Joe interrupted. “Let’s talk about that moment at the beginning of the scene.”
Maddie slipped the headphones off and handed them to Chloe. She was still surprised about the exchange. Micah had slept with Heather in the past and he wasn’t sleeping with her now. Half to herself she said, “He totally turned herdown.”
Chloe raised her eyebrows. “He did? Hmm. Bummer for Heather. Well, I guess that fits his M.O. He’s generally a love ‘em and leave ‘em guy, isn’t he? Still, lucky her for getting whatever shegot.”
Maddie nodded in agreement, but she wasn’t so sure. Surprise, surprise! Not sure about Micah. Again. “Chloe, would you sleep with him knowing it was going to be a one-time thing?”
“Uh, duh. Who wouldn’t? Girlfriend, if Micah Preston showed even the slightest bit of interest I’d rub myself all up and down him before he could say, ‘April Fool’s.’ That man isfine.”
Maddie rubbed her chin. “Really? I mean he’s hot.” Super, mega-amazingly eye-blindingly hot. “But it wouldn’t be like just a normal one-night-stand. You’d see his face everywhere after and that would justbe—”
Chloe cut her off. “It would be awesome, is what it would be. Every time I saw his face I’d say to myself—and probably everyone I know— ‘yeah, I hitthat.’”
Maddie laughed. Chloe had a point. Sleeping with a super hot actor wouldn’t be something most people would frownat.
Oh, hell. Why was she such a frickin’ prude? Had she always been this way? Or just with the one guy in the universe that she actually wanted to fuck royally?
“Besides,” Chloe added. “You always wonder if you could be the one—the one that the hot guy finally settles for. But you never know unless you go for it. I mean, I’d never go for it. But that’s only ‘cause I’m alltalk.”
Maddie sighed. This was crazy. Her and Micah, and chances, and all of it. Absolute madness. She’d read somewhere that the definition of crazy was doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results. Over and over she’d said she was finished with Micah and over and over again she returned to him like a boomerang flung into the wind. If she really wanted to be done with him, she had to do something different.
But what if she abandoned her entire agenda? What if she decided returning to Micah’s arms was actually an okay ending? Heaven knew that was exactly where she wanted tobe.
What if he really could give them a chance and she was the one who was holding themback?
Whatif…?
She thanked Chloe for the entertainment and returned to her place at the camera, struggling to hide her sudden giddiness. She’d made a decision and she wasn’t backing down. For the first time since Micah reentered her life, she feltsure.
