Take Two

Chapter Thirty

Maddie’s chest constricted when Fudge didn’t answer his phone. She left a frazzled voice message saying she needed to find Micah and she was already on her way to the Nokia. But what if she couldn’t get a hold of him?

Thank God, he texted her half a minute after she hung up. Of course. He was probably in a place where he couldn’t take a phone call. Idiot.

She glanced at his message while stopped at a light. Park at the Ritz. Text me when you arrive.

She tossed her phone down on the passenger seat and turned onto Olympic Boulevard. With the few minutes left of her drive, she centered her thoughts. Micah said he loved her. On national television. But had he changed his mind about the future? Did he believe they might actually have a shot, even in Hollywood?

Micah loved her. And she loved Micah. Still she couldn’t relax in that knowledge without more information.

Though still a block away, Maddie slowed her car as the Ritz came into view, hoping the change in speed would calm her sudden anxiety. But when she turned into the hotel’s driveway, her heart seemed to beat even faster.

“You’re in luck,” the valet attendant said. “A parking spot just came available.” He opened her door. “Are you staying in the hotel?”

“Visiting someone who is,” she lied.

As the valet drove her car away, she texted Fudge. Just parked.

I’m in the hotel lobby.

Smoothing down her dress—as if that would help her disheveled state—Maddie pushed through the revolving doors and stepped into the cool lobby.

Fudge saw her first. “Hey, you.” He was dressed in a black T-shirt and black jeans, his “on duty” attire. He enveloped her in a bear hug. “You saw the show? What did you think?”

Man, was that a loaded question. It would take an hour to run through all her thoughts and feelings. She settled on the dominating one. “I’m shocked.”

He took her hand, leading her toward the main elevators. “But it was good, right?”

She nodded as he pushed the up arrow on the call panel.

Her brow furrowed. They were staying in the hotel?

Fudge didn’t notice her confusion. “I just knew you’d show up after that. Micah wasn’t so sure. He was really nervous about it, actually. He’s gonna be real happy to see you. I’m real happy to see you. He’s been an ass since Colorado.”

“An ass?”

“Total ass. Moody. Mean. I’ve never seen him like that.” An elevator opened behind them and a formally dressed couple stepped out. Was that the guy who just won best screenwriter? Fudge ushered her in the empty car before she could look again.

“But good for you,” he continued. “Not letting him force you into less than you both deserve.” He pushed the number four on the panel and the doors shut.

Maybe Micah was waiting for her in a hotel room. With nothing on. Yummy. She grinned at the thought. “Does he know I’m here?”

“Nah. We’re surprising him.” Fudge tapped his foot, watching the dial as they climbed.

So no naked in a hotel room. “Um, where are we going? Is Micah here or at the Nokia?”

Fudge hit his head as if he just realized he were in idiot. “Duh. Sorry. He’s here in the hotel.” The doors opened and he led her down a hall, following a sign that pointed toward the hotel ballrooms. “All the presenters and award winners are sent over here to the press room for pics and interviews and stuff.”

Maddie halted, panic setting in. “There won’t be pictures of me, right?”

“Maybe. Everyone wants to know who the mysterious Maddie Bauers is, after all. Is that not cool?”

She gestured at her outfit. “Look at me. I’m a mess. I’m wearing an Old Navy jersey. I have a big old chocolate stain on my boobs.”

Fudge scanned her over, as if seeing her for the first time. “Hmm. Yeah, we’ll keep you out of the limelight then. No worries.”

He resumed his trek down the hall. Hesitantly, Maddie followed. He stopped outside a corridor where two security guards stood. Several feet behind them, a sign on a set of heavy double doors read Ballroom A.

Fudge flashed a badge and pulled her past the guards and through the double doors. “Micah was up next when I left him.”

Inside the room was abuzz with activity. At least two hundred people were spread around the small ballroom. Light bulbs flashed and boom mics bobbed above the photo area at the end of the room. Maddie stood on her tiptoes to see above the heads of the press. There. Posed in front of the America’s Choice Awards logo, looking like the hot god he was.

“I haven’t had a girlfriend in years,” Micah said in answer to a question Maddie hadn’t heard. “I have a lot to learn.”

“Micah, where did you meet Maddie?” a reporter near the front asked.

They were talking about her.

“You’ll dig it up soon enough.” Micah was all suave and charming. “Some of you are especially talented with that kind of thing.”

A few people laughed.

Fudge waved his arm, signaling to Micah.

Maddie, raised herself on her toes again and nearly choked on her own spit as she briefly met his glance. Her stomach flip-flopped at the look he gave her, his eyes wide, full of longing and love.

Fudge tugged at her sleeve. “We gotta get outta here if you don’t want to get photographed.”

Maddie followed as he crossed behind the crowd to a small room off the ballroom. “This is a lounge for while the stars wait for their turn with press.” He gestured for her to enter. “But no one’s been using it. I’ll tell Micah you’re here.”

Maddie entered the room, and found it furnished in old Hollywood décor. A white couch and two armchairs created a sitting area around a television showing a live feed of the award show next door. The winner of Best Director was giving his award speech. And it wasn’t Beaumont. This night’s getting better and better.

After several minutes of unsuccessfully trying to concentrate on the show, Maddie paced the room. Where was Micah? What would he say when he saw her? What would she say when she saw him?

After spotting a sink at the bar on the opposite side of the room, she crossed to wash her hands, sticky from nerves and chocolate ice cream. While drying, she had the eerie feeling she was being watched. She turned and saw him, leaning against the door frame. Excitement and desire rushed through her and the only reason she wasn’t running into his arms was fear that her knees would collapse before she reached him.

Micah looked her over from head to toe. Her body trembled under his ravenous gaze. When his eyes reached her chocolate stain, he chuckled. Maddie cringed. Of course he’d notice all of her. He stepped into the room, still saying nothing.

She had an idea. In what she hoped sounded like a reporter’s voice, she said, “Micah Preston.”

He cocked his head.

She took a step toward him. “Rumor has it that you don’t believe you can have a successful movie career and a girlfriend. Do you care to comment?”

He relaxed, understanding settling on his face. “This is true.”

She tensed. Did this mean he still believed they had no future?

“I have historically stood my ground on the idea that romance has no place in Hollywood.” He stepped toward her. “But recently I’ve had a change of heart.”

She swallowed, taking another step. “A change of heart?”

“I still think it’s a difficult situation, don’t get me wrong there.” He moved again toward her. “But relationships are about sacrifice and compromise. And as long as we choose each other more often than we choose our careers, I think we might have a shot.” He furrowed his brow. “I’m not sure if she’s completely thought about the sacrifices she’ll have to make for her own career.”

Maddie took a deep breath. She’d thought about it, but she knew that wasn’t the same as experiencing it. It wouldn’t be easy, especially facing her Beaumont past again, but Micah had given up a way of thinking for her. She could give up things for him as well. It takes two.

“Do you care what the press says about you? About her?”

“Not in the slightest.” He suddenly seemed to remember she was pretending to be a reporter herself. “No offense to you and your kind. But usually whatever you have to say is a bunch of bullshit.”

Another step toward him. “No offense taken. I’m sure she knows that as well. And if you can ignore them, I bet she can too. Since she loves you and all.”

His eyes twinkled. “You think she still loves me? Even after I’ve been such a dick?”

“I’d bet my life on it,” she said softly.

He beamed. Then his delight was replaced with a mischievous grin. “I’m not so sure.” He took two more slow steps toward her. “She can be pretty hotheaded. And stubborn. And non-compromising. Sometimes she runs away. Oh, and she can be a bit of a tease, so there’s that.”

Maddie raised a brow. “A tease? No way.”

“Yes, yes way. I’ve taken many cold showers because of her.”

“Hmm.” She was so near to him now, only a few feet away. She could touch him. But one more question. “With all her negative traits,” she said, her eyes lowered, “are you sure that you really…love her?”

He pulled her to him in one swift movement. “Oh yeah,” he said huskily, his mouth inches from hers. “I’m damn sure.”

His lips found hers, and she melted into his taste as her tongue darted playfully around his. She clutched to him desperately, and his body soaked her with his heat from the tips of her breasts to the place where his arousal pressed into her belly to lower where her own desire burned. She wanted him, and he wanted her, and she reveled in this as he kissed her so thoroughly that her insides turned into complete mush and her legs could barely stand without his support.

When she thought she couldn’t take it anymore—that if he lingered in her mouth a moment longer she’d have to rip off all his clothes and make love to him right there in the ballroom of the Ritz Carlton—only then did he tear his mouth away to whisper in her ear. “Oh, Maddie.” His voice was ragged and low. “I’ve been such a shit. I’m so sorry it took so long for me to come around. I could live the rest of my life without ever seeing another script or movie set again, but I can’t live another second without you. I love you. Please tell me I still have a chance, that we have a chance.”

“Oh God, Micah. All I needed was for you to believe we did.” Maddie blinked back hot tears. “Yes. Yes! I love you so much.”

He leaned back to search her eyes. “You really do?”

“I do. I always have. Probably since I met you on the bench in that backyard on my graduation night.”

His mouth possessed hers again, this time the heat of the kiss turned her arousal from a simmer to a boil. When Micah pulled away to meet her eyes, his were dilated with ravenous desire. “Oh, baby, I’d say we need to get a room, but I don’t think I can wait that long.”

His sexual promise had her teeming with excitement.

His eyes swept the room and settled on the sofa near them. “Later we’ll take it slow and sweet. But I need to be inside you now, and it’s going to have to be quick.”

Her mouth fell open in surprise as he lifted her and carried her to the sofa. He lay her down and reached under her dress to remove her panties.

Panic swept through her. “Micah, what if someone—”

“Shh, we don’t care about anyone else, remember. I have to have you.”

She relaxed, trusting him, letting herself give in to his need.

His hand slid up her thigh to the bud of her want. “God, Maddie you’re soaked.” He swirled her clit with his thumb, sending a shiver throughout her body, then dipped a finger inside her.

Oh, fuck. She needed him too. Now. She squirmed, anxious for him to fill her. “Come on!”

He unfastened his pants and his cock sprang free, causing a surge of excitement in her blood. “You ready?”

She answered by spreading her legs farther and bucking her hips.

He climbed into the V of her legs. “Is this what you want?” He plunged inside her and groaned.

“Yes!” Her memories of him—wonderful, heavenly memories—paled radically to the exquisite reality of his naked cock within her. And he still had farther to go. Her body opened to accept him and he slipped deeper inside.

Then he began to move. Not in the creative, circular motions that he usually tortured her with, but with sharp, piercing jabs. Each time, he stroked that spot—the one that made the lights flicker when it was hit just right and oh, was he hitting it right. So right in fact, that despite her concern that she’d never get off with people so close by, she found herself soaring over the edge in record time. Her orgasm was so fierce and so sudden she had to bite into Micah’s shoulder to squelch her cries.

“Yes baby, yes!” He pounded through her release to his own turbulent climax.

Seconds after they’d finished, before her brain could even process a cool-down, voices—or rather a voice—drifted in from outside the room. Fudge, speaking louder than usual, said, “Yes, Mr. Santini, Micah’s in there. But before you go in—”

Maddie and Micah scrambled to compose themselves as Fudge resumed a normal volume of speech. “It’s so great to meet you. I’m such a fan.”

“Where’s my panties?” Maddie hissed as Micah tucked himself in his pants.

He grinned. “Do you really need them?”

She narrowed her eyes at him.

He joined her search. “I threw them behind me. Oh, they’re on the lamp.”

But before he could reach them, Martin Santini walked in the room.

Maddie knew she must look petrified. One of the most prolific directors in the history of film had just walked into the same room and here she was with a fresh-fucked face, chocolate-stained boobs and her floral cotton panties hanging from the lampshade.

Thank God for Micah. He moved to the director and greeted him with one hand while deftly retrieving her underwear behind his back with the other.

“Great to see you, Marty,” Micah said, slipping her panties in his pocket. “This is my girlfriend, Maddie Bauers.”

Girlfriend. After the heights of her orgasm, she was surprised he was able to thrill her further.

She put one hand on her chest to cover her stain and shook Martin Santini’s hand with the other. “I’m honored to meet you, Mr. Santini. You’ve been a huge influence on me.”

“Call me Marty, please. Glad to meet you.” He winked at Micah. “I’m guessing you’re no longer a douchebag.”

Micah chuckled. “Well, I’m not sure about that.”

She hit him playfully. “No, he’s still a douchebag. But it’s sort of endearing.”

“Good.” Marty clapped a hand on Micah’s shoulder. “I hope you don’t mind me talking business at a social event, but when I heard you were here, I wanted to check in. Did you get the script I sent to your manager?”

“I did, thank you. I loved it. I’m very interested in the part. My only hesitation is the time spent out of the country.”

“Micah…” Maddie was worried about being away from Micah too. But she wanted him to take the role.

But Micah shook his head, silencing her.

“Understandable,” Marty said. “Might the offer seem more attractive if I agree to move the training stateside?”

“That makes the offer a whole lot more attractive.” He winked at Maddie. “I would still have to discuss it with Maddie. I can’t do anything without her being on board.”

Before Maddie could give her wholehearted consent, Marty said, “Great way to run a relationship. My wife, as you may know, is a costume designer. And we’ve been married for over twenty-five years, and in this town, that’s a lifetime. We never would have lasted so long if we hadn’t worked our schedules out together. Anyway, you two talk it over, but can I at least set up a meeting?”

Micah looked at Maddie who nodded so enthusiastically she thought her head would fall off.

“Yes, let’s do that,” Micah said.

“Great. I’ll have my agent contact your agent. Now I’ll get out of your hair.” Marty winked again. “I think I may have been interrupting something.”

Maddie suppressed a giggle.

Marty turned to leave then stopped at the door. “Great meeting you, Maddie Bauers. I hope to see a lot of you both.”

The second the director left the room, Maddie and Micah burst into laughter. God, she loved the sound of his laugh. She loved him period. And he was about to land a Martin Santini role. “Micah, you have to take the part.”

“Only if you’re completely on board. We have to work our schedules around each other. We can’t be apart for too long. We need to put ourselves first.”

“Agreed. But I’ve already been thinking about it and I have a plan. I can finish up post-production of my movie with Three Spot while you’re doing your comedy. Maybe I’ll need another month or so, which, if you can get your training moved to the States is perfect. Then, I have a script I’ve been working on that would be awesome set in New Zealand. I could raise some money, rent another RED camera and shoot my movie while you’re shooting yours.”

“That is perfect.” He wrapped his arms around her. “Leave it to you to always be two steps ahead of me.”

She smiled into his neck, enjoying his words and his embrace and the crazy things he was doing to her lower parts. Again. “Hey, can I have my panties back?”

“No. I like knowing you’re bare. It’s easy access.” He brushed his nose against her ear. “Now let’s get out of here so I can take advantage of that.”

He took her hand in his and chuckled.

“What?” she asked.

“I was just thinking. I’m Micah Preston, guy who can supposedly get any girl in the world.”

She raised an eyebrow, wondering where he was going, not really caring because all the other girls in the world didn’t matter since he was hers and she was his.

He put his hand on her face, his thumb caressing her cheek. “Yet it took me seven years and two months to finally go home with Maddie from the party.” He paused. “You know what?”

“Hmm?” She covered his hand with her own, enjoying every little touch of the man who was everything—her everything—the man that she had grounded while he gave her flight. The man she loved. The man who loved her in front of the world.

He tilted her chin up. “I never want to go home with anyone else again.”