His stomach clenched, hoping his lines were ready. On the bright side, he’d be on set with Maddie.
“That’s fine,” Maddie said, “but I need to get new focus calculations first from the blocking change you just made.”
Micah could let a stand-in do the setup like he usually did and continue working on his lines, but he’d decided he wanted to be near Maddie and be near Maddie he would be. “Sounds good. I’m ready.”
For the first time since he’d joined them, Maddie acknowledged him. Her dark eyes glimmered as they connected with his gaze. “Oh, you don’t need to…”
He winked. “It’s no problem. Let’s go.”
He’d winked at her.
One wink and her knees were jelly as they walked to the set. Thank God the A.D. had his ear while they walked so Maddie could give all her attention to putting one foot in front of the other.
Though she’d been disappointed that he’d forgotten her and disgusted by his superiority complex, the days that had followed had shown Micah to be less of a dick than she’d thought from the car ride. He actually seemed charming and an all-around good guy. Not to her. He hadn’t even spoken to her, but she’d watched him interact with the other actors and crew.
A couple of times she’d caught him eyeing her. Was that burning, hungry stare her imagination? She hadn’t noticed him ogling any other female crew members. But maybe that was because she didn’t want to notice.
What she wanted was to hate him, but working with him had only brought about a crush. A silly, stupid, fangirl type of crush. Her insides got all twisty and her palms sweaty every time she was within ten feet of him. She’d found the only way to deal with her unwanted emotions was to avoid him as much as possible. She got her focus calculations from the stand-ins and stayed in the shadows like a good camera assistant was supposed to.
But one wink and he was drawing her out with his stupid hot-actor charm, making her feel self-conscious in her boring black outfit.
Dammit all to hell.
Then there was Beaumont. Fortunately, he’d so far been his typical ass**le self, and Maddie had been prepared for that. He’d greeted her the first day as if she were a new intern he couldn’t be bothered with, even though he knew her well. He showed his contempt for her in passive-aggressive ways. Three times he’d argued with her about her measurements in front of the entire cast and crew. Twice he’d actually taken over focusing for her. Once he sent her for coffee. The rest of the time he directed from his chair at video village, and Maddie didn’t have to deal with him at all. Like now, thank God.
That meant, for the moment, she just had to deal with Micah.
She could handle it. Totally. No biggie.
“Okay,” she said when they’d reached the set.
“Okay.” His lips curled up in a slight smile. Oh, his beautiful lips…
“Are you on your mark now?” She refused to look him in the eye, hoping he didn’t see the shakiness in her hands as she pulled her tape measure from the clip on her belt.
“Yes.” She felt his gaze as she did some quick mental calculations.
“Yep, they moved you quite a bit.” She handed him the end of her measure. “Do you mind?”
“Not at all.” He brushed her skin when he took it. His touch sent a chill through her body and she dropped the measure on his foot.
“Shit.” She squatted down for it. As she stood, her forearm accidentally bumped him. Bumped him there. And he felt sort of stiff. Oh, God, was he hard? Don’t look, don’t look. Before she could stop herself she glanced and there it was, detectable because she was so close, his growing erection. She froze, gaping.
“Enjoying the view?” Micah asked, his voice low and suggestive.
“Oh my God!” Maddie jumped up, shielding her eyes with her hand. Her face flushed crimson. “Oh my God, oh my God, I’m so sorry.”
Micah laughed. “Hell, Maddie, I didn’t know you were interested.”
Interested? That was the understatement of the century.
“I’m…I’m…” She moved her hand to her mouth, trying to stifle her nervous giggles. “I’m so embarrassed,” she said when she could speak.
Micah grinned. “I’m not.”
“You have absolutely no reason to be, believe me.” Did she really just say that? She flushed even deeper.
His smile widened.
She was mortified—brushing his penis was bad, staring at his crotch was worse. Complimenting his size? She wanted to crawl into a hole and stay there until the whole damn production was wrapped.
Added to her humiliation and confusing her thoughts was the response of her own body to his, uh, obvious desire. Lust spread through her limbs like wildfire. She wanted to touch him, to stroke him, to bring him to release. And why was he turned on anyway? She was the only female on set at the moment. Oh shit. The realization that he was, uh, like that because of her both thrilled and terrified her. Mostly thrilled her. Which was why she was terrified.
She turned away from him, looking for an escape, wondering if anyone witnessed their interaction. No, thank goodness. Because everyone’s attention was on her other nightmare approaching the set—Beaumont.
“I just talked to Heather’s assistant,” Beaumont said when he arrived. “She’ll be ready in twenty.”
Joe furrowed his brows. “Is it even worth it to try to get Micah’s shots done?”
“Actually,” Micah interjected, “I need to run my lines.” His voice so close behind her sent another wave of goose bumps up her arms.
Beaumont nodded. “Good idea. You’ve been a little rusty the last few days. I know, I know, the altitude makes me fuzzy too. Maddie, go help Micah with his lines.”
“Um, there’s probably someone else who would be better suited…” She couldn’t. She needed to be far away from Micah right now, not close and interactive.
Besides, who did Joss Beaumont think she was? Running lines was the job for a production assistant—Sam should be doing this, not first camera assistant. She should be taking care of the camera. Hell, she should be directing the goddammed film, not helping the star with his memorization.
“You can read, can’t you?”
Maddie burned at Beaumont’s words. Was it possible to hate him more?
She took a deep breath to control her anger. “Of course I can read.”
“Then you’ll do just fine.”