As if reading her thoughts, Micah countered, “Look, you have multitudes of men falling at your feet and you don’t even have a clue.”

“Whatever.” He was so dramatic. “Like Sam?”

Micah shrugged. “Sam’s a good guy.”

She cocked her head and looked at him curiously. “I thought you said he was a douchebag.”

“I may have spoken falsely.”

His sudden endorsement of Sam put her on edge. Sam was…was… She actually didn’t know what Sam was. She hadn’t taken the time to find out. What she did know was what Sam wasn’t. He wasn’t Micah.

She wasn’t brave enough to say that, though. “Sam’s, like, barely twenty-one.”

Micah shrugged. “Young enough to train.”

“And he’s always so in the way.”

“He’s a pleaser.” He lowered his voice. “He’d probably try really hard to please you.”

Maddie fought to hide the tears that were threatening. Did he really want her with someone else? “So are we done now, is that it? And you’re trying to softly hand me over to Sam to ease your guilt?”

“Fuck, no!” He pulled her into his arms, wrapping her tightly against him. “Imagining any guy, let alone Sam, with you—touching your incredibly soft skin, fondling your adorably perky br**sts—feels like I’m being stabbed in the gut.” He unrolled her from the comforter so their skin met. “And now I have to fondle your br**sts since I was talking about it.”

She giggled as his palm found her bosom. “So you’d be jealous?”

“Incredibly.”

Awesome. “And you aren’t trying to get rid of me yet?”

“Not a chance.”

Even more awesome.

She relaxed under his soothing massage, her nipple hardening under his fingers. She was exactly where she wanted to be, with the kind of guy she wanted to be with. Didn’t he know that?

Head pressed against his chest so she wouldn’t see his face, she told him. “I don’t want to be with multitudes of other guys. I want to be with you.”

“I know,” he whispered. He kissed her forehead and then nuzzled his face against hers.

He feels it too. Even though he won’t say it. Her chest warmed at the realization.

Then she started to sink again as she recalled the complexity of their situation. “How do we do this? Get to know each other, I mean. With you being you, and all. What do we do?”

He returned his hand to her breast. “I don’t know about you, but I’m fondling. I can give you some suggestions as well.”

“Micah, I’m serious.”

He sighed. “I know.” He was quiet for a moment and she wondered if he wouldn’t answer her. But then he did. “I don’t know. I haven’t done this either. Not successfully. The press likes to connect me with every woman I come into contact with. They’ll say that I’m with someone or another, and they will have pictures, but you can’t believe it.”

“I told you, I don’t read gossip magazines.”

“Good. Don’t start. And the minute they find out I’m seeing you…it will be tough, Maddie, I’m not going to lie.”

“So then we should try to remain media free. Don’t you think?”

“If we want to stay media free, we have to sneak around on set.”

She swallowed. “I realize that.” She couldn’t deny that it made her more than a little sad to be Micah’s secret. The way she felt about him, she wanted to tell the world. But they were still so new, and she really did want to give their relationship a chance. “I suppose I can live with it.”

He tilted up her chin so he could look her in the eye. “It won’t mean anything, Maddie. What other people say or know. It’s between you and me. If you wonder at all, you ask me. You have to promise.”

His seriousness was so startling she took a moment to answer. “Okay. I promise.”

“Thank you.” He released her chin and stroked her cheek. “If we stay low on set, the better shot we’ll have of staying out of the media’s eye. It won’t be easy. But while we have the excuse of working together I think we could pull it off. That gives us…what? Four weeks left to figure the rest out.”

“Four weeks,” she repeated. It felt like she was saying “four minutes”.

“To figure it out,” he added.

It was a step in the right direction. Nothing permanent, but at least she knew where she stood with him for now.

Micah shifted, turning his whole body toward her. “But we’re not figuring it out right this minute. Right now I seriously have some suggestions of things you could be doing while I resume my fondling.”

She grinned. “Naughty things, I hope.”

“Extremely.” He growled as his mouth found her neck, nipping along her throat.

Her heart flip-flopped at the primitive sound. “Tell me,” she hissed. “Tell me what to do.”

He lifted his head and gazed at her considering. “Touch yourself.”

“Hmm, what?” She wasn’t naïve—she knew what he meant. He wanted her to play with herself. But she’d never done that in front of anyone, and while she wasn’t saying no, she wanted him to tell her how to do it.

He circled her nose with his own. “I want you to touch yourself.” He licked at her upper lip. “As if you were thinking about me.” He kissed her once. “Do you make yourself come while thinking about me?”

Holy hell, did she ever. How many nights had she slept on wet sheets because of the orgasms she’d brought herself to with him on the brain?

“Yes.” She met his eyes.

“Show me.”

“Okay.”

His breath hitched and she felt a fresh pool of liquid between her legs. She was nervous and embarrassed as she pulled away from him, but she was also excited. Incredibly excited. Though she had never been turned on by the idea of playing with herself in front of another person, she was more than aroused by the thought now. She plopped the pillows up behind her and centered herself on top of them. Slowly she dragged her legs up until her knees were bent in front of her. Then, she let her knees fall open.

Micah’s eyes widened ever so slightly. He moved himself to a spot with a better view and focused on her intently.

She was tempted to move her hands directly to her clit. She was already turned on and it wouldn’t take long. But he wanted to see what she did when she thought about him, and her more intense fantasies of him started elsewhere.