Mr. 365 (9 page)

Oh
,
my God
!
I squeeze my thighs together. I can almost imagine the fullness of him inside of me as I squirm.

“Get along? Well, I’m sure you’re completely professional, right?”

“Of course I’ve been professional,” I respond yet my mind wanders again to the other fantasy of me slowly taking off Will’s clothes and kissing every part of him. The idea of it almost makes me moan out loud. I must be losing my mind. I need to get out of here before I say something I shouldn’t.

“True,” he says, studying me as if he’s looking for a crack in my barely contained composure.

“I’ve got another meeting. Let me know if you want to go over things after Aaron finishes the schedule,” I say, trying to control the nervousness in my voice.

“Will do,” he says as I dart out to the hallway.

That evening Will and I agree to have dinner to go over the shoot and what he can anticipate. I keep catching myself nervously fiddling with my silverware as we talk.

We’re almost through with our meal when Will takes my hand in his. “Hey, what’s up?” he asks as he places his other hand on my bouncing knee. “You keep asking how I feel about tomorrow, but what about you? Are you okay with everything?”

I sigh. “I’m tense, I guess.”

“Why?” His eyebrows knit together as he studies me.

His concerned expression makes me realize I should’ve put up a better front for his sake. “Don’t worry. I’m fine. I get like this before every shoot.”

He waves down the waiter and gives him his credit card before leaning toward me. “I don’t believe you, Sophia. I don’t think you get this nervous before every shoot. You’re a pro.”

I smile warmly at him. “I
am
a pro,” I say.

“That’s more like it.” He takes my hand and squeezes it. “Besides I think I know what’s really bothering you about tomorrow.”

“You do?” I ask, mildly amused. “I can’t wait to hear what it is since you’ve never been on a shoot with me.”

“I think you’re nervous because I’m going to be there and I have all kinds of ways to distract you.” He winks playfully and lightly runs the tip of his index finger up my inner arm.

I grin, charmed that he’s lightening the mood. “And you’re so hot, so hunky that I can’t even see straight in your presence.” I take a big sigh and pretend swoon with my hand on my forehead.

“Exactly. So I’m going to turn down my sexy dial tomorrow,” he teases.

“Is that even possible? Your sexy is off the charts. I’m pretty sure there’s no taming it.”

“As is yours.” He shrugs. “I guess we’re doomed.”

“Yes, doomed.” I agree. “You see, I had a conversation with the writer and director of the show. He questioned my relationship with you.” I duck my head, my cheeks glowing pink with my admission. “I guess Lindsey said something about how familiar we were. I’ve never been in this situation before.”

“I imagine our chemistry was hard to hide,” he says.

I look up and lean in on my elbows, grinning. “Chemistry indeed. I can’t believe the effect we’ve had on each other in such a short time. Have you noticed we can’t keep our hands off each other?” I shake my head as if it’s a bad thing.

He grins. “Yeah, I really like all the touching.”

I laugh. “Believe me, I do too, but we have to stop until the shoot is over. Or at least when we’re around other people.”

“True, but it’s organic. I don’t even think about it.”

“My neither, that’s the problem.”

“I can’t help that I’m so drawn to you. I feel like a kite in the wind, and you’re slowly pulling me in,” Will says.

“Is that a good thing?” I ask.

He smiles. “Yeah, as long as you don’t let go of the string.”

We sit silently for a minute taking it all in. Suddenly I realize that Will is clenching and unclenching his fists, over and over, his eyes looking far away in thought.

“Hey, you. What’s up? Has your kite flown into the dark clouds?” I whisper.

He squints and he presses his lips together. “This is really going to happen, isn’t it? Can I change my mind and back out?”

His question stuns me. “Is that what you want to do?”

He nods, scowling a bit and looking off to the side.

“Oh, no.” I moan, lifting my hands to my face in horror.

“Don’t worry, Sophia. I said I
want
to back out. I didn’t say I would. I agreed to do it, and I follow through with my promises.”

I let out a loud exhale. “Well, thank you for that. Damn, you scared the hell out of me for a moment.”

“Sorry. I promise I’ll pull through. I’ll just grit my teeth and bear it, no matter how tortured I am,” he says sheepishly.

“I promise I won’t let it be torture.”

“Okay. What’s the worst that can happen, right?” he says, lifting his hands up like he’s reasoning with himself.

“Exactly, and by next year we’ll be like, ‘so how’d we meet again?’ All of this stress will be a distant memory.”

“Yeah.” He grins.

“And maybe I’ll be working on documentaries.”

“And maybe we can take a trip somewhere exotic. I haven’t really traveled much.”

Feeling great, I lift my water glass in a toast. “So, here’s to our big adventure.”

I have a thought as he walks me to my car. “Remember what you said last night about keeping things light? Why can’t we just decide to have fun working together?”

“Really? It will be fun?”

I wink at him. “I’ll make it fun. You’ll be my Mr. Christmas.”

“Is this going to involve me wearing a Santa hat and no clothes at some point?” His teasing has a hopeful edge.

“No, but I’ve been a
really
good girl this year,” I say, biting my lip and batting my eyelashes.

“How good?” His smile turns into a grin.

“Really good, except when I was
bad
, of course. I can’t help it—you make me want to be really naughty.”

“That works for me. You can be naughty with me any ol’ time.”

“Hmmm,” I moan while I tap my finger on my chin like I’m thinking up lots of naughty plans.

Will looks properly seduced with his hooded eyes and sexy smile. “Okay then, so what do you want from Mr. Christmas?”

“I want to jingle his bells.”

Will laughs. “Anything else?”

“And ride his sleigh.”

“Really?” He grins like a Cheshire cat as he leans against my car and pulls me into his arms.

I press my body against him and glide my hands up his chest, while he runs his fingers up and down my back.

“So if I’m Mr. Christmas, who are you?” he asks.

I moan as he kisses my neck. “Who do you want me to be? And don’t say an elf.”

“No,” he says as he gently bites my earlobe and whispers in my ear. “How about my girl… Ms. Christmas?”

I lean back and look him in the eyes. “Yeah?” I say, my heart fluttering. “I’d like that.”

He smiles and gets a playful look in his eyes. “And one day I’ll take you for that hot ride on my sleigh.”

“Are you flirting back, Mr. Christmas? ’Cause that was saucy. You’ve got mad skills.”

He leans down to kiss me good-bye. “Oh beautiful, when it comes to my mad skills—you haven’t seen anything yet.”

T
he next morning the production truck from True Blue Entertainment pulls in front of Will’s house. The sun’s still so low in the sky that it shimmers over the wet grass and casts long shadows from the production team as they unload equipment. Will watches from the front window with an apprehensive look on his face.

The studio group gathers on his front sidewalk, and I lead them up the walkway. Almost everyone has a steaming travel mug of coffee and a backpack.

Will steps away from the window and opens the front door. He looks at me first with a small smile, then scans the group. “Good morning.”

“Hi, Will. It’s the big day! We’re all here and raring to go. Are you ready?” I ask.

He shrugs. “I guess so.”

I’m impressed with his polite and neutral countenance. You’d never know that he had me pressed against my car last night.

He notices Paul, who’s studying him intently. “We haven’t met. You must be Paul.”

Paul shakes Will’s hand. “Yes. Good to meet you and thanks for participating on our show. From the stills Aaron showed me, you’re really going to wow our audience with your amazing Christmas house.”

“Thanks.” Will steps back so everyone can enter.

Aaron and the equipment guys swarm in like it’s their place. Tarps are spread across the floor and one of the smaller guys starts moving things to the edge of the room.

“So they won’t get damaged,” he says when Will’s eyes get wide.

Lindsey grabs his arm. “Hey, Will, while they set up let’s go to the kitchen and go over the schedule and some details.”

He seems a bit dazed as he leads us down the hall. “I’ve got coffee going,” he says when we’re all gathered around the island.

“So can we walk Will through what’s going to happen today?” I say to the group.

Lindsey sets her pad of notes and scheduling on the counter. “Sure. Right now the guys are getting long shots and details in the foyer and living room.” She turns to Paul. “We may have some budget kickbacks ’cause we had to do some supplemental lighting I hadn’t budgeted for.”

Paul groans and rolls his eyes back. “You can bet we’ll get shit for that.”

“Anyway.” I push them to get back on track.

Lindsey shakes her head and looks at her watch. “Will, we should be ready to do some shots with you by eleven. Why don’t you sit for makeup at ten-thirty?”

She turns to Gia sitting at the end of the counter. “This is a good spot, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, good light.” Gia turns to Will. “I’m Gia, by the way. And don’t worry. I’ll make you look great.” She gives him a wink.

Turning back to Lindsey, Gia asks, “What about wardrobe?”

“Right. Look what I found. It’s perfect.” Lindsey lifts up a shopping bag and pulls out two T-shirts. She holds up a green one with a large cartoony reindeer on the front. “We were going to do this, but then I found this one.” She holds up a deep red T-shirt.

“Mr. Christmas!” Paul exclaims, reading the caption on the front of the shirt. “That’s perfect!”

Will blinks repeatedly before looking over at me.

I shake my head frantically with my hands up like I didn’t know anything about this.

“Can you iron both just in case?” Lindsey says to Gia.

Gia nods and gathers the shirts and works them onto hangers.

“Those aren’t for me, are they?” Will asks, his “what the fuck” look still firmly in place.

“Sure they are. Aren’t they awesome,” Paul says happily.

“Sophia tells me you’re the one interviewing me on camera. So, are you wearing one?” Will asks Paul.

“Ah, that would be no,” he says, laughing.

“Good, then I’m not wearing one either. This is the first I’ve heard of it anyway. I’m just going to wear my own clothes.”

Paul’s face gets a little red as he considers what to say to Will. Finally he turns away and walks toward the hallway.

“Sophia, you work this out,” he says as he passes me.

Later when the group takes a break to check on the work up front, Will heads to the backyard. I watch from the window as he stomps across the wet grass and away from the house. I follow him out.