“You’ve been doing it all wrong if your kisses are painful,” she whispered back.
“And here I thought you were a masochist.” Whatever she was going to retort was lost as I finally kissed her.
Her lips were soft, supple, and tasted faintly of sugary sweetness. It was a nice change from all my costars and their waxy lipstick. But Sophia was all rigid and tense next to me. I kissed her for another second before pulling back.
“Did that hurt?” I whispered with a smile as I brushed a hand over her cheek and cupped her face. Despite everything I’d told myself, this didn’t feel like business or as impersonal as choreographing a love scene on set.
“Uh, what? No.”
“Guess you’re right then. Good kisses don’t hurt.”
Then I kissed her again.
This time Sophia swayed toward me, her arms coming around me. I took the kiss deeper, learning what made Sophia gasp and what made her dig her fingers into my hair. It didn’t take long to forget why we were kissing or where we were.
“Eep!” Jennifer’s voice came from the other side of the room. “I’m so sorry.”
I broke our kiss and turned toward our server, keeping Sophia close to my side.
Jennifer stood in the doorway, trying to jerk the curtain closed but it tangled in the collapsible stand she held in her other hand. The whole restaurant opened to us. And sure enough, I spotted more than one phone pointed our way. “It’s not a problem.”
“Oh no. It’s fine. You’re fine.” But her eyes were wide as she finally got the curtain closed behind her. She stood on our side of the curtain, staring at us.
“Are those our apps?” I tipped my head toward the tray in her other hand.
“Oh, yes. Sorry.” Jennifer jerked into motion. She whipped the stand out, set the tray down, and placed our plates onto the table with a quick explanation of what each was. Then she all but fled the room, leaving the stand and tray behind.
“Well that was—”
“Awkward?” Sophia’s giggles cut me off. “Oh my gosh. Did you see her face? She was totally shocked. I guess our chemistry is believable.”
I laughed. “I can guarantee she or someone she works with has walked in crazier things in this room than me kissing my girlfriend. At least we were fully clothed.”
“Do you seriously think someone has…here?” Her cheeks pinkened again.
I just raised my eyebrows and smiled. I knew better than to call her out on getting embarrassed. At the very least, I knew she was comfortable kissing me. Although I couldn’t believe I’d lost myself so deeply in our kiss. But for Jennifer’s interruption, I don’t know when I would’ve stopped. Sophia’s lips tasted so good, and that throaty little moan she’d made had me wanting to take it deeper.
I completely ignored the red flashing letters in my head warning of danger ahead. Lines were getting blurred, and I should set things back on course, but I’d worked so hard to get Sophia relaxed and used to me. I didn’t need her looking all tense and awkward when we left.
Right. No ulterior motives at all here.
I was really a son of a bitch sometimes.
“Let’s dig in.”
* * *
The next morning, I was finishing up my session with Kevin when my publicist, Hope Newsome, came blazing out my back door and onto my deck.
“Why are you not answering your phone?” She stopped just outside and glared at me from the other end of the deck. “And when the hell did you get a girlfriend? Why am I the last one to know, Roman?”
I paused on top of the plyo box and swiped at the sweat pouring down from my head. “I take it Jeff let you in?”
I’d ignored her texts and calls for a reason. I needed at least a pint of coffee before I had to deal with her b.s.. Apparently Jeff and I weren’t on the same page there.
“Answer my questions, Roman!” She rested her hands on her skinny, pencil-skirt clad hips and scowled at me. “This isn’t how this works. I have to know what’s going on in your life so we can sculpt the best image for you. I can’t do that if I don’t know what the hell is going on!”
I jumped off and back up again, ignoring her. I still had three more to go in this set.