Free Mr. 365 by Ruth Clampett Page A

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.