Page 22 of Doc Hollywood

“There were a few projects that I wanted to do so much that the directors had told me would definitely be offered to me,which were suddenly withdrawn. A few of those were Oscar winners.” Taylor winced.

“That hardly seems fair.” She leaned forward to take hold of his hand, to offer comfort to someone she could see had been hurt, then stopped herself, realising she was about to try and hold Taylor bloody Anderson’s hand.

He cleared his throat a few times and swallowed before his lips quirked upward. “I’m a sad sack. How did I even get onto that topic? I’m living the dream of so many people, and I’m complaining about it! I think we should have some ice cream.”

Clara’s head snapped around to the food left on the table. The food that she realised she had sampled very little of, as she had become so wrapped up in his story.

“I do want ice cream, although I need more of this takeaway first.” She grabbed her fork and jabbed it into one of the containers, heaping more onto her plate.

“I’m surprised you haven’t kicked me out for complaining so much.” Taylor took another mouthful of his own food.

“Nah. You’re pretty. You can stay.” The words were out of Clara’s mouth before she had time to think about what she was saying.

She froze, and a blush rocketed up her cheeks. Had she just called him pretty? The most handsome movie star in the world, and she felt the need to tell him he was pretty. She picked a cushion up off the sofa and put it in front of her face.

“Any chance we can ignore that comment?” She peered over the top of the cushion to see Taylor with his hand over his mouth, shuddering with laughter.

“Not a chance! It’s every man’s dream to be called pretty.”

Clara scowled and threw her pillow at him, but he annoyingly caught it out of the air and put it behind him, leaning back smugly.

He put his hands behind his head, smirking, “I’m just going to sit here and look pretty while you eat.”

Clara’s appetite was suddenly gone, as the sleeves of his t-shirt had pulled tight, defining his heavily muscled biceps. Which were probably the nicest arms she had ever seen; she couldn’t help but contrast them with Jack’s thin arms, the arms he had been convinced he could pump up to Superman proportions.

She dropped her gaze back to her food and shoved another forkful into her mouth. Chewing slowly and swallowing, she pushed her plate away, no longer hungry.

Taylor bounced to his feet. “Wooooo. It’s ice cream time.”

He dashed to her kitchen to grab the ice cream he had stashed in her freezer.

Clara watched in bewilderment as Taylor Anderson made his way around her house with such familiarity.

He came back brandishing a pot of Ben and Jerry’s and holding two spoons. “Bowls or be pigs?”

Clara debated being ladylike, then realised she didn’t care that much and was happy to eat it out of the tub to reduce her washing up.

“Pigs.” She held her hand out for a spoon.

He bounded across the room and threw himself onto the sofa beside her, making Clara shuffle along so she wasn’t awkwardly pressed against him.

He handed her a spoon and offered her the ice cream. “Ladies first.”

“Nah huh. Everyone knows the top of the ice cream is the boring part, and all the chocolate bits are buried.”

“Dammit. You knew my trick.” Taylor held the tub in one hand and dived into it with the spoon.

“And no mining for the best bits. When it’s your turn, you eat what’s on the top.” Clara took her ice cream eating very seriously.

“Who have you been sharing with? That’s not cool to only have the good stuff.”

Clara opened her mouth to tell him that Jack always used to make sure he got all the best bits if they shared an ice cream tub, but she slammed it shut again because she didn’t want him to question her about Jack.

She shrugged. “Just people.”

He silently eyed her but didn’t push her. Then he dug his spoon into the ice cream and examined it before shoving the cold treat into his mouth.

She watched his massive first helping with a raised eyebrow and grabbed the tub off him. “Really? That’s how you roll? Finish a tub in two bites.”

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