Page 23 of Doc Hollywood

“Yup.” He popped the p, and some ice cream flew out of his mouth, landing on the coffee table.

“Really?” She looked between him and the ice cream.

Taylor blushed and reached over to wipe up the mess. “I’m sorry, that was gross.” He glanced at her and paused as she had smeared ice cream over her nose.

“What? Do I have something on my face?” She stared at him wide-eyed and serious. “What? Where is it?” She reached up and wiped her cheek. “Did I get it?”

“No.” He chuckled and snatched the pot off her, taking another spoonful.

She wiped the other cheek. “How about now?”

He handed her the pot back, then reached over and wiped the ice cream off her nose with his index finger.

“Got it.”

She began giggling. “Thanks. We really are doing the pig method.”

Her laughter halted abruptly when he put his finger into his mouth and sucked the ice cream off. Clara blinked a few times before forcing her eyes to the ice cream tub and digging in foranother bite. She pulled out a giant chocolate chunk and thrust the spoon out to show him.

“Look at this!” She exclaimed. “This has to be the biggest piece in the tub.”

Taylor examined it, leaning forward for a better look. “That’s huge.”

He glanced up and met her eyes. One second became two, then three, then four. Before he lunged forward to eat the entire load of ice cream off her spoon.

“And delicious.” He laughed and put his hand in front of his mouth to stop more ice cream from escaping.

“Hey!” Clara yelled and slapped his arm. Wincing slightly at the firmness of the bicep she had just hit. “That was mine! You said you weren’t a hog.”

“But it was delicious. How could I not?” He grabbed the pot back off her and began to dig into it. Until he found what he was looking for, then held the spoon out to Clara.

Clara looked at the contents of the spoon, a bigger chocolate piece than the one he had stolen from her.

Her mind instantly flashed to Jack, and the times he would look like he was offering her something nice. A taste of his meal, the best bit of something they shared or the chocolate chunks from the ice cream.

If she went to take it, when they first got together, he would just stuff it in his mouth and laugh heartily, slapping his thigh. Pointing at her and making sure she knew that he had no intention of giving it to her.

After a while, she stopped attempting to take it; then he would goad her and keep offering it to her until she tried to eat it, but every time, he would shove it into his mouth and laugh at her.

Until the day he didn’t, one day he had viciously shoved it into her mouth, pushing so hard that he bruised and cut her lip.

Clara stared at the spoon in front of her mistrustfully, not knowing how to react. If it was a joke, and he would pull it away and eat it, or if this movie star meant for her to eat off his spoon.

Her mind swirled, and she couldn’t decide what to do, so she kept staring at the chocolate.

Taylor watched her and eventually seemed to realise she wouldn’t take it. He grabbed her spoon and transferred the lump of goodness onto it.

“You went somewhere bad then,” he said quietly.

Shock hit her. She was usually so good at hiding her emotions, never letting anyone see how her past affected her.

“Yeah, some old stuff.”

“Did you want to talk about it?” he offered.

Clara shook her head. “One day, but I’m not ready today.”

She slowly lifted the spoon to her mouth, still half afraid that he would snatch it back at the last moment, but his attention was off her as he dug around in the pot for more ice cream.

---