Page 33 of Doc Hollywood

“One of the registrars stayed over the second night, so I made him sleep in my bed.”

“With you?” Sadie’s voice was a high-pitched, hoarse whisper.

“No.” A blush rose up Clara’s cheeks as this time she lied.

Sadie stared shrewdly at her friend. “Lie.”

“Okay, I slept on the sofa. Well, I didn’t sleep; it was so painful. Then, partway through the night, he found me awake and insisted we share.”

“Oh my god,” Sadie gasped and clutched onto her hand, about to ask more when Taylor’s deep voice spoke behind them.

“Ladies, would you mind if I squeezed in next to Clara?” Taylor smiled broadly at Sadie and then Hel.

“Absolutely.” Sadie chortled, moving her seat over so Taylor had to sit between her and Clara. Waggling her eyebrows subtly when Taylor’s back was to her.

Clara rolled her eyes and tried to ignore her friend’s antics as Taylor slotted his chair in next to her and sat down, his leg brushing up against her thigh.

Glancing down, she noticed that while his leg was pressed up against hers, it wasn’t touching Sadie’s at all.

This little fact didn’t escape Sadie either, who did another little eyebrow waggle.

Ignoring her friend, she leaned toward Taylor and dropped her voice so only he could hear her, although out of the corner of her eye, she could see Sadie straining to listen in.

“That’s a very impressive ferret stuck to your face.”

Taylor snorted with laughter, which made Clara grin. It was nice to know someone as famous as him could accidentally snort when they found something funny.

“Thanks. His name is Bruce the beard. I keep him for all special occasions that require me to be incognito,” Taylor chuckled, stroking his hand over the realistic-looking hair stuck to his face.

“And that’s often?” Clara spoke without thinking.

For a second, she had forgotten he was someone far more special than her, that other people would indeed be very interested in him, and that incognito was necessary.

“Don’t answer that dumb statement,” she muttered, shaking her head.

He didn’t answer. Instead, he reached forward, grabbed a chip off her plate and popped it into his mouth, chewing thoroughly before he spoke.

“I’m starving. I haven’t had fries since before I filmed—“ His eyes flickered around the table, and he immediately clammed up when he realised Sadie was also listening with interest.

“This is Sadie. She introduced us,” Clara said, gesturing in her friend’s direction, who gave him a little wave.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t recognise you without the hat and mask,” he apologised, holding his hand out to shake Sadie’s, who took it with a broad grin on her face.

“Lovely to meet you too,” she breathed, smiling up into his eyes, not letting go of his hand.

The time stretched on and on until Clara cleared her throat.

Sadie dropped his hand, mumbling, “Your eyes are very blue.” Then she blushed bright red, clearly having fallen under the handsome actor’s spell.

Clara pretended to be horrified. “Sadie, what about George?”

“Oh shit, of course. George. My husband. The love of my life. Yes. Well. I may need to leave if I keep on embarrassing myself. Sorry,” Sadie apologised.

“It’s absolutely fine,” Taylor reassured her, laughing and reaching out to pinch another chip.

Clara glanced around to make sure no one was listening before she asked, “Which movie?”

“Hmm?” He chewed on his chip, eyes closed in ecstasy.

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