Page 84 of Doc Hollywood

“What? You can. Tony invited you.”

Clara, who had meant to let go of him, found herself running her hand down Taylor’s arm until their palms met and her fingers intertwined with his. Somehow, she was standing closer to him than before.

“I can’t. You’re dating Devon. You can’t take someone else to lunch with you. You have to take Devon,” she reminded him.

“Shit. I know, you’re right. Shit, I forgot. This is the worst,” Taylor sighed.

“Yeah. But if any rumours get out, your career is ruined.” Clara wished the words coming out of her mouth were different. She wished she could tell him they should try and be together.

“I know. I have to take Devon,” he murmured.

Clara felt a little tug on her hand, pulling her closer again until they were standing toe to toe.

“Today was a weird day.” Taylor tugged her closer again.

Clara’s breath hitched. She needed to step back. She had to step back. Tipping her head up to tell him, her eyes caught on his, and she was lost. She didn’t want to move away from him; she wanted to be in his arms, and she wanted to kiss him.

“Life’s short. We could try—“ Taylor whispered.

“Taylor, you know we can’t. You’ve worked so hard for your career. Don’t let stupid mistakes you made as a kid ruin it.”

“I know, but—“ Taylor’s voice was barely above a whisper as he unhooked his mask from his ears.

He tugged her closer again, and the hand that wasn’t holding tightly onto hers moved up and pushed the strands of her hair that had come loose from her ponytail back behind her ear.

Clara knew she should move away, and if she didn’t, her heart would take a long time to recover from the hurt that would inevitably follow.

He leaned down towards her, his eyes locked on hers, and goosebumps rippled over her skin everywhere he touched. He got closer, and she could see the dark blue ring around the edge of his irises.

“Taylor,” Clara breathed, her heart racing.

The stairway door swung open, hitting Clara in the back and shoving her into Taylor, who put a protective arm around her.

“Sorry,” the nurse who had rushed through the door called, then froze when she saw Taylor’s face.

“Oh, you look just like.” She peered closer. “You’re…, are you?”

Taylor reached up and hooked his mask back over his ear. “I get that a lot. It’s the height,” he replied, keeping his arm around Clara’s shoulder and hustling her out the door.

Clara couldn’t bring herself to pull out of his arms and let him rush them out of the hospital to his car.

They rode in silence back to the movie’s set, Clara staring out the window, her mind racing about the possibilities of what could have happened if they hadn’t been interrupted.

When they got to the hospital where they were filming, he pulled up in the car park next to her car.

Reaching over, Taylor took hold of her hand. “I’m sorry.”

“Me too.” Clara gently pulled her hand out of his and got out of the car. She didn’t look back as she walked to her own car. She couldn’t.

CHAPTER 23

Clara nodded to Taylor when he and Devon strolled into the operating theatre arm-in-arm, but he barely spared her a glance; all his attention was focused on the pretty actress.

Despite all the text messages he had sent her over the last twenty-four hours, the FaceTime call the evening before and knowing it was ; it still stung badly to see them look so smitten.

“Good morning.” The assistant director, Charlie, spoke, and everyone in the room fell quiet. “First, an update on Mr Atrosky. He wants me to let you know that he’s doing well, and we can expect him back at work on Monday. He’ll be watching the rehearsal today via video link. We’ll start on page thirty-one. Positions everyone.”

Clara glanced around the room, noticing no one had a camera. She sidled up to one of the crew to distract herself from staring at Taylor and Devon flirting.

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