Page 4 of Romance Is Dead

How annoying.

Teddy mimed rolling up his sleeves as he widened his stance. “You ready, hon?”

My skin crawled at being called “hon”, but I nodded, at least as much as my limited range of motion allowed.

Carefully, he pulled the bottom edge of the sweater, his fingertips grazing my arms as he lifted the garment up and over my head. The touch sent pleasant tingles along my shoulders and down my spine, and I was transported back to the night we met—and the way his fingertips along my skin had set my entire body aflame.

Stop it, I reminded myself.You know how that ended.

With one final unceremonious yank, Teddy finally succeeded in pulling the sweater over my head. I shivered as my body was freed of its acrylic-and-wool-blend prison and immediately glanced down. Yes, my nipples were indeed visible beneath the wet, ivory fabric of my bra. Not only that, they were now hard and pointed. Great.

Teddy, however, seemed unfazed. “That’s a new record—it usually takes longer than ten seconds after I meet a girl to help her undress.” He grinned, my now-ruined sweater still in his hands.

I reached up to adjust my wig, which was now horribly askew, before snatching the top back. “I’ll take that.”

Teddy let the fabric slip through his hands. “You’re welcome, by the way.”

“Thanks,” I said grudgingly.

“I’m Teddy.” He reached out a hand, his expression belying no hint that we’d met before.

On the plus side, it looked like my plan to remain incognito was working. On the downside, it still stung that I was just that unmemorable.

“Quinn. Nice to meet you.”

I took Teddy’s palm with as little enthusiasm as I could muster. His skin was warm and dry, his grip firm but not aggressive. A perfectly normal handshake. But the moment our skin touched, tingles once again ignited the nerves from my fingers all the way up my arm and down into my stomach.

I jerked away, dropping his hand unceremoniously. “I, uh, didn’t even know you were part of the cast until this morning.”

“I was sort of a last-minute addition.”

“Poor Drew. And his thumbs.”

“You know what they say. One man’s thumb injury is another man’s treasure.”

I cocked my head. “Do people say that?”

“Now they do.” He smiled, his eyes crinkling and his gaze boring into mine like we were the only people in the room.

A strange warmth bloomed in my chest, and I found myself unable to break my eyes away from his. What were we doing? Bantering? Had I no self-control?

Thankfully, before we could continue, the assistant director loudly cleared her throat.

“Positions!” She cupped her hands around her mouth and repeated herself. “Positions, people!” She looked me up and down, a withering expression on her face. “And you. Get some clothes on.”

I rarely got embarrassed on set. After years of filming scenes running around half naked while screaming and ugly crying, it took a lot for me to feel self-conscious. So while stripping off my top in front of everyone on day one wasn’t ideal, it also wasn’t the worst thing to have ever happened to me at work.

(That honor belonged to the time I accidentally ate the prop food for a picnic scene set in a graveyard. It was potato salad. It had been sitting in the sun for hours. I was immediately sick everywhere.)

And yet hours later, after we’d finished blocking the scene and wardrobe had fetched me a new sweater, I was still flustered. I didn’t mind that I’d flashed half the cast and crew, but I was unnerved by how easily I’d been swept into conversing and joking with Teddy. One smoldering look, and I’d immediately dropped my defenses.

The heat from the spilled coffee must have momentarily overcooked my brain.

“Last looks!” the AD hollered, once we were in position to begin filming. “Finishing touches, let’s go.”

The makeup and wardrobe assistants waiting in the wings jumped into action, ready to make any last-minute tweaks to ensure we all were camera-ready. Mara scurried over, giving my face a quick study.

“You got this,” Mara whispered as she gave my makeup a final touch-up. “Think about capybaras.” It was an inside joke, something we’d come up with years ago as a way of saying good luck. And for the smallest second, it grounded me.

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