Page 27 of Would You Rather
Lucas glances down at me, when we approach our mark and narrows his eyes. “You asked for help, didn’t you?”
“What?” I ask, furrowing my brows. “What are you talking about?”
“Come on,” he says with a laugh. “There’s no way you could just walk in here and go with the flow. I bet you asked Leila to draw a map and give you point-by-point directions on what to do.”
His grin infuriates me, and I narrow my eyes at him. “I did not,” I lie.
“I don’t buy it,” he says. “I bet you even asked Ana for help. All because you didn’t want to ask me.”
I give him a shrug, not bothering to deny it. “Well, you said I would need to beg, so I had to work around that.”
His smirk makes me shiver as his gaze drops to my body, and he shakes his head. “It’s a shame. It would do you some good saying please.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Never.”
He hums, leaning down to whisper against my ear. “So you’re not nervous right now?” he asks. My heart races as I shake my head. But he just chuckles, the vibrations making myskin erupt into goosebumps. “I’ll help you out if you say please.”
“I told you,” I say, my voice sounding breathy and rough. I clear my throat and shake my head. “I don’t need your help.”
“Please,” he whispers, even closer now. “That’s all I need to hear, and I’ll help you out.”
“I’m good.” I face forward and try to ignore the way his scent travels up my nose. He smellssogood.God, I hate him.He moves back into place, and when he does, I get another whiff of his scent. I don’t even think he’s wearing cologne, it just smells, clean and… manly. I haven’t smelled something like that in a long time.
He lets out a heavy sigh, and with a shake of his head murmurs, “Por que uma garota tão bonita como ela me deixa louco?”
I blink, staring up at him. “What did you just say?”
He glares at me. “I said you’re a stubborn pain in my ass,” he says, placing his hands in his pockets. His head snaps back into place as he stands in a pose, ready for the cameras.
Okay, so I might be stubborn and have lied about being ready. I’m definitely not. I don’t have a fucking clue on what to do, so I smile at the camera and hope this is good enough.
It’s not.
I gather that when the photographer squints at me, not liking what he sees.
“Still don’t want my help?” Lucas whispers, still facing forward.
“I…” I sigh, squeezing my eyes closed. The quicker we do this, the quicker I’ll get to leave. “Please,” I grit out.
His head snaps to face me, and he grins. “Repeat that for me.”
God, this man really knows how to push my buttons. I exhale harshly. “Please,” I repeat, not daring to look at him.
His dark chuckle makes me shiver as his hand encloses around my elbow and turns me to face him. “Models and actresses are very similar, Madeline,” he says. “They both have to act for whatever it is we’re doing. Whether it’s a perfume commercial or a clothing line, we become someone else. We become the product, not a person.”
I blink up at him. “So you’re saying I’m a product?” I raise my brows at him.
He shakes his head. “Pain in my ass,” he murmurs. “Here,” he says, pulling me closer to him. “Follow my lead.” He drags his hands down my arms and twists me around so I’m facing the camera, but this time he moves an inch closer and looks down at me. I instinctively look up at him, and he smiles. “Good,” he whispers as the cameras start to click. “Just relax.”
I let out a breath, my lips parting, and I do what he said.
“Great,” the photographer calls out, more clicking going off. “Perfect. Now move a bit closer.”
Lucas shuffles an inch closer until his arms brush against mine. I stiffen and try to move away again. He groans and leans down until he’s close to my ear and whispers, “You’re making this harder than it needs to be.”
His husky voice makes my skin flush, and I force myself to breathe, looking up at him. “You’re too close to me.”
He pulls back with a frown on his face. “Necessary touching,” he says. “This is a press release of our relationship. We can’t be five feet apart.” He scans my eyes. “You just need to act like a doting girlfriend for a few minutes, and then we can go home.” He narrows his eyes. “Can you do that for me?”
