Passion and Peril. Suzanne Brockmann

heil. Maggie couldn’t believe they were still here, auditioning for this tyrant. But then Matt read his first line, and she thought of nothing but the script.

      “Lucy, are you still awake?” he read.

      “Go away,” Maggie read, with weariness and annoyance in her voice.

      “Hey,” Matt read, throwing up his free hand. “I don’t really want to be here. I’m just part of your overactive imagination. You want me to leave, you have to imagine me gone.”

      “All right. I will.” As the script directed, she squeezed her eyes shut, concentrating for a moment. When she opened her eyes, he was still standing there, of course. “Oh, damn,” Maggie read.

      “Cody Brown, at your service,” Matt read.

      “What kind of name is Cody, anyway? It’s a ridiculous name for a man born in Manhattan. You sound like a cowboy or a rodeo rider. What were your parents thinking?”

      “Aha,” Matt read. “So that’s why I’m here. You want to insult both me and my parents. Well, go for it, Luce.”

      “I’m much too tired to be properly insulting,” Maggie sulked.

      “Why else would you have imagined me here in your bedroom at one o’clock in the morning?”

      Maggie looked up at Matt, her alarm not entirely feigned. He smiled, a smile that started very small and grew across his handsome face. “I know why I’m here,” he said as he advanced across the stage toward her.

      Maggie stared at him, frozen in place. Was he really going to...? “No...”

      “You’re wondering what it would be like to kiss me,” he read, moving closer to her. “Aren’t you?”

      “No!”

      As Maggie stared up at him, he came closer, until they were less than an inch apart. But he still wasn’t touching her.

      Matt had the next line, but he waited a moment before reading it. The look in his eyes was remarkable as he gazed down at her, the perfect mix of nervousness and desire on his face. Oh, he was such a good actor. “You’re wondering what it would be like if I put my arms around you, like this,” he read, then tossed the script onto the floor as he did just that.

      “And you’re wondering what it would be like to put your arms up around my neck.” Matt was going on memory now, but the lines were easy from here on in.

      Maggie let her own script slide to the floor as she, as if almost in a trance, put the palms of both hands on Matt’s chest and slowly slid them upward. She felt him inhale, as if he found her touch exciting. It was a nice addition to what was already fabulous acting.

      Her hands met behind Matt’s neck and she could feel his long, soft hair against her bare arms. She was Lucy. And this was make-believe. They were acting. Acting.

      “And you’re wondering what it would feel like,” Matt said slowly, “if you brought your lips up, like this—” and he gently pulled her chin up, then tenderly pushed the hair back from her face “—and if I brought my lips down, like this...”

      Maggie was expecting a gentle kiss, but the moment his mouth found hers, something exploded. She felt his arms tighten around her as he kissed her, and she kissed him, as she opened her mouth to him and...

      Oh, God. She was lost.

      But just as suddenly as that kiss began, it ended. Matt pushed her away from him and took several large steps to the other side of the stage.

      “Well, forget it,” Matt said, his voice perfectly hoarse with emotion as he turned to look at her. “Because I’m not going to kiss you.”

      They stared at each other, both breathing hard.

      “Very nice,” Dan Fowler’s voice cut in. “Stick around for the dance audition.”

      Maggie’s hands were shaking as she bent down to pick up her script. Matt took it from her.

      “You okay?” he asked, concern in his eyes.

      “Sure,” she lied, looking up at the man who seemed intent on turning her world inside out. “I’m...just fine.”