John didn’t share her concern about the press. Hollywood gossip didn’t worry him—they were going to say what they wanted to say, regardless of the truth. But both of their careers depended on finishing this movie. An on-set fling, no matter how enticing, would be a distraction.

John nodded, catching his breath. “I get it.”

“This isn’t an excuse, John.” She gazed into his eyes, as if she could cast a spell on him to make him understand. “I want.”

John believed her. “Oh, I want too.”

“Have you found my motivation yet?” Derek called as the door to the storeroom burst open.

Chapter Twenty

Anna stiffened and moved back. John dropped his hands from her face. He sat back on the desk, as if it were completely normal for the two of them to stand so close, even if they weren’t in an embrace. He was strongly reminded of the last time they kissed, and he really hoped to get her alone so he could do all the things he’d imagined, without interruption.

The two of them turned to face Derek, John guessed, with twin looks of annoyance on their faces.

“Don’t worry about it,” the actor called, backing away from the door. “I’ll figure something out.”

John watched Anna leave as she wrapped her jacket around herself, putting herself back together with whatever protection she needed to get through the day. He wanted his Anna Kovács back, though, and he knew he shouldn’t.

#

TWO DAYS LATER, ANNA sat in the empty low-ceilinged bar of the hotel and reviewed her notes for the battle scene to be shot in the morning for the third time. Again, the kiss replayed in her head—the way John had wrapped his arms around her like she belonged there, like he wanted to hold on as tightly and as strongly as he could, as if she were a ghost about to slip through his fingers. There was nothing calculated or controlled about John, and she reveled in the feeling of comfort he radiated.

Anna shook her head. They’d both agreed not to do anything, so why was it so difficult to get him out of her mind? Wasn’t that what not doing anything was supposed to provide? Respite from thoughts of kisses and the way he threw his head back when he laughed and the way he left her breathless, wondering what was going to happen next? She longed for him and had prevented herself from having him, but she still couldn’t get her work done.

John walked up to her. They’d taken to meeting there after watching the dailies in order to review any problems for the next day’s shooting. The two of them shared a drink and ignored whatever was, or wasn’t, going on between them.