Make Me Over_ Getting Real - Leslie Kelly [26]
Tori lowered her head so Sukie wouldn’t see her laugh. She liked Sukie a lot, but dang, sometimes the girl didn’t make a lick of sense.
Drew kept a straight face. “Interesting idea. Maybe we can talk it out as a group tomorrow.”
Then he cleared his throat.
Tori didn’t look up. She knew he was staring at her, heck, she practically felt the burning of his eyes on her face. But she couldn’t meet that stare, not without flinching and blushing and letting him and the whole TV world see every thought going on inside her head.
“Tori,” he said, stepping closer.
She could see the tips of his brown shoes beside the feet of her stool and felt the brush of his hip against her side.
Lord gimme strength.
“I heard you were sick earlier,” he said. “Are you feeling okay now?”
She nodded. “I’m fine.”
“Good. Then maybe you can give me some time so I can catch you up with the rest of your group.”
She peeked up. He didn’t even give her a chance to answer, he just looked at the woman teaching the class—who was watching him all wide-eyed with interest, even though she didn’t have a million-dollar bone being dangled in front of her face. The man probably caused that reaction in every woman he met. He sure was handsome enough to.
“I’m sure you won’t mind if Tori cuts out of this lesson a few minutes early. I think I can catch her up before dinner.”
Tori gulped, very aware of the stares of the other contestants. Not to mention the one of the dark-haired camerawoman, Jacey, who seemed to follow Tori around everywhere these days. “I don’t mind….”
He didn’t give her time to argue. Or give the kitchen lady time to answer. He just took her by the arm and practically hoisted her off her stool.
Which was when she figured out he was mad. Darn mad. At her.
“W HY HAVE YOU BEEN avoiding me?”
Drew frankly didn’t care about the cameras or anyone who might be watching as he practically hauled Tori out of the kitchen, toward the front stairs.
“I dunno what you mean.”
“Like hell you don’t.”
When she almost stumbled, he slowed down. But his steps remained deliberate. “Why?”
“I ain’t been avoiding you.”
“Haven’t,” he snapped as they reached the staircase and began to ascend it.
“Haven’t what?”
“Haven’t been avoiding you.”
“I never said you had.”
Drew almost groaned. Then he saw the sassy sparkle in Tori’s eye and the grin dancing about her pretty lips, and knew she’d been playing him. His anger started to ease away.
“Where we going?”
“To someplace where we can be alone to…work.”
Work. That’s all. He was going to work with her. Not kiss her. Not throw her down onto the nearest flat surface and torture her with every sensual trick he knew until she admitted why she’d been avoiding him. Even though that’s exactly what he wanted to do.
A thumping sound behind them reminded him why he couldn’t. Looking back, he saw Jacey the camerawoman, strolling up the stairs, her camera on her shoulder. Drew glared at her, at the camera, at the television viewers who didn’t even exist yet, but who were already getting in his way.
He considered taking Tori to his room, since it was the only place he felt pretty sure wasn’t bugged. Then he thought better of it. Like it or not, they were on the set of a television show, and their every move was up for interpretation. If he hauled her into his bedroom right now, in a few months the entire television-watching public would be making up their minds about what had happened behind the closed door.
He couldn’t do it to her.
“Come on,” he said with a shake of his head, turning left at the top of the stairs, rather than right.
At the end of the hall, past the last bedroom door, the carpeted corridor widened into a small sitting area. It was somewhat secluded, overlooking the foyer through a railing on one side. The other was dominated by a window with a vista of the expansive east lawn. Two chairs stood in front of the window.
Leading her to one of the chairs, he dropped into the other one. He pulled it closer, until their knees almost touched. Jacey hadn’t quite caught up