Thomas threw his head back and laughed, shaking his dark, Hollywood-glossy hair. “How refreshing to hear,” he chuckled. Then he regained his composure and fixed his gaze on her again. “Now tell me…”—he paused and read the name tag above her right breast—“…Sasha, where is Alicia? Whenever I’m interviewed by Atomic, she’s usually the one to do it. I’d been looking forward to...seeing her again.” He adjusted his pants as he spoke, revealing a large bulge and confirming, in one motion, the truth of Kelly’s statement.
“She’s not well,” Sasha said, grimacing as she remembered Alicia’s cascading pink vomit at lunch caused by a dodgy prawn cocktail sandwich.
“And they sent the intern?” Thomas scoffed. As he spoke, his eyes roved over the electric blue dress she was wearing.
Sasha felt suddenly very hot. “Yes…I hope that’s okay?”
He smirked. “Okay?” He muttered under his breath, “It’s a bloody miracle.”
Sasha’s heart galloped beneath the thin material. “I’m sorry?”
The man just smiled slyly and pursed his lips. They were plump, almost perfectly symmetrical. There was a thin layer of stubble surrounding them. Thomas Lloyd was impossibly handsome. Handsome in a way that made Sasha want things she’d never realized she wanted.
“Don’t you have a question to ask me?” Thomas said playfully, breaking her from her reverie.
Sasha straightened up in her chair and cleared her throat. “Yes…yes, of course.” She scanned the questions on the page, trying to focus, to clear her fuzzy head. “Your new movie—”
“Film,” he interrupted. “We call them films in England.”
Boy, Sasha thought, Kelly was right.
“Film then,” she said, trying to smile cordially. “It’s a bit of a departure from your usual roles.”
Thomas raised an eyebrow. “Do you think so, intern?” he said smoothly, folding his arms. “In what way?”
Heat crept into Sasha’s neck. “Well, I… um…”
“...haven’t even watched it.” Thomas finished for her.
Uh-oh.
Sasha dropped her gaze, too nervous to make eye contact with the English actor. “I was told to do the interview at very short notice and didn’t have as much time to prepare as I would have liked, and—”
“You don’t know who I am, do you?” Thomas interrupted.
Sasha picked up on a cruel accusation in his tone. Her gaze travelled up. When she finally made eye contact with Thomas, her breath stuck in her lungs. The look he was giving her was so intense it made bolts of electricity race through her.
“Well?” he snapped. “You’ve never seen a single film of mine, have you?”
Sasha’s stomach plummeted. She’d blown it. All those years of hard work to get to this position and it was all going up in smoke. She couldn’t help the tears from creeping up.
“Well… I…I...”
Thomas suddenly tipped his head back and moaned. He grasped his knees, making the fabric bunch up. It was such a bizarre thing to do; Sasha snapped her notebook shut immediately and stood so fast her chair almost tipped backwards.
“I’m so sorry. I’ve clearly offended you. I’ll go.”
She bolted for the hotel door. But before she had a chance to haul it open, Thomas had leaped up and was right there beside her.
“Offended me?” he cried, grasping her arm and swirling her to face him. “Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve met someone who didn’t already know every detail about me? Who hasn’t already Googled my entire life?”
His face was contorted with emotion, and his fingers were squeezing her wrist, causing a sensation to pulse through her veins, travelling down the length of her body and settling deep within her. Her heartbeat was racing, and not just because of Thomas’s fit of passion.
Her gaze fell to her thin, pale wrist wrapped in his thick, strong fingers. He followed her gaze and let go quickly, then turned and paced away.
Sasha let out the breath she’d been holding. As the space lengthened between them, she became suddenly overly aware of their hotel room setting, of the plush, cream-colored silk sheets on the four-poster bed. An image flashed into her mind of a naked Thomas flinging her onto the bed, pressing his mouth against her breasts, and running the length of his enormous erection along her thigh.
“You don’t want me to leave?” she said, trying not to sound too desperate.
Thomas turned back to face her quickly. “No. I want to give you an opportunity.”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”