Touching the Billionaire (Bad Boy Desires Book 1) Read online

  Touching the Billionaire

  Holly Jaymes

  Copyright © 2020 by Holly Jaymes

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Introduction

  1. My Life on the Line

  2. Off Script

  3. Push and Pull

  4. The Real Theo Wolfe?

  5. The Shoot

  6. The Kissing Scene

  7. Danger, Danger

  8. The Real Theo

  9. Bad Ideas

  10. Rehearsal

  11. Undercover Affair

  12. The Door Closes

  13. Eye on the Prize

  14. Home Again

  15. Disappointing Everyone

  16. A Wolfe in the Woods

  17. Unworthy

  18. Living In The Moment

  19. I Am Madeline’s

  20. Duped

  21. Time to Move On

  22. Going Home

  23. Confession

  24. A Matter of Trust

  Epilogue

  HER ACCIDENTAL HERO

  Author’s Note

  Also by Holly Jaymes

  Introduction

  Don’t mix business with pleasure, they say.

  Try living in the same Condo as your extremely rich, famous, and handsome AF co-star boss.

  Yep, everything about this job was perfect until I slammed into Theo Wolf.

  When he ran me down at the elevator, his touch sent sparks flying.

  Theo Wolfe, the actor, is as famous for bedding his co-stars as his blockbuster films.

  Yes, our onscreen chemistry is off the charts when he touches me with those strong hands.

  I succumb to the combustive heat when I touch those rippled abs.

  It isn’t long before what was once a rehearsal now feels real.

  Maybe I was right to break all of the rules.

  Perhaps this is the beginning of a beautiful story for us. Or is everything about Theo Wolf, including the way he feels about me, an award-winning act?

  My Life on the Line

  Theo

  The car dropped me off in front of the studio in midtown Manhattan. Normally, arriving to start filming a movie was no big deal. Not anymore. Sure, I might have been excited about the new project, but rarely did I have nerves.

  Today, I had nerves in spades. This movie wasn’t just any movie. This was the first project from my production company and there was a lot riding on its success. Sure, I was a blockbuster goldmine, at least that was what the movie mags said. And yes, I did feel slighted that I wasn’t nominated for an academy award for my work in the movie about adventurer Roy Chapman Andrews, but I was pleased that others noticed the slight as well. I was successful and considered a good, if not great actor, but all that could go to shit if this production failed. I’d lose a significant amount of my own wealth, and quite possibly my reputation.

  And two weeks before we were to start filming, our lead actor, Rich Kipling broke his pelvis in a drunken fall in Las Vegas. This project wasn’t one that we could prop him somewhere and make a movie. It was a heist movie that involved running and jumping, and sex scenes, all of which he couldn’t do without a functioning pelvis.

  I met with the production team right after we got word about his accident about finding a new actor. I had a list ready, but my team made it clear that they felt I needed to step in. There was a reason I chose not to be in the film. I had enough pressure on this project as it was. But also, I wanted to show my chops as someone who could create great movies, not just act in them. I had good looks and a strong body now, but someday that would go and I needed to be able to have a plan for when that happened.

  As I walked in the door of the studio, I wondered what my father would think of the fact that I had a backup plan after all. I shook the thought away. He wouldn’t give a shit.

  I took the elevator up to the offices where I planned to meet the director and executive producer for today’s meeting. As I rode up, I rethought my idea of owning my own production company. Perhaps the loss of my lead actor was a sign that this type of business wasn’t for me. If that wasn’t a sign, then sure as hell having Maddie Fox as my leading lady was like a hit upside the head. This movie had disaster written all over it and we hadn’t even started.

  I never wanted Maddie Fox for the part of Nicolette Vane, but everyone else insisted her audition was great and her screen test with Rich Kipling was off the charts. I still couldn’t wrap my head around it. Maddie Fox was good as a child star, no doubt. But the part of Nicolette required a woman, not a scrappy kid, with uneven pigtails and buck teeth. If I was filming this in the eighties, I’d have wanted someone like Kathleen Turner in Body Heat. A woman with a smoky voice, sexy as hell body, who was smart and clever in a dangerous way. A way that made a man feel like he was probably in the presence of a black widow, but didn’t give a shit because of the pleasures she promised.

  “There he is,” Corrine Daily, the director of Take It or Leave It, the working title of the film said as I made my way to the large conference room.

  “Right on time,” Jon Laken, the producer added as he sat a hip on the edge of the long table.

  “Is she here?” I asked, grabbing a donut from the plate on the table, hoping either Corrine or Jon had brought them and they weren’t left over from some meeting yesterday.

  “Not yet. We told her nine-thirty.” Corrine sat at the table with a binder of papers. Behind her on the wall, was the shooting schedule for the movie.

  “Why? Let’s get this over with.” I wasn’t wanting to dilly dally. We needed to figure out if Maddie could pull this off with me and if not, figure out who we could get into the role asap.

  While they’d already signed a contract with Maddie, there was no way I was going to agree to film with her without my own screen test. She might have been fantastic with Rich, but I wasn’t him. And considering that I was certain she was a has-been actress, I wasn’t sure we’d have the necessary chemistry.

  There were some films in which chemistry between the leads was crucial in carrying off the film. Take It Or Leave It was a cross between Oceans Eleven, Monuments Men, and The Thomas Crown Affair. Sophistication and sex appeal were as big characters as the actual people. Maddie Fox? I couldn’t picture her as sexy or sophisticated. Hell, I couldn’t picture her as being grown up.

  “Because we’re hoping that you will go into this with an open mind,” Jon said.

  “And not be an asshole,” Corrine added.

  “I’m never an asshole.”

  She pursed her lips while Jon coughed. Okay, so sometimes I was an asshole, but I had everything riding on this movie. If I had to be a jerk, so be it.

  “I’ll try to not be an asshole, but Jesus, this role is part Jessica Rabbit and part Veronica Lake-”

  “Jessica Rabbit is modeled after Veronica Lake,” Jon pointed out.

  “I thought it was Vikki Dougan, you know, the lady who wore the backless dresses down to her butt crack,” Corrine mused. Then she shook her head. “Nevermind, Jessica Rabbit is a cartoon.”

  I pointed to her. “So is Maddie Fox. She’s a kid star who made a couple of fun kid movies. What has she done in the last fifteen years or so?”

  “She was a good kid actress. Plus, it’s in her DNA. Her dad is doing good work in the West End of London and her mom won a Golden Globe this year.” Jon reached over and grabbed a donut too. H
e was constantly on some sort of gimmick diet. I guessed his current one wasn’t gluten-free or sugar-free.

  I rolled my eyes. “Do you want to fuck her?” Okay, that was an asshole thing to say. Fortunately, they both just glared at me.

  “If I liked women, I would,” Corrine finally said.

  “Me too,” Jon added, licking sugar off his fingers. “You know, if you watched the screen test-”

  I held a hand up. “Listen, I hired you because I trust you-”

  “Then why are we here?” Jon asked rhetorically. “She was the best.”

  “She may have been good with Rich, but her and me? There’s no guarantee.”

  “Trust me, you’ll want to fuck her,” Corrine said. “But for God’s sake, don’t. Not if you want this movie to be judged on the merits of the work. We don’t need another one of your fuck-‘em-and-leave-‘em leading lady scandals.”

  I winced. “That was a long time ago.” The problem was, reputations stuck like glue. Never mind that I’d been behaving like a gentleman for some time now, the gossip rags and even fans still thought I was a man-whore. Then again, I didn’t do a whole lot to change their minds. I needed to stay in the public eye to stay relevant, so I did go out a lot to places where there were beautiful and willing women. But I went home alone now.

  “The chemistry won’t be a problem,” Jon said. “There isn’t a woman alive that doesn’t want you, and you’re a professional actor…so even if you don't feel it…act.”

  The sound of the elevator opening and closing made me look out the door toward the hallway. A red-headed woman in a black leather pencil skirt and a white blouse buttoned low across a very attractive bust headed toward us. I straightened as my dick took notice.

  “Really, Theo, get your shit together and use those manners I’m sure your mother taught you,” Corrine said, rising from her chair.

  “I’ve got manners,” I said absently as I watched the woman, wondering who she was and why she was here.

  “Now is a good time to start using them. Jesus, you’re practically drooling,” Corrine said.

  “Who is she?” I nodded toward the woman, whose eyes finally caught mine and if I wasn’t mistaken, was giving me the same assessment I was giving her.

  “That’s Madeline Fox,” Jon said.

  My head whipped to him. “What?”

  Corrine smirked. “Told you that you’d want to fuck her. So, are we good now?”

  She was right. This was definitely a woman I’d break my self-imposed celibacy for. But this wasn’t about my dick. I couldn’t let that organ set me down a path of financial ruin and embarrassment.

  Maddie Fox looked the part, no doubt, but could she act? “We still do the test,” I said.

  Next to me, I was sure Corrine and Jon were making some kind of annoyed faces. I didn’t know because I couldn’t seem to take my eyes off the woman as she entered the conference room.

  I met her at the door, extending my hand. “Maddie? I’m Theo.”

  Her eyes narrowed as she studied me. She put her hand in mine. It was small but strong when she shook my hand.

  “I know who you are, Theo. And please call me Madeline.”

  There was something in her eyes that suggested her comment wasn’t a request. I held her hand a little bit too long just to see what she’d do.

  She looked down at my hand and then at me, arching a brow. Amused, I let her hand go.

  Corrine shoved me aside. “Madeline, thanks for coming in. You know the drill. We’ll do the meet-up scene like we did with Rich-”

  “No. I want to do the closet scene,” I said, still unable to take my eyes off of her. She had the color of hazel eyes that veered toward gray. They were stunning with her red tresses.

  Jon groaned. “Come on, Theo, not the closet-”

  “That’s the best one for what I need to be sure this will work.”

  For the first time, Maddie’s façade of confidence broke. She looked from me to Jon and Corrine. “So this is another audition?”

  “It’s a test,” Jon said in a soft voice like he was trying to reassure her.

  “But if I don’t do well with Theo like I did with Rich, I’m out?” Her gaze returned to me. She let out a breath. “Yes, I know the drill. Fine, the closet scene.”

  I grinned. I loved it when I won. It was a perk of being a big star, even though it made me an asshole when I lorded it over people. In this case, with my future on the line, I was okay with being an asshole.

  Off Script

  Madeline

  I was no stranger to show business, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t nervous about attempting a comeback. I knew that as a child actor, I was sheltered from some aspects of the business, and at the same time, I learned at an early age that the TV and movie industry was filled with jerks and opportunists. As an adult, I felt better prepared to deal with that now. At the same time, I knew my status as a former child star hindered me just as much, if not more in getting work, than if I was a complete newbie. My agent had to fight hard to even get me an audition for the role of Nicolette Vane. People still thought of me as the freckle-faced awkward kid I’d played on TV. But I understood the part of Nicolette and demanded to be seen. I walked in dressed like Nicolette and inhabited her persona through the entire audition. That got me a reading with Rich Kipling, which went well. I realized he wasn’t really acting during our test, as afterward on the elevator down, he attempted to grope me. I wasn’t happy that he was injured and couldn’t play the part of Jack Cole, but I wasn’t crying either, especially when I learned that Theo Wolfe was taking over the role.

  Theo had acting chops, but sometimes it seemed like he was trying too hard. Like he had something to prove, when in fact, he had all the right instincts. At least based on all the movies I’d seen him in over the last couple of years. Sure, the women loved him because mother nature bestowed him with perfect eyes, hair, smile and pecs. His ass wasn’t bad either. Perhaps that was why he tried so hard. Maybe he felt like his pretty-boy looks detracted from his talent. Women experienced that all the time; dismissed as just a pretty face.

  I had just returned to New York after leaving nearly fifteen years ago. During those fifteen years, I lived a quiet, normal life with my grandparents and older sister, away from the limelight and from my bickering, too-busy-to-parent parents. Through high school and college, I was determined to keep that normal life. My sister went to law school, and I thought I might do the same, but pre-law classes bored me to death. I gravitated to drama classes, of course, but always considered them electives. I finally decided to go into education and teach drama and English, which I did for a couple of years back home in Woodstock, New York. But once my sister moved to Manhattan and I’d come visit her to see a Broadway show, I found I missed acting. So I quit my job at the end of the school year, went to auditions, and was now getting ready to film a movie. And not some low-budget or indie movie like I thought I might have to do to ease my way back into the industry. This was a Theo Wolfe production.

  I should have known though that it wouldn’t be smooth sailing. When Corrine asked me to come in and read with Theo, I didn’t think too much of it. It made sense for us to meet and see how we were on camera. Once I was there, I realized that it wasn’t just a test. If I didn’t do well, I was out.

  It made meeting him less exciting. Actually, the predatory look in his eyes as I made my way to his conference room also lessened my opinion of him. I knew of his reputation, and I also knew that the rag mags often embellished and sometimes outright lied. But the way his gaze slithered along my body, I knew he was the horndog he was depicted as.

  Then again, hadn’t I worn this leather skirt and left a few blouse buttons undone to impress him? Not sexually, but to show up like Nicolette would. Sexy, badass, cover-your-balls type of woman. If I wasn’t mistaken, that was exactly what he wanted. So okay, bring it on.

  We all piled into the elevator and headed down to a sound stage. There wasn’t a closet-type structure for th
e scene, so Corrine and Theo discussed the best options for the test. In the end, we just needed to be pressed closed together and acting like we were hiding, so we decided to use a corner of a fake room that had been constructed.

  “Do you want to review the script?” asked Corrine.

  “Yes, I just need a minute,” I said, pulling the script from my bag. As I reviewed the scene with the closet, Corrine and Theo set up a camera to film us.

  I reviewed the scene, paying special attention to my character’s lines as well as interpreting her mood, her attitude, and how she would look or sound in the scene.

  “Are you ready?” Theo asked, going to the corner we’d designated to act as a closet.

  I shoved the script back into my bag and set it down on a chair near the door. “I’m ready.” I walked over to where Theo stood.

  “Maybe we should start this like we’re being chased and hiding in the closet. It can put us in the mood,” Theo suggested.

  I didn’t need to be put in the mood but maybe he did. “Whatever you want. You’re the boss.”

  He smirked in amusement and then walked a few steps away from the wall. I joined him, and he put his arm behind my elbow, then made a motion like we were running and he was tugging me along.

  “Whenever you’re ready,” Corrine called from behind the camera.

  “Ready?” Theo asked me.

  “I’m ready.” I prepared to be tugged and hurried into the corner a.k.a. closet.