A Midsummer Night's Fling (Stage Kiss Series Book 1) by Beth Matthews Read Free Book Online

breath to start the scene, but no way could he launch into Oberon when she was about to blow chunks all over the stage.
    Puffing his breath out, Max waited a beat, and she made eye contact with him again. He angled his body away from the house so Judith wouldn't see, then he crossed his eyes and puffed his cheeks out. A funny face wasn't as good of a distraction as mooning Nicola, but he had to work with what he had at the moment.
    Across the stage, Nicola pursed her lips to keep from laughing. She narrowed her eyes, but he didn't care if she was annoyed. Nicola always got too much in her head right before she went onstage. She always needed distracting, loosening up. He'd done his bit, and now she wouldn't barf.  
    Ready? He mouthed at her.
    Yes . Her eyes softened, and the tiny smile she gave him seemed to set a hook in his heart and pull.  
    A million memories surged through him, hitting like a train into the side of a mountain. This scene was so familiar, so precious. Nicola across the stage from him, ready to spar and tease and challenge. Ready to play.
    Ready to be in his life again?
    Just do the scene, idiot . He inched his shoulders back as he eased into the physicality of Oberon, but after those stolen seconds of fussing he still wasn't ready. The closeness of Nicola, the potential in being near her had set his body humming in a steady buzz which had nothing to with theater.
    But what the hell? The curtain was up. Judith was watching. Game on . "'Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania,'" he rumbled out, deepening his voice and adding the hint of an accent. So he'd sound all kingly and shit. He strode down the short stairs toward her.  
    Nicola, as Titania, narrowed her eyes at him and raised one eyebrow. "'What, jealous Oberon?'"
    He crossed the stage in three easy strides, invading her personal space. She stood on the step above him so he found himself face to face with her, close enough to kiss. She startled, jerking her head back, and he didn't know if that was Nicola or Titania. She made to turn away from him.  
    "'Tarry, rash wanton.'" He slid an arm around her waist, holding her without pulling her closer. "'Am not I thy lord?'"
    She cocked her head sideways, her mouth a smirking, sensual promise. "'Then I must be thy lady.'"
    Yes, you are . Having her in his arms felt so right, like he'd been missing a piece of himself and not known it until he touched her again. He was near enough to see the ring of dark brown around her irises, to count the freckles scattered across her nose, to smell the spicy fruit scent of her hair. To feel her breath sigh over the skin of his face.  
    He closed the few inches left to her mouth, but she ducked, twisting free of his arms before he could kiss her.
    As Oberon he was infuriated.
    As Max he was almost ridiculously disappointed.
    Keep your head in the work. Focus. If he blew this opportunity for her because of his over-eager libido then she would never forgive him. And he would never forgive himself for ruining yet another thing for her.
    Nicola continued the scene, taunting him, playing Titania as the most alluring of sirens. Rita had told them to ratchet up the sexual tension, of course, but Nicola was on exactly the same page as him. The whole scene they each found excuses to stand near the other, to touch and tickle like this was all foreplay. The chemistry between them crackled, and she obviously felt it too, getting as much of a high from this performance as he was. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes glinting in a way he remembered well.  
    He could think of only one other thing the two of them had done together better than this.  
    Don't go there, Max .
    Really hard, though – heh – not to let his mind wander there as she crossed to sit on one corner of the stage and laid herself out, her lovely, petite body displayed for him to admire.
    They had reached the part of the scene where Titania refuses to give Oberon her adopted son. "'I will not part with him.'" She