Page 37 of The CEO I Hate

My attention was drawn back to Mia and Leo. I couldn’t help myself. “Excuse me,” I said to Stan. “Just gotta pass on some notes to our new head writer.” I stalked across the room, a man on a mission, barely holding myself back from shoving Leo out of the way.

“We need to talk,” I said to Mia.

She blinked up at me. “Okay, sure.”

“We’ll chat later,” Leo said. “I’m really excited about this season.”

Mia smiled after him. “Sounds good.”

This wasn’t a big deal. Not at all. So why did it feel like it?

“Come with me, so we can talk privately,” I said through gritted teeth, well aware of the dozens of people within earshot.

Mia followed me out of the room. “So I think that went as well as we could have hoped,” she said. “Better than we hoped, actually!”

I shuffled off into a side room, closing the door behind us. Too hard. I was already screwing this up. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Mia’s eyes immediately narrowed. “Kicking ass on episode one. Or didn’t you notice everyone loved it?” Her chin went up and her jaw went tight—her default posture when she was feeling defensive. It took me a second to realize she thought I was upset about the episode.

“Of course they loved it,” I said curtly. “There are a few notes, but nothing major. You and Jerome nailed it.” She flushed, and her lips quirked up in a little smile…but it disappeared in a hurry when I added, “What I want to know is what you were doing with Leo.”

I practically spit out the name. I hated how bitter his name sounded coming out of my mouth, but I couldn’t help it.

“Do you know how unprofessional that would be if you got involved with one of the actors from the show? And Leo, of all people! How would that look, especially with your plans to expand his arc this season? Do you have any idea what the press would say?”

Thanks to Finn, I knew how the media ate that kind of stuff up. “And do you know who’ll have to clean up all that horrible coverage? Me!”

“Excuse me,” she said, crossing her arms in that way that drove me a little wild. “There is no ‘getting involved’ of any kind happening. We were literally just talking about his intended character development for this season, which, if you recall, is part of my job. But that’s beside the point, because you have no right to police who I talk to!”

“To protect this show, you bet I do.”

She scoffed, shaking her head in disbelief. “You are so full of it! If I want to date an actor, I’ll date an actor. Will it be Leo? No. Because I’m pretty sure Jerome’s more his type.”

I blinked down at her. That was news to me.

My brain lagged, and Mia smirked, clearly enjoying the momentary short-circuit.

“But this town is full of actors, and if I wanted to and they were interested, I could date any of them. All of them!” Mia carried on, her voice rising. “I’ll date whoever I damn well please, and I don’t want to hear a word about it from you, because it’s none of your business!”

“Oh, believe me, I have plenty of words to share about your taste in men,” I growled. “We both know what kind of losers you’ve dated in the past.”

Her nostrils flared. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, please, all Jake ever does is complain about your exes.” I started numbering them off on my fingers. “There was your middle school crush who asked you out on a dare, then mocked you after you said yes. Your high school boyfriend who got caught screwing someone else at prom. The guy in college who said you had to make out with his frat brother since he used you as his ante in a poker game.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh my God, you’re actually doing this.”

“Shall I go on?” I offered.

Mia folded her arms and gave me a look that could curdle milk. “Yeah, well, who cares about middle school? High school guys are all idiots. And yes, poker-Joe turned out to be an asshole. But he wasphenomenalin bed.”

She shivered a little, letting out a breathy moan. “Yeah,lotsof good memories there to make up for the bad ones. Mmm. Honestly? Worth it. Ten outta ten. No regrets.”

A flash of heat zipped across my entire body.

Mia smiled sweetly. “Thanks for the stroll down memory lane.” Her tone shifted, and she sighed. “Why do you even care, Liam? It’s my life.”

That hit like a sucker punch.