Page 96 of Bribed by the Billionaire Bad Boy

I cringe, covering half of my face and eating the rest of my sandwich’s crust snake.

“I got chills every single time.” Rebecca grabs her burger again, sighing once more. “I’m ecstatic to see the next scene, too, but ugh. I don’t want to let Jo’s song go.”

Jason twirls his fork in the cafeteria’s strangely elaborate pasta mixture—something Asian, with a thick brown sauce—then he points the noodles at Rebecca. “What’s the next scene?”

Rebecca’s lips curl, purely feline, and her shoulder bumps into me. “These love birds have their first kiss.”

I wince, and my stomach revolts at the idea of finishing my sandwich. All at once, Jason’s eyes are on me and dumbstruck. “You’re going to let this beast steal your lips?”

Curling in on myself, I murmur something like confirmation.

Rebecca rests her head against her hand. “Oops. Sorry. I keep forgetting you don’t like me teasing you about that stuff. No matter how cute I find it. I promise I’m mostly fangirling over Kenneth and Harriet. Mostly.”

I swallow. “It’s all right.”

“It is not!” Jason states adamantly, tossing his noodle-filled fork in my direction this time. “Look at her. She’s terrified.” He stuffs the bite in his mouth, then talks around it. “I mean, I would be too if this jerk was coming for me.”

Lex’s brows rise. “Hey. I’m a good kisser.”

My heart thunders. I’ve been putting off even the idea of this scene from the start. It’s just acting. It isn’t real. It’s just a kiss. I’m an adult. Kids these days are kissing already in middleschool, maybe even elementary. It isn’t a big deal. I exhale. “It’s hardly even a kiss. More like a peck. I don’t know. I run away from it anyway.”

“I would, too!” Jason agrees. “Even if it is just a peck! I’m high-tailing it out of there.”

“Oi.”

Rebecca’s eyes sparkle, far too much, and her feline grin is back to haunt everyone at our little table. “Maybe this kiss is tame, but the next one?”

“There’s a next one?” Jason’s too invested.

I contemplate hiding under the bench.

“There is,” Rebecca confirms. “And I do believe that one in the script is described using the wordpassionately.”

It is.

Crap.

“Guys,” Lex’s voice cuts through my regrets on specifying that quaint little detail. “I think that’s good enough.”

Rebecca’s eyes widen, zeroing in on me. “Ah. Right. Sorry. I’m getting carried away. I just love this stuff. I really don’t mean anything by it.”

Jason rolls his eyes toward Lex. “Of course you’re completely chill, Casanova.”

Lex’s gaze slides to me, warm, like molten emerald. “Hardly.”

I scan him, getting lost at his eyes, and he could have fooled me. From over here, he appears perfectly calm.

“Right,” Jason drones, ceaselessly whipping his noodle fork about. “You’re disappointed it’s just a peck. You’re used to far more—”

“Jason,” Lex states, cutting him off in the same instant his eyes tug off mine. “Shut up.”

Used to?I have never so much as noticed Lex with girls outside of cast interactions.

’Cause you’re the only girl I talk to…

What if Jason is also referring to acting? Jason is in Lex’s other acting classes. What kinds of roles is he taking over there?

I drop my attention to the tortured remains of my sandwich and lift a piece to my lips. If it’s acting, I don’t care, but what if that isn’t what Jason means?