“Jackson!” Every bit of her patience had been used up.
“Oh. You mean your script?” he said it innocently enough, but the smile on his face said that he’d been playing with her this whole time.
“Of course I mean the manuscript. I thought you wanted to read it.”
“I did.”
“You did? You mean read the whole thing already? I just gave it to you last night.”
“I know. And it’s your fault that I didn’t get any sleep.”
“You stayed up all night and read it?”
He nodded, but he didn’t say a word. There was no smile on his face. There was no clue as to what he thought of her script. He was going to make her drag it out of him.
“And...” She waved her hands as though pulling the words from him.
“And... I think...that...”
“Jackson, say it. If you hated it, just say so.”
“I love it.”
“What?” Surely she hadn’t heard him correctly. If he loved it, why did he make it so hard for her to get an answer out of him?
“Serena, you’re very talented. Your words are vivid and emotional. I could see the entire story play out in my mind.”
Her heart was pounding with excitement. And a smile pulled at her lips. “Really? You’re not just saying that to be nice, are you?”
“Do I look like a nice guy to you?”
“Well, yes, you do. So I have to be sure. Because if you didn’t like it, you can tell me. I can take it. I might cry myself to sleep, but I can take it.”
He laughed. “So much for the calm and cool Serena Winston that graces the covers of all the glossy magazines. This uncertainty and nervousness is a whole new side of you.”
“Jackson!”
“Okay.” The smile slipped from his face. “Yes, I’m serious. You are a talented writer and I would like to interview you—”
“No.” She didn’t know how he could take such a nice compliment and ruin it in the next breath, but that was exactly what he’d done.
“You didn’t even let me finish.”
“You don’t need to. I thought you were different. I thought you were my friend. But you’re just like the others, you want something from me.”
He frowned at her. “I don’t know who you spend your time with, but I’m not like that. If you had let me finish, I was going to say that I could do the interview and it would be about your writing. We could start spinning the story of your screenplay and then you’d have producers and directors pounding down your door to get their hands on it.”
“Oh.” She wanted to believe him. She wanted to think that he wasn’t after her to help further his career, but she’d trusted people in the past and they’d turned against her. “I don’t think so. I want this screenplay to sell on its own merits and not the fact that I’m famous. I need to know that I can do it on my own.”
His eyebrows rose. “You do know what you’re turning down, don’t you? I can do the interview according to your rules. I don’t have to touch upon your personal life...unless you want me to.”
“I... I don’t know.”
“Will you at least consider it?”
She sighed. “I guess. But don’t get your hopes up.”
“I won’t. But don’t dismiss the fact that you can present yourself to the world as something more than an accomplished actress.”