He couldn’t be falling for her. He wouldn’t. The laws of evolution shouldn’t allow it.

Josh watched as Clara laughed at something Felix said. He furrowed his brow. What was so funny?

Naomi offered him a plate of spinach dip and crackers. “Don’t do it.”

“I’m not doing anything.” He wiped his palms on his shorts before helping himself to the food.

“Good. Because it wouldn’t work anyway.” Even though Naomi used the same argument he’d made for himself a few minutes ago, he found himself balling his hands into fists.

His mother used to say, If you want something to happen, tell Josh it can’t be done.

Chapter twenty-one

CLARA TRIED TO focus on her press release for Toni’s latest fund-raising event, but she’d had to read the same paragraph four times because Josh kept emitting distracting sighs from across the studio. She rubbed the back of her wrist across her eye and ignored him.

Josh had sworn he’d only need twenty minutes to conduct a final equipment check before shooting began tomorrow, but they’d already spent over an hour here while he obsessively inspected their modest workspace.

The setup certainly looked professional. Their skeleton crew, two film students from UCLA, had rented all the necessary lights, cameras, microphones—everything. Naomi had come by earlier and given the green light, but Josh refused to take anyone’s word for it.

Clara should have told him to go without her when he brought up driving out to Burbank after dinner. But he’d offered her a set of his spare keys that morning, and she didn’t want him to think she was rejecting his gesture.

At least she’d brought her work with her. Between the PR firm and all the extra hours she’d put in over the last few weeks on Shameless, she’d been burning the candle at both ends. If she didn’t finish this round of releases for tomorrow, even her extremely laid-back aunt would have her hide.

Another pitiful sigh made her look up, only this time she found Josh flat on his back, thrusting his hips in the air.

She gaped at him as her eyes inhaled the sensual image. “What on earth are you doing?” He should realize she didn’t have time to sift through any less-than-friendly feelings she might have developed for him. To figure out where the boundaries of living together, working together, and now canoodling fell. She’d made the executive decision to blame everything on repressed hormones and move along. She desperately hoped he’d done the same.

Josh paused midthrust and covered his face with both hands. “They framed the shot all wrong. The angle’s too wide. They’ll cut off Lance’s feet.”

“Are you sure?” Clara vaguely remembered Lance from auditions. He had some very unique piercings.

“I’m almost positive. Do me a favor, look through the lens and tell me if you can see my whole body in the shot.” Josh held the bridge position with annoying ease. As far as she could tell he didn’t submit to a traditional exercise regime outside of running. All those muscles just from sex? Despicable.

She cautiously approached the tripod and stood on her tiptoes to peer through the viewfinder. “You’re right. It cuts off at your knees.”

Josh got to his feet and turned his gaze to the ground. “Shit. We’re going to have to redo all of this gaffer’s tape. Somehow they blocked everything a foot to the right.”

“Can’t we just move the camera?”

“Not unless you want to move all the lights and the boom. We’d need a ladder.” He pointed at the vaguely feather-duster-looking thing mounted above his head.

Clara took in the fluorescent tape scattered across the ground. “Those little marks are where the performers go?”

“Yeah. Ginger and Lance came in this morning and Naomi blocked all the positions for the intro scene.”

“So we need to move the tape? That sounds simple enough.”

“Sort of. In order to know where the new tape goes, we’d need to reblock all of the performers’ positions. We’re probably close enough to their heights, but . . .”

Clara’s palms grew slick. “What kind of positions are we talking about?”

Josh’s eyes flashed. “Ones that make it easier for women to orgasm during intercourse.”

Her pulse picked up as she wandered closer to where he stood. She’d been afraid of that. “All right.” The words wavered as she wrestled to control her excitement. Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t seem to call forth her defenses against touching him. Her chest filled with anticipation. “Let’s run through the positions quickly. I’m exhausted, and I still have to find an accessible synonym for magnanimous.” She frowned so he wouldn’t see that she’d agreed to this salacious exercise to take advantage of his incredible body.

Josh blinked a few times. “I’m sorry, are you offering to simulate all of the sex positions required for the scene?”

His incredulous tone made her question herself. “I thought you were suggesting that’s what we needed to do?”

“Oh.” Josh rocked back on his heels. “Yep. That is what’s needed. No way around that.” He immediately went into a crouch and started ripping tape off the floor.

Once they had a clean slate, he got behind the camera and motioned for Clara to stand at a specific position. “Stay right there.”

He ran around and lay down so his shoulders lined up with the current position of her feet. “Okay. So now you straddle my thigh and place the tape at our feet.”

Why did both straddle and thigh, two seemingly innocuous words, sound filthy coming out of Josh’s mouth? “But . . . I’m wearing a skirt.”

His breath caught. “I could straddle your thigh?”

She massaged her temples. His long body was laid out before her like a horny feast. “Just tell me which direction to face.”

“On your knees with your back to me, put one of your legs on either side of my left leg.”

Clara held on to her hem as she carefully lowered herself into position, until her butt was almost but not quite aligned with Josh’s groin and her calf rested against his inner thigh. How anyone had the confidence to attempt a maneuver this complicated while naked was beyond her.

She couldn’t for the life of her figure out how their necessary body parts would align. “Where does my foot go?” She shifted backward until her sneaker slipped, slamming into something that forced an agonized wail out of Josh.

“Oh God. I’m so sorry.” She scrambled to her feet and stood helplessly as Josh rolled into the fetal position, clutching his unmentionables. “Should I go get an ice pack?”

“I’m fine.” The vein throbbing in his neck said otherwise.

“What if there’s permanent damage? The women of America will need a day off to mourn the loss of Josh Darling’s prized asset.”

“Please stop talking.” His eyes welled with tears.

Clara watched helplessly while he took slow, deep breaths for several minutes, until he eventually unfurled his body. “You can get back into position now,” Josh said with decidedly less enthusiasm than the first time he’d instructed her to kneel. “Gently.”

Once she’d done as bidden, Josh ripped off a few pieces of tape from the roll with his teeth and handed them over. “Mark little Xs by each of our feet.”

She leaned toward his toes in acquiescence and felt her skirt travel with her. “Are you sure ladies like this?”

“Yes.” Josh’s voice had gone rough. “It’s a similar concept to reverse cowgirl. You’re in control of the depth, the speed, the angle.” He shifted his hips. “Let’s, uh, get into the next position.”

She hesitated. “I don’t want to hurt you again.”

He waved dismissively. “Don’t worry about it. My dick’s insured.”

Clara flung her hand to her heart. “Are you serious?”

“No. Of course not.” Josh brought the weight of his upper body onto his elbows. “But I really like that face you just made. The next position is girl on top. So if you can—”

“I know what girl on top is.” Clara tried to retain a ladylike demeanor as she adjusted her straddle. She purposefully perched on Josh’s lower stomach, rather than risk entering the danger zone below his belt, and fluffed out her skirt so she wasn’t flashing an exorbitant amount of thigh.

She pushed her hair behind her ears. “Is this right?”

“Almost.” Josh pressed his hand gently against the middle of her back.

“What are you doing?” Her voice came out sounding more like a squawk. She’d managed to get this far without encountering his erection. Not that he necessarily had one. He probably didn’t. Considering she’d almost unmanned him. Also, he did this stuff for a living, minus the layers of fabric. She schooled herself into a professional expression.

The heat of Josh’s fingertips through the silk of her blouse sent pleasant tingles up and down her spine. He guided her until their chests came into contact. “We’re going for this angle.”

“I see,” she said, trying not to notice the way her nipples rubbed against his chest each time she breathed. “I always thought I should sit up straight. You know, for leverage. This is much more intimate.” She inhaled through her nose as she studied the hard line of his jaw. “But I don’t have as much room to . . . bounce.” Surely steam poured from her ears.