The first week of filming was a whirlwind in front of the camera. By six in the morning, Reed was at the studio practicing with Teagan for several hours, then on set filming until close to midnight, then going home and studying his lines for the next day before catching barely three or four hours of sleep—only to repeat the entire cycle again the next day.

"We're going a little tougher today," Teagan informed him when he arrived back on set the following Monday morning. They'd had a break over the weekend, which had given him a small chance to recharge his batteries. "Last week was basic steps, and it's time to ramp it up a notch."

"That was basic?" Reed groaned and ran his hand over his forehead. Last week had been damn near impossible, and while he'd gotten a good handle on the moves and been able to perform well on camera, it certainly felt nothing close to basic.

Teagan nodded. "You did well, so I'm sure this won't be as hard as you're thinking."

"Wow, a compliment." Reed smiled, enjoying the short-lived feeling of a nice moment between them. Working together had not been easy—and even that was an understatement.

Teagan was clearly still angry, which he understood, even if he didn't like it. Standing her up at the altar was the worst day of his life, and to this day, there's nothing he felt more ashamed of than that. He'd had his reasons, but as every day went by, they seemed harder and harder to make sense of. His excuses felt flimsy when he reflected back on everything that had happened.

At the time, he'd thought he was doing the best thing for both of them. They were young, so young, and had their entire lives and careers in front of them. Teagan had just been offered an insanely amazing break out role in a Broadway show, and was preparing to turn it all down to marry him. He'd wanted more for her than that—she deserved more than just being his wife and living in the suburbs behind a white picket fence. But they were in love, and there was never a possibility that she'd choose anything over him.

So, he’d made the choice for her.

Then a few days after their wedding day, he was offered a role in a small indie film that he'd thought would go nowhere. The timing seemed like fate—something he had to pursue on the heels of leaving a relationship he’d thought would be his forever.

Surprisingly, the movie won contests and festivals and blew up into one hell of a box office hit. His fame had skyrocketed and he was catapulted into a career he'd longed for but wasn't nearly mature enough for. Hence the partying and women and drinking.

And why he'd never looked Teagan up again.

Still, it bothered him to know she'd lived a whole life in the last eight years without him. She seemed…wounded. He wasn’t sure how, but there was a pain underneath her anger toward him that felt like it went deeper. Like it wasn’t just him who’d hurt her. There was more he didn’t know, but all he really wanted to do was sweep back into her life and fix everything he'd broken.

It was insane he felt that way, especially after so many years apart, but every day he spent around her, he couldn't deny it. Despite the wounds she was hiding, she was every bit the beautiful woman he'd fallen in love with—fiercely hardworking, graceful and poised, and though it had yet to be directed toward him, he'd seen her sweet side with other people. He'd seen her laugh at others’ jokes, that perfect melodic laughter he'd thought of so many times over the last eight years.

She was lithe and lively, and despite having been handed a difficult lot in life, she was thriving. Nothing had stopped her, and she hadn’t slowed down for even a second. Teagan was a fighter, and right now, she was fighting him.

"I'm a professional, Reed," Teagan reminded him, slipping on a pair of fuzzy leg warmers over her shins and the tops of her shoes. That, plus the leotard, leggings, and loose-fitting shirt she was wearing were incredibly sexy, showing off her curves in all the right ways, but he kept those thoughts to himself. "It's not a compliment. It's just an observation as your choreographer."

"Right, don't let it go to my head, you still hate me, yada yada." Reed rolled his eyes. His irritation with the whole situation was harder to keep under wraps when he was this tired. "I got it, okay? You've made it abundantly clear that you'd rather be anywhere else but here with me."

Teagan looked taken aback for a moment, blinking slowly as she stared at him. "I didn't…I mean, I don't—"

"It's fine," he cut her off, not wanting her to have to apologize. She deserved her anger, but that didn't make it any less difficult for him to deal with daily. "Let's just get started."

She nodded, then walked to the center of the room. "Today, it's a two-person sequence. You'll be dancing these on camera with Elena. I'll show you the choreography, but then you and she will practice more together before this afternoon."

Elena Stravinsky was his female co-star on Break Down, and their love story was what carried the plot. She was absolutely gorgeous—blonde, tall, and already well known for her dancing. Being paired with her on set was intimidating because she was thousands of times better at it than he was.

"Got it," he replied, joining her in the center of the room.

Teagan took his right hand in hers, facing him. "Stand still for a moment, but then when I come in and toss my hair, spin me." She took his hand but stood beside him, their arms outstretched as they faced the same direction. With a small leap and graceful spin of her legs through the air, she turned into his body and landed squarely chest to chest. His heart was pounding beneath his ribs, aroused at both the beauty of her movements as well as the closeness with which they stood.

Next, Teagan ran her hands up the sides of his body, the backs of her fingers grazing his uncovered skin until she reached his neck. Anchoring her hands behind his neck, she tipped her head backward and flipped her hair from one side to the other in a dramatic twist of her neck.

Watching her neck elongated, open and supple…he wanted to lean forward and nip at her skin. He wanted to run his tongue from her clavicle up to her ear, and then whisper everything he was really thinking to her.

"Now," she instructed, leaving one hand free for him to grab.

He grasped her fingers in his and lifted her arm over her head, spinning her in a circle and catching her as she dipped backward toward the floor, hooking her leg around his knee and sliding into his body. She was right against him, pressing into him and it was taking everything in him to focus solely on the routine.

"Lift," she said next.

He slid his free hand to her waist and pulled her up and over his head where she delicately moved her arms as if riding a wave. Her knees bent toward him, her legs pressed against his chest. His face was mere centimeters from her stomach, and he found himself struggling more and more with resisting touching every inch of her. He wanted to run his hands across her body in the same way she'd just done to him—even if that had just been choreography.

"Spin, and down."

He turned, spinning them around together, then slowly descending as he slid her body down against his. Her breasts passed by his face, then she was looking at him, and they were pressed so tightly together, he never wanted to let go.

"This is where you'll kiss her…" Teagan's voice was breathless, her eyes flitting from his down to his lips. They paused for a moment, as if unsure whether they should follow the routine exactly…or unsure if they could resist.

Reed lowered his head, giving her the chance to touch her lips to his if she just allowed herself. He wanted her to more than anything. God, he wanted to taste her again, devour every inch of her.

"And then back into a spin," she finished, pushing away and allowing him to raise her arm once more and twirl her away from him. She let go of his hands and took a deep breath. "And that's basically the entire thing."

"Can we go through it again?" he asked, mostly for his own selfish purposes or the fact that he was harder than a rock at having just had his hands all over her, but also because it was going to take some serious acting on his part to make this look as hot with Elena as it felt at that moment with Teagan.

She took a deep breath. "The key to today's scene will be your chemistry with Elena. This dance should have erotic undertones, since it's the first scene where your character is beginning to have feelings for Elena's."

He nodded, aware of the scene he was filming today. It was pretty tame, but the script certainly had its risqué moments. There was a sex scene scheduled for next week that he wasn't looking forward to at all. As sexy as those scenes seemed on film, acting in them was clunky and uncomfortable with dozens of people watching and recording the whole thing.

"I'm ready," he assured her, returning to the original stance they'd started in. "When Elena gets here, we'll make sure it's perfect. It'll be the hottest dance scene the silver screen has ever seen."

Teagan visibly swallowed, something painful flashing through her eyes.

Was that jealousy? Reed was sure it wasn't, but he found himself wishing it was anyway.

"Let's start from the top." Teagan lifted her chin and stretched out her arm toward him. "But this time, give me more."

Reed smiled. She didn't have to ask him twice.