“Alright, everybody ready?” Arnold calls out. “Three... two... one... action!”
“You can’t come after me like that. What if something happened to you?” Roman starts his character’s line.
I don’t know if I’ll get over how fun it is to act alongside someone else who completely embodies their character the way he does. Yeah, I gave him shit about being a nepo baby, but the truth is he’s incredibly talented.
“I didn’t have a choice. Where you go, I go. That’s it.” In character, I plead with him to ensure he understands I can’t be parted from him, that if his character goes down, mine goes along with him.
“I thought I told you not to come after me,” he says, fire burning in his eyes.
“I thought you’d know that I don’t take orders from you,” I reply, searching his face.
“And you should know by now that it’s not about taking orders, it’s about keeping you safe,” he pleads, as if my character’s safety means the most to him.
“What if that’s not what I want?” I challenge. We step closer to one another.
“What do you want?”
You, a tiny part of me screams internally.
“I think...” Roman lowers his face toward mine, initiating the kiss. A panicked giggle escapes my mouth before I have a chance to stop it.
“Cut!” Arnold shouts.
Mentally kicking myself, I give an apologetic glance toward him and the crew. “I’m so sorry, that won’t happen again.”
“Don’t worry about it, it’s always awkward at first,” Arnold says with a smile. “Do you and Roman want to take a minute off-screen to chat, or are you ready to go again?” He gestures to the side, as if we’re supposed to sneak around behind the set and have a quick kiss to mitigate the awkwardness.
You could give me all the time in the world, and this would still be awkward.
I shake my head and give a nervous smile. “No, no, we should be fine. I’m sorry about that.”
“All good. Roman, are you ready to go from the top?” Arnold asks. I finally dare a look over at Roman.
Normally I’d guess he would be annoyed at my lack of professionalism, or the fact that we didn’t nail the take. Instead, he looks amused.
“Nervous, Daly?”
“Anyone who has the misfortune of having to kiss you should be.” I whisper. At that, his eyes narrow on me.
“Charming. Try not to fuck it up this time.” Roman looks back toward the director’s chair. “Ready to go again.”
“Alright, reset!” Arnold ensures the crew, and Roman and I are ready to shoot. “Three... two... one... action!”
As we go again, I can feel it, the momentum building toward our kiss. His icy blue eyes bore into me, and there’s such vulnerability in them it makes my knees feel wobbly.
It feels so strange. It’s as though I’m experiencing all the feelings my character is feeling, and yet I’m not. The feelingsare as equally mine as not. I’ve never had to film scenes of this nature, so it’s probably all very normal, and I’m just supposed to feel this mixed-up swirl of emotions. I don’t really know. One thing I do know is I’m having an out-of-body experience as soon as Roman’s lips touch mine.
His lips are soft, yet demanding as he fists his hand into my hair to pull me impossibly close. My body responds to his touch as if it were as basic an instinct as breathing.
Our bodies press together, and being flush with his chest gives me the opportunity to feel the contours of his muscles. His warmth seeps into me, and it feels so good that it makes me want to get closer, even though that’s impossible. So I settle for kissing him back with everything I have... or my character has. My lips part ever so slightly, and Roman’s tongue sweeps in, dancing with mine. The way he moves tells me everything I need to know about how skilled that tongue is when it comes to other activities.
Heat pools between my legs as Roman tilts my head back to deepen the kiss even further.
“Cut!” Arnold shouts, breaking the spell and bringing me back to reality. A reality where Roman is looking at me with a smirk that sends another wave of heat down my body.
Clearing my throat, I move to step away from him and put some space between us. Roman’s hand lingers in my hair for a few seconds before loosening.
“That was great, you two. Let’s run it again,” Arnold says. Of course it’d be too good to be true if we nailed it on the first take.
