I’m seeing red. We do the scene once more, and I pour even more of myself into the performance, and when it comes time for the slap, I make sure not to do a slow lead up this time. It’s better, but still miles away.
“Perfect, and for this one can you please angle a little more toward the camera so we can get a better shot of your face?” Arnold calls out.
“Of course,” I say, stepping slightly to the side. Roman tilts his body so that his back is angled more toward the camera, and he leans in close.
He whispers, “That all you got?”
I open my mouth to gape like a fish for a second, shocked that he has the audacity to talk like this. It was so quiet that no one else appears to have heard.
“No, that’s not all that I’ve got.” I hiss under my breath. Ilook up into his icy blue eyes and the contempt oozes through my pores.
Roman leans forward, and places his mouth so close that I can feel his lips ghost along the shell of my ear.
“Prove it. Approach the slap like you fucking mean it, Daly,” he whispers before pulling away.
“When you’re ready,” Arnold calls. We run through the scene one more time, and when it comes time for the slap at the end, Roman raises an eyebrow and smirks in challenge. I take his advice and go for the slap like I mean it. And clearly, I did, because I accidentally make contact with him.
It’s not hard enough to seriously hurt, but it’s hard enough that the noise it makes sounds loud and clear in the otherwise quiet room.
My eyes flare in surprise, and immediately I drop character and cover my open mouth with my hands.Oh shit. I am so not booking this gig.I had a shot until I literally slapped Roman freaking Everett across his beautiful stupid face. I look up at him, and instead of being pissed off, he rubs at his reddening jaw, and his eyes dance with amusement mingling with disbelief.
“Nicely done,” he mutters with a dark chuckle.
“I didn’t mean to–”
“Roman, are you okay?” Arnold calls out.
“Yeah, I stepped in too close. It’s my bad.” He replies quickly as his eyes lock onto mine.
“Okay, well in that case I think we’ve got all we need for that scene. Let’s move on to the romantic one?”
If I didn’t feel like throwing up before, I certainly do now. I mean, sure, I thought I wanted to clock Roman, but now that I actually did, I’m feeling terrible about it. Did he deserve it? Yeah, but that doesn’t change the fact that I feel guilty.
I move back toward the X on the floor, andshake my arms a little, trying to dispel the nervous energy in them. I’m having an out of body experience right now.
“Roman, start us off.” Arnold calls. I barely have a second to collect my thoughts and hop back into character before Roman starts delivering his lines.
“I thought I told you not to come after me,” he says intently as he scans my face.
I’m still a little dazed after the slap fiasco, but I try to rally quickly. “And I thought you’d know that I don’t take orders from you,” I reply somewhat breathlessly.
Roman scans my face, and his eyes swirl with emotion, causing my stomach to do a dumb little flip. “And you should know by now that it’s not about taking orders, it’s about keeping you safe,” he says, but it almost comes out like a plea. It feels magnetic when he says it, and I find myself stepping off my mark on the floor and being pulled toward him.
“What if that’s not what I want?” This close, I can almost feel our chests pressing together if we were to both take big inhales at the same time.
“What do you want?” he offers back as his face slowly lowers toward mine. I tilt mine up so that we’re sharing breath. Breaking contact with his eyes and looking down to his sinfully beautiful mouth, my stomach once again does a traitorous dip. My heart thunders so hard in my chest that I worry for a second that Roman can see it. The ringing in my ears threatens to overpower my next line.
“I think...” I whisper as Roman closes what little distance remains between us and his body presses against mine. His warm hand cradles the back of my head, sending a dizzying wave of pleasure down my neck. His lips lower to within a hair’s breadth of mine, and I can practically taste him. My knees are threatening to give out with him this close to me, with him being so all-consuming. Quickly inhaling, I ready myself for ourlips to make contact, closing my eyes as my own hands snake behind his neck, encouraging him to close that tiny bit of space that remains between us.
With that, Roman lowers the last bit until I can feel the beginning of his lips dusting mine and–
“Great!” Arnold calls out loudly, sending a jolt through my entire body. Instantly I remember where I am and who is holding me. My hands fly off Roman as if I’ve touched a hot stove, and I take a step back from him, putting some much needed distance between me and the dick himself. Fidgeting with my ponytail, I glance over to Roman quickly. He’s watching me with a look I can’t quite discern. All I know is that it’s not the same look from a few minutes ago when I’d walked into the room.
I look back toward Arnold and the rest of the casting team, trying to see if they’ll make me do that again, or if that was enough torture for them to judge me on. I swear out of the corner of my eye that Roman is still looking at me, and that his hand comes up to touch his lips.
“That was...” Arnold starts, looking around at the rest of the casting team. Their expressions range from vaguely amused to straight-up elated. “Perfect,” he finishes, and warm relief flows through my body.
“I... um... thanks,” I say, unsure of what the proper response is. “Do you need to see anything else from me?”
