She walks into the studio with Parka Pete, who takes her coat from her, leaving her in her robe and her favourite fluffy sliders. She’s had her makeup touched up, as have I—we both had reddened, swollen mouths from kissing so much. She sashays onto the set. I fold my arms and widen my stance and lie in wait. Let’s see if she tries to avoid me.
She doesn’t. Instead, she raises those beautiful, arched eyebrows at me and puts her hands to the knot of her robe, teasing me.‘Your Grace.’
Jesus Christ. When she says it like that, in the same way she said it when I was getting her clothes off, she must know exactly what effect that memory has on me.
‘Your Grace,’ I murmur. My arms stay crossed. I’m not giving an inch.
‘Are you feeling better now? Did you get a bit of… rest in your trailer?’
‘I’m feeling much more relaxed, thank you, dear wife.’ I use Dominic’s accent and his low rumble. ‘I’m not sure what happened before. I think it was something I ate.’
‘Oh dear. Better be careful what you eat.’ Her eyes are fire. She is a piece of work. Suddenly, I’m not quite so confident I won’t disgrace myself during our second attempt at shooting this fucking scene.
Kate comes over to make sure I’m okay. Thank Christ she didn’t spot my hard-on earlier, and I tell her I had a bad stomach. Not the sexiest explanation, but it’s better than admitting the truth. Poor Kate doesnotneed to know I’m having problems keeping it down in front of my sexy-as-hell co-star when she’s acting all virginal underneath me.
Abigail confirms we’re gonna shoot the same scene again from the same camera angle. I look away as one of the set costumers helps Elle off with her robe, but only because I don’t want any of the crew to think I’m a total creep. Once she’s on the bed, and the hair and makeup team has had its fun with her, I hand my robe off and hop on.
I notice Elle doesn’t take her eyes off me for a second. Clearly she’s not worried whether the crew thinks she’s objectifying her co-star. She lifts her knees up so I can wriggle between her legs, and I position myself on top of her again, up on my elbows, framing her face with my forearms.
‘Nowthisis a good position,’ I murmur under my breath. ‘I’m really sorry we didn’t get to try out that bed in your trailer.’
I look down at her and feast my eyes on her face. Her gorgeous blonde hair is artfully spread out on the pillow. Not only is she the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen (and I’ve had my fair share of impressive leading ladies), but the unique combination of her features fills a need in me I can’t explain. I could never, ever get tired of looking at this woman.
‘In your dreams, Lander,’ she whispers, but the animosityfrom earlier is gone. I was inside of her just a few minutes ago, and her features still have that incredible just-fucked look. She looks almost as good as she did when she was crying out my name.
That act, right there, hit me with a wall of emotion. I can’t imagine she was thrilled about having the hots for me earlier, but her letting go enough to say my name, and that she wantedmeand wasn’t just using me to satisfy her duke kink is giving me hope this might not have been a one-off.
That I haven’t fucked things up so permanently that I killed off every last bit of the feelings she had for me.
‘At least I get to pretend to fuck you again.’ I reach out and rub a piece of her hair between my fingers. ‘At least I get to lie on top of you for the next couple hours, and look at you and only you, and stroke your hair. And at least I know when I kiss you on camera, you’ll taste yourself on my mouth.’
I watch with delight as her pupils dilate beneath me, and she bites her lip.
‘And here I was thinking I’d done a thorough job on you.’ She wriggles very slightly beneath me.
‘It was fucking amazing, but I can’t promise not to let you affect me again. And don’t move your hips like that. Seriously, baby.’
‘I’m not your baby.’ Her tone is serious, but next to me, her hand moves and she brushes the hairs on my thigh the tiniest bit. I shake my head at her with mock severity to let her know she’s playing with fire and I love it.
Kate comes over and kneels next to us. ‘Oh great, you both look a bit more relaxed. I know this is tough and exhausting.’
Poor Kate. She’s the one with the exhausting job, coordinating intimacy between two actors she believes hate each other.
‘I think, given we had a decent break and we’re about to shoot a very intimate scene again, it would be a good idea foryou two to hold some eye contact, just to allow yourselves to find that place of trust again?’
I grin at her. ‘Sure, Kate. That sounds like a wonderful idea. Don’t you think, Elle?’
I turn to Elle, and she glares up at me. ‘Sounds very sensible.’
And so Kate steps back and gives us a minute—literally—for me to lose myself in the eyes of the woman I love.
The woman I’ve just come inside of.
The woman I thought I had no chance with.
For all her backchat just now, this staring competition is night and day compared to the one from earlier. There’s no discomfort when I look into Elle’s blue eyes. The barriers are swept away. There’s just honesty. Raw connection.
Kate calls time and turns away to let Abigail take over, and Elle seems as reluctant as I am to break our gaze. I quickly brush my thumb over her bare shoulder.
