Elena gave her a light warm-up, something I’d read about in the guidebooks, but it had always sounded so clinical in print. In person, the gentle rubbing and light spanking looked like an erotic tease, less a formal requirement and more like foreplay.
Elena demanded, “Beg me for a harder one.” Her voice sounded more forceful now, like there was just a hint of menace lurking in the wings.
Melody complied and Elena brought her hand down harder. I only knew it wasn’t that heavy because she’d told us she would keep it light before she started. They kept the scene going like this, with Elena eventually dragging Melody up by the hair and pinning her against the table. The tension between them was palpable and I was pretty sure half the room was struggling not to get hard, wondering how far they were about to take things.
Elena chose that moment of peak tension to release Melody and step away from the table, nonchalantly looking around the room for feedback, which only proved she was a natural performer.
“Works for me…” Melody said, smoothing her hair and returning to her seat looking flushed.
Everyone in the room turned to our director, who had a face like thunder. In the past he’d always been collaborative, but he looked like Elena was stepping on his toes even though this is what we’d brought her in for.
“Fine. Make the changes,” he said, mouth a tight line. “Now, can we keep moving?”
We wrapped up the table read without any further fireworks, but plenty of work to do before we were supposed to start filming. Elena left in a hurry without engaging with me directly, but we had dinner scheduled for the following evening.
She wouldn’t be able to ignore me then.
19
Alex
Our dinner was scheduled at Fern, one of the current “in” restaurants started by the winner of a cooking reality show that I would normally have avoided at all costs, but Asha had insisted it made the most sense.
At the very least, I would usually have wanted a table somewhere on the periphery, but tonight Asha had made sure we were in the middle of the room.
I was pretty sure I knew how zoo animals felt, perched there across from Elena with most of the restaurant stealing glances or blatantly watching us. We were supposed to look “lovey-dovey,” but things between us were tense and awkward, so that felt forced in a less fun way than it had a few days ago.
She looked stunning in a simple dark blue dress with a flowing skirt. If she’d spun in circles, it would’ve fanned out around her like an umbrella, but she’d never do something that childish, so I wasn’t even sure why I was picturing it. Against her dark hair, the dress made her blue eyes look even more vibrant than usual.
Those sharp eyes were assessing me shrewdly as she leaned forward and whispered, “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were pissed at me, Mr. Chase… Did you disagree with my input at the table read?”
“Not at all. I thought you handled it brilliantly and the film will be better for having you on the team.”
“But?”
“Not sure how smart a move it is to flirt with Melody in front of everyone. That adds a layer to the narrative we don’t need. You could’ve done the demo with me.”
Her eyes went wide as she smiled disbelievingly at me. “Flirting with Melody?” She lowered her voice, moving to the chair next to me. “I wasn’t flirting with Melody. I mean, let’s be real, she’s adorable and years of assessing women in a competitive dressing room tells me she doesn’t have a catty bone in her body…so I like her.”
She placed her hand on my bare forearm where the sleeve of my sweater was pushed up. The unexpected contact sent a shockwave through me.
“I couldn’t do it with you because this happens. There’s no hiding the chemistry between us and I didn’t need it to be on display for the entire production team. You saw how hard it was to get anyone to listen to me and that was without them saying I’m only in the room because I’m your girlfriend.”
“I’m sorry,” I said immediately. I wanted to reach for her hand when she pulled it away. “I’m an egotistical ass. Can you forgive me, my lady?”
“Nothing to forgive. I would expect nothing less than diva behavior from Alex Chase. I knew what I was signing up for.” The tilt to her lips told me she was teasing.
“How was your vacation from the old ball and chain?” I asked once the waiter had brought us our drinks and salads. I felt better about the table read now, but was still butthurt I hadn’t heard from her in days.
“So relaxing,” she said blithely.
I shouldn’t have brought it up. All I could think to say was, “I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
“How’s your mom?” she asked gently.
“She’s fine.” I’d planned to stop at that, not feeling like she was entitled to more since she hadn’t asked before now, but the words came tumbling out. “She’s home and being looked after. She was upset about the picture, but we’ve done everything we can about it. We’ve been trying to get her to move out here, and her fall might finally help to convince her.”
“I’m sure having her closer would be nice.”
