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Hannah might have agreed with him, except Caleb was anything but a five-minute kind of guy. She’d had more orgasms with him this weekend than she’d had in the couple of months she’d spent dating Patrick.
But filming was a tough job physically, if not mentally. Hannah tended to work the same days as Caleb due to the fact she was Lucas’s personal medic, which worked out well for both of them. She’d done three twelve-hour days, with a day off in between. She didn’t mind that at all, she’d done longer shifts and for a greater number of days back in London. It was more that Caleb was tired after physically strenuous days, and they tended to make love on their days off together instead.
The sex was incredible – there was no denying it, and she could never regret the pleasure he’d given her. But when Caleb left her room and returned to his own bed, she couldn’t help but feel deflated. He was never rude or cruel about it; they would cuddle after sex or while they watched TV, but inevitably the time would come when he kissed her good night, and they would go their separate ways.
Work was the same; they were professional, friendly and polite. They never kissed or held hands in public. A part of her felt very much as she had as a teenager, largely ignored in public by the very same guy she was privately tutoring. She knew the reasons for his behaviour were different, he wasn’t trying to be one of the cool kids anymore. They were friends with benefits, nothing more; the paper-thin boundaries had been drawn.
Would she be able to keep her heart safe, be able to say goodbye for good without being hurt? Could she stop herself from falling in love with her teenage crush? The disappointment she felt each time he left her was worrying. How much worse would it be when he kissed her goodbye and never came back?
She supposed she would have to tackle that bridge when she came to it; she’d made her decision and there was no turning back.
Perhaps keeping their work separate was a good thing. Hannah still remembered her conversation with Kirra on day one when she’d highlighted the need for clear boundaries between the talent and below-the-line crew. She was definitely beneath him in the hierarchy, and didn’t want to be known as the girl who goes after the talent in future jobs she might get.
Her working day usually began early, with a breakfast production meeting with the cast and crew. After the breakfast meeting, she’d read over the risk assessments of each scene and set being filmed, gather her med kit, do a walk around the set to check safety, and would then wait for filming to begin.
The last two weeks had been spent filming the interiors of the vampire palace. The set was incredible, a combination of Gothic castle and Aztec rainforest.
Today, they were filming the prince’s first meeting with Bianca’s character, Nina. He was to dance with her at a vampire ball.
The funny thing about filming was that it was hardly ever done in chronological order. They’d filmed the close-ups earlier, of Bianca and Lucas, as well as the king and Lucas. Today would be the ensemble shots of the ballroom dance and explosion.
During the morning they’d filmed the dancing. The choreographer had been wonderfully enthusiastic and clear with his instructions to the cast of vampiric ballroom dancers, and as there were so many people on set – with the potential for several minor injuries – there’d been two medics assigned for the day, herself and Zach.
By the tenth rehearsal, they’d grown bored.
‘My lady,’ said Zach with a wicked smile, impersonating Lucas’s line to Bianca as he held out his hand.
‘Prince,’ she replied with a serious and deep curtsy. She knew they were hidden from the rest of the cast and crew, so didn’t see any harm in being silly for a few minutes to pass the time.
She loved working with Zach; he always made her laugh, and as the actors began dancing, so did they. They’d watched it so many times, they’d learned the moves, and could have easily joined in as extras.
There was no music, only the shouts of the choreographer and the crazy ‘umpah-pah-pah’ shouted by his assistant, as he banged a cane to an imaginary beat. She wondered what the music would be like when it was added in later and liked to imagine it was a dramatic waltz with lots of violins.
‘One last practice!’ shouted the choreographer.
Hannah took Zach’s hand and dipped into a low curtsy, mimicking the movements of the other couples as they then started to dance. It was a strange mix of jerky stylised hand movements, sweeping turns and skips that were similar to medieval dances, or at least what she’d seen in films. But it ended with a Pride and Prejudice-style hand clasp turn. She made a big show of looking adoringly into Zach’s disgusted face, until they had to stop because they were giggling too much.
‘You should be extras,’ said a deep and smiling voice from behind them, and they both spun guiltily to see Caleb standing there with a laugh on his lips.
Hannah’s stomach clenched at the sight of him. He was gorgeous! She’d not seen him fully in character yet, as he’d been busy with stunt rehearsals.
Heaven help her! How was she going to stop herself from jumping him at every opportunity?
Black leather trousers and boots that sculpted his magnificent thighs as if he’d been poured into them. He was holding a tattered jacket with one hand – the one he’d put on for filming after the explosion. The make-up and costume department had already artfully torn his billowing white shirt and marked him with splatters of blood and cuts. The muscles of his body were all on display through slutty cuts in the fabric; Hannah was certain they were a deliberate choice by costume to show off his chest.
But the most startling thing was his hair. He wore the exact same black wig and make-up as Lucas. He wasn’t as ethereally handsome perhaps – but the shock of him still choked her. He was unbelievably sexy, even more so than pretty boy Lucas – at least to Hannah, who was now so weak in the knees she wasn’t sure what to do with herself.
He took a step towards her, and she was half-afraid/half-hoping the fantasy would come to life, and that he would start dancing with her as Lucas was dancing with Bianca even now during rehearsal.
Although she’d make a terrible assassin and wouldn’t be as courageous or loyal to her people as Bianca’s character, she doubted she could resist a prowling Caleb taking her and locking her away in his castle. More than likely, she’d go willingly and buy some nice stripy bedlinen to decorate her cell with.
‘Don’t get us in trouble,’ she gasped, taking a step back and feeling like a complete idiot for doing so, especially when Caleb paused and gave her an incredulous look.
‘It’s a rehearsal, Franco won’t care.’ He glanced over her head as the cast and crew returned to their starting positions. ‘Come on, you guys will need to be behind the camera for the stunt.’
Blinking, Hannah returned from her lust-filled daydream to reality. ‘Oh, yes, of course!’
They made their way over to the director and took their usual places a few feet away from the filming crew, making sure to be in a spot where they could still see the action in case, by some unlucky accident, they were needed, but also out of the way of those people working.