Chapter Ten
Henry
I was exhausted and today’s early start was not helping.
I’d barely slept after my conversation with Alex, thinking about all the different ways our meeting with Jenny could play out. I was convinced he was going to walk in and politely tell her to get fucked. Although there was a good chance he’d just be blunt about it.
Jenny had told us to meet her in the room she’d commandeered as her office at eleven, and every minute of the morning seemed to tick by at an agonizing crawl.
We were filming one of the moments from later in the series where Kane and I woke up in bed together and it dissolved into some spontaneous sexy times.
I had no problem with filming nude scenes, especially with Kane because he was so easy to work with and our intimacy co-ordinator, Tori, was one of the best I’d ever worked with, so the morning didn’t drag because I was uncomfortable.
It just dragged because I couldn’t get my mind off Alex. And eventually Kane noticed.
“Hey,” he asked when there was a filming break and they were checking the footage on the monitors. “You okay?”
“Yeah, fine.”
“Really? Because I know fake sex is really fucking unsexy, but you look like you’d rather be anywhere than here. Like I’m getting dead fish vibes.”
I snorted. “Seriously? Dead fish?”
“Yep. Glassy dead eyes and everything. And I’m really hoping it’s not because you think I smell or I’m really unattractive.”
“God no, not at all. You’re gorgeous.” I put my arm around him and pulled him against me. We were lying in bed anyway, so it made sense. “I can see why Austin adores you. You have a very beautiful bottom.”
Kane chuckled and his cheeks flushed. “Thanks. This, er, this is the first time I’ve done this sort of thing. Austin’s been talking me through it every night, even though his stuff is more…”
“Graphic?”
“Yeah.” He chuckled and I felt a pang of guilt. I’d forgotten this was Kane’s first time getting naked and that not everyone was as comfortable in their skin as me.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’d forgotten this was your first time. Do you want a break?”
“No, it’s not that. It’s just…”
Ah fuck. “It’s just that I’m acting like I’m definitely not into you and you think you’ve done something wrong.” Kane said nothing but nodded slightly. “Don’t worry, darling. It’s definitely not you. I’m just stuck on a personal problem and it’s driving me mad.”
Kane grinned. “Cute coffee shop guy?”
“Yes,” I said. “We got caught having coffee together and people are trying to make it a thing.”
“Ahhh, and you want it to be a thing, but you don’t think he’ll say yes.”
“Something like that,” I said. From behind the monitors, I saw Tori, Nick, the director of that episode, and Jenny all conferring and looking at me. “I think we’ll need to go again,” I called. “I’ve been told I look like a dead fish or something equally unsexy.”
Nick chuckled. “I wouldn’t have said dead fish.”
“I would,” said Kane as he sat up in bed next to me. He looked down at me and added quietly, “I’ve never kissed someone so disinterested.”
I groaned. “You’re making me feel worse. I’ll be better.”
“Are we all good to go again?” Nick asked as Tori wandered over to make sure we were happy with everything and that our modesty garments, which just about covered everything, were in place.
“Yes, all good,” she said after we’d confirmed everything and reset our positions.
I took a deep breath and cleared my mind, focusing on the feel of Kane’s arm around my waist. I owed it to him, and everyone else on set, to do a good job and get this right.
I could think about Alex and the way his arm might feel against my skin when we’d finished.
Once we’d wrapped for the morning, I threw on a hoodie, a pair of grey joggers, and some fluffy slipper boots to keep my feet warm while I walked through endless corridors on my way to find Alex.
I’d told him to meet me at the front of the house and told Alice to expect him in case someone spotted him and tried to shoo him away.
When I came out of the house, he was already there looking utterly gorgeous in the spring sunshine. He was wearing stonewashed jeans, a black T-shirt that seemed to cling to him, a battered leather jacket that was obviously well loved, and a large pair of sunglasses.
He looked achingly cool in a way that I knew several people would be desperate to emulate, but on Alex it just seemed to come from who he was rather than any actual effort on his part.
It made my heart flutter and I had to take a moment to steady myself before I opened my mouth and put my foot in it.
Somehow, I didn’t think Alex would appreciate me fawning over him and telling him how sexy he looked. Especially when he’d come here to reject me.
Those words were going to sting and I felt bile rising in my throat.
“Hey,” I said instead, walking down the front steps and giving him a little wave. “I hope you haven’t been waiting long.”
“No,” Alex said, shaking his head. I felt his gaze taking me in and then his lips quirked into a smile. “I thought this was meant to be a Regency drama, not something out of the early noughties.”
I laughed. “I definitely should’ve gotten some of those Juicy joggers. I’d look cute with rhinestones on my butt. Apparently, they’re coming back into fashion.”
“If you wear rhinestoned joggers into Novel Tea, you’ll be banned for life,” Alex said with a new teasing lightness in his voice. “I’m not letting you in if you have Juicy written across your ass.”
“Are you saying my ass isn’t juicy?”
Alex grinned and shrugged. “It’s not the worst ass I’ve ever seen.”
“Seriously? Not the worst? I thought we were becoming friends.” I pretended to pout and Alex actually laughed.
“You’re ridiculous, did you know that?”
“It’s not the first time I’ve been told that,” I said. “Come on, we’ll be late to meet Jenny and I’d rather get this over with. It feels like I’ve got an axe hanging over my head.”
“About that…” I turned and saw Alex still stood at the base of the steps, twisting his foot slightly in the gravel. “I want more details before I decide.”
I swallowed, trying to push away the tsunami of butterflies rising up in my stomach. “O-okay. Sure. We can talk about details. Any… er, any reason?”
“Not sure,” he said, walking up the steps to stand beside me.
He was still wearing his sunglasses and I wondered if that was deliberate because it meant it was harder to read him.
“I just… you looked like a fucking kicked puppy yesterday and it made me feel bad. And I don’t know…
how fucking hard would it be to pretend?
” He sounded angry, like saying it aloud was hard for him.
“I don’t want any money, though. Money fucks everything up.
And I don’t want to be some fucking arm candy or shit like that. I’m not a doll.”
“That’s fine,” I said. “There doesn’t have to be money involved. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, I promise.”
“All right. Let’s sort this shit out then.
” Alex headed for the door, leaving me standing there staring.
I still couldn’t believe he’d just said any of that.
I’d been so sure he was going to say no, and I had no idea what had changed his mind.
“Are you coming? I have no idea where the fuck I’m going. ”
“It’s upstairs,” I said, following him in. “It’s a bit of a labyrinth. Have you been here before?”
“A couple of times,” he said. “We came on a school trip at least once, and they do things like a Halloween fright night in the grounds—we came up for that last year.”
“You and Spencer?”
“Yeah, and a bunch of our friends. You’ll probably have to meet them at some point.”
“That would be fun.” I wondered what Alex’s friends were like but none of my ideas seemed to fit. I didn’t think they’d all be like him, but I didn’t think they’d all be like Spencer either.
“Sure, let’s go with that.” He lifted his sunglasses and perched them on his head, and I tried not to look at him. I failed and nearly walked into a table, making a vase of flowers wobble dangerously. Alex snorted and shook his head at me, and that made my foolishness worth it.
It didn’t take us long to reach Jenny’s office. She was already waiting for us with her laptop open in front of her and even more papers strewn across the desk. It looked like she was rewriting bits of the script. I tried to tilt my head to see what scene she was working on.
“Come in,” she said, gesturing to the chairs in front of the desk. I didn’t know where the second chair had magically appeared from since it hadn’t been there yesterday. “Grab a pew. I’ll be with you in just a second.”
Jenny scrawled something in red pen across the paper in front of her, and it reminded me of getting work back at school.
She turned the page over and looked at the pair of us, and it really did feel like we’d been summoned to see the headteacher.
“There we go. I was adjusting something for Gemma. Thanks for coming to see me. You must be Alex?”
“Yeah, nice to meet you,” Alex said, reaching over the desk and shaking her hand.
“I appreciate you coming in. Henry said you had some questions about the proposal. I assume he gave you all the details?”
“I think so.” Alex sat down on the chair next to mine and crossed his legs.
His expression was fixed and almost cold, like he was utterly detached from the situation.
It intrigued me. “You’d like me to pretend to be Henry’s boyfriend for a specified amount of time because various people are threatening to throw a tantrum about him getting his arse out on TV, and he’s got a reputation as a flirt and they’re horrified about the idea that he might actually act like a queer man rather than some squeaky-clean Ken doll.
Because they can’t market him being a flirt, but they sure as hell can if he’s in a relationship they can sell.
And the knock-on effect of this could affect everything you’re doing here. ”