Chapter 5
I've always preferred filming outdoors versus soundstages and metal buildings.
It's a no-brainer, really. Who wouldn't prefer open nature to enclosed boxes? That's what makes days like today so great. I step out of my tent and onto the sandy beach, taking in the fresh, salty air. The cool September breeze chills my bones. Joseph drapes a jacket over my thin costume and looks up from his phone, “where the heck is that new assistant? He should be assisting.” He doesn’t look around long before just groaning and then going about his day. My eyes, too, scan the beach and find Miles almost instantaneously. He’s wearing an awkward smile and talking to a younger man as they pour themselves coffee.
A burning feeling surges deep inside my chest and my face scrunches.
I glare until Miles finally looks over his shoulder in my direction and sends over a guilty, weak smile.
Joseph calls my name from across the set and I look away quickly and make my way over to him.
The director shouts something I barely listen to and everyone goes quiet—all I can hear is the distant call of seagulls, the crashing waves, and the pounding of my own heart.
Hands approach me from all sides and begin making adjustments, beating my face with powder, and checking effect makeup one more time.
But my mind doesn’t focus on any of that.
Instead, my eyes search the crowd of on-lookers.
When my eyes finally meet his, a grin tugs at the corner of my lips.
He turns his head to look behind him, and I chuckle quietly to myself.
When our eyes finally meet again, the urge to tease him overcomes me and I send him a wink, which in turn, causes a rosy shade of pink to form over his cheeks.
We finally emerge from the freezing ocean water, Bea still wrapped in my arms. Salt water drips from my hair and stings my eyes and the small cuts on my cheeks. The hair on my arms and legs stand on end and there’s a chatter in my teeth as I wait for a warm towel.
“Miles!” Joseph’s voice is annoyed, and I don’t get the chance to hear what else he has to say.
My heart skips a beat when I see a flustered Miles hurrying toward me with a towel in his hand. He drapes it over my shoulders and runs his hands over my chilled skin, sopping up some of the water that drips from me.
“I’ll get you some warm clothes ready. Don’t take too long.” He says before dashing off toward the tent.
I want to chase after him, get these soaked clothes off of me, and warm myself up.
I can feel my lips turning a deep shade of blue with every second I spend standing here.
Bea has already been ushered away, and I want to do the same, but people keep stopping me to ask questions or tell me boring, unimportant things that can wait.
I inch closer and closer to the relieving warmth of my tent when Joseph stops me at the door. “There’s a cast and crew dinner tonight. They’re needing a head count, but I assume you’re not going?”
I roll my eyes internally. This could have waited. “Correct.”
Joseph nods, pats my shoulder, and turns away. I push aside the curtain-like door and step inside, “it’s warm.” I utter in relief, my eyes finding Miles right away.
“I turned on the space heater.” He approaches me and pulls the soaked towel from my shoulders and replaces it with a dry cotton robe. “Call me if you need anything. I’ll be right outside.”
I don’t wait for him to leave, and before he can even make a move, I’ve ripped this deathtrap of a shirt from my chest. The wet fabric clings to my skin and has kept the chill of the air trapped in my bones. I catch Miles’s surprised expression and it amuses me. I want to tease him again.
He turns his body away from me, having been blocked from his exit. It wasn’t on purpose…at first. But now, seeing his flushed features entices me to keep pushing his limits.
I finish undressing, covering myself in only the dry robe he’d handed me. I keep the rope tied loosely around my middle.
“Are you finished?” His voice quakes.
Before he can turn around I’ve stopped him in his tracks. I grasp his shoulders to keep him in place and lean down, “yeah.” His face burns in a bright shade of red, and it takes everything within me not to laugh.
He turns slowly to face me and I watch his eyes scan over my bare chest to where I’ve knotted the rope.
He looks as if he’s about to turn—no—run away.
But I can’t let that happen. “Keep looking. I don’t mind.
” I tease him just a little more, closing the remaining distance between us.
He places a hand on my chest and I stop.
If I push him any further, he might get angry.
This is seriously bordering on harassment after all.
“Are you hitting on me, Mr. Ellis?” A sultry gaze develops in his eyes, and he keeps his hand pressed firmly to my chest while leaning his face closer to mine.
“Do you want me to be?”
He drops his hand from my chest, and he’s quiet, allowing the conversation to linger in the air. I don’t know when, but we’ve managed to end up standing chest to chest. I can feel his heart beat against mine—just as hard, just as fast.
“If you are, I wouldn’t mind.”
My eyes roam over every visible inch as he stares up at me with a gaze begging for me to bend him over a chair.
But I can’t. Not here. Not yet. I clench my fists so tightly that my fingernails dig into my skin and the muscles in my jaw tense so hard that I’m sure they’ll stay that way.
I can feel all the blood in my body begin rushing to my lower half and I have to stay strong—to not give in.
“Are you dressed? I’m coming in!” Joseph’s voice calls from the other side of the door, and before I can process, Miles has run out.
I sigh, slip on a clean pair of boxers under my robe, and pull a t-shirt over my head.
“Want me to take you home or do you have other plans?” Joseph asks as I finish dressing myself.
“Ye—” I stop dead in my tracks when I spot Miles again, hiding in a corner as always.
He’s with that guy again and that unfamiliar feeling burns my chest once more.
I can hear bits of their conversation. Something about dinner and drinks.
And then I remember. “Hey, on second thought. I think I want to go to that dinner thing. Let them know I’ll be coming. ”
Joseph furrows his brows. Of course, he’s confused. I never go to these things. “Are you sure?” The tone of his voice drips with judgment.
“Yeah. But take me home first, I want to take a shower.”