Chapter Seven
Dominic
The two of us, a whole day in the middle of nowhere. What could possibly go wrong?
I was sure that from Tennessee’s point of view, this was about the worst thing that could possibly have happened. Ever since that encounter outside the bar a week or so before, she had been doing her level best to ignore me and keep me out of her life as much as she could with someone she was working with as closely as me.
I had no fucking idea what to make of what had happened between us that night. It had been so hot while it was happening, and my mind was nothing but a blur of desire and need for her. And then… it was just over. She pulled away, left me standing there with nothing but a hard-on and a fucked-up head to show for it.
I pressed my head to the car window, the glass cool against my skin. I hoped that it would be enough to calm down the ridiculous thoughts swirling around my head. We were shooting out in the middle of nowhere for a full day, a re-shoot of a scene we’d meant to put to bed earlier in the shoot. But the director had changed his mind and decided to make use of a set an hour outside of town to take another bash at getting it right. The only people out there beyond the crew were Julia, her leading man Smith, Tennessee, and me. So it wasn’t like she could do much to keep out of my way.
I was catching a ride over with Julia, who was babbling away to me excitedly about her next project. She was a sweet girl, but I just couldn’t find it in myself to bother with taking our constant flirting any further. She had invited me back to her place a couple of times – ostensibly for a drink, but her intentions were obvious from the way she watched me when I was shooting – but I just wasn’t interested like that. A couple of months ago, I would have tripped over myself to take advantage of her interest in me, the only thing on my mind these days was Tennessee and how I could get her to pay attention to me again. I just needed one conversation, to explain myself, to tell her that this wasn’t just a bedpost-notch or a point to prove to myself. I wanted her, and it seemed like she wanted me, even if she was having a hard time admitting it to herself.
“…so where are you staying tonight?” Julia asked, and I finally tuned back into the conversation she had been mostly conducting without my input till now. She eyed me in the rear-view mirror, the flicker of a hopeful smile on her face, and I managed to offer her a tired grin in return.
“I have a hotel room,” I shut her down at once. “A little motel just about a half-mile from the set. Already looking forward to getting to sleep there tonight.”
“Oh, okay,” Julia looked a little crestfallen, and I figured it was best not to acknowledge everything that she was throwing in my direction. She would catch the hint soon enough, and when she did, there would be dozens of young guys queuing up to help salve her heart.
“Oh, look, we’re here,” she leaned forward and peered through the clearing in the trees by the side of the road. “That took less time than I thought.”
“I thought they were exaggerating when they said it was in the middle of nowhere,” I remarked, cocking an eyebrow as she pulled over. The set had been built a while ago, when the final act was still planned to take place in a more rural setting – the idea had been scrapped, and then picked up again, hence why we found ourselves shooting in the middle of the forest. I climbed out of the car once it had come to a halt, and Julia was immediately led away by the make-up crew to get ready for the scene. I glanced around, acting casual, keeping a close eye out for Tennessee.
It didn’t take long for me to spot her. She was hanging out next to the director, who was running through something with her – she was already cinched into her harness, hair pulled back and thick make-up caked on. My stomach flipped when I laid eyes on her. I hadn’t seen her properly since that night – she’d been avoiding me ever since. And now, here she was.
I made my way over to her and the director, nodding at him as I approached. He waved me across to join them and I did as I was told, stepping into the conversation to be greeted with a stone-cold stare from Tennessee.
“Dominic, hey,” He nodded, pulling me into the discussion. “We’re just discussing what we need to do today. It’s a tight schedule, so I want to make sure that everyone’s as prepped as they can be.”
“Of course,” I nodded and gestured for him to go on.
“You won’t be shooting for long – it’s just one scene in particular,” he explained, gesturing to the large spaceship set sitting next to us. “You’ll be whipped out the front door of that thing and on to the ground, along with Tennessee. Shouldn’t take long, but we want to start shooting as soon as so we can so we can get the rest of the scene out of the way by the end of the day. Sounds good?”
“Sounds good,” I nodded, and glanced up at Tennessee. She hadn’t taken her eyes off me since I’d walked up to them – I could feel her gaze burning into me with distaste the whole time – but she swiftly looked away when I met her eyes and nodded.
“Yeah, sounds good,” she agreed, and nodded towards a trailer that was parked next to set. “You’ll need to get your gear on.”
“I’ll get ready now,” I turned away, but I felt her eyes on me as I left. Okay, I had gotten through that alright. But we’d actually be shooting together – not just on the set at the same time, but shooting the same scene. And, considering that she was stunting for the lead woman and I was for the leading man…
No. I couldn’t go down that path when I had no idea how the shoot would go. They hadn’t had time to get us a new version of the script since the latest update had been made, so we could be shooting anything. I didn’t want to get ahead of myself. No matter how tempting it was.
I got into my harness and headed back across to set, where Tennessee was waiting impatiently, tapping her foot as she looked around and waited for me to arrive. I joined her, stepping up to her side, and something about that moment gave me a shock of déjà vu that dragged me back to our days training together – right after we’d met, when we were stuck working together and Tennessee had been so against hooking up with me as her stunt partner. It hadn’t taken us long to prove that we shared a chemistry for this kind of work that went beyond anything anyone else in our course had claim to. She glanced over her shoulder at me, and raised her eyebrows as if to say oh, there you are.
“You guys ready?” The stunt coordinator clapped her hands together, gesturing for us to head on to set. We both shrugged sullenly, neither of us wanting to be the first one to speak.
“Okay, let’s get you hooked up and we can get going,” she clapped her hands together again, perky as hell, and ushered us over to a table covered with safety equipment: Thick nylon webbing, chunky D-rings, and over-sized clasps all laid out so methodically it might be confused with an operating room.
“Do you know what you’re doing today?” She raised her eyebrows at us expectantly, as both of us shook our heads as the people around us scurried to make sure we weren’t going to wind up with any serious injuries from performing.
“So, this is the big climactic scene,” she waved her hand dramatically. “You’ll be holding each other in the doorway, you kiss, and then you’ll be whipped down off the door and on to the ground. Pretty standard. You think you can manage that, or do you want to do a couple of run-throughs first?”
“I’ll be fine without the run-throughs,” Tennessee answered for both of us before I could so much as open my mouth, and I knew that had to be because she didn’t want to have to play-act at coupledom – even if just for a few seconds – any more than once.
“If you’re sure, that would be a great help.,” The coordinator nodded. “We really need to keep everything moving today if we can.”
“Then let’s get this going,” I nodded, as the last clasp was snapped closed.
“Okay, cameras?” She waved a hand and nodded, and the two of us stepped into place. Tennessee caught my eye, and I gave her a grin – she couldn’t help but pass it back, despite the situation we found ourselves in.
“Ready?” I murmured, and she nodded. I reached out for her and pulled her close, pressing her against my chest, and she slid her arms around me. And just like that, as soon as we laid hands on each other once more, everything else around us seemed to vanish into nothingness.
Her body was small and strong and lithe against mine. I held her close, enjoying the feel of her, unable to shake the memory of our little tryst outside the bar from my head. If only she’d come home with me that day, if only I’d actually done something about our chemistry. The thought of it was plaguing me, forcing itself on me, as the director nodded to the stunt coordinator and we began the take.
I looked at her, and she looked back at me, her mouth set into a hard line; we had to do the kiss first, and I knew that was the last thing she wanted from me. Well, it had to be done. Taking the initiative for the both of us, and not about to pass up a chance to make out with the hottest woman I’d ever met, I leaned forward and pressed my mouth against hers.
As soon as our lips touched, I knew I couldn’t play pretend any longer. I couldn’t make like I was okay being around her as nothing more than a friend. I couldn’t pretend that I didn’t want to touch her, to hold her, to run my hands all over her gorgeously perfect body at every opportunity. I couldn’t play like that any longer, and it seemed like she was returning my feelings, parting my lips with her tongue and holding me tight, like the cameras weren’t rolling, like we weren’t surrounded by people. Right then, it was just me and her and the rushing sound of air. I ran my hand up her back, cupping her neck, pulling her into me like I wanted to climb inside of her. I couldn’t hear the little moan she let out, but I could feel it. I pulled back for a moment, and -
And then the two of us were whipped forcefully from the spot we were standing in the door on to the mat below. Even with the padding it knocked some of the air out of me. I blinked a couple of times, looking over at her, and she raised her eyebrows at me as though to say well, what did you expect? My eyes drifted to her lips and I felt something stir between my legs. Shit. I had a job to do, I couldn’t get distracted by this now -
“Perfect,” the stunt coordinator nodded, glancing over at the director who gave the A-okay symbol with his hand. “You guys are good for the day. Thanks.”
I looked over at Tennessee and she smiled back at me. Actually smiled. It was an expression I hadn’t seen on her in a hell of a long time, but at once I knew exactly what she was grinning about. I returned it. I wanted this as much as she did, that much was for certain.
“Let’s go get out of these straps,” I announced loudly, making sure that everyone could hear us. Tennessee pulled herself to her feet and heaved in a deep breath. She must have been as winded as I was by the sudden thumping down on to these mats. Or maybe it was just the kiss that had her feeling breathless. I knew where she was coming from.
We hurried down to the trailer, and she pulled open the door and darted inside. I followed her in, closing it behind me, and slowly making my way over to her. I stood there for a moment, the blood still pulsing in my veins from the adrenalin of the stunt we’d just pulled off, and looked down into her eyes. She bit her lip, her teeth resting just for a split second on the skin, and I ran my hands up the sides of her arms.
“We need to get you out of this,” I murmured. “All of it.”