This is it, my final scene.

Looking at the bed in front of me, I run one hand through my hair and take off my robe. Climbing up on the mattress, I then lie down and pull the sheets up to my breasts. Even though the spotlight’s on me and I’m surrounded by a small army of crewmen, I close my eyes and push all that to a dark corner of my mind.

With one deep breath, I stop being Sasha. When I open up my eyes, I’m Katya.

“Is everyone ready to roll?” the director says, raising his voice.

“Ready!” Everyone says in one voice, and I give the director one quick nod. Even though I can’t see him right now, I know that Kane is already off set, just waiting for his cue to walk in.

Even though I’m about to get fired, fate would have it that this is the last scene I’m contractually obliged to make—a sex scene. More than just a sex scene, it’s supposed to be the high point of the season, the moment where the fate of my character becomes irrevocably tangled with Kane’s.

This scene is probably one of the reasons Alberta pressured the director and the producer to make me go away. After this, the show runners will either have to make me one of the main characters, or simply get rid of me. And we all know which option Alberta prefers.

“Alright, let’s roll then!” the director continues, turning his cap back. “ACTION!””

“Katya,” Kane says, opening the fake door that leads to the bedroom set and stepping inside. His eyes fall on my breasts and, reacting fast, I pull the sheet up. “We need to talk,” he continues, trying hard to ignore the way the sheet seems to cling to my body.

“I know,” I whisper, averting his gaze and looking into the distance. Moving slowly, I then swing my legs off the bed and stand up, bringing the sheet after me to cover my body. “I know that this is wrong,” I start to say, taking one step toward Kane, but he raises his arm and places his index finger over my lips, forcing me to shut up.

“It’s been wrong all along,” he whispers, shaking his head softly. “But I’m tired of thinking about right and wrong. I’m tired of fighting myself. I don’t give a fuck about what happens next, Katya.”

“I...I don’t understand…” I whisper back at him, biting on the corner of my lip.

“And this…” Closing the distance between us, he rests one hand on the nape of my neck and leans in, brushing his lips against mine. “Can you understand this?”

“I can…” I breathe out, my heart hammering against my chest. Unable to control myself, I let my own words blend with the ones of my character. “I love you,” I tell him, smiling as I surrender to his embrace. Losing myself in his arms, I press my forehead against his chest and smile. I know that the cameras are doing a close-up right now, and I couldn’t be any happier about it; what I’m feeling right now is real, and I want every single thing about it to be captured on film.

“So do I,” Kane says. He looks into my eyes, one hand on my waist while he runs the other through my hair, his fingertips gently caressing me. “So do I...I’ve loved you since that first night.”

Smiling at him, I go on tiptoes and allow my eyelids to droop, my body buzzing with anticipation. The moment I feel his lips on me, it’s as if that happiness inside of me increased tenfold.

“I want you...I need you,” I tell him, the words finding their way to my lips as if they were blossoming inside my soul. Looking him straight in the eyes, I rest my hands on his chest and push him back, forcing him to walk toward the bed. The moment he stops moving, the back of his knees against the edge of the bed, I give him one soft push and he falls back, sitting down on the mattress.

Without blinking even once, I climb on top of him, placing my knees on either side of his thighs. Our lips meet once more, and we surrender to a feverish kiss, allowing the whole world to fade away around us. Right now, the only thing that’s real in the whole universe is the love we feel for each other...That and all the lust warming us up.

Forget about the director, the cameras, the spotlights...Forget all about Manhattan Reign and the fact that I’m an actress. Right now, it’s just me and Kane, the two of us alone in the universe.

“Katya…” Pulling back from our kiss, Kane tangles his fingers in my hair and, pulling my head back, he forces me to look into his eyes. “I don’t care about what happens next. All I care about is you.”

“That’s all I’ve ever wanted to hear…” I purr, my mouth meeting his once again. As our tongues circle each other, I let my hands run through his back, feeling his rugged muscles under the tight fabric of his shirt. With each passing second, my pussy starts growing wetter and wetter and, before I know what I’m doing, I start bucking my hips at him, pressing my crotch against his.

Supposedly, we’re acting out the script, but there’s no doubt in my mind we’ve already crossed the line separating what’s fiction from what’s real. We’ve stepped over the line, blurred it, and now we have no idea how to get back. Not that we want to get back, anyway.

“I don’t want to leave,” I whisper, leaning in so that my lips are pressed against his ear. I purr each word slowly, making sure that none of the overhead mics can pick up what I’m saying. “But since that’s probably what will happen...I want to go out with a bang.”

“With a bang?” He whispers right back at me, his lips barely moving as he speaks.

“With a bang,” I repeat, now pulling his lower lip between my teeth and offering him one lewd look.

“Does that mean what I —?”

“Yes. I want it to be real. I want you to fuck me on camera.”