physically exposed, but her inside was shut off from view. Where was the loose, breezy, unguarded side she showed in Harlem Midnight , when she got that Oscar nom?
Jake had moved in to kiss her now—getting the tentative, terrified, half-exhilarated quality of it just right. And Ruby tilted her head back and rose up on her toes, nice and slow, just the way she should be doing—but her face was all wrong. There was no emotion in it. She might as well have been leaning in close to her cell phone to get a better look at a text.
“Cut!” called Amber.
Jake stayed intent on Ruby, but Ruby jumped back a foot and swiveled her head towards Amber, like she was startled out of her skin. “Sorry,” Ruby said, and bit her lip. “That was me, wasn’t it? I’m just—not focusing right now.”
“Okay,” said Amber, trying to sound upbeat. Maybe they shouldn’t have started with this scene, weather or no weather. Or...maybe this whole damn movie was a big mistake.
No. No, not going to go there. True artists do not panic .
She managed a smile. “That’s fine. We’re just warming up here. And this is....” She waved her hand between Jake and Ruby, both of them standing there naked with almost total strangers. “I’m sure it’s pretty weird.”
“Yeah,” said Ruby, rolling her eyes. “Definitely all kinds of weird.”
“Well, great,” said Amber. “Use that. Use the weird.”
“Right. Totally. Use the weird .”
Was that sarcasm? Amber decided to ignore it if it was.
“Just pick up where you left off,” she said. “Jake, go in for the kiss again, but both of you, let yourselves feel how hard it is for these friends to cross that scary, weird barrier between what they’ve been together and what they could be.” Please, God, let Nick not be listening to what I’m saying right now. Please let him be thinking about...filing next year’s taxes or something. Even focusing on Ruby’s insanely perfect breasts would do .
Jake and Ruby looked at each other, both of them breathing a little harder than before.
“Good,” said Amber. “Imagine that you’re two big magnets coming together. All that push and pull and everything wobbling around—like you don’t know if you’re going to smack together or fly apart.”
“Magnets. Right,” said Ruby. She was shaking out her arms again, so maybe it was fear putting the edge in her voice, not sarcasm.
Jake was right back to gazing intensely at her face. Immediately, the tension was there, the vulnerability, the desire, the sense of one human being trying to reach out to another and willing to jump off a cliff to get to her, not knowing if he’d reach the other side. He really was amazing, the way he got right into a character’s skin and made him real.
And Ruby—well, she seemed to be making some kind of effort to concentrate, closing her eyes tight for a moment and taking a very deep breath. Pulling herself together. When she let the breath out, definitely, a change came over her. A light sparked in her eyes, and her face actually had expression this time.
Her gaze met Jake’s directly. With a pretty convincing imitation of desire.
Amber held her breath. Come on. I know you can do this .
Jake’s arms went around Ruby’s supple waist and drew her closer, and...okay, if nothing else, it definitely looked hot. Really quite stunning, actually, to see two such ridiculously good-looking people together like that. Even if Amber’s stomach still churned with the knowledge that one of those ridiculously good-looking people had been in Nick’s arms just this morning.
Do. Not. Think. About. That.
Find your Zen.
Ruby seemed to be getting into the mood of it now. Which, given how unbelievably sexy Jake was, shouldn’t have been very hard. Parting her full lips, Ruby arched her back sensuously and pressed her breasts into Jake’s sculpted chest. She gave her thick mane of hair a shake, and ran her tongue slowly over her bottom lip and—
“ Cut
Jake had moved in to kiss her now—getting the tentative, terrified, half-exhilarated quality of it just right. And Ruby tilted her head back and rose up on her toes, nice and slow, just the way she should be doing—but her face was all wrong. There was no emotion in it. She might as well have been leaning in close to her cell phone to get a better look at a text.
“Cut!” called Amber.
Jake stayed intent on Ruby, but Ruby jumped back a foot and swiveled her head towards Amber, like she was startled out of her skin. “Sorry,” Ruby said, and bit her lip. “That was me, wasn’t it? I’m just—not focusing right now.”
“Okay,” said Amber, trying to sound upbeat. Maybe they shouldn’t have started with this scene, weather or no weather. Or...maybe this whole damn movie was a big mistake.
No. No, not going to go there. True artists do not panic .
She managed a smile. “That’s fine. We’re just warming up here. And this is....” She waved her hand between Jake and Ruby, both of them standing there naked with almost total strangers. “I’m sure it’s pretty weird.”
“Yeah,” said Ruby, rolling her eyes. “Definitely all kinds of weird.”
“Well, great,” said Amber. “Use that. Use the weird.”
“Right. Totally. Use the weird .”
Was that sarcasm? Amber decided to ignore it if it was.
“Just pick up where you left off,” she said. “Jake, go in for the kiss again, but both of you, let yourselves feel how hard it is for these friends to cross that scary, weird barrier between what they’ve been together and what they could be.” Please, God, let Nick not be listening to what I’m saying right now. Please let him be thinking about...filing next year’s taxes or something. Even focusing on Ruby’s insanely perfect breasts would do .
Jake and Ruby looked at each other, both of them breathing a little harder than before.
“Good,” said Amber. “Imagine that you’re two big magnets coming together. All that push and pull and everything wobbling around—like you don’t know if you’re going to smack together or fly apart.”
“Magnets. Right,” said Ruby. She was shaking out her arms again, so maybe it was fear putting the edge in her voice, not sarcasm.
Jake was right back to gazing intensely at her face. Immediately, the tension was there, the vulnerability, the desire, the sense of one human being trying to reach out to another and willing to jump off a cliff to get to her, not knowing if he’d reach the other side. He really was amazing, the way he got right into a character’s skin and made him real.
And Ruby—well, she seemed to be making some kind of effort to concentrate, closing her eyes tight for a moment and taking a very deep breath. Pulling herself together. When she let the breath out, definitely, a change came over her. A light sparked in her eyes, and her face actually had expression this time.
Her gaze met Jake’s directly. With a pretty convincing imitation of desire.
Amber held her breath. Come on. I know you can do this .
Jake’s arms went around Ruby’s supple waist and drew her closer, and...okay, if nothing else, it definitely looked hot. Really quite stunning, actually, to see two such ridiculously good-looking people together like that. Even if Amber’s stomach still churned with the knowledge that one of those ridiculously good-looking people had been in Nick’s arms just this morning.
Do. Not. Think. About. That.
Find your Zen.
Ruby seemed to be getting into the mood of it now. Which, given how unbelievably sexy Jake was, shouldn’t have been very hard. Parting her full lips, Ruby arched her back sensuously and pressed her breasts into Jake’s sculpted chest. She gave her thick mane of hair a shake, and ran her tongue slowly over her bottom lip and—
“ Cut
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