Acting up

Chapter 7

I found myself inching my way forward to the set. All my earlier excitement of meeting the hottest hearthrob to ever grace the screen faded abruptly away to be replaced by only unabashed fear.

I have never felt this afraid before but I did now. Afraid of my first kiss with Ashford. The character of Ashford. An angry Elias Ellastone. A warlock from another dimension. One who in this scene was a fairly new inhabitant to earth. I came to an abrupt halt shuddering where I stood. My etes drifted over his fine form where he stood in conversation with the director. They were going over the director'expectations of this scene.

I had been briefed earlier. He wanted spark. He wanted different . He wanted a hint of anger but a whole heap of passion.

I continued on forward but went straight to make-up where Tori didn't question my presence but instead picked up the brush and fixed my make-up.

I used to moment to school my temperament. To prep myself and bolster up my faltering confidence.

I didn't have all that much to do in this scene. I would merely need to pucker up. Ashford-Elias will be the one doing the actual work. I would be entirely  at his mercy.

"Done," said Tori. Reluctantly I rose from my perch and drawing in a deep breath I gathered up my fragile courage to advance forward into Elias's waiting arms.

He was already in position. Dressed up in a slick suit that did nothing to hide the brawn and bulk beneath. He was inherently a warrior ruthless and brutal. The facade of a business didn't fool me. I was Aria. A shop assistant at one of his great many stores. I hadn't an inkling of what he really was. That he was as alien to that suit as he was to this earth. But I had the temerity to flay into him for an unfair dismissal. A vindictive customer complaint that had me cowering now before him in the privacy of his office.

I approached with genuine hesitation. The light of fury that lit his eyes appeared as genuine as the fear that flickered in mine.

I was entirely unaware of when the director intruded calling out," Action."

I was equally unaware of the set or the crowd of twenty odd people who was witnessing this scene. All I saw was the man before me. The flash if fire in his eyes  and my own senseless fear spiraling crazily out of control.

My feet came to a sudden halt before his menacing frame. I dropped my gaze fearfully to my feet recalling past angst that led to this moment before lifting my heavy black sooted lashes to flash my emerald green gaze up at him with all the false bravado that my coltish defiance could muster.

His hand reached out to slide cold but firm fingers into my hair. The sensation was delicious against my scalp. Burning sensations that sped up my heart beat and had me visibly shivering in his grip. My eyes were locked on the fire of wrath in his. A feeling of intense hurt at being subjected to the false accusations that led to this treatment of me flooded my eyes. I felt betrayed by my master. Deserted by my employer over the false accusations of a valuable customer.

It was unjust. It was hurtful.

My eyes watered up and tickles of it rolled down my flushed cheek. But he remained unaffected by my display of anguish. It didn't matter to him either way. All that mattered was that I did wrong. Wronged the customer. Wronged him.

With a startling abruptness that I couldn't anticipate, Elias jerked me forward. Closing the gap between our two bodies. Then his tightly closed lips were grinding into my own. The pain was intense. Almost brutal. My lips parted on a gasp if pain.

Then he was there plundering my depths with his ravaging tongue. Stealing away any sweetness that could have been with a first kiss. Leaving behind only a frantic fear and an intensity of excitement that reduced me to a trembling heap that was supported only by the firm grip of his hand clenched over my scalp.

The kiss might have gone on forever... I couldn't tell. Transported as I was but then the faint but there call from the director rang out in my burning ears.

"And CUT!"