Page 12 of The Backup Bride Proposal

Brenna grinned. “I’ll say he’s fine. And I’ve only seen him from a distance.”

Erin popped a strawberry into her mouth, chewed andswallowed, then smiled at Mae. “Whereas Mae gets the up-close-and-personal experience. Do you get to kiss him?”

“No!” she said, probably a little too forcefully. Lowering her voice, she added, “There will be no kissing.”

Honor gave her a knowing look.

Absolutely not. No kissing.

Ever.

••••••

Kane prided himselfon always being prepared and ready for a shoot. He read and reread his script, getting to know his character inside and out, understanding what motivated him. He’d create a backstory that wasn’t included in the script so he could feel the character’s depth. When the director said “Action,” he was deep inside his character’s head. He was ready to go right now. Which was why Everly being late to start this project was such a disappointment.

But that was the way this biz was sometimes. You had to learn to roll with it. And now he had play off Mae in his scenes. She wasn’t an actress so he knew it would affect his performance, but there were always reshoots to consider once Everly finally made it to set. Hopefully Mae could handle this and there wouldn’t have to be reshoots.

Mae was due to show up today for wardrobe, so he’d get to see her.

Not that he was interested in seeing her or anything.

He was being measured in wardrobe when she walked in, her above-the-knee dress swirling around her. He swore she walked in slow motion whenever he saw her. Her dark hair swayed around her shoulders like a soft breeze followed her. His stomach clenched and he forced his attention to Abigail, the costumer.

“Hey,” Mae said as she came up to stand beside him.

“Oh. Hey,” he said, trying to sound cool and unaffected when in fact he had started to sweat. Which wasn’t great, because Abigail was currently handing him outfits to try on.

She stared at the pile of jeans and button-downs in his arms. “Those are your movie clothes?”

“Yeah.”

“Huh. Sooo, pretty much what you wear every day, then.”

“I guess so. Except for the tux.”

She swallowed. “Tux?”

“Yeah, for the wedding scene.”

“Oh, right. I read that last night.”

“So you read the script.”

“I did.”

“What did you think?”

“It’s…decent. Utterly preposterous plotwise, of course. But funny and filled with action. So it should be a good movie.”

He noticed she hadn’t mentioned the romance between the main characters. Maybe romance wasn’t her thing.

“Mae, I’m going to give you these three dresses to try on,” Abigail said. “Caroline, the character you’ll be playing—or standing in for—is very feminine. So lots of dresses.”

Mae nodded. “Got it.”

“Dressing area is back here,” Abigail said, leading Mae away while explaining what she needed to do.

She looked nervous. He could imagine she felt very out of her element. He’d been in the same position countless times when he’d first started out in the business. He’d have to remember to try to make her feel comfortable.

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