Page 90 of Take Hold of Me

“I do not care.” No contractions for me. “Let them watch us.”

Rinaldo takes the Styrofoam cup from me and places it on the countertop, next to his. Running his fingers through my hair, he keeps a lock in between his fingers. He lowers his voice. “I don’t give a damn either.” His eyes close and he brings his head toward mine.

The script calls for me to kiss him now.

I can do this.

I kissed him a million times before.

I must do this.

I do not want to do this.

At the final millisecond, I turn my head away from him—and the cameras—so that his lips contact my cheek.

“Excuse me,” a new male voice breaks into our awkward embrace. Rinaldo and I look at Brandan as he steps into our scene. “I knew you two were still together! Do you mind if I get a selfie with you?”

“AND, CUT!!”

I step back from the two men, my eyes going in all directions, my arms hugging my body. I do not want to redo this scene. I also do not want to be labeled as “hard to work with.”

The director comes up to us. “That was great! Emilie, I loved your last second choice! Rinaldo’s kissing you on the cheek plays perfectly on the camera.”

I exhale, my arms dropping to my sides.

Rinaldo’s rumbling baritone rips from his throat. “Glad you liked it.”

“Stay here, you three. I’ll be back in a moment.”

After exchanging greetings with Brandan, who seems more relaxed than the last time I saw him, I say, “You look like you are in your element here.”

Brandan smiles and leans in to whisper, “I do like making movies, it’s just the red carpets I hate. But don’t tell anyone.” He straightens and bumps my shoulder.

Rinaldo jumps into the conversation. Of course. “So, any pointers for me about how to improve my acting chops?” He raises his arm, making a muscle.

Brandan laughs at his obvious play for attention. “You did good. Not as good as our Emilie here, but good.”

I bask in Brandan’s praise. He gives Rinaldo some pointers while I lock eyes with Wills, who is standing by the side wall. He gives me a thumbs-up, which eases my discomfort with the new ending.

The director reappears after a few moments and goes over some things with us about lighting and such. We redo the scene five more times, stopping and starting at various spots. Each time, I feel more confident. The lines in English come as easily as those in French.

“Good job, everyone. Why don’t you all take a break for lunch? I want to make sure we have everything we need.” The director motions toward the area Wills got us the waters, so many hours ago.

The three of us head toward Craft Services. “Do all movies work this way? I mean, so many starts and stops?”

Brandan chuckles. “Yeah. Pretty much. A lot of hurry up and wait.”

“This is not what I am used to. With fashion shows, it is all go, go, go. Shoots can take a bit longer, but not like this.”

Rinaldo adds, “Can you imagine if we took this long at a game? The thing would never end.”

We arrive at the food, and the men rush off for the sandwiches. I grab a half of a turkey sandwich for myself.

“You’re amazing, Ems.”

Placing my plate on the buffet table, I smile up into warm blue eyes. Erasing all the kisses Rinaldo gave my cheek, I bring my lips to his.

Wills wraps his arms around me for a brief moment, squeezes, then lets me go. “You looked great out there.”

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