Page 50 of How Jenna Became My Dilemma

The crew clears out as everything silences.

“Roll camera.” Quinton nods at the camera operator to hit the record button.

“Rolling,” he says back.

Quinton’s finger circles through the air. “Roll sound.”

“Rolling,” the audio director replies.

The camera assistant steps in front of the camera with a slate. The sticks are held wide, making it look like an open-mouthed Pac-Man. She yells out, “Scene 21E. Take one.” Then she closes the sticks of the slate, making a loud noise before moving out of the line of the camera.

Quinton calls, “Action!”

That’s my cue.

I easily slip into my role as Trev, the prince of Albion, and casually walk toward Jenna—er, Renna Degray. I let my gaze stay on her, and my expression lightens in reaction to how peaceful she looks. Was that my acting or a natural response to her beauty?

“Well, aren’t you a nice surprise,” I say, infusing my voice with…actually, who am I kidding? I didn’t have to infuse my voice with anything. Jenna has become a nice surprise.

Her eyelids lift, and even from across the garden and with the camera boom hanging above, I feel the weight of her stare tunnel through me like an electric wave. She’s acting, of course. But underneath what she’s bringing to the role of Renna is a dose of herself.

“How did you find me?”

“I wasn’t looking for you.” I let my smile fill with amusement as I continue toward her. The camera slowly moves backward with each of my steps.

“Of course not. I was just—”

“Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy to stumble upon you,” I cut her off as I approach the cement wall. “I was really taking a walk. I do that sometimes when I need to think.” The camera above swings with me as I turn my body and hoist myself up onto the ledge. In my eagerness to touch her, I get a little too close and end up sitting on the edge of her thigh.

She breaks character and laughs. “Are you trying to sit in my lap?”

I hop down, turning to Jenna with a sultry smile. “Are you requesting a lap dance?”

“Oh, my gosh!” She kicks her leg out to me in a flirty way. “We’re in the middle of a scene.” Her response is different from how it was while filming the first three episodes. Back then, an innuendo comment from me like that would’ve evoked a major eye roll and a glare from her, but post-Malibu, Jenna playfully kicked me. We’re making progress.

“Alright.” I roll my finger over and over to Quinton and the cameraman. “Let’s try that again.”

“I was just taking a walk,” Naomi calls, reminding me what line to start with.

I nod, flipping into my role once again. “I was really taking a walk. I do that sometimes when I need to think.” This time, when I lift my body up on the ledge, I nail the perfect position with my thigh pressed against Jenna’s. “What about you? What brings you out here?”

“I was just missing my dad and wanted to talk to him.” She turns to me with the most adorable, sheepish smile I’ve ever seen. “He’s a great listener.”

“I bet he is.” I relax in my spot, getting comfortable with the scene. “What was he like?”

Jenna flawlessly dives into a monologue about her pretend dad. I should probably be listening so I know when to deliver my next line, but instead, I notice every little detail and nuance about how she talks and how her gaze drifts to a spot just beyond me. I wonder if that’s how she’s playing Renna or if the faraway look is because she’s trying to remember her lines as she says them. I’m regretting now that I wasted the last five months being standoffish when I could’ve been memorizing every last detail about her.

Jenna’s gaze drifts to me, and for a moment, I get lost in her green eyes—that is, until her gaze turns expectant.

“He sounds pretty amazing,” Naomi shouts, hoping to jar my memory.

“Right, thank you.” Both Jenna and I reset. “He sounds pretty amazing.”

“He was. You’re a lot like him.”

She smiles, and dang, she has a good smile, but I’ve already been distracted enough, so I force myself to stay present in the scene and deliver my next line.

“Me?” I feign modesty. “Probably not, but I’ll take the compliment. How did he die?”

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