Starshine

by Melody Winter

  And he was back. I high-fived my correct assumption of his behaviour whilst wondering why the hell I was doing this. Did I crave his affection so much that I was willing to pretend to make love to him just to have him near?

  “Well . . . Ella, what do you—”

  “Rowan!” Alex roared. “Are you seriously asking her how this scene should be played. She’s not a real actress. She’s just work experience, remember?”

  My nostrils flared, my hands curled into fists, and I narrowed my eyes.

  Rowan seemed flustered, as if unable to make up his mind.

  Alex blew, his anger spewing free as he continued shouting. “For fuck’s sake, do I have to direct this myself? Camera’s start rolling. Let’s capture the fighting spirit that we need to start this scene off with. Action!”

  The whirl of the cameras filled my head.

  Alex shrugged, letting his robe drop before he flung it to the side. He turned to face me, his face set in anger. Unfortunately, I couldn’t hold his gaze, and my eyes drifted to his crotch.

  Holy shit . . .

  “What is that?” I exclaimed, pointing at Alex’s crotch. He was naked apart from a flesh coloured pouch of material that only just covered what it was intended for. His dark curls were thick and unruly, covering the main area of his groin, all apart from the flesh coloured item covering his cock and balls.

  “Cut!” Rowan shouted.

  I continued to stare at Alex, unable to tear my eyes away from the bulge the material was covering.

  Alex took four determined strides toward me. “It’s called a cock sock,” he said seriously.

  I tried to not laugh. It didn’t leave much to the imagination. “Why bother?” I said before a giggle escaped me.

  Alex grabbed my shoulder, and I immediately stopped laughing. He pulled me against him and hissed in my ear. “I’m beginning to think you’ve never seen a naked man before, your reaction is positively juvenile. Now, Miss Work Experience, I have a job to do. A serious job, and I would appreciate it if you stop fucking around and let me get on with it.” He moved his face away from my ear before stepping back a few paces.

  “We’re ready,” he informed Rowan who raised his eyebrows before shouting 'Action'.

  My nerves had shown themselves as childish behaviour. I was disappointed in myself for reacting how I did to Alex’s attire. I knew it was never a good idea to laugh at a man’s pride and joy, although, I hadn’t been laughing at that. I was impressed at what he had tried to hide in the sock, but the sight of him squeezed into such a vile flesh coloured pouch was just too much.

  I owed it to Alex to try and act professionally. As he said, this was his job, his career. Whatever I thought of him, I didn’t want to mess things up. I had to steady my nerves and just get on with it.

  The camera’s whirling filled my head again as Alex prowled around me. I tried to assess whether he was in character. He definitely looked angry, but I had no idea whether the look was from what I had just said, or whether he was acting.

  “I told you to take the robe off,” he snarled as his hand shot out and grabbed the neckline of the white covering. I grabbed onto it tightly, glaring back at Alex.

  “Good,” Rowan said quietly.

  So this was it, we were doing the scene.

  “Off!” Alex continued, his hand pulling insistently on the robe that was gradually surrendering to his strength. He’d rip it if he wasn’t careful.

  His body was suddenly flush against my back, and he bent his face to my ear. He whispered quietly so as no-one but me would hear. “I need to get this off you. I am going to pull it away. React how you honestly feel—I need your true reaction.”

  He kissed my neck, his lips suddenly attacking my skin as his hands worked open the front of the robe. It all happened so quickly. One second I was helplessly lost in the feeling of his lips on my neck, the next, my robe had been pulled from my body and was pooled at my feet. Alex stepped around to face me.

  I resisted the urge to cover myself with my hands and did what he had asked. I reacted instinctively.

  I flew at him, punching him as hard as I could—right on his perfect jaw.

  “Fuck!” Alex groaned as he staggered backward, his hand immediately coming up to his jaw.

  “Cut!” Rowan yelled rushing forward toward Alex. “Christ, Alex, are you okay?”

  Alex nodded as he held his jaw. Guilt washed over me. I had just punched Alex Denton. However much I hated the man, I shouldn’t have done what I just did. I seriously thought my acting days were over before they’d even began.

  Rowan was talking quietly to Alex, and I presumed I was about to be fired. But after a few muffled words, Rowan walked away. Alex slowly turned to face me, rubbing his chin.

  “Good shot, Ella,” Alex said, almost as if he was glad that I had hit him.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. But you told me to . . . well . . .” I moved toward him, reaching to touch his jaw. I completely ignored his and my practical nakedness. I was so mortified by what I had done. I wasn’t aware of Rowans quiet instruction for the cameras to start filming again. I was too concerned that I may get sued for injuring Alex.

  “Well, if you really meant it, you would have broken my jaw. I know you think you hate me, but I can tell that all this animosity is because secretly you still fancy the pants off me.” His eyes challenged me to disagree.

  “Maybe I did. But not now. How can I when you treat me like this?” My anger began to build again, pushing aside my remorse. He had to understand that I wasn’t prepared to back down about anything until he made the first move. I’d apologised yesterday, but he’d given me nothing but snarky comments. “You completely ignored me until you wanted something from me.” I reminded him.

  “A smoke screen,” he replied.

  “God, you are so frustrating!” I shouted, unable to keep my anger bottled up any longer. “I do not fancy you at all. You are arrogant, pig headed, smug, frustrating and downright rude.”

  “But you still love me.”

  I glared, unable to find the words to express myself. For some ridiculous reason, I did love him, but it didn’t mean that I could say it to him. Not now.

  He carried on with his assessment of the situation. “You do realise that your nipples are erect?” He dropped his gaze to my breasts, and I immediately covered them with my hands.

  “Pervert!” I shot at him.

  He grinned. “Do they always react that way when you get angry, or is it because when we argue, I turn you on?”

  I started to turn away from him, but was stopped mid-way by his strong arm reaching across my chest. With a swift pull backward, I ended up with my back against his front as he manoeuvred me toward the bed.

  “Lie down,” he demanded.

  I shook my head. I wasn’t giving in to any more of his demands.

  His hand grabbed my face under my chin before twisting my head back toward his. His mouth was against my ear. “We’re filming, Ella. Lie down and let me show you just how good an actor I am.”

  I parted my lips to reply, but two of his fingers pushed into my mouth. My body reacted in a way I didn’t need it to. A whimper escape me and I was aware of the full length of his body against mine, only the thin layers of my thong and his cock sock between our naked bodies.

  His breath was warm and coming harder on my ear as he whispered. “Please, Ella. Let’s make this as realistic as we can.”

  There it was again. The voice I wanted to hear, the voice that belonged to the Alex I had allowed myself to fall for. He moved his fingers from my mouth before trailing them gently down the front of my neck. In a sudden swift movement, he spun me around, forcing me backward onto the bed. He followed me, gripping one of my thighs as he pushed it sideways. Within seconds he was lying on top of me, my legs spread beneath him.

  “I know exactly what you want!” he snapped.

  I lay perfectly still, breathing fast, not daring to move from the position he had thrown me into. I was s
hocked at the way he had moved me so quickly, but also at the way I was inwardly crying out for his hands to touch me, his mouth to whisper dirty things, and his hot breath to turn me on even more. This wasn’t how I wanted to feel, but my body had other ideas. My hands sought his body. I wanted to touch him, caress him, and kiss him, but settled with placing my hands against his chest as he held his weight above me.

  He lifted the covers to shield our lower body from the cameras scrutiny, and then placed his head next to mine, whispering against my ear. “I don’t want to be rough with you. But the script calls for it. Please believe me when I say that I will be truly pushing my acting to its limits over the next few minutes. This is not how I want us to be.”

  I pushed against his chest, and inclined my head in a slight nod, letting him know through that one small movement that I understood.

  “You think you can get away with messing around with him, do you?” he sneered, and I was suddenly flipped over, my stomach resting against the cold sheet I had just rolled onto. Alex followed, moving on top of me before pulling my hair so hard that I screamed when my head was yanked backward. This was one of the actions that fans had raved about—hoe Ryan’s character flipped and shows signs of some serious dominating tendencies. I know how the scene played out in the book and tried to stay true to what I’d read.

  “P . . . please . . .” I begged, trying to stay in character. Evelyn wouldn’t give in to him, but she also didn’t want him hurting her this way. Alex slackened his tight hold on my hair before his other hand grabbed the back of my neck.

  His face was suddenly next to the side of mine. “I’ve not even started yet!” he sneered.

  He dragged his teeth across my shoulder, nipping at my skin. He sniggered against my heated body as he released my hair, letting his hand trail down my back. His touch was electrifying, causing me to push my face in the pillow to contain a wanton groan. I certainly didn’t want him to know about the way he was making me feel.

  But as his hand moved under the sheet, I became incredibly alert. His fingers pushed under the back of the strap of my thong before moving even lower.

  No way was he going there.

  I lifted myself from the bed and spun around onto my back.

  “Bastard!” I yelled.

  “Whore!” he snapped back, flipping me over so I was under him again. He forcefully pushed his lips against mine.

  Of all the times I had kissed Alex, I had never experienced kissing him like this. Rough, angry, bruising, our teeth clashing together as his mouth fought mine for control. The roughness of his actions increased. His teeth pierced my lip, and his eyes flash wildly. He shifted his hips against me, and I struggled to stay impassive.

  “You like that, don’t you?” he snarled, repeating the action with another shift of his hips. “Your sort always does.”

  I could feel everything as he pressed himself against me. A smirk formed on his lips before one of his hands grabbed my wrist and he lifted it above my head. He held it steady whilst he grabbed my other hand, lifting that to join the other. He easily held both arms with one of his. I gasped as his free hand pushed up under my chin.

  “Nothing to say?” he spat. “Whores like you always have something to say.”

  My eyes filled with tears. I knew he was acting, I was acting as well, but this was too much.

  His eyes, so intense in their hate, suddenly softened.

  “Ella?” he spoke so quietly, it was almost a whisper.

  “Keep going!” Rowan ordered. “This is perfect, step it up a gear, Alex.”

  I closed my eyes trying to block everything out, but just before I shut them I witnessed the concern in Alex’s face. I clung to that image.

  “Just do what you have to,” I said as silently as possible just before my tears started escaping from the corner of my eyes.

  “Tears,” Rowan said. “Unbelievable, I’m astonished she can act so well. She’s a natural.”

  Alex relaxed his grip on my wrists. Was he giving up. I couldn’t let him do that.

  “You’re the worst lover I’ve ever had!” I snarled, continuing the argument that our characters were involved in. “How can you call yourself a man when you can’t even turn me on?”

  His hand tightened again, and from that one action, I understood that he was back in character.

  “Look at me. Open your eyes, damn you! Look at me!” he shouted, only inches from my face. I tentatively did as he ordered, not wanting to be met with any concern in his features. I wouldn’t cope if he showed any further sign of gentleness toward me.

  I needn’t have worried though. His eyes were blazing. He was playing Ryan perfectly.

  He kissed me again, his lips descending onto my neck as he sucked at my skin and dragged his tongue along the underside of my jaw.

  I held in a whimper, unable to stop myself from wondering what kind of lover he would make in real life. Even though his words were cruel as he acted out the scene, there was something about the way his fingers and lips skimmed over my skin; there was a sensuous nature about everything he was doing.

  “Don’t move, bitch,” he growled, forcefully pushing my face sideways into the pillow with the palm of his hand. I breathed deeply, grateful for the chance to not have to look at him. Unfortunately, looking sideways meant that I was facing one of the cameras. My body froze as nerves crashed through me. I sniffed several times, the tears pushing from my eyes with even more force.

  “Ella?” Alex said.

  I turned toward him, and he dropped his head onto the pillow beside mine, swearing.

  “Cut!” Rowan yelled from the side of the bed. “Alex, what the hell happened there? It was going so well.”

  Alex rolled onto his back and rested his hands over his eyes. I tried to understand what was wrong.

  “Sorry,” he mumbled, still not removing his hands from his eyes.

  I waited for the usual change to crawl through him and the venomous remarks to flow. His next sentence surprised the hell out of me.

  “I can’t do this. I can’t treat Ella like this.”

  “Take a five-minute break, Alex. Calm yourself down,” Rowan suggested.

  Alex sat up, and glared at Rowan. “I don’t want to fucking calm down. For Christ’s sake, Ella’s tears, her reactions—they’re all real. She’s not a fucking actress!”

  I curled up on my side, pulling my knees to my stomach and tried to halt the tears that had taken a hold. My body was shaking, my skin over-heating.

  The sheet was pulled up over the naked top half of my body, and a hand placed lightly on my shoulder.

  “You take all the time you need, Ella. I’m just gonna sort a few things out,” Alex said.

  I nodded. I needed to calm down and try to get a hold on my own raging emotions. I peered through my watery eyes as Alex stood up. He picked his discarded robe from the floor, slipped his arms in the sleeves, tied the belt tightly and marched across the room to Rowan.

  A torrid of anger spewed from his mouth. “Why the fuck did you let the cameras keep filming when she was so upset. You saw her tears. You should have stopped it!”

  “Just as you could have,” Rowan retorted.

  “Me? You’re the director for fucks sake!”

  “Alex, can we just remember that this whole situation was your idea? You wanted Ella to be in this scene with you. Don’t dare blame me. I can’t help that your feelings for her rose to the surface during filming.”

  “What? They didn’t.”

  “Yes, they did. The chemistry, the pull, the whole hate business that you’ve pretended to feel since Monday afternoon.”

  “You know nothing.”

  “Why do you think I was willing to let her be filmed with you? I knew it’d be pushing you, and her, to your limits. Just for the record, the footage we’ve got is bloody amazing. I was one hundred and ten per cent correct about the chemistry.”

  Alex shook his head, his hands rising to the back of his neck before he looked over to me. My
expression was one of shock and bewilderment at what I had just heard. Was this the opportunity we needed to sort things out.

  “Stop messing around, and sort it out. Now!” Rowan ordered.

  “Get out!” Alex growled at Rowan before spinning around to the camera men. “Get out, all of you. I need some private time with Ella. Get. Out!”

  The crew departed as Alex had ordered.

  There was just him and me in the room.

  I swallowed nervously before pulling the sheet tightly around my neck, suddenly even more aware of my practical nakedness. What was he going to do? More importantly, what was he going to say?

  He moved to the bed, picking my robe from the floor where it had fallen when he ripped it from me earlier. He passed the robe from one hand to the other, repeating the action as his eyes fixed on mine. He seemed unable to look away. It was as if he was trying to read me, wanting to know what I was thinking. I wanted to speak, to break the overpowering silence that had formed between us. But I had no idea what to say.

  I wiped the wetness from my eyes as Alex continued to stare at me.

  “Are you okay?” he eventually asked, handing me my robe.

  I nodded, still not feeling confident enough to speak.

  “May I?” he asked, as he waved his hand at the bed.

  I nodded, and he sat down.

  “What do you want?” I asked, my voice sounding husky through all my upset.

  “I want to talk.”

  “About what? You and Rowan got your scenes. At least when the filming starts again, you can pretend to like me—force the true actor to take over for the scenes when you suddenly realise how much you love me.”

  “That’s the problem, Ella,” Alex said softly. “I won’t have to act at all in those scenes. It’ll all be from the heart—what I feel. I’m dreading having the camera on me for the next scene. It’s too real for me, too personal. How can I act any of that when it’s all true?”