by Kate Frost
‘Is that who you’re playing on this film?’
‘Sort of. There’s a group of three friends and I’m the one who catches the attention of the lead character. It’s a supporting role though, mostly scenes when we’re in the background or in a big group scene. But I do have some lines.’
‘Sounds like a big deal to me.’
‘Let’s just say I had the right look.’ She wiggled her toes in the grass, her red toenails glinting through the green blades. She blew hot air over her face. ‘We so should have sat in the shade.’ She couldn’t help glancing at his chest again, glistening in the sun, probably from the sunscreen he rubbed on himself earlier...
Finn sat up, his stomach muscles tensing as he did.
‘I’ve got a bit more to finish off, then I’m going to call it a day and stop early. It’s too hot to work round the front in this heat.’
‘Absolutely, finish early and go have that pint in a beer garden.’
‘Thanks for the ice cream and company.’
He leant his hand on the grass as if to push himself up but instead moved closer and kissed her cheek. His beard tickled her skin, sending a shiver through her. He lingered for a second too long and instead of pulling away, his lips brushed against hers.
‘Sorry.’ Within a heartbeat it was over. ‘I um, didn’t mean to... that was inappropriate.’
He stood up, shoving his hands in the pockets of his paint-splattered shorts.
Jenna didn’t know what to say; her senses were in overdrive. He tasted of chocolate mixed with a delicious smell of aftershave, sunscreen and hot skin.
She picked up the ice cream wrappers and scrambled to her feet. ‘Don’t worry about it; sun’s obviously gone to our heads.’
They set off across the grass together, Finn heading to the shade of the wall, and Jenna escaping around the side of the cottage.
The kitchen was dark and cool, a welcome respite from the mid-afternoon heat. Jenna dropped the wrappers in the bin, leant on the edge of the sink and gazed out of the window at the spot where they’d been sitting. With the kitchen window open, she could hear scraping. Finn was continuing to repair the cottage wall where the mortar had come away. All she could think about was that kiss, the lightest brush of his lips against hers, and yet it was so sensual. So unexpected. It seemed to take him by surprise too.
It was too hot to do any work in the garden, and she was too flustered to concentrate on anything else, mainly because her thoughts kept flitting back to Finn and his muscles flexing as he re-grouted the cottage wall. She planned on waiting until he finished for the day and then she’d take up Lily’s invitation of joining them at the hotel. She bit her lip; she could suggest to Finn that they go for a pint in a pub garden together, but somehow that seemed even more forward than that briefest of kisses. Anyway, she was certain he was planning on going with his mates. Feeling even more hot and flustered, Jenna decided to have that siesta she’d dreamt about earlier.
Lying on her bed, she listened to the scrape scrape scrape of Finn working on the wall. The image of his full lips, bearded chin, blue eyes and sandy hair made sleep impossible.
Chapter Eight
Jenna did eventually drift off. She woke to silence, the room darker than it had been when she’d come upstairs. She went over to the window and peered out. The sun had moved around the cottage leaving most of the grass now shaded. The scaffolding was in the way so she couldn’t make out if Finn was still there or not, but the rhythmic scraping had stopped. She walked across the landing in bare feet to the spare room. One of the windows overlooked the side of the house and drive, but only her car remained. She wondered if he’d tried to find her to tell her he was finishing for the day. Maybe he thought she’d been hiding away so there wasn’t any awkwardness over that kiss.
Oh God, thought Jenna, let it not make things awkward. All she’d been able to think about since she’d got back from work was Finn. She needed a distraction. The hotel, a pool and the rest of the cast was the simple answer to that. She’d been invited over nearly every day and it was about time she showed up.
The cast staying together at the hotel reminded Jenna of being a student at drama school, and even though she relished being on her own at Bramble Cottage, there was a certain appeal to that kind of camaraderie. After the ups and downs of the last few months, Cornwall and the cottage had been her escape, but as she drove into the grounds of the hotel she felt a pang of envy at the rest of the cast being in a place like this.
Jenna didn’t mind that Bramble Cottage wasn’t right on the coast; it was surrounded by trees and countryside, quiet and unspoilt. It was close enough to easily reach the sea but far enough away from the summertime crowds. She parked in the car park at the front of the hotel and walked around the side of the building, immediately understanding why Lily and Amanda, and even Milo, thought she was mad staying at the cottage. The hotel was breathtaking. Perched on a cliff top, its white walls gleamed in the sunshine and the large windows made the most of the far-reaching views, the blue sea, craggy cliffs, and lush tropical gardens studded with colour.
Jenna felt jealous of the beauty and openness of the location compared to the overgrown tangle in the garden at Bramble Cottage. She didn’t need to go into the hotel to ask anyone where any of the cast were, she could hear their laughter and screeches from the car park. She paused for a moment on the edge of the patio. There were guests sitting out with cocktails and wine, making the most of the sunshine. The lawn swept down to the edge of the cliff, part of it lined by bushes, the rest of it dropping away to reveal a sandy cove studded with dark grey rocks.
She took the path along the edge of the lawn towards the noise. The outdoor pool was set away from the hotel, surrounded by a sandstone terrace with sunloungers. There was nothing but the green of the surrounding grounds and the blue of sea and sky.
‘Jenna, you made it!’ Amanda jumped up from her sunlounger and ran across to her in bare feet.
‘This is the life you’re leading outside of filming?’
Amanda grinned. ‘Not bad is it. A taste of a Hollywood A-lister lifestyle.’
Jenna clocked Milo and Timothy along with a couple of the older actors laughing together around the other side of the pool. Both Lily and Amanda were in bikinis with floaty beach kaftans thrown on over the top. Jenna felt overdressed in shorts and a T-shirt. The intense mid-afternoon heat may have dissipated, yet it was still sweltering and the pool was a suntrap exposed on top of the cliff. Jenna longed to dive into the cool clear water of the pool.
‘You’ve got a bikini with you, right?’ Amanda asked.
Jenna nodded.
‘Come up to my room and get changed.’ Amanda took Jenna’s hand and led her back along the path to the hotel.
‘Wait for me,’ Lily said, catching them up.
The inside of the hotel was as swish as Jenna had imagined with a light airiness that continued into the rooms. Amanda’s bedroom was huge, the walls white, with splashes of colour from seaside pictures and the silver and blue bedspread.
Lily wandered over to the window. ‘Your sea view’s even better than mine.’
‘Wishing you were staying here now?’ Amanda flopped down on the bed.
‘Actually, I’m happy staying in my great aunt’s cottage. It’s got heaps of character.’
Lily turned back to face them. ‘That’s what you call something that needs a hell of a lot of work doing to it.’
‘Well, that’s true, it does. But it does have loads of character – beamed ceilings, gorgeous stone walls. You should come over and see it sometime.’ Jenna headed to the bathroom.
‘He fancies you, you know,’ Amanda said.
Jenna turned back. ‘Who does?’
‘Milo. He definitely fancies you.’
Jenna shook her head and closed herself in the en suite.
‘You don’t have a boyfriend, Jenna?’
Jenna sighed. Amanda had been fixated on her and Milo since the moment he turned up on set.
Jenna rested her bag next to the sink, unzipped it and hunted for her bikini.
‘Nope. Been single for just over a year,’ she called back.
‘Who finished with who?’
‘I did with him.’
‘Was he an actor?’
‘Nope.’ Jenna wriggled out of her shorts and T-shirt and pulled on the bikini bottoms and top. She stuffed her clothes in her bag. There wasn’t a full length mirror in the bathroom so she couldn’t scrutinise herself, which was probably just as well. She tied her hair into a messy bun, threw on her beach cover-up, slipped her feet into flip-flops and went back into the room.
Amanda whistled. ‘He’s going to fancy you even more now.’
Jenna playfully whacked Amanda’s arm. ‘Stop it. We’re working together, that’s all. And he’s a flirt, he’s like it with everyone.’
Lily raised an eyebrow. ‘Not everyone. Although if I didn’t have a boyfriend, I’d be all over him.’
‘You’re the only single one of us, Jenna, you gotta have some fun.’
It seemed like they were having more fun trying to set her up with Milo then she was having. She might be an actor and good at playing the part of confidence but in real life she still felt out of her depth at times, particularly when she was around someone like Milo who was as easy to talk to as he was easy on the eye.
‘Come on, let’s get back out there and soak up the last bit of sun.’ Amanda scrambled off the bed, pulled down her sunglasses and led the way out of her room.
~
‘At last, you join us!’ Milo patted the empty sunlounger next to him and Jenna slid on to it, dropping her bag on the ground.
She was used to being around actors and had worked with a few famous names, but Milo left her feeling star-struck. It wasn’t like she was a huge fan or anything. She liked him, she’d seen a few things that he’d been in, but he had an air of confidence about him, of someone who knew just how popular, good looking and successful he was. A confidence that often eluded Jenna, even though countless people told her she was talented, that she was pretty...
‘You don’t have the whole place to yourselves, do you? Looked like there were some couples out on the terrace when I walked past.’ Her attempt at small talk was lame but the best she could do under Milo’s gaze.
‘There are a couple of regulars – presumably the hotel manager didn’t want to cancel and piss them off. Think they’re quite excited about being surrounded by a load of luvvies.’
‘At least you’re all out most of the day.’
Even beneath the shade of the umbrella it was still hot, and being flustered was making the situation worse. Lily and Amanda had settled themselves back on their sunloungers at the one shady spot of the terrace and Adrian, who she’d met on set earlier that day, and another couple of actors were sitting together chatting by the wall.
Jenna wedged her sunglasses in her hair and stood up. ‘I’m going to cool off in the pool.’
‘I think I’ll join you.’
Jenna sensed Milo’s eyes on her as she peeled off her beach top and left it crumpled on the lounger. Her bikini was a sunny yellow and looked good against her light tan. She slipped her feet out of her flip-flops.
Milo brushed past her and dived straight into the pool.
Water splashed on to the terrace and Lily screeched as it reached her. Timothy was already in the pool doing laps and he ducked his head under, shot back out and wiped beads of water off his face and through his hair as Milo swam past.
Jenna entered the pool via the steps, relishing the cool water connecting with her skin, first her feet, legs and body, until she was submerged. After sweltering on set in the morning, it was blissful to float, relax, and stare up at the cloudless blue sky.
Water splashed in her face. She turned to look but there was no one there, only a shadowy figure beneath the water coming at her like a rocket. Jenna shrieked as Milo’s hands slid around her waist. As he emerged from beneath the water he pulled her upright so they were floating together, his grinning face inches from hers, dripping with water and sexy as hell.
‘He’ll never let anyone be,’ Timothy said, swimming past and looking between them with raised eyebrows. ‘Always fun and games with Milo. Get used to it.’
~
Jenna wasn’t drinking, but everyone else was. As the sun retreated, the laughter got louder, the drunken antics rowdier. After her dip in the pool, Jenna had dried off and settled herself beneath the shade of an umbrella with a book. It wasn’t often that she was the one in the position to be looking after everyone else. She was driving though and so didn’t have a choice. This year had been a tough one in many ways. Lily and Amanda’s comments about her being single and available and that she should be trying it on with Milo Blake had hit a nerve. She’d been fine being single this past year, focusing on herself and her career, even though that had been sabotaged by her so-called friend. Men or lack of them weren’t the issue, she was surrounded by good looking blokes on a day-to-day basis. It was the nature of her job. It was the same story dating another actor, roles and ego always got in the way. Not that the boyfriend was always to blame; she knew she was too. Maybe she was too self-absorbed, too focused on chasing a dream.
Fingers clicked in front of her. She looked up and came face to face with Milo’s crotch in burnt orange board shorts. Her head snapped up to meet his eyes.
‘You’re in a daydream.’
He reached down, took her hand and pulled her to her feet. The last remnants of the sun were bleeding across the horizon, a deep red and a vivid pink merging with black night. Outdoor lights had come on, lighting up the pool, with lamps edging the paths. Timothy and Amanda were in the pool, the others chatting on the side. Lily had been keeping Jenna company before disappearing up to her room, Jenna couldn’t remember what for. Tiredness was sweeping over her; Milo’s hand was warm and firm in hers and she realised he was leading her away from the others.
He stopped before the end of the terrace, just where the stone paving was edged by a border packed with bushes. He kept hold of her hand. Even in the night air she could smell the sweetness of honeysuckle.
‘You should be staying here, you know.’ His fingers stroked her hand.
She was conscious of her heart beating. What if he invited her up to his room, what would she say? She liked him, but she didn’t know him, and what little she did know had been gleaned from magazines. But then she was single, what harm would a bit of fun do? Even with a movie star...
‘You’re beautiful.’ He was slurring his words, his eyes were glazed, not quite focusing on her. He caught hold of her waist, almost as if he was swaying so much he needed something to hold on to, to steady himself. The last person she’d been this close to had been Finn, earlier that day sitting in the sunshine. No alcohol involved then, just a bit too much summer sun. And what? The kiss had happened so quickly she’d barely had time to process it, and yet she was thinking about it now when a semi-naked Milo Blake had his arm around her waist.
‘You’re drunk.’
He tugged her closer, so their bodies were pressed together, hot damp skin connecting. She expected him to kiss her, but instead he leant closer, his stubble brushing the side of her face, one hand tightening around her waist, the other hand dipping down and resting on her bum.
‘You’re sexy as hell, you know that right?’ he whispered.
Light pooled around them, making him look more tanned than usual, his hair darker, his cheekbones even more defined. His lips brushed her cheek and then he pulled away. He smiled, and sauntered back towards the splashing in the pool, leaving damp footprints on the pale stone.
Jenna shivered. She looked around, sensing someone watching her. And there was, although they were trying to be subtle about it. Amanda was looking in her direction as Timothy tapped a blow up ball towards her. She needn’t have worried about what her answer would be if he asked her up to his room, yet her emotions were now even more conflicted.
Chapter Nine<
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The second week merged into the third and Jenna found herself spending more and more time with Milo. After the evening at the hotel’s pool, he sought her out, inviting her to sit next to him if they had a lunch break together. It didn’t go unnoticed. She saw the looks and witnessed the hushed discussions between the supporting artists. He was interested in her; asking questions about her family, friends, the jobs she’d worked on – and the jobs she’d lost out on.
Jenna had the attitude that she’d sit wherever there was space or next to whoever looked like an interesting person to talk to, whether they were cast, crew or an extra. Having worked as a supporting artist in the past, she loathed the cliqueiness of some principal actors who stuck together and ignored everyone else. She strived to not be like that and yet found herself in the difficult position of bonding with the main cast, who she was working with on a daily basis, but still trying to get to know the extras.
It was the middle of the third week of shooting when Milo waved her over. She’d been heading to a table filled with crew but it felt ruder to ignore him than it did to go and sit with him, so she headed over and Amanda joined them. Timothy was already there, sitting next to Milo, and Jenna could see Lily in the lunch queue, jumping ahead of the extras. It was a normal part of filming, the principal actors and crew getting special treatment. She understood the reasoning that they had to be back on set and working, but she knew what it felt like to work in the background. It was very different from being in the limelight, something she’d not yet got used to, unlike Milo who seemed one hundred per cent comfortable with his Hollywood star status.
‘I’ve missed seeing you this week, Jenna. Only had Timothy for company. Although we’ve got a scene together this afternoon, haven’t we?’
Did he actually wink at her? It wasn’t like the scene was anything major. All it involved was Jenna brushing past him and Milo giving her ‘a look’. Their actual kissing scene would come later in the shoot. They’d been slated to wrap early today – how hard would it be to muck up a scene with absolutely no dialogue?
