Second Act by Kaje Harper

Author:Kaje Harper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-01-06T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Dion hadn’t looked back, just rounded the corner and walked out of sight. Shaking off his odd mood, Bryce jogged the two blocks to Verbeck’s office. He paused a couple of doors down to square his shoulders, tug his shirt straighter and take a breath, then strode on confidently. He needed Bryce Edwards, action hero, on deck now.

When he was ushered on through the front office, he found the large conference room crowded. There were not just Verbeck and his assistant, and the casting director and her assistant, but also Milana, Doyle, and several other people he didn’t know. In fact, the only one missing was Dennis. They all looked up when he came in.

“Sorry,” he said with his trademark easy smile. “I was quite a ways up the coast when you called and traffic was nuts.”

They all nodded, although with the indifference that went with the fact that traffic was always nuts.

Verbeck said, “Now that we’re all here, let’s get started. Bryce, grab your script. Top of page seventeen.”

As Milana and Doyle and a couple other people pushed back their chairs, Bryce said, “What about Dennis?”

“I’m trying shaking things up a different way.” The casting director put her hand on the arm of a stocky, Hispanic guy who looked to be in his late twenties. “We’re having Mateo here read Dennis’s part. See what happens.”

“Oh.” Bryce calmed the butterflies doing the tango in his stomach. He’d never imagined it might be Dennis’s job that took the heat for their lack of chemistry the last time. But he was damned sure going to do better this time. “Great.” He smiled at Milana. “Looking forward to kissing you again.”

Mateo eyed him coolly through long black bangs. “What about kissing me?”

Bryce turned up the heat a notch, making his voice harder, his gaze focused on Mateo’s. “Yeah, you too.”

Mateo, clearly already in character, held his eyes for a count of three, and then dropped his gaze to the floor. Bryce felt excitement rising, as Mateo gave him another fast upward glance. Yeah, they could do this thing.

It went really well. The first part, the ensemble part, was maybe a little rougher than with Dennis. Dennis was a pro, while Mateo fumbled combining an action with a line, here and there. Dennis and Doyle had managed more of a brothers-in-arms feeling, while Mateo seemed less one of the group. But the new dynamic wasn’t worse, just different. And when they did that last scene, Mateo’s gay kiss, Bryce knew it could be great.

They danced around the topic, tossing out words with double meanings. He let his playboy character do it all in fun, laughing, not serious. Mateo played it shy, kind of angry. An actual flush rose on his tawny cheekbones as he said, “Then what the hell were you thinking?”

“This.” Bryce dropped his voice, deeper, serious for the first time. “I was thinking about this.” The script called for a passionate kiss, but Bryce was caught in the moment, touched by the mix of fear and desire in Mateo’s eyes.

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