BARE_A Hollywood Romance

by Sarah Robinson

"We've been a thing in the past," she admitted. "It didn't end well."

  Mario sighed. "That's what I was worried about. Look, I don't have a problem with on-set dating, but I do have a problem if it compromises the work. Elena's already making complaints, and if there's tension, it becomes a problem. Not to mention that Reed's fighting an uphill battle on fixing his image before we premiere. So, just keep all that in mind. These are not low stakes. Millions are on the line."

  But no pressure, she thought to herself.

  "We're professionals," she assured him. "Reed is a professional."

  "Great." With that, Mario walked away.

  Teagan wrapped her arms around her own waist and wondered just how badly she was fucking up her life right now, because nothing had even happened between her and Reed, and yet, it was already a mess.

  And worse yet? She was excited to be on the plane with him. She was excited to spend a week in Napa Valley with him. She was excited…and that was the last thing she ever thought she'd be feeling about Reed Fucking Scott.

  Chapter Ten

  "We are preparing for take-off," the captain of the plane came over the small loudspeaker and announced to the passengers. "Please take your seats and buckle your seatbelts. You can remove them once we're safely in the air and the seatbelt sign has been turned off."

  Teagan looked around at the plush leather arm chairs that the small group of ten or so people were sitting in. The majority of the seats were already taken, but she spotted an empty one facing away from her toward the back of the plane.

  Only one problem. It was directly facing Reed.

  "Teag," he called out to her. "There's a free seat here." He gestured to the chair across from him as he stood up to let her in.

  "Hey, Teagan!" Taylor waved at her as she walked past her chair.

  Teagan smiled at her. She and Taylor had struck up quite a friendship during the last few weeks, and she really enjoyed training the young actress. She was a natural dancer, and reminded her a lot of herself at that age. "Hey, Taylor."

  She continued walking toward the back of the plane and let Reed take her bag from her. He tucked it into an overhead compartment as she settled in and pulled her seatbelt across her lap. "Thank you."

  When he sat back down, his knees were touching hers from how close they were sitting. There was technically a lot of space, but his legs were so long that he was still practically on top of her. The next closest chair was across the aisle where two production assistants were sitting, busily tapping away on their laptops.

  "I've never been on a private plane before," she admitted, looking around in amazement at the luxury and space that commercial planes definitely didn't have. Her chair had a small side table next to it with a cold bottle of water for her. She never thought she'd be so impressed with water, but admittedly, she was a bit star struck by it all. "Do you always fly like this?"

  He shook his head. "Definitely not. It was just easier for the movie than coordinating all the different flights and worrying about who's going to make it there on time or not."

  "I guess so, but still…"

  "Despite most of Hollywood, I swear I'm not some highbrow asshole who flushes cash down the toilet." Reed laughed, and she tried not to notice the way his eyes crinkled at the corners when he was truly happy. "You saw how I grew up. I swear, I'm as grounded as they come."

  "Says the man who strong-armed me into a giant dressing room."

  Reed smirked, giving her a wink. "I believe the correct phrasing is that I fingered you in a giant dressing room."

  Her eyes widened and she her cheeks burned as she looked around to see if anyone had heard him. "What the hell, Reed?"

  "Sorry." His eyes glittered. He isn’t sorry.

  "Annnnyways," she emphasized. "I'm just saying, you can't impress me with a dressing room or plane or flashing your money around."

  "I'm not trying to impress you." He smiled again, that stupid smirk that both infuriated and turned her on. "We already established that, remember?"

  "Right." She rubbed her hand up and down her arm, her cheeks still on fire. "Exactly."

  The plane was safely in the air at this point, and she leaned back in her chair and took a sip of her water. Anything to cool her down. Glancing out the small plane window, she watched California gliding by beneath them. It looked so simple and uncrowded from above. As much as she wanted to pretend that her problems could stay below on the ground, they were definitely thirty thousand feet above with her.

  Or, more accurately, he was with her.

  Teagan crossed her legs, tugging her skirt down to ensure her scar was covered. Most of the time, she never thought about it. It was just a part of her. But when people saw it—the pity in their eyes—she couldn’t stand that. She didn’t want to be defined by her accident, and even more so, she didn’t want Reed to see her that way. If he did see it, she’d have to explain why it happened.

  She’d have to explain how it was his fault.

  Still, she felt guilty for keeping it from him—which was ridiculous. She didn't owe him anything, and even more, she definitely didn't owe him that story. Emotions tugged at her heart as she thought about how everything had changed for her that day. If she hadn't had that accident, she might be the star of a dance film, able to toss around money like it was nothing. She might have become a household name, starred on Broadway, or done something else with her life besides help other people find the stardom she'd never have.

  Teagan swallowed, pushing the thoughts away. Those dreams were not attainable anymore. While she could dance, and dance well, her physical limitations were still there. She'd accepted that. Period. And, truthfully, she didn't care about money. She was perfectly happy living in her tiny studio apartment with her old, fat cat. As long as she could dance, what more did she need?

  "Teag," Reed whispered, rubbing his hand across the outside of her thigh as she blinked her eyes open. "Wake up."

  She hadn't even realized she'd dozed off. "I'm awake."

  "Follow me," he instructed. "But…in a minute or two."

  She furrowed her brow, watching him unbuckle and stand up, walking farther into the back of the plane and disappearing behind a door. Glancing around, she looked at the other members of the production team. Elena was seated toward the front of the plane, fast asleep next to Mario who was talking on his cell phone. The rest of the cast and crew were all doing their own thing and not paying attention.

  Quietly, she unbuckled her seatbelt and stood. Trying to make as little noise as possible, she followed in Reed's footsteps and opened the back door, slipping through. Turning around, she realized that they were in a very small bedroom. In fact, the entire room was mostly a bed with a few small shelves around it.

  Reed grabbed her the moment she closed the door behind her, wrapping his hand around her wrist and pulling her into his body. His lips were on hers and he kissed her before she even had time to react. His hand cupped her cheek and jaw as he guided her while they kissed, his other hand on her lower back.

  She couldn't stop herself from arching into him, her fingers twisting in his shirt as they devoured one another. "Reed." She tried to pause, but she couldn't. She couldn't stop kissing him, or sliding her arms around his neck and collapsing onto the bed beneath him. "Reed…"

  "What?" He kissed his way down her neck.

  "You said…we can't…" She moaned when he found her favorite spot right below her ear that made her body shiver with desire. "We can't do this."

  "We're not," he said against her skin. Reed rested on his elbows, facing her now and giving them some distance. "I just couldn't sit that close to you any longer without kissing you, Teag. Knowing how good it could be, how good it was…I can't stop myself."

  She understood that feeling way more than she wanted to. "Reed…this is going to hurt. We're going to get hurt."

  "It already hurts every time I look at you. Every time I remember how badly I screwed everything up." There was a shine in his eyes that almost looked
like tears, and a piece of her heart broke open. She could feel her walls crumbling at the intimacy of his admission. "Everything about us hurts, Teag. I've thought about you every single day. I've regretted it every day, as much as I've tried to fix that hole in my heart with every distraction possible. Now you're here, and nothing stops the pain except you being in my arms."

  Tears pricked at her lower lashes. "You can't say things like that to me, Reed."

  "I can't not say it, either."

  "I loved you once. I wanted you—a life with you—forever."

  He leaned down and kissed her neck, whispering in her ear, "Why can't we still have that?"

  Teagan wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face against his skin, but she didn't answer. She couldn't. She couldn't tell him because he broke the part of her that believed in everlasting love, that believed love was forever.

  She couldn't tell him that she was broken, or that she wasn’t sure she’d ever love again. Or that as much as she had spent the last eight years telling herself she deserved better than the man who left her at the altar, that wasn't the truth at all.

  Instead, the truth was she was afraid he deserved better than her, than a woman who wasn't whole, who wasn’t the woman she’d thought she’d become.

  Chapter Eleven

  "I can't do this," Reed said, nearly shouting. "I didn't sign up for any of this!"

  Elena stepped toward him. "Jackson, calm down."

  "You're part of this, Kelly." He turned away from her, putting his hands on the wooden banister of the deck overlooking the vineyard below. "You're part of them. And me? I have no place in their world. I have no place in yours."

  "That's not true." Her hands were on his back, and she placed a kiss against his shoulder. "I refuse to believe that there's any version of this world where we don't belong to each other."

  "Your father will never allow it." Reed took Elena in his arms, letting his voice break slightly at the end.

  Tears slid down Elena's cheeks. "Jackson, don't you understand by now? I don't care what my father wants. I don't care what any of them want for me. I make my own decisions, and you're who I choose."

  He shook his head. "I can't give you the life you're used to, Kel. I can't give you what you deserve. I live in a run-down brick house on the wrong side of town, and I probably always will."

  "I don't believe that. You're so talented, Jackson." She pushed up on the tips of her toes and took his face in her hands. "You're going to be a star."

  He surveyed her face, carefully looking in her eyes as if he was considering what she was saying. "And if I'm not?"

  "Then I'll love your run-down brick house as much as I love you," she whispered.

  Reed wrapped his arms around her back and kissed her hard. She leaned her body into his and gasped softly at the motion.

  The cameras slowly began to pull back and the sound boom above them followed suit.

  "Cut!" Mario called after another minute of their kiss. "Fucking hell, guys. That was amazing." Mario turned to the cameraman beside him. "Could you feel that?"

  "Hot," the cameraman agreed.

  "The audience is going to be in fucking tears," Mario confirmed.

  Reed let go of Elena and smiled at his director. "It felt good. I was really in it."

  "Me, too," Elena cooed beside him, wrapping her arm around his.

  He shook her off as nicely as possible and walked away to get some water. There was no mistaking Elena wanted more from him, but he had zero interest in anything romantic with her unless it was with a camera pointed at them.

  Being on camera made him feel alive in a way he'd never found elsewhere. Getting into character and bringing emotion to a scene gave him a thrill, an excitement, that he'd felt ever since the very first time he'd acted in a play in high school. It just came to him naturally, and he couldn't deny that this is what he was meant to do.

  Being on stage, on set, it was his calling.

  He didn't necessarily like it when he had to do love scenes or kiss actresses. Or at least, he didn't like it anymore. All he could think about in those scenes was Teagan, and he'd pretend he was talking to her, kissing her, falling in love with her. Though, the truth? He already was.

  The more he'd tried to deny it over the last few weeks, the more he'd realized how wrong he was. He'd been so deeply in love with Teagan in college, and despite the distance between them over the last eight years, he'd never stopped. He was still as in love with her today as he'd ever been, maybe even more.

  He'd been honest when he'd told her two days ago on the plane that he wanted to try again. He wanted forever. Seeing the tears in her eyes, the strain of agony in her voice…it was devastating. He hated that he'd been the one to hurt her so much, or that he was still hurting her.

  But he'd meant what he'd said—he couldn't stay away. He couldn't stop when it was so clear who they were meant to be, what they were meant to be.

  A scream suddenly pierced through the air.

  Reed whirled around, along with the entire cast and crew.

  "Fucking hell." Mario took off on a run toward the scream to the side of the deck they'd just been filming on.

  Reed was only a quick step behind him. "What happened?"

  When they got to the top of the stairs that led down into the vineyard, Reed saw Taylor laying at the bottom, clutching her ankle. Fuck.

  Mario was already down at her side, assessing the damage. "Can you move it?" He tried to help her stand, but she screamed and shook her head. "Okay, so that's a no."

  "I can't," she cried, tears pouring down her face. "Oh, God, I will just die if it's broken."

  "Let's get you to the medic," Mario instructed, already talking into his comm, announcing the injury and calling personnel to the medic tent.

  Reed quickly came to her side and helped her stand on her good foot, wrapping one arm around her waist as she clutched his shoulders. "It's not broken. You're going to be fine."

  She hopped a few feet then paused, groaning. "I can't."

  "I got you," Reed assured her. Leaning down, he swept her up into his arms and carried her the rest of the way to the medical tent in the parking lot of the winery.

  Teagan suddenly appeared by their side, walking with them toward the tent. "Taylor, I just heard! Are you okay?"

  "Not great," Taylor admitted. "I think I broke my ankle. Though hopefully it's just a bad sprain."

  Teagan looked even more upset than Taylor was, as if this somehow personally impacted her or reminded her of…he wasn’t sure what. Reed wondered what she was thinking.

  Taylor was still whimpering from the pain. "Teag, can you call Jenny?"

  "Sure," she agreed. "I'm sure she'll come right up to be with you."

  "My wife worries about everything." Taylor sighed. "This certainly won't help things."

  Reed carefully placed her on the exam table, and a doctor quickly moved between them. He stepped back and let the medical personnel get to work.

  "I'm going to go get my phone," Teagan said, quickly turning back around and heading out of the tent. He followed her, wondering what this would mean for filming.

  Reed found Mario over in the main office, which the winery had allowed them to completely take over for the week. Hell, they were paying enough for the location that even though they were closed all week, they were probably still making more than they'd have made on their own.

  "Taylor's being seen by medics now," Reed informed the director. "Are we pausing filming?"

  "We're going to continue filming today, but only the scenes Taylor isn't in." Mario put his ear piece back in, tuning his comm. "We'll reevaluate once the doctor tells us the verdict."

  "Reevaluate?"

  Mario looked grave. "If she can't continue, we'll have to reshoot her scenes with another actress."

  Reed swallowed hard, hoping that wasn't the case. Taylor was one of the sweetest people on set, and she really deserved to be there. Even more so, she was a social media super star and wo
uld be a great asset to the film's publicity when release came.

  "Do we even have someone lined up?"

  "Nope. And we're on location. Let's hope none of that happens," Mario finished. "Come on, let's get going on the next scene. The vineyard one."

  Nodding his head, Reed headed toward the costume department to change into the outfit he'd need for the love scene they were about to film in the vineyard. It was supposed to be one of the most passionate scenes of the movie—almost literally having sex in the middle of rows and rows of grapes.

  Honestly, he wasn't sure he'd be able to get his head into it. Sex scenes were always awkward, and even though he'd be mostly clothed in this one, it was still going to be a weird experience. Especially with Elena, because the more and more they continued filming, the more flirtatious she became. He was careful not to give her the impression he was into it, but that didn't seem to give her pause. Rolling around in the grass beneath grape vines certainly wasn't going to calm things down between them either.

  The crew handed him his outfit and he quickly changed into it. Hair and makeup came over next and finished off his look. Teagan was standing off to the side, watching him, when he finally noticed her. "Hey."

  She smiled at him. "Hey."

  "Everything okay?" He walked over and ran his hand down her upper arm.

  Teagan nodded. "I just wanted to say thank you for helping Taylor. That was really sweet of you."

  He shrugged his shoulders. "No big deal."

  "Paparazzi definitely got a photo of you carrying her," she warned. "Just a heads up."

  Reed groaned and rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. "I swear, I never even see those fuckers."

  "Hiding is part of their job," she replied. The comm anchored to her belt squeaked out some static, then Mario's voice crackled through.

  "Teagan, report to the office please. Teagan to the office."

  She turned off the comm and took his hand, pulling him into a corner of the makeup tent that wasn't visible to everyone else. Pushing up on her toes, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.