Page 25 of You Had Me at Hola
Suddenly, Vera was there, close to them.
“Stay in the moment,” she said in a hushed voice. She took Ashton’s hand and gently brought it to Jasmine’s cheek.
Ashton positioned his hand on the side of Jasmine’s face the way Vera directed it. His fingers slid over Jasmine’s jaw to curl around the side of her neck, under her ear. Her skin was so warm. He had a flash of pressing his mouth there. How would she feel against his lips?
“Say your line.” Vera’s words were faint, barely interrupting the tension spinning out between the three of them.
Ashton dropped his voice. “You have something here.” With Vera’s hand over his, Ashton’s thumb came to rest on the curveof Jasmine’s cheekbone. Vera gave the digit a little nudge, and Ashton stroked Jasmine’s cheek in a soft, gentle glide. Then Vera shifted, resting her hands on Jasmine’s upper arms. Slowly, Jasmine rose up from her elbows. Her dark eyes stayed locked on Ashton’s, even as Vera moved her like a doll, or a puppet. But Vera wasn’t controlling them—no, she was guiding. They’d given her permission, given each other permission. They’d consented to this, and there was power in that. Vera was part of this.
And damn if it wasn’t incredibly intimate.
Jasmine’s lashes dropped a fraction, and Ashton marveled at how easily she turned on the bedroom eyes. Then the corner of her full lips pinched into the barest trace of a smile as Carmen called Victor’s bluff. “No, I don’t.”
Ashton was struck by the mixture of humor, lust, and... trust in this moment, between the characters. It formed a heady swirl of emotions that the viewers would eat up. But he had to nail this next part.
“You’re right,” he said, still stroking her cheek languidly, speaking with naked honesty. “You don’t. I just... wanted to...”
He trailed off, leaning in. Jasmine tilted her chin up toward him.
“Hold it,” Vera said, her face inches from theirs.
They both froze. Ashton’s gaze shot to Vera, questioning, but the intimacy coordinator was smiling.
“That was great,” she said. “Did it feel okay to you two?”
Easing back, Ashton nodded, and Jasmine gave a hum of agreement.
He’d been nervous about this process, but now that theywere in it, he was a little startled at how much more than okay it felt to him. From an acting standpoint, he’d been completely in tune with Jasmine, more deeply connected than any of their other times on set together. Already, he could see that their performance was improving.
Once Ilba and Marquita had signed off on the choreography, Vera clapped her hands together. “Great. Let’s choreograph the kiss!”
KISSING A STRANGERwas weird.
Kissing a stranger while another person hovered around them, adjusting their body parts and giving direction, was also weird. But Vera was so quirky and genuine, Jasmine couldn’t help but love her a little. She also truly seemed to understand the characters, which was more than Jasmine could say for many directors she’d worked with.
At every step, Vera asked if they were comfortable and if the moves made sense for Carmen and Victor. To Jasmine’s surprise, Ilba and Marquita stayed off to the side, offering comments and suggestions when asked, but for the most part, letting Vera do her thing. There was no ego here, and wasn’t that a rare thing in this industry?
Vera was clearly good at her job. This kiss was going to lookhotonce they filmed the whole thing together. So far, they’d just done bits and pieces, choreographing it like a dance or a stage fight.
And strictly speaking, Ashton wasn’t a complete stranger, but it was still weird. The first time he touched his lips to hers, it was as unsexy as you could get. They were both looking atVera, not each other, and balancing awkwardly, with his lower lip pressed to her top one. Vera had instructed them not to kiss so much as touch their mouths together while they perfected each part before moving on to the next.
It was going well, and everyone was behaving like a consummate professional, but Jasmine was used to laughing through love scenes, finding common ground in how weird and awkward the whole thing was. With Ashton, it was like all the strangeness of what they were doing was being filtered through Vera. Which was good, but... when were they going to connect?
Finally, Vera seemed satisfied with the rehearsal. “Do you two feel comfortable running through the whole scene now?”
Ashton nodded, but Jasmine’s “yes” was interrupted by a jaw-cracking yawn.
She clapped a hand over her mouth. “Sorry. No coffee yet.”
Ashton shot her a look, and was it her imagination, or was he fighting back a smile?
Marquita checked her phone. “Uh-oh. The crew is waiting to come in.”
Vera looked troubled as she addressed Jasmine and Ashton. “I don’t want to rush you through this now, but I also don’t want the first time you run through the whole thing to be with the entire crew present.”
Before Jasmine could say anything, Ashton shrugged. “We’ll be fine. We don’t want to get too far off schedule.”
He raised an eyebrow at Jasmine, like he was asking her to agree, so she nodded. The impulse to not waste the crew’s time was ingrained in her from her time on soap operas, and shecouldn’t stand the thought that people were waiting on them to finish.
