Page 13 of Declan
Chapter 4
Declan
Walking into the coffee shop and seeinghimof all people had taken me off guard. He was a guy I’d decided to check out on social media, someone I never expected to actually meet in person.
And now…here he is.
Sexy, awkward, and with an adorably raspy voice that made my spine tingle. He was hotter than I’d thought. I couldn’t look away from him.
After glancing at me, he turned to look over his shoulder, clearly not realizing thathewas the one my eyes were drawn toward. I walked closer, and when I was met with his gray eyes as he looked back, my breath caught in my throat.
I said good morning to him, playing it way too cool. My exterior was casual, but I was far from calm on the inside.
In my life, I’d met countless sexy men: world-famous supermodels, actors, and gorgeous athletes. But Freckles topped them all.
With that thought came another of him doing said topping, and I breathed evenly through my nose, fighting the rush of lust that came over me. I wanted to grab him, shove him against the coffee bar, and kiss down that beautiful neck of his. I wanted to bend him over and fuck him senseless before letting him do the same to me.
“Goohi,” he responded before looking like he wanted to face-palm. “Ugh, I mean. Hi. Hey.”
I fought a smile. People often got tongue-tied around me, but unlike the times when I became a little irritated, I found Freckles way too cute.
He was practically falling all over himself with nerves. And the way his freckled cheeks darkened with a blush, mixed with that lustful gleam in his eyes, I suspected he was into me just as much as I was into him.
I have to get away from this kid.
Before I could do something fucking stupid, like pull him against me and claim those sweet lips of his in front of god and everybody, I looked at my watch to have a distraction and turned back to Cathy, the assistant director. David, the second assistant director, was the one talking to the extras and helping supervise the set.
Freckles shouted, “It was nice meeting you!”
I stopped and only slightly turned back. He’d probably think I was an asshole, but I couldn’t risk it.
For years, I’d denied who I was. I’d lived a lie. There’d only been a few instances where I’d caved and taken a man to bed, and afterward, I’d felt so damn amazing. Finally, I’d known what it was like to be free, to live the kind of life I wished I could live. Then, the fear had taken root. Fear of what people would say. Disgust at myself for not beingnormal.
“You think this is natural, boy?” the bitch said before gripping my arm so tight I cried out. “Boys aren’t ‘sposed to like boys.”
As the memory surfaced, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. That was in the past. No sense in dwelling on it now. But it was hard to block out the pain. I was shaped from my past, torn apart and put back together with fucked-up views and self-hatred.
“Everything okay?” Cathy asked, studying me with concerned blue eyes.
“Yeah. I’m fine.”
“Good,” she said, easily believing the lie. “Let’s get started.”
That day, we were filming the scene where the two love interests first met. The titleLove and Coffee Beanswas based around the coffee shop where Kelly, Jennifer’s character, frequently visited to work on the advice column she ran. Scott, my character, was visiting Addersfield on a business trip and saw her when he dashed into the local coffee joint one busy morning.
The writing wasn’t necessarily shitty, as I sometimes thought it was, but rather, flat and predictable. The characters had no depth. Boy meets girl at a coffee shop, he sweet-talks her into going on a date, and she fights against him before ultimately surrendering to his charms. One-dimensional characters that followed the same damn pattern that every other love story did.
There was nothing remotely likable about my character other than his money and good looks. He had no important backstory, nothing that made him the man he was, other than his rich father who helped him on his rise to power. The girl falls in love with him despite him havingnothingof real value to offer her.
All because of what…him being hot? That was supposed to make him likeable? Give me a fucking break.
Cathy went over the scene with me, and I nodded. We followed the script, but the director left wiggle room for us so we could “make it our own” while also following the scripted story. It gave the scene more believability.
“Quiet on set!” Cathy announced once everyone was in position. “Roll sound.” A pause. “Roll camera.”
The second assistant camera had the slate with the clapper board and called out the scene and number. The camera operator announced when his camera was focused and in position.
“Action.”
