Lights, Camera, Kiss Me (Original): Chapter 3
"We can't act on this..."
Thank you, Bex, for your constructive feedback. I might have thrown my laptop at the wall without it
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The warm December evening was perfect for Jazz’s Christmas party and Mac felt quite comfortable outside in her little red dress. Jazz had hooked up her iPod up to the stereo outside so that music blared out of a massive pair of speakers. Overhead, different coloured lanterns provided a substantial amount of light. All around Mac people were laughing, dancing to the music, and enjoying themselves.
Mac would be having a better time if she could keep her thoughts off Ryan. The car ride to Jazz’s had been filled with awkward silences, and as soon as they’d reached the party, he had deposited her with their friends and run away.
Her gaze slid to where he was currently chatting up a blonde in a short black skirt and purple camisole, on the other side of the garden. Mac had watched on and off for the past half hour as the woman practically threw herself at him. She was doing her best to ignore the too frequent pangs of jealousy she felt because of it.
It was probably just as well he was spending the night across the yard from her. She didn’t need him next to her when she having to work so hard at keeping her attraction towards him under wraps. She had to get her head straight before she had to do her first love scene with him. Fortunately, she still had some time. Stone and Brianna probably wouldn’t be setting aside their differences for another season or two.
“Mac?”
Mac blinked and turned to look at the man beside her – her date. He was the one she should be watching. Jazz couldn’t have picked a more perfect person for her. Doctor Dale Morgan was handsome in the traditional kind of way. It was obvious from the way he filled out his black shirt and leather jacket that he made time to exercise. He had nice blue eyes, and dark blonde hair. In the past two hours Mac had learned he was articulate, intelligent, and even better, he’d charmed her friends within minutes. Yet her focus had been elsewhere the entire evening.
“I’m sorry,” she said apologetically. “I missed that.”
“Don’t mind Maccas,” Brad McDay said, using the nickname he’d given her. “She’s always daydreaming about something. It happens on set sometimes, too.”
“I asked if you wanted me to get you another drink.” Dale repeated, motioning towards the empty bottle in her hands. “You’re running on empty.”
“Thank you,” she said to him, smiling. “I’d love another one.”
Dale took the bottle from her hands. “I’ll be back in a sec.”
“Isn’t he perfect?” Jazz asked as Dale left them.
“He’s great, Jazz.”
“He is. His last girlfriend cheated on him with his cousin. He deserved so much better than that.”
Mac nodded her head in agreement. Jazz had set this up because she’d believed the two of them would be a good match, and so far Mac couldn’t find fault with the doctor. He deserved her full attention. And he would have, she decided, for the rest of the evening.
“Where’s Moore?” Brad asked to no-one in particular. “I haven’t seen him here.”
“He’s hitting on some girl named Kelly,” Matthew Caffney said. “They’re over…there.”
Mac managed to resist looking over at Ryan this time. Barely.
“Chloe,” Jazz corrected Matt. “Her name is Chloe.”
“Women’s names blur together when you’ve had as many as I’ve had,” Matt said, jokingly.
“Or as many as Moore has,” Brad said, laughing.
“I swear Ryan gets more-” Matt started.
“Matt,” Vanessa Rodgers said in her warning tone, cutting him off.
Vanessa was the quietest out of the Hart’s Valley cast, but she always spoke up to keep the guys in line. It was just as well. They spent so much time together that the men tended to forget they were in the presence of women, and there were a few truly disgusting things which had been said over the past year.
“Sorry, Nessie,” Matt said, putting his arm around Vanessa and pulling her against him. “Forgot you were here.”
Vanessa rolled her eyes at the familiar joke, but she was smiling.
“You know I’m right though,” Matt couldn’t help but add.
“What happened to the model he was with?” Vanessa asked.
“They broke up,” Mac answered.
“I know, but why?” Vanessa asked her.
Mac shrugged. “No idea.”
“He got bored,” Brad said.
“He got bored? They were together for what? A month? Two months?” Vanessa asked.
“Variety is the spice of life,” Brad supplied. “I’ve never known Moore to be with anyone longer than three months.”
Brad and Ryan had known each other for a while. The two were good mates and had worked together on Wild Horses, a short series which had premiered on Channel Nine a few years back.
“That’s not a need for variety,” Vanessa said. “That’s a fear of commitment.”
“The Psych Major is out again,” Matt joked.
Vanessa was studying psychology at a popular online university. The boys loved to tease her about it, especially when she made comments about their behaviour. Mac wasn’t sure if Ryan did suffer from a fear of commitment, but the thought had crossed her mind before. That was just one more reason why she had to resist the attraction she felt towards him. Aside from the fact that being with Ryan would put her at risk of losing her job, she couldn’t expect whatever they might have to last beyond three months, and three months would be a best case scenario.
“You know I’m right,” Vanessa said, repeating Matt’s catch phrase from a minute ago.
“Ryan’s not a commitment phobe, he’s just a normal red-blooded male,” Brad said, defending Ryan.
“You don’t sleep with every woman you meet,” Vanessa pointed out to Brad.
“Neither does Ryan,” Brad returned quickly. “He hasn’t slept with any of you.”
“Because he’s not an idiot,” Jazz said. “Sleeping with the people you work with-”
“Is a no-no,” Mac finished for her. “Trust me on that one.”
“Oh sweetie,” Jazz said, rubbing her arm. “Everyone’s done it once.”
“I’ve done it,” Brad said to her.
Mac knew that he had because he’d told her once before.
“I’ve done it too,” Vanessa said, biting her lip.
Despite the fact that they’d spent a lot of time together on and off the set, Mac was aware she really didn’t know that much about Vanessa. The actress wasn’t usually forthcoming about her personal life, and Mac couldn’t put aside her curiosity now that Vanessa seemed to be opening up a little.
“What happened?” Mac found herself asking.
“Ah, I started to fall for him…so I dumped him.”
“You started to fall for him, so you dumped him?” Matt repeated, looking completely baffled.
“I knew I felt more for him than he did for me, so I broke up with him before he could break up with me,” Vanessa explained.
“What does the Psych Major call that?” Matt asked.
“Being a coward,” Vanessa answered.
“No,” Mac disagreed. “It’s called self-preservation.”
If Mac had looked for them, would she have seen the signs with Danny? Would she have got out before she fell so hard? Could she have saved herself some heartbreak if she’d realized Danny hadn’t loved her the way she’d loved him.
It doesn’t matter. It’s the past.
It was far more important that she’d learned from her mistakes. And she had learned from them, hadn’t she? Mac turned to look at Ryan before she could stop herself.
Instinctively she knew that falling in love with her leading man this time round wasn’t completely out of the question. This time, however, she was reading the writing on the wall clearly. Ryan didn’t do permanent, and he grew bored easily. Mac wasn’t going to risk her heart, or her job. As if he could sense her thoughts, he suddenly turned and looked right at her. Her heart skipped a beat as his eyes locked with hers.
“Are you okay?” he mouthed at her.
She nodded in response to his silent question. What would he say if he knew what she’d been thinking? Ryan studied her for a long moment, before turning his attention back to Chloe.
“Sorry I was gone so long.”
Dale had been gone a while, and Mac was horrified to realize she hadn’t even noticed. So much for giving him her undivided attention. She took the drink Dale handed out to her, and thanked him.
“Work called. There was an accident on the Westgate Bridge,” he told her.
“Nothing too serious, I hope,” Mac said, before realizing it was just about the stupidest thing she could have said. “Sorry,” she said quickly. “You’re a doctor. Of course it must be serious.”
“I’m the one who’s sorry,” he said to her. “I’m going to have to go.”
“Oh,” Mac said.
He was a doctor. He saved lives, and if she was contemplating at all dating him, she would need to be prepared for this type of thing to happen. Still, the abrupt ending to their first date wasn’t quite what she’d been expecting and she couldn’t deny she felt slightly disappointed.
“Can you get home?” he asked her. “Do you need me to give you a ride?”
She’d come here with Ryan, but she already knew he wouldn’t want to take her home when he had a willing blonde to take to bed. She didn’t want to leave the party yet, or ask the doctor to go out of his way when he was needed for an emergency, but maybe that was her only option here.
“She can stay here,” Jazz said.
“Or I can give her a lift home,” Brad said with a shrug.
“Okay,” Dale said, sounding relieved. “Mac, I’d really like to take you out for a proper first date.”
Mac smiled at him, and nodded. “Jazz has my number. Call me sometime.”
“Great. I will,” Dale told her, before giving her a kiss on the cheek, and then saying goodbye to Jazz.
“So are you going to stay here tonight, or do you want a lift?” Brad asked after Dale had disappeared.
Mac looked at the beer in his hand.
“I’ll make it my last one,” he said to her, reading her mind.
“It would be great if you could give me a lift.”
Jazz’s spare bed was comfy, but Mac had no idea what time the party would fizzle out, and she didn’t feel like pulling an all-nighter tonight.
“No worries. I don’t mind, especially since something is up with you tonight.”
“There isn’t anything up with me,” she protested indignantly.
“You’re spacey.”
She had been distracted by her thoughts of Ryan, but she’d thought she’d hid it well enough. Obviously, however, Brad had noticed she wasn’t completely present. Hopefully no-one else had noticed.
“Spacey?” she hedged.
“You keep drifting off into your own world.”
“According to you, I’m spacey all the time,” she said to him, laughing it off.
“What I said to your date was a joke, Mac. Seriously though, is everything alright?”
She nodded. “I’m fine. Thanks though.”
She watched Brad swallow down the rest of his beer, and then put the empty bottle in the pot next to his feet. Before she could scold him, he grabbed her hand and dragged her across the garden to where people were dancing. She’d deemed Brad her ‘safe guy’ a while back. He flirted with her, and she enjoyed his attention, but she knew it didn’t mean anything. They’d had their own romantic storyline in the first season, and kissing Brad had been easy and comfortable.
It wouldn’t be the same way with Ryan.
“Come on, Maccas,” Brad said to her. “Let’s dance.”
***
“Earth to Ryan. Anyone home?”
Ryan couldn’t even pretend to concentrate on what Chloe was trying to tell him when Mac and Brad were metres away, dry humping each other. Okay, that might have been an exaggeration, but only a small one. They were definitely dancing way too close. Brad knew Mac’s history as well as he did, so what the hell was Brad doing, dancing with Mac like that, and putting his hands all over her?
Brad might be his friend but Ryan was tempted to hit him just to knock some sense into him. And what was Mac thinking? She was supposed to be on a date. Ryan needed her date to go well, and he was sure the guy she was here with wouldn’t want to see her dancing like that with another man.
Telling himself he had to put a stop to the spectacle before him, for Mac’s sake, he said something to Chloe about needing to talk to someone, and then made a beeline for Mac.
“Can I cut in?” Ryan asked.
He ignored the surprised look on both their faces. Brad hesitated for a moment, and Ryan couldn't blame him for doing so. Mac was wearing that killer red dress, and she still smelt like strawberries. Every time Ryan had looked at her tonight, he’d felt desire ram through him like a fist. He’d been avoiding her because of how much she affected him, but he still hadn’t been able to stop watching her every chance he'd had. Dancing with her was definitely a bad idea, but how else was he supposed to stop her from dancing with Brad?
“Where’s your blonde?” Brad asked him as he stepped away from Mac.
“Over there somewhere,” Ryan told him vaguely. “Keep her company for me?”
“No worries. Just be warned though,” Brad said. “She’s kind of spacey tonight.”
Ryan turned his attention back to Mac, who was rolling her eyes at Brad. Was she okay? What was wrong? Had her date said something? Done something?
“What’s he talking about?” Ryan asked as his gaze collided with hers.
“It’s nothing,” Mac said to him, looking down, before looking up at him again.
She looked so beautiful, her face flushed from dancing, her hair framing her face. Ryan slid in front of her, and put his hands on her hips. He couldn’t help but notice how well her warm, female body fitted against his hard male body as they started to move to the music together.
“Make sure she doesn’t step on your feet, Moore,” Brad said, patting his shoulder. “And Mac, let me know when you want to leave.”
Ryan waited for Brad to go before asking, “Why do you need to let Brad know when you want to leave?”
“Brad’s going to give me a lift home.”
“What are you doing, Mackenzie?”
His tone was unusually harsh, and he rarely used her full name. Her eyes went wide with shock. He never talked to her like that, but he was worried she wasn’t thinking straight.
“What do you mean, what am I doing?”
“Dancing with him the way you were, and letting him take you home. I just think you should be careful.”
Her eyes glittered dangerously, and heat swept into her cheeks as she glared at him. “Why should I be careful exactly?”
Surely she knew what he was trying to say. “Why do you think?” he said to her carefully.
“I think you should spell it out for me.”
He didn’t want to say Danny’s name; didn’t want to upset her any more than he had already, so he changed tack. “Where’s your date, Mac?”
“He bailed.”
“What?”
“There was an emergency – an accident on the Westgate, and he had to go.”
“I don’t understand.”
“He’s a doctor. He got called in.”
“So the date didn’t work out then?”
“He said he wants to take me on another first date.”
“Good.”
“Do I have your approval to go home with Brad now?” she asked him, every word dripping with sarcasm.
“No. You don’t.”
Anger flashed in her eyes. She tried to pull away from him, but he stopped her.
“I’m trying to stop you from making the same mistake with Brad that you made with Danny,” he explained to her.
“That’s very noble of you,” she bit out, “but Brad’s not the one I’m likely to make the same mistake with.”
They both stopped dancing. The look of mortification on her face told him she clearly hadn’t meant to say that. She tried to pull away from him again, but he kept his hands firmly planted on her hips. He wasn’t letting her go anywhere.
“Brad’s not the one?”
“Forget it. It’s nothing. I didn’t mean anything.”
“I don’t think it was nothing.”
“Please forget it,” she pleaded.
Ryan wasn’t stupid. He knew Mac was as aware of him as he was of her, but it had gone unsaid for so long that it was a shock to hear her make reference to it. She might have wished she’d kept her mouth closed, but since it had slipped out, Ryan didn’t find himself in any rush to dismiss it. His desire for her had hounded him all evening and now he couldn’t resist taking a quick time-out from fighting it.
Looking up to see their friends busy, engaged in conversation, he let his arms slide all the way around Mac’s waist, so he could pull her flush against him.
“Dance with me, Mackenzie,” he said to her, enjoying the way her breasts were pressed against his chest, and the way her hips were nestled against his.
“Ryan,” she whispered in a strangled voice as she felt how aroused he was growing.
He knew he was being unfair on both of them, but he couldn’t control the reaction he had to her; not tonight. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, breathing her in as they swayed to the music.
“We can’t act on this thing, Mackenzie,” he whispered against her skin.
“I know,” she choked out.
“But I want to. I really, really want to.”
“I know.”
He let his lips trail down her neck, feeling her shiver as he did so. When he reached the pulse that was beating frantically at the base of her throat, he kissed it softly, before flicking his tongue over it.
Mac threw her arms around Ryan’s neck as her knees gave out from underneath her. Ryan had ignored her all night, and then come at her with that nonsense about Brad. He’d been an idiot, but she was the bigger idiot here – alluding towards the attraction she felt towards Ryan. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. If that didn’t make her a big enough fool, she’d thrown caution to the wind and now she was revelling in his touch, and dancing with him!
After every lecture she’d given herself tonight, this was…insane. His hands cupped her backside now, pulling her firmer against his erection. She was equally aware of her own arousal; a throb low in her belly, and an accompanying slick heat between her thighs. She must be feverish, the way she was shivering one moment, and then experiencing a wave of heat the next. Perhaps that was why instead of asking him to stop, she was holding onto him as if she never wanted to let him go.
When the song ended, however, Ryan released her, and she let him step away from her. She suddenly felt chilled without his heat against her. She had no idea what to say to him; no idea what was supposed to happen between them now. It felt as if they’d crossed a line today and she wasn’t sure how they could go back.
“Well, this is awkward and uncomfortable,” she said to him, wrapping her arms around herself, trying to warm up.
Ryan had to stop himself from reaching for her. She looked so dejected – so innocent and vulnerable, he just wanted to take her back into his arms so he could comfort her. And after he was done comforting her, he wanted to take her home and indulge every naughty thought he’d ever had about his co-star. But where would that lead? Disaster central, that was where.
“It won’t be for long,” he said to her. “You’ll see. You’re going to go on this date with the doctor, and this thing between us will just fade away.”
“And if it doesn’t?”
“It will,” he told her firmly. It had to.
Mac still didn’t know about next season’s romance between their characters. Maybe, just for now, it was better she didn’t know. If she did she’d probably be freaking out. So, he’d wait. He’d wait until she was settled into some kind of relationship with the doc, and then he’d casually drop it into conversation. The fact that the doc wanted to take her out on a proper first date was a good sign, wasn’t it?
“Right, well, I’m kind of tired,” Mac said to him.
“You should get Brad to take you home,” he told her.
“That’s okay now, is it?” she asked him whilst raising an eyebrow.
She would be safer with Brad any day than she would be with him, and he’d been an idiot for ever saying differently. Ryan had cut in on their dance trying to make out he was protecting her, but the truth was that he’d been jealous. When he’d seen Brad holding Mac close, he’d want to slug his friend one. There was the ugly truth. To say this did not bode well could be the understatement of the century.
“Yeah…about that,” he started, “I was-”
“Being an idiot?” she asked, a small smile playing around her lips.
“I’m sorry,” he said to her.
Now go before I change my mind and take you home myself.
“I guess I can forgive you. This time,” she teased.
“Goodnight, Mac,” he said to her.
“Goodnight, Ryan.”
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Wow, people are reading this! :) Every fan, every vote, and every read has been extremely exciting. Thank you. I’m having a ball with the story, and I have plenty in store for this couple *grins*.