Lights, Camera, Kiss Me (Original): Chapter 6
"Take me home then..."
Really, really nervous about this chappie :S Thank you Jenn, for proofing this for me, and thank you AJ and Daisy for your feedback <3
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Mac searched through her wardrobe for the perfect outfit for the evening. She wasn’t sure exactly what she was looking for until her gaze landed upon the royal blue dress she’d bought a few weeks back. The colour of it matched her eyes, and the silk would feel nice against her skin in the summer heat. The large dip between her breasts made it more revealing than the outfits she usually wore, but she knew she looked good in it. And whilst she hadn’t mentioned it to them yet, she was hoping to go out clubbing with Jazz and Vanessa after dinner.
Ever since she’d heard about the kiss in next week’s script, Mac had felt like there was a ticking time-bomb hanging over her head. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it, and every time she did, she felt longing and yearning clutching at her. She wanted it too much. She wanted him too much. Mac was starting to think she might need her own distraction, someone to take her lust out on. If Ryan could date and sleep his way through the city of Melbourne, then why couldn’t she?
Okay, so she had a healthy fear of STDs, but she needed to do something. It had been too long since she’d been with a man, and the need constantly pounding at her was making her feel reckless and edgy. She was ready to do about anything to make this feeling stop, and since she couldn’t ‘do’ her co-star, she was left looking for another option.
And now that she was back at work, she was again too busy to devote time to finding Mr Right, or even Mr Right-Now. After getting over her disappointment that Mac and Dr Dale hadn’t hit it off, Jazz had offered her matchmaking help once more, but nothing had come of it yet. It was time to take matters into her own hands. A one-night stand was something everyone did at least once, and she needed to get laid.
Right before Mac was ready to leave her apartment, she looked in her bedside drawer. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry over the fact that her unopened box of condoms expired in less than a month. She pulled out a strip of six and threw them into her handbag.
She arrived at the restaurant five minutes late. As if pulled by some magnetic force, her eyes were drawn automatically to where Ryan was sitting. She stood there in the doorway and watched him while he remained oblivious to her presence. On set, he’d filled out the suit he’d worn to perfection. Tonight he was sitting there in a casual green t-shirt with white stripes, and he still looked good enough to make her heart skip a beat, or several.
Her gaze slide to the beautiful blonde he was sitting with. She’d known that seeing Ryan with a date wouldn’t be the easiest thing in the world to endure. Hearing about him with anyone else was hard enough. But now she realized she’d underestimated just how difficult it would be. Her heart twisted in her chest as she watched him smile at his date.
As if he sensed her eyes on him, he turned his head so he was looking at her. She didn’t know if someone had told him she would be there or not. Suddenly afraid of what his reaction might be, Mac forced herself to look away from him before she could meet his eyes. She strode through the loud, over-crowded restaurant towards the table where everyone was sitting. It was in a secluded part of the restaurant that Gino, the owner, let them use while they ate there.
“Maccas!” Brad exclaimed as he stood up and gave her a hug. “Far out! You look freaking amazing.”
“Thank you,” she told him, smiling at him.
Jazz hugged her so tightly that Mac thought she might turn as blue as her dress. As everyone else greeted her warmly she felt some of her tension leave her body. She felt it return, however, when Ryan hugged her. She tried to shut out the emotions that went with the feel of his arms around her but failed miserably. The yearning for more almost overwhelmed her and panic clawed at her suddenly. Had she made a mistake coming tonight? No. She didn’t want to stay at home and be lonely.
“Mac, this is Cindy-Sue,” Ryan said to her, introducing her to his date.
Mac smiled politely at the woman sitting next to Ryan. There was one upside to Ryan bringing a date tonight. No-one would be able to talk about next week’s kiss between Stone and Brianna. Under the confidentiality clause they’d all had to sign when they started working on the show, they weren’t supposed to talk about anything related to Hart’s Valley while they weren’t on the set.
Of course there were times when they did talk about things off set, but only when it was the six of them. The first episode of the new season was airing this week, and if the news of Stone and Brianna’s new romantic plot hit the headlines before the show went to air, they would all be in a lot of trouble.
“Cindy-Sue, this is Mackenzie Lauren,” Ryan said, finishing the introductions.
“Mackenzie, I am such a fan. Please call me Cindy,” Cindy said to her, extending her hand for Mac to shake. “When Ryan told me he was having dinner with the rest of the cast I begged him to bring me. He said you weren’t coming, but I’m so glad you did.”
Mac didn’t know what she’d been expecting Ryan’s date to be like, but it wasn’t the sweet and genuine woman in front of her. Apart from being warm and friendly, Cindy was also startlingly attractive.
It was would have been easier to see Ryan with someone who was fake, and superficial. Someone he would get tired of quickly and wouldn’t keep around. Would Cindy be hanging around for a while?
Mac felt her heart twist at the thought, a sensation that was growingly increasingly familiar when she thought about Ryan with someone. She hated the feeling. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. She wasn’t supposed to feel possessive of a man who didn’t belong to her. Envy stabbed through Mac as she shook Cindy’s hand. Even if Cindy and Ryan only lasted three months, it would still be more time than Mac would ever have with him.
“And you can call me Mac,” Mac said to her as she took her seat between Jazz and Matt – the seat opposite Ryan.
Mac picked up her menu and scanned the list of alcoholic beverages available. She bypassed the wine. She needed something else tonight. She needed liquid courage and a chance to forget the man sitting on the other side of the table from her.
She turned to Jazz, who was sitting on her left side. “I was thinking about hitting a club tonight. Are you up for it?”
Jazz looked surprised for a second, but her surprise quickly turned to excitement. “Hell yes. I’ve been asking you to come clubbing with me forever.”
“I know,” Mac told her.
“You didn’t even want to come out to dinner a when I asked you about it. What gives?”
Mac thought about the condoms sitting in her handbag. “I need…a distraction.”
“Distraction from what?” Matt asked her.
Suddenly aware of Ryan’s eyes burning a hole in her head, Mac shrugged. “My boredom.”
“Can I come?” Matt asked.
“Count me in,” Brad said to her. “You know I’d never say no to a chance to dance.”
“You mean to score,” Matt corrected him.
Great, Mac thought. She’d been hoping that tonight would end up being a girl’s night, but now Matt and Brad would both be coming.
“You in?” Mac asked Vanessa.
“Sure,” Vanessa said. “I won’t make it a late one since I need to be in the studio first thing in the morning, but I’ll come out for a couple of hours.”
“Excellent,” Mac said, nodding.
An awkward silence descended as Mac went back to studying her menu. She hadn’t asked Ryan and Cindy if they wanted to join them. As the silence continued, Mac felt her guilt grow. She really didn’t want them there tonight, not when she needed a distraction from Ryan himself, but if she didn’t ask them it would look peculiar.
“Do you guys, um, want to join us?”
Hopefully Ryan would say no.
“We’d love to tag along too,” Cindy said to her, looking relieved to be asked. “I mean, if you don’t mind.”
Mac gave her a strained smile and lied through her teeth. “No, I don’t mind at all.”
“Providing Ryan wants to go of course,” Cindy said, looking at Ryan.
Mac looked back at her menu, and held her breath as she waited for his answer. Please say no. Please say no. Please say no.
“What could be more fun that helping Mac find a distraction?” Ryan asked.
The way he said distraction implied he knew exactly what, or rather, who, she was looking for a distraction from. He had, after all, used the same phrase to refer to the women he’d been sleeping with. Was he making fun of her? Mac looked at him. Instead of his eyes glinting with the amusement she’d expected, they were hard and cold. His jaw was clenched shut and his displeasure was obvious. Well, that was too bad for him. If he could have his distraction, she could have hers. She needed it.
“Would you like to order some drinks?” a waiter asked them.
The evening was shaping up to be an absolute shocker, Ryan thought, as he listened to Mac order a Screaming Orgasm and flirt with their waiter. She was being so incredibly foolish. It seemed she was intent on doing something downright stupid tonight. He was going to have to spend his evening keeping an eye on her and making sure she didn’t get herself in trouble.
She was damn well dressed for trouble. Her dress was nothing but a tease. Aside from the fact that it showed off so much of her sun-kissed skin, the dip between her breasts had been playing havoc with his ability to concentrate since she’d sat down in front of him. And the thought of getting his mouth and his hands under that short little dress of hers was just too much. If his jeans got any tighter, they were going to pop open.
“Exactly what kind of distraction are you looking for?” Matt asked Mac.
“Just some fun, right?” Jazz asked Mac.
“Sure,” Mac dismissed.
It was on the tip of his tongue to call her a liar. Instead he just told her the truth. “Distractions don’t work for very long.”
He watched Mac blush as she caught his meaning, before she looked at Cindy-Sue and then gave him a pointed look. He supposed he couldn’t blame her for thinking that a distraction might work. He’d slept with a multitude of women over the past month, looking to dull the desire he felt for his co-star. It hadn’t worked yet. If Mac thought Cindy was any type of real distraction, she was wrong.
The only reason he’d brought Cindy with him tonight was because he’d thought the introduction of a new girlfriend might make everyone lay off him a bit. His friends had been both puzzled and annoyed over the fact that he hadn’t spent as much time with them this year. Only Brad knew why Ryan was keeping his distance. Not that staying away from Mac seemed to have changed anything. In fact, his need for her might have actually intensified.
When he’d read the script for next episode of Hart’s Valley, he’d been torn between relief and dread; relief that he could finally kiss her and touch her, even if it was scripted, and dread that he might not be able to stop with the one kiss that was in the script. He didn’t know how much longer he could fight this. He didn’t know if he wanted to keep fighting this.
Working under the same roof as her, day in, day out, and trying to resist the pull he felt towards her was taking its toll on him. Last year they’d lunched together regularly, had coffee together almost daily, and just hung out together between takes. He was really, really missing her company.
The combination of desire and friendship he felt towards her was more than he’d ever experienced with anyone else. And now that she was telling him she wanted to find some kind of distraction from him, the words ‘hell no’ kept flashing in his mind. He didn’t want her distracted from what it was she felt for him. And that right there was the most dangerous thought he’d had all night.
***
“We should go to Heat,” Matt said.
“No way, we should go to Twister,” Brad told him.
“Doll’s House is my preferred choice,” Vanessa added
“Mac should choose,” Jazz interjected. “Where do you want to go, Mac?”
Mac finished her fourth Screaming Orgasm and put the glass back down on the table, almost knocking over Jazz’s glass in the process. Her vision was tracking everything a little too slowly, and she felt dizzy. Instead of drinking just enough to get tipsy and over-confident, she’d gone too hard too fast. Like the lightweight she was, she’d gone from sober to drunk in the blink of an eye, minus the happy feeling she’d anticipated.
It served her right, she supposed, for relying on alcohol to make her feel confident and for believing that it would numb the feeling of jealousy she felt over seeing Ryan with someone. She truly was a fool; a pathetic, lightweight, drunken fool – a fool who couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that she was going to have to kiss her co-star in a matter of days, despite the fact that she still didn’t have her feelings for him under control.
Now her friends wanted to know which club she wanted to go to, but she didn’t want to go clubbing anymore. She was just too drunk, too miserable, to enjoy herself tonight.
“Mac?” Jazz prompted her.
“The Spice Club,” Mac told her, giving them the first club she could think of.
A chorus of agreement followed, and Mac tried not to think about the trek she’d have home from Crown Casino where The Spice Club was situated. It would be some kind of miracle if she could walk out of here without falling flat on her face, let alone make it home without breaking an ankle in the ridiculously high heels she’d chosen tonight.
“I’m going to have to go home and change,” Ryan said.
“Yes, there’s no way you’ll get into the Spice Club in jeans,” Cindy told him.
“Can you take me home then?” Mac asked.
Ryan looked just as surprised by the question as she felt. They hadn’t spoken to each other since she’d arrived, and they’d been dutifully keeping their distance for the past month, so what on earth had possessed her to ask him to drive her somewhere? He was the one she was trying to get away from – to find distraction from. But she’d seen an opportunity to escape, a way out without ruining the night for everyone else, and she’d ceased it with both hands. She’d slipped back into the habit she’d had last year of asking him to take her places.
“You need something?” Ryan asked her.
He was looking at her, watching her closely, and dammit, that yearning feeling was back again. This was such a bad idea, asking him take her home, but there was no way she’d make it back to her place by herself. Besides, it wasn’t like she would be alone with Ryan. Cindy would be there with them. The two lovebirds could give her a lift home and then go off and enjoy the rest of their night together, she thought bitterly.
“I forgot something,” she told him.
Ryan knew he should say no. He’d barely been able to stop staring at Mac all night. Images of perky breasts and puckered nipples had haunted him throughout dinner. While he was being hounded by his need to touch her, spending time with her and being close to her would be a pretty damn stupid idea. But she’d asked him. She wouldn’t have asked him without good reason.
“What did you forget?” Jazz asked her.
“Yes, what did you forget?” Ryan asked her. Maybe he could just pick it up for her.
“Um, ID.”
“Everyone knows who you are,” Cindy said to her.
“I should still have it though and I’d really appreciate the lift,” Mac said, looking at him without really looking at him. “Be back in a minute.”
Ryan watched Mac stand up. She wobbled profusely before grabbing onto the back of the chair she’d just been sitting on as if her life depended on it. She’d left her ID at home? She’d come out dressed to seduce, with distraction on her mind, and she’d forgotten her ID? He wasn’t buying it. She was drunk – too drunk to go out, and she knew it. She either wanted to pass out in his car, or she was going to get home and tell him to go to the club without her. At least her mission, find-a-distraction, wouldn’t be going ahead tonight.
“I don’t know what’s with going on with Mac,” Jazz said to him, once Mac wobbled off to the bathroom.
“She’s drunk,” Ryan told her.
“I know that, Ryan. But it’s more than that. Something’s wrong. I know it. And she won’t talk to me. Has she said anything to you?”
Ryan shook his head, but of course he knew what was bothering her. It was the same thing bothering him.
“She’s so distant, and…and she seems so sad tonight,” Jazz continued, before nibbling her bottom lip. “I’m really worried about her.”
Something squeezed inside his chest. He hated to think of Mac feeling sad. If she needed a lift – if she needed him to help her get home, he would do that for her. Providing he didn’t look at her, and providing they weren’t left alone, he could handle it.
“Cindy and I can take her home,” Ryan said to her. “Mac’s not up to clubbing tonight.”
Jazz nodded. “I’d argue with you, but honestly I don’t think the bouncers would let her in. Can you talk to her? Find out what’s wrong?”
“I could stay here…if you want,” Cindy said to him tentatively. “Give the two of you a chance to talk.”
“You can come with us,” he told her.
She had to come with them.
“Mac won’t talk to you with a stranger in the car,” Jazz told him. “No offence, Cindy. Why doesn’t Cindy come with us to The Spice Club? That way you can talk to Mac.”
“I don’t mind,” Cindy said to him, putting her hand on his.
Ryan believed her. Cindy had been very excited about meeting the cast and would love hanging out with them. But he didn’t want to be left alone with Mac. Unfortunately, Jazz seemed hell-bent on pushing them together so she could get her answers.
“She’s coming back now,” Jazz told them.
Ryan looked up in time to see Mac lose her footing on the small set of stairs that led to the area they’d been sitting in. She just managed to keep herself upright by hanging onto the bannister beside her. She was going to need help getting to the car and they were going to have to use the side entrance to exit the restaurant.
This was Melbourne, not Hollywood, but the city still loved a scandal. Hart’s Valley co-stars out dining together? Not that interesting. Hart’s Valley actress drunk and being carried out by co-star? Scandal! Unfortunately, helping her out of here would mean putting his hands on her. But it seemed he didn’t have a choice here. He had to help her. He silently cursed Jazz for suggesting Cindy not go with them.
“So, can I get a lift with you?” she asked him when she reached the table.
“I can give you a ride home,” he told Mac.
Mac sat back down on her chair because she simply couldn’t manage standing upright any longer. She’d almost slipped and broken her neck on the stairs and she was still feeling shaky.
“Whenever you and Cindy are ready,” she said to him, before she pulled money out of her purse and passed it to Jazz – the designated bill sorter when they went out for dinner.
“Cindy is going to come straight to the club with us,” Jazz told her.
“But-”
“Ryan will take you home.”
No. She couldn’t be alone with Ryan. She was too tired and drunk to keep pretending she didn’t feel what she felt. Mac looked at Ryan, hoping he would tell her that Jazz was joking, but he was looking at Cindy.
“Are you sure you won’t come with us?” he asked her.
“I’ll be fine. See you in a bit.”
Even if Cindy seemed like the nicest person on the planet, Mac hated her just a little bit right now. It should have been Mac going with Jazz to The Spice Club, not Cindy. Not only did Cindy get Ryan, but she also got her friends and her night out too. It was obvious from Ryan’s face that he didn’t want Cindy to stay. Jealousy stabbed through her for the billionth time that night.
“It was really nice to meet you, Mac,” Cindy said to her.
“Likewise,” Mac said weakly.
“Come on,” Ryan said to her, standing up.
“Where are you two going?” Brad asked her as she stood up and pushed her chair in.
“We’ll meet you at the club,” Ryan told him.
“You okay, Mac?” Brad asked, ignoring Ryan.
“I’m fine,” she told him.
He looked like he wanted to say more, but then Ryan was beside her, putting his hand on the small of her back, making her shiver as she felt the heat of his touch through the thin material of her dress.
“Side exit,” he said to her.
They made their way through the loud, clattering kitchen of the restaurant. It didn’t take her long before she stumbled. She felt Ryan’s arm wrap around her waist immediately.
“It’s okay,” he said to her. “I’ve got you.”
That was exactly what she was afraid of, wasn’t it? He had her. Done pushing him away, at least temporarily, Mac held onto the arm he still had circled around her waist, and concentrated on putting one foot in front of another.
“Oh my God,” she choked out, when she felt his burgeoning erection against her backside.
Once they were out of the restaurant, he loosened his grip, but didn’t let her go.
“You should let me go,” she whispered.
“Not yet,” he said to her, his voice tight. “I don’t really want, “Australia’s Romeo has a hard-on for Mackenzie Lauren,” plastered across the tabloids tomorrow. Do you?”
She shook her head, feeling utterly grateful that her own arousal wasn’t anywhere near as obvious as his. He might be able to see the goose bumps that his touch caused and see her quickened pulse, but he couldn’t see the way her nipples were hard little buds, scraping against her dress. He couldn’t see the damp heat inside her underwear. He couldn’t see the way her insides quivered, or see the steady beat of desire pulsing inside her.
He had a problem, Ryan thought, walking them as quickly as he could towards his car, and this problem had just moved to the very top of his shit-list. It was a big, epically bad, mind-blowingly stupid problem. He couldn’t touch her. He couldn’t touch his co-star anymore without getting so turned on he couldn’t think straight. There was no way he was going to be able to hold back when he kissed her. He wanted her too damn much.
He ignored the people snapping photos of them and guided Mac down the laneway where he’d parked his car. Once he’d unlocked it, they both slid in quickly and he took off. Neither of them spoke until he’d reached her apartment building.
“I don’t think you should come up,” she told him as he turned off the car.
Ryan took the keys out of the ignition as she undid her seatbelt and picked her purse up off the floor of his car.
“You’re right,” he said to her. “I shouldn’t come up.”
She nodded. Her hand reached for the door handle, before he put his hand on her arm to stop her from getting out.
“I don’t know how much longer I can do this, Mackenzie.”
She went perfectly still as her eyes locked with his.
“I don’t think I want to fight this anymore,” he told her.
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Yep, I know y'all were hoping they'd be in the studio by now. Trust me, we are heading towards the...intense stuff. *Grins* <3