Love Unrehearsed (25 page)

“Nonsense,” Jonathan said firmly. “I have Ryan’s permission, so you must do me the honor of one small cameo.”

That one small request generated a flurry of activity. When the time came, I was swept off to wardrobe, where I was fitted with a pair of ass-hugging jeans and a really cool white flouncy halter top with tiny brown beads that nestled near my exposed cleavage. Instead of me wearing a bra, flesh-toned adhesive lifts were added under my breasts to give them more support. The likelihood of my breasts getting some quality onscreen time seemed to multiply exponentially.

After my makeup was applied and hair fussed with, it was off to the set. Tonight we were on location, having taken over a bar/nightclub outside of Vancouver to film in.

My job? To be part of the background. I hoped to hell I’d be able to blend with the other extras in the scene. The bar was supposed to be packed and Ryan had to squeeze through the crowd to make his next mark. I was one of the bodies he had to squeeze past—that was, until another assistant director told me the plan.

I was introduced to several other extras that I would be standing next to for the shot. We were just a bunch of girls supposedly standing around, swaying and grooving to the music. Problem was—there was no music. Actually the crowded bar filled with a ton of extras was rather quiet considering. The soundtrack would be overlaid in postproduction.

It felt weird to stand there pretending to dance and look sexy in silence. Some sort of liquid sheen was sprayed on our exposed skin to make it look like we were all hot and sweaty. It made my bare arms glisten.

We did a walk-through rehearsal; Ryan had a shot coming into the club, cameras followed him through the crowd, he had to squeeze past me, and then take his final place at the empty seat at bar.

Actress Morgan Harper, who was playing the deceased sister of Ryan’s character, Chase Sheffield, was dressed exactly like me; the costumes were identical. Ryan/Chase was to have another ghostly vision of his sister.

An enormous camera was pointed at me, and as I studied the ominous black lens that would capture me making a complete ass out of myself, the realization of me actually being in a movie pricked at my nerves. My slightly elevated pulse broke out into a full gallop. I might as well have been running in knee-deep sand on the beach for how hard my heart was pounding in my chest. Holy shit.

Calm down. Remember your instructions. Smile coyly. Eye contact with Ryan for a count of five, then look back to the brunette whose name totally escapes me right now. I can do this. I can do this. What the hell is her name?

“Cue background; action background.”

Before I could entertain additional panic, it was over. I think I smiled coyly—however the hell “coyly” is supposed to look. I hoped I didn’t look away too soon.

Ryan was cool and professionally distant. He showed me no special favor, no separate inappropriate acknowledgment while we were filming. I could have been just another off-the-street extra as far as anyone could tell. That was fine by me; I didn’t want a fuss.

Without the extraordinary media hype and devoted fan adoration elevating his status, Ryan was just a regular guy; sweet, caring, humble, funny—trying to do his best being an actor. He was so in his element here. My heart rate stabilized under the surge of love and pride I felt for him and I breathed easier in his calm.

“But I would grab her with my right hand,” Ryan stated as we did another walk-through. His hand was sealed around my upper arm.

“Do you want me to flinch or . . . ?” I asked, as we continued to work out all of the little details.

Within a few minutes, my big film debut was over and I was moved out of the shot so Morgan could take my place. I found an open space off to the side to watch Ryan continue on without me.

“You can relax now. You did really good, by the way.”

I looked over my shoulder, not recognizing the male voice.

“I don’t think we’ve ever met. Hi. I’m Aiden.”

I blinked several times, toggling my eyes between the large-veined hand he extended toward me and the rest of the man standing before me. His hair was styled and colored exactly like Ryan’s. He even wore the same clothes Ryan had on. The resemblance was freakishly uncanny, although Ryan had much nicer eyes and was a hell of a lot better-looking than this attempted copy. Regardless, sheer fascination had me staring.

“I’m one of Mr. Christensen’s stunt doubles. I don’t bite.”

“Hi. Sorry. I’m Taryn.” I reached to shake his hand, thankful that he didn’t manhandle me. I noticed Nicole Devin walking toward me rubbing her nose, but she stopped to speak to someone else.

Aiden pointed his chin toward the camera. “I was watching. From over here you looked like you did a great job.”

His compliment seemed genuine. “Thanks. I hope I didn’t screw it up.”

When Aiden smiled, two tiny dimples formed in his cheeks. “I think you did just fine. You looked like a pro.” He offered me a cup of water, which I politely accepted. “Was that your first time?”

I took a sip and nodded.

“I guess you got pretty lucky then—getting chosen for that spot. You’ll definitely be in the final footage. Not many extras get to claim that much face time.”

I shrugged. “Guess this is my big claim to fame then, huh?” I joked.

“I’m sure you’ll get a lot of mileage out of this with your friends, too. You should be able to milk this one for months.”

Visions of Marie and Tammy hugging me into a choke hold made me laugh. “I think you’re right. My friends will definitely torment me for a long time over this.”

I noticed Aiden’s eyes dip down and linger on my chest while a sliver of his tongue swiped his lips, gazing with an apparent hunger to breastfeed.
Yeah, I know. No bra and it’s cold in here.
I quickly crossed my arms over my chest.

Aiden shook his head infinitesimally, as if my gesture broke the spell to draw his attention back to my eyes. “Hey, he’s coming this way. Do you want me to ask him for an autograph for you? Maybe we can get him to pose for a quick picture. That ought to hold your girlfriends off for a little while. I hear he’s a nice guy.”

A tiny laugh of absurdity slipped out.
This guy has no freaking clue who I am, does he? I guess it doesn’t matter to him because he’s mostly just staring at my boobs.

I glanced over toward Ryan, noting his look of displeasure before he stopped to engage Paul, the stunt coordinator. Paul removed his baseball cap and was scratching with one hand and pointing out maneuvers with the other. “No, that’s okay. I don’t want his auto—”

“So . . . Karen. Are you from Vancouver?” Aiden interrupted, motioning toward the ground as if to accentuate that we were actually standing in Vancouver.

“No. Ryan’s my—”

Paul waved his hat and Aiden heaved his body away from the wall.
I doubt he even heard a word I said
. “Shit. That’s my cue. Time to go to work. I hope you don’t run off anywhere.”

Before I could say anything more, Aiden trotted away, glancing back at me briefly.

I found a discreet place off to the side where I could watch the rest of the filming. As per the script, a barroom brawl ensued. Even though Ryan filmed most of the live action, Aiden handled the more intricate stunts, like having chairs slammed down on his spine. I was glad it was his body taking the abuse and not Ryan’s. I had other plans for Ryan’s body, and they didn’t include patching cuts or watching him writhe in pain all night.

Aiden winked and smiled when he filled his paper cup at the cooler next to me. “Why are you hiding all the way back here?”

I shrugged. “Just staying out of the way.”

He pushed the edge of his T-shirt sleeve up, flexing beefy biceps as he crossed his arms. “Ah, where’s the fun in that. I could have used your help in there.”

I thought about the irony. “No thanks. I get enough of barroom beer muscles back home. It’s purely a spectator sport for me.” It had been a while since I had to break up a brawl in my pub, though my trusty baseball bat was never out of reach.

Aiden glanced over his shoulder. “I could definitely use a cold one after that last stunt. We have to gather some people together and go out for a few drinks.”

I knew better than to answer him, so I let his comment go and politely excused myself to relocate to a better vantage point.

After several more takes, my new friend found me again.

“Looks like we’re just about wrapped. So, ah, you have any plans after this or are you going to let me take you to dinner?”

“Take me to dinner? No.” I was shocked that he even asked. I walked away, staring off at the man I was planning on having for dessert, when Aiden followed me. Ryan’s gaze met mine, and when he caught sight of me having another conversation with my new admirer, his eyes narrowed on me with a look of obvious displeasure.

“I see. You’re hoping for a chance with him, aren’t you?” Aiden uttered in a mix of mockery and what I perceived to be jealousy. “Well, I don’t mean to burst your bubble, but I hear he recently got engaged, so I’d say your chances are slim to none.”

I wanted to say, “No shit. I’m his fiancée, dumbass,” and then thank him for discouraging a random woman from hitting on Ryan, but Ryan was storming his way over to us with blatant concern plastered on his face. I wondered if all this casual flirtation on Aiden’s part was pissing Ryan off, but in eight more seconds I was going to find out for sure.

“Hey, do you want me to ask—see if he’ll give you an autograph or something? Now’s your chance before he leaves.” Aiden was too busy watching Ryan’s approach to see my eyes roll.

Ryan offered a handshake to Aiden and gave him a firm, manly pat on the shoulder. “Hey man. That was some pretty awesome shit you just did. You going to be all right? That one hit looked pretty painful.”

Aiden rocked on his feet from Ryan’s “friendly” pat and then got all puffy-chested, shirking off with a roll of his neck the mere thought that
anything
could cause him pain. “Nah, I do this sort of stuff all the time. I’m good. Hey, um, Ryan? I take it you’ve sort of met this lovely lady already. Her name is Karen. Karen, Ryan Christensen,” Aiden said smugly, as if he and Ryan were best buds.

Ryan’s eyes narrowed. “Karen?”

I shrugged my
whatever.
What was the point in correcting him? I knew Ryan was wrapped for the night and that we could leave.

It didn’t take long for Mike to come into the fold.
My faithful human Rottweiler. Attack!

“I was just asking Karen if she wanted to go out for a few drinks. There’s some pretty great clubs downtown, but I’m having trouble tearing her away from here.” Aiden gave me a nudge.

“Oh really?” Ryan questioned me.

I hoped he could see I was annoyed. “I tried to tell him
no
but he—”
Keeps interrupting me.

“Ahh,” Aiden groaned. “You’re just afraid of having a good time.”

See what I mean?

He turned to Ryan. “Hey, before you take off . . . I don’t want to embarrass her and she’s probably too shy to ask, but do you think maybe she could get a picture with you?” Aiden fumbled and dropped his cell, mumbling how he would text it to me later.

I wrapped my arms around Ryan’s waist, ready to go back to our condo. Ryan’s shirt was damp with sweat. It had been another long day and I could tell he was exhausted. I also had a pile of clean laundry for Mike to take with him since the on-set laundry service was only offered to the talent, not the keepers of the talent.

“I can’t turn my back for one minute,” Ryan groaned in my ear, letting his restrained irritation be known. Even though he was acting jealous, I decided that this emotional flare of his was going to be rewarded handsomely in the shower later.

“Believe me, I did nothing to encourage it.”

“I know, babe.” Ryan squeezed me, brushing some of my hair back. He cupped my face in his hand and kissed me wickedly.

I heard Aiden scoff. “Dude! What the fuck?”

Slightly embarrassed, I took a step back when Ryan ended his territorial display. Aiden’s mouth hung open, totally abashed. He also appeared to want to take a swing at Ryan.

Ryan stared him down for a few seconds, then tried to play off his level of anger as if he were teasing. “This one’s
mine
. Apparently you haven’t been properly introduced to
my fiancée,
Taryn. I’d appreciate it if you stopped hitting on her. We clear?”

The following day, Aiden avoided me like the plague. I sort of expected that. He apparently had moved on from me, flooding Nicole with his attentions. His flirting was over-the-top.

Aiden tried like hell to be extra chummy with Ryan, which I could have called as well. Ryan was as friendly as he had to be, not taking too kindly to another wolf sniffing around his mate. It was things like that that made me question whether it was a good idea for me to be around him when he worked.

Nicole, however, appeared to be quite jittery.

I presumed it was because she and Ryan had to do a kissing scene again, which seemed to have him slightly agitated as well, but I wasn’t sure. Ryan was usually so aloof, but this time he was eyeing Nicole warily.