“I mean–”
The beige curtain parted and Jason walked straight into me.
“Whoaa,” he said, grabbing on to my shoulders as I wobbled. Once we were okay to stand on our own, he let go of my shoulders and took a step back. “What’s wrong?”
“Jason,” I started miserably, my face falling. “It’s too much. They won’t give me a bra and my breasts are…” I opened my arms to give him a look and his eyes bulged.
“Whoaa,” he said again, his eyes getting bigger.
“Yes, exactly. And then my back…” I turned and looked at him over my shoulder. “It looks so bad on me.”
By then his brows were up to his hairline and his eyes were glued to my ass.
“My ass looks huge, doesn’t it? Jason, please. I don’t wanna do this. I’m not cut out for this.”
When his eyes stayed on my ass and he started rubbing his forehead, I faced him again and pulled on the long sleeves of my dress.
“Christ,” he said.
“Christ, what? What?!” I raised my voice. “They’ll make fun of me. I’m not fat. It’s just this dress…”
His eyes finally met mine and he tilted his head. “What are you talking about Olive?”
I rubbed my eyes. “You look like that,” I explained, gesturing to his body, then to mine. “And I look like this…” I could feel the tears gathering in my eyes.
Did he need more explaining?
His voice gentled. “Sweetheart, I’ll ask again. What are you talking about? You look…you look fucking stunning. If I could, I would…” His eyes dropped down to my breasts, but then quickly back up. He took a step toward me and held my face in his hands. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not happy about the dress either, but I’m afraid it’s not for the same reasons. I don’t want anyone to see you in this.” Another glance at my chest. “It’s a good thing there are mostly women out there. I’ll go crazy if they spend another hour choosing another outfit. What do you say we go out there, give them a few good shots, and call it a day, huh? Then we can meet your friends and head to the party. You were looking forward to that, remember? The faster we wrap this up here, the faster we’ll get to your friends.”
With my freak out, the small party had completely slipped my mind. The production company had closed down a bar for that night so the cast and crew could get together and mingle before the filming started a few days later. I was assuming most of them already knew each other, but when Jason asked if I wanted to go and maybe take the girls with me, I’d jumped at the idea.
“You promise I don’t look that bad?”
Something flashed in his eyes and his voice was gruff when he answered. “Promise.”
He held out his hand for me and I took it without hesitation.
“We’ll start the shoot on the second floor,” the photographer, Amelie, said once we were by her side. “Then depending on the shots, we’ll take a few down here or maybe on the stairs. We’ll see how it goes.”
Jason nodded his agreement and guided me toward the stairs with his hand on the bare skin of my back. The way my entire body ached when he was touching me…it was something else.
Amelie and her small team went ahead of us, and I stopped once we reached the bottom of the stairs.
“Jason,” I whispered and tugged at his hand to get his attention before he could start climbing up. There was something different in his eyes when he was looking at me, something that was making my heart do funny things, but I brushed it away. “If you don’t want me to flash Alvin and everyone who is still downstairs, there is no way I can go up these stairs with this dress. Unless I bunch it up and—”
Without a warning, Jason leaned down and lifted me up in his arms. I was too late to hold back my scream as he started up the stairs. My hands flew to my back to make sure everything was covered, but Jason’s forearm was already taking care of that little problem.
Everyone was looking at us—even Alvin, who was trailing behind us, had a small smirk playing on his lips as I clung to Jason’s shoulders. Taking advantage of the situation, I closed my eyes and rested my forehead against his warm neck. It was all I could do to not trace his bulging biceps with my fingers. Before I could savor the moment, we were at the top of the stairs and he gently put me back on my feet. I swore I could hear every woman in the loft release a sigh and fall a little bit more in love with my husband.
Jason cleared his throat and distractedly reached for my hand again.
“Okay. I want you guys in front of this wall,” Amelie said, placing us in front of the concrete wall.
More blinding lights, great.
Taking our place, I looked at Amelie for more instructions, but what did she do? She lifted her camera and started taking pictures. Baffled, I looked up at Jason and he smiled at me.
“What am I supposed to do?” I hissed at Jason. I tried to force my lips into a smile as I looked at the camera, but I could only guess how awful it looked.
Then Jason’s lips were at my ear and he whispered, “You’re supposed to love me, my beautiful wife.”
Tingles…
My mouth dropped open, but Jason’s expression didn’t even waver. His eyes on me, he leaned against the concrete wall and pulled me flush against his chest, my front to his front. Now everyone had a clear look at my barely covered ass and naked back, but at Jason’s words I’d already forgotten all about that.
“What?” I whispered, keeping my eyes on his face.
“Perfect,” the photographer announced from somewhere behind me. “I want to capture your natural chemistry. Please, Olive, try to relax a bit more and forget about us.”
Be quiet lady.
Jason buried his face in my neck and spoke softly—only for my ears. “They have no idea that we’re married, but they know we’re engaged.” He lifted his face from my neck and looked into my eyes. “You should look at me like you love me, Olive, the way I’m looking at you.”
Say what?
Had he lost his mind in the small amount of time it had taken him to get dressed in a white shirt and black slacks?
He lifted his eyes from mine and looked over my head. “Amelie, is it okay if you give us a few seconds?”
The clicking stopped.
Jason kissed my nose. “You’ll have to be a little more convincing if we want them to think we are in love. I’ll have to…touch you.”
“Touch me?” I squeaked.
His eyes dropped to my lips and he nodded. “And you’ll have to touch me like you actually like me.” Reaching down, he took my hand and put it on his chest.
“Of course. You’re right,” I said, barely recognizing my own voice.
“It’ll be over soon. You won’t suffer for too long, don’t worry.”
“Sure. No suffering. Over soon. Got it.”
“You ready?”
I relaxed my shoulders and nodded. Act and look like I loved him? Child’s play.
When he gave the okay, the shoot started up again.
Jason straightened from the wall and took me with him. His hand still on my back, he kept me close to his body, my breasts properly squished between us.
“Olive, can you look at the camera while Jason is focusing on you?”