‘Oh?’ The popular Netflix show hadn’t ever been on his radar but he knew several people who worked on it and that it was a quality show. ‘Why that one in particular?’
‘It’s the wedding episode.’
Well,of courseit was. ‘Ah.’
‘Yeah, sorry, I know you’re not a fan of theWword.’
Okay yeah, he deserved that. Leaving her jibe alone, he asked, ‘Why do you watch it so often? What about it makes you keep going back to it?’
Oliver found this endlessly fascinating – what connected people to movies or TV. Why did they return to the same things over and over when there were a million different options vying for their attention? As one of his USC professors used to say, understanding the viewer and what connected them to a script was where the gold lay.
‘Is it the sex?’
The question tumbled out before he could stop it. It probably wasn’t very appropriate given they’d only cohabitated for five days. It wasn’t like they’d talked much in that time so throwing theSword into a conversation was probably a little intimate for someone he didn’t know that well. But there was no denying after probably the longest dry spell of his adult life and the memory of Paige’s naked freckly shoulders replaying a little too often in his head, sex was definitely on his mind.
She wrinkled her nose which drew his gaze to the freckles that popped across the bridge and smattered her cheekbones. Because apparently now he was obsessed with freckles?
‘How reductive of you.’
Slightly chastised by her obvious disappointment and then irked at feeling that way, Oliver pushed, ‘So, it’s not the sex?’
Sighing, she cradled her mug in her lap and turned slightly to face him. ‘It’s notjustthe sex, although that isverygood.’
Her expression was so earnest it left Oliver in little doubt.
‘Too many sex scenes in my humble opinion seem to make it all about the man. Like they’re written for men with gratuitous nudity and the woman being passive or… performative. Like the sex is beingdoneto her. The ones in that episode are all about Claire and the build of intimacy and trust between her and Jamie.’
He nodded. The female gaze. It had been taught at USC but he’d not really paid much attention. Not because he was unsympathetic to what Paige was saying but because he wrote action adventure, a genre not known for its exploration of emotion.
Her words from their discussion overDie Hardthat first day came back to him.He’s doing it for the woman he loves.Hmm, maybe he needed to rethink the whole emotion thing.
Except that would probably require him to explore the reasons behind his avoidance of that messier part of life and the bloody script would never get done.
‘But it’s also about Jamie,’ she continued, unaware of his festering thoughts. ‘We already know he’s an honourable man. But it really shines through in this episode because you get to see this big, brave tough He-Man highlander brought to his kneesand gladly so, by a woman. He’s a virgin?—’
‘He’s a virgin?’
She just smiled and nodded. ‘But he’s not ashamed of it or trying to pretend he’s some amazing lover. He’s keen and willing to learn, to be tutored. And he doesn’t just want to take, or for it to be all about him. He wants to give as well, he wants her to enjoy it.’
‘That sounds verymodernof him.’
‘Why?’ she demanded. ‘Because men 200 years ago were all brutes and assholes? Surely there was a spectrum even then? And nuance? There’s so much nuance to Jamie in this episode. He’s funny and wry and self-deprecating and charming as well as earnest and serious and controlled. But mostly he’s just really… present. It’s…’ Her fingers fluttered against her throat. ‘Very swoony.He’svery swoony.’
Maybe that was what Zac was missing. He was an honourable man but maybe he needed the swoon factor. Someemotionalnuance.
‘You should really watch it sometime.’
Oliver was thinking he might just do that. In fact, maybe he should watch a bunch of content with Paige. She might not know the technicalities behind things but she could certainly articulate how something made herfeel.
‘Thanks, I will.’
‘You know who else is a really good action-adventure hero?’
‘Who?’
‘Jack Colton.’
Oliver nodded. ‘Romancing the Stone.’
