I hugged the crowd of smiling, laughing people into me. “One, two, three!” The snaps of their phones were comically loud.
With another wave, the tour guide shuffled the group back down the hall.
Jude turned, his face so close to mine, that I could see every crease framing his eyes. Every dark dot of stubble. “How did you…” He cleared his throat, his voice fading away and as he shook his head, his scent breezed across me, surrounding my body like I was submerged in him. It left me breathless. “Thank you for that,” he said, his breath still heavy and deep. “I’ve never been good in crowds, especially not since.…” He touched his watch with thick fingertips. “I’ve never been good in crowds.” And whatever he’d been about to reveal was swallowed along with his panic.
For a few moments, I stared at his face. The dread was melting; dissolving like a single grain of sugar into a steaming beverage. Likewise, whatever anxiety I’d been feeling evaporated with helping Jude. “It was nothing.”
Those jade green eyes flared, then softened, like a flame that had been stoked with a sharp gust of air. “It wasn’t nothing.” He touched his watch again, looking at the time. “And you’re now officially late for your audition.”
“Oh, shit.” How had I forgotten? The whole damn reason I was here. The whole reason for Jude getting me the bottle of water. My audition. Placing my cool palm to my forehead, I sighed. “I’m gonna have to go in there and explain—”
“No, you won’t,” he cut me off in a gravelly voice. Though his jaw was stern, his eyes were kind. Holding the door open, he gestured for me to enter, leaning in to whisper, “And… you should embrace that nervousness. Especially for a role like this one.”
Jude placed a hand at the small of my back and guided me into the room. The heat of his touch permeated my clothing and I took another sip of water to calm the flush of heat spreading across my cheeks. Never in my life had I been starstruck—and yet, around this man, I became a stammering idiot.
Wait a minute. He was coming into the audition with me? Why would he be doing that unless he was involved in casting—
“Sorry, everyone,” Jude announced while entering the room, “I was trying to get a bottle of water when one of those backlot tours came through. Thank God for this girl—she saved me from an onslaught of selfies. Threw herself under the bus for me.” He offered me an encouraging smile before taking his chair at the long table of people ready and willing to tear my soul apart.
Though the table of people acknowledged me, said hello, and welcomed me, there was an energetic wall. A wall that separated them from us—it was an unspoken audition rule that yes, they speak to you, but no, you are not on equal ground. And yet, Jude got me water. He helped me through my panic attack and I repaid the favor in the face of the crowd. And now, he sat at the table of power. He was both my peer and my superior. Both peasant and king. He knew how it was on both sides of the aisle and his kindness, his humbleness touched some flame deep inside me that I’d been almost positive Hollywood had long ago tamped out.
A woman stood at the end of the table and held out a hand. “I’m Nicole Stevens,” she said, then quickly directed me to another man who stood from behind the table.
He took my hand and offered a lopsided grin, curly red hair flopping over onto his plastic rectangle glasses. “I’m Seth, an executive producer. This is Ash Livingston—he’ll be directing the film.” He continued down the line of people, introducing them one by one until he finally reached Jude. “And of course, I’m sure you know Jude Fisher already. He’ll be playing the role of Leo.”
Jude hadn’t torn his eyes from me since we had entered. I felt his stare, heady and electric through every handshake and pleasantry. And now we were face to face, shaking hands. While every other member at the table sat behind their glass wall, he sat on top, teetering over the edge. I swallowed and it felt like a ball of yarn going down a sand paper tunnel. “Yes, of course. Thanks again for the water.”
“Here you go,” Seth handed me the audition sides. “Jude will be reading opposite you today.”
I gulped and my knees locked. Jude terrified me in a way I couldn’t describe. Our chemistry was as palpable as an active volcano and I was the lava, ready to erupt at any moment.
Seth continued, walking around the table and taking his seat. “Today’s audition is just all about the chemistry. We want to see you—well, Holly, submissive to Leo. We want to see sparks.”
Sparks? The way I was feeling inside, I could give them a freaking Fourth of July fireworks display.
Seth grinned. “And… off you go.”
