Lights, Camera, Kiss Me; Chapter 1
Okay, so, this isn't DE, but before you get upset with me, I wrote this in 2010, before I started writing fanfic. I'm in the process of re-writing it, and I'm putting it here for anyone who actually wants to read it :) Yes, the cover is another of my PhotoScape creations (facepalm).
Synopsis: Mackenzie “Mac” Lauren, knows from past mistakes that getting involved with her leading man is trouble with a capital T. That’s why she’s doing everything she can to resist the attraction she feels towards her good friend, co-star Ryan Moore.
Um, Rating: M
Thanks to AJ, Bex, C & Daisy, for giving me their feedback on this chapter. Love you guys. XXOO
“This morning we’re lucky enough to have two of the hottest stars on Australian TV; Mackenzie Lauren, and Ryan Moore, here with us today.”
It never seemed to matter how many of these interviews she did, Mackenzie ‘Mac’ Lauren always felt nervous when sitting down to talk about her work. She’d spent the majority of the last few years in front of the camera, but this was different. She didn’t have a script telling her which questions Star Ellis, the Sunshine Mornings’ host was going to ask her. She did, however, have her friend and co-star, Ryan Moore, next to her. She tried to relax as he laid his arm casually across the back of the couch they were sitting on. This would be the last publicity appearance she had to make this week, thank goodness. These early mornings, one after the other, had her inhaling coffee as if it were going out of fashion.
“Thanks for being here this morning,” Star said to them.
“It’s great to be here,” Ryan said.
“Thanks for having us,” Mac said.
“The season finale of Hart’s Valley airs this evening at eight-thirty on channel ten. The show has garnered a lot of attention in its first year,” Star said to them, “You’ve had a phenomenal first season, ratings wise, and the critics have praised both the writing and the acting consistently from day one. To what do you attribute the show’s success?”
“In all honesty,” Ryan said, “I think we’ve had some luck. I’ve never been on a show where things have just come together the way they have on Hart’s Valley. The writers, producers - the actors; everyone has gelled together really, really well.”
Mac nodded in agreement. Even on a show where everyone got along together well, she knew what she’d found on the set of Hart’s Valley was rare - a family. The whole cast and crew looked out for each other; and since they had a season which lasted forty-two episodes, and they shot from January to November, it was just as well. It wasn’t the first time she’d heard Ryan make this point in an interview either, and he had the most impressive filmography of all of her co-stars. At twenty-eight, he was only five years older than she was, but he was infinitely more experienced.
Star smiled and nodded. “Mackenzie, were you surprised when they announced Hart’s Valley had been picked up for a second season?”
Mac wasn’t surprised that the show had hit the right note with its audience. Named after the town the show was supposed to be set in, Hart’s Valley had it all; love, hate, lust, betrayal, and intrigue.
“We’ve really felt the love this season,” Mac said to her, “but of course you can never be one hundred percent sure of anything until it happens.”
“What about Brianna and Stone?” Star asked them. “Everyone wants to know if we’re going to see the two of them hook up in the season finale.”
“Do they?” Ryan asked, running his hand over his jaw. “I had no idea.”
Mac laughed at the question they’d been asked during every interview this week.
“Brianna still hasn’t forgotten that Stone blackmailed her to get the information he needed to take over her father’s company. She doesn’t trust him,” Mac answered about her character on Hart’s Valley. “But anything can happen in a season finale.”
“Mackenzie, you have a hard job; pretending to resist this man on screen,” Star said to her.
“It’s tough, but someone has to do it,” she came back with.
Ryan bumped her shoulder playfully with his, but he was smiling; a smile that had brought him a great deal of fame over the years. If it wasn’t for his family keeping him here in Melbourne, Ryan would have moved overseas a long time ago. The media often referred to Ryan as Australia's Romeo, and the name suited him perfectly. He had wavy, dark brown hair which was starting to look a little long. He hadn’t shaved for the interview this morning so dark stubble littered his jaw. His eyes were dark brown, with flecks of green in them, but Mac knew when he was angry, they could look black. At 6’2, he was a few inches taller than she was, and in the t-shirt he was wearing she could see the bulge of his biceps, and the outline of his abs and chest. His face and body were probably plastered all over every teenage girl’s wall in the country. In fact, when she’d been fifteen, his poster had been plastered on her wall.
He’d been laying down in it, she remembered, his black button-up shirt open so that his chest was on display; his dark hair curling over his forehead, while he’d stared at the camera. She’d thrown the poster out before she’d moved to the city, but just remembering how many times she’d studied it from her bed, was almost enough to make her flush with embarrassment. She’d gone to bed every night imaging his full lips on her, and his hands. She resisted the sudden urge to fan herself under the hot studio lights. Remembering the fantasies she’d had about her co-star eight years ago was not a smart move. She was supposed to have gotten over her teenage crush long ago. She might have felt her pulse flutter and her stomach drop when she’d met Ryan for the first time, but she’d quickly ignored it.
Their executive producer, Michael Blainesworth, didn’t look kindly upon relationships between actors, and after the mistake she’d made with Danny, she had no intention of complicating her working relationship with a personal one ever again. Being dumped by Danny, and Junction Hospital, the television show she’d starred in with him, had broken her heart, and almost killed her career. Thankfully Blainesworth had been willing to look past her error in judgement and give her a part in Hart's Valley anyway, believing she'd be wiser this time round. Of course, the fact that Junction Hospital and Hart's Valley were competing for ratings on rival stations might have played a small part in the reason he'd hired her. Mac didn't care. It was a great job.
She’d started her new role, determined to be the professional that she hadn’t been on Junction Hospital, and that meant keeping her hands off Hart’s Valley’s leading man. Ryan was a good friend. They’d hit it off from the start. He was easy to get along with, and they had fun together. He might be Australia’s Romeo, but she wasn’t going to jeopardize her career ever again. Besides, Ryan had been dating an underwear model for the last few months.
“What can we expect to see from the show in its second season?” Star asked them, bringing Mac back to the present.
“We’re pretty much in the dark about what will happen next season,” Ryan told Star. “They don’t tell us much at all.”
Even if Mac could see that the Mornings' host was fishing for information on the potential romance between their characters, Mac didn’t know what the writers had up their sleeves. More than likely the writers would draw it out for a while. It was the tease that kept people invested. Mac had no problem with that. She might be over her silly teenage crush on her co-star, but the thought of kissing him made her feel as if butterflies were beating their wings in her belly.
“We know there will be a new mystery to solve,” Mac said. “And Hart’s Valley will be shaken up by the arrival of someone new.”
Star nodded, before finishing up the interview. Being a morning show, with multiple spots for guests, the interview had probably only lasted seven minutes or so. Still, Mac was relieved when it was all over. Ryan held the door open for her as they walked out of the studio, and onto Toorak road. She pulled her scarf around her a little tighter. They were half way through November, but the mornings were still fresh. She breathed out, watching her breath turn to fog in the cool morning air.
“Come on,” Ryan said to her. “You’re cold.”
“Where are we going?”
“Where do you think?”
Mac watched the corner of his mouth curve up into a half smile. He had a mouth which looked like it was capable of doing wonderfully erotic things to her. Stop it! You’re not fifteen anymore. Mac mentally slapped herself over the head. She always suffered with these thoughts after remembering that poster.
“Coffee?” she asked him a little breathlessly.
“Yeah, we earned it, Mac. So, let’s go.”
Ryan fought the instinct to put his arm around Mackenzie as they began walking down the busy street together. Despite the fact he had a girlfriend, it was far too easy for people to see him with his arm around his co-star and see things that weren’t there. Instead of seeing two friends showing affection for each other, the media would call it something else. And a rumour would be the last thing they needed, especially since he’d just learnt yesterday that things were definitely going to be hotting up for their characters next season.
He hadn’t told Mac yet; hadn’t had a chance. But he was curious to know how she was going to react to the information. Both of them had assumed their characters wouldn’t be moving past their hatred of one another anytime soon, but one of the writers had hinted to him that he and Mac would be sharing some steamy screen time really soon. Ryan would be lying if he said kissing Mac would be a chore.
Mackenzie Lauren was crazy talented. He always enjoyed his scenes with Mac. They had great chemistry. Of course the fact that she was one of the most beautiful women he knew, didn’t hurt either. She didn’t need make-up, but when she did wear it, like today, it was hard to take his eyes off her. Her hair hung in soft waves down to her backside. Her cheeks were a soft pink, probably from sitting under the hot studio lights, and her blue eyes sparkled when she looked at him.
She’d look good anywhere, he thought; in the studio, on the farm she’d grown up on. In his bed. Ryan cursed his train of thought, and his sudden rise in body temperature. These thoughts had become more persistent in the last month or so, but they couldn’t go there - not while they worked together.
“That went well,” she said to him. “The interview.”
“What you mean is, that it was over quickly,” he said to her, amused.
“Am I that transparent?”
“Indeed you are, Mackenzie Lauren.”
She grinned at him, her smile making her seem impossibly more beautiful. She was obviously relieved their last interview was over, reminding him that she still wasn’t entirely comfortable when it came to the publicity appearances their job required. He supposed one could describe Mac as a little ‘green’ for her twenty-three years, but she’d started her acting career later than most people he’d worked with before.
After moving to Melbourne, from the country at eighteen, she’d made a stupid mistake with that ass-clown from Junction Hospital. She hadn’t had anyone to look out for her best interests then, or give her advice, but she did now. She had friends on Hart’s Valley. She had him. He wouldn’t exactly call himself her guardian, but she was a good friend, and he didn’t want to see her hurt again. And that meant ignoring the types of thoughts suddenly plaguing him at the moment. He cared about Mac too much to screw around with her.
“In that case, what am I thinking right now?” she asked him, raising an eyebrow.
“You’re thinking you’re hungry, and you want to go to the Red Jacket.”
“You mean, you’re hungry, and you want to go to the Red Jacket for breakfast,” Mac said to him, rolling her eyes.
“Am I that transparent?” he asked her jokingly.
“Indeed you are, Ryan Moore.”
Aside from the early interview, this was shaping up to be a pretty good morning, Mac thought, as Ryan chuckled beside her. The Red Jacket was her favourite café in South Yarra. It was only a few minutes’ walk from the set of Hart’s Valley, and she went there daily when they were filming. When the weather was warm it was the perfect place for sitting outdoors and having a quiet meal, underneath the fans, and when the weather was cold, like today, the booths inside were cosy, and comfortable.
They walked straight inside the café, and slid into a booth, knowing the wait staff would serve them when they were ready. Mac was taking off her scarf to lay it on the seat beside her, when she noticed that the previous occupant of the booth had left a gossip magazine behind. Women’s Daily News was full of unverified information about her co-stars, and other people in the entertainment business. She knew that, because when she’d been dumped from Junction Hospital, the magazine had claimed they had the details. They hadn’t. Mac didn’t know what sources “close” to her, would say the things that the magazine had suggested.
Instead of putting it in the bin, she opened it, and flipped through the pages until a photo and headline caught her attention. It had been eighteen months since her very public break-up with Danny Westlaker, but Mac felt pain slice through her as she read about how happy he supposedly was with the Junction Hospital actress, Angel Marran; a photo of the happy couple glared up at her from the pages of the glossy magazine. It also stated that Danny had decided not to sign up for another full season on Junction Hospital, because he’d been offered a role in the new Dane Gidardo film.
“What is it?” Ryan asked her.
“Nothing,” she told him, closing the magazine immediately.
It’s not like she’d intended to lie to him, it was just easier to say nothing, than it was to talk about what she’d just seen. Unfortunately, Ryan didn’t appear to believe her. He grabbed the magazine off her, before she could stop him, and proceeded to search through it for the article which had upset her. When he found it, he looked at her, his jaw suddenly taut, and his expression disapproving. She didn’t know how much Ryan knew about what had happened between her and Danny, but she knew that he didn’t have a particularly high opinion of the other actor.
“I’m fine,” she told him, sitting up a little straighter.
She didn’t need anyone to feel sorry for her, or angry on her behalf.
“He was an idiot, Mac.”
If anyone had been an idiot, it was her. She’d made a mistake, and it had been a big one, but Ryan was sweet for wanting to make her feel better.
“It’s true,” he said to her. “I mean, you’re way hotter than Angel Marran. Seriously, what was he thinking?”
“You prefer brunettes.” She rolled her eyes, but she was also smiling. “You’re kind of biased.”
“Maybe,” Ryan said with a smirk. “But that doesn’t make it any less true.”
So maybe now wasn’t the best time to bring up Brianna and Stone’s potential romance next season, Ryan thought. Not that he was planning on the two of them going down the same path she’d gone down with Danny Westlaker. He wasn’t going to take advantage of her the way that ass-hat had.
He’d dated actresses on the shows he'd worked on before, when he was younger; more reckless. It always ended up messy. Ryan liked to keep things simple, uncomplicated, and fun. Serious was for those who were looking to settle down. He wasn’t. The women he dated knew that up front. Life was too short to have complications. He grimaced as he thought about his girlfriend’s suggestion they move in together. Yep, they’d reached their expiry date.
He watched Mac pull her bag towards her, and look through it for something. He could tell she was still upset, but at least she was determined not to make the same mistake again. She was too focused on her career this time. In fact, she was so focused, he didn't think she'd been on a date since she’d started working on Hart’s Valley. She didn’t exactly lack offers. He’d just never seen her take anyone up on them. Until now he’d assumed it was because she was devoting all her time to acting, but after seeing the way she’d reacted to the article about Westlaker, he had a bad feeling her lack of dating was more about that idiot than lack of time.
“Mac. Ryan,” their regular waitress, Becca greeted them. “It’s so cold this morning. I couldn’t feel my hands or feet before I got to work today.”
“It’s freezing outside,” Mac agreed.
“What are you doing here? You guys are on break till January, right?”
“Another interview this morning,” Mac told her.
Becca nodded, and asked for their breakfast orders. Once she left, Ryan went back to studying Mac. “Are you over him?” he asked her.
Mac thought about the question for a moment. Before she’d picked up the magazine, she’d believed she was. So why had it hurt to see him so happy with Angel? It was just the shock, she told herself. That was it. After all, the reason Danny had given her for breaking up had been that he hadn’t wanted anything serious, and he’d felt that she was heading down that path. Of course when he’d started an exclusive relationship with Angel immediately afterwards, it had been apparent Danny didn’t mind permanent - he just hadn’t wanted it with her.
The break-up had been awful. When he’d moved on to Angel, she’d felt awkward, and rejected. The sight of him had made her want to break down and cry. Not to mention that working with Angel, and watching her and Danny together, had been like having her heart stomped on repeatedly. Her performance had suffered. She should have risen above it, but she hadn’t been able to. She’d let a guy screw up her work. It wouldn’t happen again.
“I am,” she said determinedly. “It’s just…seeing this article today was a surprise.”
“Not a good one,” he said to her.
“I’m over him.”
“It’s been how long since you broke up with him? You don’t date,” he said to her, a touch accusingly.
Mac opened her mouth to tell him she was too busy to date, but they were on break from filming for the next six weeks. The truth was that she did have time to date.
“So maybe I should start,” she said to him, shrugging.
Her words hit Ryan like a punch in the gut, and he actually felt himself hunch over before Becca appeared with their breakfast. It was probably just his protective instincts kicking in, he told himself as the waitress put their food on the table. As long as Mac was over Westlaker, he was happy. If she wanted to get out there and start dating again, that was her business. In fact considering things would be hotting up between Stone and Brianna next season, and he was experiencing these annoyingly persistent urges around her, it was probably a good thing.
“You approve?” she asked with amusement, when he nodded.
“I’ll have to ask Jazz to hit the clubs with me,” she said to him.
“You only go to clubs if you’re looking for one thing,” he said to her automatically, thinking of her out on the prowl with their co-star Jasmine Cooper. She would be asking for trouble.
“I know. I just love when you go all big brother on me,” she told him with a small smile. “I’m not that stupid.”
Ryan might have laughed had his thoughts about Mac been at all brotherly today. He’d have to give himself hell for that another time. Right now he was more focused on the fact she was giving herself a hard time over that idiot.
“You’re not stupid,” he told her. “Everyone makes mistakes, Mac.”
“Yeah.”
Mac wasn’t sure that Ryan had ever made a mistake like she had, but it wasn’t worth bringing it up so they could hash over hers right now.
“So, forget clubbing. What’s your plan of attack?” he asked her.
“I don’t know,” she said to him. “Jazz told me she knows someone I would hit it off with.”
She hadn’t given a thought to dating for a long time, and even when Jasmine had mentioned wanting to introduce her to someone, she’d dismissed it. Now, however, she had to admit that the idea was growing on her more and more.
“Cool,” he said to her.
Mac watched Ryan sit back in the booth, and put his hands behind his head. Her eyes trailed down from his now bulging biceps, to his shirt, which was stretched tightly over muscles she’d ogled far too many times. When she finally lifted her eyes to meet his, she noticed they were a shade darker than usual. It felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room as awareness suddenly crackled between them. Warmth that had nothing to do with the temperature inside the building spread through her.
“So you’re going to get her to introduce you?” Ryan asked her, breaking the silence, his voice just a fraction lower than normal.
“Yes,” she said to him, trying to remind herself that leading men were permanently off limits to her. “That’s what I’m going to do.”