The more she thought about it, the weirder she felt. On closer inspection of the script, it had turned out to be a closed-set scene with partial nudity. She had kissed Nick onscreen before, but Vampires was a series with a largely teenage fan base, so nothing more. These days, he starred in action films and thrillers, and was fast becoming an old hand at love scenes, she’d heard.
They’d spent the afternoon in rehearsal with an intimacy coordinator. Astrid had worked through the scene and blocked it with them, each small movement, precisely thought out, second by second, like a tightly choreographed dance. They had safe words for if either of them felt uncomfortable or needed a break. They’d focused on the physical moves, but they hadn’t taken their clothes off and they hadn’t tackled the kiss. She had a block about it. Astrid and Nick told her not to worry, that it would work like a charm when it came to the bit. She didn’t share their confidence and she was so nervous now she could hardly think about anything else.
Hughie tore off towards the high rock where Callum had nearly got stranded on their first night at Karadow Cove, and stopped, as if standing guard, yapping furiously. Ella and Callum hurried across the beach, over the rippled sand, strewn with shells and seaweed.
‘What’s up, you crazy dog?’
‘Something he doesn’t like.’ Callum nodded his head towards the limpet-covered rock. ‘Up there.’
Atop the rock sat a crisscross orange square of torn fishing net, with dry, green straggles of seaweed attached. It moved.
‘Did you see that? What do you suppose is under there?’
‘A tiny sea monster?’ Callum stepped up onto the base of the rock. ‘I’m going to find out what it is. Wait here.’
‘Be careful.’
He shouted back casually, ‘No worries’, and kept on climbing. ‘I’ve done it before, remember?’
Convinced Hughie had calmed down, Ella dug in her pocket and gave him a treat. ‘Stay!’ she said firmly.
He gave a whimper of objection but lay down on the sand obediently.
The breeze blew her hair across her eyes. She swept it away. Taking a deep breath, she began her ascent of the rock. When she caught Callum up, he held out his hand to her. ‘You could have stayed down there.’
She didn’t take his hand. ‘It’s not Everest.’ She didn’t need anyone’s help, she was in control, she could help sort this out. ‘I’ve got this.’
A few feet from the top he stopped. ‘This last bit is tricky. Mind how you go. It might be slippy.’
Embarrassingly ungainly, she resorted to all fours, and scrambled sideways along the ridge of rock. At the top she knelt down. The barnacles on the granite pressed into her knees.
She reached out, tugging ever so gently at the scrap of fishing net, hoping that whatever was trapped inside didn’t bite.
With Callum opposite her, they worked on the mess of frayed, knotted ends and seaweed while the lump underneath wriggled.
‘Hang on in there.’ She talked calmly to the unidentified object. ‘Don’t be scared. This is a rescue attempt.’ Finally, she tweaked back one corner to reveal a small brown seabird.
‘It’s a young gull,’ said Callum.
She carefully cupped the bird in her hands. It tipped its head and looked at her with bright eyes.
She spotted a dried-out sandwich crust nearby. ‘Probably scavenging for food.’
Callum picked up the net, scrunched it into a tight ball and shoved it into a large pocket in his cargo pants. ‘Is it hurt?’
‘Hard to tell. Dazed, I think?’ She stroked the soft feathers on the bird’s head with one finger. She gazed off across the sand to the sea, blue with cresting splashes of white stirred up by the wind. At the water’s edge, a flock of small birds took flight. ‘It must be exhausted struggling to get free. Should we let it be? Leave it to fly away when it’s ready.’
‘If it’s injured it might not be able to.’ Callum pulled his tee-shirt off over his head.
‘What are you doing?
‘Don’t worry.’ An amused grin spread across his face, and there was mockery in his silvery-grey eyes. ‘I’m not a secret stripagram. I’m not going to sing again, or anything.’
‘Thank goodness.’ She rolled her eyes, not in the least displeased by the sight of his ripped muscles. ‘One rock god in my life is enough.’
He held out his tee-shirt to her. ‘We can keep the gull safe in this while we climb down. It’ll be easier to check if it’s okay, or not, on solid ground.’
‘Oh right.’
‘Unless you’ve got a better idea?’
From beneath lowered lashes, she ran her gaze over his toned body. She bit her lip and shook her head. ‘Nope.’
He laid the tee-shirt flat on the rock and together they swaddled the bird. Then he lodged it gently in the crook of one arm and held it, safe against his broad, suntanned chest. ‘You go first,’ he said.
Clutching at the rough surface she picked her way downwards until her feet hit soft sand. She admired the view of Callum as he climbed down after her.
‘Can I see?’ She took the bundle from his hands. The bird twitched feebly. She knelt on the sand. Hughie shot forward, sniffing and nudging her elbow.
‘Oh no, you don’t.’ Catching Ella in his shadow, Callum hooked his fingers under the dog’s collar. ‘The poor thing is freaked out enough without you sticking your wet nose in.’
She peeled back the fabric and held her breath. The bird froze. ‘What if it won’t fly? It might not survive.’
‘We should give it some space. See what happens. If it doesn’t have the energy to fly, I’ll phone a vet, ask about a wildlife sanctuary.’
Keeping the dog still and quiet with calm words and treats, so that he wouldn’t try and chase the gull, they backed off and sat a distance away, waiting.
Callum stared off into the distance. ‘I’m leaving tomorrow night, once the shoot’s done there’s nothing for me to stay for.’
Ella stared at the gull. She drew random shapes with one finger in the sand. She couldn’t bring herself to open up, to say she didn’t want to have to watch Callum drive away. Not talking about her real feelings was a habit she was only just learning to break.
‘Come on little bird,’ she said softly. ‘Fly away.’
The sun shone brightly above the sparkling sea. Suddenly the gull stood on its feet. It hopped off the tee-shirt, out of the shade and into the sunshine leaving tiny footprints in the sand.
‘The moment of truth.’ She held her breath. As though finding them for the first time, the gull fluttered its wings, and stretched them wide. Her heart lifted as it took flight. ‘Thank goodness for that.’ She leapt to her feet in an instant of delight.
Callum stood up too. He smiled and his eyes gleamed. He high-fived her. ‘It’s going to be okay.’
‘Yay.’
He caught her hand before she lowered it and threaded her fingers between his and gazed at her as if he was looking straight into her soul.
‘Has anyone ever told you that you’re an irresistible force?’ His voice was hushed and seductive.
‘No.’
She circled her arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around her and drew her to him. Holding her against his body, he rested his chin on her head for a moment and drew in a deep breath.
‘I only have one night left in Porthkara,’ he said. ‘So, if we wanted something? You and me, that is.’
‘There’s nothing stopping… us.’ She stumbled over “us” because the word seemed too permanent for what they were proposing. She whispered against the tight muscles of his chest. ‘We’ve both moved our lives forward. It doesn’t mean this isn’t real.’
‘Real for now.’ His voice drawled with desire.
‘That’s it exactly.’
‘Sounds good to me.’
‘You’re a master of understatement, Mr Smith. This thing-that’s-not-a-thing of ours will be so much better than good. It will be perfect.’
Perfect. Fast. Crazy. Shallow. That’s what she was aiming for with him, because she trusted him and she couldn’t resist him.
She clasped his neck, twisting her fingers in his hair, in the heat of the moment craving his kiss, drawing his mouth to hers, seeking his lips. He lowered his head, catching her mouth with his, everything about him hot and hard. His divine lips moved softly against hers now, slowly, cautiously like he was searching for the answer to an unspoken question.
He locked her even closer and her mind got lost, drifting in his kiss. Her fingers tangled more tightly in his hair and her body curved against him. Fireworks blasted through her heart, her head. Spinning in a fusion of live-for-the-moment impulses, the heat of his mouth took her to a place from which she had no wish to return. Pressed up close against his chest, all she wanted was for Callum to wrap himself around her.
She couldn’t wait to lose herself in her longing for his beautiful body.