Alec had completed seven films in his career, done numerous TV guest appearances, and at least twenty-five plays. He’d depicted an old man afflicted with Alzheimer’s, a swoon-worthy boyfriend, a psychopath, a nineteenth century drifter, a post nine-eleven FDNY firefighter with PTSD, a cocky Marine sniper, a morphine-addicted rodeo star, and a field reporter embedded in Iraq, among other things.
At thirty-three years old, he was a seasoned professional, and there wasn’t any role that he didn’t feel competent to deliver effortlessly. In the midst of scenes, he’d kiss the girl, cry, yell, laugh, joke, kill people, and die—all the while being able to slip into character and slip out without even thinking about it. Nothing ever rattled him, because none of it was personal.
Until he had to do a love scene with Cat.
Alec knew it was coming since he initially read the script, and even then, he didn’t think much of it. But three weeks before the end of filming, on the day they were scheduled to shoot the one and only bedroom scene, Alec was a bundle of nerves.
He knew Cat probably was too, having never done such a thing. He did his best to appear outwardly steady so as not to make it more difficult for her.
Scenes such as these were always filmed with only absolutely essential members of the crew. So, inside the bedroom set, it was just Alec, Cat, Roger, two camera operators, the sound and lighting guys, and the clapper loader.
Cat had a no-nudity clause in her contract, which Alec was surprisingly thankful for, since the long absent sight of her body would probably cause him to lose control of himself completely. Although, upon seeing her costume for the scene, he felt she may as well have been stark naked.
Alec entered the set to see her perched on a dresser with her legs crossed, wearing a short satin nightgown and filmy robe, both the color of her pale pink lips, and a long string of white pearls. He’d slipped in unnoticed and took advantage of that fact by slipping out quickly to clutch the sides of his forehead, in an attempt to get his mind out of someplace it had no business being at that moment, or probably at all.
He hadn’t quite managed to bring his thoughts back when Roger called for him to get inside.
“Let’s go, Alec!”
And with that, he gulped hard, straightened his tie, put on his hat, and strode in, trying to play this off as any other love scene he’d ever done.
It was only a short two-minute scene. There wasn’t any dialogue, only music that would be added post-production. The premise was simply that Jake had come home, discouraged after unsuccessfully trying to book additional shows, to find his wife sitting on their dresser with a loving and seductive expression on her face.
Alec crossed the room to step outside the faux bedroom door, but paused briefly in front of Cat and took her hand. Part of him was still firmly latched onto the information she’d drunkenly admitted weeks before about having been sexually assaulted, and he didn’t know if this entire experience would trigger unpleasant memories for her. She was trembling only slightly, so he rubbed his thumb over the back of her wrist a couple of times.
“Don’t be nervous,” he comforted. “You’re in safe hands.”
She smiled. “I know,” she whispered.
Alec took his place outside the door and waited.
After hearing his cue, he stepped into the room and closed the door behind him in a somber fashion. Turning slowly, he glanced at Cat and let his shoulders sink. She gestured in a come-hither motion, and he walked over to stand in front of her. She uncrossed her knees and tugged him between her legs, flipping off his hat and cradling his head into the crook of her neck as she wrapped her arms around him.
He drew in his breath deeply and then sighed, pausing, and then he began to kiss her neck. She gripped his back tighter and used her knees to hold him closer to her. He slid his hands from her waist to her hips to her back, and he found himself somewhat startled by the hard feeling of her ribs through the thin fabric. She was so much thinner than she used to be, and he couldn’t help but wonder if that was his fault too.
Cat pushed him back coyly and tugged at his tie, snaking it off and letting it fall to the floor before unbuttoning his shirt and slipping it off his shoulders. Alec moved his lips back to her neck and then to her mouth, as she bit his bottom lip and giggled, and he lifted her up by her sharp, bony ass and carried her to the bed.
After laying her down, he ran his lips down her neck and let his hand slip under the nightgown to gently squeeze her breast, as was dictated by the choreography.
Choreography or not, Alec noticed he started to become a little too turned on by the feeling of her skin that he’d missed so much. Seeing as he had no choice but to be in this moment as his character, he simply let himself enjoy being closer to her, and brought his mouth back to hers as she tugged at his hair, and he lowered himself on top of her.
“Cut,” Roger called. “Don’t move; we’re just changing angles. Looks gorgeous, guys.”
Alec released Cat’s mouth and studied her eyes.
“You okay?” he asked, doing his best to appear unfazed by the whole thing.
Cat nodded, letting her gaze dart downward briefly and lifting one eyebrow in a bit of a smirk.
Alec blushed slightly as he smiled sheepishly.
“Does that always happen during scenes like this?” she asked, still smirking.
He chuckled quietly. “Sometimes,” he lied. No, it had actually never happened to him before, because he’d never done a scene like this with anyone he was madly in love with. “It’s just been a while,” he admitted. That, however, was true.
“In real life or on film?” Cat inquired.
“Uh…” he stammered. “Both?”
She narrowed her eyes as if doubting him. “Really. How long is a while?”
Alec pursed his lips as he thought. “Last time on film was about two years ago,” he replied. “Real life…uh…longer than that.”
“How long?” Cat almost sounded as if she was interrogating him.
“Probably since…I cleaned up my act,” he confessed.
“Really,” she repeated, eyes still narrowed.
“Really. I didn’t like being a scumbag. I didn’t feel like it was who I am,” he explained.
“Well aren’t you the honorable one?” Cat teased.
Alec shrugged. “I try to be.”
“Hmph,” she huffed, sounding a bit pleased with the information, and then tilted her gaze to the ceiling. “I don’t even remember the last time I did this…in real life, obviously."
Alec didn’t know how to feel about such an admission. If she didn’t remember, it meant she probably hadn’t been with anyone since him, and that was pleasing, albeit completely hypocritical of him, since he’d had more sleazy hook-ups than he could even remember after they’d split up. But it also meant she didn’t remember the last time they’d been together.
Then he got curious and couldn’t stop himself from asking.
“So, no famous rock star boyfriends or anything like that?”
Cat scoffed. “Please. I don’t do relationships.”
“Why not?”
She stared at the ceiling and then brought her gaze back to his and glared at him with intensity.
“Because the last guy I was in a relationship with did the unthinkable to me.”
Alec stared at her. His heart was like a pummel of thoroughbred hoofbeats in his chest.
From the look in her eyes and the words she'd uttered, Alec knew.
Either she'd finally remembered after being tipped off by something, or she'd known all along and just acted as if she didn't—Cat knew who he was.
It took him several seconds to try to come up with the right thing to say, but he took too long and never got the chance. At least right then.
“Okay, you guys ready?” Roger directed from across the room. “Start kissing. Make it intense. Ready…Action!”
And for the remaining forty-five seconds of the scene, needless to say, it was intense.