“So I offered my services,” Tanner concluded.
“Sounds smart to me. Do you mind if I watch?” My question was aimed at Sierra. I didn’t want to make her self-conscious.
“Not at all.” She gave me a smile that made me think we might become friends. That was a double win—I sure could use some more friends on set, plus it would likely piss Aiden off.
“Great. I’ll stay out of your way. Good luck.”
It soon became apparent that Sierra needed all the luck she could get. She did okay with her lines, in my non-expert opinion. She had to shout things like, “What are you doing?” and, “Don’t touch me!” The problem was that she genuinely seemed to not want anyone to touch her. Half the time Tanner rounded on her, she flinched, and I was pretty sure that wasn’t part of the act.
I wished she knew Tanner better—that she knew he was good at his job and would never hurt her. But no matter how many times they practiced each move, she was extremely timid and tended to freeze up. I had a feeling that was not what the script called for.
Ford and Tanner were as patient as saints. It took a long time, but Sierra finally got comfortable with the first part of the sequence. When Tanner ran into her and knocked her down, it looked real, but I knew from Ford’s explanation how they were able to do it without anyone getting hurt. Then Tanner pulled her to her feet but didn’t let go of her. She struggled against him and it looked real, like she was panicked and hurting her wrists in an effort to get free. But then Ford broke into the scene and examined her wrists for any sign of damage. There was none, and Sierra said she felt fine.
They took a break for water and Tanner came over to sit by me. “Looks like she’s doing better.”
Tanner checked to make sure Sierra wasn’t in earshot, and then shook his head. “She is, but it took far too long for her to get that right. If Ford wasn’t such a patient teacher, she probably wouldn’t have gotten it at all. And it’s not that hard—you could’ve picked it up in five minutes.”
I had to admit that I thought that was probably true, but it made me feel bad for Sierra.
Tanner continued. “She flinches half the time I touch her. It may not be visible from here, but the camera will pick up on it, and so will Aiden.”
“And he won’t be pleased.” I said it as a statement, not a question.
“No, he won’t.” Tanner sighed. “And I don’t even know what to do about the kiss.”
Wow, that was an abrupt change of subject. Did he really want to talk about that here and now?
“Tanner,” I began, unsure how to continue. “It was nice, really nice, but I’m going through a lot right now, and—”
He held up his hand to stop me, a glint of amusement in his eyes. “I meant the kiss that’s coming up in the scene.”
Oh. Heat flared from my chest to my neck to my face. “Ah, okay.”
“After I grab her and capture her wrists, she tries to get away, and I spin her around against the car and—wait, did you describe our kiss as nice?”
“Um, yeah.” God, this was embarrassing.
“I thought it was better than just nice.” He smirked. “Want to do it again and try for awesome?”
I couldn't help grinning at his cockiness. It was kind of hot as long as it never got to Aiden’s level of overconfidence. Before I could think of a response, Ford called Tanner over.
Tanner got to his feet. “Hold that thought. Time to go kiss a movie star.”
I watched him go, and then frowned. He was really going to kiss her?
But that turned out not to be the case. Ford propped a mat up vertically against some sawhorses, and that was the stand-in for the car. They did the first part of the sequence again, and then Ford added to it. Tanner had to take her by the arms and throw her against the side of the car—or, rather, the mat. Ford gave Tanner instructions every step of the way about how to make it look like he had her arms in a death grip when, really, it was a light touch. And then he showed them both how they could use their body movements to sell the idea that Tanner was forcefully shoving her against the car when he really wasn’t.
Tanner was an experienced stunt man, so he had to know all this. I got the sense that Ford was overexplaining everything to make Sierra feel better.
“Good, that was good,” Ford said, giving Sierra an encouraging smile. “Let’s do the whole thing from the top. I'll watch with the rest of the audience.” He came over and sat down next to me. “Action,” he called to the two of them.