And tomorrow I have to somehow dance in this outfit! She let out a groan. How is that supposed to happen?
As she walked through the maze of production trucks and trailers parked outside the posh mansion where they had been filming, Olivia spotted Jackson standing with his back to her outside one of the trailers. He was dressed in his ‘poor’ Victorian costume, flipping through a script, and his shoulders were hunched.
Olivia frowned. Was he just concentrating hard? Or was he nervous? That’s so unlike him. She hesitated, looking at his hunched shoulders. Could he be nervous because of us?
Their afternoon in London had been wonderful, but things had turned awkward again as soon as they’d started filming yesterday. Then again . . . Olivia sighed. They were playing people who were supposed to be in love with each other! For a real-life ex-couple, that was a tense situation to be in. How could they not feel awkward in this situation?
Maybe if she could lighten things up somehow . . .
All of a sudden, as Olivia stared at Jackson’s back, she felt an overwhelming urge to sneak up behind him, cover his eyes and say, ‘Guess who?’
Don’t be ridiculous! she told herself. Why would anyone, in the history of anything, ever think that was a good idea?
She turned away, shaking her head, then stopped. Because really . . .
She’d seen it in so many movies that it was actually kind of traditional, wasn’t it? Especially on a movie set! And even if it wasn’t . . . I have to do something to break this tension between us!
Finally making a decision, she crept up behind him. Her big skirt rustled as she moved, but Jackson was studying his script too intensely to notice, even when she was less than a foot behind him. She stood up on tiptoe to reach out and cover his eyes . . .
Oh no! Her feet were tangled in her tight chemise. Olivia lurched forward, hopelessly off-balance . . . and landed right on Jackson’s back, knocking him to the ground and landing right on top of him. She could feel his body wriggling beneath her and his grunts of protest, but there was nothing she could do to roll off him – not in this ridiculous dress. Loose script-pages fluttered everywhere.
Olivia closed her eyes in anguish. Could that possibly have gone any worse?
The answer was definitely I don’t think so.
Her cheeks burned with embarrassment as she finally rolled off Jackson in her enormous hoop-skirt. She sat beside Jackson’s fallen body, her cheeks still flushed and her breath coming in gasps because of the corset.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she wheezed. ‘I didn’t –’
She cut herself off with a gasp as Jackson turned to face her. Oh no.
She’d been wrong. It could have gone worse. It had gone worse. Much worse!
Because it wasn’t Jackson she had tackled, after all. She’d taken a total stranger to the ground!
‘I’m so sorry,’ she repeated faintly. She felt light-headed, and for once, it wasn’t the corset that was to blame.
The stranger’s hair was the same shade of blond as Jackson’s and cut in the same hairstyle. He was the same height as Jackson, and he wore Jackson’s costume . . . but he was definitely not Jackson.
‘I-I-I . . .’ Olivia stammered, scooting backwards. ‘I’m so sorry, but you look just like . . .’
The stranger smiled ruefully. ‘. . . Jackson Caulfield?’ he finished for her.
Olivia swallowed hard. ‘Yes,’ she admitted. ‘How did you know?’
‘Because I get that a lot.’ The boy’s smile turned into a grin. ‘I’m Will, Jackson’s body double.’
Olivia’s eyes widened. ‘Oh, of course! That explains it. But I didn’t know we were getting body doubles!’
He nodded. ‘You’re Olivia Abbott, aren’t you?’
‘I am,’ Olivia said. ‘It’s nice to meet you.’ She started to reach out for a handshake – then cringed as she suddenly realised that Will was still lying spread-eagled on the ground, where she’d left him. ‘I really am so sorry. I just lost my balance with this crazy dress!’
‘No worries.’ Will took her hand so they could help each other up. ‘It was kind of fun to stop being Jackson’s body double for a while, and be his stunt double!’
Olivia laughed with him as she smoothed down her skirt with her free hand. ‘I promise not to make you perform any more surprise stunts!’
Will grinned, leaning a little closer. ‘I don’t know. This one was kind of fun.’
A flutter of curtain movement caught Olivia’s eye. It was coming from a nearby trailer . . . Jackson’s trailer. And Jackson stood at the window, scowling. Oh no!
She lunged backwards, pulling free of Will’s hand. Jackson just saw me holding hands with another boy and laughing. What will he think?
Then she saw the look on Will’s face. He was staring down at her hand, which she had just yanked away from him with full force.
‘Sorry,’ he mumbled. ‘I didn’t mean to annoy you.’
‘Oh, you didn’t!’ Olivia bit her lip, cringing at her own clumsiness. Will had been so nice about being knocked over in her mistaken joke. The last thing she wanted to do now was make him feel bad.
‘I know I’m not one of the stars,’ he said. ‘If you felt like I was stepping out of line –’
‘No, that’s not it at all!’ Olivia bit back a groan. Why is this all so complicated? She was all too aware of Jackson watching. Everything in her wanted to get away before he leaped to any false conclusions.
But she certainly didn’t want Will to think she found him . . . well, whatever it was he thought! And honestly, only a blind girl would think he was anything but attractive. In fact, being a good double for Jackson meant he was probably the second cutest boy on the whole planet!