Hollywood Flirt - Alexa Aston Page 0,37

was wondering why Dash didn’t have any script pages in his hand but Sydney knew.

He didn’t need them.

She caught Jayla’s eyes and mouthed, “Start.”

Jayla spoke her first line and the scene unfolded. It was one full of tension. Passion. Dash delivered every line the way Cassie had written it. He was confident. Charming. The rage that seethed underneath the surface was bottled up and appeared ready to explode at any moment. Sydney was so caught up in his performance, she didn’t think it was a performance. Instead, Dash breathed life into Paul so that Dash DeLauria disappeared. Only Paul Hannigan remained.

The scene ended. Jayla looked shaken. She excused herself and exited the room.

Regina was the first to find her voice. “Nicely done, Number Three. Please move on to your monologue. I assume you also have that memorized?”

Paul gave her an icy stare before lowering his head. Slowly, he raised it. His blue eyes blazed as he spoke.

Sydney felt Cassie take her hand as Paul’s speech unfolded. His voice broke near the end. A single tear rolled down his cheek. He finished and dropped his head again.

Sydney found herself spellbound. She couldn’t stop staring. Then his head lifted slowly, and Dash DeLauria was in the room—for the first time. The transformation had ended.

He went first to Regina and shook her hand. “Nice to meet you, Miss Stevens.” He gave her his trademark smile. Regina seemed flustered and knocked her iPad to the ground. Dash retrieved it and then moved down the line.

“Good morning, Cassie,” he said. “I hope I did Paul justice.”

Cassie released Sydney’s hand. “Yes. I’d say you did, Dash.”

Then he was standing in front of Sydney. Her mouth was dry. Her tongue seemed to have swollen twice its size.

“Hello, Sydney,” he said softly. His eyes locked on hers and held them.

She couldn’t breathe. She gawked at him. Finally, she found her voice. “That was . . . exactly right,” she said.

“Thank you.”

“Mr. DeLauria, would you mind stepping into the next room for a few minutes?” Regina asked.

“Sure.” He waited a few beats before he pulled his eyes from Sydney and sauntered out, looking more Dash-like than normal.

Jayla closed the door after him. Sydney hadn’t seen the assistant return to the room.

“If that’s not Paul Hannigan, I don’t know who is,” Jayla proclaimed. “He was downright scary.”

“Get your notes down quickly. These impressions are important,” Regina said. “They may also be helpful to Monty as he tries to help interpret the character.”

Sydney rested her fingers atop the keyboard a moment, then she began typing quickly. She poured her heart out. It no longer mattered what Dash had done. He shouldn’t be punished when he could bring Paul to life as he had.

She finished and sat back in her chair, totally drained.

Regina leaned over and powered down the camera that had been filming each audition. “I’ve only done this once in all my years in the business but I think we should cancel the rest of the auditions for the role of Paul. Move on and cast the rest of the film.”

Cassie spoke up. “I don’t think we’ll see a better Paul, no matter how many actors come through that door. I don’t care if it’s one or a thousand and one. We’ve got our Paul.” She turned to Sydney, concern on her face. “What do you think?”

“I’ve never seen a better match between actor and role. It would be a waste of time and money to continue the search.”

“You’re sure you’re good with it?” Cassie asked.

Sydney nodded. “I would like to suggest that we have Number Two back. I saw some raw talent there.”

“For the crime lord’s son?” Regina asked.

“I agree,” Cassie said. “I was already thinking that.”

Regina stood. “That’ll clear our schedule for a week.” She looked at Jayla. “See about re-scheduling those reading for the Rachel Sturgis role. Might as well tackle that next.”

“Are you going to tell Dad?”

“I’ll show him Dash’s audition. He’ll know right away.”

“Could I tell Dash that he got the part?” Sydney asked.

Regina shrugged. “Have at it. Let him know I’ll contact his agent later today. Once we narrow it down to two or three Rachels, I’d like them to test together. On film. I’m always looking for the right chemistry.” She took the camera and tripod with her.

“Sydney, do you really want to talk to Dash?” Cassie asked.

“I think I need to for closure.” She leaned down and slipped his wallet from her tote. “Plus, I need to give this back to him.”

Cassie