drink on her, she slipped out of her chair and rounded the table to chat with Lily Benitez.
No problem. He’d catch her before he left. He felt terrible about ruining her outfit, and he couldn’t end this day without trying to make things right. This entire production hinged on the two of them selling the audience a romance between their characters. If she thought he was a fool, this would never work.
And he really needed it to work.
As Ashton was saying goodbye to the others, his ears picked up Jasmine’s voice somewhere behind him.
“Oh, the outfit?” She gave an easy laugh. “Spilled a giant coffee on myself right before we started. Had to make do with what was available, you know?”
The person she was talking to chuckled and said, “The show must go on?”
“Exactly.”
Ashton turned his head to catch a glimpse of her out of the corner of his eye. She was chatting with one of the ScreenFlix VPs, but standing with them was someone else—someone wearing a visitor’s badge and recording their conversation with a phone.
A reporter.
Ashton did a sharp about-face and made a prompt exit. Peter called his name, and Ashton waved, but kept going. Farther down the hallway he encountered Skye, and asked them to show him back to the elevators.
Once the doors shut behind him and he was on his way down, Ashton was finally able to take a deep breath.
He hated talking to the press. While the Miami-based entertainment reporters were used to his standoffishness and had reached the point of joking about it good-naturedly, he was in New York now. He had no idea what to expect from the media here. And the last thing he needed was for a reporter to record him apologizing to Jasmine. It would spark curiosity, and he couldn’t afford rumors or invasive questions. His son’s safety was too important.
Later. He’d talk to Jasmine later.
THE AWKWARD TABLE read set the tone for Jasmine’s first week on Carmen.
Not that she had trouble adjusting. If anything, the production pace was leisurely compared to what she was used to from working on soaps, where they filmed over one hundred pages per day and were expected to nail the shot on the first take. Having more than a week to shoot an episode felt positively decadent.
She assumed it must be the same for Ashton, coming from telenovelas, but she couldn’t know for sure because the man was never around to ask.
After the table read, he’d taken one look at her and left without even saying goodbye. And sure, he showed up when it was time to rehearse, and he was of course there while they filmed, but as soon as the scene wrapped, Ashton disappeared again. Hell, he would barely even look at her unless the script called for it.
Jasmine tried not to take it personally, but taking things personally was one of her greatest skills. Fortunately, the first episodes called for some awkwardness between them.
Carmen Serrano, Jasmine’s character, worked at a public relations firm owned by her family in New York City. She was a tough, take-no-shit kind of woman. A real Leading Lady type. Jasmine could stand to take a few lessons from her.
The show started with Carmen getting the rug pulled out from under her—not only was the family business in trouble, but their latest client, the one who could get them back on top? None other than her ex-husband, Victor Vega, an international pop star.
Jasmine could sympathize with Carmen. She had a problem with exes too.
Most of the scenes Jasmine had already filmed involved the actors who played Carmen’s family members. They were all lovely people, and Peter Calabasas, who played her on-screen dad, Ernesto Serrano, reminded Jasmine of her grandfather, Willie Rodriguez. She felt so at ease with him and Miriam Perez, who played Carmen’s mom Dahlia, she took them up on their offer to run through the Spanish dialogue together, and Jasmine aced the scenes when they filmed them.
So far, she hadn’t had too much interaction with Ashton on set, but that would be changing soon. Today, they were filming Carmen and Victor’s reunion scene. After spending the morning drinking way too much coffee in hair and makeup, Jasmine was ready to get it over with.
Ashton showed up on set looking sleek and sexy. For Victor, they’d given him a fresh shave and slicked his dark curls away from his face. Jasmine wished they’d left something to distract from his extreme handsomeness . . . like a