I look around. My glance turns to a stare. Carlos is around thirty years old. He’s Hispanic, tall, well-built, and casually dressed in jeans and T-shirt. His black hair is closely-cropped and his eyes are coal-dark. He looks born to play a cop. He looks born to play a hot gay guy. My mouth is unaccountably dry. I stick my hand out.

“Hey, Jaden Gray.”

“Carlos Cruz. Nice to meet you.” His palm is dry, warm. His shake is firm and so is his eye contact. Comfortable with this, gay or straight.

Tony is brisk. “Okay, we’re going to get straight to your first love scene.”

Excuse me? It’s the day before Christmas Eve. I didn’t expect any acting to happen at all before the break, much less love-making with some guy I’ve just met.

I stare at Tony but I’m looking at his back because he’s strode off in the direction of the set. I cast a panic-stricken look at Carlos. He rolls his eyes. “Great introduction, now let’s get naked.”

I can’t help but laugh and he gives me a crooked little smile. The sun makes his eyes glitter with golden sparks. He is very, very handsome. The sort of guy that makes heads turn everywhere he goes. He follows Tony and I trail them both.

We arrive at the home of Carlos’s character, Sonny. It’s an open plan lounge and kitchen, a bedroom leading off. Tony stops inside the door, making us wait outside.

“We’re going to shoot inside as you burst through the door lip-locked.” He grins and I can’t look at Carlos. My limbs are turning to water with nerves. “I’ll guide you, but you’ve read the script, you know what to do. Lots of stumbling about, pulling off clothes.”

I swallow. From the corner of my eye, I see Carlos cast me a look.

“Let’s not forget that while you treat this initially as a one-night stand, Jaden, it’s actually the start of a grand love affair, so let’s show that. Let’s see the passion. People want to feel it.”

I’m starting to tremble.

“Let’s go,” Tony says and he shuts the door in our faces.

We look at each other. Carlos rolls his eyes again. He smiles and dimples sink deep around his full-lipped mouth. “There’re worse ways to earn a living,” he says and I wonder if it’s some sort of back-handed compliment.

I give him a half-hearted smile in return and I know it betrays my nerves, my anxiety.

“Action,” Tony calls from the other side of the door.

Carlos puts one hand on the door. He grasps the back of my neck with the other and before I can prepare myself, he’s kissing me.

Somehow I keep my gasp of surprise inside. His lips are warm, soft and full of the passion Tony wants. He shoves open the door and pulls me with him and I have to grasp him with one arm around his back to makes sure the kiss doesn’t break. I tell myself this is because I don’t want to ruin the take and have to go again. It’s nothing to do with the fact that I’d rather keep my lips just where they are for as long as I possibly can.