With her iPod blaring, Lea didn't realize she wasn't alone in the theater until she had nearly walked straight into the dark figure just pushing aside the wing curtain.
"Jesus, Chris! You scared me!" Lea pulled the earbuds out of her ears with one hand while the other was pressed against her heart. She could even feel the hard thumping of her pulse in her neck.
Chris Fontenot, one of the actors in the Westwood Theater's production of Camelot, was smiling wickedly at Lea's obvious fright.
"Why are you here so early?" Lea took a deep breath and spoke in a more severe tone. "Make-up call isn't for another two hours."
"I know." Chris smiled wider, revealing his perfectly straight, perfectly white teeth. His dark brown eyes glinted even in the dim lights of the stage wing. "And I could ask you the same question, Miss Assistant Director or do you prefer Miss Stage Manager?"
"I prefer to know why you're here this early." Lea's voice held authority.
Chris brushed past Lea and continued into the gloom of the wing. He walked towards a prop bed and sat on the edge before looking back at Lea. It wasn't until he sat down that she realized he was in full costume. Chris was every inch the legendary knight Lancelot, from his high leather boots and pants to the sword that glinted at his side. Lea knew for a fact that the sword was authentic. The director has insisted on that.
"You're early and you're dressed." Lea frowned and pushed back a strand of brown hair that had fallen out of her loose ponytail. "Did you come here just to annoy me? You know if you get anything on that costume I won't be able to clean it before curtain."
Chris laughed and ran his hand through his dark black hair. The director had also insisted most of the knights in the play grow there hair out. Chris's thick black mane held just enough of an easy curl to be the envied by most women who saw it.
"You know, you've been bullying us all since the first rehearsal." Chris shook his head and looked up. "No, I take that back, you've been bullying us since the auditions."
Lea scoffed but said nothing. She straightened her back and forced herself to look directly at Chris.
"I only do what needs to be done to make sure the play runs smoothly." She didn't like explaining herself.
"And you do a great job, no one's contesting that." Chris pushed himself into a standing position and walked towards Lea. "You, my dear one, are magnificent at what you do. You have made yourself absolutely indispensible. No one, not the actors, not the director, not even the tech guys would be able to function without you."
Chris was now standing right in front of Lea. She could feel his warm breath on her face as he spoke. She was uncomfortable at his closeness by refused to back down. At 23, she was the youngest person working at the theater. She earned a reputation for being tough and thorough. She got things done quickly and sometimes before it was asked of her. She showed no weakness with the actors because she knew if she did they would walk all over her. Even veterans to the stage rushed to obey her orders.
Lea also refused to back down because she recognized Chris's actions as a challenge. The 30-year-old had been pushing Lea's buttons since he had been cast in the play. So far she had won every battle of wills. She wasn't going to give up now.
"What are you doing here, Chris?" She asked again as she gave him her hardest stare.
"Obstinate to the last." He smiled and took a step closer. There was only a bare inch between them. "You are too tense, too willing to fight."
"If you're not going to answer my question, then I'm going." Lea began to turn. "I have plenty to do before the rest of the cast and crew get here tonight."
Lea turned her back fully on Chris and took at step out of the wings. Before her foot even reached the stage, Chris had grabbed her and spun her around to face him.
"Oh, no, we're going to finish this conversation first." Chris smiled with only half of his mouth and Lea felt an inner dread. His smile was that of a predator playing with his prey.
"I'm busy." Lea growled between her teeth and tried to shake Chris's arm away. He held fast.
Chris smiled again and walked backwards, taking Lea with him. They reached the prop bed and Chris sat, pulling Lea down next to him. She sat hard on the plywood frame.
"I know you're really running the show." Chris smiled his predatory grin. "I know you've been running all of the shows you worked and that's why you keep getting hired."
Lea sighed in what she hoped was an annoyed fashion. She didn't like being so close to Chris if only because she couldn't always control how her body reacted. Already she could feel that electric current running through her and culminating at the spot where her legs met. Chris was good looking and he knew it. Men and women fawned over him, but his preference was a mystery. The fact that he was a Lea knew what Chris was, an opportunist. That still didn't stop her body from wanting him.
He had been cast as Lancelot and Lea had to admit he was a good choice. He looked young, brash and ready to take on the world. It would be easy for anyone to see why Guinevere would have fallen for Lancelot if he possessed any of the natural qualities Chris had.
"I said before, you have been bullying us since auditions." Chris let go of Lea's arm and looked at the closed curtain. "I have a sneaky suspicion you even picked who got which parts."
"Not every part." Lea crossed her arms over her chest, partly in annoyance and partly because the sexual current running through her was making her nipples harden through her thin black t-shirt.
"No, of course not." Chris continued to look at the curtain. "Cameron is Guinevere only because she slept with the director. We all know that. It's theater politics."
"No, Cameron is Guinevere because she slept with one of the theater patrons who insisted she get the part." Lea said. "Michael is Arthur because he slept with the director."
"How did I get the part?" Chris turned his full attention to Lea. She was glad it was too dim for him to see the flush that came in her cheeks.
"You were good in auditions." She shrugged. "You sang well and looked right for the part."
"Why else?" Chris smiled. "I know I was good, but that wasn't the only reason, was it? Talent is never the only factor in acting."
Lea looked for an escape and saw none. She sighed before answering
"David was hoping you would sleep with him too if you were on cast." Lea kept her voice low.
"I figured as much." Chris laughed easily. "Dear old perverted director Dave. He probably told you that the night you helped him choose parts. He would want his conquest to be known."
"Is there a point to any of this?" Lea asked. "As much as I'd love to sit here and tell you who's sleeping with whom, I do have responsibilities."
Lea stood and walked back towards the curtain, deliberately not turning to look at Chris.
"You have real power here." Chris said, his voice stopping Lea before she had quite made it out of the wings. "You didn't get where you were by sleeping around. You are an impartial observer to the drama backstage."
"I know actors like to hear their own voices, Chris, but this is getting to be a bit much." Lea kept her eyes forward, not daring to look back. "Make a point or I'm going."
With this leather boots on, Lea hadn't heard Chris stand and walk quickly behind her. She unintentionally jumped when she felt Chris's breath on the back of her neck.
"My point is, you are a novelty in theater. A pure, yet powerful force that needs and wants nothing. You don't need the constant flow of acceptance and reassurance that the others do. You know you're good." Chris kept his voice low as he spoke directly into Lea's ear. "The point is, I find that incredibly alluring and want you for myself."
Chris wrapped his arms around Lea's waist before she could get away from him. She felt her back being pressed against his well-sculpted chest and the seat of her jeans met with something equally as hard.
Lea struggled against Chris, but he held tighter.
"I've waited as long as I could." Chris's voice was deeper and more breathy as he spoke. "They all come to me at some point, but not you. I was as good for as long as I could be. Now I have to have you."
Lea's brain screamed conflicting things at her as Chris's hands untucked her t-shirt made the way over Lea's smooth stomach to her breasts. Part of her said to stomp on Chris's foot and run. The other part was willing her to stay still, to give in to the excitement growing in the pit of her stomach. That same part reasoned it had been far too long since Lea's last, rather unsatisfying sexual encounter.
Before Lea could decide which route to go, Chris deftly spun her around and held her tightly to him, hungrily pressing his lips to hers and exploring her mouth with his tongue. His hands, still under her shirt, found the bra clasp and unsnapped it.
This snapped Lea out of her confusion as she pushed Chris away and crossed her arms over her chest.
"What the hell?" Her voice was shaky as she stepped away from Chris. She could clearly see the large bulge in his tight leather pants straining for freedom. His breath was coming out in short hard gasps, like Lea's and his eyes were glazed in lust.
"Don't deny me, Lea." Chris's voice was almost unrecognizable. "You need to learn to take direction. It's the only theatrical quality you don't possess. Let me show you just how wonderful it can be to submit, to not be the one in charge just once."
Lea's legs wobbled at the raw lust in Chris's voice, but she held her ground. She wanted him so badly. She had wanted him since the first night she had watched him audition for a part in Camelot. He had been in jeans and a well-fitting t-shirt. Every lustful fiber in her being had wanted to tackle him on the stage that first night.
