It didn’t matter that she was so much smaller than he. It didn’t matter that his clothes were worth more than what she’d managed to save over the past year working double shifts in the ice cream shop in her hometown.
It didn’t even matter to her that people had stopped on the sidewalk to watch the scene.
“Do you think you’re the only person who matters?” she yelled at him. “Talking on your phone, ignoring everyone, kicking anyone who gets in your way?”
Before he could answer, she got closer and poked him in the chest.
“I matter, too!” Her mouth trembled now, just barely, but somehow she managed to get it under control as she said again, “I matter, too.”
Throughout her tirade, the man stared down her, the phone still to his ear, his dark eyes utterly unreadable. He was clearly surprised by what had happened. Not just that he’d stumbled over her, but by the way she had sprung up to scream at him. And yet, there was more than surprise in his eyes.
There was awareness that had nothing to do with anger...and everything to do with her incredible beauty, made even more potent by the flush on her cheeks and the fire in her eyes.
Everything that surrounded the two of them fell away as she searched the businessman’s face for a reaction, but he was impossible to read—and on a sound of disgust, she pushed away from him and started to move back down the sidewalk.
But before she could get lost in the crowd, a large, strong hand wrapped around her upper arm and stopped her from getting away. She whipped around to shake him off. “Get the he—”
“I’m sorry.”
His voice resonated with genuine regret—deeper, truer, than anyone who worked with him might have thought he was capable of feeling. Even, perhaps, the man himself.
Bravado had been all that held the young woman together. And in that moment, as a man who had never apologized to anyone for anything in his life actually did, she lost hold of the strength she’d been clinging to by her fingernails.
Her first tear had barely begun to fall when she finally pulled herself free and started running through the crowds, intent on getting away from the man whose apology had touched her despite herself.
The man’s deep voice called out to the girl with the pink streaks in her hair as he pushed through the crowd, but she was small and fast and lost him at the busy Union Square intersection.
As the rest of the world rushed around him, most people either talking or texting on their phones, their attention on anything but the people around them, the man stood perfectly still.
And utterly alone.
Valentina Landon held her breath until “Cut!” rang out. Moments later, applause and cheering came from the crew who had been held spellbound by the scene.
Somehow, she got her hands to work, to come together in a basic approximation of clapping, but she was too moved by what she’d seen to put anything behind it. It was the first scene on the first day of filming Gravity, but the story had immediately grabbed for her gut and twisted it. Hard enough that she was practically wincing even as she waited to find out what happened next. Smith Sullivan had not only written the screenplay, but he was also directing, producing, and starring in the film.
Tatiana Landon, Valentina’s younger sister, was an incredibly talented actress with ten years of experience behind her. She’d been hired for dozens of TV episodes, had shot a couple of sitcom pilots over the years, and most recently, had important supporting roles in two feature films. But Gravity was her first lead in a major motion picture.
Valentina had always been proud of her sister, but what they’d all just witnessed from Tatiana had been so stunningly good that Valentina was still having trouble catching her breath. And she knew why.
Smith Sullivan had brought out every last ounce of magic her sister possessed.
Just then, Tatiana moved back down the sidewalk toward Smith. Valentina could read her sister like an open book and though she was smiling at the applause from the rest of the cast and crew, it was clear that the person she was really waiting for a verdict from was Smith.
So much like the character he was playing, for a moment it was hard to read his face until he reached out to put his hands on either side of Tatiana’s shoulders and said loudly enough