"Lean in towards Lucas a little bit." The Director ordered. "A little more. Lucas, move your hair back a little—you're hiding your wife's face too much."
"Okay. Let's take it from the point where the gondolier sings O Sole Mio." The Director raised his hand and gave a quick motion to start.
There was no doubt who was the star of the show.
Lucas was wearing a pair of pink pants that ended at the knees, with strange pointed toe shoes to match.
His white broadcloth shirt was full and billowy, but although it was tucked into the back of his pants, he might as well not have worn one at all because none of his buttons were used.
His sun-bronzed torso, made even darker against the whiteness of the shirt, was out on full display due to the exuberant use of the fan-generated wind that was blowing directly at them.
A strong steady gust continued to blow his long pink-blond hair and shirt back from his body revealing his bare pecs and abs that had darkened from all those weeks surfing on his paradise island.
As his side-kick partner, all Candace needed to do was sit on the gondola stool and smile, say a few words as prompts so that he could launch into his well-rehearsed and heart-felt words written by some love-struck script writer.
She wore a simple white dress that was not very fancy because it was mostly used as a foil to keep the eyes fixated on that muscular bronze body of the movie star standing next to her. Even her face was partially hidden away by a big hat rimmed with fake candied fruit.
The director knew what he was doing. It wasn't that the Prime Avgo Female wasn't beautiful or that she wasn't famous. Of course everyone knew who the Prime Avgo Female was.
Focusing on the Prince meant that Lucas would be able to carry most of the acting work and cover for her lack of acting skills.
Jason and Jared sat back and watched the show with eager eyes. They loved watching Candace perform with Lucas.
Surprisingly enough, although she had no previous acting experience, Candace was a natural actress who provided a perfect counterpoint for Lucas. All she needed was more experience, which at this point totaled exactly two days of screen time.
The two of them were obviously a natural match for each other, as Lucas did not have to act as if he was in love with his wife.
In fact, Lucas was so obviously in love that it was oozing out all over the screen. The director had seen this and was capitalizing on the extremely handsome actor's emotions, drawing each ounce out as much as he possibly could.
The twins smiled as they kept their eyes on their wife-turned-actress. Today was the last day of the two weeks that the twins were supposed to share with her.
It sounded like a lot of time—two weeks, but the reality was, there had been so much extraneous activity that they had only been able to sleep with her for half of that time.
The remainder of the nights had been mostly of Candace crashing on the bed alone after an exhaustive day doing something with Lyra or Mother Gwen.
Of course, this was crucial business and they did not begrudge her the need to take care of Mother Gwen and Lyra, but a tiny part of them felt shorted.
After today, there would be two weeks where she would not be able to spend time with them at all since it would be designated time with Leonardo and then Byron.
Those two were important for the Avgo shards they still held within their hearts. Without the final two shards, their infant could not be conceived.
It was not just the twins who would be short-shifted. During the week that would have been Slate's turn, they were supposed to get married. This meant Slate would have to wait a bit to get his full week.
At least that was the schedule that they had been tentatively given by Dante.
In reality, things shifted according to life events. Absolutely nothing was set in stone.
Several hours later, the Director cut the scene and sent them home. He had gotten exactly what he wanted and he was happy with the shoot.
As Lucas helped Candace back to where the twins were seated, they stood up to give her hugs.
"Great job Honey."
"You looked amazing Darling."
"Thank you! I can't believe you men were able to come up with these crazy amazing outfits!" She laughed.
Jason and Jared grinned and gave each other high fives. She loved their designs!
Candace blew stray strands of blonde hair from her eyes.
"Oh my gosh. I'm so tired. Would you all mind if I just went to my room and took a quick nap?"
"I was going to suggest that." Lucas smiled tiredly. "We've been up very early this morning doing this shoot and I need a nap myself."
"We'll see you for dinner?" Candace suggested hopefully.
Lucas yawned. "Absolutely. Get some rest Love."
He leaned down and kissed Candace. Straightening up, he giving a quick wave to his brothers and headed down the hall towards his room.
"We'll walk with you to your room then." Jason offered as he linked his arms with Candace. Jared took her other arm and they escorted her to her room.
"Want to come in?" Candace asked.
"You want us to take a nap with you?" Jason's eyes brightened.
"Your bright eyes don't look too tired." Candace pursed her lips.
Immediately, Jason's eyes drooped, looking more tired than an old porch hound.
"I'm super tired! Oh boy, am I tired." He gave a fake yawn. "I'm so tired I could sleep for days on end. Absolutely."
Candace laughed as Jason and Jared opened the door for her.
"Come on in." She moved in ahead and reached up to pull the basket of fake candied fruit off her head.
The men helped her take the fruit basket with sad shakes of their heads.
"Why did you design this thing so damn heavy?" Jared fussed. "She had to wear it for eight hours!"
"No choice. The light plastic stuff looked so fake, the Director rejected it immediately." Jason sighed.
Candace laughed as she stripped off the flat rubbery fruit roll-up that covered her body. In minutes, she was standing in the room wearing nothing but her bra and panties.
Jared and Jason looked at each other. They had to control their urges. She was exhausted and needed to sleep.
"Hmmm. I'm so tired. Let's just pile on the bed and sleep, shall we?" She patted their arms and headed towards the bed, leaving a trail for them to follow that consisted of a single pair of panties and a lace bra.