You Had Me at Hola(21)

Jasmine blew out a breath and slumped back in her seat. “Fine. I’m attracted to him. Plus, he’s a good actor. And when I get little glimpses of him . . . I like what I see.”

“Where are you on the scale?”

Years ago, Michelle had created the four-point Jasmine Scale to track Jasmine’s progression—or descent, as Michelle called it—into love.

The first point on the scale was Attraction. It was the curiosity phase, where Jasmine started to wonder about the guy and noticed all the cute and charming things about him, usually while ignoring glaring flaws and red flags.

Next came the Crush. In the Crush phase, Jasmine amped up the flirting, getting physically closer and making it obvious that she was interested.

The third phase, Infatuation, was where she started to lose her sense of self and all good judgment. She made herself too available and did too many favors for the guy in question.

After that, there was only one more step left: Falling in Love, where she threw herself headfirst into the emotional abyss.

“I think I’m still on the first point,” Jasmine said. Michelle was right. Jasmine hadn’t actually spent enough time around Ashton to reach Crush levels yet.

“Then there’s still hope for you.” Michelle grinned, then popped a french fry in her mouth.

Jasmine stole some of Michelle’s fries. “Hooray for me.”

Michelle reached across the table and patted her arm. “Look, Ashton is super hot. If you were going to rebound with someone, you could do a lot worse than him.”

“I’m trying not to rebound at all.”

“Remember your Leading Lady Plan.”

How could she forget? And while she was thinking about it, Jasmine mentally added a fourth point: Leading Ladies do not rebound with their costars.

Speaking of . . .

“We film the kissing scene tomorrow,” she blurted out.

Michelle’s eyes went wide, and then she laughed her head off while Jasmine stewed.

“You are toast,” Michelle said, then raised her glass. “Here lies Jasmine. We loved her well. Cause of death: crushing on her costar.”

Jasmine grabbed her own wine and gulped down half of it. “What is so wrong with having a crush?”

“Oh, now it’s a crush? Are you at the second point on the scale?”

“No.” Not yet.

“There’s nothing wrong with a crush,” Michelle said, her tone gentle. “But you don’t do crushes.”

Jasmine wished she did crushes. How much easier would her life be if she could find someone appealing, never act on it, and then forget all about them? But she just wasn’t wired that way, and she didn’t want to be. Was it so much to ask for a loving, committed relationship with someone who unconditionally loved and accepted her for who she was?

Apparently so, because she’d kissed a lot of frogs over the years, and all of them had broken her heart.

“I’m not going to rebound with Ashton,” she said firmly, more to herself than to Michelle.

Her cousin raised a skeptical eyebrow, then lifted her glass again. “Cheers to that,” she said, although she didn’t sound convinced.

“Don’t tell Ava.”

“Oh, I’m definitely telling Ava.”

Jasmine let out a sigh. “Fine. Tell Ava. Saves me the trouble of bringing her up to speed.”

Michelle chuckled while Jasmine drained her glass.





Chapter 10


Vera was waiting when Ashton arrived on set for private rehearsal early the next day. These scenes would be shot in a working kitchen that was normally used for talk shows but was now outfitted to look like the basement-level kitchen of the Serranos’ East Harlem brownstone. The crew had dressed it in dark wood with warm yellow lighting and copper pots and pans hanging from a low ceiling. Three walls had been built around the kitchen appliances—a sink on one side, a stove on the other, fake stairs in the back, and a wood-topped island in the center.

Since they were just rehearsing, Ashton was still in the jeans and T-shirt he’d dressed in after his five a.m. gym session. Jasmine arrived just behind him, looking fresh and sexy in a floral romper. She wasn’t tall, but she was all legs, and it took everything he had not to stare like a creep when she strutted around in shorts.

“Morning,” she said, sending him a sleepy little smile. Damn, she was adorable.

“Buenos días,” he replied, then reminded himself to stick to English. “Tired?”

She nodded. “No coffee yet. I didn’t want to—you know, drink coffee and then kiss. It’s kinda gross.”

He couldn’t help but smile, since he’d considered the same thing this morning—brushing, flossing, and rinsing his mouth three times after drinking his own coffee.

Ilba and Marquita strolled in then. It was only the five of them on set to practice. Vera’s orders.

They sat on folding chairs while Vera reviewed the points she’d made the previous day regarding communication and consent.

“Did you two come up with some sort of closure ritual?” Vera asked, turning her bright, intense gaze on Ashton and Jasmine.

Carajo, he hadn’t even thought about it, but Jasmine raised her hand tentatively, like they were in school.

“I had an idea,” she said, her voice unsure as she met Ashton’s eyes. “What if we . . . high-fived? After Ilba yells ‘cut.’ To, you know, snap us out of character.”