Fiona's Fortune

"Are you nervous? It's like you're afraid of me!"

"I kinda am."

"Don't worry. You'll be just fine. You're a pro."

Brenton Houston tried to calm himself prior to the second take, but the moment was overwhelming him. He was next to a legend, and he didn't quite know how to deal with it.

Eva Hewlett smiled and patted Brenton's shoulder. She was amused by her younger co-star's nervousness, and a bit surprised that an actor who had seemed so confident up to this point was now so anxious. He'll steady himself, Eva thought. I'm sure he will.

Eva and Brenton were midway through shooting the seventh episode of "Fiona's Fortune," the newest series from Next Fleet, the streaming service of First Fleet Pictures. Eva starred as Fiona Herlihy, the 45-year-old wife of tech magnate Harry Herlihy, who became the sole heir of his $500 billion fortune after he suddenly dropped dead of a heart attack. The series chronicled Fiona as she dealt with grief over her husband's passing, pressure from crooked politicians to continue Harry's donations to their campaigns, and the legal demands of Harry's five mistresses, each of whom claimed to have wills indicating that they should be the sole inheritor of Harry's wealth.

Brenton first appeared in episode three as Damian Hawthorne, a 26-year-old attorney hired by Fiona to battle Harry's mistresses in court. Their professional partnership quickly becomes personal and passionate, with Fiona and Damian trying desperately to keep the true nature of their relationship out of the New York tabloids.

The seventh episode, "Summary Judgment," featured Damian heading over to Fiona's townhouse on the Upper West Side to celebrate his court victory over one of Harry's mistresses. After a few glasses of champagne, Fiona gives Damian a celebratory kiss, then a second; within a matter of moments, they find themselves in Fiona's bedroom.

The director wasn't thrilled with the first take of Eva and Brenton's love scene. "Let's try it again," she said after watching the playback. "Brenton, I just needed a little more passion out of you. Maybe a lot more."

"OK," he replied.

Brenton didn't want to give away the real reason he was so anxious: he had long harbored a crush on Eva, and didn't want to indicate his feelings about her.

Working with Eva had been a dream of Brenton's ever since his days at Juilliard. He considered her the best actress in the world, as well as one of the most beautiful. He had watched all of her costume dramas repeatedly, and dreamed of what it would be like to star in one such film with her, even though he knew the odds were profoundly unlikely. Just a few years before, he had flown to Kensington and had discussions with several of Eva's former acting teachers at NIDA, all of whom told him that they knew she would reach international stardom.

It took all of Brenton's strength not to let his inner fanboy come out during script readings with Eva. He hid his admiration-and his intimidation-with a physical bravado that Eva found impressive. However, in a moment where he had to simulate intimacy, his guard was down.

"Just relax, OK?" Eva whispered before the second take of the love scene began. "You wouldn't be here if you didn't know what you were doing."

"OK."

The director called action, and Brenton found himself supplying as much passion as the scene required. As Brenton's arms and legs intertwined with Eva's, he imagined himself watching this scene, seeing himself kiss Eva's lovely lips and stroke her silky light-brown hair. He briefly glanced at his dark chocolate hand on her very pale hip and felt his heart leap. He looked at her soft face-her ocean-blue eyes, her upturned regal nose, her flawless cheeks-and was stunned anew by her beauty.

Soon, he heard the director call cut. "Awesome!" she exclaimed. "You got it."

"I know," Eva affirmed. "You were great there, Brenton-I almost felt like it was real!"

"Uh, yeah," Brenton laughed nervously.

--

The "Summary Judgment" episode aired in early-December, and viewers were enthralled by the intensity of the love scene. Immediately, rumors surfaced online that the scene could not possibly have been simulated, that the intensity Eva and Brenton displayed onscreen had to have been legitimate. The rumors got wilder and wilder-that Eva and Brenton had agreed beforehand to have sex for real onscreen, that there was an outtake clearly showing Brenton penetrating Eva, that Next Fleet executives believed that pornographic love scenes featuring acclaimed actors was the key to a successful streaming service.

Eva and Brenton laughed at these rumors, with Eva telling interviewers that Brenton had not crossed any boundaries during the filming of the love scene, and that the speculation concerning actual sex between the two was nothing more than a testament to how convincing Brenton was as an actor. "I've worked with guys who tried to take things too far," Eva told the New York Times. "Brenton is the furthest thing from that. He's a sweetheart-as well as one of the best I've ever worked with."

Brenton's character was to have been written out of the series in the tenth episode, after he defeated the last of Harry's mistresses in court. The original script called for Damian Hawthrone to tell Fiona Herlihy that they had to break things off, that it was much too dangerous for an attorney to sleep with a client. However, Next Fleet wanted the script to be rewritten to take advantage of the controversy; specifically, the president of production wanted the series to end with Damian and Fiona getting married. When Brenton and Eva were told of this idea, she immediately said it was "lovely." Brenton didn't know how to respond...because he couldn't believe his luck.

"Fiona's Fortune" ended with Fiona marrying Damian in the Hamptons, before leaving for a honeymoon in the Bahamas. The last image of the series was a freeze-frame of Damian kissing Fiona in their limousine. Brenton kept a still photo of the image in his apartment...and kept the memory of finally working with his crush in his heart.