I know, you hate me for disappearing for so long. Don't worry, I hate myself also! But...happy late Valentine's Day!

Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Glee or any of the characters involved.

Deep Breaths, deep breaths Rachel thought to herself, keeping her eyes closed as the stylist expertly combed through her hair for the big photo shoot that day.

The last few days onset had been great; the crew was super productive and majorly helpful, the cast members she had met so far all seemed to be well rounded, she was coming to adore her makeup artist/stylist, and she had luckily managed to avoid any more awkward situations with Finn. She hadn't even come into contact with him at all the day before, though she wasn't quite sure if she was relieved or disappointed by that fact. The frown that marred her face at the thought was signaling towards disappointed.

"Your hair is a dream to work with" the thin man said loudly, pumping some fancy smelling cream on his fingers before smoothing it on the ends of her perfectly tousled waves then working it up to her roots, leaving a shine in it's wake.

"Thank you Kurt" she smiled genuinely, resisting the urge to reach up and touch the beauty that was now her hair; she had tried that once already and immediately gotten popped by Kurt's comb. Lesson learned. She had no idea someone could make her simple brown hair look so glamorous; this made her prom up-do look like child's play, of course this was the big leagues. "You've done an amazing job, it looks fantastic."

"Well, thank you" he responded, feigning modesty in a way much like she usually did herself.

Kurt was great. He was young, barely older than herself, and he had been working as a professional stylist for two years. He started giving makeovers to people in high school which led him to beauty school, got a summer internship at a big department store, then moved to the city and never looked back.

"Today is a big day, you have to look your best" he continued.

Rachel's face fell slightly at the reminder. She was well aware of what she was getting into when she was honored with this role, she knew it was too late to be a baby about it now, but she couldn't help but feel nervous about their first photo shoot. These would be the first official photos released to introduce the characters to the public, something that had been plaguing her since she heard the words "Will you be our Alana". The possibility that she wouldn't be at all what they were hoping to see was one that had been haunting her, and try as she might she was having a hard time pushing it to the back of her mind.

"Rachel, earth to Rachel" Kurt said loudly, waving his pale hand in front of her face. "What happened, did you space out? Are you trying to get into character? Are you Alana right now?"

"No, no I'm just Rachel" she said a little dejectedly, realizing for the first time that he had removed the cape from her shoulders and was motioning for her to stand. "What should I do next?"

"Tina from wardrobe is waiting for you in Warehouse C with your costumes, once you're dressed you'll be ready to start the shoot. You'll probably have to do some solo shots before that hunk of man co-star joins you" he winked.

"Great" she said tightly, waving politely to her stylist before exiting the station.

She was going to lose her mind, that was all there was to it.

The cute black and white waitress uniform that she wore for the beginning solo section of the shoot was great. Even the sexy satin, deep burgundy dress she had slipped into next wasn't an issue, she actually kind of loved that dress. What made her head hurt was when she walked back to where Tina was set up with the wardrobe and noticed that there wasn't another costume in spite of the fact that she had just been instructed to change for the next set.

"Um, Tina? Where's my next set up" she asked confusedly, her eyes glued to the rack only holding the waitress costume and a pair of black lace panties with a matching bra.

"This is it, Rachel" the woman said airily, as if it were everyday attire as she pulled down the underwear and handed them to Rachel.

Her eyes went wide, but she said nothing, accepting the under garments and shuffling behind the partition to put them on. Rachel studied herself in the full length mirror, never more thankful that she maintained a strict work out regimen than in that moment. She frowned slightly at her less than generous bosom, never wishing more that she could magically jump up a cup size. Her hair and makeup were absolutely perfect, but even so, they didn't do quite enough to draw attention from her pronounced nose. She frowned slightly, reaching a hand to cover it up as she had so many times before.

"Ah, ah. Covering up is against the rules in this movie."

Rachel jumped at the sound of Finn's voice, turning around quickly. "Finn" she screeched under her breath, bringing both arms around herself to provide a little modesty in spite of his words. "What are you doing in here?" Honestly, she had just been changing! Had he been just a minute earlier she might have died.

"Relax Rach" he chuckled, thawing her slightly with the nickname. "They sent me to get you. Are you ready to do this?"

It was a simple question, but the genuine look on his face let her know that he actually cared; he had no idea how much that meant to her. "I don't know" she whispered, tightening her arms around herself and spinning away to face the mirror again. She stared at the reflection, reaching down to push her boobs up a little more in the small black cups.

"Hey, you look awesome. Really" he assured her, his own flawless reflection appearing behind hers in the mirror.

She met his gaze in the glass before letting her eyes roam over his bare chest. His skin was pale, with just a little hair dusting his chest. He wasn't too muscular, but he was toned in all of the right places. His black dress pants hugged his legs perfectly, and the belt was undone as probably instructed by wardrobe. Finally she dragged her eyes away from him to look at the whole picture in the mirror, pleasantly surprised at how good he looked by her side. She was nowhere near his level of attractiveness, but his height did something to compliment her small stature, the paleness of his skin popped against her olive tone, and he hovered close behind her almost protectively; like he was supposed to be there. She sighed softly when she felt his large, comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I'll be right by your side the whole time if you get nervous" he told her, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze.

Rachel turned her body around fully to look at him, the curiosity running wild as she looked into his eyes. This was Finn Hudson she was looking at, easily one of the most handsome and apparently unattached men in Hollywood. She had only known him for days, and yet from their first meeting he had gone out of his way to connect with her.

"Why are you so nice to me?"

"I dunno, I like you" he said simply, shrugging his broad shoulders in a terribly adorable fashion. "And we're supposed to be partners, right? This whole project is really...I don't know, something serious, and if we don't have each others' back the whole thing will fall apart" he reasoned, his eyebrows scrunching together as he pieced the encouraging words together. Rachel nodded along as he spoke, the sentiment was true, that was for sure.

"You're right Finn" she agreed, taking a pronounced breath before dropping her hands completely and smiling a bright smile up at him. "And just so you know, I like you too." He grinned a toothy grin then she noticed his expression turning to something more playful and her eyes narrowed automatically.

"Good, now stop wasting time and come get in bed with me" he teased, feigning authority as he gripped her hand in his and pulled her out of the dressing area.

"Well, since you asked so nicely" she giggled, allowing him to pull her through the room. She was immensely pleased that no one seemed to pay any attention to them parading around so scantily; the crew really was professional. When they reached the large, white bed where the photographers and large lighting rigs were surrounding them, she gulped and took her place.

An assistant came around to place a pair of fake handcuffs around Rachel's wrists, and she didn't miss the way Finn wagged his eyebrows at her in spite of the fact that the young, blonde photographer was barking her own orders at him. She couldn't help but giggle at him, focusing all of her attention on her handsome partner rather than the numerous people and intimidating set surrounding them.

Rachel was instructed to kneel by the foot of the bed, her arms behind her with her head down while Finn stalked toward her, a predatory look in his eyes. Though she couldn't see him, and boy was she thankful for that, she could still sense him, and it created a tightening feeling in her abdomen. As soon as they were instructed to change however the enticing look was gone, but not so much the annoying stab of lust it had brought with it. Rachel shook the feelings as best she could and moved to kneel behind him on the bed, hanging her cuffed arms around his neck. He must have felt the tension because he started to whisper goofy things up to her, breaking the nerves with every shift in their position. It was more than helpful, and certainly helped Rachel to get out of her own mind and enjoy the shoot, but there wasn't much either of them could do soon.

The inside of her mouth turned to cotton when the blonde photographer, Pam, told Rachel to straddle Finn's lap. They removed the handcuffs from Rachel's wrists and she silently took her place, blushing when she was seated with her bottom on Finn's thighs comfortably; more than comfortably. The assistants rushed to their side and started to bunch the smooth white sheet around Rachel appropriately, covering all of her hips to provide enough modesty while leaving an air of sensuality.

"Breathe" Finn whispered, his warm breath fanning over her cheeks. Following his instructions, she took a deep breath and forced her body to relax in his embrace. One of his long arms came to wrap around her, tilting the back of her head back slightly while the other cupped her behind. The sound of the cameras snapped around them as his face dipped down to almost nuzzle the sensitive skin of her neck, purposefully blowing small puffs of air against her overheated skin before he finally dragged his lips against her. Against her will, Rachel's mouth fell open into a silent whine, her hands clenching in his hair.

"Great! Perfect! Keep doing what you're doing guys" Pam called, the steady snapping of the camera sounding around them while the bright red and white lights seemed to grow hotter by the second.

"See, this isn't so bad" Finn breathed against her ear. "Just think Alana" he continued, giving her hair a slight tug. The unavoidable heat flooded her system, and she pulled back to look down at her handsome partner.

"I don't know if that's a good idea" she murmured, losing herself in their intimate scene as she gripped his shoulders and purposely wiggled around on his lap a little to 'adjust herself'. She gave him her own wicked smile when his eyes immediately darkened, his perfect mouth falling open the slightest bit. He didn't seem to have any problem teasing her, she didn't see any reason why not to even the playing field.

It felt great.

"Oh yeah? Why's that" he asked lowly, the deeper register of his voice thrilling her even more.

"Well, under the current circumstances" she explained, looking down at their entwined bodies while toying with the silky strands of hair at the nape of his neck, "I'm fairly certain Alana would be trying to have her way with you by now."

"I see nothing wrong with that" he challenged, suddenly gripping her waist and pushing her backwards so that she was lying on her back. Rachel gasped at the sudden movement, her belly twisting with desire as Finn's broad body caged her own. He shifted so that his lower half rested to her side with his palms pressed against the bed on either side of her head, his heated gaze boring down into hers.

"Yes! So much yes" Pam cried, moving around the bed to capture different angles.

"You wouldn't" Rachel said rolling her eyes before narrowing them at him playfully. "I see right through you Finn Hudson."

He simply smirked at her, switching over to rest all of his weight on one of his forearms. "That's just silly, I'm not made of lace" he joked, allowing the long fingers of his free hand to skim over the lace strap of her bra.

"What are you made of" she asked quietly. Rachel leaned up onto her elbows, her face coming even closer to his as she pierced him with her stare.

"Would you like to find out" he challenged smoothly, leaning down the last few centimeters so that his heavenly lips were nearly brushing her own. She could feel the heat from them and she ached to lean forward, really giving the photographers something to work with. "Just say the words" he breathed, reaching out to cup her face in his large palm.

"And that's a wrap guys" Pam called, the snapping of shutters all dying at once under her authoritative tone.

Her insane inner voice wanted to whine, kick and scream at the interruption. The moment was lost as the people started bustling around them, adjusting things and taking down the lighting rigs. She tried to hide her childish frown as Finn sighed and lifted his torso, freeing her to sit up as well. When she looked over, a lanky man with dark hair handed her a white robe and she internally scowled at him, wondering where he was with the robe when she had to walk out the first time, it was kind of moot now.

"Thank you" she said anyway, not wanting to seem like a diva.

"You're welcome" both the assistant and Finn said at the same time, making her giggle as the other man walked away.

"Why would I have been thanking you" Rachel asked, wrapping the robe around herself, drawing the string and watching Finn as he stood and stretched his long limbs. She allowed her eyes to trace his form again, extremely proud to say that she, Rachel Berry, had just been tangled up with that gorgeous man and held her ground, well for the most part anyway.

"For helping you take the best photo shoot ever" he said proudly, fastening the button of the dress pants that were driving her mad but leaving the belt undone.

"Maybe you should be thanking me" she scoffed, crossing her puffy white sleeves over her chest.

"I'd love to" he winked, ruffling her hair in an action that would make Kurt livid. He took a suggestive step closer to her. "What are you doing later?"

Rachel laughed aloud at his presumptuous words, propping her puffy sleeved hands on her hips. "You're such a horn dog" she scolded, shaking her head.

"We've had this discussion, I'm a man" he laughed, taking a step closer to her. "But seriously, do you have plans later?"

Before Rachel could scold him on the ethics of the situation and how irresponsible it would be for them to 'get together' in the way she was sure he was thinking, she heard Pam's loud voice calling them over. The two of them walked towards the tables she was standing in front of with Artie and a few of the other managers that Rachel recognized, about four monitors in front of them.

"We want to run the stills by you before we clear them, make sure you're all happy with what we got."

Rachel's mouth fell open when the photos started to pop up all over the screens. She vaguely heard murmurs of approval from Artie and the others, but she couldn't drag her eyes away from the enticing images. She and Finn lying together, his body pressed against hers, his hands on her, his lips on her skin, her tiny fingers on his, his eyes burning into her own. She couldn't believe how...just how unbelievably sexy they looked together. The chemistry and sexual tension oozed even out of the pictures, shocking her even though she had been a part of the actual process.

"Damn, we look good" Finn stated loudly, wrapping an arm around her small shoulders; she instinctively curled into him. "Look at us Rach, we're hot!"

She grinned widely at his tone, refusing to verbally respond to him for fear that the words to come out of her mouth would be something along the lines of please just take me now. She suffered with a smile through another few minutes of listening to them discuss the photos and the goldmine they had struck upon with them before Rachel was finally able to escape back to her dressing area and leave for the day.

After a failed attempt at begging Tina to let her keep the burgundy dress she had become so fond of, she gave up and said her goodbyes to the pretty Asian woman. She gathered her things and was barely three feet away from the building when she heard the door open behind her and the hurried sound of footsteps approaching her. She couldn't even say that she was surprised, and that pleased her monumentally.

"Are you stalking me or something" she asked with a playfully raised eyebrow, not even pausing her steps as she turned to look over her shoulder at Finn. "It'd be kind of hard to shoot this film if I get a restraining order against you."

"I'd be willing to bet that's the last thing you wanna do" he retorted with a grin, his long strides easily catching him up to her.

"Betting is a serious problem for a large number of people in this country Finn" she mock scolded, purposely avoiding eye contact with him as they walked through the Paramount grounds.

"It's not betting when you're sure of the outcome" he challenged. She looked up to see his wholly sexy and annoyingly cocky smirk looking down on her.

"Someone is cocky today."

"I prefer confident" he said, giving her flashbacks of the first night they had dinner together. Looking back, that day had turned out much like this one. He was sweet and charming, but somehow, the more time they spent together the more confident he became, pushing things toward somewhat awkward and sexually charged. She couldn't quite decide if she liked that or not.

Oh, who was she kidding? It was wildly intriguing.

"You never did tell me if you had plans for the evening" he said suddenly, taking a step forward to effectively block her path.

Rachel looked up at his expectant face, pausing to study it. In spite of the fact that the little voice in her head was begging her to tell him she was free, follow him wherever he wanted and rehearse any dirty scene from Blurred Lines that he wanted hands-on, she knew that she really shouldn't. "Look Finn, I'm really flattered, but-"

"But..." he urged, cocking his head slightly at her when she paused.

"I don't mean to sound judgmental Finn, but I've heard a lot about your reputation when it comes to your co-stars and I want to make sure you understand that I don't want to be some sort of...convenient toy for you" she told him, her cheeks reddening as she blurted the words out.

Finn stared at her for an immeasurable moment, his jaw flexing. Soon he nodded and raised both of his hands in the air in surrender. "I'm sorry, Rachel. I don't think you're a toy, I had no idea that's what you thought I was doing at all" he said and she couldn't deny that it sounded sincere; that in itself made her feel like the biggest jerk in the history of females. "And as far as my reputation, I'm not sure what garbage you've heard, but I'm really not a bad guy. I won't hold that against you because you're new to all this" he said, waving his arms around as if to signal the city, "but you'll learn soon enough that everything the tabloids say isn't the truth."

Rachel looked down to the ground guiltily before meeting his eyes again, fidgeting in place under his words; this hadn't been what she was expecting at all. She almost felt like a child about to be sent to her room, and what's worse is she almost felt like she deserved it.

"But, since you want us to be open with one another, I'm not going to lie to you about my intentions either" he continued, taking a deep breath. "I don't think you're a toy" he admitted quietly, reaching up to rub the back of his neck. "So when I'm flirting with you, or getting close to you like I am right now" he continued, reaching out to brush her hair behind her ear, "it's not me toying with you, or trying to get you to follow me into a broom closet; I'm actually just flirting with you. It's...fun."

Rachel was sure her heart stopped beating for a second at his confession. She was almost ready to open her mouth and confess that her intentions weren't all that innocent either before she realized that would only be pouring fuel on the already dangerous fire clearly brewing between them. They couldn't do this; they both had a job to do and she was fairly certain that she couldn't deal with it if things went sour between them now, or if his words weren't as true as they seemed and she ended up just another notch in his belt.

"I can't, Finn" she whispered, wrapping her arms tightly around her torso in an effort to contain the inner voice Rachel that wanted to burst out of there and jump him herself.

"I get that, Rach. I just wanted you to know, in case you change your mind" he told her, lifting an eyebrow suggestively before pulling his keys out of his pocket with a small smile. "In the meantime, if you wanna mend my wounded ego you could join me for dinner."

Rachel stared at him thoughtfully, searching for any sign of false pretenses and found none. He looked back to her innocently, his evil lips pouted out the slightest bit for effect. Deciding that she really didn't have anything better to do, she nodded.

"Fine, but only dinner" she stipulated with a mock glare, pointing a finger toward him.

"Only dinner" he grinned. "Not even dessert, don't ask" he added playfully, leading her towards the parking lot.

Finn opened the passenger door for her, helping her inside and she smiled. There were so many sides to Finn Hudson; sweet and chivalrous, fun and flirtatious, then cocky and seductive; it was so much to wrap her mind around, and if she was being completely honest she wanted to wrap more than that around him. She sighed at the irony as she watched him climb into the car; he really was like a real life version of Carter Andrews.

She wasn't quite sure if that was a good thing or not.

Thanks for reading, hope you are still enjoying!

Yes, I did take a Lea quote (from BTS of the first time episode) and gave it to Finn, I just had to!

**Don't Worry, stubborn Rachel isn't going to last long, I won't let you down! Also, thank you so much for not giving up on this story, I'll update as soon as I can!