ESPRIT LIBRE // Press Archive

Nash and Jessica Get Naked (Soap Opera Digest 1/9/07)

Foul weather pushes Nash and Jessica together for some sizzling cold comfort this week. It all starts when Nash takes Jess out for a ride and they head into a blizzard. "I believe there was a line that Nash wanted to show Jess the improvements to the vineyard and that the 'weatherman said it would snow, but not a blizzard,'" explains Nash's portrayer, Forbes March.

Of course, the duo runs out of gas in the midst of the storm. What, no gas gauge? "That's one of those plot points I try not to get too hung up on. It's called suspension of disbelief. The facts'll get you every time," quips March. "I played that Nash did not intend to run out of gas...."

Either way, he does and the two eventually seek shelter in a cave. Being in such close proximity leads to bickering. "Neither wants to feel what they're feeling for each other," says the actor.

Things become more complciated when there is a cave-in. During the life-or-death predicament, Nash proposes getting out of those wet clothes and huddling in the buff...for warmth. Jessica's reaction? "Jess protests, but she sees the light when he's jumping around naked."

Of course, the clothes-off closeness stirs up emotions hard to resist. "Nash knows that Jessica has feelings for him; they have talked about it many times and Jessica has shared fantasies of her and Nash," says March. "It hurts Nash even more that she does have feelings because it means that she chose Antonio and that hurts. There is always a sexual tension between Nash and Jessica. And they don't deal, they refute, deny and bicker. Nash and Jessica are two star-crossed lovers divided by their own refusal to admit what is clear."

The pair is rescued, but that doesn't mean the drama is over. Can they really stay away from each other? March says, "Where there's smoke, there's fire, where there's a fire there's a flame and both have committed to putting out that flame."