by Alice Raine
Top points, Phillips, for a job well done.
Parking at the hotel, I once again jogged around the car to open the door for Allie. My dad would be proud – I was killing it on the gentleman stakes tonight: I’d opened doors, helped her from the car, and bought flowers. Except for the part where I’d jumped her in the lift and shoved my tongue into her mouth and thrust my groin against her. That wasn’t perhaps the most gentlemanly of acts … but I’d needed to do it.
My smile spread to a full grin as I remembered her face when I demanded she take off her knickers. It had been touch and go, and I’d thought I might have gone a step too far for a few seconds, but no. My girl had stepped up to the challenge like a pro. Fuck. She was so sexy it was unbelievable. I couldn’t get enough of her, and watching her come had been fucking incredible.
All in all, it had felt liberating to be out in public with Allie tonight. As good as the wig had done me, I couldn’t wait until this mess with Savannah was cleared up so I could take Allie out for real. That thought caused a smile to split on my lips as I pulled her door open and held out my hand.
As Allie stepped from the car and stood beside me, she treated me to another of her gorgeous, shy smiles. I loved her smile. She was so beautiful. And all mine. Linking my hand through hers, I took great pleasure in the way her fingers tightened around mine, and then added yet another gentlemanly act to my list by walking her through the lush gardens to her bungalow.
Once we had reached the door she turned to me with pink cheeks and a seductive twinkle in her eye that sent a jolt straight to my groin. ‘Will you stay? I would love to wake up in your arms, Sean, it’s been so long.’ Licking her lips she seemed to flutter her eyelashes almost bashfully. ‘Too long,’ she added persuasively, her tone low and husky.
God, I wanted to. Right now I was so loved up that I would like nothing more than to flip her over my shoulder, carry her to the bedroom, and throw her on the bed before having my wicked way with her. But I couldn’t.
Reluctantly, I shook my head, knowing that with my early start tomorrow I really needed to head home and sleep. If I stayed with Allie in her bed, there was no way I would be sleeping. ‘I can’t, Allie, I’m sorry.’ The disappointment I saw springing to her eyes made me feel like such a shit, but it was soon gone as she schooled her features into a more neutral expression. My heart sank. Shit, right before my eyes Allie was pulling away from me again.
‘Oh, OK,’ she murmured, her eyes flickering away as her expression became oddly bland. This was the same detached look she had given me when I’d been trying to explain about the situation with Savannah. Fuck. ‘I understand. I’m sure you have to get back,’ she murmured, her lip curling as if in distaste. Get back? Oh shit … did she think I was leaving to go back to Savannah? ‘Its fine, Sean.’ But her voice didn’t sound fine. At all.
‘I have an early shoot, I didn’t think you’d want me to wake you up in the middle of the night …’ But my voice faded off as I saw the accepting melancholy on her beautiful face. Damn. Had I blown all of my good work this evening by saying I wasn’t staying over? I had been trying to be considerate, I didn’t think Allie would appreciate my 3:30 a.m. alarm, but maybe I should have stayed anyway.
Was it too late to change my mind? Probably – it was ten already, so if I stayed I’d get barely any sleep and then turn up at the studios tomorrow with bags under my eyes that would make my director freak out.
Desperate to make things right, I reached out for her hand and pulled her limp fingers toward me, but when she continued to stare off over my shoulder, I used my free hand to cup her chin and angle her face towards mine.
Locking eyes with her, I hit her with my most sincere, honest look. ‘I’m not going back to her, Allie. That’s not what this is about. I have a really early shoot, that’s all. I’m on set for four a.m.’
Allie’s eyes remained fixed with mine and finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she nodded.
‘Believe me, I want nothing more than to spend the night with you, my gorgeous girl, but right now I want you so much that I know I wouldn’t get any sleep if I stayed, and I have a twelve hour shoot tomorrow.’ I couldn’t believe I was once again putting work above my girl. Thank God my night shoots would be over soon, cutting my schedule down and allowing me to spend some proper quality time with her. ‘This is my last manic week, then my hours lessen and we’ll be able to see more of each other, I promise.’
My words must have sunk in, because the fragile, uncertain expression began to melt from Allie’s face as a small smile curled her lips. ‘OK, I’m sorry,’ she murmured. Cutting off any further words, I lowered my head and felt the familiar, exciting tingle of our connection as our mouths joined and I relaxed against her, causing her hands to slide up and around my neck.
After a moment or two of heady kisses I pulled back, well aware that my libido was moments away from guiding me into her bed for the night regardless of my schedule tomorrow. ‘I’ll find a way for us to be together soon, I promise.’ As I lowered my head for one final kiss, an idea occurred to me and I leant back and grinned. ‘Actually, how do you feel about art?’
Seeing her confused expression, I raised a hand and smoothed some wayward hairs back from her face. ‘The studios I work with are joining with some fancy art gallery Downtown for an exhibition next Wednesday. I have to attend with the cast, but I have two spare tickets. Would you like to come?’ Watching her carefully I could see from the twinkle in her eye that my girl was tempted. ‘Perhaps you could bring Cait? I couldn’t talk to you a great deal while we were there, but I could arrange so we could sneak off together afterwards? I’m not working the following day either, so maybe we could spend it together?’
My girl chewed on her lower lip for a moment or two before an excited glint entered her eyes and she nodded. ‘OK, sounds interesting.’ It certainly did – perhaps the idea of sneaking around thrilled Allie as much as it did me.
Phew. It seemed that I was forgiven.
That had been a close one. Bloody hell. Relationships could be such a fucking nightmare at times.
Chapter Twenty-eight
Cait
Sipping the deliciously cool glass of champagne that had just been thrust into my hand by an over-eager waitress, I narrowed my eyes on Allie. ‘How the hell did you blag entry to this?’ I asked in bewilderment, as I watched yet more Hollywood greats float past me towards the rear of the art gallery. This event – whatever the heck it was for – was flooded with famous people. I’d never seen so many diamonds, Rolexes, and flashy fake smiles in my life.
God, we were so out of place it was almost laughable.
Giving a casual shrug, Allie smiled secretively and sipped her champagne. She wasn’t saying, but I suspected Sean had sorted out tickets for us.
Thinking of Sean, my cheeks heated. I had barely been able to look him in the eye since I’d accidentally walked in on him and Allie playing tonsil tennis in the library. The image of his excitement straining at his shorts seemed to be ingrained into my mind, causing me to blush like a tomato whenever I saw him and making me feel like a right perv. Rather annoyingly, every time I had seen Sean since it had also triggered me to remember the colourful visions about Jack I’d had in the corridor, which invariably led to my cheeks heating even more. It was a bloody nightmare.
Catching another glimpse of Sean though the crowd I quickly looked away and sipped my drink as a distraction. He must be behind this, I couldn’t see any other way that two nobodies like Allie and me would manage to get entry. Ever since they had had their heated make-up session, Sean had been trying to smooth the issues in their relationship by creating opportunities for the two of them to spend some time together; it had been a sushi date last week, and a bagel delivery the week before, so I suspected this was his latest attempt. If he was trying to impress Allie with his star-studded lifestyle, then this was a pretty good way to go about it.
Looking around again I noticed that the crowd of guests had grown
significantly, and I tried to supress my panic and look as if I fitted in. Even with my back straight as a rod and with my floor-length dress, fancy shawl, and heels on, I still felt decidedly like the odd one out surrounded by such opulence and glamour.
Glancing towards the door, I felt my eyes widen as my mouthful of champagne seemed to get stuck my throat. Oh God, this was all I needed. The traitorous bubbles began flooding up my nose and burning the roof of my mouth until I finally managed to force it down with a very inelegant splutter.
Following my line of sight, I heard Allie chuckle next to me. ‘Ah, the next batch of A-listers are arriving,’ she murmured, obviously misreading my shock and thinking I was just reacting to the big shot celebrities now entering the gallery. I couldn’t care less about most of the new faces, but one stood out as all too familiar. Jack Felton.
I suppose his arrival shouldn’t have surprised me. Given the other famous faces I’d seen tonight it seemed like all the elite of Los Angeles had turned up. Against my will I felt a shimmer of reaction as I looked at him dressed up in a tux again. My mouth dried and I practically downed my entire glass of champagne. Clearly the time that had passed since I’d last seen him had done nothing to ease my crush, because my body was practically thrumming with alertness, and it was a feeling that I found particularly unnerving.
Leaning in closer to my ear while still keeping her gaze on the crowd of familiar faces from magazines and films, Allie lowered her voice to a soft whisper. ‘Don't worry, they still have that effect on me. Sean thinks I’m stupid, but they’re famous people, aren’t they? It’s crazy.’
Finally ripping my gaze away from Jack – the man who had featured in several of my dreams this week – I turned to Allie with wide eyes as my nerves immediately kicked in and my forefinger began to go to work on my elastic band at hyper-speed. ‘It is, totally crazy. But I’m not staring at them, I’m looking at him,’ I said, tipping my chin at Jack as he took a glass of champagne from a server and began to gaze around the room.
Allie frowned, her gaze flicking to my hand and the furious tugging of my elastic band and then slapped my wrist before narrowing her gaze on me. ‘Stop picking. What’s got you so wound up?’ Rubbing my wrist, I frowned, but almost immediately felt my body dying to turn around and look at Jack again. Not that I would indulge it. I needed to end this stupidity right now and forget that he was even here. I would not turn around.
‘That’s Jack Felton. Why are you looking at him?’ Allie asked, before grinning, ‘Oh yeah, I remember! He’s the one you like in that TV show, isn’t he?’ She commented curiously as she peeked over my shoulder towards the group.
‘Yep. The very same.’
‘I can see why you like him. He is rather handsome.’
Handsome? Yes, there was no denying he was definitely that. He was also my ‘Mr Flirty’ from the bar the other week. A man whom I never dreamt I would actually meet, and now, not only had I literally run into him one week and shared a drink with the next, but he was now at the same bloody event as me. Fate clearly had it in for me, although I suppose I could blame Allie’s relationship with Sean for tonight’s Jack sighting. Obviously by socialising with Sean we had inadvertently slipped into the circle of famous people he was friends with.
I just couldn’t believe it. Half of me was horrified, but the other half – clearly my reckless side – was practically dancing a can-can of joy at his unexpected arrival.
Angling myself so he wouldn’t be able to see me, I looked back at my Allie and decided that it was probably time to come clean with her. ‘Umm. You remember the other week when I came back to the hotel late and Julie rang you because I’d vanished from the hostel?’
Allie paused for a second, thinking back, and her eyes widened. ‘Oh my God, yes! We never got around to talking about where you were! And then all that stuff with Sean happened and I kinda forgot … I feel terrible now. What a rubbish friend I am. You still want to talk about what you were doing?’
Swallowing loudly at the thought of confessing, I felt my heart accelerate in my chest. ‘Him.’ I jerked my thumb over my shoulder. ‘Although obviously I wasn’t actually doing him! But I was with him,’ I whispered, not even daring to say his name out loud. Thinking of the looks he gave me and how close I’d come to kissing him, I tilted my head thoughtfully. ‘I probably could have done him though, if I’d wanted.’
‘You and Jack Felton? Yeah right,’ Allie replied with a grin. ‘Dream on, Cait. Come on, what were you really doing?’
She didn’t believe me? She thought I was joking? This was priceless…
‘I was with him, honestly. I bumped into him while out running when I first arrived, and then he was at some premiere thing at the theatre and recognised me so we went for a drink.’ It sounded too far-fetched, so I could see why Allie wouldn’t believe me, but what else could I say? It was true. End of.
‘So now you’re saying you’ve met him twice?’ She clearly didn’t believe me. Perhaps she thought I’d finally lost my marbles. Perhaps I had.
‘Umm … yeah. I guess tonight makes three.’ Glancing briefly to the spot where he’d been, I frowned when he was no longer there, and found my eyes skimming the room to see where he’d gone.
To my surprise, I saw he was making his way through the crowd, seemingly making a beeline for us. Once he was only a few feet away I swallowed nervously and watched in stunned shock as his gaze lingered on me for a second before he turned to Allie with a polite smile.
‘Allie? Am I correct?’ he said, quickly checking out the visitor pass around her neck. They had our full names on them, which I had thought was overkill at first but now I’d had a look at all the A-listers present I could understand the security measures.
Shooting me a confused look, Allie turned back to Jack and nodded. ‘Uh, yes.’
‘I’m Jack, a close friend of Sean’s,’ he said in a conspiratorial whisper, as if she wouldn’t know who he was. ‘He wanted me to pass on a message to you. He says you look gorgeous, and that the plans for seeing you are all set. He’ll call you at ten, so have your phone on.’
I watched as Allie’s cheeks flushed crimson, and she nodded her thanks while trying – and failing – to wipe the gigantic grin from her face. So I’d been right; our attendance this evening had been set up by Sean.
‘Caitlin, it’s a pleasure to see you again,’ Jack said, turning those dark eyes on me and hitting me with a megawatt smile that made me feel a little bit breathless. I heard Allie gasp, and almost wanted to turn to her with a smug grin for being proven right, but I didn’t. I kept my full attention on the handsome man gazing at me. It didn’t escape my notice that he also checked out my name badge.
‘You both look stunning tonight,’ he added in a low murmur, and though he was supposedly addressing both of us, Jack’s eyes never left mine, causing my skin to heat and prickle under his close inspection.
After several seconds where some tension seemed to build between us, Jack broke the spell by turning his gaze toward Allie with a pleasant smile. ‘Well, it’s a genuine pleasure to meet you, Allie. Sean has told me an awful lot about you.’
‘All good I hope,’ Allie replied, preening and blushing and causing Jack to nod. After a second, his eyes flickered back to me curiously as he tilted his head, ‘I have to admit, after you said you’d be flying out soon I didn’t think I’d see you again. I thought you’d be long gone by now, off to some far flung destination,’ Jack said with a quick wink, which knocked me completely off balance. Never before had I had such bizarre reactions to a man, but with Jack I felt like I was constantly floundering. My face was now burning from his undivided attention and his scent, spicy and sweet, was invading my senses and making me dizzy.
‘Um … no. Not yet.’
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Allie chose that moment to wiggle her eyebrows and then excuse herself to go to the toilet, leaving me alone to cope with Jack. Marvellous. Some best friend she was! I couldn’t believe she had deserted me.
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With Allie now gone, I took a shaky sip of champagne to wet my parched throat and gave myself a quick telling off. After all, he wasn’t touching me or intruding on my personal space, and he had proven himself to be a perfect gentleman more than once, so I really needed to relax.
‘So, how are you, Caitlin?’ How was I? Pretty much on the verge of a panic attack, that’s how I was. Our near kiss was suddenly at the forefront of my mind, and my eyes kept drifting to his mouth of their own accord, wondering for the millionth time if he would have been gentle, or rough like Greg used to be. Much to my relief he didn’t seem to notice.
‘I’m fine thank you, feeling a little out of place here but OK,’ I joked. He didn’t try to probe further into my reasons for declining his date, thank goodness, and after several minutes alone with him exchanging small talk, I began to feel slightly more stable and even managed a weak smile or two in his direction.
‘Jack!’ The sound of his name being called caused us both to turn in the direction of the voice, and I saw a photographer waving at him.
Looking back at me with a grimace, he rolled his eyes. ‘Well, duty calls. I’d better go. It was lovely talking to you again, Caitlin.’ I’d felt nervous about being alone with him, but now he was leaving I stupidly didn’t want him to go.
‘OK, bye Jack.’
After one more lingering glance, he turned and left and I immediately dumped my glass on the bar and sagged against the rail as I tried to steady my hammering pulse. Blimey, that man was handsome. Allie must have been hiding out and watching our interaction, because no sooner had Jack left than she was rushing back to my side with eyes like saucers.
‘Ohmygod!’ Her words came out as one long exhalation as she grabbed hold of my upper arms and practically shook me. ‘You were telling the truth!’ Her face was flushed, eyes wide, and a grin was curving her mouth to the point where she actually looked a bit manic.
