by Holly Martin
Oakley pushed the thought away and walked up the stairs to her front door. He let himself in and looked around as he dumped his bag on the chair.
Inside it was small and cosy, decked in wood panelling with colourful rugs and cushions. There were two bright blue sofas facing each other either side of a log fire and a Christmas tree dressed in silver ribbons and twinkling lights stood in one corner. Open wooden stairs led up to a mezzanine bedroom; he presumed the bathroom was up there too. There was a small kitchen area at the back. It was nice, but there was something about the place that suggested this was somewhere that Neve stayed, not lived. There was nothing personal about this space, no photos, no trinkets or ornaments. It lacked anything of her personality at all.
‘Nice place.’
Neve closed the door behind her and leaned up against it. Why did she look scared to have him here?
‘Can I get you a drink, or something to eat?’ she said.
She was being so polite to him and he hated it. Their relationship had always been filled with chemistry and passion. He wanted to grab her, kiss her hard, taste her, run his fingers over her silky skin and then drag her down in front of the fireplace and show her how very impolite he could be. This politeness made him worry that maybe he’d left things too late. Maybe they really were over.
She was still waiting for his answer.
‘Burger and fries would be great. It feels like I’ve been travelling for two days to get here and even in first class the airplane food is bad. I’ll take a beer too, please.’
‘Burger and chips,’ Neve corrected, and he was relieved to see the small smirk playing on her lips.
Oakley laughed. ‘I’ve been stateside too long.’
Neve pushed away from the door and picked up the phone, presumably dialling through to reception. She put the order in for food to be delivered and when she put the phone down she turned back to face him.
God, he had missed her so much. He should never have let her go, he should have fought for her when she had broken up with him. He should have called before now, talked to her, but his stubborn pride had prevented him from begging her to come back. But now he would get down on his knees and beg and plead for her to give them another chance, pride be damned. He loved her and he needed her in his life and he had no intention of leaving here without her.
Silence stretched between them. How had it come to this? When they were together they would talk for hours barely drawing breath and now things were awkward between them. He looked around the room, he needed to say something and he knew he couldn’t lead with the main reason for his trip.
He glanced at the fireplace and walked over, getting to his knees as he built and lit a fire. Maybe if the room was warm and cosy it might make them both relax a bit.
Neve was watching him, he knew that, and as he glanced over his shoulder he saw her staring at his bum. He smiled, a sliver of hope blooming in his heart.
He stood up and wiping his hands down his jeans he stared at the flames as they flickered and danced in the fireplace.
She came over to stand next to him and that gave him hope too.
‘How’s it been going here at the hotel?’ Oakley asked. ‘I know you were helping to oversee the development of it for months when you were in London, flying back and forth between the two hotels, you worked your arse off. Did everything go smoothly for the opening?’
‘It couldn’t have gone better. The ice palace is a big hit, people love the glass igloos and the village with the Christmas market. People have been hiring the snowmobiles or hiking around the island and the grand opening and the Christmas carnival were a huge success. I’m so pleased for Gabe, all his hard work paid off.’
‘All your hard work too. He is very lucky to have you.’
‘I’m lucky to have him. He gave me a home when I had nothing, gave me a job. I owe him so much.’
‘I think you’ve paid your dues.’
It annoyed him that she felt this huge sense of loyalty to her brother. She worked her arse off for him. Gabe was a good man and Oakley respected how he looked after his family and his staff, but he didn’t want Neve’s loyalty to him to stand in the way of her own dreams.
‘Oakley, we need to talk.’
He looked at her and saw real fear in her eyes. What on earth did she want to say that had her looking like that? Not unless she had moved on with someone else already. That would put a real dampener on his plans.
He lifted a curl of her black hair off her face and tucked it behind her ear. ‘I’m listening, Freckle.’
Her breath caught in her throat at his touch and any words she had been trying to say dried in her mouth.
With his blond hair curling at the back of his neck, his white shirt open at the collar and his tanned chest peeking out the top, he was a sight for sore eyes.
‘You look good, Oakley.’
He grinned as he appraised her. ‘You look amazing.’
‘I’m dressed as an elf.’
‘You still look amazing. Always do.’
She sighed. He was such a charmer and, like many women before her, and probably many women after her, she had fallen for it, hook, line and sinker.
‘I’m going to get changed. One of the porters will be bringing over the food shortly.’
‘Do you need any help getting out of that costume, Freckle?’ Oakley called after her as she walked up the stairs.
‘I’m sure I’ll manage.’
‘Well, give me a call if you need me.’
Neve walked into her bedroom and sat down on the bed, glad to have the space from him. He was here in her home. The last time she’d seen him, he’d been just about to jet off to Hollywood to start filming the latest comic book superhero blockbuster with Oakley in the title role of Obsidian. And now he was here, on this tiny remote island off the coast of Scotland with a permanent population of sixty-three people, probably a hundred if you counted all the hotel staff staying there. The last time she had seen him, she had broken his heart by ending things between them and, as he had stormed out of her bedroom and slammed the door behind him, she had felt her own heart breaking too.
She let her head fall into her hands.
Neve had first met Oakley when he was filming in London, starring in a supporting role in a British romcom. He had lived at the hotel she had been deputy manager for at the time and stayed there for ten months. He had been this cheeky, smiling man with the exuberance of an oversized puppy. Never a bad word to say about anything, despite the fact that on many occasions he came back to the hotel after a day’s filming so exhausted he could barely stand. Every woman fancied him but for reasons she would never know, he had eyes only for her. She had resisted him at first – he was an actor who probably turned on the charm to any woman who caught his eye and, not being one for casual relationships, she certainly didn’t want to go down that road. She had also been wary of getting involved with a celebrity again, someone in the public eye. Her last boyfriend had been an Olympian and he had broken her heart spectacularly so she and Oakley had become friends. They’d had breakfast together every day that his filming schedule would allow it and dinner some days too. Slowly that friendship had developed into something more and then quickly progressed, at least for her, into a full-blown love affair. She loved him, she couldn’t deny that, and having him here was bringing back all the pain she had suffered after he left.
She quickly got changed and went downstairs, just as Jake, the hotel porter, arrived with the food. She watched Oakley with Jake and smiled. Jake was clearly stunned to be serving food to a Hollywood star, although he was trying to remain professional. Oakley was treating Jake like he was his best mate, chatting to him about Christmas and the hotel as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
Neve walked down the last few stairs and approached them.
‘Thanks, Jake. Is everything OK over at the hotel?’
‘Yes, there’s no problems. Adam told me to tell you he’s looking after everything today
and not to worry about coming back to work this afternoon.’
‘Adam’s here?’ Oakley said, his smile disappearing. Adam, her assistant manager, was the one person that Oakley didn’t like. Their close friendship made him uneasy.
‘He came up from the London hotel to give me a hand with the opening. He’ll be here for a few months.’
Jake, recognising the tension between her and Oakley, excused himself and left them alone.
‘Might have known he would follow you up here,’ Oakley said, throwing himself down on the sofa as he started to tuck into the food.
‘Adam is a good man. I wish you weren’t so down on him. Besides, Gabe asked him to come up here to help, not me. There’s been so much work to do to get this place ready and I’ve... not been well the past few weeks and...’
‘What do you mean, you’ve not been well?’ Oakley’s eyes filled with concern.
Neve hesitated before she spoke. ‘I’ve just had a sick bug, it’s nothing to worry about. And there’s nothing going on between me and Adam. Which is more than I can say for you and your beautiful co-star, River Andrews.’
‘You know there’s nothing between me and her. You know most of that is rumours started by my mum. The press love it and the attention doesn’t hurt to build an early following for the film.’
Oakley took a big bite of his burger.
‘Oh yes, your lovely mother,’ Neve said, dryly. ‘She made it very clear that she didn’t like me.’
‘Of course she likes you.’
His mum hated her and had pretty much told her so. Of course Oakley didn’t know that.
‘She told you to make sure you were never photographed with me. She didn’t want you to be seen with me, something you took heed of. We rarely went out and when we did it was all in secret.’
His face fell. ‘Is that what you thought? You know that the press take pictures of something as simple as me eating an ice cream, or buying a t-shirt. They hound the women I’m seen with and dig into their pasts and you’re angry because I wanted to protect you from that? I recognised that what we had was unique and special, for the first time in my life I was in love and I wanted to keep that private and not have it ruined by the press harassing you. It was never about me not wanting to be seen with you.’
Neve swallowed the emotion clogging her throat. Was that true? Had he really done that to protect her?
‘And who I date has nothing to do with my mum. I will date whoever I want, I’ve told her that.’
‘Doesn’t stop her interfering though. I’m surprised she even let you come over here.’
‘I fired her as my manager.’
Neve sat down on the sofa opposite him. That was a big statement from him. His mum had always been the third wheel in their relationship. She had been his manager since he got his first movie role at the age of fifteen and helped him to secure several large TV parts after that. Without his dad on the scene and just one sister, they had always been close and he had been happy for her to make the decisions on which path his career should take. It was only in the last year or two that Oakley had started to resent her interference and his mum had blamed Neve entirely for that.
‘She wants the best for me but she’s too controlling. I was happy for her to take the lead when I was a kid, I didn’t know any better, but the time has long since passed where I need someone to make my decisions for me. I didn’t want it to affect my relationship with her. She wasn’t happy but we’ve reached an understanding. We’re better off as mother and son. Don’t mix business and pleasure.’
‘That’s something I should have taken heed of,’ Neve said. ‘You were a guest in my hotel, I shouldn’t have got involved with you.’
‘We were meant to be together, Freckle, there’s no shouldn’t about it.’
She watched him as he finished his food. She had never felt before what she felt for Oakley. Even with Zander, the man she thought she had been in love with many years ago, it was never like this. The intensity of her feelings for Oakley was all-consuming. As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t just switch those feelings off.
Oakley licked his fingers clean and shoved the plate aside. He beckoned her across the room with his finger and that gorgeous smile.
She stayed where she was. It was safer that way. ‘What are you doing here, Oakley?’
‘I told you, I want you back.’
‘Well, I don’t want to get back together, so you had a wasted trip.’
He stood up and sat down next to her, slinging his arm around her shoulders. She didn’t have it in her to protest. She belonged in his arms. His warmth, his scent, it was an intoxicating mix. He hadn’t shaved for a few days and he had golden stubble across his jawbone. He looked delicious and right now she wanted nothing more than to kiss him, to feel that stubble against her cheeks or her throat as he worked his kisses down to her collarbone.
‘You don’t want me here? You’re not happy to see me?’ Oakley said, clearly unperturbed by her comment.
‘No.’
Without warning he pressed his mouth to her neck, right against her pulse point, and she let out a soft involuntary moan of pleasure at his touch. She knew he could feel her pulse hammering against his lips.
He pulled back slightly and the dark look he gave her made her breath catch in her throat.
‘I think you’re lying. I think you want me as much as I want you.’
‘It’s just lust and sex though, Oakley, you can’t base a relationship on that.’
‘I think lust and sex is a great basis for a relationship.’ He smiled as he placed a kiss on her shoulder. She sighed, closing her eyes for a moment. ‘Freckle, if I really wanted just sex, I could have stayed in California where there’s free sex on tap. I want something more than that. I want you. It’s always been you.’
He picked up her hand and kissed the inside of her wrist.
If he kept this up, her restraint would be shattered very quickly.
She took her hand from his mouth, though she didn’t move from his side. She couldn’t.
Oakley looked at her. ‘Why did you really break up with me?’
‘You know why. It never would have worked, you’re over there, I’m over here. I’d only be holding you back. Your acting career is just taking off and you need to be available. Travelling back and forth would not be good for you, you’d be tired, it would affect your filming schedule, you might miss auditions or callbacks. It would interfere with your career and I never wanted that.’
‘You would never have held me back, we could have made it work. Was that really the reason or was it because of the rumours of me and River being together?’
That hadn’t helped either. The insecurities she had that she wouldn’t be enough for him had been poked at like an old wound when she’d seen them together.
‘There were photos of you and her together everywhere. Laughing, joking. . .’
‘Holding hands? Did you see photos of me holding hands with her, like I held your hand?’
She swallowed. ‘No.’
‘Kissing? Hugging? Making love? Were there any photos of that?’
She shook her head. In reality she knew he hadn’t cheated on her, but it still didn’t stop those insecurities from surfacing, didn’t stop her wondering if he found River more attractive than her. And how long he would be faithful when he could have any woman he wanted.
‘Because there weren’t any. There is no affair, there never has been. We were together simply because we had both been cast in this movie and wanted to meet before filming started. There has never been anyone but you since I walked into your hotel nearly a year ago. I want you back, Freckle. I’ve missed you so much.’
‘Nothing has changed. I’m here, you live in California. You’ll be travelling all over the world. We’re never going to see each other. And every day I open up the newspapers or go on the internet and see you with another woman. It kills me, wondering if you’re lying next to them in bed, holding these women like you u
sed to hold me. Telling them you’ve never felt this way before.’
Annoyingly, tears formed in her eyes again. Damn her over-emotional body for betraying her like this.
Oakley smiled, sadly, and brushed the tears gently away. ‘I’m not Zander.’
‘I know,’ she said, quietly. ‘But I’ve been through this before. I know what it’s like to date a celebrity who has women throwing themselves at him. It gets pretty hard to say no. And Zander wasn’t even that famous. You’re Oakley Rey, you’re on the cover of every magazine, there are whole forums dedicated to discussing how hot you are and what women would like to do to you. There are memes and gifs circulating social media of your naked bum and you taking your top off. Pretty soon you’re going to realise you can have any woman you want and it’s much more fun playing the field than waiting around for months until you see me again.’
‘I’m not going to cheat on you. It hasn’t been hard for me to say no for the last few weeks because I only wanted you and these other women never came close. And as for the rest, we’d make it work. I told you that.’
‘How? We’d see each other for a few weeks here and there. How could we ever have any kind of future like that? How could we have a proper relationship?’
‘People who work in the forces see their partners for less time than we would see each other and they seem to make it work OK. I’m not saying it would be easy but if it’s worth it, if what we have is worth fighting for, then we’d make it work somehow.’
‘What about children, Oakley? How would that work? You’d come back and play with the baby for a few days before jetting off to some far-flung destination for a few months.’
‘Children are a long way off for us, Freckle. I don’t think we need to worry about that just yet.’
‘I’m thirty-one. Babies and marriage might not be in your immediate future but they are in mine.’
