by Selena Kitt
As she dropped her jeans and T-shirt onto the floor she caught sight of herself in the full-length mirror on her wardrobe. Startled, she paused and stepped closer, examining her reflection with curiosity. She looked sated, oh yes, but a bit shell-shocked too. Her hair was a bed-tousled mess, her skin glowed, and her eyes looked full of hidden secrets. On her body, she could see evidence of the sheer physicality of their passion—a kiss bruise on her neck and chest, and a faint bruise on the back of her hip where he'd rolled her across the floor, staying inside her the whole while. Thinking about the way he'd been, so demanding, so determined—even in bondage—her head dropped back and she sighed. He was a force of nature, and he'd hit her hard.
She turned this way and that, looking at her profile. Undoing her bra, she let it drop to the floor. There was definitely something different about her reflection, but she couldn't work out what it was. Moving closer still, she pushed her hair back from her forehead and scrutinized her face. Her lips looked swollen, slightly bruised. Maybe that was it. Her hand instinctively went over her lace-covered mons. It was bruised and sensitive too. She smiled, remembering. As she did she noticed something else. A slight sense of sadness in her eyes, perhaps?
"You really like him," she said to herself, with a wry smile. That's what it is. She hadn't looked that way the night before. It was as if the sense of loss had appeared in the cold light of day, when she had woken and known she had to sneak out without waking him or saying good-bye, to complete her plan.
Stepping away from the mirror, she threw back the quilt and flung herself on the bed. Lying on her back, she shut her eyes. The sound of classical music reached her through the walls. It was soothing and she stroked her body to its rhythm, but whatever she did she couldn't stop remembering images from the night before. Tommy's expressions, how he looked when she surprised him, how genuinely happy he'd been when he'd discovered it was her who'd bought his time, how willing he was when she challenged or pleasured him beyond even his own expectations. Seeing that light in his eyes and that smile on his face did good things to her. Really good. Heartwarming.
I really like him.
There was no denying it. Whether they were challenging each other sexually, role-playing or making love, they were entirely attuned. He responded to her wild streak and she couldn't help loving that. Her body craved more of him, and her mind and heart echoed a question over and over—wouldn't it be something to know a man like Tommy Sampson better, to have him be part of your life? But that's not what it had been about. It had been a wild sex game, a chance encounter with a like-minded sexual being. But...if only, her heart echoed once again. Sighing, she grabbed the quilt, and pulled it over her head.
* * *
The door to Clayton's mews cottage was an old world affair with a medieval knocker and a timber-beamed doorway. Tommy lifted the ornate door knocker and rapped. Moments later, Jay appeared in the doorway with a surprised expression on his face.
"Tommy, just the man. You must be psychic."
"Run that by me again." Tommy was confused. He'd been about to explain his presence.
"I was just about to ring you. We need to ask you a favor. Come in, come in." He gestured Tommy into the hallway and pointed in the direction of the sitting room.
"Looks as if we have a coincidence, I need to ask you guys a favor too."
"Coincidence and good timing, in that case." Jay shut the front door and followed him in.
Tommy had visited the place before, and always felt completely oversized in it. The cottage was a highly desirable Tudor residence, but he preferred his warehouse conversion apartment. While here, he always felt he had to keep his elbows in and duck his head in order to avoid bull-in-a-china-shop syndrome, not to mention a concussion.
In the sitting room, Clayton was scrunched on a brown leather sofa with his head in his hands, looking tense. When he heard footsteps he glanced at the door and his expression broke into a relieved smile when he saw who it was.
"Thanks for coming, Tommy."
"No worries," he said, flashing a smile, "but I think there's a misunderstanding here. I called by because I wanted to ask you if you had Kelly's contact details."
Clayton frowned.
"I hadn't called Tommy yet," Jay explained.
"Okay." Clayton shrugged and laughed, sprawling himself more easily into one corner of the sofa, as if the presence of his favorite roadie had brought about a sense of ease.
"What's up?" Tommy looked at Jay for the answer.
"Clayton's considering coming out." Jay paused, his eyebrows lifted, his expression implying the seriousness of the matter.
Tommy tried not to show his surprise, in case that was the wrong thing to do. He lifted his chin in a slow nod. "Right. I see."
"If he goes for it, he'll be giving a press statement tomorrow afternoon when he's done at the recording studio. We might need you around, just to keep the paparazzi at bay until we get out of London."
"It's that Kelly woman's fault," Clayton said, shaking his head, one side of his mouth lifted in a sardonic smile.
"Kelly?" This time Tommy couldn't hide his surprise. He thought they were a long way off from the day Clayton was going to come out, unless he was outed by someone who had happened upon the information, like Kelly had, but someone with fewer scruples. But apparently Kelly had played a part in this.
Jay indicated Tommy should sit down. "I'll get us some beers."
Clayton's gaze followed Jay as he left the room. "It was the fact that she was hunting you down, she wanted you that much. I believed her when she said she wouldn't use the information about Jay and me. It was because she wanted you that badly that she came after you, the only way she knew how. It really impressed me."
"She said she wanted me?" Tommy couldn't help smiling. Despite her bravado and her oh-so-independent "I'm just doing you back, big boy," approach, she did want him.
Clayton nodded. "Yes, and she said some stuff about me and Jay that made me think..." His forehead furrowed again. "I want to be with Jay. If our relationship comes out, it's better if it comes from me. Any other way, and there is going to be a much less positive slant."
"Good point, better to be in control of the information. If you're sure it's the right time for you?" He'd known Clayton for a while, at least three years before he got involved with Jay.
Clayton shrugged. "We're about to go away. We'd only have to suffer the heat for a day or so." He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "I only need to spend one more day in the studio. We'll do the press release to coincide with the end of that, then do a limited number of appearances before we leave on Tuesday afternoon."
"Makes sense."
Clayton gave him a hopeful smile. "I'd be really grateful if you could be around for this."
"Grateful enough to let me have Kelly's contact details?"
"What is it with you two? You shag, you say good-bye and then you realize you haven't got each other's phone number?"
It sounded crazy, when put that way, and Tommy couldn't help feeling a bit embarrassed. "Um, yeah, kind of. So, have I got a deal?"
Clayton's smile widened. "No can do, I'm afraid. She never gave us any contacts. A bonus fee is all I can offer. Besides, I thought you'd have that information pinned down for yourself by now, Tommy boy."
"Hey, you're doing wonders for my ego."
Clayton laughed. "Sorry, mate. So, what gives? Is she playing hard to get?" He looked every bit the rock god again, and so much more at ease discussing someone else's love life.
Jay appeared with three frosted bottles of beer.
Tommy took one from his hand. "Cheers. Actually, no. I think she's calling my bluff. I told her I wanted to see her again, but she did a disappearing act on me, presumably because I didn't give her my contact details the week before."
"Ah." Jay said, apparently loving the unfolding saga. "She's laid down the gauntlet." He tipped his bottle in Tommy's direction.
"Well, she did manage to track me d
own. It's a matter of necessity to match that, and—of course—return the favor." He intended to return each and every favor that she had bestowed on him the night before, in spades.
Clayton laughed and shook his head. "So you two are like...playing tag, or kiss chase, or what?"
Tommy shrugged it off with a smile. It was so true, although their game was a whole lot more adult than that. "You could say that, but I'm not about to let her go now."
Jay sat down next to Clayton, and they looked right together. At first, when they told him they were involved, Tommy had felt awkward. He'd never hung out with anyone who was gay before. Very soon after, he'd accepted it easily, because they were so good together. Gender didn't enter into it for him anymore. They were just two people who were meant to be together. Maybe Clayton had always been destined to be with a man, but Jay was obviously the right one.
Even with the decision about "coming out" weighing heavily on him, Tommy noticed how much happier Clayton was. Jay had been good for him. Before Jay came along, Clayton had been a miserable sod, seldom happy outside of when he was performing or recording. Jay had changed all that, and even though he'd brought about a new set of worries, it was still a positive change.
"So, what's your plan?" Jay was fascinated.
"She left a couple of clues. However long it takes, I'll find her."
"Good man, Tommy boy," Clayton said. "Keep us informed of your progress."
Tommy drained his beer. "I will. And just let me know what time you want me around tomorrow. I'll be there."
As he walked back towards the Tube station, it struck him that even though Kelly was fiercely independent, she impacted people's lives in a unique way. It was her forthrightness, her strength, and determination. She'd come into contact with Clayton and Jay, and it looked as if she had changed them forever.
Me too, most likely.
He liked this strange mixture of qualities she had—the woman who would stop at nothing to get an autograph for her injured friend, the woman who spoke her mind to a big celebrity and made him rethink his life, the woman who fought tooth and nail to be independent, but still had a soft underside that she couldn't always hide. That's the sort of woman Tommy wanted to know better.
Shame she is so bloody prickly, he thought wryly.
The only way to deal with her was on her terms. Capture her. Challenge her. He could do that. If something was worth having, it was worth working for. That had been his whole life policy, whether it be following a band he loved around Europe or building a business for the family, hard work was part of the deal. If that's what it was going to take, he was ready. She was worth it.
But first of all he had to track her down.
8
By Tuesday afternoon Kelly was thoroughly annoyed with herself. Even though she tried to concentrate on her job, it was nagging away at her. She could no longer deny her mistake. She shouldn't have walked out on Tommy. That's what she set out to do, to show him how it felt, and her stubborn streak hadn't let her change her mind, even when she had desperately wanted to. Ever since that day she was filled with regret.
Now she had to face up to it, she'd thrown away the chance for something good to prove a point. How stupid was that? She sighed heavily and continued with her vigorous polishing of the free-weights stand.
"You'll polish it away to nothing." Helen looked across the small weights room at her, eyebrows raised questioningly, as she moved from wiping down the stretch bars on the wall to checking the machine settings. "I thought you said you'd burned it all off?"
Kelly frowned, but didn't stop polishing. Over-energetic housekeeping might be a sign of sexual frustration, but she wasn't about to admit it. "I'm just wondering if I am too stubborn for my own good. I got my revenge on Tommy, but it wasn't as sweet as I'd expected."
"You like the man, that's why. It does happen, even to women like you." Helen's smile was teasing.
"Yes, I did like him."
"And did you ever find out if he had a reason for bailing on you that first time?"
"Yes, he had a reason, but I still had to follow my plan through." She put her hands up, rolling her eyes. "Go ahead, laugh at me. I deserve it." She threw her polishing cloth aside in disgust. She did deserve it. She'd messed up.
Helen walked over, put an arm around her shoulders and hugged her. "Stop giving yourself such a hard time. Look, we're done in here. Why don't you take your break now, while it's quiet? Just flip the sign over as you go out and I'll put the cleaning gear away."
"Thanks," Kelly said, returning the hug and heading for the door, not trusting herself to say anything else in case she embarrassed herself. At the door, she flipped the "closed for maintenance, please use main gym" sign around to read "gym open."
She walked along the corridor and up the stairs to the staff room on autopilot, barely noticing anything about her surroundings. After the emotional high of Saturday night with Tommy and her comedown on Sunday, she hit rock bottom on Monday. There was an extreme sense of loss eating away at her. They'd had such fun. Stop beating yourself up and face it, it's over.
In the sanctuary of the staff room she went to the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of orange juice, pouring out a glass. Dropping into one of the easy chairs she set the glass on the table next to the various magazines and newspapers that accumulated there. Ruffling her hands through her hair, she stared down at the papers with unseeing eyes, until a headline finally caught her attention. She moved her glass out of the way and stared at the newspaper in complete amazement.
ROCK STAR CLAYTON WARREN SINGS NEW TUNE: "I'M GAY AND I'M IN LOVE."
The accompanying picture of Clayton and Jay grinning at the camera took up half the front page of the tabloid. Clayton looked stunning, the happiest she'd ever seen him, his arm around Jay's shoulder as he waved at the camera. She snatched it up and read the photo caption.
Sorry ladies, it looks like hottie Clayton Warren bats for the other team.
"Well what do you know?" she said, with a soft laugh, her chest tight and full, her spirits lifting as she read the column.
Clayton Warren, popular music star and lust object of women across the world, spoke briefly to us late last night, following a shocking press statement put out by his new PR representative. Clayton talked about coming out as a gay man and his love for Jay Leonard, pictured here with Clayton outside The Celtic, Clayton's favorite London recording studios, where he's laying down new tracks for the next album.
The two lovers have been involved in a secret affair for seven months. Clayton decided to go public prior to jetting off with Jay for a secluded holiday in the tropics. "I've never been happier," Clayton announced. "Now it's time to tell the world how I feel."
Clayton also revealed that "Squandered," his biggest selling single, was a song he wrote for Jay. "Meeting Jay changed me and my view of everything I'd done up until that point. My emotions were so strong that I felt like I'd squandered my life up until then."
Kelly blinked and paused, remembering how they'd been backstage, after he'd sung the song as his final encore. Now it made sense. She read on.
Jay Leonard, a music producer who has worked with Clayton for the past year and produced all of his recent material, added, "We hope that Clayton's fans will understand and support him."
When asked if he thought this announcement would affect his career, Clayton said: "I've always been about the music. I will continue to be the musician and performer that people have enjoyed up until now, but—this is about me. When you want to be with someone this badly you've just got to go after it."
Kelly nodded, smiling. "Too right, Clayton. You just have to go after it." She'd done that, she'd gone after Tommy, but it hadn't done her much good.
She looked again at the photo. In the background, she could see another figure, cropped in at the edge of the shot. Her heart fluttered in her chest. Tall and built, she recognized him just from the posture of that magnificent body of his. Tommy.
He'd been there. Of
course he'd been there, she thought. He was that sort of person, loyal, reliable. He was standing by his friend and employer. She lowered the paper with a deep sigh. Reluctantly, she admitted it to herself, she really liked the man. A lot. She'd meant to burn off her attraction with another night of crazy sex, but it only made her hanker after him more. Now it felt like some sort of addiction she couldn't shake.
She knocked back her juice, put the paper down and stretched, trying to push Tommy out of her mind. But her gaze kept being drawn back to the paper, to Clayton and Jay's smiling faces, and that familiar figure in the background.
