Undone (The Revealed Series)

by Alice Raine

  Ensuring I gave her space was going to be an uphill battle; I’d already practically inundated her with messages. I was so enamoured with her that I wanted to spend every minute of every day getting to know her.

  Not to mention night times. A small groan escaped my throat as my eyes fluttered shut. I wanted to feel Caitlin curled up in my arms more than I wanted my next breath. I knew the physical side of things would take a long while to develop, and I was completely fine with that, but it didn’t mean I couldn’t dream about it.

  Which I did frequently. I was a hot-blooded male, after all.

  She had an innocence about her that was quite rare, reminiscent of the shy, blushing beauties from a Jane Austen novel. Women in Hollywood were a whole different kettle of fish: done up to their eyeballs with make-up and wearing the teeniest, tiniest clothes while they twerked their way through life hoping to snag a rich guy in the process.

  But not Caitlin. In fact, I’d place money on the fact that she’d only had a few lovers in her life. One or two, tops. Probably a high school sweetheart and then some tentative college guy who was equally as shy and nervous.

  I was neither shy nor tentative in bed. I might have been selective about the women I’d slept with, but I’d had enough sex in my relationships over the years to know what I was doing, and I’d been told on several occasions I did it pretty damn well. I loved sex. Loved exploring the soft curves of a woman’s body and working out what made her tick. I loved being the man to make her breath hitch, skin flush, and body clench as I made her lose control. The idea of doing those things with Caitlin was so exciting I could barely wait. But wait I would.

  Holding off would only make it all the sweeter in the end.

  My good mood was soured slightly by the ongoing issues between Sean and Allie. He’d texted me last night to say he was back in LA and at a loose end if I fancied meeting up. As I’d read his message I realised that he probably didn’t even know I’d been involved in the fire. I had got the distinct impression that he was feeling sorry for himself, so I’d replied saying I’d go over for a beer.

  This was the first time I’d been to his new place, and from the outside it looked pretty amazing. I loved houses near the sea. My home in the UK was in the remote Scottish wilderness and overlooked a windswept cove and beach. I loved it, but for my LA house Flynn had suggested something a little more secure, as I had a much bigger fan following over here, so we’d picked the house in the all-singing, all-dancing gated compound designed specifically for the ultra-rich and famous.

  Just seconds after Flynn had dropped me outside, the front door opened and I was greeted by Sean, clad in just running shorts and trainers, dripping with sweat.

  My eyes narrowed as I saw the bandages on one of his hands, and I laughed dryly as I saw him mirroring my expression and looking at my own bandaged arm.

  ‘Twins!’ he murmured wryly, wiggling his bandage at me. ‘Come on in. It looks like we’ve got a lot to catch up on.’

  I entered his new place and nodded my appreciation as I followed him through to a light lounge with a stunning sea view. It was lovely. Simple design, sparse on furniture, but almost exactly the type of style I liked.

  ‘I need a quick shower after my run, I won’t be long. Make yourself at home.’

  I took him at his word, and so by the time Sean emerged, I had a soda water in my good hand and was reclining in one of the sun loungers on his deck, listening to the waves break on the beach below.

  Raising my bottle to him, I smiled. ‘This place is awesome.’

  ‘Thanks.’ Sean looked pleased and joined me on the other lounger after grabbing a bottle of water. ‘I’ve got beer in the fridge, you want one?’ he offered.

  ‘Thanks, but I gotta drive home later.’ And maybe pop in to see Caitlin. The idea sprung to my mind without prompting and immediately caused a grin to spread on my lips. If there was even a remote possibility I could be seeing her, I definitely wanted to be one hundred per cent sober.

  ‘So what happened exactly?’ Sean asked, indicating my arm and oblivious to my suddenly flushed skin.

  Thinking of the fire quickly doused my lusty thoughts, and so with a grimace I explained about the studio fire and my burns, and by the time I’d gone into the gruesome details of my mangled wrist, Sean was sitting upright, listening intently.

  ‘Jeez. Sounds like you were quite the hero.’

  ‘Not really. I was just closest to him,’ I replied, brushing off his compliment. As far as I was concerned, I had done what anyone would have in that situation. ‘So enough about me, what happened to your hand?’

  It was comical, both of us sitting here with almost matching bandages.

  ‘When Allie broke things off with me I punched a sign,’ Sean confessed with an embarrassed shrug. ‘Broke two knuckles.’

  When I’d first met him–probably getting on for thirteen years ago now–Sean had had a bit of a temper. His on-off girlfriend, Elena, (more like a friend with benefits, by all accounts) had just died in an accident, and from what I could gather it had sent him off the rails. The young man I’d known then was a fighter, drinker, and serial seducer, and a million miles away from the man I now classed as one of my closest friends.

  Perhaps he could tell I was about to give him a lecture on controlling his temper, because Sean grinned and held up a hand. ‘It was accidental, Jack, I swear. I threw my arms up and caught this one on a big studio board. Hurt like a fucker.’

  ‘I’ll bet.’ Now we were settled I decided it was time to broach the elephant in the room. ‘So, how are things between you and Allie?’

  Sean slugged on his water like it was beer and let out a frustrated sigh. ‘We’re on a break until I get the situation with Savannah resolved.’ He sighed heavily and gave me a miserable look. ‘It hurts so fucking much, but I understand why she needs the space. Savannah is a soul sucking parasite, the quicker I can get her away from both Allie and me, the better. Finlay’s arranged a press conference for tomorrow, so hopefully Allie and I can work things out then.’

  ‘That sounds pretty positive,’ I commented, feeling a bit useless with regards to what advice to give.

  ‘Yeah. Ah, fuck it. Do you want to crack open a few beers to take my mind off things? You can crash in the spare room.’

  My plans of seeing Caitlin vaporised before my eyes, but mates in need were mates in need, and Sean clearly needed me. It wasn’t like I’d actually made plans anyway.

  Nodding, I settled in for the evening. ‘OK, sounds good.’ I felt a little bad for being so happy when Sean was so down, so it was the least I could do.

  ‘I’ll grab some beers.’ Sean disappeared, leaving me with my thoughts. Swilling the bottle in my hand, I watched the clear liquid bubble and froth. Cocking my head to the side I listened as Sean turned on a familiar song on the radio in the kitchen and found myself smiling as my heart sped up a little.

  It was Adele’s ‘One and Only’, a track that had reminded me of Caitlin every single time I heard it. I felt like a complete sap comparing my life to a song, but the lyrics had completely summed up the state of things between us since meeting.

  Maybe I’d make her a copy of this song and tell her how I thought of her when I heard it.

  ‘Hey, what’s with the sappy smile?’ Sean asked as he rejoined me and held out a beer.

  Busted. My cheeks flamed with embarrassment. Make her a copy? Jeez, what was I, a teenager making a mix tape for the girl he was crushing on?

  ‘I was just thinking about Caitlin,’ I admitted sheepishly.

  Sean raised an eyebrow and grinned at me. ‘Just because my love life is temporarily screwed up doesn’t mean we can’t discuss yours. Come on, dish the dirt, what’s happened?’

  I ran a hand through my hair as I thought back to her visits. We’d only held hands and talked, but it had been amazing. ‘We’re sort of at the really early stage of a relationship.’

  Sean gave me a pleasantly surprised look and then smirked. ‘The “fucki
ng like bunnies” stage?’

  Ha. Hardly. ‘No, not quite. This is Caitlin we’re talking about.’

  ‘Ah, of course.’ Sean sobered his features as he sipped his beer. ‘Has she told you why she’s so jumpy?’

  Letting out a deep breath, I shook my head. ‘Not really. She’s hinted it’s to do with her ex so I’m guessing he was really overbearing and that put her off relationships.’

  ‘Given how skittish she is...did you ever think maybe he was abusive?’ Sean ventured tentatively.

  My teeth ground together so hard I saw Sean wince in sympathy. ‘Yeah, I thought that was a possibility.’

  ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to spoil your excitement. So what’s happened between you?’ he asked, sipping his beer and letting out a contented smacking noise with his lips.

  With a self-conscious shrug I recounted our kiss on the studio run and told him about Caitlin’s visits to the hospital.

  ‘So you’ve only kissed once in the woods, and held hands at the hospital?’ he asked in disbelief.

  When he described it like that, it sounded so insignificant. But it wasn’t to me–it was monumental and I was savouring every precious moment. ‘Yeah.’

  God. First mix tapes and now “precious”? What the heck had gotten into me?

  Caitlin. That’s what. Because if I had to take it slow and just hold hands for the next year, I would, and what’s more, as long as I had Caitlin by my side I would be perfectly content with that.

  My embarrassment must have shown on my face, because Sean leant forwards to land a friendly punch on my shoulder. ‘Hey, lose the face. Taking it slow in a relationship can be great,’ he nodded, before his face split into a grin. ‘So I’ve heard, anyway,’ he added. ‘Nah, seriously, it’s pretty romantic.’

  Pretty romantic.

  Yeah, I liked that summary. I liked it lot.

  Nine

  Sean

  After making sure Jack had everything he needed for the night, I stumbled to my bedroom feeling just a little tipsy. I’d only had three or four bottles over the entire evening, but after the exertion of my run it had been enough to take the edge off my stress.

  Jack really was a good mate, and such easy company that I’d almost managed to forget the looming press conference and my issues with Allie for an hour or two.

  As I closed my bedroom door, I dragged my T-shirt over my head and kicked my shorts off in the general direction of the wash basket. I was about to head to the en suite to brush my teeth when I spotted my laptop on the bed.

  I’d decided this morning that it would be wise to print off a paper copy of my contract before the press conference, just in case Finlay decided to get arsy with me afterwards. At least if I had my contract in my hand, my lawyer could check the fine print and make sure he didn’t screw me over. The only problem had been that my personal records were stored on my home computer in the UK, and I’d been having trouble accessing them remotely.

  I’d contacted David back home, my most trusted tech guy, and asked him if he could sort the issue, which luckily he had, so I could once again log on to my UK computer from here, all the way across the ocean. Technology was bloody amazing. I remember when I was a kid and had to load my computer games using a tape player. Jeez, that made me feel old. Would kids these days even know what a cassette was?

  Shoving my hair back from my forehead, I dropped onto the bed and opened up the laptop lid. The screen glowed to life with a message box illuminated in the centre.

  Downloads complete.

  Once I’d downloaded my contract this morning I’d been skimming through my documents, and the file for my security footage had caught my eye. That was the footage that contained the videos of Allie and I having sex, the ones she’d found out about, freaked out about, and then demanded we watch together. Unfortunately, we’d broken up before we’d had the chance.

  I’d decided to copy it across to my laptop and erase it from my home computer like I’d told her I would. I’d started the download before I’d gone to work out, and I could see it had completed downloading sometime during my session.

  Curiosity got the better of me and I clicked the “open” button to see if the file transfer had worked properly. Once the egg timer on my screen stopped spinning, I was presented with a list of dated files.

  It wasn’t hard to find the one I most wanted to see, because I thought it was the most memorable encounter between Allie and me, taken last Christmas Eve. Loading the file, I licked my lips and held my breath.

  The screen opened full-size and I was met with the sight of Allie sat in my lounge in England. God, it was surreal to see this footage after so much had happened between us.

  Knowing we were still apart, on a ‘break’, I knew I should close down the computer and go to bed, but I couldn’t help myself and I fast forwarded to where I entered the room. My face was dark, and shoulders hunched. I looked like such a grouchy bastard.

  Had I really been that moody with her? It was a fucking miracle she’d stayed with me as long as she had.

  Settling myself more comfortably on the bed, I let out a long breath as I watched the scene play out. I’d entered the room and caught Allie reading about Elena on her laptop. I’d made some remark about keeping Allie on her toes and she’d called me an arsehole. Which I probably deserved. After that I had confessed my secrets about Elena, then I’d kissed her.

  Watching as her tentative response turned more passionate, I shifted and leant closer to the screen. Allie was so beautiful. On the screen she arched her body to my touch and a groan left my lips. Watching us together was such a turn-on that I was now completely hard, my cock poking eagerly out my boxers.

  I eyed my erection for a second before pushing aside any guilt and wrapping a palm around my solid shaft. Hissing at the ache in my busted knuckles, I swapped hands and looked back at the screen. My left hand smoothed up and down my cock, feeling awkward and unfamiliar, but it was all I had tonight so I’d have to make do.

  I watched as Allie shook her head. Her eyes had been dilated and her cheeks flushed, but I could recall clearly how she had played hard to get, and how much of a fucking turn-on it had been. It still was. She’d repeatedly claimed she didn’t want me while her body had said the complete opposite by rubbing against mine.

  Watching as she leant back and accused me of only being able to communicate through a ‘quick fuck’, I began to move my hand quicker. I’d taunted her that night, making her repeat her crude words, and damn if hearing her use dirty talk hadn’t been the hottest thing I’d ever experienced.

  Aware that Jack was down the corridor, I turned the volume up just enough so I could hear her breathy pleas. ‘Oh God, don’t stop, Sean...take me again...I want you to fuck me...fuck me better than any man ever has...’ I groaned long and low as my hand jerked up and down and pleasure began to build in my tightening balls.

  Allie capitulated, giving her consent, and the Sean on the screen went wild, ripping her clothes off and descending on her like a man possessed. Allie arched beneath my touch as I pinched her nipples and nibbled on her neck before sliding a hand between her legs. As if in sync with the video, my cock released a small pulse of pre-come onto my fingers to ease the smoothness of my strokes.

  My hand continued to rub up and down with repeated urgency. It still wasn’t as smooth as usual, and not as experienced as my right when it came to servicing myself, but this video was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen. I could probably come from just watching the footage. I watched avidly as on the screen I grabbed Allie’s hips and virtually impaled her on my desperate cock. Her head rolled backwards as she let out a long, low groan of pleasure and greedily wrapped her legs around my hips.

  My gorgeous girl.

  I think she’d expected me to ram back inside of her like I had done the previous times we’d fucked, but this was the day I’d realised that Allie meant far more to me than just a casual lay, and instead of my usual force, I’d taken her by surprise and pressed my length inside
her slowly. Almost lovingly. The look of surprise on her face was priceless, as was the knowing look in her eyes that followed shortly after. It was more than just sex between us, and in that moment she knew it too.

  My hips bucked on the empty bed, desperately wishing that Allie were here with me and not just on my laptop screen. As of tomorrow, after the press conference, that would hopefully be a different matter.

  My computer self was reaching climax, the muscles on my back straining as I tried to hold on for Allie. Her face reddened, as it always did before she came, and keeping her eyes fixed on mine I watched as she cried out her orgasm, pleasure so intense it almost looked like pain sweeping her face as her nails bit into my shoulders and she bucked insatiably against me.

  Back in real time I felt my orgasm nearing, and as I rammed inside Allie on the screen and climaxed, I simultaneously came into my hand with a muffled groan.

  Looking down at my heaving chest muscles and the sticky mess of come that now covered my fist, boxers, and stomach, I felt a brief flicker of guilt that I had just pleasured myself to images of Allie, but it was short-lived as I felt relaxation sweep through my muscles.

  I really needed that.

  Looking at the screen, I paused the image and gently swept my index finger over her face.

  Tomorrow, my gorgeous girl.

  I’ll make you mine again tomorrow.

  Ten

  Allie

  The irritating beeping woke me for a second time, and with an accepting sigh I blinked my sleep-heavy eyes and rubbed my face. It would seem my mobile didn’t want me to have a lie-in today.

  Not that I really minded–it was my birthday, after all.

  The first message to wake me had been from my parents, so wondering who this was from, I rolled over to reach for my phone, assuming it was another friend or a relative wishing me happy birthday.