Stand-In Star

by Rachael Johns

  Without a second thought, he pulled back and edged his lips up her body. But if he thought he had his moves planned, she had other ideas. With a strength he had no idea she possessed, she rolled him over and climbed on top.

  His breath hitched at the sight of slippery breasts above him. He reached out to touch but she clasped his wrists and pushed them above his head and then she straddled him, sinking right down onto his erection.

  He’d been right about this being quick, but nothing about the intensity was spared. She rode him like she was going someplace and needed to be there fast. And, when they were done, he was already anticipating doing it again.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Holly startled at the sound of her cell phone ringing in the distance. The far distance. She sat up, opened her eyes to a sun-lit room and did a double take at the scene before her. Stifling a yelp, her hand flew to the bed sheet and she yanked it up to cover her chest.

  Her naked chest. Oh gosh. Oh gosh. Oh gosh.

  She edged as far to the side of the bed as she possibly could and stared.

  Not only was she naked but she was naked in Nate’s bed and he was lying in an equally undressed state beside her. He breathed deeply, still asleep. Her racing heart slowed slightly at the knowledge and she allowed her gaze to travel the length of him. His broad, tanned chest was exposed to the open air and the thin sheet draped across his lower half gave everything away.

  Her stomach did a weird flip as she eyed the bulge in the sheet with a bizarre cocktail of suspicion and interest. Flashes of the night before came rushing back. Hot flashes that gave her hot flushes.

  She breathed out and palmed her cold hands against her cheeks. But it did nothing to lower her temp or ease her discomfort. I’ve done it again. More than one glass of alcohol and she lost control.

  Only this time she’d slept with Daisy’s lover. Could anything be more wrong?

  She racked her brain trying to remember exactly how uninhibited she’d been. She’d propositioned him if she recalled. Had she been trying to prove something? Stupid question. He hadn’t voiced any complaints but… Oh God, how was she supposed to get through the next couple of days with this hanging over them?

  Nate made a noise in his sleep and she realized he could wake at any second. She needed time and didn’t want an uncomfortable post-mortem, so she needed to move. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she scanned the floor for her discarded clothing.

  And came up with nothing.

  Another flashback sent a cold shot of dread to her heart. She all but slapped the side of her head. Her clothes would be lying scattered around the living room after Nate had launched them over his head. Happily waiting for Ruby to discover them. Her cheeks burned even more at the thought. How could this be happening?

  Nate had to have a shirt or something lying around she could borrow. Perhaps if she moved quickly, she’d get to the clothes before Ruby arrived.

  She scanned the room again. For a guy, Nate kept his bedroom pretty immaculate, which unfortunately meant no discarded clothes. She groaned and decided her only option was to steal the sheet right off the top of him to use as a toga. She turned around, determined not to waste time ogling his gorgeousness, and gave a gentle tug on the sheet.

  When he didn’t stir, she smiled in victory and quickly wrapped it around her. She tried not to look at his butt-naked body sprawled deliciously across the bed, but it was damn near impossible not to focus on his strong thighs and the delight between them. The heat in her cheeks spread lower, right down to her belly. Logically she might want to forget but her traitorous body had other ideas.

  “You’re not trying to escape, are you?”

  She’d lingered too long, taken distracting liberties with her eyes and lost all opportunity to flee unnoticed.

  Smiling smugly, Nate pushed up into a sitting position, seemingly at ease.

  She opened her mouth on auto-pilot but shut it almost as quickly. Yes, she was trying to escape but saying so would mean explaining why.

  “Well?”

  She clutched the sheet tighter around her body, all too aware her nipples were erect and probably visible through the material. “My clothes. I need my clothes. Ruby will be here any second and I don’t want her to come upon the mess from last night. It’ll be easier if she doesn’t know.”

  Despite her ramblings, she turned toward the door, satisfied she’d supplied a suitable explanation for her necessary quick departure.

  “Ruby doesn’t work Saturdays.” His voice was deep and full of self-assurance. “We have the whole house to ourselves.”

  Right. Well, this was awkward. Her brain said she should turn around and deal with this now, her heart said run. “Still, I’ve got appointments today. I better get ready.”

  “You’re not regretting anything, are you?”

  She closed her eyes, pondering his question. Yes. No. What kind of question was that? How long did he have? She finally looked at him and found the wherewithal to speak. “I got carried away. I’m sorry.”

  He frowned and crossed his arms. “What are you sorry about?”

  She sighed. “Manipulating you.” Heat flushed to her cheeks again. “Demanding you made love to me.”

  “Didn’t you listen to anything I said last night?”

  She bit her lip. “I’d had a little bit to drink and probably wasn’t in the clearest frame of mind.”

  “Fuck.” He ran a hand through his sexy bed hair, grabbed a pillow from behind him and placed it strategically across his groin. Her heart pined a little at the cover but intellectually she knew it was a good thing. Thinking rationally and logically, hell, thinking any way at all, was difficult with a full frontal view of his perfection.

  “Did I take advantage of you?” he asked. Aside from the time he’d spoken about his past, it was the first time she’d heard real emotion in his voice.

  “Oh, God, no.” Rushing to reassure him with hand signals, she almost lost her grip on the sheet. Securing it again, she continued, “I wanted you.”

  She couldn’t lie to herself and she wouldn’t lie to him. She’d wanted him since she’d first laid eyes on him in the arrivals hall. At first, she’d wondered if the desire had something to do with getting one over on Daisy, taking something of hers, but she’d quickly realized wanting to be with Nate had nothing to do with her sister and everything to do with him. After the crazy shenanigans of last night, she should be close to getting him out of her system.

  But it wasn’t so. She still wanted him.

  “How much exactly did you have to drink?”

  “A couple of glasses.”

  Relief eased the lines on his face. “Thank God.”

  “But I’m an easy drunk. I always have been. More than a glass and I’m practically tanked. I lose all sense of reality.”

  “So, what are you saying? You wouldn’t have slept with me if it wasn’t for the alcohol?”

  Another almost impossible question.

  He read her hesitation as confirmation. “Man, this is insane.” Leaping off the bed, he strode toward an off-shooting door—a bathroom or a walk-in-closet, she imagined.

  She blinked, trying to tear her gaze from his tight butt and focus.

  “No. Stop.” She didn’t want to leave things like this. “I wouldn’t have been so forward in asking you to sleep with me but I’d still have been thinking about it. I just wouldn’t have followed through. I know I’m not the type of girl a guy like you wants. I’m no Daisy.”

  He paused, but it seemed like forever before he actually turned round. When he did, he shook his head slowly. “Is that what you think?”

  She shrugged, and then nodded. “It’s the reality. Always has been. She got the blonde hair and clear skin. I got this,” she thrust a finger at her hair, “and freckles. She was funny and had an easy way with people. I’m better with books. Until she was out of the picture, no guy ever looked twice at me, unless she’d already made it clear she didn’t want them. I don’t think
you’d have slept with me if she were still alive.”

  He closed the gap between them, reached out and grabbed her upper arms like he was going to shake her. But she didn’t feel scared. “So you really didn’t listen to a word I said last night?”

  She tried to fight the tingles that plagued her skin at his words. “Words are easy.”

  His hand slipped up to cradle her neck. His eyes stared so intently at her, her throat went dry. “I may live in Hollywood but I’m not an actor, Holly. I may be a guy but it doesn’t mean I can talk myself into arousal. As you said yourself, why would I?”

  He sounded damn convincing but she couldn’t get one lingering worry out of her head. “Perhaps through me you were getting to Daisy? Perhaps you really wanted her?”

  * * *

  “That is insane.” Nate struggled against tightening his grip on Holly and shaking her stupid. He’d never had a post-sex conversation quite like this. He rarely did post-sex conversation at all. The women he slept with were never as needy as Holly. Usually all that concerned them was engineering another round.

  He didn’t know why he wanted to waste his energies convincing Holly she was wrong, but he did.

  “Two things—I wasn’t drunk. I knew exactly what I was doing and you’re nothing like Daisy.” He hoped his words would lift her up, not drag her farther down. He couldn’t offer her what she needed long term but it suddenly seemed imperative that he give her back her confidence. Her faith in her attraction and sexuality.

  There was silence between them as she turned over his words.

  “Believe me yet?”

  “I want to,” she confessed. Despite the vulnerability in her eyes and in the way she bit her lip, she looked adorable.

  He’d never considered adorable sexy before. He did now. He moved his hand slightly, stroked his thumb against the nap of her neck and then inched his fingers up into her hair, watching her eyes carefully for her reaction.

  Her lashes lowered briefly and her head rocked back against her hand. Victory pumped through his blood and to parts of him eager for a repeat performance of last night. The sheet around her slipped slightly, giving him a tantalizing glimpse of cleavage.

  And he decided that actions spoke louder than words. If she didn’t believe what he said, he’d damn well show her.

  Before she had time to react or object, he tugged the sheet where it folded in on itself above her breasts and smiled as it tumbled to the floor. His blood drained lower, leaving parts of him smoking. She shivered, but she didn’t rush to pick the sheet up or even try to cover herself with her hands as he suspected she might. She met his eyes with hers, and he swore he saw a challenge there. She still didn’t believe she turned him on but she was willing to let him prove it.

  He’d never been one to shirk a challenge. But this time, he wasn’t going to rush things. To hell with her appointments. Nothing could be more important than this.

  He took her hand. “Follow me.”

  “Where are we going?” she asked shakily.

  “You’ll see.”

  They walked naked down the hallway and two flights of stairs to a room he hadn’t shown her before—his home studio. He rarely took photos here anymore but he still liked to keep it set up and ready. He kept his first camera there and some of his best portrait shots lined the walls. He watched her reaction as she scanned the room. Her eyes lingered on the pristine white leather couch, the lush black carpets underneath and the back-drop of jet black behind it.

  “Is this what I think it is?”

  “Yes.”

  Another shiver scuttled from her neck and down her body. He stared openly at her nipples but resisted the urge to touch. Yet.

  “Are you sure Ruby won’t show up today?”

  “Yes. She spends her weekends with her husband.”

  She turned again and focused on the couch. “Okay, then.”

  All his muscles were tight, and he had more of an erection than he’d ever had before. It throbbed painfully. “Lie on the couch.” He couldn’t keep the low need from his voice as he requested what he’d been dreaming of for days. “Let me take your photo.”

  * * *

  Holly blinked and considered pinching herself. She’d never stood so openly naked in front of a man before but it was strangely empowering. And Nate naked also made it a lot easier—with him like that she was all but helpless to think any sensible thoughts.

  At her silence, he looked her up and down, sparking a wave of arousing sensations throughout her body. Then he nodded again toward the couch. The look of need in his eyes was impossible to fake. No one had ever wanted to take a photo of her, never mind one sans clothes.

  Of course she should object. She wasn’t some sex object—no matter how much the idea appealed. What would happen if his photos got into public hands somehow? She could just see look on the Dean of Study’s face if he saw them.

  “Please, Holly? This is only for us. “

  At his entreating words, she focused once again on his face. He wanted this, and after everything he’d given her last night—good decision or bad—she wanted to give something back.

  She wasn’t tipsy now. She couldn’t blame any alcohol for her decisions. But she was heady—on him. Smiling and nodding, she made her way over to the couch and lay down on her side. “Like this?”

  She saw his Adam’s apple bubble as he swallowed. “Perfect. Don’t move.”

  As he went to rifle through a cupboard in one corner of the room, Holly ran her fingers over the smooth leather, resisting the urge to glance down at her curves. She didn’t want to conduct a self-assessment, because the minute she did, she knew she’d chicken out.

  Luckily, it wasn’t long before he returned to stand before her. An impressive looking black camera cradled his large and talented hands. She gulped.

  He stepped toward her and ran his hand from the top of her shoulder down over her side, right to her toes. He pushed one leg over the other and lifted her arm up to drape on the back of the couch. Was this what clay felt like under the sculptor’s skilled hands? Her whole body yearned for more, her nipples, already tight, seemed to pebble beyond belief. Need flooded her.

  “Perfect,” he said, then stepped back and all but kneeled as he lifted the camera to face height.

  She watched him, unsure whether to smile or frown but immensely curious to observe him working. It was beautiful. He was beautiful, the way he looked, then angled, then snapped and then repeated the process all again. So intent. So focused. So serious. She almost forgot she was his model—his naked model. She felt more like a fly on the wall watching the most erotic performance ever.

  When she’d woken up in Nate’s bed that morning, she’d never imagined she’d been about to get in even more over her head. But here she was.

  The more photos he took, the closer he came. Taking photos only of her face, so close she could almost reach out and touch him if she hadn’t felt frozen from the experience.

  “Smile for me,” he said.

  She giggled instead, a rush of consciousness flooding at the reality of the situation. Bringing her desire to life.

  He snapped again, kneeling down and focusing solely on her face, getting closer and closer. She should feel shy and embarrassed but with his intent, appreciative gaze raking her, she couldn’t. For the first time in her life she felt truly sexual, truly wanted. This knowledge was a powerful aphrodisiac.

  Need built up inside her again. She’d never wanted anything as badly as she wanted him now. Boldly, she reached out and stroked her hand down his thigh. His breath hitched and his muscles contracted beneath her touch. Delicious flutters flooded her tummy. She did not remove her hand.

  He seemingly ignored it, snapping another picture and then moving his aim down her body. He took a close up of one breast and then the other. He looked his fill but didn’t say a word.

  Her breathing quickened—the room was so still, so quiet, she was certain he could hear the change in rhythm. Her hand slipped as he e
dged along the plush rug, snapping a photo looking up from between her knees. She trusted the image would be tasteful, not seedy. Her knees were positioned sideways, one over the other.

  Finally when she couldn’t take the rising yearning any longer, he lowered the camera and placed it carefully on the floor off to the side of them. When he turned back, he looked on her without the barrier of the camera. Feeling wanton, she leaned back into the couch and placed one arm behind her neck, thrusting her breasts upwards seductively.

  He came close again. Smiled and pointed to his impressive erection. “Do you believe me yet?”

  “I’m getting there, but I might need a little hands-on confirmation.” At her demand, her heart froze in anticipation of his reaction. Imagining what he might do, what part of her he might touch was almost as pleasurable as him actually doing it.

  At least that’s what she thought, until he finally leaned over and took one of her big toes into his mouth. She bucked against the couch—totally shocked by the intensity of her response. Since when had toes been erogenous? Until now, she’d never imagined her feet could be part of the foreplay process, now she wondered what she’d been missing out on all these years.

  Shifting up onto the couch, he lifted her legs on top of him and refocused his attention on her toes. He sucked and nibbled and then licked her arch before moving his delicious actions upward. He massaged with his fingers and kissed a daisy chain around each ankle, rubbing his hands up and down her calves like he was some sort of professional masseuse.

  “Is there anything you’re not an expert at?” she asked, breathless.

  He looked up momentarily. “Lots of things. But I am an expert on beauty and these are a sensational set of legs you have. Gorgeous.”

  A shiver of wildfire rushed through her.

  Where her boldness came from she had no idea. Perhaps it was the thought that this really was an aberration in her life, a holiday fling, and so what did she have to lose? But suddenly she heard herself asking, “Are there any other parts of me you find beautiful?”