by Jay Shaw
LIMELIGHT
And Longing
JAY SHAW
Copyright © 2017 by Jay Shaw.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.
Jay Shaw
[email protected]
Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.
Cover design by: Haley Allison at Spellbound Cover Design:
https://www.spellboundcoverdesign.com/
Ordering Information:
Quantity sales. Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the “Special Sales Department” at the address above.
Jay Shaw/Limelight And Longing -- 1st ed.
For June
When I saw you I fell in love,
And you smiled because you knew.
– WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Chapter One
Jenna Long, and her fellow passengers, exited from gate five into Melbourne Airport’s congested Arrivals and Departures terminal. The cacophony of voices raised in excitement and frustration made it impossible to think, let alone track down those waiting to meet their loved ones. The four hour flight from Auckland had been uneventful and on time, but there was little to spare. Jenna had to find Cait, and find her quick.
She scanned the sea of anonymous travelers, searching for the face of her friend. A friend she was yet to meet in person. With each long-legged stride, her excitement built. In all her twenty-eight years, she’d never won anything until the package from LunarCon arrived on the courier. The covering letter explained that as part of the terms and conditions, every ticket to a LunarCon event automatically put the purchaser into a draw for a Celestial Platinum Package to a future event of their choice. Included in the package were accommodation, priority VIP passes to panels and backstage meet-and-greets, vouchers for photo ops and autographs, and an invitation to the highly-coveted Celebrity Dinner; the location of which was top secret until two hours beforehand. Since she was the only one Jenna wanted to go with her, Cait had been the first person she told.
The giant digital clock clicked over to ten-forty-two. Eight minutes to find Cait and hop a cab to their hotel, twenty to change and make it back to the auditorium in time for the first panel. They’d be cutting it fine. Yet everything, from the availability of flights to having her teaching plan for the upcoming term organized, seemed cosmically-aligned to bring her here. Why would the universe start messing with her now?
“Jenna!”
Jenna heard her name in an unfamiliar Aussie twang which matched the tone and energy of Cait’s emails. She turned in the direction of the call and was body-slammed by a fast-moving concrete wall.
“Oh, shit! Sorry.”
A deep comforting voice growled in apology as huge hands lashed out, grabbed her biceps and pulled her back on her feet. She teetered a moment more on her two-inch heels but those hands continued to hold tight, biting deeper into her leather-clad arms to keep her safe.
Her senses drowned out the buzz around them and zeroed in to focus on every detail of the man who continued to hold her, still and close, deliciously close, and warm, and solid, and…
He hadn’t said anything other than the curse that’d rolled off his lips. The same lips whose taste had eluded and mocked her in her dreams for the past eighteen months. Jenna knew who he was. Knew by the sound of his voice and the way her breath caught in her throat while her heart beat a frantic tattoo against her ribs. The sweet tension wrapping itself around them was so familiar it made her sob.
He pulled her tighter into the full length of his body, something she’d wanted him to do since…she couldn’t remember when and she didn’t care. She finally raised her chin and gazed into brown eyes, framed by no-nonsense brows and steeped with seductive confidence.
“Jacob?” Jenna asked and rolled her eyes at her own stupidity. A cat could’ve come up with wittier opening lines.
Jacob swayed where he stood, eyes glued to those of the woman he’d looked everyfuckingwhere for. “Jenna?”
He felt her hands curve to his hips in an attempt to steady him and couldn’t silence the whisper of want that escaped his lips at her touch. They felt perfect and made him hunger for more as their warmth seeped through the layers of worn denim, and black designer cotton, to caress his skin beneath.
She was the most damned elusive woman on the planet. And yet, he knew if he asked she’d have a completely simple explanation as to why every avenue he’d tried had failed to produce any leads to her whereabouts. The last thing he wanted was to feel stupid in front of her. So he said nothing and pulled her closer against him. Now Jenna was in his arms, he never wanted to let her go.
“What are you doing here?” He chewed the flesh of his lower lip to avoid rolling his eyes or groaning in embarrassment. Lame, thy name is Jacob.
He watched as she attempted to catch her breath and followed the roll of her slender throat as she swallowed. Deep rose flushed across her cheeks and warm relief settled heavy in his chest. It wasn’t all on him. Whatever it was between them, she was affected too. The knowledge was more than a little heartening.
“A-Adam’s in town.” Jenna stuttered. She’d forgotten he chewed his lip when he was nervous. The desire to rasp her thumb over it and ease it free from his perfect teeth was difficult to ignore. “I came to meet Cait.”
“Right, yeah, of course.” He answered in what he hoped was a casual tone but she hadn’t bought it, and a crease appeared between her eyebrows. His finger itched to smooth it away.
He should’ve known. Adam Chase, Mr Tall-Blue-Eyed-Action-Hero, pulled women like they were moths to his fucking flame. And damned if Jacob could figure out how he did it. It wasn’t as if Jacob didn’t receive female attention. His muscular six-three body, tousled chestnut-brown hair, and predatory grin, pretty much guaranteed him his choice of willing bed partners. But there was no doubt, when it came to photo ops and autograph signings, Adam’s lines were noticeably longer.
They’d been friends since they met on the set of The Sacred Rose. The science fiction soldiers-of-fortune blockbuster that hurled Jacob’s Ethan Fox, and Adam’s Dante Jones into a three-film contract, and the two actors into the global spotlight. It was on a press junket to Australia then New Zealand the previous year where they’d met Jenna during a VIP brunch. He’d been captivated by the redhead with mischief in her eyes and a passion for their characters. It was crystal clear she was hot for him, and he’d been just as eager. Adam had ribbed him the rest of the weekend for being cockblocked by LunarCon’s stupid hands-off clause. He got it, he did. It protected everyone from potential law suits and bad press.
But as he flew back to the States without even her number in his phone Jacob had to agree with Adam. He’d been a fucking idiot, and missed his chance.
♥♥♥
“Jenna!” Cait yelled a second time and worked her way through the mass of bodies like she was swimming in treacle.
Thirty-fee
t to her left, a tall woman turned her head to answer, mid-length red hair glinting gold in the overhead lighting as she was bowled into by…
Holy shit! Cait couldn’t help the snort of surprised laughter and disbelief that broke free and startled the harassed mother-of-three she was squeezing past. Her week just kept getting better and better.
Cait made her way to the couple, for anyone with eyes could see that’s what they were - standing in each other’s space, oblivious to everything but each other.
“Cait?” Jenna pulled back, offering a grin so bright it momentarily blinded Cait with its intensity.
“You’re here.” Cait grasped Jenna’s hands and shook them while she bounced on the spot. But as she stared into the amused expression of the man watching them, she couldn’t work out if she’d meant the observation for him, or Jenna.
“I made it.” Jenna confirmed in a voice too low for anyone but Cait to hear and leaned into a tight squeeze of a hug, before pulling back to stand stunned between them.
Before the silence could turn more awkward than it already had, Cait pivoted to face the muscle-bound tower of gorgeousness and with a calm she didn’t feel, looked up, and offered her right hand.
“Hi, I’m Cait Dunham. Jenna’s friend.”
Chapter Two
Well, shit. Shit, shit, and double shit. Jacob’s mind cursed on a loop in time with his ground-eating strides as he tailed Rick through the crowds to the Private Rentals kiosk. Shit, shit, shiiiit!
He didn’t know if he was more pissed about a year’s worth of wasted searching, only to have Adam be the one to find Jenna, or the fact that once he had her, he’d had to let her go. Again.
At least now Adam’s smug and evasive I’m emailing your flight info. Get your ass to Melbourne by tomorrow made sense. His tone - exactly like that of the gravel-voiced soldier-of-fortune Adam had lived and breathed for the past four years - had echoed in Jacob’s inner ear long after his friend severed their connection. An out-of-the-blue trip down under? Adam had to be yanking his chain. He’d stood in his chrome-and-black kitchen - ignoring the Los Angeles city skyline as it came to life against an orange and purple sunset beyond the panoramic windows – and tapped open the new email. The flight number and departure time below the airline’s patriotic header had looked real enough.
When he’d phoned his personal assistant, Rick had taken it in his stride and set up four promotional interviews with Australian press agents. The first of which, he was already late for, later than late, since his collision with Jenna had delayed his exit from the terminal. Oddly enough, Jacob couldn’t find it in himself to care. The warmth of her touch still lingered on his hips as he followed Rick’s narrow shoulders out the sliding glass doors and into diluted sunshine; a light breeze licked at the sweat on the back of his neck and made him shiver.
Jacob grinned; startling the chauffeur who held open the rear passenger door. He and Jenna were in the same city again. Eighteen months since they’d first met, seventy-two weeks separation and searching, and Fate had decided to throw him a bone at last.
He tried to contain his thrill of excitement but it escaped in a bellow of a laugh and a hand slap on a startled Rick’s shoulder. He had no doubt, as he sprawled his long legs across the limo’s luxurious black leather interior, that Adam was behind this and Jacob couldn’t think of a single way to thank him.
“Good Morning Melbourne with Sally Coulson,” Rick informed him without looking up from the itinerary cued-up on the screen of his notebook where it balanced on his pinstriped knees. “Ranking live-feed magazine show in the state. I’ve phoned ahead, told them the situation and they’ve moved you to the closing ten.”
Jacob heard what the other man said, even nodded his understanding, but he wasn’t listening. In his mind he was still back in the crowded airport, falling into clear green eyes and imagining what it’d be like to finally kiss the lips her smile teased him with. Jenna had melted into him when he caught her mid-stumble. He hadn’t imagined it. Had he?
And that was the thing; the one consistent nagging doubt about the whole messed up situation. Had she actually lingered close at the end of the brunch, blocking his exit from between two tables, so he had to brush against her ass to get past? Or had he only imagined her interest because he wanted her so much? Forbidden fruit was always the sweetest.
Fuck.
Time sure had a way of making you doubt your own mind.
God, how that moment, and so many others throughout that damned weekend, had haunted him in the time since. That damn dress she’d worn to the cocktail evening had left just enough to his imagination. He hadn’t been able to keep from tracking her progress around the room; emerald silk caressing every curve and fine-turned limb. His dick twitched at the memory and he shifted on the black leather. Her hand in his, palms touching as he accepted her greeting. He’d wanted to keep her, right there against his side; had wanted to hear his name from her lips again and again.
But there’d been a hundred pairs of eyes, watching his every move.
The limo came to a smooth stop and while Jacob waited for the door to open – they frowned on him doing it himself – he remembered his eagerness at seeing her in the hallway the next morning. Her faraway frown and the lost, broken look that dulled the sparkle in her eyes had cut him to the core. Nothing had been more important in that moment, than giving her back her smile.
She was in line, surrounded by people who’d message the moment across the globe in a heartbeat; but he hadn’t cared, he’d wanted her smile, needed it like he needed his next breath.
He’d needed more than that, he admitted silently as he unfolded himself from the limo and rolled his shoulders. He’d wanted her against him, wanted her hands on him and his on her. If a boisterous hug was the only way he could publicly get that, then he’d do it.
As fleeting as it’d been, he still remembered every single minute detail. Even now he recalled the thrill of Jenna, all breathless delight, against him. He’d felt her fingers sneak in to twist the fabric of his tee; sensed her need to haul him close held back with hesitant resistance, as he pulled away almost before he’d held her. He hadn’t trusted himself, hadn’t trusted where he was, but he’d trusted her. And her smile was his reward. It’d sparkled in her eyes and put color in her cheeks.
She’d blushed like that today.
When he’d held her close and…
Damn, he hoped to God Adam knew about this. Hoped Jenna was the reason Adam’d dragged him halfway round the world. And that it wasn’t all just another bullshit tease on the part of Fate.
“Please.” He gave a fervent whisper under his breath as he stepped through the studio door and waited silently off-camera while the stage manager wired him for a mic.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I have a special guest for you this morning. He plays Ethan Fox in Lunar Studios’ current box office hit Dante Jones and the Blood Orchid. Please join me in welcoming, direct from Los Angeles, Mr Jacob Starr!”
Jacob strode into shot with a megawatt grin for the audience and an outstretched hand for his host. As he sat in the white leather cube chair with the movie art on the wall behind, he couldn’t help wondering if Sally having red hair was a positive sign, or just further proof Fate got her jollies by totally fucking messing with lovesick saps like him.
♥♥♥
Jenna sat in the back of the yellow-and-black cab; her knees wedged against the tan vinyl of the front passenger seat, and stared unseeing out the open window. Her thoughts weren’t on the cityscape flowing past, but rather memorizing and cataloguing, absorbing and analyzing, every moment, every touch, and how it felt to be held by those hands; to hear her name in his voice, from those lips. She’d been given the second chance she’d begged the universe for; the chance to have what she wanted. And, just like the first time, she’d gone and messed it up.
It felt as if her heart was breaking all over again; a solid heavy weight of regret and despair having made itself at home between her ribs and he
r lungs. Jacob hadn’t asked her to go with him, hadn’t even said he was glad to see her. And Jenna, idiot that she was, hadn’t been able to say anything at all.
It was too late, her opportunity snatched away by Rick; a dark-haired man of average height, immaculately dressed, who carried a beaten up duffle bag and a notebook with the Lunar Studios logo in silver on the lid. She had no idea why she recalled so many details. Maybe it was because he’d been the one, the one who’d murmured to Jacob that they really must go and Sally doesn’t like to be kept waiting.
Well, at least she knew the answer to the big question.
Jacob Starr was off the market.
No surprise there.
Case closed.
Time to move on.
“You’re not imagining it, you know.” Cait spoke quietly to her right, “I saw it all, couldn’t believe it when he scooped you up and stopped you landing on your ass. How ‘bout those reflexes.”
Jenna tugged her hair forward to hide the hot color she felt flushing from chest to hairline at the picture Cait’s words painted. “Yeah, lucky he was there, or I would’ve made a complete fool of myself.”
“Better buy a lottery ticket.” Cait’s laughter was barely hidden behind sparkling eyes as she squeezed Jenna’s forearm in understanding.
The blare of a car horn startled Jenna and knocked her elbow from the armrest as their driver veered left, and parked under the shadowy overhang of their hotel’s entrance.
“He’s here, you’re here, and this time you both know it. He even knows where to find you this time.” Cait nudged Jenna’s arm before she swung her feet out onto the pavement. “And even if he can’t find you personally, he knows you’re here to see Adam so...”
“Well, there is that.”
“Exactly, now move your ass woman, we’ve got a panel starting in…” Cait glanced at the pink sports watch on her wrist. “Ten minutes, and a hot guy to listen to.”
