The coil in her abdomen tightened painfully and she clawed at his shoulders, the pleasure more intense than anything she’d known before. Nate was caught up in the moment as well, his eyes squeezed shut, his head thrown back. A fine sheen of sweat covered their bodies and her breathing grew ragged and labored as they raced toward the finish line.
“Are you close, baby?” Nate’s voice sounded tortured and hoarse and he reached between them to rub her already swollen clit. “Can you come on my cock like a good girl? Come for me.”
That little bit of dirty talk was all she needed to go rocketing into space. Everything around her seemed to shatter into a million pieces of light, spinning around the room before settling into the sky as twinkling stars. Nate groaned her name as he reached his own peak, collapsing on top of her, sucking air into his lungs. His full weight felt lovely and she reveled in the closeness, even knowing they couldn’t stay like this forever. She’d suffocate and there was nothing romantic or sexy about air deprivation.
Nate nuzzled her temple. “I swear I’m going to move in a minute but my limbs don’t seem to be functioning at the moment.”
She giggled and ran her hand down his muscled back, the skin damp under her fingers.
“It’s only oxygen. Don’t worry about little old me down here.”
This time he did lever up slightly and roll onto his back, his arm around her waist, tucking her into his side. She didn’t even think about objecting or making a fuss. This was where she wanted to be.
“That was bloody fantastic. We need to do that several more times, darling. In fact, let’s make a habit of it.”
Laughing, she pressed chaste kisses to his chest, his scant chest hair tickling her nose.
“I think that’s a bloody good idea, mate,” she said in her best British accent. “Smashing idea. Just brilliant.”
That bit of a tease earned her a smart smack on the ass. “Minx. Are you making fun of me? Naughty girls get punished, you know.”
She sure as hell hoped so.
“I’m kind of counting on that.”
She heard his indrawn breath and the way his muscles jerked under her palm. His fingers slid into her hair, twisting and pulling her head back. “Are you sure you know what you’re asking for? Because I’m just the man to give it to you.”
“I’m counting on that too.”
He bent his head and ran his tongue over her nipple, watching it tighten in response.
“Then I think it’s time for round two, love. I hope you don’t have any appointments in the morning. I don’t think you’ll be getting out of this bed any time soon. In fact, if you can walk tomorrow I won’t have done my job properly.”
A hard man is good to find. Or whatever that saying was.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Sitting down carefully on her sore lady parts, Paige answered the Skype call from her business manager Carrie. She’d been monitoring social media since Paige and Nate’s debut yesterday and was ready to give a full report about how it was going.
Paige had vowed to stay away from her laptop no matter how much she wanted to see what was going on but that hadn’t been a problem. Nate had kept her busy pretty much all night and into the morning. That was why she couldn’t sit or walk comfortably.
Lucky me.
She couldn’t say he hadn’t warned her.
After they’d rolled out of bed at the crack of noon, the smirking, cocky bastard had gone for a run, promising to bring back food she didn’t have to prepare.
Carrie’s smiling face appeared on the laptop screen.
“Talk to me. Tell me what’s happening. Good or bad?”
“Mostly good. Some bad, but you know, we expected that. Helen and Garrett are all over any negative stuff. I just got off a conference call with them.”
Paige wanted to rip the Band-aid off fast. “Tell me the bad first.”
Carrie laughed and shook her head. “How about I tell you some of the great stuff? Most of his fans really like you. They think you look cute together and that his dating a writer totally makes sense. The press coverage has been quite positive overall now that your mystery identity has been solved. I think you’ll find that you’ll see more paps following you from now on, though. Those pictures of Nate being protective of you as you walked to the limo are all over the place. That really moved things in your favor.”
The bad must be really terrible if Carrie was avoiding it.
“And the bad?”
“I haven’t even told you yet about your fans. Their response is overwhelmingly positive, and they’re already calling for him to play Flynn, so that’s all good.”
“And the bad?” Paige repeated, her stomach dropping to her feet. It was going to be ugly, she could feel it.
Carrie’s smile fell and she sighed heavily. “Some of his fans aren’t taking it well. They’ve flooded your Twitter and Facebook but don’t worry. Helen and Garrett have some people working on cleaning that up.”
There was more. Something Carrie didn’t want to tell her. Paige could see it in her body language even over Skype. She was fidgeting in her seat, her gaze darting away every few seconds.
“And?” Paige prompted. “Jesus, just spill it.”
“His fans have been one-star reviewing your books all over the place – Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, Kobo. The reviews are open that they haven’t read your books but that they hate you because you took their Nate.”
Their Nate. Like he was a thing, not a person. Like he really was Kai.
Acid rose in the back of her throat and she had to swallow hard to keep from hurling what little was left in her churning stomach. It was one thing to call her names, flood her social media with venom, but to play with her career? That was something completely different.
“I want you to promise me that you will not under any circumstances go read your reviews. Promise me, Paige. Cross your heart and hope to die and all that jazz. I am as serious as a heart attack here.”
She’d stopped reading her reviews a long time ago but at this moment it was all she could do not to open up her Amazon page and take a look. Just how much did these fangirls hate her?
“You’re not promising me. Promise,” Carrie commanded.
“I promise,” Paige finally agreed. Carrie was right in that nothing good would come from reading them. She’d only feel shitty and depressed and she hated feeling that way. “Is Helen working on them with the book vendors?”
Carrie nodded. “Absolutely. They’ll try and get them cleaned up as best as they can. Personal attacks are against the Terms of Service. It just might take some time. But you’ll be happy to know that your fans have seen what’s happening and they’re out there writing reviews on the books they love to try and mitigate the damage.”
Blinking back tears, Paige’s throat tightened with emotion. It was those readers that had put her on the bestseller list and now they were coming to her defense. She truly was a blessed woman, but she wasn’t sure it was a good idea to drag them into the middle of this. The less attention they gave these fangirls the sooner all of this would die down.
“We’re not asking them to do that, are we? Because I don’t want to do that. It’s not something I want to ask my readers.”
Carrie shook her head. “Absolutely not. We’ve been clear on Twitter and Facebook that we don’t want them engaging with anyone that comes there to bash you. It’s just something they’ve done on their own.”
Overcome, Paige didn’t even know what to say. She’d never imagined that she’d be in this position to begin with and now that she was, she was out of her depth.
“There’s no training class or book about how to handle this, is there?” Paige asked to no one in particular. “Nothing really prepares you for people that hate your guts but don’t even know you.”
“You’ve been preparing for this your whole life, Paige. Back when you were in the corporate world and now dealing with all kinds of people. It’s all grace under pressure and y
ou have it. This isn’t even about you. There is no woman in the world that would make those fans happy. Not one.”
Intellectually she knew that, but it still kind of hurt. She was a good person or at least tried to be, yet there was a faction of the population who would as soon see her fall off the planet.
The front door opened and Nate burst through, humming a song, a huge grin on his face. He ought to be fucking smiling after all the sex last night.
“Nate’s home with food so I’m going to let you go. Keep me in the loop with everything, okay?”
Carrie promised to do that and then signed off, leaving Paige feeling rather deflated and sad. Her mood was in sharp contrast to Nate’s enthusiasm but so far he hadn’t seemed to notice.
He came in to the living room and nuzzled her neck, pressing a kiss to the pulse point.
“I’ll head upstairs and take a shower and then we can eat. How was your afternoon?”
“It was great. Good. It was good.”
She was a lousy liar apparently because Nate came around the sofa and sat down on the coffee table in front of her, moving her laptop aside.
“Don’t ever take up professional poker, darling. Your expression tells a completely different story than your words. What’s wrong?”
She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, giving herself a much needed hug. “I just talked to Carrie.”
He nodded, understanding in his eyes. “Yes, I spoke with Garrett about an hour ago. They’re working on cleaning that all up, love. I’m just so sorry that happened to you.”
His tone was regretful and she believed that he was sorry but he shouldn’t have been in the situation in the first place. The fangirls had put him there though and for that she was kind of angry. He was convinced that he needed to be something he wasn’t to keep his fans happy. To have a career.
“It’s not your fault. Your fans are rather…passionate, shall we say? You get anywhere near a vagina and they lose their minds.”
Nate laughed and took her hands in his, pulling her into his arms, and she took comfort and strength from his closeness. “That’s one way of putting it. Listen, it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks. We belong to each other and that’s the way it is. Once they see how happy I am and that this is for real and isn’t going anywhere, they’ll get used to it. It will all blow over. Let’s take solace in the fact that the reaction was overwhelmingly positive. I told you they were going to ship us and they do.” He hung his head for a moment. “I feel badly because I should have warned you. I wish I could protect you from all of this but responding just fuels the fire.”
Paige shook her head. “No, I absolutely don’t want you to respond to them. You’re right, the less said about any of this the sooner it will fall into oblivion.” She sniffed his shirt and wrinkled her nose. “Boy, you are ripe. Go take a shower and I’ll set the table.”
He hesitated, his expression unsure.
“I’m fine,” Paige assured Nate, nudging his shoulder. “I’ve had much worse reviews and I’ve developed a thick skin. I just had a moment, that’s all. By dessert I will have forgotten all about this.”
His hands slid up her thighs, his fingers brushing a particularly sensitive area. “Perhaps there are a few things I can do to take your mind off of all of it.”
He had to be joking. She could barely move and he wanted to fool around?
“I can’t believe you’re serious.” Paige slapped at his hands and tried to wriggle away toward the other end of the couch. “Do you know how sore I am? I can hardly move or walk.”
A grin magically appeared on his handsome face. Asshole. “That was my goal. I’m a little sore too but I’m willing to play through the pain.”
Her brows shot up and her mouth fell open. “You’re sore? You’ve got nerve, Mason. Nerve. I have delicate parts down here that need tender loving care. You treated them like toys last night.”
Standing, Nate bounded toward the staircase, chuckling the whole way. “They were more fun than the bicycle I got for Christmas. Seriously though, after dinner we’ll soak in a hot tub. I do want to take exquisite care of my girl.”
That was quite a compliment. Better than a bike from Santa.
“We’ll see. Feed me first.”
No sense making things too easy for him. He already knew she was going to give in but he needed to work for it, if only a little. He wouldn’t appreciate it otherwise.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Another party, another red carpet. In the last month Paige and Nate had attended no less than four charity events, two movie premieres, and the opening of a bookstore. Tonight was an event to raise money for the homeless and so far it had gone off with military precision. She had the process down. First, there was hair and makeup. Then dressing, which usually involved keeping Nate out of her lingerie drawer long enough to find whatever bra and knickers she needed. It wasn’t that he wanted to wear her lingerie. Oh no, that would have been easier to deal with, actually. The problem was he had an opinion about what she should – or shouldn’t – wear. He was quite the proponent of her going commando so they could shag in the bathroom wherever they were. He also liked lacy black bras and he wanted her to wear them with everything even if it showed through, something she simply wouldn’t allow.
After they were finally dressed, they’d pile into a limo and head for whatever fancy venue was hosting the party. They walked the red carpet, holding hands and posing for pictures. And smiling. Always smiling. Nate would sign some autographs and give a few interviews. Sometimes she’d join in and other times she’d hang back, depending on her mood and how much Nate begged. They’d dance, drink, and eat tiny food, then leave, grabbing some Chinese or a pizza on the way home where they’d eat and make love in front of the fire before heading to bed to do it again.
All in all, life was good. Bu tonight was the biggest event yet.
Paige watched as Nate buttoned the crisp white shirt he would wear with a dark blue suit. A new one the stylist had chosen for him. He’d lost a few pounds of muscle in the past few months and his other suits didn’t fit quite right. He was such a clotheshorse, fussing with his cufflinks and tie as the makeup and hair artist had worked on Paige. This was an important night for Nate and he wanted it to go well and so did she. It was the end of an era and the cast and crew were sending it off in style.
Tonight they were in Los Angeles for the Thunder party to celebrate the end of shooting, although Nate had finished his scenes the week before he’d met Paige. His character Kai had been killed off with a hero’s death that galvanized the remaining characters to vanquish their opponent.
It was also the last movie for a good chunk of the actors and actresses, Nate included. The last few weeks he’d appeared tense and a little moody. At first, she’d put it down to his suddenly having a live-in girlfriend, but it soon became clear what the issue was.
He was going to miss Kai.
The makeup artist finished and wished them luck before leaving Nate and Paige alone. Paige had chosen to wear a white chiffon dress with a halter neckline and a handkerchief hem. Her accessories were gold, right down to the Christian Louboutin high-heeled sandals.
“You look so damn sexy I may have to have you right there in the limo,” Paige giggled, running her fingers down his arm. “I don’t think I’ll be able to control myself.”
Nate smirked and pulled on his jacket, smoothing the lapels. “I don’t intend to, so why should you, love? I’m all yours.”
Paige gave him a smile of pure delight. “Yes, you are. I’m a lucky girl.”
“I’m a lucky man.” He turned to the mirror, frowning at his reflection. “What do you think?”
“You look gorgeous.” She reached up to smooth the frown lines on his forehead. “Stop making that face. You’re giving yourself wrinkles.”
Snorting, Nate leaned down to rummage in the closet for his shoes. “I doubt anyone would notice when their eyes are immediately drawn to my receding hairlin
e. Jesus, I saw a comparison of me in the first Thunder movie and now. Fuck, I’ve lost at least an inch or more of hair.”
And he was still the sexiest man she’d ever seen. Who would notice his hairline when he had that long, lean body to ogle?
“You could see a doctor about that.”
She didn’t really want him to, hating the look, but Nate was an actor and he had to worry about these things.
He straightened and shook his head. “Not unless I absolutely have to. I really don’t want to do any medical intervention. The facials that you give me are fine but I don’t think I’d ever have a face lift.” He shuddered. “I hate hospitals.”
He’d bitched about those treatments but they had improved his skin a great deal and had easily taken off five years.
“I think you’re wise to grow old gracefully. Now are you ready to go? We have a red carpet to walk.”
Checking his tie in the mirror, he looked at her reflection. “Just one more question. I don’t suppose you know where my gray shoes are? I’m sure I packed them.”
Shit, she was hoping he wouldn’t notice.
“Your gray shoes?” Shrugging, she played innocent. “Are you sure you brought them?”
He looked down at the black leather shoes on his feet. “I’m positive, yet somehow they walked out of my suitcase all on their own, like magic. Do you know anything about that, love?”
Clearly she was busted by the smirk on his handsome face. “I might have seen them on the floor by the bed at home.”
A Kiss For The Cameras Page 15
