The Sweetest Mistake

by Layla Valentine

  “Sometimes it was the only way we could feed everybody,” he said honestly. “I had to learn to play the crowd.”

  “Like acting,” she ventured.

  Dominic gave her a nod. “What do you think? Do you want to stay and see what moves these kids have?”

  She knew that she shouldn’t. But she also knew that she was going to. She nodded, and he smiled down at her. As they watched the contestants dance, Juliette couldn’t help the fact that her jaw almost dropped.

  “They’re good,” she said in shock.

  Dominic laughed. “What did you expect?”

  “I don’t know.” Actually, she did. She’d expected some amateur night talent show acts. What she got was pure performance art. She caught her breath as one of the guys went from a handstand to a headstand and then spin. “Holy crap, did you see that?”

  Dominic shook his head, grinning at her shock. “That’s easier than it looks.”

  “How long has it been since you were on this stage?” she asked. She knew that she was goading him, and she knew that he liked it when she did.

  She also knew that it didn’t matter. He was never going to be hers, so why shouldn’t she flirt? She wasn’t really breaking the contract. They weren’t having a relationship. They were just work friends watching a show and having a drink.

  “A few years,” he said, taking a sip of his whiskey sour. “But you never forget. It’s like riding a bike.”

  “So why not ride?” Juliette asked, meeting his eyes. Suddenly, there was nothing that she wanted more than to see him dance.

  Dominic’s eyes widened for a second when he heard her challenge, and then he nodded.

  “If that’s what you want, I guess I can do that,” he said. Juliette gestured to the stage, but he shook his head. “Nah, I’ll wait till the competition is over. I don’t want to ruin their chances of winning when I don’t even need the money.”

  They had each had two drinks before the winner was announced. Then Dominic stepped up to the announcer.

  Instantly, the man yanked him close in one of those typical man hugs where they pretty much just exchanged heavy handed pats on the back. Juliette couldn’t hear what Dominic said from her position in the crowd, but the announcer hurried back to the center of the stage with a smile on his face.

  “We’ve got a treat for you tonight!” he said. “Who wants to see Dominic Hawk back on the stage?”

  Everyone had gone back to their drinks, dancing, and conversations when the contest was over. Everything seemed to stop now, though. Heads turned sharply to the stage and then the crowd went absolutely nuts.

  Juliette was nearly knocked flat as people rushed for a better view. She hung onto the bar rail to avoid being pushed aside. Was it because he was a celebrity, or had he been serious when he’d said that he didn’t want to take the prize money away from someone who needed it more? Realistically, it was probably a combination of both. She could hear people talking about how long it had been since he’d been back.

  The music began, the beat low and heavy. For a second, Dominic simply stood still, his head down against the bright lights, his hand on the back of his neck. Then he lifted his head and met Juliette’s eyes. In all of that crowd, he’d found her with no problem. His lips curved into a smile as he began to move.

  After a few beats, Juliette was very glad that she was holding onto the chair. Simply put, Dominic was amazing. More strangely though, watching him dance was somehow incredibly familiar, and she couldn't figure out how exactly.

  He’d never danced in any of his roles, that was why she hadn’t known that he could. Then it hit her. She could easily picture herself underneath him on any of the slower moves. It wasn’t just the way he moved when he was dancing. She knew some of those moves from sex.

  Her whole body seemed to go liquid as she remembered every sensation. Her grip went tight on the chair; she bit her lower lip. Her breathing picked up until she was struggling not to gasp for air. How the hell could he be affecting her like this without even touching her?

  He must have known the effect that he was having on her because he didn’t let his gaze drop from hers as the song went on. His shirt rode up when he moved into his own handstand. Then he braced on one hand and moved his legs out at an angle.

  She caught her breath. She’d seen the move attempted on the stage tonight, but no one had done it with the control Dominic displayed in every rigid muscle right now. Her heart skipped several beats as she watched the smooth pull of lean muscle under his shirt.

  When the song was over, he hopped lightly off the stage to wild applause, stopping right in front of Juliette. “Well?” he asked, catching his breath. “Do I still have moves or do you need another demonstration?”

  “I…”

  She couldn’t string words into a sentence. Not when all she wanted was his mouth on hers. He stepped forward, crowding her, working his way into her space as he pressed her back against the table behind her.

  His skin was hot from his exertions. She wanted her hands on it. She wanted his hands on her. She wanted that controlled physicality over her again. She’d never been so aware of her own body before or her physical reactions to a man. Her nipples had tightened, her skin was flushed, and her breath was ragged. All from watching him dance.

  They were in a crowded bar. She would bet money on the fact that someone had taken a video of the stage performance. Right now, it was just about plausible that they had simply ended up in the same place at the same time. If she kissed him, though, that would prove that there was much more to their reason for being there together. And if that happened—goodbye career.

  “Yes,” Juliette said hurriedly. “I’m—I’m sorry, Dominic. I have to go. I’ll see you Tuesday.”

  She ducked around him and into the milling crowd before he could speak. She rushed out the door to see that the hired car was still waiting. Obviously, she couldn’t take that now.

  She glanced around frantically and saw to her great relief that there were a few cabs lined up near the door as well. Ducking into one of them, she glanced over her shoulder as she gave her address and saw Dominic framed in the door of the club, looking after her. She turned away, keeping her head down as the cab pulled away from the entrance.

  She would be lying to herself if she said that she didn’t want him. But she wanted a career more. Didn’t she? Juliette shook her head. Of course, she did. There was no point in tossing away years of hard work for a few more nights with a man with the body of a god. There just wasn’t.

  Maybe after the film was wrapped…but no, she did not want to go down that road either. She shook her head to try and displace the idea completely. She wasn’t going to wait around hoping for that. She wasn’t going to invite that kind of pain.

  Dominic Hawk dated his co-stars. That was just what he did. In and of itself, that wasn’t such a bad thing. She certainly didn’t hold it against him. However, it meant one very specific thing.

  There wouldn’t be a place for her in his life once movie filming was over. That was the biggest and best reason she had for not getting too attached to the man. If she’d stayed—if she’d let him kiss her—well. It would have been much harder to see him walk away when the film was wrapped.

  She’d done the right thing by leaving the club. At least, she was pretty sure she had. Either way, she had the long weekend to convince herself. And to try to forget the way that the man moved.

  Chapter 10

  “Juliette? Sorry to bug you, but your phone’s ringing,” Tami called through the bathroom door the next day.

  “Who is it?” Juliette shouted back as she lathered her hair into a froth.

  “Albert Price.”

  “Holy—” Juliette almost tripped over her own feet as she jumped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself, so she could open the door without giving her friend an unwanted show.

  Had he found out somehow? Maybe the driver had mentioned that he’d dropped them both off at the same plac
e and that they’d stayed a long time. Oh God, was she getting fired? Of course, she was. What other reason would he have for calling her on a Saturday morning? Especially when she’d been told that she’d be off until Tuesday?

  Tami pushed the phone at Juliette when she flung the door open. Juliette answered it quickly—Albert would not appreciate it if he had to call her twice.

  She swallowed hard so that her voice wouldn’t wobble when she spoke. She could always deny—well, she couldn’t deny that she’d been there, but she could deny that it had been a date.

  Wasn’t she allowed to go where she pleased? She couldn’t help it if Dominic happened to be there too! What was she supposed to do? Sit at home until the film was wrapped? Even as she thought the words, she knew that the excuses wouldn’t fly with the legalistic producer. It had been ridiculous to think that they might.

  “Hi, Juliette,” Albert said. “I’m afraid I have some bad news for you.” His voice was heavy.

  Juliette’s heart began to pound so loudly that she could hear it in her ears. Oh God, oh God. Why had she pushed it and gone to that dance club? She should have told Dominic no. It didn’t matter how sexy it was to watch him dance if she didn’t have a job afterward.

  “What?” she asked, realizing that Albert had been speaking. He was firing her, and she was missing it. Having to ask him to repeat himself as he did it was even more humiliating than the fact that it was happening at all. She would never forgive herself for losing this job. Never.

  “I said that travel has been delayed due to a storm on Isla del Carmen,” Albert repeated. “We decided it would be best to wait it out, so you won’t be leaving on Tuesday.”

  Juliette blinked at the phone, unable to comprehend what he was saying for a few long moments. She wasn’t getting fired?

  “Oh,” she said.

  “We’re going to take the opportunity to get a few more rehearsals in,” Albert went on, his voice a little more pointed now. He clearly wasn’t a fan of repeating himself.

  “That sounds great,” Juliette said quickly, mostly to prove that she was listening and understanding what he said. “Did you want me out there today?”

  “Yes,” he said, his words softening a little bit. “There are a few scenes that we didn’t have a chance to rehearse, and we’d like to run through those a few times. Be at the studio in two hours. I’ll give Dominic a call so he knows what’s going on.”

  The implication being that Juliette did not need to speak with Dominic until they were on set. She might have been confused at the direction that the call had taken, but she wasn’t an idiot. Neither was she about to argue with the man.

  “Great,” she said. “I’ll see you soon.”

  Juliette disconnected the call and put her phone down on the bathroom counter. It was only then that she realized that her hair was dripping water all over the towel she’d wrapped around herself. That was when she remembered that she’d been in the middle of washing her hair when Tami had knocked on the bathroom door.

  “Shit,” she muttered, letting the shampoo-soaked towel drop to the floor and turning to go back into the bathroom.

  She turned the shower on again and ducked in under the warm water. So much for her plan of avoiding Dominic for a while. None of her plans seemed to be working out when it came to him, and it was starting to frustrate her.

  What frustrated her even more though, was how very much she liked him. Actually, it wasn’t even really that. The problem was how damn unavailable he was in spite of how much she liked him.

  It wasn’t just the contract that they’d signed—that had the potential to be a minor problem, but it was only minor if they were on the same page about what they wanted.

  Juliette tilted her head back and let the water wash the suds out of her hair. The problem was that they weren’t on the same page. He was a player, and she wasn’t really interested in the game; she never had been. She supposed that part of the mixed signals was her fault. She’d gone to bed with him pretty quickly, after all.

  Not that she was ashamed of that. Far from it. That night had a firm place in her memory, and she had the feeling that it always would.

  Even so, she had been fully prepared not to repeat it. She hadn’t thought that signing that contract would be that big of a deal. The thing was, she hadn’t expected to like him as much as she did. Actually like him, that is, not just like him enough to want to sleep with him some more.

  Sure, the smile was hot, and the body was devastating, but the mind wasn’t lacking a thing. Dominic was smart and witty and funny and interesting. It really didn’t seem fair that one person could be all of those things at once, but somehow, he was.

  And she wanted him so much that it hurt. Of course, if she gave in to the way she felt about him, and he ditched the second he started a new movie, that would hurt even more. She couldn’t risk that.

  She turned off the shower and wrapped a dry towel around herself, leaving the shampoo-covered one on the floor for now. She didn’t have long to get ready, not with her hour-long drive to work.

  Yes, she thought. She would go to rehearsal and be professional while she worked with the most attractive and unavailable man she’d ever met. Even if it killed her.

  Chapter 11

  “Okay, Dominic,” Edward said from his position behind the cameras. “At this point, you’ll push her back onto the bed.”

  Juliette sighed. Why, out of everything, did it have to be this scene? It was just further proof that karma was messing with her. She just couldn’t figure out what she’d done to deserve it.

  Dominic, by contrast, didn’t seem to be bothered by any deeper metaphysical worries. He simply pushed her backward and then braced himself over her. She gripped his arms without thinking about it, lifting her head to meet the rough kiss he gave her.

  Their characters, Megan and Jake were finally giving in to the tension that had been building as they tried to survive in the new world they’d found themselves in. The sex wouldn’t be gentle; she and Dominic had agreed on that. It was an exploration of their chemistry and a distraction from their fear. It was like a bomb going off. Dominic was doing really well embodying those traits. Too well, in fact.

  His mouth moved down her neck, and she let her head fall back as he nipped at her skin. Juliette bit her lip, her hands tightening on his biceps. Her body moved to meet his when he moved down. Again, it was one of the moves that had crossed over into his dancing. A full body rhythm, a way of meeting her that was almost overwhelmingly physical and yet so controlled.

  It pushed her closer to the edge than she would have liked. It was all she could not to release the moan that was rising in her throat. She couldn’t help the quick gasp as the weight of his perfect body settled between her legs.

  She couldn’t wrap her legs around his lean waist. Not without giving away how much she needed him at the very center of her. She settled for drawing one leg up. The skirt she’d worn slid up, baring her skin to the cool air of the studio.

  His lips moved over her cheek and then up to her ear. Juliette shivered when he spoke, his voice low enough that no one else in the studio would hear. Its rough intensity in her ear made her whole body tingle.

  “Goddamn, I’ve missed the way you feel against me.”

  Juliette turned her head, pressing her lips to Dominic’s as she gave in completely. She wrapped her legs around him and felt his body begin to move with hers. As frustrating as it was, feeling him move while she felt so damn empty, it was also electrifying. He’d stripped her down to nothing but nerves and synapses.

  She forgot the crew. She forgot the director. She forgot everything but how much she loved the way that Dominic moved.

  “Cut!” Edward called out. “Perfect! That is perfect!”

  Dominic’s dark eyes met Juliette’s as he raised himself up above her and stood up. This time she didn’t have to wonder what he was thinking. His jaw had gone tight, and his hands were clenched as if that would keep him from reaching for her.
It did, but she found herself wishing that it hadn’t worked. Her body ached for his touch again already.

  She sat up, finger combing the tangles from her hair as she caught her breath and tried to compose her face.

  Edward was grinning at them happily, but Albert didn’t look quite so thrilled. His gaze flickered between her and Dominic suspiciously.

  “Since we aren’t able to leave for the island right away,” Albert said after a moment. “I’ve decided to throw a party at my place to mark the end of rehearsals.”

  “And to schmooze for all we’re worth. Hollywood parties are a special kind of hell,” Edward said, his voice thick with distaste. When Albert cast a glance his way, he held up his hands in surrender. “I said that I’d come by, remember? I’ll be there.”

  “It starts at nine,” Albert said, addressing Juliette and Dominic. “You’re both strongly encouraged to attend.”

  With that proclamation, he walked out and down the hall to his office. Juliette looked at Edward and raised her eyebrow.

  “Was that an invitation or an order?” she asked.

  Edward grinned. “A little from column A, a little from column B,” he admitted. A martyred look crossed his face once more, and Juliette understood—Edward was the last person she would have expected to feel comfortable at a party. “It’s a good way to meet people in the business,” he went on, seeming determined to be at least a little positive about the whole thing. “Especially for you, Juliette.”

  “Me?” she asked in surprise. “Why do you say that?”

  “It really will be a good idea to build up anticipation for the movie,” he said. “And you’re kind of a wild card. No one knows who you are. It’ll be good for you to meet some other people in the business. Make some connections. Promote yourself.”

  “I guess you’re right,” she admitted.

  “And when you get tired of that, you can always come and find me in the corner and say hello.”

  “You don’t really stand in the corner,” she said with a laugh.