by Jessica Gray
“I’m not,” she protested.
“Yes, you are.” He accentuated each word with a bevy of kisses. “Apart from your beautiful body, you have an amazing personality. And even your dog isn’t so bad.”
Linda gave a short laugh, but tucked the blanket under her arms. “I’m none of that.”
“You are. And more. You have a lovely smile, an intoxicating laughter, eyes that reveal your soul. Last night I tasted your gorgeous breasts, but now I want to see them too - watch your nipples turn hard and darken from my touch.”
“Chuck,” she protested, her blush intensifying.
This woman was a mystery to him. He could see his words were both embarrassing her and turning her on. He took her hand and moved it down to cup his growing erection, “Feel what you do to me? Everything about you is exciting, beautiful and lovable.”
She backed away from him, carefully holding the blanket in place, “I’m not lovable.”
“Linda…”
She shook her head. “No. You don’t have to lie to me. I know the score. Nobody has ever loved me because it’s not possible.” When he opened his mouth to tell her how wrong she was, she wouldn’t let him. “It’s okay. I’ve learned to live with it.”
Chuck wanted to yell at her for being so stupid, but that probably wouldn’t help. He braced her shoulders and locked eyes with her. The pain in her big brown eyes threatened to undo him. “Linda, sweetheart. Then I’ll be the first one. I love you.”
She burst into tears, her sobs shaking his body as he held her close. He was worried, uncomfortable, and wanted to run. He had no idea how to deal with a bawling woman. Whenever that had happened in his life, he’d been quick to shy away and let someone else deal with it. Like Tyler. His firefighting brother might play tough guy, but he was soft as a feather.
Minutes later her sobbing finally subsided. “How…how can you think I’m beautiful?” she whispered.
“Because you are. More beautiful than a supermodel, or even your mother.”
Tears sprang down her cheeks again and he feared he’d said something wrong again. That’s what he got for talking more than he was comfortable with. “No, I’m not. Don’t say things like that. They aren’t true.”
“Sweetheart, but they are,” he said. “Let me prove it. Let me make love to you again and I’ll worship every inch of your gorgeous body.”
Linda shook her head in desperation. “No. I don’t want you to see me naked.”
He chuckled. “I’ve already touched and tasted most of you. Why won’t you let me see you as well?”
Linda shook her head, refusing.
Chuck was torn between forcing the issue and giving in to her insecurities. He knew she actually believed how unlovable and ugly she was, but if she didn’t let him convince her otherwise, how could they be together?
Sighing, he realized giving her time and space was the only way this might eventually work out. He reached for his boxers and pants and slipped them on before saying, “There’s a farewell party for my brother tonight. I want you to come with me.”
She sat frozen on the couch, panic in her face, but at least she looked up at him. “Why me? Where is it?”
Chuck chose to ignore the first part of her question. “At my parents’ house. I’ll leave you for now, but I’ll pick you up later this evening.”
“Okay.” She nodded like a robot. He wanted to scoop her up in his arms and carry her to his car, to keep her by his side. But that would be counterproductive. As much as it hurt him to let her alone, he knew she needed that time.
“You gonna be here?” he asked, figuring she’d meant what she said about not going back home.
Linda nodded. “Yes, I’ll be here.”
“Okay then.” He gave her a searching look and then leant down and gave her a searing kiss. “Don’t forget me while I’m gone.”
Chapter 23
How could she forget him, if every movement reminded her how sore she was from their extended lovemaking?
Sex, it was nothing more than a physical act, she tried to convince herself. But deep down she knew it was a lie. Strange as it seemed, that gorgeous man actually seemed to at least like her. She had no idea why, but if he insisted…
She spent the day catching up on the missed dog training of the day before and was quite satisfied with her progress, when she heard a car drive into the parking lot.
Chuck. Her heart lurched and she quickly put the dogs back into their kennels before she went to open the door. She appreciated his effort to make friends with Courage, but having a pack of dogs rushing toward him would probably be too much for him.
She smiled. It was a relief to see that other people had problems, too. Linda dried her sweating palms on her jeans and opened the door. Chuck stood on the other side, grinning like crazy, and before she could say a word he swept her up in his arms and kissed her senseless.
When he set her back down and devoured her with his eyes, she felt the blood rushing to her checks – and between her legs. The memories of their night together overtook her brain and she shivered with desire.
He tucked a loose strand behind her ear, and she suddenly remembered that she must be covered in dirt and dog hair. Suddenly she had the urge to look nice for him and asked, “Do I have time to take a quick shower before we leave?”
A smug grin overtook Chuck’s face when he nodded and said, “I’d be willing to help.”
“Don’t you dare,” she answered, but the prospect of his joining her under the shower wasn’t as terrifying as she’d believed it would be. “Wait here, I’ll be done in ten.”
Linda disappeared into the shower at the end of the hallway, dragging her suitcase behind. Once she was done, she put on her prettiest dress - a red cotton one that highlighted her slim waist, while covering up her bony hips and shoulders. The swinging skirt ended a couple of inches below her knees.
She glanced one last time into the mirror. Maybe Nate is right and I’m too thin. When she returned to the waiting room, Chuck looked up from his smartphone and his eyes almost popped out at her sight. He doesn’t like it.
“God, Linda, you’re gorgeous.” He groaned, “If you insist on wearing that dress, I won’t be able to keep my hands off of you.”
It sounded like he was being honest. “Mmm,” she said and walked out the door to his car. During the drive she glanced at him several times, still not quite believing he wanted to love her. Maybe a normal life like a normal person was possible?
“Chuck, can I ask you for a favor?”
“Anything, sweetie.” He glanced over at her and she felt strangely reassured by the glow in his blue eyes.
“Can you not tell your family who my mother is?”
He seemed surprised but after a quick glance at her worried face, he squeezed her hand and said, “Don’t worry, sweetie.”
When they arrived Chuck introduced her to his parents Annie and Jeff as “my girlfriend Linda” and whispered something into his mother’s ear. She nodded sagely.
Linda sighed at the omission of her last name. Nobody would know her mother was the most famous movie star in Hollywood. She’d be a normal person like everyone else.
Both Annie and Jeff welcomed her warmly and hugged her tight. This hugging thing seemed to run in the family. Linda had never felt so welcome before, and those people were meeting her for the first time.
Chuck then introduced her to each of his siblings. Drake, the oldest sibling at thirty-two, who would be leaving for Ecuador within the next few days. Then the second-oldest, Preston, who’d flown in from Chicago with his girlfriend Sandrine, a plastic blonde. Linda knew the type. Most of the wannabe actresses in Hollywood looked and talked exactly like her – she instantly disliked Sandrine.
Tyler was three years younger than Chuck and worked as a firefighter in L.A. All the four Armstrong brothers present shared the same striking blue eyes, dark hair, and formidable physique. But the only one who made her heart flutter when he grinned at her was Chuck.
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br /> Throughout the evening Chuck repeatedly wrapped his arm around her shoulders or held hands with her, as if saying, “Look, that girl belongs to me.” She actually enjoyed his possessiveness and totally forgot to worry about her looks.
That is, until his younger sister Vivian, a court reporter, showed up with her best friend Gwen and Gwen’s fiancé Fernando. Gorgeous-looking and with an outgoing, energetic personality, Vivian became the center of everyone’s attention as soon as she’d made her entrance.
Compared to her Linda felt like a gray mouse and wanted to hide in the appropriate mouse hole. Sure, all of Chuck’s siblings had given her the same warm welcome as his parents with the touchy, huggy thing, but they couldn’t actually like her. They probably rolled their eyes at their brother’s bad choice in women behind her back.
Chuck, though, showed everyone how much he liked her and shot his brothers scathing stares when one of them spent too much time talking to her. She had to laugh; there was no reason at all for him to be jealous. But it felt good.
As the evening wore on, Preston made the announcement that he and his girlfriend had recently become engaged, and Sandrine showed off a two-carat diamond ring with a brilliant cut. Even Linda, who’d seen bigger stones on her mother, was impressed by the flawless quality of the stone and estimated the ring to have cost more than one hundred thousand dollars.
Linda expected the Armstrong family to congratulate Sandrine with the same warm hugs they’d given her earlier, but no such thing happened. They politely shook her hand and said some niceties, but that was it.
Linda was confused and excused herself to freshen up. It wasn’t possible, or was it? If the behavior of Chuck’s siblings and parents was anything to go by, they liked her – ugly and unlovable Linda – a lot more than the stunning blonde Sandrine.
As she returned from the restroom, wandering down the hallway, she was still confused. She stopped short at hearing a woman’s low voice talking to someone. In an effort not to intrude, she searched for a way around, but it was either burst in on the apparently intimate discussion or go back and wait.
But when she heard Preston’s name, her feet wouldn’t move forward.
“I love you too.”
After a pause the same voice continued: “A few more months, darling. I’m so close to getting that stupid man to marry me. Then I’ll be a rich woman and we can have whatever we want.”
Linda inhaled sharply. She dared a glance around the door and confirmed the woman speaking on the phone was Sandrine. Her gut churned and she wanted to scream at that woman about how degrading it was to be on the receiving end of such a ploy.
A disgusted shiver ran down her spine as she remembered the many situations where men had pretended to like her because of her money – or her famous mother. Preston seemed such a nice guy; he didn’t deserve it.
God, what do I do? I should tell someone. But whom?
She didn’t want to spoil the party and decided to wait for the perfect moment to tell Chuck when he dropped her off at the office tonight.
Chapter 24
A few hours later, Linda leaned back in the passenger seat as Chuck pulled into the parking lot of the doctor’s office.
He turned to look at her, “I don’t like the idea of you staying here. This is not a safe place at night.”
“I have Courage and Picasso, I’ll be fine.” She bit her lip stubbornly.
“Linda, please come home with me for the night.” He pleaded, “I can sleep on the couch if you insist.”
“No.” His offer sounded tempting, but she needed to start taking care of herself. “I told you I need to do this on my own.”
“Don’t be so stubborn.” His voice grew impatient, but she didn’t care.
“This is my life. And you have no right to tell me want to do!” She almost screamed at him. Why did everyone think she wasn’t able to be on her own?
“I can’t let you stay here. It’s too dangerous.”
Linda opened the door and jumped out. “You can’t make me stay with you against my will.” She bolted for the front of the building, almost colliding with a police car that was pulling in.
The vehicle screeched to a stop and the officer got out, shining his headlight in her face. “Hold it right there. Are you Linda Ross?”
“Yes,” she said, shielding her eyes with her hands. “What’s going on?”
“We’ve been looking for you.”
“For me?” Linda echoed back, trembling like aspen leaves. Suddenly she felt awfully cold. She had barely eaten the entire day, and her circulation didn’t hold up to that kind of excitement. Her legs gave out and she found herself in the arms of the policeman, who’d caught her before she hit the ground.
“Shh. You are safe now. We found you. Were you running from that man over there?” the officer asked, indicating Chuck, who had gotten out of his car and was now coming towards them.
Linda was in a trance-like state, not really understanding what was happening here. “He tried to take me to his place… but I didn’t want to… he didn’t think it was safe here…someone might find me…we fought…I jumped out of the car and ran.”
Another police car had arrived and two officers got out, and barked at Chuck, “Stop right there, sir.”
“Is there a problem, officer?” Chuck asked, continuing to walk forward.
“Hands on top of your head. Now!” the officer shouted and drew his weapon. Linda was glad the other officer was still holding her, because she collapsed watching as Chuck froze in his tracks and lifted his hands on top of his head.
When she came to again, she was seated on a bench with the officer next to her, but Chuck had been handcuffed and pushed into the police car.
“Wait! What’s going on?” Linda asked.
“Miss, your mother told us everything.”
Linda was crying by now. “What? What did my mother tell you?”
“It’s okay now. Nothing’s going to happen to you. Here, wipe your nose.” The friendly-looking officer offered Linda tissues.
Linda took them and murmured, “But I don’t understand any of this.”
He gave her an empathetic glance. “That man won’t bother you again. Your mother called us about the kidnapping…”
“Kidnapping? Chuck didn’t kidnap me.” She wanted to jump up and run away, but the officer put a hand on Linda’s shoulder.
“You’re suffering from shock. It’s a normal reaction.”
“No, you have to listen to me. That man didn’t kidnap me. He didn’t!” Linda shouted in exasperation, but nobody seemed to care.
“Everything’s going to be alright. Let’s get you home. Your mother is worried sick about you.”
Not hardly. She’s never cared for me. But she was too much thrown off balance to fight him when he ushered her into the waiting car to bring her to her mother’s house.
They arrived at the Ross mansion and Ev met them at the door, giving the show of the year. She pulled Linda into her chest for a giant hug and shed a few tears, before she exclaimed, “Oh, thank god the police found you. Are you hurt? Did that beast…”
“Mother, stop it! Nothing happened.” Linda was sick and tired of her mother’s melodrama.
Evangelina ignored her, addressing the officers: “Thank you for your outstanding work, gentlemen. Did you catch that criminal?”
“Yes, ma’am. He’s on his way to county jail as we speak.”
“I can’t thank you enough for rescuing my daughter. This man kidnapped her after she found out he’d stolen my Oscars.”
Linda was stunned speechless by her mother’s performance. She hated how the police officers hung on Ev’s lips and believed every lie she told, but she had to give her mother credit for one thing: she definitely was the best actress in Hollywood.
“Mrs. Ross, it was a pleasure to service you and you can be sure, the kidnapper will be judged as harshly as the law permits.”
Ev cast one of her thanks-for-being-such-a-great-fan smiles at th
e policemen, who visibly melted at the attendance from the famous actress. “One moment, officers. I want to give each one of you an autograph, as my modest thank-you for bringing back my dearest treasure unhurt.”
They found the Oscars? Linda all but panicked for a short moment until she realized that she was supposed to be her mother’s dearest treasure. She snorted, but the noise got lost in the sound of another vehicle pulling up in the driveway.
A sturdy man with white hair stepped out. Linda had known her mother’s personal physician since she was a little kid. Ev greeted him warmly. “Doc, thanks for coming here on such short notice.”
“Anything for you, Ev. What can I do for you?” he asked with his reassuring voice.
Ev dabbed at her eyes, her voice trembling with emotion. “My only daughter, Linda, has been kidnapped by some lowlife and these good policemen have just rescued her from his vile hands.”
The doctor’s eyes darkened with anger. “God. That’s awful.”
“Can you please make sure she’s fine and gets some sleep? The police told me she collapsed and woke up denying everything. The poor little thing must be so shocked, her mind is making her believe the kidnapping never happened,” Ev instructed him.
Linda felt the doctor taking her elbow and propelling her up the stairs. Repeatedly she tried to tell him that this was all a big mistake, but primed by her mother’s lies, he wouldn’t believe a single word.
Finally she relented and let him give her a sedative. She’d try to unravel this mess in the morning.
Chapter 25
Chuck was lying on the hard bench in the prison cell, boring holes into the ceiling with his stare. Sleep was elusive and there was nothing else to do but think, after they’d taken his watch, along with his wallet, cell phone, and everything else in his pockets when they’d booked him.
He’d spent endless time thinking about Linda and worrying whether she was okay. The police hadn’t answered his demand for an explanation of the kidnapping charges they were threatening to file against him.
