by A. C. Arthur
“The cast is going to start filing out in about five minutes, per Lori’s instructions,” Savian told them in his tight business tone. “Reporters are already getting their stuff set up out front so they can get their last pictures out there. We should head out as well,” he ended looking pointedly at Parker.
“You’re right,” he said stepping closer to Adriana and taking her hand in his. “I’m done here.”
#
The last two weeks of taping had flown by, or at least Adriana thought so. If there’d been a moment that Giovanni was unhappy with the way she’d delivered her lines, an outfit she wore, or how she even stood in a particular scene, he hadn’t said a word. In fact, he’d barely said anything outside of directorial advice in the past couple of weeks. Now, that could be attributed to a few things, one of which was Jaydon’s constant and unpredictable appearance on the set.
The first time she’d shown up was the Monday after the cook-out at the Donovans’ house. She hadn’t said much to Adriana that day, not after she’d arrived and had spoken to her asking if she’d told everyone about her good news. Of course she hadn’t but the mere mention had everyone congratulating her and talking about having a movie star in the family. And while Adriana had begun to feel more positive about the part and at ease talking to the other members of the Donovan family about it, she’d noticed that Jaydon had gone very quiet, until she’d finally given some excuse and left.
Then, after the first three hours of shooting one scene over and over again, she’d walked onto the set as if she owned it. Giovanni had walked over to speak to her and then he’d come back huffing and in a pissy mood—which was worse than his normal. She’d stayed for the duration of the day, which Adriana had found strange, but not as much as the scene she and Savian had just walked into. The one that Parker was at this moment steering her away from.
“What was that about?” she asked him as they walked down the hallway towards the doors. Once they were outside there would be cameras and final questions.
She’d been alright with Parker taking her hand a few seconds ago because that room had mostly cleared out by that point. Now, he was still holding her hand, a little tighter than he ever had before and he was walking with long even strides, staring forward as if he couldn’t wait to get to their destination, or rather, away from the studio all together.
The past two weeks she’d spent more time with Parker, getting to know him as a man and a businessman. He was as focused and intelligent as she’d originally thought and while his looks were a huge part of who he was, he didn’t let them, his name or lineage define him. She liked that he could laugh at himself, as he had when he’d insisted he could fix the shower rod in the bathroom in her apartment and it had taken him three hours to get it mounted to the wall. Only to have the pole and curtain fall in on them the next morning when they’d been trying to get ready for work. She’d told him he was buying her a new shower pole and curtain, he’d replied with an offer to get her into a new and better apartment. Adriana had brushed that off, even though the offer alone and the serious way in which he’d said it had made her stomach clench.
He took his job seriously, regardless of the fact that his family owned it, or probably because of that reason. He was worried about his father but had immediately stepped up to the plate to handle all that was going on at the company while he was away. He loved his mother with every ounce of his being, calling to check on her daily and making sure to go to church with her on Sundays, even when it meant crawling out of Adriana’s bed to do so. While she’d been admiring him for that, he’d turned on her, insisting she get up and get ready to join them at church as well. She’d gone and she’d enjoyed herself immensely, just as she had every day she’d been with him since that cook-out. It had felt like they were a real couple, something she’d never imagined she’d have. That, in addition to the audition for the movie role that Jaydon planned to schedule tomorrow, had Adriana—for the first time in her life—feeling extremely happy and content.
Until now.
“Parker, tell me what’s going on,” she said stopping and pulling her hand out of his. “Is there something going on with you and Jaydon? Something I should know about?”
He’d turned to her then, his brow drawn, a muscle in his jaw twitching. He was wearing a dove gray Dior suit, his shirt crisp and white, tie bold and bright blue that just so happened to match the showgirl sandals she wore with her white sheath dress. It hadn’t been done on purpose, still she’d loved standing near him today knowing they had another connection. It had made her feel a little territorial, especially when she’d seen Jaydon standing so close to Parker and raising her voice at him.
“Nothing like that,” he told her, walking back to where she stood. “Let’s not do this here. I’ll tell you about it later. For now, we’ve got to go out here and smile for the cameras.”
He looked anything but happy about that which was the equivalent to raining on Adriana’s happy parade. “Sure,” she said with a curt nod. “I can go out first and then you can follow a few minutes later. Nobody will know we were together and we can take all the necessary pictures.”
She’d been about to walk away, her pride and the bubbly fantasy she’d started to weave about her and Parker being together suffering a huge blow. Until he took her hand, lacing his fingers through hers and looking down at her seriously. “I said we have to go out and smile for the cameras. Together,” he said before dropping a soft kiss on her forehead. “Let’s go.”
The cameras flashed and Adriana and Parker posed. He stood behind her, his arm around her waist for one picture. She stood behind him, her hand on his shoulder, for another. He hugged her so tight she giggled and he smiled, the cameras clicked and flashed even faster, reporters firing off questions, some shocked by them openly showing that they were together, and some acting as if they already knew. After about fifteen minutes Parker moved her steadily to the car that had been waiting for them. They climbed into the back seat of the black Rolls Royce Phantom, still smiling, until her stomach growled.
She looked at him with heat fusing her cheeks, hating the thought that it had happened again. And when he laughed, loud and long, she’d wanted to punch him. He did it for so long that eventually she did, jabbing her fist into his arm as he rolled about the seat as if her growling stomach was the funniest thing he’d ever heard.
“It’s not that funny,” she said, still feeling embarrassed, but now resisting the urge to laugh along with him. She was just about to say something else when Parker allowed his chuckling to subside just long enough to reach over and close her lips with his fingers.
“No worries, beautiful. I’m always going to take care of you. Dinner is already waiting at my place,” he said, still smiling.
He didn’t remove his fingers from her mouth but instead leaned in to kiss her. When she didn’t immediately respond he stroked his tongue along the line that she’d been holding her lips in so tightly. Even though her body immediately stirred with the combination of the close proximity and his tongue on her mouth, she remained perfectly still.
“Open for me, Adriana,” he whispered over her mouth. “You know you want to.”
No. She. Did. Not.
She did not want to kiss a man that would laugh at her growling stomach…the stomach he now flattened a palm over and rubbed gently. “I plan to feed you tonight, then bathe you in a tub full of bubbles and then—” His hand had moved steadily downward until he was cupping her mound through her dress. “And then we’re going to make slow, sweet love until the sun rises.”
He licked her lips again, this time pressing his tongue gently against their seam, prodding her. All the while his hand cupped her mound tighter, pressing a finger against her center until she couldn’t hold it any longer, she gasped. And then he was inside, his tongue thrusting deep, tangling immediately with hers.
Ah, hell, she thought, swinging her arms quickly around his neck, her fingers rubbing along his strong shoulders. She fell i
nto that kiss as fast and as deep as she feared she was falling in love with this man.
#
The instructions were to follow them. To go where they went and to wait. Until when or what happened wasn’t information that had been provided. It was a written assignment received in the same manner as all the rest, with cash payment enclosed. And since the money was already sitting safely in the bank, all that was left was to do the job. No matter how it might ruin the career that had been a long and hard road getting to.
Chapter 9
“How did your mother know that pot roast was my favorite meal?” Adriana asked as they sat on the terrace just outside of his bedroom.
Parker refilled her glass with the cranberry and lime juice his mother had also sent along, with a note to him that this might be more soothing for her stomach than wine or beer, which she knew he preferred to have with his dinner.
“Did you think her and my Aunt Janean were kidding when they talked about reaching out to your mother? I think they’ve talked at least once a day since the cook-out,” he told her.
He actually knew that was true because his mother had called him the very next morning after she’d had a chance to finally meet Adriana and had voiced all her concerns.
“I know about the time she had conquering that eating disorder all those years ago. I talked to Regan about it a little after you took her home last night,” Carolyn had said through the phone.
Parker hadn’t wanted to have this conversation with his mother as he’d already decided that he would do whatever it took to make sure Adriana did not slip back into the bulimia he suspected had scarred her deeply, both physically and emotionally. In addition to all the calls he’d made trying to trace the bastard that had attacked her, he’d put in a few calls to some doctors and therapists as well. He’d wanted to know everything he could about the disease and what he could do to prevent it from happening again. Now, he wasn’t sure if it was fortunate yet or not, but his mother was on board with doing the same thing.
“She’s getting better,” had been his response.
“And we’re going to keep her that way,” Carolyn had said. From that moment on she’d sent him emails, because she still wasn’t a fan of text messaging, giving him suggestions of what Adriana could have for her daily meals. A time or two when he’d been stuck in meetings, he’d even had her place the call to order Adriana’s lunch and have it sent to the studio.
He’d called his mother yesterday morning explaining that he wanted to do something special and intimate for Adriana tonight. The last two weeks had been full of long hours at the studio and lots of press surrounding the upcoming season of the show. She hadn’t gotten much rest and her meals, even though he’d made sure she had them, were undoubtedly rushed and most times not finished. Tonight he’d wanted her to have a good home-cooked meal and to get some much needed rest and pampering. His mother not only called Beatriz Bennett to find out what Adriana’s favorites were, but she’d cooked the meal herself and brought it over to his house. She’d also asked Gavin if she could borrow one of his sous chefs and waiters to stay at Parker’s place and serve the meal when they arrived. He’d just sent the two home assuring them he could handle taking the dishes back to the kitchen and starting the dishwasher without them.
“Are you serious? She’s asking my mother about what I like to eat?” Adriana asked, her brow immediately furrowing. “I talked to my parents last night and neither of them mentioned talking to anyone from your family.”
Parker chuckled, taking a sip of the cranberry concoction he’d decided to share with Adriana. It wasn’t as bad as he’d thought even though the only time he was used to sipping anything cranberry, it was mixed with vodka.
“You might as well get used to it,” he told her. “They’ve become fast friends so they’ll be having private conversations behind our backs all the time now.”
“But we could have gone to dinner, or I know how to cook,” she replied quietly.
He reached across the table then to take her hand. “It’s okay to let someone else take care of you, Adriana. It doesn’t make you weak or dependent, just because others care enough about you to lend a helping hand.”
She let her fingers rest in his as she set back in the chair. “I didn’t say it did.”
“No. But you were thinking it. Just like you’re refusing to even look in the direction of that railing because you’re afraid of heights.”
Her head tilted then as she lifted a prettily arched brow. “And yet you had this dinner all set up on the terrace, eighteen floors up from the ground. That was extremely considerate of you, Parker,” she said with more than a hint of sarcasm.
“Because I’m not the type of guy to let too many things beat me. That’s something you and I have in common.”
“What does that have to do with you bringing me out here when you know I don’t like it?”
“What floor were you on the night that…the night of the attack?” he asked, the words sticking sourly in his throat.
She pulled her hand slowly away from his then, letting it fall with its partner to her lap. Her gaze fell for a few seconds, but as she always did—in her attempt to prove that she had everything under control—she looked quickly back up to him. “He was staying in the penthouse,” she said with a nod towards the glass doors leading back into Parker’s place.
“On the first floor of his suite, he’d had cocktails and light fare. It was for everyone who worked on the shoot even down to the make-up artists. On the second floor, that’s where he asked me to follow him under the guise of seeing the clothing line he’d designed specifically for me. To his credit there were two racks of dresses…in his bedroom. I was instructed to pick one and try it on.” She shrugged. “I did.”
There was another pause and Parker almost told her to stop, that he didn’t need to hear anything else, but he remembered one of the therapists he’d spoken to had told him that some who suffered from bulimia did so because it was their way of coping with stress or emotional issues. As her illness had begun after this incident, he figured it was probably a combination of guilt and stress for her, and one of the best remedies was for her to go through all the emotions and start to heal. So he listened and grew angrier by the second.
“The penthouse suite at the new Perryville Resorts Milan was on the twenty-fifth floor and was just as opulent and indulgent as the other Perryville Resorts I’d stayed in. You see, he had some sort of relationship with the owner of the resorts,” she told him.
Parker sat up straighter, looking at her closely. “He knows Sebastian Perry?”
“Is that the owner of the resorts? I don’t know and I didn’t care to know. I never stayed there or at any of those resorts again. No matter who had paid for the room, I selected my own hotels from then on. So I guess that answers your question,” she said frostily, as she stood. “I’ll just take my things and go in now.”
Parker was up in seconds, moving beside her and taking her by the hand. “I’ll get this later. I want to show you something now.”
“Look, Parker, it’s been a really rough couple of weeks. The dinner was nice and I appreciate it, but I’m kind of tired,” she said looking up at him with just a hint of sadness in her eyes.
He felt like an ass for bringing all of this up again, but knew it was the only way. “Just let me show you this and then I’ll run you a nice, hot bath. You can soak in some frilly smelling bubble stuff that Regan said you would like and then you can slip into bed and get some rest. How does that sound?”
Her lips trembled a bit before she went ahead and smiled. “It sounds heavenly.”
“Great. Just give me five minutes,” he said kissing the top of her head. She’d taken off her shoes the moment they’d come into his bedroom, placing them neatly in front of the door to his walk-in closet.
That’s the same place she always put her shoes each time she came over. Parker had wondered when her shoes would finally make it inside the closet, in a space of thei
r own.
“Five minutes,” she agreed. “And I haven’t forgotten that you didn’t tell me what was going on with you and Jaydon this afternoon.”
“I know you haven’t,” Parker said taking her hand and walking with her. He did not want to go over that again, especially not before he had a chance to talk to Savian about a suspicion he was now having. But now was not the time for Jaydon or Giovanni or anyone else. It was all about Adriana.
“Some nights after work, I come out here and just inhale the fresh air,” he told her.
They were about five feet away from the balcony railing when she stopped. “Parker,” she said quietly, her fingers clenching his.
“Do you trust me, Adriana?” he asked and waited a beat for her to reply. When she didn’t, he continued. “Have I done anything to make you not trust me specifically? And giving you the loaded baked potato the other night instead of the side salad was not being sneaky, it was making sure you had a good solid meal, so don’t you dare bring that up,” he said with a grin.
She only blinked at him. “I don’t want to go any further.”
“I’m going to be right beside you, holding your hand. You won’t be alone and you won’t have to hope someone will show up to help you,” he said wishing with everything in him that he had been staying at the Perryville Resort Milan on that particular night, the night Carlo diMarco had attacked her. “Trust me, baby.”
Her eyes filled with tears and Parker simply froze. He’d never made a woman cry—at least not that he knew of—and watching a woman cry even one of his family members was not high on his list of enjoyable things to do.
“We’ll just take one step at a time,” he told her softly.
She didn’t speak but she did take the next step and the next one, until finally they were standing at the railing. Adriana did not look out toward the city, instead she started down at their entwined hands, her arm shaking. Parker turned to face her then, taking her other hand in his and holding her fingers tightly.
