by L. D. Davis
“Puh-lease,” I said, trying to sound cool. “You’ve kissed a girl on set before. I have seen a couple of your movies. It was just work.” I shrugged and looked at him like I didn’t care, and I hadn’t really, until he brought it up earlier in the day when he called me.
Felix’s fingers lightly trailed over my bare shoulder and down my arm.
“All of those kisses I was prepared for,” he said, pushing my hair back off of my neck with his other hand. His knuckles grazed my skin, and I had to fight back a gasp. “First I read them in the script and then we read them together. Then we discussed what the kiss would look like and how it would be approached. It was all very technical. Kissing you, however, was entirely unexpected. If it was just work, it had to be one of the hottest days at the office ever.”
I cleared my throat and shifted away from him. I had a “What the hell am I doing alone in a limo with a twenty-year-old bad boy actor” moment, but if I was going to enter into the world of high fashion and celebrities, I was going to have to get over some of my reservations. Hell, I did it so easily earlier in the day when I took off my shirt in a room full of people.
“That’s all very entertaining,” I said, using his tone from earlier. “But what is for dinner, Felix? I’m starving.”
He tilted his head back and laughed. I liked it. It was loud and obnoxious but genuine.
“Most women in your position don’t eat.”
“I’m going out to dinner with Felix Hunter,” I said. “I better get his money’s worth.”
Felix laughed again and said, “I knew I liked you.”
“I like me too,” I said loftily.
“Yes, very entertaining, Miss Stewart, but back to that kiss…”
“Well, damn, Felix,” I said with amusement. “You keep coming back to that kiss. You must not get too much action if you keep coming back to the moment you violated my mouth with your sticky tongue.”
His eyebrows rose and the look of surprise on his face had me biting my tongue to keep from laughing.
“Violate?” he cried. “Sticky!”
“Mmm hmm,” I said with a nod. “Tacky. Like glue.”
“For the record, Donya, you’re the one that smashed your cute little tits up against my back. You’re the one that put your smooth, little hands all over my bare chest and in my pubes.” I blushed furiously but didn’t change my expression as he continued. “You’re the one that bit my neck like a vamp and went all cannibal on my ear. You can’t blame me for wanting to repeat that kiss. You should feel lucky that’s all I want—for now.”
“Is that all?” I asked, rolling my eyes. “You just want a little kiss?”
“For now,” he said huskily, drawing nearer.
“Then you should ask your driver to stop at the store so I can go buy you some,” I said with a big smile. “A big bag of chocolate Hershey Kisses.”
His eyes narrowed even as they heated. “I want chocolate, and I want a kiss, and you sure do taste like candy.”
“I don’t remember what you taste like,” I said nonchalantly. “I’ve already forgotten.”
Felix’s hand gently cupped my face. His thumb slid over my lips, and I tried really hard not to gasp, but I let a little one slip through anyway.
“Are you always so hard to get?” he asked softly.
“Always,” I confirmed in a whisper.
“Good. I like it.”
Felix Hunter pressed his mouth to mine and I damn near melted. I moaned softly, giving him an opening to dip his tongue into my mouth. His hand continued to hold my face possessively, and his arm around my shoulders squeezed, pulling me in close to him. I held onto his nice button down shirt, held on for dear life because his kiss was sweeping me away.
When he finally pulled away from me, my lips ached, and my mouth felt hot.
“There is something very unscrupulous about a twenty-year-old man kissing a sixteen-year-old girl in the back of his limousine,” I said, gasping softly for air.
“That’s a mighty big word for a sixteen year old,” he teased, tracing my moist lips with his fingers.
“We’re not all clueless,” I said.
“Clearly not.”
He kissed me again, and I didn’t mention his lack of scruples again.
Chapter Twenty
“I can’t come up there,” Emmy mumbled on the phone. “I caught some kind of bug. I’m hurling and shitting and shitting and hurling. Sometimes at the same time.”
“Ewww,” I said, scrunching up my face. “I did not need all of the details.”
I collapsed onto the bed. I had just returned from a photo shoot, expecting to find Emmy already at our suite. A few weeks after my shoot and the subsequent make-out session with Felix, Emmy was supposed to make the trip to New York to accompany me to a party Felix was throwing. I wasn’t going as his date because we weren’t dating.
After we saw the Bruce Willis movie, we made out in the car again on the way to dinner. As if we were in some comedy, my bracelet got caught in his hair. After the initial laughter, I looked at the charm bracelet and felt a crushing guilt on my chest. I loved Emmet, and though we weren’t together and had not spoken in months and months, I still felt connected to him, especially while wearing the gift he had given to me. How could I just kiss someone new as if Emmet had never been?
Felix had noticed my change immediately and had the decency to pull back.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked, gently lifting my chin with a finger.
I fingered the bracelet.
“Someone very important gave me this,” I said softly. Then I sighed with exasperation and looked away from him.
Why shouldn’t I have moved on? Emmet left without saying goodbye. Emmet made no effort to call me or contact me at all. Emmet didn’t send me a note and congratulate me on my first photo shoot or call me during the holidays.
But he gave you this bracelet, and that means a lot of somethings.
“Ex-boyfriend?” Felix asked, touching the bracelet.
“Something like that,” I said with a humorless chuckle. “Whatever he was to me…” I put a hand on my chest, feeling my heart beat wildly under my palm. I looked at Felix. “I love him. I’m not over him.”
The words hurt to say out loud. I balled my hands into fists and tried hard not to cry. For all I knew, Emmet was lying in bed beside Stella or some other girl and not thinking about me at all. Until I could not think of him, I couldn’t be with anyone else. Especially someone like Felix with far more experience in the world than me. I would do nothing but slow him down, and I had to face the fact that he may have only been trying to seduce me. Felix Hunter wasn’t known for monogamy or keeping his dick in his pants.
Felix put his fingers in my hair and twirled. His voice was soft and gentle when he spoke.
“I want you to know that I really, really, really like you,” he said.
“Are you trying to make me feel bad?” I asked and bit down on my lip.
“No, not at all,” he said soothingly. “But I really like you and even though I want to keep kissing you until the sun comes up, I respect you and what you’re feeling. You’ve been real to me since the moment I stepped on set, and you barely paid me any mind.” He smiled at the memory. “It’s rare to find someone who is real when you’re a guy in my position. If you promise to always be real with me, Donya, we can be friends. I would love to have a friend like you.”
I looked at him suspiciously. “You’re not ‘acting’ are you?”
He laughed and shook his head. “Nope. Just being as real as you are.”
I looked away and then looked back at him bashfully. “Do you still want to take the stick in the mud to dinner?”
“I like mud,” he shrugged and grinned. “And I like a girl with a good appetite. Of course I want to take you to dinner. I’d be honored if you’d go to dinner with me.”
“You know that you’re tarnishing your bad boy image, right?” I asked with a small smile.
He shru
gged and grinned. Smugly he said, “Adding a little sweet to the badness makes me all that more appealing to the ladies.”
I had rolled my eyes and laughed. Moments later I followed my new friend out of the limo to show him how real women ate.
Weeks later, with Emmy sick, there was no one to go to the party with me. I had made a few acquaintances while in New York, but none that I wanted to take with me to Felix’s party. It was a private party, and I didn’t trust anyone enough to bring along with me. I had been stabbed in the back more than once in my months in New York, and I wasn’t looking for anyone to stab Felix in the back too.
I sure as hell couldn’t go to the party alone. Well, I could, but my mom wouldn’t let me, and most likely she wouldn’t have approved of any of my acquaintances either. She barely approved of Felix.
“I guess I’m not going,” I sighed miserably. I had met a few more celebrities through work and hanging with Felix, but his party would put me elbow to elbow with people that could really elevate my career. I didn’t want to use him for my own personal gain; however, that was exactly what Felix intended for me to do.
“You’re going,” Emmy said groggily. “I sent someone in my place. They’re probably almost there now.”
“How can they almost be here if you’re just now calling me to tell me you’re sick?” I questioned. Anyone she could send—and I couldn’t think of anyone—lived well outside of the city. She couldn’t have called anyone moments before me and had them almost to my doorstep.
“I’ve been sick all day, Donya,” Emmy sighed. “When I knew I wasn’t getting any better earlier today, I made the arrangements. I waited until now to tell you so that you wouldn’t freak out, but you’re still freaking out.”
“Who did you send?” I demanded, not denying that I was freaking out.
“Why don’t you get ready?” she suggested, remaining aggravatingly obtuse. “By the time you’re all dolled up, your plus one will be there.”
“Why won’t you tell me who it is?”
“It’s a surprise, damn it!” She made an awful sound that made my stomach churn momentarily. “Gotta go,” she said quickly. “Go get ready.”
The line went dead. I slammed the phone down and growled in frustration as I got to my feet to get ready.
I had no idea who Emmy could send. Did she send Tabitha? No, Tabitha wasn’t really talking to her. Mayson? No, Mayson was going through some unpleasant things. Leo?
I groaned, hoping she didn’t send Leo. I liked his off again on again girlfriend Leslie and I did not want to get tangled in that web.
Feeling extremely frustrated and worried, I quickly got ready for the party. I dressed in a flirty yet classic black, strapless, asymmetrical dress by Coco Chanel. Felix had been kind enough to buy it for me, and I had been appreciative enough to accept it. It fit my body as if it had been made specifically for me.
I paired the dress with a pair of gold Manolo Blahnik stiletto sandals that wrapped sensually around my feet and ankles. I had my hair pulled back in a tight ponytail at the base of my skull secured by a gold barrette.
I had liked looking through Vogue, Elle and Cosmo and other fashion magazines when I was thinking about becoming a model, but in my everyday life, I had dressed like an average person. I had a few designer items, thanks to the Graynes, but I otherwise dressed pretty basic in jeans and a t-shirt. However, since my arrival in New York, I pushed myself to learn about the various designers, and whenever I could get my hands on any of their clothes and shoes, I did. I never went to a casting call without being draped in designer clothing, and since Felix’s party was my first big party, I splurged on the Blahniks.
“I still think that you’re too young for what you’re wearing,” Mom had said from the doorway.
I stood in front of the floor length mirror smoothing my dress and adjusting it needlessly. Like I said, it fit perfectly.
“What do you want me to wear, Mom?” I asked, not really expecting an answer.
“I think you’re moving too fast with everything,” she repeated. She had been saying it since the day I took my shirt off for Rolling Stone.
“I’m working, and more work is coming in all of the time,” I reminded her. “I can’t drag my feet in this business. I’ll be too old by the time I’m old enough to legally drink.”
She sighed in response. She knew what I said was true. Max and his partners had told her repeatedly whenever she tried to stop me from doing something. I really appreciated that she was being a mom, but under the circumstances, I needed her to take a step back.
“I am really nervous about you going to this party,” she said. She had been repeating that statement since she found out I was going to the party.
“Mom, I’ve been to parties before,” I said, turning around and grabbing my black clutch off of the bed. “I’ve been to parties that would give you a heart attack. I really don’t think that I can get into that much trouble tonight.”
“You’re so naïve,” she said, turning away from me.
I rolled my eyes and bit my tongue so that I wouldn’t argue with her. Maybe I was naïve, but how many more opportunities like the one I had would I get?
I took a breath and marched into the living area of the suite, a nice upgrade from the one room we had when we first arrived months before.
“Do you know who Emmy sent to go with me?” I asked my mom, knowing she had to know because she had to approve the person as good enough to accompany me.
She nodded with a small smile. “They are the only reason I’m letting you go without me.”
I didn’t know who it was that my mom trusted so much to escort me to the party without her, but I was grateful because the one thing I was dreading was showing up at my first VIP party with my mommy.
“Who is it?” I asked.
“Emmy asked me to surprise you,” she shrugged.
I frowned. I still had no clue. Emmy had some cousins that lived in the area, maybe it was one of them, but I hardly knew them. It definitely couldn’t be Emmet because that would just be bizarre. Why would Emmet show up to take me to the party after we had gone three-quarters of a year without speaking? That option just seemed highly unlikely, which left me wondering once again.
I adjusted the charm bracelet on my wrist, wishing for the unlikely. I snorted.
What would I even say to him? What would he say to me?
“Is something funny?” Mom asked me from the couch.
“Nope,” I said, deciding to go look in the mirror once more.
Then I felt it.
That tug.
That pull.
I hadn’t felt it so strongly in nearly a year. It made my gut clench and twist and lurch. My heart raced so fast that it made me light headed. The bracelet seemed to burn into my skin.
Abruptly, I turned away from the bedroom and just barely kept myself from stumbling to the door of our suite. With a trembling hand, I touched the door handle but didn’t immediately open it. What if I was wrong? What if I just ate something that disagreed with me and I confused the feelings? What if I was right? Could I handle it? Could I handle it if I was wrong?
“Damn it!” I bit out in a harsh whisper.
I pulled the door open. There was no one on the other side. I stepped into the hallway and found it empty.
The invisible tether strummed and vibrated and hummed.
The elevators at the end of the hall made that pleasant ding indicating that a cab had arrived on my floor. I stood there waiting for someone to appear around the corner, but all I heard were carpeted footsteps going in the other direction towards the other wing of the hotel.
I stepped back into the suite, confused. I rubbed my sternum, trying to ease the pressure and pulling I felt there. I began to believe that I had conjured the feelings by subconsciously wanting the person coming for me to be Emmet. I had somehow, in the deeper parts of my mind, convinced myself that Emmet was coming for me.
Disappointment washed over me and weakened m
y knees. I held onto the wall to keep myself from falling over.
“Are you okay?” Mom asked, getting to her feet.
“Fine,” I whispered. “Who is coming for me, Mom?”
“I told you Emmy wanted me to keep it a secret.”
“That’s stupid!” I snapped. “Don’t I deserve to know? Is it one of my friends from New Jersey?”
“Yes,” she said simply.
Andrew? Would Emmy send Andrew Newland?
I had run into Andrew on my last trip to New Jersey. Emmy thought there was a spark between us. If there had been a spark, it was all on Andrew’s side.
I was angry that I seemed to have no control over my current circumstances. Bitterly, I stood on one foot and reached for my shoe. I was going to take the damn shoes off, take the damn dress off and close myself into my room for the night with my hidden stash of junk food and watch reruns of My So-Called Life because the whole situation was a bunch of bullshit.
My hand had just touched the strap around my ankle when someone knocked on the door. Even though my chest was almost exploding with emotion and it felt like that damn binding was on fire, I told myself that I had conjured it. Whoever was at the door I was going to send away and carry on with my plan of junk food and television.
I opened the door, with curses on my lips, but the only one that made it through was, “Shit.”
Emmet stood in front of me, gazing at me with those green eyes through that too-long hair in said eyes, and smiling with lips that I knew could knock Felix’s kisses out of any park, out of any universe.
“Emmet.”
Chapter Twenty-One
“One more picture,” my mom said, grinning like it was her birthday.
“No,” I sighed.
“Just one more, one more,” she said. “Emmet put your arm around your sister.”
I glowered at her. “This isn’t prom!” I said and then thought how pathetic it would be if my prom date were a sibling.
“You’re never going to get to go to a prom, so humor me,” she said with a note of sourness. “Emmet. Arm.”