“After,” she says, moaning when my hands slide up and cup her tits. “Definitely after.” She turns her head to the side, and I take her mouth, dragging her to the wall that is just to the side of the stairs. My hands go to her hips, and I try to pull up yet another tight skirt she wore today.
“Tomorrow, we are throwing out all the tight shit,” I say between kissing her and ripping off her shirt. Her hands all over my body, frantically pulling the shirt over my head and going for my belt as my hand goes to my back pocket to get my condom. I slip the condom on while she shimmies the dress up over her hips. She moves her panties to the side, kicking up a leg over my hip and I thrust into her. I pick up her other leg while I pound into her. I’ve never not had this willpower before when she is in the room. It’s all out the door, and the only thing I can think about is being with her, being next to her, being a part of her. When she rolls her hips and moans out my name, it’s everything to me. We finish against the wall, and I slowly carry her upstairs, order some Chinese food, and then take her again in the shower.
“Just make sure everything is set up once I get home,” I tell the man on the phone. I get out of the car and walk up the stairs to Erin’s apartment. I dropped her off five hours ago, and I was going to stay, but she told me to go away and let her get ready without me. I went home and worked out and basically moped around my house until it was time to get ready. Now I’m wearing my black on black tux, and I’m already dying to get out of it. I knock on the door and wait for her, hearing her shoes click on the floor. She opens the door smiling, but I don’t have time to look at her because she turns to walk away from the door.
“I just have to pack my purse,” she says, and I see that the back is tied around the neck, but it’s all open back. It’s also tight with long sleeves, and it looks silver with some glints of black. When she finally comes back, I see the front, and I have to stop and just stare at her. The dress starts at her neck and comes down tight, cutting in on the sides all the way down to the floor. It’s all silver, and her makeup is darker than she’s ever worn it. The details of the dress look like flowers. You hear the slink when she walks. “You look nice,” she says and leans up to kiss my lips lightly so I don’t get lip gloss on me.
“I’m buying you a black garbage bag and a white belt,” I tell her, and she shakes her head. Her hair is parted down the middle and tucked behind both ears. “Where is your bag?” I ask her, and she rolls her eyes.
“Right there”—she points at the small bag by the door—“and I packed enough clothes until Friday.”
“Good,” I say, holding the door open for her. “You’re learning.”
She walks to the stairs and picks up the dress to walk down the steps. I walk next to her, and we make it downstairs. “We should get a picture of you,” she says, and I put the bag in the back of the car. “Turn my way,” she says, and I look over my shoulder and give her the smirk.
“Now come and take one with me,” I tell her, and she walks over to me. I snap a selfie of us, her head next to mine and both of us smiling. “That’s a good one,” I say to her as she gets in the car.
The line-up to get to the Grammys is insane. “We are car number twenty,” the driver says from the front, and we move at a snail’s pace. We finally get to the front, or near the front when I hear a roar take over the crowd. I look out and see that Kellie has arrived. Kellie is the artist up for the most awards tonight. We worked together on one film when she first started in movies. She actually just had her first baby, and it’s the first time she’s performing in years. So all eyes are on her tonight.
“Kellie just arrived.” Erin looks up when the car stops. I get out and hold out my hand to her. “Come, I want you to meet Kellie.” I tell her and we walk to Kellie, who is holding hands with a huge guy watching everyone. “I didn’t think she could look more beautiful,” I say to the side of her and watch the man next to her stand up full alert.
“Carter,” Kellie says and walks to me, kissing my cheeks. “Look at you, all dressed up,” she jokes, then looks behind me. “Where is your harem?” she jokes, and I burst out laughing.
“Erin.” I turn to look for her and finally see her next to me. Her auburnhair is shining in the sun. “This is Kellie,” I say, and Erin walks over to her smiling and holding out her hand.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Erin says to her, and Kellie smiles, moving to the side.
“This is my husband, Brian.” She reaches for his hand. “Brian, this is Carter, and his girlfriend Erin.”
“Oh, no,” Erin says. “I’m not his girlfriend.” She shakes her head, and I turn and glare at her. “I’m PR for his brand.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Kellie says, and then looks at her husband, trying to hide a smile.
“No one even knows what that means,” I say to her and try to grab her hand, but she puts her clutch in it.
“It means I’m in charge of your image. We already went through this,” she tells me quietly. “Now if you can please stop letting people think we are together.”
“I’m not in charge of what people think,” I say with a sly smile. I’m about to let the cat out of the bag because I’m done with the hiding and not being able to hold her hand when I want to. “Let’s go take a picture so you can put it on my Instagram.” I tell her this so she can stop the glaring, then I turn to Kellie. “See you in there, and good luck tonight.” The sound of the bell lets us know that the show will be starting any minute.
“You can’t do that,” Erin says. “This is my job; this is your job,” she tells me. “Please. It’s not the time to tell everyone.”
“We have to get inside, or they will close the doors.” Putting my hand on her lower back, I see men look twice when she walks by them, and I want to put a tent around her. We walk down the red carpet. I stop and pose for pictures alone as Erin stands off to the side. I want to pull her on the carpet with me and pose with her. I want them to take pictures of us together.
I’m not able to give any interviews because it’s so close to the doors closing. When we get inside, ushers lead us to our seats just as a loud, booming voice fills the room. “Showtime.” The lights flick on and off, and then all of a sudden, the orchestra starts.
I lean into Erin and whisper in her ear, “You take my breath away.”
She looks at me from under her lashes. “Nice try, Mr. Johnson,” she says, and I shake my head and watch the show. I don’t know how long it is before they come to get me. I get up from the seat and wait for her to get up, but she doesn’t. “I’ll be here when you are finished.”
I nod at her and walk to the back where I see a couple of people I know. I stop when someone calls my name and wave from afar. I walk to the table, and a man hands me the envelope. “Hey, there.” I turn to see that Tyler Beckett is coming toward me, wearing almost the same tux as me.
“Look who it is,” I say with a smile. “The legend himself.”
He puts his head back and laughs. Tyler Beckett is the biggest box office name out there, and he just got married to an entertainment journalist. They hated each other, but thirty days together will change someone. Hell, I changed, and it’s been less than a month. “There he is, the one who is looking to take my spot on the charts,” he says, laughing.
I shake my head. “No way that can happen,” I tell him, and then a producer comes out and tells us to take our place. I walk over and hear the emcee call both our names, and the girl signals us to walk out. The minute we walk out, the girls go wild, and I look over at him smirking while he just looks ahead at the teleprompter.
“What a night it’s been,” Tyler starts, and the girls up in the balcony go nuts.
“It’s been one hell of a night, hasn’t it?” And if I didn’t think it could get any louder, well, the minute I talk, the girls go even more ballistic. Tyler looks at me and laughs.
“Looks like you have a fan club,” he says, and I just nod. “Let’s get to the last award of the night.” Tyler introduces the
nominees.
“And the winner is . . .” I say, opening the envelope and reading the name on the envelope, looking over at the person winning. “Kellie Kitch.” Brian jumps out of his seat in excitement and looks at Kellie, who is sitting there stunned. She finally gets up and makes it up to the stage wearing a smile on her face.
She greets Tyler with a kiss on his cheek and does the same to me as I hand her the black and gold award. “Thank you,” she says and walks to the microphone for her acceptance speech.
I wait for her to finish thanking everyone and then walk off the stage. The minute I’m able to dash away, I do and go grab Erin. She smiles at me, and we make our way to the car. She gets in first and then I follow her in. The minute we are in the car, and it’s rolling, I grab her and kiss her, causing her to moan into my mouth. I put my hands on her face and feel her hands on mine. We kiss the rest of the ride home, and I let her go when the car comes to a stop. I watch her walk down the steps toward the front door. She opens the door and walks in, stopping once she gets to the living room, and I see why. The whole living room is gone, and in its place is a round table for two with romantic music playing. “What is all this?” She looks over at me and walks to the table. The only light is from the blazing fireplace.
“This,” I say, putting her bag down, “is a do-over from our first date.”
She smiles at me, and then I play the song “You are the Reason.” I walk to her holding out my hand. “Will you dance with me?” I ask her and she puts her purse down on the table.
She places her hand in mine, and I wrap my arm around her waist while she puts her arm around my shoulder. I bring her hand to my chest, pulling her closer to me, and I dance with her in the middle of my living room. The song tells her she is the reason I’ve changed, she is the reason I want to be a better man, and she is the reason I know what love is now. And one day, I’ll work up the nerve to tell her all these things myself.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Erin
“Cut!” Ivan shouts when I walk into the stage with Jessica beside me.
“I can’t even thank you enough for doing this,” I tell her, and she just nods. It’s been three days since the Grammys, and it’s finally time for his interview with Jessica. For three days, I’ve thought of ways to tell him how I feel.
Every day, he puts a post on Instagram, a picture of him looking straight into the camera. But I know he was looking right at me since I took the pictures.
Does it get better than this? Only tomorrow can tell.
Three days of it being on the tip of my tongue, but something holds me back. Every time I think this is it, I am slowly brought back in, and I keep from saying it. When he danced with me the night of the Grammys, it was there. It was the perfect time, but I couldn’t get over the lump in my throat.
“Scoring an interview with Carter is what everyone is dying for,” she says, holding her purse in her hand. “Especially now that he’s gone from all over the press to being a choir boy of sorts.”
I nod, knowing she will ask the question everyone wants to know, but I also know that she will do it with respect and not twist things around. When the story broke that she and Tyler were dating, she did what everyone was dying to do. She told her own story, and to this day, it’s the biggest celebrity story retweet. I walk to the stage and see that Carter is talking to Ivan, and he is pointing at something on the screen. They both agree on something, and then Carter turns and walks toward me. He smiles when he sees me and then sticks his hand out. “You must be Jessica Beckett.”
“I am,” she says, putting out her hand and shaking his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“You came highly recommended,” he says, and then Jessica laughs. “And by that, I mean Erin said I have to do this.”
I shake my head. “Okay, where do you want to do this?” I ask him, and he looks around.
“I think in my trailer,” he says, and I nod, so we walk back to the trailer. Carter opens the door, and I let Jessica go in first, then I follow her. She walks over to the table and sits down, grabbing her phone out of her bag along with a yellow legal pad. I stand by the sink, and he walks over to the table and sits on the bench and then moves over so I can sit. “Jesus, I’m nervous,” he says, rubbing his hands on his pants, and he takes the risk to put his hands on mine. I turn my hands over and squeeze his.
“Let’s get this started,” Jessica says and turns on her phone to tape the interview. She starts off slow, and it’s easy until she gets to the one that I knew was coming.
“The past couple of years, you have built up the reputation as a playboy. A different girl every night, sometimes multiple girls a day,” she starts, and my stomach starts to get sick. “But suddenly, you’ve gone off radar.” I look down and then look over at Carter. “People want to know why the sudden change.”
I wait for it, wait for him to compose his words, but he doesn’t. “I don’t know how I got that reputation,” he says, and I laugh and so does he. “I mean, I know how I got it, but it wasn’t something that I set out to do.” He grabs a water bottle that is on the table and takes a sip. “I guess I’m chalking it up to the fact that I had to prepare for the biggest role of my career, and I didn’t need any distractions.” He puts his hands on the table now leaving mine. “The last time I went out was over three weeks ago, and when I knew I had to get my head in the game, I kept thinking that it was going to be hard, but it’s been the opposite of that. It’s shown me the kind of man I want to be, and it wasn’t the one from before.”
“So you like this Carter better than the other Carter?” she asks him.
“I love them both,” he says, smirking. “But this Carter is more comfortable in his skin than he ever was before.” She nods her head. “This Carter is a man I can be proud of, and that is everything.”
“Good answer,” I mumble, and he just smiles at me. Jessica doesn’t ask any other rough questions, and when it’s finally over, she puts her stuff away and then stands up.
“Carter, it was a pleasure,” she says and then looks at me. “I will email you the final interview when it’s ready.”
I nod, and she walks out. “That wasn’t so bad,” he says. “I was more nervous during this interview than I was signing my first big contract.”
“You did amazing, and you showed them who you really are,” I tell him. “Now, go change so we can make an appearance at the party.”
“You didn’t even kiss me today,” he says, and I walk to him, kissing him. “I missed you.”
“Good news, we have the whole weekend off,” I remind him. “Now go get dressed.” He turns and walks to the bedroom, taking off his stage clothes and putting on jeans and a shirt. We walk out to the stage area and hear the music already playing, and people are mingling and simply enjoying themselves. We walk in, and I smile at the people I recognize. Jennifer waves hello, and I wave back and walk to the table, grabbing a bottle of water.
Carter grabs a water bottle and sees someone he recognizes, so he tells me he’s going to be right back. I look around and then snap a picture, putting it up with the caption
“All work and no play make an unhappy crew. Enjoy the weekend.”
I put the phone in my purse and spot Carter walking toward me. “So how long do we have to stay here?” he asks in a low tone, but then we are joined by someone I’ve never really seen.
“Carter,” she says, going to him and hugging him and kissing his cheek. “I was wondering if I was going to see you here tonight.”
“Kasey,” he says, smiling at her. “Nice to see you again. This is Erin, my PR girl.”
Kasey looks at me and smiles. “I’ve been trying to get in touch with you all week,” she says, putting her hand on his arm. “I was thinking we could catch up.”
I look at Carter, who looks like a deer in headlights. “I can’t,” he says, and then continues, “I’m with someone.”
I’m expecting her to take the hint and walk away, but she doesn’t. I
nstead, she gets closer to him. “That’s never stopped us before on multiple occasions.” I swear, that bitch just licked his ear after she said that.
“If you’ll excuse me, I have an appointment I’m running late for,” I say and walk away. I walk out the door and into the night, and then hear my name being called.
“Erin, can you wait a minute, please,” he says and reaches me, stopping me from walking. “Erin. Stop.”
“I need a second please,” I tell him, not sure a second is going to cut it.
“Come on, that isn’t my fault,” he says.
“I know it isn’t your fault,” I tell him. “I know that you have a past. I know that chances are it’s going to be thrown in my face a little bit from time to time. But to actually experience it live, in person, in all of its in-your-face glory is something I just need time to digest.”
“Let’s go home,” he says, and I shake my head.
“I think I’m going to spend the night at my home tonight,” I tell him.
“You can’t be serious,” he says.
“Can I just have a minute to process everything? Can I just have that time to think?” I ask him, my heart pounding. “Just give me some space. You can fuck up both of our lives with one tabloid report with one unearthed sex video,” I tell him, the anger running through me. “You have the power to destroy me in more ways than one.” I watch his eyes narrow to slits. “You can still go on to continue to be the big time actor”—I shake my head—“but I will be the one to lose everything here, not you,” I say, turning to walk away.
“So you are just going to walk away?” he shouts after me, and I just shake my head.
“Whatever,” I say under my breath, and I flag down a cab and get in, giving him my address. I get home and walk up the stairs, not bothering to turn on the lights. I undress and crawl into bed, looking out into the darkness.
Hollywood Prince Page 17