Starlit: A Novel

by Lisa Rinna

  Tally smiled. “Yep, there are some advantages of growing up in the sticks, including fast cars and a lot of empty back roads to race them on. When my parents heard I’d be racing, they were thrilled. My dad figures since the county sheriff couldn’t catch up with me, outracing a few celebrities should be a piece of cake. Buckle up, ladies.”

  On the drive down, Mandy regaled the girls with the nuts and bolts of how a porn film gets shot. “Apparently, I’m good at it. Already, two of my movies are on the top ten list of popular porn rentals, according to Adult Video News. The producers have offered me a contract!”

  “Wow!” Sadie exclaimed. “So, let me ask you a question that’s always bugged me about porn. How do those guys stay … well, you know, ready all that time?”

  Mandy laughed. “Sometimes guys need a fluffer to keep themselves hard. But apparently, that hasn’t been the case when I’m on the set.” She puffed up proudly.

  Tally gave her a quizzical look. “What’s a fluffer?”

  Mandy giggled. “It’s a person who keeps the male actors all hot and horny between takes. Usually, it’s a woman who plays with herself or someone else—or with him—until I get back on the set. But if the actor is gay, then it’s another man who’s the fluffer.” She looked down lovingly at her breasts. “Most of my costars are straight, so Mary Kate and Ashley seem to do the trick every time.”

  Tally sighed. “What is it with men and boobs? It’s got to be some kind of primal chemical thing.”

  Sadie perked up. “Speaking of chemicals, I think Josh has finally broken his cocaine habit.”

  Tally gave her friend a thumbs-up in the rearview mirror. “Sadie, that’s great! How did that happen?”

  “His trip to Egypt was a great start in weaning him off the stuff. Also, I made sure his coke dealer’s calls never got through to him. But the biggest factor was when I put my foot down and told him I was walking out if he didn’t quit.”

  “He certainly cares about you, Sadie,” Mandy said reassuringly.

  “Yes, I know he does. In fact—” She paused and took a deep breath. “Well, I was going to wait until after the race to tell you, but I can’t hold it in any longer. Josh has asked me to marry him!”

  Upon hearing the news, Tally swerved off the road for a second, causing the trucker behind her to honk his horn. She waved her apology in the rearview mirror. “Oh my God! Sadie, I’m so happy for you!”

  Mandy squealed. “When’s the wedding? Can we be bridesmaids? Does this mean you’ll quit your job?”

  Sadie laughed. “Well, we’re thinking later in the summer. And yes, both of you are my maids of honor. As for my job, as soon as I find my replacement—and let me tell you, it’ll either be a guy or a very homely woman—I’ll have time to plan our wedding.” She smiled sublimely. “And the rest of our lives together.”

  The rest of their lives together. Tally let that sink in. Mandy and I are just starting our careers, and Sadie is in a committed relationship. I’m so glad we’re all so happy …

  So, why, all of a sudden, did she feel so alone?

  When they got to the racetrack, Tally was given a hot-pink helmet with a matching one-piece racing suit to wear on the track. The Dana Point logo was embroidered on her breast pocket, and her getup fit as snugly as a catsuit. This netted her admiring glances from the other celebrity drivers, including Gabriel McNamara.

  “You look so hot,” he murmured into her ear as all the celebs—the two of them, along with Patrick Dempsey and Eric Dane of Grey’s Anatomy, Chelsea Handler, and thirteen others—posed for a group photo.

  In response, she smiled pretty and slapped his helmet shield so that it fell down over his face.

  It had been three weeks since their encounter in her trailer, and he hadn’t bothered to stop by again, let alone call her. Granted, she hadn’t had time to give him her number, but still, he could have gotten it just by having his publicist check with her publicist if he’d wanted it badly enough. Which, obviously, he didn’t.

  Good, Tally thought. Then he won’t be too upset when I beat him.

  The route circled around downtown Long Beach. The drivers were supposed to go ten laps. A piece of cake, Tally thought.

  She let Gabriel take the lead for the first four laps. By the sixth, though, she was right on his heels, and by the seventh, she was half a lap ahead and planned to stay that way. Just to tease him, she’d allow him to get close, but then she’d peel away. She also played chicken with him, just like her high-school boyfriend had taught her. Because his helmet’s shield was down, she couldn’t tell if she was impressing him or making him angry. What difference does it make? I’ve got nothing to lose if I beat him. In fact, I’ll have a lot to gain—my pride, for one thing.

  On the last lap, he turned up the heat. While the other drivers played it safe, Tally and Gabriel were neck-and-neck to the finish—until he spun out. A sickening feeling washed over her as she watched his car turn several 360s before coming to a stop on top of a median.

  Shocked and feeling guilty, Tally pulled over to the curb, then jumped out and ran over to his car. By the time she’d pushed her way through the crowd, the emergency safety crew was already attending to him. When he saw her, though, he beckoned her over. She put her hands on his face; it was her way of saying I’m so, so sorry. Taking one of her hands, he brought it down to his lips and kissed it. Even with all the cameras clicking around them, all she could think of was the fact that she would have been heartbroken if anything had happened to him.

  Jason Bateman might have won the race, but it was Gabriel’s lips on Tally’s hand that made the cover of the Calendar section of the LA Times the next day.

  Chapter 13

  TALLY FELT SHE owed it to Gabriel to make sure he made it home safely to his place in Malibu. Saying so out loud to Sadie and Mandy earned her their snickers, but Tally stuck to her guns. “You never know! He bumped his head pretty hard.”

  “Hey, we get it. You want to be sure he doesn’t pass out on the road on the way home,” Sadie said as she elbowed Mandy. “Not that his publicist could do that, right?”

  Tally shrugged, tossed Sadie the keys to her car, and never looked back.

  Gabriel allowed her to drive without protest. Cautiously, she took the 405 North to 10 West and then crawled along with the rest of the weekend traffic going north on the Pacific Coast Highway. Although he insisted that she could go faster, she thought they had both had enough racing for one day.

  Finally, they arrived at his house, a postmodern cottage squeezed into the center of Malibu Colony Drive, with only a sand dune or two separating it from passersby on the beach, of which there were plenty.

  When she walked inside, she was shocked. The house was so cluttered! She wondered why he hadn’t hired a maid, then figured he just hadn’t had the time. I can certainly understand that, she thought. She noted that a narrow trail had been cleared through the boxes and magazines that filled the living room and followed the path further inside.

  When she saw the wall of plastic bear honey containers, she stopped dead in her tracks.

  Gabriel, who was kicking through some of the debris, turned around to find her staring at it in awe. Before she could even ask the question, he said, “It’s a little hobby of mine, collecting those. Just something I do for fun with my niece. It started out as a joke. You know, ‘Let’s see how many of these we can collect.’”

  “OK.” Tally didn’t know what else to say. She decided that in a way, it was touching that he’d do something cute like that. For his niece.

  She also noticed that none of the windows had shades, blinds, or curtains and commented that it must get pretty bright. “I like it like that,” Gabriel explained. “I love lots of sunshine.”

  Tally wondered if the photographers loved that, too—especially when Gabriel insisted that they make love at the window looking out onto the ocean.

  “Look at that sunset,” he said as he kissed her neck and shoulders. “It’s like we’re all alone
here, at the end of the earth.”

  She nodded as she allowed him to strip her of her racing suit.

  How funny, she thought. Of all the souvenirs I’ve collected, this jumpsuit will mean the most to me, because it was what I was wearing the day we made love.

  She stood there in her bra and thong but not for long. Very slowly, he pulled down one bra strap, then the other. Then, kneeling before her, he hooked a finger into her panties and slowly pulled them down her legs.

  The thong teased her skin as he inched it toward her ankles. When he got to her feet, he lifted one up and pulled the sliver of silk off its heel, then kissed it. He then did the same with the other foot.

  She wanted him so badly now, and when he looked up, she saw the desire in his eyes, too.

  She was less genteel, tearing at the zipper of his racing suit and shoving it off his hips, along with his boxer briefs, before throwing herself into his waiting arms.

  Their kiss seemed to go on forever. When their lips finally parted, he scooped her up and took her to the only piece of furniture free of any clutter: a low-back armchair that faced the big picture window. Placing her behind it, he moved her hands onto the arms of the chair. Bent over the top of it, she could see him admiring her ass in their reflection in the window.

  Gently, he nudged her feet away from the chair before entering her from behind. His thrusts started out slow but soon were faster as he dug deeper inside her. She moved in unison with him, arching her bottom even higher, taking more of him into her, closer to orgasm with each stroke. Just as they came, together, the sun dipped below the horizon.

  Happy, sated, and exhausted, Tally fell back into his arms. He seemed surprised, but he held her there for a moment. Then, instead of leading her upstairs to his bedroom, he cleared a place for her on the couch.

  She must have dozed off, because when she opened her eyes, it was already dark outside. Surprised that she was alone, she called out his name.

  No answer.

  Then she saw a note on the coffee table. Had another engagement. Please leave through the back door, it’s the only one not on a spring lock. Have a nice night.—G.

  Furious, she wondered how he expected her to get home. Sure, she could call a taxi, but she didn’t even know the address to give the dispatcher. Why hadn’t he just woken her up and offered her a ride home?

  Tally angrily grabbed her clothes off the floor and threw them on. She stuck her head out the front door to look at his house number, but there wasn’t any. She’d have to go out to the mailbox to figure out where she was. It was out by the curb, so she propped the door open with her shoe. Two steps later, she learned the door was too heavy for the shoe as it shut behind her, trapping her shoe—and her purse—inside.

  Damn it! There was nothing she could do but start hobbling up the street. Maybe she’d recognize someone driving by, and they’d let her use their phone. Or maybe they’d recognize her first, then tell everyone that she was a one-heeled ditz.

  A ditz who’d just gotten used by Gabriel McNamara.

  She was halfway up Malibu Colony Drive when she remembered that Josh also lived in the Colony, just a little bit down the road. Well, at least her agent would take her in, and Sadie would be there, too. They wouldn’t laugh at the fact that she’d just been used … but the look of pity in their eyes would hurt just the same.

  The next day, Gabriel sent her purse to the set, accompanied by flowers. The note on the card read, Miss you. Hope you feel the same way.—G.

  Of course she did, but she didn’t want to admit it to herself.

  A week later, when he finally called, there was an urgency in his voice. “I’ve got to see you, Tally. I’ve been thinking about you all week.”

  She knew why, and it made her uncomfortable: he saw her as a booty call. She should have been angry, but instead she was, well, flattered. Because it meant he still desired her.

  Sadie was aghast. “Look at you! You’re acting like a naive schoolgirl! Have you forgotten that he totally ditched you after sex?”

  “He might have already had plans. Was he supposed to just break them because of me?”

  Sadie nodded emphatically. “He would have, if he cared.”

  “He’s Gabriel McNamara, for God’s sake! I’m still thrilled he even knows I exist.”

  “And you’re Tally Jones—or have you forgotten that? Sure, he’s a big, established television star. But guess what, Tally: You’re on TV now, too. So start acting like it!”

  Tally knew she was right. But she wasn’t going to chance losing Gabriel by playing hard to get. He was handsome, successful, and, according to the latest issue of People, the “Sexiest Man Alive.”

  So she agreed to see him, determined to bide her time and give their relationship room to develop.

  “There’s a guy across the street holding a camera with a telephoto lens,” Tally murmured out of the corner of her mouth to Gabriel. They were sitting at a curbside table at the Urth Caffé on Melrose. In the month they’d been seeing each other, the place had become one of their usual hangouts. Unfortunately, because it was a favorite haunt of a lot of stars, a caravan of paparazzi was always waiting there.

  Tally hated the fact that since she’d started going out with Gabriel, her every step outside the walls of Royalton Studios was dogged by people with cameras. In fact, last week, she’d found out that her landlady had been tricked into letting some guy into her apartment who claimed he was supposed to put in a new Internet cable connection. Nothing was missing, but later a narrated video appeared on YouTube in which someone walked around her apartment and commented on her bedroom (“Is this where she and Gabriel McNamara go at it?”), her closet (“Wow! She kept her cheerleading outfit from high school! How sick is that? I wonder if she wears it for Gabriel”), and the contents of her fridge (“Yogurt and diet Coke? That’s it? Someone, please, buy this poor girl a meal!”).

  She felt violated. She knew she had to find another place, somewhere more secure. In truth, she was hoping that Gabriel would ask her to move in with him. But he never did.

  They were sleeping together, and the sex was hot, torrid, and rough—but never loving. The rest of their relationship was empty as well. Whenever they were in public, Gabriel acted as if he couldn’t keep his hands off her, and needless to say, the press picked up on their “love affair” in no time flat. But he could go from hot to cold in an instant, and she constantly felt as if she was walking on eggshells. Their tumultuous on again/off again relationship was tabloid catnip, and whatever it lacked in actual affection was made up for in column space.

  It helped that they were spotted at all the usual celebrity hot spots: clubbing at Avalon and the Tower Bar, hiking in Runyan Canyon, shopping at the Grove or on the Robertson Boulevard or grabbing a quick bite at Urth. Tally would have much preferred the kind of notoriety that comes with a respected career, not sensationalized press. Why not go somewhere more private, where they might actually be able to pass as civilians, or at least somewhere they’d be left alone? She would not have minded at all if they’d gotten their coffee and food to go, and on more than one occasion, she’d even suggested that they stay in at Gabriel’s place and she’d make breakfast there, but he seemed to prefer to go out.

  It suddenly dawned on her that he might actually like the attention of having his picture taken, and OK, fine, it was part of the lives they led. Still, that didn’t mean she had to like it.

  “Where is the camera creep?” Gabriel asked. He started to rise from his chair, but Tally reached across the table and held his hand so that he wouldn’t go after the guy, which he had a habit of doing.

  “Leave him alone, please, Gabriel. Let’s just pretend he isn’t there.”

  “OK, sure. I’ll do this instead.” He leaned into her and gave her a deep, long kiss. They could hear the shutter of the camera snapping away. As soon as Gabriel pulled back, the pap walked away. “See? Problem solved. He got what he came for.” Gabriel went back to sipping his latte and reading
the LA Times sports pages. The kiss had been all for show.

  Tally frowned. “Just because he got what he wanted doesn’t mean you had to stop.”

  He looked up from his paper. “Getting a little needy, are we?”

  She glanced away before he saw the tears in her eyes. “Forget I said anything.”

  “I won’t forget. You know I love it when you get all riled up. Makeup sex turns me on. Why don’t we go back to my place?”

  No way. She wasn’t going to settle for friends-with-benefits sex, with no love attached. Today she wanted them to be a normal, happy couple, doing normal, happy things. Putting on a cheery smile, Tally said, “Hey, I have a great idea. Why don’t we go to a movie? The new James Cameron flick just opened at the Arclight.”

  “Sure, OK. We can grab a seat in the back, like last time.”

  Tally shook her head. “I don’t want to see our picture in Us with your hand down my shirt again.”

  His lips curled into a naughty smile. “Can I help it if I can’t keep my hands off your breasts?”

  “Well, you don’t enjoy them enough to sleep with them.” She looked him straight in the eye as she spoke. It was a big issue between them that he didn’t invite her to sleep over and that when she insisted that it was too late to leave, he asked her to sleep in the guest room.

  Gabriel didn’t flinch at her jibe. In fact, he smirked. “It’s a waste having them beside me when my eyes aren’t open to admire them.” He folded his paper and stood up. “On second thought, I think I’ll go home and watch the game.”

  “What, you don’t want to spend the afternoon together?”

  “Sure I do, if you want to watch the game with me. Or have sex.”

  Tally frowned. This wasn’t going at all as she’d planned. “Look, I’m sorry for what I said about the movie. I don’t mind if we sit in the back row—”