by Lucia Jordan
“Of course.” Marielle felt a little stunned. “I’m sorry about what happened, too.”
“You’re very kind,” Vanessa said. “Now that we’ve settled that, I would also like to rehire you to work on the film. Would you be able to report to the set this morning?”
The prospect of working again for the difficult director didn’t hold much appeal but Marielle couldn’t resist the chance to see James Raven again. “I can be there in thirty minutes.”
“I’ll see you in half an hour,” the director said.
As she switched off the mobile Marielle became aware of her friends staring at her. She grimaced. “I spoke too soon about that job being available. That was Ms. Newell. It seems that I’ve been rehired.”
“You better not screw up again,” Jilly said. “Or all of us really will hate you forever.”
*
James Raven lifted his chin so the wardrobe designer could adjust his silk tie. “So I’m to wear nothing but black in every scene?”
“It’s got a long-rumored connection with fear.” The designed smiled as she removed a speck of lint from his lapel. “How is the shoulder fit?”
Raven shifted his arms. “A bit tight. If I’m wearing this when I lift Marielle, I’ll need another inch of two.”
“Melanie,” the designer said. When he gave her a blank look she added, “The character’s name is Melanie.”
“Right.” It was the third time that morning he’d used the wrong name but he couldn’t stop thinking about his sexy little lover. “Sorry.”
“No problem.” The designer slipped off the jacket and marked the inside shoulder seams with a piece of chalk. “A bunch of us have worked with Marielle Fairchild on other shoots. She’s a sweetheart, and while it’s great that you stood up for her… No one wants to see her get hurt, you know?”
Raven smiled a little. “I understand.”
“Thought you might.” She winked at him before she hurried back to her sewing machine.
Raven walked down to video village to see if the director had contacted Marielle but paused when he saw Vanessa having a conversation with the petite blonde. The director had managed to get her back but whatever she was saying to her had Marielle looking utterly bewildered.
He joined them and took Marielle’s hand in his. “Good morning.”
“Hi.” She almost stepped away from him before she produced an uncertain smile. “Vanessa was just telling me I’m not going to be working as her assistant.”
“No. This time you’ll be mine.” Raven gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. “Jess Carter is still in Europe. Until she arrives you’ll be standing in for her.”
As Vanessa turned away to speak with a camera man, Marielle leaned closer and said in a murmur, “Are you crazy? You know I’m not an actress. Vanessa looks ready to rip off my head and drop-kick it into the ocean. I can’t do this.”
He had intended to charm his way back into her good graces but her fear aroused his dominant side. “I don’t care. I need you, Marielle, so you will do this — for me.”
Before Marielle could reply, Vanessa returned and gave them both a decidedly phony smile. “If you two are ready to begin you can use the library on the first floor. A couple of riggers will also be working in there to align the lighting and camera equipment.”
Raven knew what the director hoped to do by sending in a crew to watch him rehearse with Marielle. She wanted to control him while humiliating his anxious little lover. What Vanessa didn’t realize was that he did his best work in front of an audience. “We’ll just stop by Wardrobe first so Marielle can dress the part.”
*
Once she had changed into the costume Raven had picked out for her, Marielle checked her reflection in the full-length mirror and frowned. She rarely wore anything but jeans and tshirts. The floaty dress he’d given her was made of thin, twilight blue silk that clung to her skin. She tried loosening the golden sash around the waist to see if that would help but the fabric still hugged her curves.
“You look amazing,” Raven said as he stepped into the dressing room, closing the door behind him. He wore a simple black t-shirt and trousers, which gave him a sexy, menacing quality. “Just as I imagine Melanie would.”
“In the book Melanie is statuesque brunette with killer curves,” she reminded him as she cinched the sash back in place. “I’m a little blonde with a boy-body.”
He bent his head to put his mouth next to her ear. “Then I must have fucked someone else the other night because I don’t remember a single thing about that blonde that reminded me of a boy.”
The whisper of his breath against her neck sent a rush of desire through Marielle. When he drew her back against him and wrapped his arms around her waist, she almost moaned. “Raven, we can’t do this on the set. We have to be, ah, professional.”
“We have to be Maestro and Melanie,” he chided, splaying one hand over her belly as he cradled her breast with the other. “He is sexually obsessed with her. She needs him to release her slumbering passion.” He stroked his thumb over her nipple. “Trust me, Fairchild, the cameras would catch on fire if we were any more perfect together.”
She turned around to face him and braced her hands against his chest to keep him from pulling her closer. “Vanessa will be watching us every minute. If I’m to salvage my reputation and my job we have to do this for real and rehearse the script — nothing else. Please, Raven.”
“Of course.” He pressed his mouth against her brow and opened the dressing room door. “After you.”
Marielle braced herself for everyone on the crew to gawk at her as she walked out of the garage and around to the front entry of the house. A couple of runners lugging an equipment crate nodded to her when they crossed her path but no one seemed especially interested.
“I was expecting everyone to have a good chuckle over seeing me like this,” she said to Raven as they entered the house. “I must not look as silly as I feel.”
“Everyone here likes you,” Raven said as he clasped her hand in his and led her through an open set of double doors into an enormous library. “I’ve already been warned to watch my step.”
“With me?” When he nodded, Marielle almost groaned. “They shouldn’t have said anything like that. I’m sorry.”
“I was rather touched.” He guided her over to the center of the room, where a padded post fitted with handcuffs at the top stood beneath a large crystal chandelier. “Since we’ve already rehearsed the initial bondage scene, I’d like to begin with the first of Melanie’s punishments.”
“Oh boy.” Marielle eyed the post. “I think I’m too short to reach that high. Can I just stand next to it?”
“We’ll compromise.” Raven reached for her waist and removed the sash from her dress. “Stand with your back against the post.”
She took a deep breath as she stepped into position and trembled as Raven looped the golden silk around her wrist, pulling it back as he wound the sash behind the post. He used the end to bind her other wrist.
Raven pulled the sash tighter and asked, “Is this uncomfortable?”
“No.” Oh yes, it was. Marielle glanced down at her breasts, now thrust out in a very wanton fashion, with the hard peaks of her nipples showing plainly through the blue silk. “But like this I won’t be able to look at a script.”
“Melanie has no lines in this scene. She’s gagged.” He came around and surveyed her from head to toe and back again, his eyes lingering on her breasts. “All she does is respond with small sounds and movements.” He leaned closer and dropped his voice to a murmur. “Can you do that?”
Out of the corner of her eye Marielle saw an electrician and a rigger walk in the library with a cluster of lighting tracks. Neither man stared but both gave furtive glances. “Maybe you should gag me,” she muttered, “so I’m not tempted to scream.”
Raven pulled a black bandana out of his back pocket. “Open your mouth.” He placed the middle of the fabric between her lips and tied the ends b
ehind her head. He stepped back to inspect her. “Beautifully helpless. Are you ready?”
Marielle nodded.
“You knew the rules when you came to me, Melanie.” Raven pulled off his t-shirt, baring his muscular chest. He stepped closer, placing his hands on her waist. “But I will remind you of them.”
More crew members carrying equipment entered the library. A few paused to look at Marielle or listen to Raven as he recited his lines before they went to work. Vanessa didn’t make an appearance but one of the camera men brought in a tripod with a camera and set it up in the corner, adjusting the lens so that it focused on the center of the room before he turned it on.
Vanessa is so jealous she’s watching us herself from video village. Marielle felt a pang of pity. But how could she think she might ever have a chance with him? How could any woman?
He grabbed her and turned her face. “Look at me.” Raven’s copper-colored eyes seemed to be glowing, thanks to the overhead spotlights someone had switched on. “Don’t pay any attention to Vanessa’s brand of torture,” he murmured. Then, in a louder, stern tone, “No one exists for you but me, my darling.”
Marielle nodded but flinched as she felt him nudging her knees with his. When she parted them he pressed his thigh in, using it to spread her legs. When she glanced over his shoulder, she saw most of the crew was now ignoring their work to watch them. She shifted her gaze to Raven’s face. His expression had darkened.
“There is no one else for you but me, darling,” he said. “Your body knows it but your heart resists. So we will use your body to teach this lesson.”
He disappeared behind the post. Marielle felt him untie her wrists. Before she could lower her arms he came around to stand in front of her. He spun her around so that she faced the post and tied her hands higher, this time running the sash through the handcuffs.
“Let us begin with what you understand best,” he said and moved away from her.
Marielle turned her head to see what he was doing. When she saw him coming back to the post with a riding crop, she frowned. He can’t really use that on me. She tried to shriek as he grabbed the back of her dress and ripped it open to the waist. Even muffled by the gag the cry seemed horribly loud, especially when she realized no one else in the room was making a sound.
“This is called a keeper,” he said, showing her the thin, square-shaped leather tress at the end of the crop. “It inflicts pain without leaving any marks.” He stepped back and stroked the keeper down the length of her spine. “Like you.”
Marielle heard murmuring from the crew and leaned against the post, closing her eyes as she braced herself for the first blow. But instead of striking her with the crop, Raven flicked it against the small of her back, almost tickling her.
“Do you have any idea what I can do to you with this instrument?” he said as he slid the crop over her hip and used it to trace the length of her thigh. “Can you imagine how it will make you feel when I employ in earnest? The dark beauty you will come to know?”
No, I can’t. The terror that had bolted through her at the sight of the crop now spread through her like a dark wave, changing her fear into something she didn’t understand at all. She looked over her shoulder and saw the same darkness in his expression. She felt herself go instantly wet. But you want me to feel it… and God help me, so do I.
Raven continued to caress her, trailing the crop across the backs of her knees before he moved it under the skirt of her dress. She caught her breath when she felt it stroke over the crotch of her panties before he removed it and held it up to his face.
His eyes burned into hers as he licked it slowly. He tugged down her gag before he pressed the damp leather to her lips.
Everyone was watching him dominate her and expecting her to respond like Melanie, who never challenged Maestro. That seemed wrong to Marielle. No woman made herself into an instant doormat for the man she loved, especially not one she wanted more than anything else in life.
Acting on instinct, she pressed a kiss to the keeper and then bit down on it, jerking it out of his hand before she let it drop to the floor. “You talk too much.”
“I do.” Raven cradled her face with one hand and pressed a hard, fast kiss on her lips. “But that’s my job. Let’s get some lunch.”
All around them the crew began laughing, applauding and whistling while Raven untied her wrists and draped a jacket over the torn back of her dress. Marielle grinned at her co-workers as she followed Raven out of the library but stopped when she saw Vanessa at the other end of the hallway striding toward them.
“Maybe you should have beaten me with that thing,” she muttered as she took in the director’s ominous expression. “At least then Vanessa would be happy.”
Raven threaded his fingers through hers. “Let me handle this,” he said. When Vanessa reached them he released her hand. “What did you think?”
“I’m sure Marielle did her best, but she’s obviously inexperienced and unfamiliar with the script.” The director sounded almost smug. “Melanie does not bite the crop or take it away from Maestro. Her little challenge was entirely inappropriate.”
That’s my cue to apologize, Marielle thought, but all she could bring herself to say was, “I need some time to learn the part.”
Raven’s biceps bulged as he folded his arms. “I have no complaints.”
“Well, I do. She can’t act, she doesn’t know the part and you certainly can’t gag her for every scene you need to rehearse.” Before he could reply the director reached out and placed her hand on his chest. “Let me bring in an actress who can provide a professional-level performance for you.” Her fingers made a caressing motion. “It’s what you need, Raven.”
“You have no idea what I need.” He brushed Vanessa’s hand away and turned to Marielle. “But you do. I want you to spend the weekend here with me so we can rehearse privately.”
As the director sputtered, Marielle ducked her head. “No one is scheduled to work on the set this weekend.”
“We’ll have the place to ourselves.” He eyed Vanessa. “You’ll see to it, won’t you?”
“You always get what you want.” The director gave Marielle an ugly look. “But it never lasts.”
“Do I still have eyebrows and eyelashes?” Marielle asked Raven as she watched the director stalk away. “Or did she melt them off?”
“Let me look.” He tipped up her chin and smiled down at her. “All your beauty is intact. Will you give me the weekend?”
Spending two days with Raven might cost her the reputation she’d carefully guarded, the career she’d steadily built and the heart she’d never given to any man. It would also mean being alone with him under the most arousing circumstances, with no one to stop either of them if things went too far. She knew the only sane answer was no. “Yes.”
*
Once Marielle finished the afternoon table read with Raven, she walked with him to the parking lot. “So I’ll meet you back here first thing in the morning. Should I wear any particular type of clothing?”
“If you want to make me happy” — he gave her one of Maestro’s brooding glares — “come naked.”
“I’d be arrested on the way over.” She glanced over at the set, where the crew was packing away everything that needed to be secured and saw Vanessa talking angrily to someone on her mobile. “What happens when your co-star arrives next week, Raven?”
“I lock you in my trailer and keep you as my muse.” He touched her cheek. “And take very long lunch hours and breaks.”
He didn’t sound as if he was joking but she pretended he was. “I’ll need to see the pay scale for that.”
“Inspiration is priceless.” He looked as if he wanted to kiss her but merely brushed his thumb across her lips before he smiled. “See you tomorrow.”
When Marielle arrived at her apartment building, she saw Jilly Sanders hovering outside the front entrance and smiled as she walked up. “Well this is a nice surprise. What are you doing here?”<
br />
The smile her friend gave her seemed strained. “I was in the neighborhood. Got a cup of coffee and a few minutes to talk?”
“Sure.” She unlocked the entry door. “Come on up.”
She started a fresh pot of coffee and put some shortbread on a plate before she joined Jilly in the living room. “I thought you were out job-hunting today.”
Her friend made a face. “I got a job.”
“Hey, that’s great. Have a cookie.”
“No, thanks. My stomach’s kind of in knots right now.” Jilly wandered around the room, inspecting Marielle’s framed watercolors and shelf of scripts from the films she’d worked on. “How did things go with Vanessa Newell today?”
“Not great. She really brought me back to placate James Raven, which is really…” Her voice trailed off as she saw guilt flicker across Jilly’s face. “Not news to you at all. Jilly?”
“She hired me to replace you. She told me about everything and then made me watch you with Raven on her monitor.” She hunched her shoulders and stared at the floor. “She called you a starfucker.”
“Really.” Marielle heard her coffee maker beep and retreated to the kitchen to compose herself. When she returned to the living room with her coffee tray she smiled at Jilly. “I’d add some brandy to it but I have to get up early. Six a.m. star slut set call.”
Her friend looked miserable. “Is it true? Are you sleeping with him?”
“I’ve never slept with Raven.” She filled their mugs. “We were too busy having sex. Cream and two sugars, right?”
“Marielle!” Jilly threw up her hands. “How could you be so stupid?”
“That sounds like Vanessa coming out of your mouth.” She sat down and helped herself to a cookie. “Maybe you should gargle.”
Her friend flushed and sat. “I’m sorry. It’s just not like you. Having an affair on a set with someone like him? You have to know he’s only using you. You would not believe how much that director despises you now. She’s going to burn you for this if the last thing she does.”