by Diana Fraser
His mate who’d loaned him the boat helped him haul it to shore. “You were longer than we thought.”
“Got caught up.”
“Huh. Don’t let any of her fans know, there’s a queue a mile long to get close to that one.”
They both glanced at Laura who was talking ten to the dozen, interacting with her fans in front of a camera held by one of her team.
“I’m not surprised. She’s pretty special.”
His friend raised an eyebrow. “Max Connelly! Don’t tell me you’ve fallen under her spell.”
Max shook his head. He hadn’t fallen under the spell Laura cast on her fans. But he was sure intrigued by the contradiction that was at the heart of the woman. So public, so natural, and yet… there was a part of her that was hidden, for all the exposure; a part of her, he suspected, which was afraid. But of what? He had no idea but he reckoned it would be more than a little interesting finding out.
* * *
Laura climbed into the back of the Land Rover and tossed the GoPro into Kelly’s hands. “There’s the footage from the jump and also some of me having lunch on the shore.”
Kelly caught it and popped it into her pocket. “I’ll check it through and then upload it as soon as we get back to the lodge.”
“Kelly! No checking. I want the real me to come through, not some edited version. Okay?”
Kelly shook her head and sighed. “You’re crazy, Laura. What if your boobs fell out during the fall.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time.”
“What if your nose was running when you emerged from the water?”
“Wouldn’t worry me.”
“Okay, okay. Just as it is.”
“I’ve nothing to hide. I want it all out there.”
“Sure thing, Laura.”
* * *
It wasn’t until an hour later that Max emerged from his meeting with Chelsey and was able to retreat to his man-cave.
The first thing he did was turn on YouTube to Laura’s channel. Seems he couldn’t get enough of her, just like millions of others around the world. But there was no recent upload.
He kept it on while he went into the wet room and turned on the shower. He kept her previous video on so he could listen to her while he showered. His shower took a little longer than normal.
Then he heard a roar from the TV and he recognized it for the bungy jump. He wrapped a towel around his waist and walked into the office, watching the big screen which was filled with shots taken from Laura’s GoPro of the rapid descent and the plunge into the river. It looked amazing. As did Laura herself after she’d gotten into the boat and turned the camera on herself and finished up the piece. The camera went blank and Max waited for the footage he took on the shore. Maybe it didn’t film for some reason. Then it came on, Laura glistening in the sunlight talking about her solo lunch.
Max grinned and was about to turn the TV off at the end of the clip except… it didn’t end. The camera shifted as he placed it high up on a rock and went to turn it off. But it continued to film.
Max watched aghast as he came into view, a very close up view, and Laura’s arms snaked around his naked back and drew him close to her and their lips met. The camera caught nothing of Laura’s caution, only the entirely sensuous, lustful nature of the kiss. It must have been something to do with the angle of the camera. Their faces filled the screen. You saw nothing of the distance of their bodies, nothing of the fact that both were clothed—Laura’s hair covered the thin white straps of her bikini and for all the world it looked like two naked people, kissing, a prelude to intense love-making.
Max sat down on the couch as if he’d been pushed. Except they hadn’t been making love. Except he knew Laura wouldn’t have wanted to get this naked in public view. She’d really been caught out this time. And she’d think it was his fault—that he’d done it on purpose.
3
“That kiss!!! Is Laura simply being friendly, or is there more to it?” @TellTaleGirl #smoochies
Laura sat astride the chair, resting her chin on its back as she watched the kiss one more time.
“Jesus, Laura! You don’t hang about, do you?” Kelly said, freezing the frame on the kiss.
Like most filming, it showed only one side of things—one aspect of the experience. In this case, it showed none of the chasteness, and all of the passion and electricity. Her stomach tightened with desire at the memory of Max’s lips pressed against hers, of the way he’d slid his tongue along her lips and she’d opened her mouth to him. A shiver of desire snaked down her spine.
“Man, it’s hot in here.” Laura pushed up the old-fashioned sash window and leaned outside. A glint of light on the hill alerted her to the fact that a camera was trained on her. Let it, it didn’t worry her, unlike the intimate image on the screen. She turned around to look at it again.
“I’m not surprised you’re hot. I’m hot. Anyone looking at that image will be hot. And your life has just got a whole lot hotter.”
Laura shrugged and crossed her arms. “Thought that was what you and Chelsey wanted.”
“I guess. But we hadn’t planned on something like this. Telltale Girl has already commented on it on her blog. What on earth got into you?”
“I’d have thought that was obvious. If I’m hot now, he’s even hotter. Just look at him.”
“You’re surrounded by hot men. But you don’t jump them all.”
“I don’t ‘jump’ any of them.” She walked closer to the screen, picked up the remote control and pressed play once more. The kiss finished, they parted and Max was seen clearly. “I just went with the flow. Like I always do.”
“You’ve never gone this far before.” Kelly rose and poured them both coffees. She looked out across the hills, now bathed in early morning sunlight. “There’s something about this place. You’ve been different here.”
Laura grunted. “I’m no different here to anywhere else!” She accepted a coffee from Kelly who raised an eyebrow.
“Really?”
“Yes, really,” said Laura, taking a sip of her coffee. “It’s beautiful and all that… and those mountains.” She gestured to the ice-capped ridge of the Remarkables. “They’re something else.” She narrowed her eyes in thought. “Kind of inspiring.”
“Inspiring enough to seduce a man… or be seduced by a man?”
She glared at Kelly. “I’m into flirtation, not seduction. That’s not my style.”
“It might not be your style, but I’d say that Max Connelly has the whole seduction thing going on.”
“That’ll be useful, then, won’t it, for whatever you and Chelsey have planned for us.”
“That kiss will take things a whole lot further than we’d planned. It could work. Although I still can’t believe you filmed it.”
“I didn’t. He did.”
Laura would have laughed at Kelly’s shocked expression if she hadn’t been so shocked herself. She embraced all challenges but they were always on her terms, her decision. But this time? Max had stolen the initiative and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that.
Her initial feelings of anger and betrayal at having been tricked, had swiftly given way to respect. He’d played her at her own game and won. It triggered her already well-honed competitive instinct.
Kelly strode across the room and picked up the phone. “That’s not on! I’ll ring Chelsey.”
“Why not talk to her? She’s only down the corridor.”
“Some things”—Kelly emphasized her words with a shake of the phone—“are best done in a business-like way, from a distance.” She crossed her arm and turned away from Laura. “Chelsey? What’s going on? This wasn’t what we agreed!”
Laura sighed, scrolling down the Twitter feed on her own phone. There was silence as Kelly listened. A few perfunctory replies followed and Kelly finished the call.
“Seems she was out of the loop, too. Max pulled this one by himself.”
“I don’t know what you’re worried about, it�
��ll be good for us both in the long run. That was what you wanted, wasn’t it?”
“Hm. You could be right.” Kelly began to pace back and forward. “It’s something new for you, something that could stir up wider interest. Yeah, actually this could work.”
For all of Laura’s words of reassurance to Kelly, Laura still felt unsettled by Max’s stunt. Laura swung between admiration that he’d bested her, indignation for the same reason, but above all, intrigue. She was intrigued to see how far this would go before one or the other of them went too far.
That had been one hell of a kiss and he, it was turning out, was one hell of a man. Intrigued, definitely. Seduced? The jury was still out on that one.
“Hey look, people are wondering if this is a challenge!” Kelly continued to scroll through the comments and looked up with a grin. “Seems you’re being challenged to date Max Connelly. You up for it?”
Laura didn’t have to think twice. She stepped forward and typed in her usual response—a smiley face with a thumbs-up.
* * *
Max had his staff circulating around the Lodge and grounds trying to find Laura. He’d only ventured out of his office once to be swarmed by people before he beat a hasty retreat. He tried her cellphone but it went straight to voicemail.
He looked out the window at his resort which was over-run with people now that Laura’s latest video had gone viral. Seemed it was good for business. He turned away. He’d managed to create a video which had done precisely what Laura tried to do with all her videos. Then why did he feel so bad?
He thought he’d turned off the video; he didn’t usually make such blunders but then, he was about to get up close and personal with a beautiful woman and his mind hadn’t been entirely focused on the camera.
He didn’t even mind the footage from his own point of view—it was hardly damning, a kiss, maybe not entirely chaste, between two people. It had obviously brought him publicity which was always needed.
No, what he felt bad about was Laura. She was always open and honest and she’d believe he hadn’t been. It wasn’t in his nature to trick people but she wasn’t to know that. He had to see her, he had to explain.
He flicked on the computer screen and watched the comments come pouring in under her video. Broken hearts, both male and female, as well as cheers and encouragement. And, finally, asking her whether this was a new challenge.
There was a knock at the door and Chelsey entered, without waiting to be asked. She raised her eyebrows in a ‘really?’ expression and closed the door quietly behind her.
“Hey, Max. Are you sure you require my services? It looks like you’re doing a pretty good job on your own.”
He thrust his fingers through his hair and shook his head with a sigh. “Not intentionally, Chelsey, not intentionally.”
“Albeit in an underhanded kind of way.” She cocked her head to one side, challenging him to dispute the fact. She received a glare for her trouble. Chelsey walked over to the screen and picked up the remote, clicking the infra-red pointer to the comments section to highlight her point. “Who’s the sexy man?” she read out. She glanced at him. “No reply to the media yet? It’s not like you not to admit to being a sexy man.”
He propped his elbows on the table with his forehead rested on fisted hands, and shook his head.
“Why, Max! It’s almost as if you regret it.” She glanced once more at the frozen image of Max and Laura mid-kiss. “And yet you look as if you were enjoying it.” She clicked the zoom button on to Laura’s closed eyes, and lips, where his tongue was just visible against her lips. There was only one word for her expression—orgasmic. “Huh, and Laura appears to be, too. Although with your tongue—”
Max reached out and hit a key on the computer and the image turned off. “Enough! Stop damn well teasing me, Chelsey. You might be my ex, you might be my oldest employee—”
“Oldest?” she asked archly.
“But that doesn’t give you the right to tease the hell out of me,” Max continued, ignoring Chelsey’s interruption.
“I beg to differ,” she said, as she brushed down the old settee, tutting at its shabbiness. “If I don’t, then who will?”
“How about my sisters and brothers for starters? Believe me, there will be a queue of people waiting to have a go at me.”
“The more, the merrier. Anyway, despite what you think, I’m not here to annoy you.” She turned the screen on again and scrolled down to the bottom comment. “This is what I’m here for.”
He read out loud the final comment. “Is this a new challenge?” He looked at Chelsey accusingly. “You want me and Laura to turn this into some kind of publicity stunt? You’re mad.”
“I’m your marketing manager which, true, probably does make me mad by definition. But you only need to glance out the window to see what the publicity is doing for you already.”
Max didn’t need to glance. He could hear the hubbub outside; he could hear people calling Laura’s name, and the roar of TV vans climbing up the hill to the Lodge.
She laughed and flung her arms out wide. “Max! It’s the opportunity of a lifetime. You don’t have to seek out any additional publicity, you don’t have to organize anything. Just you and Laura. The two of you combined are dynamite. And will be dynamite for the business.”
“It’s not right. It’s personal, not public. And, besides, Laura would never go for it.”
“Is that right?”
Chelsey turned the computer to Laura’s blog, posted half an hour earlier. He quickly read it and felt deflated. She’d gone on record as accepting the challenge without even talking to him about it. Seemed she had no qualms about making the personal public. Maybe because it wasn’t personal to her. Why the hell was he fretting about having stuffed up? This was Laura, he reminded himself, and he’d entered new territory with her.
He knew how to avoid women who had marriage on their minds, and he knew how to escape from women who’d slipped through his first defenses but who’d then turned into master manipulators. But Laura? She didn’t fall into any mold. And he was all the more intrigued because of it.
“Sure, why not? So what’s your plan?”
Chelsey grinned. “One.” She counted with one finger. “You and Laura become an item.” She gestured toward the screen. “Seems she’s happy with that. Two.” She counted a second finger. “Play it up for all it’s worth. And it will be worth some, I can assure you. I’ve had approaches from all around the world for interviews and the inside gossip on you and your relationship with Laura. And three.” She counted on her third finger. “Have fun. Because it won’t be convincing if you don’t.”
“Is that all?” asked Max wryly. “Go out with a sexy girl, talk it up, have fun and, oh yes, I mustn’t forget, do it all under the glare of the world’s media. Sounds wonderful.”
Grinning, Chelsey approached him, and ran her finger down his collar and turned it out. “Max, who are you kidding? You’re talking to me, remember. You’ll love it.”
“Okay.” He looked down at her. He could never deny her when she turned those puppy dog eyes on him. “I’ll talk to her, see if we can do something.”
“Looks like she’s decided to do something, with or without your agreement. She must be pretty sure of you.” Chelsey winked and left the room.
Max buttoned up his shirt in front of the mirror, pushed his fingers through his short hair and stared at himself. What the hell was he doing? But, while part of him was not comfortable with the idea, a much larger, more influential part of him most definitely was. His intense attraction to Laura overruled any doubts. She was gorgeous, fun, and there was that part of her she hid from the public, which he’d yet to figure out. And, they’d both make a fortune by hanging out together for a week. What was not to like?
* * *
He didn’t need to phone her to find out where she was. He followed the sounds of the crowds. He, too, was soon stopped by journalists and bloggers, wanting to know if it was true.
He refrained from asking “what was true?”, simply smiling in a way which he hoped was amenable and mysterious at the same time, and carried on through the gardens of the Lodge to where he’d spotted Laura.
Her blonde hair drew him like a beacon, lighting up the already bright, sunlit garden. She was in perpetual motion, walking around talking to everyone, answering questions, inclining her head toward children. Not for the first time, he wondered what drove her. He hesitated, wanting to watch her from afar for a few moments, but he’d forgotten the people who were following him, and who now jostled him from behind. He sighed with irritation. Seemed there was a downside to fame after all.
Laura looked up suddenly. “Max!” she shouted and the crowd parted, curiosity on their faces, as he faced Laura, who wore cowboy boots, the usual torn jeans, skimpy lace camisole and a weathered Stetson on her head. Her voice was firm, her smile wide but her eyes had a hint of something else behind them. Something steely and dangerous.
“Laura!” He paused. “Darling!” he added for good measure. He wasn’t going to let her take the lead here. She might have accepted the challenge and proclaimed their relationship before he’d had a chance to ask her out, but he’d be damned if he’d be portrayed to the world as some meek beta guy.
“Max!” She reached out for him but he caught her hand in his and twisted it up to his lips and kissed it. Surprise flashed across her face but she quickly recovered.
“Laura!” He pulled her to him and kept hold of her hand firmly. She tried to tug it away but he refused to let it out of his grip. Her smile froze a little.
“Are we going to keep on calling each other’s names?” she asked.
“Laura!” He grinned. “Why not? It gives a kind of apt stage quality to it all, don’t you think?”
“I guess it makes it easier than actually talking.”
He inclined his head so he could be heard by her alone. “Sorry, I didn’t realize you wanted to talk as well as date. I hadn’t read that online.”