On the Outside (Caught Inside #3)

by S. Briones Lim

  I reached out and wrapped my fingers around his neck, sighing softly as I pulled his head closer to mine. “We could do anything you want, baby.”

  “Is that right?”

  I nodded seductively.

  “Then where are the whips and handcuffs?” he cried out, snapping his head from side to side.

  I smirked. “Anything but that.”

  He leaned forward once more and planted a soft kiss on my lips. “Why don’t we start off slow and see where it takes us?”

  I ran my tongue against his bottom lip, relishing in the sweet taste of his skin. “Sounds good to me.”

  And slow is how we began. Xavier slowly peeled off my top and slowly pulled down my pajama bottoms. He then painstakingly unclasped my bra, taking his time with each separate hook.

  I let my head fall back and groaned. “Oh my gosh, I didn’t mean this slow.”

  Xavier burst into laughter. “Okay, let’s quicken this up, shall we?”

  “Well, maybe not too quick. Don’t want a one minute man.”

  “Ha, ha. Maybe you shouldn’t be an actress. You’re really good at stand up.”

  “I was in a comedy before getting killed off,” I replied with a wink.

  Ignoring my jab, Xavier proceeded to place kisses down the length of my torso, giving special attention to my breasts. I moaned as he nipped at my soft skin, sucking each bud in his mouth.

  “That feels so good,” I whimpered.

  “I know.”

  If I wasn’t rendered incoherent by his tongue I would have teased him for being cocky. Deciding that I’d show him what was good, I reached out and gripped the waistband of his pants.

  In one quick movement I pulled his sweats and underwear down to his ankles. Xavier pushed himself off of me and let out a yelp of surprise. “Wow, that was rather talented.”

  I refrained from reminding him I had a lot more experience in the bedroom than I was proud of and merely shrugged my shoulders, maneuvering myself so that I was now straddling him.

  “Do you want to take it fast?” I placed quick pecks against his chest. “Or slow?”

  I stuck out my tongue and licked a pathway to his bellybutton—slowly—and moved on to the V that trailed to his dick.

  He licked his lips hungrily. “I would say slowly, but right now I don’t know how much more of this tease I could take.”

  Before I had a chance to say something smug, he somehow rolled me over onto my back and quickly plunged into me.

  So glad I remembered to take the pill on time this morning.

  Xavier pushed himself into my delicate folds and my body easily conformed to his shape, welcoming him with an intense hunger. He pulled out, slowly taking the time to make sure we both felt the friction before plunging back in quickly. He repeated the move again and again until we both got into the rhythm. The bed shook as the mattress squeaked from our weight. I was going crazy and felt a need to grab onto something—anything to keep me from flying off the handle. Without thinking twice, I gripped into his back and dragged my fingernails lightly against his taut muscles.

  “Fuck, Harper. Yes!” Xavier growled.

  If that wasn’t music to my ears. Hearing him succumb to pleasure like that only catapulted me further.

  Faster. Faster. Faster.

  I was on the verge of crying out, feeling my walls convulse and screaming for release when suddenly an obnoxious ringing interrupted me. Seriously, it sounded like a submarine’s Code Red alarm or something.

  Gently pushing against his shoulder, I frowned and turned my head, eyeing the glowing light that emanated from his dresser. “What is that?”

  “What’s what?” Playing stupid, he continued his thrusts, but unsurprisingly I was not anywhere near an orgasm anymore.

  Groaning, I pushed him off of me and reached toward his phone.

  “Don’t get it!” His dick visibly lost arousal.

  I rolled my eyes. “I wasn’t going to answer it. I was just going to grab it so you could answer it. Seriously, it’s kind of ruining my vibe right now.”

  By this time his dick was more than limp. Scowling, he grabbed the phone from my hand and threw it aside.

  “That’s mature.”

  “Like stopping sex to grab my phone was?” he snapped.

  There certainly wouldn’t be any more sexy time now, that’s for sure. I rolled onto my side and grabbed a blanket to cover my body.

  “Really, Harper?” he asked half-heartedly.

  “What?” I pressed my cheek into my pillow and bit my lip. “I’m not as stupid as you think I am.”

  “When have I ever thought you were stupid?” he snapped in exasperation.

  Ignoring him, I let the floodgates open. “I know that your sister’s been calling and texting, trying to make sure you’re staying away from me.”

  I looked over my shoulder and noticed Xavier’s face folding in guilt.

  “I’m right, aren’t I?”

  He paused for a beat. “How are you so sure that was her?”

  “Who else would it be?” I quickly hid my face, afraid I’d burst into tears of anger once again. “She calls you every night at this time to make sure you aren’t out with me. Don’t think I haven’t caught on. It has been three months! I thought you said you were going to fix things with her.”

  A loud sigh escaped him. My back was still turned toward him so I could only hear him jump off the bed and pull his boxers on. “You have to understand where I’m coming from—”

  “Fear of your baby sister?” I snorted. “Or fear of what I could do to your career?”

  “Harper.”

  “Okay, fine. Go on.” I pulled the soft blanket higher toward my chin and closed my eyes. Though things have gotten a lot better for me in the past few months, I couldn’t help but still feel like a pariah. Though he thought I didn’t notice, I could tell that Xavier was often scared to go out in public with me for fear that the paparazzi would photograph us together.

  “Just give me some time to tell Kacy.” It was the same thing he’d say each time we argued about it, and the sucky part? Each time I’d take his word for it and drop the subject. Well, it wasn’t going to happen anymore.

  I sighed and bit back a whimper. “I’m just really sick of feeling like I have to go into hiding with you. When are you going to fess up already?”

  “I know this isn’t the most optimal situation—”

  “You can say that again,” I blurted out.

  “You have to understand where I’m coming from. Kacy is…something else. If I tell her now you can be sure she’ll do everything in her power to mess things up between us and I don’t need it right now. Especially since we’re so close to wrapping the movie.”

  That was right. We only had a week left of shooting and we’d be done. I didn’t even want to think about it, especially since I wasn’t entirely sure if I’d be staying in California after it wrapped.

  “So what you’re saying is you don’t want her to talk you into breaking up with me before we wrap the movie. That’s nice.”

  “Harper, that’s not what I mean,” he shot back in irritation.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m happy, okay?”

  I turned around and watched as he shut his eyes and slumped over. He looked so vulnerable and I wanted nothing more than to reach out and to hold him. But I was still pissed off so that wasn’t going to happen.

  “Kacy has a way of pushing buttons. She’s as stubborn and pigheaded as they come. She’ll do everything in her power to mess things up for us because she thinks it’s the right thing to do. She’s always felt as if she were my shadow in every facet of her life except her love life, so of course that automatically makes her some love guru or something.”

  “Well, she is married, isn’t she?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, but that doesn’t give her the right to boss me around when it comes to my love life, does it?”

  I shrugged. “I guess not.”

  “No, it d
oesn’t,” he insisted.

  “Okay then.” I shifted uncomfortably.

  He sighed. “I know it’s karma for all the times I bossed her around about getting a better job and stuff, but still it sucks to be on the receiving end of it.”

  “I bet…”

  He opened his eyes and peered into mine sincerely. “Harper, just give me one week, okay? I can’t afford to be distracted on set and I know you can’t either. If we tell her now, she’ll screw with our minds, which will undoubtedly screw our careers.”

  “I guess I can see where you’re coming from,” I admitted begrudgingly.

  “One week to wrap and then I’ll come clean.”

  The left corner of my lip curled up into a slight smile. “You promise?”

  “I promise. Now let’s get back to what we were doing before, shall we?”

  As much as I would have loved to, my mind certainly wasn’t in it. I guess that only proved Xavier’s theory correct.

  I shook my head and smiled. “Maybe tomorrow.”

  Sighing, Xavier jumped back into bed and wiggled in so his body was pressed up against mine. “Just one more week on the set and everything will work out fine.”

  “I sure hope so.”

  Chapter 29

  Though the world didn’t know about ‘Harper and Xavier’ yet, everyone on set certainly did. They were not only understanding about it, they welcomed it.

  Everyone except Charlie, that is.

  For the first few weeks he still tried his hardest to hit on me every chance he could, and as flattering as it was, I couldn’t help but wonder if he was only doing so to get under Xavier’s skin.

  “Are you sure you want that douche and not me? I can treat you like a queen.”

  “Harper, I think we’re meant to be.”

  “You may be my soul mate.”

  It didn’t matter how many times he spat out all his shallow one liners because I obviously ignored all his attempts. Though I must confess that I did give in to my immature side the final time he hit on me and basically told him to take a hike and leave me alone. Unfortunately, given that we worked together that was a bit hard to do. Now at the end of shooting, he only spoke to me during our scenes (which ironically were mostly love scenes) and pretty much left me alone afterwards. Of course that didn’t stop him from throwing dirty looks my way in between takes.

  The Monday of the final week I walked toward my makeup trailer with a huge smile on my face. Everything was going great.

  #1 All my surf scenes were finished being shot, in fact I even caught a wave on my own. Granted, it was only a fluke but at least Xavier was proud of me!

  #2 Despite me ignoring them for the first few months, my other costars actually liked me enough to invite me to places.

  #3 Xavier was finally going to tell his family about us—yes, that was the big one on my list!

  Yup, life was finally getting back to how I wanted it to when suddenly…

  “Kacy?” I gasped when I spotted the tiny brunette perched on the makeup chair beside the one I usually used. Piper stood beside her and shrugged helplessly.

  “What are you doing here?” My eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Are you even allowed to be here?”

  With a smile that reeked bitchiness plastered on her face, she grabbed onto a lanyard around her neck and held it up with pride. “Amazing what being the sister of a producer can get you, right?”

  I gulped in anger. “Xavier got you that?”

  The least he could do was tell me!

  She shook her head. “No, Wyatt did. Did Xavier ever mention that I knew him from a couple years back?” She nodded her head mischievously. “Yup, Xavier and Wyatt did their very first movie together and since then he’s been a friend of the family.”

  That would have been good to know as well.

  Her head continued to bob in excitement. “Honestly, I haven’t spoken to Wyatt since the last time I visited town. You remember that, right?”

  “How could I forget?” I muttered in irritation.

  “Good.” She shot me a fake smile. “Anyway, I didn’t really want to bother Wyatt, but seeing as my brother has been avoiding my calls as of late, I was worried that something bad happened to him and decided to come check on him.”

  God, this girl deserved an Oscar. I was actually surprised that she never got into acting considering how great she was at bullshitting—not to mention how catty she was.

  “So you called Wyatt.” I pursed my lips in disdain. “I take it he told you everything?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “And now you’re here to ruin things with me and Xavier.” My voice was growing angrier by the second. Who did this bitch think she was to ruin my life?

  Someone Riley cares a lot about.

  I pushed the thought out of my mind and sneered. “Look, Kacy, this is the last week of shooting and I really don’t need any added stressors. The movie is about to wrap, can’t you give us one more week in peace?”

  “I’m not trying to add stress. I’m just here to watch over my brother.” Surprisingly, her voice and expression were very sincere, but I was still not going to let my guard down.

  “Does he know you’re here? You know he’ll kick you out too.”

  She shook her head and laughed. “Nah, I don’t think so. He loves my husband more than me I sometimes think.”

  Gee, I wonder why.

  “He came down with me and is currently shooting the shit with Wyatt. There’s no way Xavier will kick us both out.”

  Maybe I can talk some common sense to her husband.

  As if reading my mind she added, “Needless to say we know where my husband’s loyalty lies. If I feel strongly about something, better believe he is right there with me.”

  Oh my God this girl was infuriating and the fact that she was obviously Wyatt’s friend spelled trouble for me.

  “Are you…are you going to be watching us shoot?” I asked hesitantly.

  A wicked grin stretched across her face. “I’ll be here all week.”

  Chapter 30

  “I can’t believe Kacy is here!” I practically shouted at Xavier, who pushed me into an empty trailer. Grimacing, he looked over his shoulder and placed a finger against my lips. With anger shooting through me, I quickly pushed him away. “Do not shut me up! You know this wouldn’t have happened if you took my advice and told her about us!”

  “Don’t you get it? If I told her earlier she would have done the exact same thing! Would you have wanted her to come here when our relationship was just brand new and fragile?” He growled.

  I shook my head in exasperation. “Well, seeing as she’s here now then kick her out!”

  “I can’t.” He bowed his head apologetically. “Wyatt is pretty close to her and Miles and—”

  “You’re in love with her husband and don’t want to hurt his feelings. Yeah, Kacy told me,” I muttered in annoyance.

  “Harper, don’t be mad. I’ll fix this,” he pleaded.

  “Yeah, I’ve heard that one before.”

  Xavier glanced down at his plastic green watch and frowned. “It’s time for us to get on set. Are you going to be okay?”

  “Nope,” I answered, exaggerating the word. “But I’ve gone through worse.”

  With a sad look on his face, Xavier pressed a small peck on my lips. “Yeah, I know. I’m also sorry for all this.”

  My lips tightened. “Yeah, me too.”

  ***

  “Quiet on the set! Places everyone!”

  I shot a look at Kacy, who was sitting primly beside Wyatt with a smug smile on her face. Xavier and a very handsome man I assumed was Kacy’s husband sat farther away from her, both looking extremely uncomfortable. If I had to guess, regardless of what Kacy said earlier, her husband probably got dragged down here.

  Biting back a sigh, I faced Charlie, who had a weird look on his face. Not really in the mood for some more bullshit, I whispered, “What is your problem?”

  His mouth curled up, rev
ealing his two trademark dimples that fans around the world went gaga for. “Just thinking that patience really is a virtue.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I hissed.

  He nodded his head toward Xavier, whose eyes were almost pure black with anger. “It seems to me that lover boy over there might be jumping ship soon.”

  “That’s a lie and you know it,” I growled.

  Charlie reached out and grabbed a lock of my hair, rubbing his fingers against the bright red strands. “What did I warn you about him? He’ll toss you out like yesterday’s garbage, right?”

  I pressed my lips together and didn’t respond.

  “Don’t you worry, I’ll be there to scoop you up like the treasure you really are.”

  “Action!”

  Charlie immediately dropped my hair, getting into character, but I was nowhere near ready. Completely flustered by Charlie’s words, I stumbled over practically every single one of my lines. Not to mention, I could feel Kacy’s scrutinizing gaze burning into my shoulders. I braved one glance at her and spotted her making gagging faces during one of my exceptionally emotional scenes. Losing my train of thought, I threw a desperate glance at Xavier, who immediately popped up from his chair to speak to Wyatt.

  Our director looked visibly annoyed. “Okay, cut!”

  I let out a sigh of relief, which was short-lived, because Charlie came bounding back toward me with an evil look on his face.

  “What?” I muttered, glancing back at Xavier, who was obviously scolding Kacy. As an only child, I never had to deal with the whole sibling dilemma, but watching the two interact, I guess you never outgrew sibling rivalry and all that jazz.

  “Is it too soon to ask you out?” Charlie’s accented voice cooed in my ear, almost sending a shiver down my spine.

  Cool it, Harper.

  “Dude, I’m still dating Xavier,” I snapped in irritation.

  “So?”

  I let out a sigh and shook my head. “Seriously, what is your deal?”

  His gorgeous face scrunched up in a frown. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Why do you act like you’re interested in me?”