“Cut!”
The sound of the clapperboard would normally produce immediate chattering and movement among the crew, but this time, no one paid any attention. Everyone’s eyes were trained on the side of the set, where a tall, stunning woman wearing a blond wig and a long beige raincoat had appeared. She had such a demanding presence that no one protested when she put a portable CD player on the director’s chair and switched it on. Joe Cocker started playing loudly through the speakers.
Baby, take off your coat... The woman let the raincoat slowly slip off her shoulders. Underneath, she wore a patterned skirt, a white blouse, and red high-heeled shoes. Without the raincoat, she looked exactly like me, only taller, leaner, and stronger.
Baby, take off your dress… One by one, she undid the buttons on her blouse and let it glide onto the sand. Her ample breasts were nearly spilling out of her red lacy bra. She danced around provocatively, showing off her assets to the rhythm of the music.
You can leave your hat on… The stripper walked over to me, took off my sunhat and put it on her head. Holding onto the rim with one hand, she stepped towards Ryan, whose mouth was curved into an amused smile. She danced seductively around him, touching him on his back, his arms, his chest, and finally stopped, facing him. Standing as tall as Ryan, she undid the top two buttons of his shirt, and placed a fire-engine-red nail on the exposed skin of his chest.
I know what love is… Cradling her other hand around his neck, the woman pulled his head toward her and kissed him squarely on the mouth. Ryan played along and put his arm around her waist, producing loud wolf whistles from the crew. The music stopped, and the stripper pushed Ryan away, breaking their kiss. She said in a deep sultry voice, “I love you, baby.”
In one smooth movement, she peeled off her skirt and unveiled a pair of red lacy panties, only barely covering its contents: an unmistakable massive bulge. Giggles, chuckles, and laughter arose all around. Ryan stood as still as a statue, his face drained of all color.
The stripper reached inside her panties and pulled out a folded note. She slowly unfolded it and revealed it to all the bystanders. It was a fifty-dollar bill.
“Congratulations, pretty face. You won.” She stuffed the fifty dollars into Ryan’s shirt pocket and walked off.
I turned on my heel and marched off the set, smiling to myself. The stripper was better than I had expected—worth every single cent. How hilarious it had been to see Ryan humiliated like that. To see his pale, stunned face: priceless. The lying jerk would certainly have regrets about placing that stupid bet right now. And it served him right. He should have thought twice before messing with me.
I wondered how he felt right now; would he feel embarrassed, humiliated? Or simply angry with me for pulling that little stunt? When I left the set, the crew had been in stitches, and I couldn’t blame them - it was an unforgettable sight. But even if it was satisfying to see him suffer, I could not shake the feeling of hurt inside, hurt from his deceit.
Only now did I realize that I’d been naive to think that I could turn the tables on him. He’d been too sweet, too charming, too irresistible. He had affected me in a way that no other man ever had before—not even close. And I couldn’t deny that somewhere along the way I had fallen for him, all the way.
I opened the door to my bure, and stumbled straight onto the bed, feeling tiny on the expanse of luxury sheets and blankets. Hot tears slowly found their way down my cheeks; tears I had been holding back all day; tears of anger, regret, pain. Mostly pain.
I thought of my Mom—this was exactly what she had warned me about. But she hadn’t told me how to guard my heart, how to secure it from these feelings that had surreptitiously found their way in.
My cell phone rang and rang, and I tossed it across the room, where it landed with a thud.
But it didn’t stop ringing. And when it finally did, there was a loud knocking on the door.
“Kate, open up!”
Damn, it was Ryan. I couldn’t imagine what he would want to say to me. He’d probably be furious with me, wanting to teach me a lesson, the conceited jerk. As the knocking didn’t let up, I reached for the remote control and switched on the TV, turning up the volume until it drowned out any other sounds. I closed my eyes and pulled the sheets over my head, muffling a commercial for car insurance.
When I opened my eyes again, the TV was still blaring so I switched it off. I looked at the digital hotel clock - just past midnight. I hadn’t even noticed that I had fallen asleep. My mouth was dry, and after I drank a glass of water I realized I felt hungry, having skipped dinner that night. I picked up the phone and ordered a cheese burger with fries from room service. Nothing like fast food to make me feel better.
Fifteen minutes later I answered a knock on the door, expecting my greasy burger meal. But it wasn’t room service. It was Dave, Ryan’s friend, the jerk he had placed the bet with.
I would have slammed the door in his face, had he not put his shoe in the crack.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“Kate, I really need to talk to you.” He tried to push the door open, but I leaned into it, hoping to crush his shoe.
“I don’t see what there’s to talk about.”
“It’s about the bet. There’s something you need to know.”
What could he possibly tell me that I didn’t know already? It was probably some kind of trick to get me to open the door and beat me up.
“Save your breath, Dave. I’ve known about it all along. And yes, he’s won it fair and square. He must be out partying right now, with your fifty bucks and mine. He must think he’s such a stud.”
“Actually, he doesn’t. That’s what I need to talk to you about. It was me who came up with that stupid idea of making a bet. I was just trying to help him.” Dave pushed on the door again, and this time I relented.
“What do you mean?”
“The bet wasn’t real, it was all pretend. Remember how I opened the door to look for Becky? Well, I deliberately left the door open so that you’d hear us talk outside.” Dave’s eyes were downcast. It almost looked as if he felt guilty. I couldn’t, for the life of me, work out where this was going.
“Why on earth did you do that for?”
“So that you’d go out with him, of course.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. Why the hell would I want to go out with him if I knew he’d placed a bet on getting me into bed? And getting me to say—” I couldn’t get the words out of my mouth - it was just too painful.
“I love you?” A deep rumbling voice came from behind Dave, a voice I could pick out on any crowded city street.
There he stood. Ryan, wearing the same striped shirt as earlier in the day, but now crumpled, his dark hair disheveled, and his square jaw darkened by stubble. He strode forward, past Dave, through the doorway, straight towards me. I instinctively stepped back, holding out my arms to keep him at a distance. My voice seemed stuck in my throat, but I just managed to whisper, “Why?”
“I thought, if you overheard us, you’d be so furious that you’d play along with it. And then you’d plan to expose me somehow. And I was right, that’s exactly what happened.” His tone was warmer than I had expected. But I couldn’t wrap my brain around what he was saying.
“I—I don’t understand.”
He continued stepping forward, while I retreated further and further into the room. His eyes were dark, unreadable.
“From the very first time I saw you, I knew you were meant for me. But I wasn’t sure if you’d ever be interested in me. I guess this was my way to get your attention.”
I felt a swirl in my stomach, but it quickly turned to an angry flame when I remembered how he had treated me before the bet. “But you’re the one who held me off in the first place. You’re the one who acted cold to me, made fun of me in front of the crew. And all this time I wondered what I’d done wrong, why you hated me so much.”
“Kate, I never hated you, but I knew your reputation. Hell,
everyone knows your reputation. You hook up with your co-stars and drop them as soon as filming is over. I didn’t want to end up like that. I wanted much more than that.”
By this time, my legs had hit the edge of the bed, and I could go back no further. Ryan was now so close to me that I smelled his dark, masculine scent.
“It still doesn’t explain why you came up with that bet.”
His strong, warm hands enveloped mine. “I hoped that if you played along, I could prove to you that I was serious about you. And I hoped that once you went out with me, you’d get to know the real me and you’d fall for me, just like I’d fallen for you. I know it was wrong to con you like that, and I’m sorry. But I just didn’t see any other way to get you to take me seriously.”
“So—so you…” My heart started racing, and the room seemed to be spinning around me. Did that mean what I thought it did?
Ryan answered my question. “Kate, I wasn’t pretending. I am in love with you.”
I was speechless, and it was silent for a few seconds until Dave cleared his throat. “Hey, man, shouldn’t you tell her about the fifty bucks?”
Ryan let go of my hands and reached into his pocket. Grinning, he took out a small flat box and handed it to me. “When we placed the bet, Dave helped me to get you this.”
I opened the box, and found a shiny silver bangle inside.
“That’s lovely.”
“Why don’t you read the inscription?”
I took the bangle out of the box, and felt my heart lurch when I read: I love you, Kate.
So it was true. Ryan did love me. He hadn’t just been putting on an act.
“And since you gave me an extra fifty dollars, I donated it to the orphanage for them to buy a new swing. I hope you don’t mind.”
A sharp pang pierced the center of my heart, sending warm tingling waves throughout my body.
“Oh Ryan, I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything right now. I just want you to wear it and think about it. In the meantime, I’m going to do everything I can to make you love me.”
I put my finger on his lips. “Don’t say any more. I already do.”
His eyes darkened, and he kept them locked with mine when he said, “Dave, close the door behind you when you leave, will ya?”
He took my hand and leaned down, his warm breath brushing against my lips. “What did you just say? I missed it.”
“I said, stop talking.” I pushed him on the bed and smiled. “I love you, pretty face.”
Preview of Artful Love, Book 1 in the Sizzling Summer Romance series.
Read the story of Kate’s older sister Jessica.
It was around 3.30pm on a Wednesday when I received the phone call that changed my life.
“Jessie, darling, it’s me. I really must talk to you. Did you see me in People magazine?”
I sighed. It was Kate, my little sister. “Little” was probably not the best way to describe her—she was taller, prettier, and worldlier. And she was in the midst of fulfilling her childhood dream: to become a famous actress. From talking to her, you’d think she was well on her way to become a big Hollywood star.
I took my mid-afternoon apple from my drawer and said, “Yes, I may have spotted your face in that party crowd photo at the bottom of page sixty.”
Of course Kate completely ignored what I said, as usual. “It’s been crazy around here, you can’t begin to imagine. When I finished shooting Fire Zombies, the director loved me, of course, and begged me on his knees to work on his next project, Ice Zombies.”
I rolled my eyes and took a bite from my apple.
Kate rattled on. “So I’ve been stuck in Alaska for a month now. Can you imagine me, suffering in the freezing cold? I really, desperately, need new clothes and more importantly, a new mink coat, but there are no shops here whatsoever. I can’t even get an internet connection in this hell-hole. There’s only so much I can bear.”
“It all sounds very vexing, Kate. But I’m sure you’ll survive. Provided, of course, you have a decent-looking co-actor on set.”
“Ha! Count on my own sister to know me best. I can’t complain in that department, I suppose. That’s the only thing keeping me warm right now. Talking about warm, that’s why I’m calling you.”
I stopped chewing. Kate usually called me only when she needed something. What the heck did she want this time?
“I’d been planning to have a relaxing break after this horrid shoot, so I booked myself a luxury cruise to the Caribbean. But just now my director told me that we’re going to be stuck here for at least another week. And after this, I’ll be flying off to Fiji for my new movie.”
“So?”
“So I was thinking that my lovely sister could take a break from her very busy life, and take the cruise instead of me.”
I wrinkled my brow. Did I hear that correctly? Did Kate actually say I could take the cruise in her place? “When is this cruise? How long is it?”
“It’s a ten-day cruise, and it leaves this Saturday morning. Everything is included: wine, gourmet food, entertainment. You can relax by the pool, have your nails done, or enjoy a whole-body massage, whatever takes your fancy.”
“Coming Saturday? I can’t, Kate, you know that. I have a full-time job. I can’t just take a holiday whenever I feel like it. My supervisor will never approve my leave.”
Kate’s voice turned downright icy. “You’re always worried about your golden call-center career. Just go. I’m sure your glamorous job will still be there when you come back.”
“Really, I can’t. I’m not prepared. I wouldn’t even know what to pack.”
“Darling, I’ve got it all figured out. I know what you’re worried about. You think your Walmart get-up won’t cut it on the cruise. And you’re right. So I’m going to courier you some of my old rags. They’re still perfectly fine, just not cutting edge enough for someone like me. You should receive the parcels tomorrow morning.”
“But—but—” I thought I was going to choke on the chunk of apple that had lingered in my mouth, unchewed.
“I’m also sending you a ticket to Florida and the cruise details. You’re going to have such a fabulous time, darling. You may even think twice about staying in dull-town USA.”
Before I could object, she had already hung up the phone.
Typical of Kate. She couldn’t care less about other people’s feelings, especially mine. From when we were little, she had been the center of attention. With her pretty face and ultra-charming personality, she always got own her way by winding people around her little finger. It was always about her, and her alone.
In fact, it surprised me that she had given me the cruise. She must have been feeling guilty about forgetting my birthday last month. And she knew I had never been abroad, let alone on a cruise. The farthest I had ever travelled from home was when Kate had taken me on a shopping trip to Chicago.
It would simply be insane to pack up and take a tropical holiday. But the thought was also thrilling, exciting—something I hadn’t felt in a long time. I’d been down in the dumps lately, worn out from the daily grind. It was utterly exhausting, answering call after call, day after day. The worst was the unwarranted abuse from rude customers. It had made me throw my headphones against the cubicle wall more than once.
A break would do me a world of good; I just needed to get away from it all. The least I could do is try to get my leave approved. But as I had expected, my supervisor was less than thrilled with my request for leave.
“Jessica, this is an extremely busy time. Especially now Practal has launched their new beauty line, I need every single one of you. There’s no way in hell I can give you leave right now.”
“It’s only for ten days. I’ll make it up to you when I come back. I’ll even do overtime.”
“It’s up to you, honey, but if you insist, I’m afraid you won’t have a job when you come back.”
I was disappointed, but certainly not surprised, and con
tinued my work for the rest of the day, pushing the ludicrous cruise idea from my mind.
Early the next morning, a loud knocking on my door woke me, and my roommate called out, “Jess! A courier delivery arrived for you.”
In the living room, a stack of big parcels awaited me, with a compliments card from my sister. When I unwrapped them, I felt my mouth falling open. The branded labels jumped out at me: Chanel, Armani, Gucci—brands I had only seen in magazines. There were stylish tops, skirts, pants, shoes, and dresses for all occasions, even swim- and sleepwear.
I immediately tried on the new outfits, and when I looked in the mirror, I could barely recognize myself. I had transformed from a small-town gal to a hot, stylish babe from the Big Apple. I would fit right in with the luxury-cruise set, just as Kate had predicted.
Damn Kate. My sister had always done exactly what she pleased, and led the life she wanted to lead. In contrast, I had always done what was expected of me: get a steady job, with steady income. I’d always been the responsible one. Why couldn’t I, for once, do something fun and crazy? Maybe this was my chance to finally escape from my boring life, and find a way to be happy and fulfilled.
That’s when I decided.
Hell, why not?
End of preview.
Artful Love is now available on Amazon!
(www.amazon.com/dp/B00DKSIMNG)
About the Author
Here are three facts about me:
1 - I love being a writer, but first and foremost, I love being a wife and mom, and taking care of our imaginary kittens.
2 - If I’m not in front of my laptop, working on my latest romance, you’ll find me in the kitchen whipping up sweet creations. I have yet to find a way to incorporate these in my stories.
Vengeful Love: A Summer Love Story (contemporary romance) (Sizzling Summer Romance) Page 4