by Dee J. Adams
Ellie bit her bottom lip and held back the laughter. Ashley’s dramatics cracked her up. “He is not the One. He’s not even the two.”
“But—”
“No buts.” Ellie stood, snatched her shoes by the straps and headed toward her bedroom. “He’s a nice enough guy, visiting the city, trying to talk to his brother and he’s leaving in about a week. That’s all there is to it.” Reaching her door, Ellie turned. Ashley’s dejected face made her feel cold and heartless. “I know you want him to be the guy that sweeps me off my feet,” she said, letting her down gently, “but he was just a date. A very good-looking, rich date.”
“He is rich, isn’t he?” Ashley said. “I saw that limo and that suit and I knew it.”
“Cute and rich do not define the One. This guy is looking for someone to warm his hotel bed and it’s not me. I’m sure there are a ton of women willing to keep him company. Hell, I’ll give him your number.”
“Yeah, Miss Big Talker. Give him my number.” Ashley rose from the sofa and came toward her. “Sometimes you have to let go a little, Elle, and live on the edge.”
“I work on the edge, Ash. I don’t want to live there too.” Ashley had always been a free spirit when it came to her sexuality. Something Ellie had never gotten the hang of. “I was never as casual as you are about sex and I never will be. I can’t just give my body away like that.”
“It’s not giving your body away when there’s mutual satisfaction,” Ashley said, “And I said sometimes, Elle. Just sometimes you have to let go.” She stood at her door across the short hallway, a smile on her lips. “You had fun, though, right? It was nice?”
Ellie had to nod. “Yeah. I had fun.” And that kiss at the door was way more than nice. A wave of tingles climbed up Ellie’s spine just remembering that kiss, the way Quinn’s mouth had owned hers, the mint taste of his mouth and his sandalwood cologne.
“He is totally the One.”
Blinking her eyes, Ellie stared at her roommate. “Why do you keep saying that?”
“Because you’ve never sighed before. Like you just did. After you’ve been out with a guy. Never. And I would know.”
“You were the girl who thought Freaky Fred was ‘the One’ for me too, and look how that ended.”
Indignant, Ashley’s eyes widened. “That was your fault. If you’d told me that he cracked his toe knuckles, I would’ve told you ‘not the One.’ But you kept that little tidbit to yourself.”
“I didn’t know that I was supposed to give over every little speck of information about every guy I go out with.”
“Not every speck,” Ashley insisted. “Just the important specks. And toe knuckle cracking is a definite no-no.”
Ellie shuddered thinking about it. She opened her door. “I’ve got to be in the makeup chair at six-thirty tomorrow morning. I have no idea why I’m still talking to you. Oh! Wait.” She turned back. “I almost forgot. Mark said the first AD asked him if any of us wanted to use our cars in the shot the next couple of days. And I told him yes. If you can squeeze into the car pool at work for a couple of days, they can use your car.”
“Starbucks money.” Ashley closed her eyes, all but in a precaffeinated high. “Absolutely, I’m in. In two days, my car will make enough money to keep me in coffee heaven for a good five or six weeks. God, I’m craving already.” Snapping her lids open, she grinned.
“Cool. Thanks, Elle. I love when my car works as hard as I do.”
“If you don’t start taking better care of your car, it won’t have the chance to work as hard as you do. I swear that thing is going to quit for good any day now. It needs an overhaul.”
Rolling her eyes, Ashley prickled at the subject. “Don’t start in about my car. It’s fine. If it were anything different, they wouldn’t be using it for their shot. They need something to offset the classic blue Mustangs. Hint. Hint.”
“Yeah, yeah,” So the sun damaged paint job and all the dents were strictly for show. “I get it. Good night, Ash.”
“Night, babe.”
Ellie brushed her teeth, washed off the makeup, slipped off her clothes and slid into bed. She didn’t even bother with a T-shirt. Glancing at the clock, she groaned. She should’ve been in bed an hour ago. Especially with a day like tomorrow ahead of her.
After setting her alarm for the ungodly hour of five, she snuggled deep under her covers and closed her eyes.
A vision of Quinn instantly popped in her head. All tall, muscular and handsome. Looking at her when she came out of the bedroom as though he’d never seen a woman as beautiful. Hadn’t that sent a spark of giddy anticipation through her veins?
Then at dinner, he’d given her his undivided attention. She’d been sure he’d scope out the restaurant to see if someone famous or more beautiful had walked in—out-of-towners usually did that—but he’d focused completely on her. Completely. He’d listened to every word she said. It was as if his amazing silver gaze could see through to her heart and soul. Almost as if he knew her secrets, but didn’t care.
Like that would ever happen. Ellie burrowed deeper into her pillow and let herself go. What would’ve happened if Quinn hadn’t set her down on the beach? What would’ve happened if he’d kissed her instead?
Her mind conjured up the star-speckled sky at the beach. The cool breeze blew through her hair. The sand seeped between her toes with every step and the smell of the salty ocean cleared out the city smog in her nostrils. Nothing was more beautiful than the majesty of an ocean.
Although the man next to her ran a damn close second.
There was Quinn, wearing his dark Armani suit, holding her away from the rush of the cool tide. He lowered her against him until their eyes were level. His gaze burned into hers with enough fire to set them both off. Instead of putting her down, he kissed her. One hand tunneled through her hair as his tongue eased its way into her mouth. His lips were demanding and hot, just like they’d been at the front door.
Ellie abandoned herself to her dream. Let Quinn continue to kiss her, lay her on the cool sand of the beach and cover her with his body.
Hello, big daddy, did he ever have a body. From the feel of things, she’d been right about the foot-to-penis ratio. But it was a dream, so that might actually be one of those weird dream-fantasy things that really couldn’t be possible.
His warmth seeped through their clothes as he kissed and touched her. She burned for him, wanted to feel him inside her. Wanted to devour him and take everything he had to give. Her clothes melted away at his touch until they were skin to skin. Sandalwood and sea air mixed together as their kiss got hotter, more out of control. Quinn moved over her, rocked against her. His weight pushed her deeper in the sand, sent her senses reeling on a different plane.
Suddenly a lifeguard appeared out of nowhere. On closer inspection, it was David Hasselhoff and he had on those red lifeguard shorts from Baywatch. What was he doing here? He flipped the alarm on a bullhorn. Talk about a fun killer.
She detached her lips from Quinn’s and craned her head at The Hoff. “Go away,” she told him. Couldn’t he see they were busy?
All he did was turn the volume up on the horn. Was that even possible?
Real life sank in. Her alarm. 5:00 a.m.
Well, crap. Just when it was getting good too. She smacked the clock quiet.
She didn’t mind doing Quinn in her dreams; it was the reality that scared her. She blamed her tendency of relating sex to love, and she was too chicken to see if she’d gotten past the habit. She’d fallen into two horrible relationships because of sex and didn’t plan on any repeat performances. No more broken hearts for her.
After taking a few minutes to get dressed and get out the door, and spending over an hour on the freeway, Ellie sat in the makeup chair with her eyes closed. While Lucia, the makeup lady, turned her into a Julie Fraser look-alike, Ellie visualized the upcoming stunt, went through every beat of what needed to happen to make it work.
The trailer door squeaked open. Julie’s call
time wasn’t until seven-thirty so it couldn’t have been her. What if Quinn came in early to say, “Hi. Thanks for last night. I had fun. Really enjoyed sucking face at your front door too.” Nothing like a stupid fantasy to get her heart rate up.
“Elle, what in God’s name are you grinning about?” Lucia never missed a facial expression.
“I was just—”
“Well, as I live and breathe.”
The smile faded from her lips at the sound of that masculine voice, but she got it back. A wave of apprehension churned in her tummy. She kept her eyes closed. The production had been running so smoothly, and she’d done such a good job of pretending she wouldn’t see him, that his presence actually surprised her.
“Ellie Morgan, I haven’t seen you in what…five or six years?” he said.
Five years and four months, but who was counting? “Leo Frost. I didn’t see your name on the call sheet.” As opposed to the cast list where his name topped the list. “How are you? It’s been a long time.” Just not long enough.
“Long enough for me to have won an Oscar and an Emmy.”
Leo never wasted a second when it came to tooting his own horn. He had taken what…thirty seconds to bring up the awards? Ellie finally cracked open an eye. “I must’ve missed that.” It had been big news in Hollywood when Leo won both an Emmy and an Oscar in the same season. She doubted that even a hermit had failed to catch the buzz.
Leo flashed the movie star smile that made him eighteen million dollars a picture. How could people pay him that amount of money? Because his last six movies grossed nearly a billion dollars combined? Life wasn’t fair. How could a man with so much raw sex appeal be such a pain in the ass? Leo thought the world revolved around him. He only looked out for himself and he did it with a smile on his face. Six foot two inches of cut muscle, cobalt blue eyes, thick coffee-brown hair and the most fucked-up personality in Hollywood.
“You’re still a joker, Morgan. Love that sense of humor of yours.”
Terrific.
“So what? I don’t rank a hug anymore?”
Eek gads. Ellie stuck her hand out. “Can’t mess up Lucia’s makeup.”
Leo actually kissed her hand and Ellie resisted the urge to snatch it back. She wouldn’t let what happened five years ago haunt her now. “Ah, Morgan, you’re a tough nut to crack. I forgot what a challenge you are.”
Because he was too busy screwing anything that moved. “If I were you, I wouldn’t try. Waste of time, Leo. Concentrate on the easy bait.” Just not the jailbait. Oops. Too late. “That reminds me… You get that lawsuit straightened out with the high school cheerleader?”
“Old news, Elle. Old news.”
Yeah, but it was fun to bring up.
Leo released her hand and sat in the makeup chair next to her. She’d heard that to make the charges go away, he’d paid the girl close to five million dollars, but that had been a rumor. Of course, in this town, most rumors stemmed from a certain percentage of truth. And she knew firsthand exactly how Leo Frost operated.
“So what have you been up to? Keeping busy?” he asked.
“Well, I—”
“Can you believe this is my seventh picture in a row?” He laughed. “But gotta strike while the iron is hot, right? I can sleep when I’m dead.”
And that would be…when? Ellie waited for the inevitable bolt of lightning.
The door opened and Julie came in. “Good morning, ladies.” She held the door for her assistant, Abbey, who had her hands full with a box. The delicious smell of coffee wafted into the trailer.
Leo popped out of his chair and pulled Julie in for a hug and kiss. “Hey, beautiful. I won’t take offense to you calling me a lady, but do it again and I might have to prove my manhood.”
“Leo!” Never let it be said that Julie wasn’t a great actress. Her feelings about Leo weren’t that far from Ellie’s. She hugged him and pulled away. “I forgot you were in today. The schedule’s been so screwed up with all this freaky weather that I just blanked.” She looked at Abbey and into the box. “I brought coffee for everyone, but I don’t have one for you.”
A tiny bit of sweet justice.
“He can have mine,” Rachel, the key hairstylist, said. “I should stay away from the caffeine.”
There went sweet justice down the toilet.
“Hey, thanks, doll. I could really use the pick-me-up.” Leo reached in the box and snagged a cup.
“Wait,” Julie said. “That’s Elle’s chai.” She took it out of his hands and saved her tea. “Here, Elle.”
Ellie took her drink and nearly laughed at the crossed-eyed look Julie gave her. Making fun of Leo might be childish, but it was always entertaining. “Thanks,” Ellie said. “You shouldn’t have, but I’m glad you did.” She took a sip of her chai and suddenly the day got a whole lot brighter.
Lucia finished her makeup and Julie took her spot in the chair. Ellie moved to Rachel where the wig process began. Thirty minutes later, Ellie walked out of the trailer, happy to be out of Leo’s range. The bright sun glared in her eyes and she fished for the sunglasses snuggled in her cleavage.
“Good morning.” Quinn’s low voice sent an instant hum down her spine. Last night’s kiss warmed her lips. The first and last kiss. She had to remember that. It would be too easy to fall for a guy like Quinn. Too easy to get her heart broken when he left.
“Hi.” Slipping on her shades, she stepped down the stairs, stopping at the second step so she was eye to eye with the man. Actually, more like sunglasses to sunglasses. “You’re up awfully early. What brings you here at this time of morning?”
“Among other things, you.”
Damn her heart for fluttering so hard. “Me? What’d I do?”
His grin nearly knocked the wig off her head. “Besides kiss like a dream?”
Heat crept into her cheeks and it had nothing to do with the hot morning sun. Maybe standing with their mouths in such close proximity wasn’t the place to be. She continued down the stairs and looked toward the track.
“You’re not going to deny it, are you? And before you say, ‘deny what?’ I will be very specific. You’re not going to deny that we nearly incinerated your front door last night?”
Truer words had never been spoken. “Doesn’t change anything,” she said. “You’re just visiting and I’m not looking for a one or two night thing. Case closed.”
“But you do agree that we were on fire last night.” She didn’t need to see his gaze to feel it burn into her. He stood so tall and handsome in front of her that she wanted to scrap her stupid ideals, tackle him to the ground and continue where they’d left off last night. “See, you can’t deny it.” He stepped close, his spicy aftershave drifted around her, reminded her of the chai tea in her hand. “You know what one of my favorite moments was from last night?”
“Near…” She had to clear her throat. “Nearly burning down my front door?”
He nodded. “That was definitely one. The other was picking you up when that wave came in. I like how you feel against me.”
Hot, hot, hot. She was about to incinerate on the spot just from his words.
The trailer door opened and Leo came out in a flourish of multimillion dollar importance. “Ellie Morgan, you can’t sneak out on me,” he said, coming downstairs and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “How about during the first lighting switch over we rendezvous in my trailer and catch up?”
How about not?
A scowl lined Quinn’s features and something odd exploded in Ellie’s chest. Could he tell she didn’t like Leo or did something else bother him? Easing away from Leo’s possessive arm, she purposely didn’t answer his question. “Leo, I’d like you to meet Quinn Reynolds. Quinn, this is Leo Frost.” Both men stood taller as they shook hands. Their grip seemed to last longer than necessary and possibly entailed more testosterone than the situation required. Wasn’t that interesting? “Leo, Quinn is Mac’s brother.”
Leo looked from her to Quinn, his blue eyes va
cuous. “Mac?”
“The guy you’re playing. Mac Reynolds? Remember him? Quinn is his little brother. Trace Bradshaw’s brother-in-law?”
The light bulb clicked on in his head. “Yeah, yeah, right,” Leo said. He pulled his shades from his T-shirt collar and slipped them on. God forbid he be the only one not wearing sunglasses. He was going for his tough-guy/don’t-cross-me look. “He’s not giving you any trouble, is he?”
Ellie’s brows shot up on her forehead. The question seemed ludicrous coming from Leo. A man whose middle initial was T for… “Trouble?” She gave Quinn a conspiratorial grin and tapped her chin as if she had to think about it. Maybe to stick it to Leo or maybe because Quinn was so damn cute that she couldn’t resist. “I wouldn’t say he’s giving me trouble.” She slowly eased an index finger across her bottom lip in a gesture that only Quinn would appreciate, especially after sampling her mouth last night in that steamy hot kiss.
His frown turned into a knowing smile and she felt the heat from eyes she couldn’t see. The air between them all but crackled.
“Elle! Ellie!” Mark waved from the track’s edge and motioned her over. A group of guys were rolling the blue Arrow car onto the track. Her cue for work.
“Gotta go, guys. Time to blow up a race car.” Hopefully they’d play nice without her. Ellie had to concede that her initial fear of Quinn had been unfounded. And comparing him to Leo had proved her totally wrong. For two men who had so much in common as far as money and looks, they were nothing alike. She started toward the track.
“Hey, Elle. Be careful, okay?” Quinn’s voice held a distinct amount of worry.
“Yeah, yeah, careful, babe,” Leo chimed in.
When Ellie turned she looked right at Quinn. He’d taken off his sunglasses and squinted in the morning sun. No smile curved his lips. No twinkle lit his eyes. He was all business. For a second, it struck her that he really cared. For a second, she felt a spark of something that threw her off completely.