by Susan Stoker
“Come back to bed,” the blonde said, her fingers running up and down my cock.
“I wish I could, darlin, but duty calls.”
“But you’re the star. They’ll wait for you.”
I turned to look at the woman with the ebony hair, only now seeing the pink streaks running through it. But it wasn’t her words I was thinking about… it was the phrase Dani had uttered. That remains to be seen. As much as I wanted to say screw it and join these two women in bed, I wanted—needed—to find out exactly what those five little words meant.
“Sorry, ladies, but it seems they need their star now.” I gave each cheek a kiss, disengaged their hands and guided them back inside, their pouts doing nothing to dissuade me. Bending, I picked up the first pair of panties and held up the tiny scrap of pink lace, flipping them to the blonde.
“Hey, those are mine,” the darker haired woman said, her pout deepening. “Don’t you remember peeling them off me?”
Hell, I didn’t even remember these women being with me, so, no, I most certainly did not remember whose fucking panties they were. Still, I knew how to play the game.
“Sure I do, sugar. The color matches those sexy streaks in your hair. I just thought it would be nice to watch my two beauties play a bit.” I quickly tossed the blue panties to her. “You put these on our friend, and she’ll return the favor.”
The women looked at each other and, by the way they each licked their lips, I had a good idea they not only weren’t shocked by the request, they were excited. As they sashayed over to each other, panties forgotten as they wrapped their arms around each other, smaller, pink-tipped breasts pressing into larger ones with darker nipples, I had to tear my eyes away. It really was too bad that I had no time to hang around for the whole show. I wondered if I should be offended that neither woman seemed to even notice when I left them to take a quick shower. Drying off as I entered the bedroom again, I saw they had moved to the bed. It wasn’t until I was pulling on my boots that I realized that despite their obvious enjoyment of each other and their moans of pleasure, my cock was not pressing against the zipper of my jeans. Dani’s face flashed into my mind, but I pushed it aside. No, I wasn’t going to allow her to mess with my head. I’d evidently drunk far too much and had far too little sleep… those were the reasons why I wasn’t leaving my trailer with a raging hard-on.
Once outside, I was twenty feet from the trailer before something had me turning back. A green Toyota that didn’t belong to anyone I knew, was taking a spot reserved for my bike. Only, the Harley was nowhere in sight. A vague memory of folding myself into a car far too small for my height and far too crowded in the backseat when I was joined by… by the blonde, played in my head. Maybe it was the fresh air that was finally clearing the fog in my brain. Suddenly I remembered breathing much staler air, second hand smoke burning my eyes and my lungs as I tucked fifty-dollar bills into a G-string… a pink lacy pair of panties. Fuck! No wonder the two women in my bed hadn’t hesitated at my suggestion. They had been playing before on a stage in the strip club on the edge of town.
Though I still had no idea of their names, at least the mystery of how they’d wound up in my trailer and in my bed was solved. Now I only had two more mysteries to puzzle out. What in the hell had Dani meant and when the fuck could I go get my motorcycle? Standing in the blazing sun wasn’t going to get me the answers, so I went to look for someone who could. Reaching the trailer and pulling the door open, it took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the much dimmer interior. Once they had, I saw several small groups of people standing around chatting but didn’t stop scanning until I locked in on Dani.
She was seated at the head of the table. Was everything out of place today? Not only was she sitting in my chair, she was dividing her attention between my agent and another unfamiliar face. Striding towards the trio, I snagged a chair on the way, placed it beside where Dani sat and then straddled it, my arms draped over the back, taking a bit of pleasure when Dani startled in surprise. She quickly recovered, giving a look to her wrist where a red band was fastened.
It was my turn to be surprised. I couldn’t believe she still had it. I’d given it to her for her twentieth birthday. I almost cringed remembering how seeing her pleasure when I fastened it around her wrist had made me feel like I’d given her the Hope Diamond. Hell, it didn’t even have a single fake zirconium on the bezel. It wasn’t a Cartier or Rolex. I’d gotten change back from a twenty-dollar bill. Reaching out, I ran my fingertips along her wrist next to the red band.
“I can’t believe you still wear this,” I said, looking up to meet her eyes.
She pulled her arm away, lifting her hand to tuck an auburn curl behind her ear as she shrugged. “Why not? It’s like me. Able to take a licking and keep on ticking.”
From her bastardized recitation of Timex’s slogan, I understood she was conveying that she still considered herself the injured party. Yet, despite her nonchalance, I had seen the goose bumps lifting on her skin as I’d stroked her wrist. Lowering my voice, I said, “Dani, what in the hell is going—”
“Excuse me,” she said, turning to address the woman again. “Let me make the introductions. Cheryl, meet Judso… Judd West. Judd, this is Cheryl Wilkins, my agent.”
Agent? What the hell did Dani need an agent for? Forget that, I still didn’t have a clue as to what she was even doing here.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. West. I’ve been a huge fan for years.”
Giving a grin, I reached across Dani and took the woman’s offered hand. Ignoring the fact that my leaning forward crowded Dani, I brought Cheryl’s hand to my lips giving her knuckles a kiss. “Believe me, the pleasure is mine.”
Cheryl giggled and after I released her hand, she picked up a folder I hadn’t noticed and asked, “I’ll take advantage of that and ask if you’d autograph the script?”
“Cheryl—”
“I’d love to,” I said, cutting Dani off as I accepted the script and the pen Cheryl passed me. I ignored Dani’s eye roll as I scrawled a note of thanks for being my fan and then my name. At least someone was glad to see me. I mentally chalked a mark on my side of the board as I handed the items back. “I see you’ve met Evan.”
“Yes, he’s been wonderful showing us around,” Cheryl said. “It’s been so much fun seeing where the magic happens.”
“You mean where the magic is supposed to happen,” Dani said, actually rolling her chair away from mine.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked and then mentally kicked myself. I wasn’t a man used to sounding like some goddamned parrot.
“Thank you,” Dani said, ignoring me as a mug was set before her.
“You’re so welcome, Ms. Connolly. Would you like a sandwich? I can make you one.”
“No, thank you, Jamie. This is fine.”
Jamie? It figures, even the name was genderless, but that didn’t keep me from making my own request. “How about bringing me a cup of coffee, black, and something for a headache.”
“Certainly, Mr. West. Oh, Tylenol or aspirin or—”
“I don’t care, anything. And some cream.”
“Cream? I thought you said black—”
“Not for me and not the fake stuff. Ms. Connolly likes real cream with her tea.”
“She does? Oh, I’m so sorry… I didn’t know.”
“Of course you didn’t,” Dani said, “don’t worry, I can drink it—”
“Oh no, it’s no problem. I mean, we’ve got cream. I’ll be right back.”
“And my coffee,” I reminded as she turned and hurried away, almost positive my request had already been totally forgotten by the young… hell, I still didn’t know if I was addressing a boy or a girl. The voice was so hesitant and the short hair, loose khaki pants, a shirt emblazoned with the studio’s logo and a pair of boots could be worn by either sex.
“You didn’t have to bark at her. You already had her practically in tears earlier. She’s trying her best so how about cutting he
r a break?”
“I didn’t bark at her,” I said.
Another eye roll was Dani’s only response and not a single word of thanks for remembering how she preferred her favorite beverage. So much for trying to be nice. “How about cutting me a break? My head is killing me and you—”
“It’s hardly her fault that you stayed up all night… working. Funny, your definition varies greatly from mine.”
I didn’t fail to notice her sarcastic emphasis on that word but I was not about to apologize for being myself. She was the one who had walked away. The question still remained. Why was she back? “I’m not going to argue semantics with you, Dani, and you still haven’t answered my question—”
“It’s late people. Find a seat so we can get started.” With the request given by Aaron Bartlett, the executive director of the film, people jumped to obey. About to lean close and finish my statement, Dani didn’t give me a chance as she abruptly stood.
“Change seats with me, Cheryl. We’re going to be here a while, and I know you can’t possibly be comfortable.”
“I’m okay—”
“Please, I insist.”
My protest died in my throat as I watched Cheryl struggle to rise. The reason for the awkwardness readily became apparent as her huge belly came into view. The woman looked ready to pop at any moment. With one hand rubbing across her stomach as if to soothe the baby within, she gathered her script, bottle of water, and what had to be the largest briefcase I’d ever seen and came around the table, smiling as Dani passed her. I stood and pulled the leather chair out a bit further from the table’s edge.
“Thank you,” Cheryl said, giving me a huge smile. I had to grin as she settled herself, again a bit clumsily as if still unused to having her center of balance thrown off-kilter with the extra poundage. “Oh, this is wonderful.” Her sigh of relief had me smiling as I pushed the chair in just a bit. By the time I took mine again, Jamie had placed a cup of coffee on the table as well as a stack of various packets of headache medicine, not giving me a chance to thank her as she hurried to deliver the pitcher of cream to Dani.
“All right. We’re going to watch the rushes from the beginning of filming. Jamie, can you get the lights?” Aaron requested.
Once the young woman scurried to flip the switches, the production team manager pressed a button, and the studio’s logo appeared on the large screen that had been erected on the wall at the opposite end of the table from where I sat. I wondered if I was the only person in the room surprised to hear we were expected to sit through not one but several days of filming. I shot a look at Dani, but her eyes were on the screen. Though Evan’s were on me, the audio began before I could ask what the hell was going on. I dry swallowed four tablets, chased them with a swig of coffee and sat back to watch.
Chapter Three
Danielle
I could feel Judd’s eyes on me but forced myself to keep my attention on the screen. Just when I’d convinced myself that the man I’d loved had turned into a total asshole, he’d surprised me by not only remembering, but requesting cream be brought for my tea. I’d also seen the way he’d stood and helped Cheryl settle. Of course, she had embarrassed herself by gushing like some hormonal teenage girl over meeting her idol. She was supposed to be my friend! Okay, that was a little harsh. I had no doubt that she was my friend. When negotiating the sale of movie rights, she’d been tenacious, insisting on things in the contract that I never would have even considered. It was only her determination that my book be brought to life in the best possible way that I was even here. Realizing that I was rubbing my wrist where Judd had stroked my skin, I snatched my fingers away and picked up my pen to take notes. I wasn’t here to take a trip down memory lane; I was here to do my job.
As scene after scene played, I couldn’t help thinking my agent deserved a raise. I couldn’t fault the studio or protest that they were attempting to produce a film on a low budget. They’d moved the entire production to Montana, paying a hefty price to rent an actual ghost town for the duration, stating that though it was expensive, it was cheaper and far more authentic than building their own sets. They’d made the locals happy by hiring several as extras and paying for the use of horses and had even rented several local ranches for use in various scenes.
I also couldn’t fault the costume director as the wardrobe not only fit the era of the film, every dress, sunbonnet, pair of pants, shirt and vest looked absolutely perfect. Though created especially for the film, they looked old and worn, exactly what one would expect to see in a movie set in the late 1800s. The gun belts looked as if they’d been slung around the men’s hips for years and the guns that had been drawn from holsters and were currently blazing on the screen weren’t the sleek black handguns of today.
No, it wasn’t the set or the wardrobe and it certainly wasn’t the words being uttered. No, those were exactly how I’d imagined as I’d spent the past year turning my bestselling book into a screenplay. That was another miracle performed by Cheryl. Instead of simply turning over my baby to strangers, she’d insisted that I not only knew this story as well as I knew my own name, but that my experience in theatre gave me the ‘eye’ so to speak. I’d argued that my experience wasn’t that extensive. It had been Judson who had only to walk onto a stage to make a play come to life.
And that seemed to be the problem. Yes, I’d worked hard to convert the novel into a screenplay and knew the script was great, the set was perfect, the scenery breathtaking but the film was lacking. It wasn’t because the scenes we were watching were raw footage. I knew that editing and the addition of sound effects would make a huge difference but also knew they could only do so much. It was the acting that was so very off. Sure, the lines were delivered properly, but seemed flat. Even the scene where Wyatt discovered that his long, arduous trip across the country to reunite with his lost love only to find her family had died on the trip and she’d been taken by a gang of outlaws failed to move me. I remembered tears streaming down my cheeks as I’d typed that scene. My heart had ached for both Haven and for the man who was willing to give his life for hers. Watching the screen, seeing Judd larger than life, I admitted he had star power. He looked exactly like he should to play this part. Tall, broad shouldered, ruggedly handsome and yet… he didn’t appear to care that his love was likely going through hell. Eyes of the deepest blue seemed to leap off the screen and yet there was no spark in their depths. They were the eyes of a man who just didn’t particularly give a damn. Still, they held my attention as I asked myself the same question that Judd had. What was going on? Judd West might be a jerk, but there was no doubt that he was a huge star. His movies sold out theatres whether they were ones where he played the bad ass soldier on some covert operation or one where he played some arrogant cop who broke all the rules and spent half the movie bloodied and bruised from one action-filled scene after another. It didn’t matter if he was a soldier, cop, race car driver, or a cowboy. Judd always delivered and always had men wishing they could be him and every woman visualizing themselves as the woman saved by him. But not in this film. There was no magic, and that was definitely a problem.
When the last scene ended, the backdrop of majestic mountains fading into a plain white screen, I knew I had some hard decisions to make. I only hoped that I was tough enough to make the right ones—I had to be. By the time the lights came on, I knew I had to find the strength somewhere. No way was I going to abandon my baby again.
Aaron turned his chair around to face his actors and crew. “I know that was a lot to take in and it’s late. Let’s break for dinner and meet back here in an hour.”
“I have one question first, if you don’t mind.”
I wasn’t surprised that statement came from Judd. He’d never been one to allow questions to go unanswered, and I’d been avoiding his since he’d asked.
“Sure, Judd, go ahead,” Aaron said.
“Just what the hell is going on here? Why was it necessary to sit through every single scene, and what exac
tly is someone not associated with this studio doing watching a film that’s in the middle of production?”
And he wasn’t a man to mince words either.
“That’s three questions,” I said.
“Then let’s make it just one. Why are you here, Dani?”
Taking a deep breath, one hand pressed against the script in front of me, I knew it was time to be that big girl. I looked him in the eyes and said, “I’m here to save my movie.”
“Your movie?”
Aaron spoke before I could. “That’s right. I brought Ms. Connolly here to help figure out why Haven’s Hell isn’t meeting expectations.”
I watched as Judd looked towards the director. “What does that mean?”
Though he wasn’t looking at me, I gave the answer. “It means that what I just watched… what we all just watched isn’t good enough.”
“Who the hell are you to say that? What suddenly makes you an expert on film making?”
“I didn’t say I was an expert on how to make movies. But I am an expert on how this one is supposed to be, how it is supposed to make the viewer feel, and, frankly, the only thing I felt was disappointment.”
“What the fuck, Dani? I don’t know what game you’re playing—”
“I’m not playing a game,” I said, cutting him off. Aware that every eye in the place was on me, I found the strength I needed. “Let me make it clear, Judd. I didn’t spend years of my life to watch my ba… my dream turn into a nightmare.” Lifting the script, I waved it in the air. “I have no intention of allowing my words to be delivered by someone who—”