Hot Off the Red Carpet

by Paige Tyler

  “I really didn’t do much,” he told the female reporter who had most recently asked the question. “My assistant Addison was the one who figured out my manager was embezzling, and my bodyguard Bob was the one who saved everyone’s life.”

  Addison wanted to say that wasn’t true, that Trevor had been the real hero, but even if she had corrected him, she knew he wouldn’t take the credit anyway.

  The dark-haired woman gave Addison an appraising look before turning her attention back to Trevor. “There’s some speculation out there that Addison is more than just your assistant.”

  Addison blushed at the question, sure Trevor must be as uncomfortable with it as she was. Where had the woman heard a rumor like that?

  “I don’t know what you’ve heard, Rowena,” Trevor said, “but if you’re asking if Addison is important to me, the answer is yes.” He glanced at Addison, giving her a heart-stopping grin. “She’s very important to me.”

  Addison’s breath hitched at the emotion in his dark eyes. She tried not to read too much into his words, but when he looked at her like that it was impossible not to. Which made it very difficult to concentrate on anything else for the rest of the day. Thankfully, there was only one more interview after Rowena, so she didn’t have to expend too much energy thinking about anything else.

  By the time the last reporter left, she and Trevor had to hurry upstairs to get ready to the premiere. While it was fun to secretly pretend she was Trevor’s date for the event as she twirled in front of the full-length mirror dressed in the outrageously expensive gown he’d bought for her, she was back in personal-assistant mode when she hurried downstairs. Until she saw Trevor in his tux. The man wasn’t just handsome; he was sex-on-a-stick yummy.

  He was talking to Bob when she came down, but he stopped mid-sentence when he saw her. His eyes caressed every inch of her body, lingering on every curve, and she felt herself blush.

  “Addison,” he breathed. “You look absolutely beautiful.”

  “Thank you.” She ran her suddenly damp hands down the front of the exquisite black evening gown with a flirtatious little smile. “You don’t look so bad yourself.”

  Trevor chuckled, the sound deep and sexy. He glanced at Bob. “Tell Leo we’re ready to leave, would you?”

  Bob gave her a wink. “Sure thing.”

  Trevor didn’t even wait for the Bob to leave before he bent is head to kiss her. “I know that’s going to wreak havoc on your lipstick, but I couldn’t wait until after the premiere to do that.”

  She laughed and would have told him she didn’t care what it did to her lipstick as long as he kept kissing her, but he closed his mouth over hers again. He didn’t lift his head until Bob let out a discreet cough from the doorway, and by then she was breathless. She didn’t know how she was going to wait all those hours until the premiere was over and she could get him alone.

  Addison put on more lipstick in the car, but not until they were near the theater, just in case Trevor wanted to kiss her some more. Which he did. Several times.

  As she dropped the tube of lipstick in her evening bag, she leaned forward to remind Leo to drop her off at the side entrance before taking Trevor around to the red carpet.

  “No need, Leo,” Trevor said. “Addison isn’t going in the side entrance.”

  She looked at him in confusion. “I’m not?”

  “No.” He reached out to push back a stray strand of hair that had escaped from her elaborate updo. “You’re walking down the red carpet with me.”

  Her eyes went wide. “But...”

  “No buts.” His mouth twitched. “Or I’ll think you don’t want to be seen with me.”

  “Don’t want to be seen with you?” She almost laughed. “Are you sure you want to be seen with me? Trevor, if I walk up the red carpet with you, people are going to think we’re a couple.”

  “So? We are a couple. Aren’t we?”

  “Well, yes, but I’m your personal assistant.”

  “You’re way more than that to me, Addison Mattingly,” he said. “It’s time the rest of the world knows it.”

  Between Trevor announcing their relationship and the prospect of walking down the red carpet, Addison’s heart was beating so fast by the time the limo rolled to a stop in front of the theater she thought she might pass out. She opened her mouth to tell Trevor, but he’d already stepped out of the limo and extended his hand to her. Outside the car, the applause was thunderous. Taking a deep breath, she put her hand in his and stepped out onto the curb.

  Having seen every premiere of every one of Trevor’s movies on television, she’d expected the crowd of screaming fans to be huge, but it was much bigger than it looked on TV. The flashbulbs on the cameras were brighter, too, and as Trevor put his arm around her, she felt every bit the celebrity. Not to mention the luckiest woman in the world. It was like being in her own version of Cinderella.

  Walking down the red carpet was only half of it, though. Getting interviewed was the other half, and every entertainment reporter along the way stopped her and Trevor. Like the ones who’d come to the mansion, they were more interested in whether Addison and Trevor were an item. He smiled and gave the same answer he had before, saying she was very important to him.

  As they moved on to the next reporter, the one who’d just finished interviewing them smiled into the camera. “There you have it, folks. Trevor Bradon is finally off the market. And something tells me, it might be for good this time.”

  Addison knew it was nothing more than a reporter trying to sensationalize the story, but the idea of a future with Trevor made her warm all over.

  They stepped into the lobby amid more applause, this time from producers, directors and fellow actors. As excited as she was to be beside Trevor, it was nothing compared to how she felt when he tightened his arm around her waist and pulled her a little closer as the crowd surrounded them. It was as if he was announcing to the world that they really were a couple.

  Addison thought they would go directly into the theater to watch the movie, but instead they mingled in the lobby enjoying champagne and hors d’ oeuvres. She was nibbling on a canapé when the film’s producer and director went up to the dais to address the audience.

  “It wouldn’t be right to stand up here and not mention last night’s adventures,” the director finished, giving the crowd a big smile. “How many of you knew Trevor was a real-life action-adventure hero? Fighting three men and rescuing his beautiful assistant from certain death. I couldn’t have scripted it better myself.”

  Beside her, Trevor flushed beneath his tan, clearly embarrassed by the praise and the round of applause that went with it. Addison stopped clapping to go up on tiptoe and kiss him on the cheek even as a chorus of “speech, speech, speech,” echoed around them.

  Chuckling, Trevor took her hand and headed for the dais, taking Addison with him. She tried to hang back, but he wouldn’t let her. She blushingly followed, standing beside him as he spoke. Once again, he downplayed his role in the previous night’s events. At that, her shyness immediately disappeared. Before she even realized what she was doing, she leaned forward and commandeered the microphone.

  “Trevor is just being modest. If it weren’t for him, his manager and the thugs who worked for him would have killed me, so don’t let him tell you any differently. He truly is a real-life action-adventure hero.” She gave him a smile. “Mine.”

  That made Trevor’s face color again, but the audience clearly approved because they applauded again, this time even louder.

  “I thought we put together a pretty good film.” The director laughed as he leaned in to take the microphone again. “But I’m not sure how it’s going to compete with last night.”

  It turned out the director was being modest, too. The movie was wonderful and everyone enjoyed it, most especially Addison, who got to sit there with Trevor’s arm around her the whole time. When they went back into the lobby afterward, more than one person came over to congratulate Trevor and tell him he
had a huge hit on his hands. Addison agreed.

  The crowd outside the theater hadn’t gotten any smaller by the time they left, and she and Trevor were treated to more applause as Bob escorted them to the limo.

  The moment they were alone, Trevor pulled her into his arms for a long, intoxicating kiss. “I’ve wanted to do that for hours.”

  She moaned. “You have no idea how much I wanted you to.”

  He kissed her again. “Hold that thought.”

  She lifted a questioning brow, but Trevor only leaned forward in his seat.

  “Take the long way home, Leo.”

  “Will do.”

  As Trevor put up the privacy divider, Addison saw Leo and Bob exchange grins, and she couldn’t help but blush.

  Trevor gave her a sexy grin. “Now, where were we?”

  She smiled. “You were kissing me.”

  His grin broadened. “I was, wasn’t I?”

  He pulled her into his arms, one hand pulling the pins from her hair, the other cupping her breast through the silky material of her gown. Her nipple hardened to a stiff peak at his touch, and she sighed against his mouth. If they weren’t in the back of his limo, she’d have her gown off and be all over him.

  Apparently, Trevor didn’t seem to care where they were because he slid straps of her dress over her shoulders and down her arms until her bare breasts were exposed.

  She blushed and immediately covered herself with her arms. “What about Bob and Leo?”

  “What about them?”

  “Won’t they hear?”

  His mouth twitched. “Not if we’re quiet.”

  She could do quiet. Or so she thought. The moment Trevor bent his head to take a nipple in his mouth and suckle on it, she gasped so loudly it seemed to echo around them. She grasped his shoulders, biting her lip to stifle a moan. Oh yeah, keeping the noise down was definitely going to be a problem.

  Trevor grabbed her gown and pushed it up until he found the tiny scrap of panties underneath. He slipped his hand between her legs to rub her pussy through the thin material.

  “Mmm,” he breathed. “You’re already wet.”

  Addison could only whimper as he slid a finger in her panties and dipped it into her pussy.

  “I need to be inside you,” he rasped. “Now.”

  Addison never made love in the backseat of a car before, and her pulse quickened at the idea. While Trevor unzipped his pants, she wiggled out of her panties and tossed them aside. When his erection sprang free, she stopped to gaze in appreciation for a moment before lifting her gown and straddling his lap.

  Placing her hands on his broad shoulders, she slowly lowered herself onto his shaft.

  He was hot and hard, and she moaned as he filled her. He felt so good she almost didn’t want to move, but Travis cupped her ass, urging her up and down.

  “Ride me, baby.”

  She obediently undulated her hips. He felt so impossibly good inside her, so absolutely perfect. Reaching up, she buried her hands in his hair and tilted his head back so she could kiss him. She plunged her tongue into his mouth, taking possession of it as she rode him a little faster.

  “Oh yeah,” he murmured against her mouth. “That’s it. Ride me.”

  Although she did as he commanded, Trevor must have thought she needed some encouragement because he gave her ass a hard smack.

  She dragged her mouth away from his to look at him, her eyes wide. “I thought we were supposed to be quiet.”

  He grinned. “Quiet’s no fun.”

  He lifted his hand again to smack her on the other cheek. It echoed around them. “Ride me.”

  She obeyed, moving up and down on his cock in time with his spanks. Heat spread over her ass cheeks, making them tingle. She cooed.

  “Harder,” she begged.

  He complied, delivering a stinging slap to her derriere. “Like that?”

  “Yes,” she breathed, not caring how loud it was.

  And the spanks were loud.

  Addison clutched his shoulders, gyrating up and down on him wildly. Each time she came down on his cock, he seemed to go deeper, which only made her move faster. And push her closer and closer to the edge.

  With a growl, Trevor grabbed her stinging ass in both hands and thrust up into her. Pleasure surged through Addison, and she buried her face in his neck to stifle her cries of ecstasy. Trevor surged into her and held himself there, his body tightening as he found his own release.

  Afterward, Addison collapsed against him, her hand curled around the lapel of his tuxedo. She knew she should climb off his lap and fix her dress, but Trevor’s arms felt so good around her that she didn’t want to move, not even to cover her nakedness.

  She didn’t even realize her eyes had drifted closed until Trevor gently shook her shoulder.

  “We’re home, sweetheart.”

  Addison smiled. Home. She liked the sound of that.

  Reluctantly climbing off his lap, she pulled the gown’s straps up over her shoulders just as Bob opened the door for them. That was when she remembered her panties. Just because Leo knew what she and Trevor had been doing back here didn’t mean she wanted him finding her underwear when he cleaned the car. She looked around frantically for the garment, finally spotting it wedged in the seat. She reached for them, but Trevor got there first. Giving her a wink, he picked them up and shoved them in his jacket pocket.

  Taking her hand, he helped her out of the limo and swung her up in his arms, told Bob and Leo to have a good night, then carried her into the mansion and up to his bedroom.

  It wasn’t until they got into bed that Addison realized she still hasn’t told Trevor the truth about who she was. Tomorrow, she promised herself. She would definitely tell him tomorrow.

  * * *

  Something loud and obnoxious sounding woke Addison from a deep, dream-filled sleep the next morning. She lie there for a moment, trying to figure out what it was, but didn’t hear it again. Deciding she must have imagined it, she rolled over to snuggle closer to Trevor, but he wasn’t in bed.

  Still half asleep, she pushed herself up on her elbows, her gaze going to the door to the bathroom. The door was open, but the light was off. He must have gotten up early and decided to let her sleep.

  She flopped back on the pillow, thinking about how sweet and considerate he was when the sound of raised voices coming from downstairs made her bolt upright. That must have been the loud, obnoxious sound that had woken her up. Someone was shouting. A woman. Maribel? No, the housekeeper would never yell like that. Who then?

  The woman shrieked again, and this time Addison froze.

  Oh God. It was Madison.

  Oh no! No, no, no, no no!

  Addison was out of the bed in a flash. She stopped only long enough to throw a robe on over her naked body before she ran along the hall and hurried down the steps. At the bottom, she skidded to a stop. Her twin sister Madison stood in the middle of the living room, her blonde hair perfectly styled, her designer suit hugging her curves, and her chin lifted indignantly as she faced off against Trevor. Addison had to fight hard not to cringe as Madison turned accusing eyes on her.

  “There’s my lying, little sister now,” Madison sneered.

  Addison felt her face color. “Wh-what are you doing here?”

  Her twin’s blue eyes flashed. “I could ask you the same question. But then I already know the answer.” Madison folded her arms. “You’re here pretending to be me.”

  “That isn’t true.” Addison turned to Trevor. The hurt and betrayal in his eyes brought tears to her own. “This isn’t what it looks like, Trevor. I can explain—”

  “Oh, come on! It’s exactly what it looks like,” Madison snarled. “When I changed my mind about being his personal assistant, you decided to take the job instead. I mean, he already had your resume - whoops, my resume - so you figured why the hell not, right?”

  “That’s enough,” Trevor ordered.

  “Enough?” Madison let out a harsh laugh. “I’m ju
st getting started.” She advanced on Addison. “I couldn’t believe it when I got on the internet last night to find you hanging on Trevor Braden’s arm, going to movie premieres and getting your photo taken by every paparazzi on the planet. And what am I doing? Picking up some two-hundred-year-old wall street banker’s laundry from the dry cleaner in between looking for his damn dentures!”

  A tear trickled down Addison’s cheek and she angrily wiped it away. “I never told you to take that stupid job in Manhattan. You could have been Trevor’s assistant, but you didn’t want to babysit some spoiled actor.” She saw Trevor lift a brow and gave him an apologetic look. “Those were her words, not mine.”

  To Addison’s surprise, her sister had the decency to look embarrassed. For half a second, at least. “That doesn’t give you the right to steal my identity.”

  “I never stole your identity,” Addison insisted. “Not exactly, anyway. I just let Trevor think I was you.”

  Madison’s lip curled. “Semantics, sis. Oh, wait. They probably didn’t teach you that word where you went to college, did they?”

  Addison ground her jaw. Same old Madison. Still flaunting her Ivy League education in everyone’s face. “I don’t know why you’re so mad. You didn’t want the job, so what’s the problem? Or are you angry because I finally found something I’m better at than you are?”

  “Ha! That’ll be the day,” Madison scoffed. “You’re nothing but a liar and a fraud, and if Trevor Braden won’t turn you in to the cops, I will.”

  Addison’s heart lurched. Cops? She’d never considered Trevor might press charges. What she did wasn’t really a crime. Was it?

  “No one’s going to the cops,” Trevor said. “Bob, would you mind taking Madison to the gatehouse so I can talk to Addison in private?”

  Addison gave herself a mental shake at Bob’s name. She hadn’t realized the bodyguard was there.

  “My pleasure,” he said.

  Madison took a frantic step back as Bob took a step toward her. “Don’t you even think of touching me you big, overgrown pile of muscles. I know Tae-kwon-do.”

  Bob chuckled. “Me, too. And I’m a lot bigger than you are. Feel free to give it your best shot, though.”