by Alice Raine
‘How’s your day been, sweetie?’ My irritation levels had maxed out, and her touch made my skin crawl, so I knocked her hand away with a swipe of my wrist and a frown as I stepped back.
Savannah bit on her bottom lip, a look of mild concern crossing her face as if she suddenly realised that she might have dropped herself in it. The expression was practically gone before I’d even properly seen it, but it confirmed things – she had said something to upset Allie. ‘Where. Has. She. Gone?’ I repeated, each word ground out between clenched teeth.
‘She’s just getting some air … I think,’ Savannah mumbled, her arrogant confidence wilting under the weight of my glare. The speed with which Allie had been moving was way beyond that of someone just getting some air, so I turned the full force of my anger on to Savannah.
‘Stop bullshitting me. What the fuck did you say to her?’
Pouting, she put her glass to one side and ran her eyes down my body and back up again in what I could only assume was supposed to be a heated look. It had totally the opposite effect on me, and actually made me shudder with revulsion.
‘I might have hinted that you and I slept together, which let’s face it, darrrrling, we very nearly did. And we still could …’
What the fuck?
Anger erupted from me before she could even finish her sentence. ‘You said what?’ I was so furious that spittle shot from my mouth as my hands flew up to clutch at my hair in horror. Holy fucking shit. No wonder Allie had run away like that.
‘Set her straight, Savannah. Go and undo your fuck-up right now or you’ll need to find a new series to star in.’ Savannah drew in a sharp gasp at my threat, but LA Blue was based around my character, not hers. I was the real star of the show, and we both knew I could get rid of her in the blink of an eye.
The last trace of fake bravado slipped from her face as she pouted like a petulant kid. ‘Fine. Whatever.’ As she blustered past me toward the front door, she turned to throw me a disgusted look. ‘You’re no fun at all any more, Sean.’
‘Whatever,’ I muttered dismissively as she left the room. But Savannah had it wrong. I had plenty of fun with Allie, more than I’d ever had with any woman before, and it all meant so much more to me because it was genuine, and came without all the bullshit drama that Savannah seemed to need in her gilded existence.
THREE
Allie
The small obstacle of a closed gate didn’t stop me from running towards it. I was desperately hoping that perhaps it might be operated by a sensor and magically open once I got closer, or that I’d see an internal button to activate it. That was what I was pinning my hopes on, anyway. Stones were kicking up around my feet on the gravel driveway as I ran, bouncing all over the place, but they didn’t disguise the distinct crunch of footsteps behind me.
A brief glance over my shoulder showed a sour-faced Savannah hot on my heels. Damn it. I felt like I’d run miles to get around the house, but she must have taken the route through the hallway. Her puffy fake tits were bouncing with each step as her long legs gained on me, but I continued undeterred.
‘For goodness’ sake come back here, you’re overreacting … just stop for a second and listen!’ There was not a chance in hell I was stopping. I was getting out of here, away from all this celebrity bullshit as fast as my boring little British legs could carry me.
But I still needed someone to open the gates for me. Bugger. Seeing as she was close by, that someone may as well be Savannah, so reluctantly I stopped and slowly turned to face her. Maybe if I just told her she could have Sean all to herself she’d let me out straight away. The thought of giving him up pained me so much that I found myself rubbing furiously at my chest, my heart feeling like it was withering away by the second.
I didn’t want to lose Sean, of course I didn’t, especially not to this silly cow, but keeping him after he’d cheated on me was not a victory in my eyes.
She could have him.
As much as I needed her help to get off the property, I would not be the one to go to her, so I came to a standstill and waited as her spindly legs carried her the last few paces. Holding my ground, I tensed every muscle in my body in an attempt to appear unaffected and composed. Which of course was utter nonsense, because inside I felt like I was dying.
As she drew nearer I saw that Savannah was now in full pout mode, her lips pursed and looking even falser in the bright sunlight. How much of her was actually real? Probably not a great deal any more.
Pulling in a much-needed breath, I swallowed the tears that were threatening to make an appearance and instead concentrated on the anger I felt at my core. Anger was good. It was cathartic and made the possibility of crying reduce marginally. As she stopped before me, my nostrils flared as I tried to hold back the comments bubbling inside of me. I would not lower myself to their level. I was better than that. I was better than this entire fake town and the bullshit that went with it, and as soon as I got out of here I was set on booking a flight home.
‘Sean’s furious with me …’ Savannah started, her eyes darting in the direction of the house, an action I followed. But there was no sign of him, he was obviously hiding away, embarrassed about his indiscretions and upset at being caught out. Would he even feel guilty? Or was it really just sex for him? Easy to get and easy to walk away from? The thought sickened me, because what I felt for him was so, so much more.
‘Why? Because he’s been lying to me all this time and you accidentally told me your dirty little secret?’ I snapped irritably, wishing the gates would open so I could leave and fall apart in private. Because I definitely would be falling apart today, there was no doubt about it – it was just a case of when, not if.
‘Look … I …’ Huffing a huge breath, she began to toe some gravel with her sandal. ‘There is no secret to tell. I was spouting shit in the kitchen. It’s me who lied to you, not him.’
A heavy sigh escaped my chest. So she had given away their game and was now attempting to cover her tracks, was she? Folding my arms across my chest I met her gaze and lifted my chin to try and match her height.
‘Savannah, you don’t have to backtrack. I’m a big girl, if you two slept together, or still sleep together, it’s fine. I just won’t put up with him lying to me.’ It wasn’t fine, obviously, it was about as far from fine as my life could possibly get, but I wouldn’t let her see that. Giving a simple shrug to indicate I was finished, I watched as Savannah reddened further, her Botoxed mouth puckering like a giant octopus sucker.
‘Truthfully, we’ve never slept together,’ she muttered as she worried one of her enormous lips with her teeth.
‘I don’t need any more lies today, you can have him. Just open the gates so I can leave.’ Turning, I realised I had sounded far wearier than I’d wanted to, but I felt myself losing control, so close to a sobbing breakdown I could almost taste my tears.
Reaching out, she grabbed my wrist but I flicked her bony hand away with a hiss, staring at her as if she’d just burnt me. ‘Listen, I’m being serious. We’ve never had sex. I swear to God.’
Pausing, I ran my gaze over her face as I tried to gauge what was going on. She sounded genuine, and her eyes seemed clouded with apparent regret, but … then why concoct all this bullshit in the first place?
‘I wanted us to sleep together, but Sean wouldn’t,’ she snapped finally, rolling her eyes trying to look like it was his fault. ‘He’s ridiculously picky about sex these days. I mean, a man that good-looking and famous could have sex with a different woman practically every day if he wanted to.’ I flinched at the accuracy of her words. He probably could if he chose to, and from what he’d told me about his younger years, he probably had.
As her voice faded away I watched in mild amusement as a confused look crossed Savannah's eyes. Clearly she was struggling to understand why he wouldn’t sleep with her. I supposed if you were as rich, famous, and beautiful as she was, getting a man of your choosing into bed probably wasn’t much of a problem.
She wasn’t the only one who was confused – my brain was spinning after all these differing stories. Her words did ring true with what Sean had told me about their brief relationship – that they had dated, but never ‘fucked’ – and he had seemed completely honest when he’d promised me that they’d never slept together … but if this was all made up, where was Sean? And why had Savannah done it in the first place?
Suddenly, Savannah blinked her eyes and turned back to me. ‘Apparently I must be flawed, because believe me, I’ve tried my hardest to get that man into bed. No man ever turns me down,’ she added bitterly.
As I stood there trying to process everything, I found that I actually began to believe her, which on one hand was a huge relief because it meant Sean hadn’t cheated or lied to me, but on the other hand was concerning because it seemed like I was right about my initial speculation – she still wanted to get Sean back to sleep with him and recover her ‘flawless’ track record.
‘Why did you lie to me? Why tell the truth now?’ I asked, suspecting that Savannah wouldn’t openly admit she was trying to entice my man into bed.
‘I lied, because it was fun to watch your reactions.’ My eyebrows shot up at her blunt honesty. ‘Don’t look so surprised, darrrling, I live in Hollywood. I adore a bit of drama, and if I’m the cause of it, so much the better.’ I was totally speechless – she was even more of a bitch than I had first thought. ‘But unfortunately, Sean doesn’t like to play my games,’ she sighed. ‘He saw you leaving and knew I’d done something. I told him it was just a bit of fun, but he was so furious with me …’
Toying with people’s emotions and tearing at their hearts was ‘just a bit of fun’? What universe did this woman live in?
‘I can’t have him staying mad at me. We have to work together, after all.’ Savannah glanced towards the house again, and this time I saw Sean standing on the front steps watching us intently, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his shorts. It looked like he might be scowling, but his expression was difficult to read from this distance.
Turning back to me, she gave me a thorough look over with narrowed eyes, as if she couldn’t work out what on earth Sean could ever see in me, before shaking out her hair and sighing. ‘I’ve said what I needed to say.’ I noticed Savannah offered no real apology as she flicked her hair over her shoulder and began to strut back towards the house. What a drama queen. I suspected that entire ‘apology’ had very little to do with making me feel better, and was no doubt just so she could get back in Sean’s good books.
‘Hey! You didn’t let me out!’ I called to her rapidly shrinking frame as she made her way back to the house, but Savannah simply ignored my pleas, the direction of her eyes seemingly fixed on Sean as he stared her down.
With nowhere to go, I loitered on the driveway, my emotions in a complete spin, and watched as Sean jogged down the steps towards us. I was still trapped, and now wanted to speak to Sean before leaving, but there was no way I was going back inside with Savannah, so I headed towards the shade of a large tree to my left to escape the heat.
Worried that my legs might give out from the stress of the last ten minutes, I lowered myself down onto the soft grass with a sigh. Bending my knees, I looped my arms around them so I was sitting in a protective ball as I waited for Sean to reach my side.
Watching curiously as Savannah strutted away, I saw Sean pause briefly to talk to her, his face stony and unrelenting, and posture bristling with tension, but as he turned away and caught sight of me, his entire presence seemed to soften, and his eyebrows rose with hope as he strode purposefully in my direction.
Watching him pace towards me it was all too apparent why Savannah was fixated on him. He was so perfectly handsome it almost hurt my eyes to look at him. And virile too, there was something about his swagger that radiated confidence and sexuality. It must surely be obvious to anyone that he would be good in bed. Great in bed.
Gosh, he really was the complete package: handsome, caring, sexy, confident, great between the sheets … but could I deal with the pomp and prissiness of his career? It was a lot for a normal girl like me to suddenly be confronted with, and this latest episode with Savannah had just reinforced some of my earlier doubts.
Blowing out a breath, I pushed that decision away for now and concentrated on my man. Instead of sitting next to me as I expected, Sean knelt in front of me and gently began to unlink my fingers. Spreading my arms, he edged himself forwards, planting his knees between my thighs so he was wedged pretty much as close as he could get, and then clasped my hands in his.
Leaning forwards, he looked deeply into my eyes and I found myself instantly ensnared by him. Those dark blue pools were so intense that they got me every single time. How could I have doubts about our relationship? I could barely even think when he stared at me like that.
‘Allie, I don’t know if she cleared things up or not, but I swear to you, Savannah was lying, I never slept with her, not in the past and certainly not now.’ His thumbs were massaging small circles on the backs of my hands, making it ridiculously hard to concentrate as heat surged up my arms, but Sean must have taken my pause as concern, because he gave my hands a gentle shake.
‘Think about it logically. Why would I bring you here to meet her if I was sleeping with her?’ My hands were treated to another shake, firmer this time, and the movement finally broke me from my Sean-induced stupor. As I blinked back to the present, I found Sean tilting his head down so that our faces were just a breath apart. ‘Please say you believe me.’
The points he had made were incredibly valid, the concern in his tone was clear, and as I searched his eyes I could see nothing but sincerity and desperation. He didn’t look like a man covering his tracks. He looked like a man in love.
One in love with me.
Which was a pretty fine sight from where I was sitting.
Swallowing hard at the magnitude of my feelings for him, I finally nodded. ‘I believe you.’
The sigh of relief that left Sean’s body was immense, his dropping shoulders making his entire upper body sag forward until his forehead was resting on my shoulder. I could hear him drawing in several lungfuls of air, as if he had been holding his breath and was only just managing to recover it now, and then finally he looked up at me and grinned so broadly that my head went dizzy for a few moments.
I loved that smile. The corners of his eyes creased, a dimple appeared in his cheek and the blue of his irises seemed to glow with happiness. In the time we’d been together, it seemed that he reserved that particular grin just for me. And it was shining at me on full power right now, making me feel pretty flipping amazing.
Apparently, Sean was rather contented with my reassurance and leant forwards, his lips hovering just millimetres from mine, his breath tickling my lips as he locked our eyes again. ‘I thought bringing you here would back up my story …’ He shook his head in resignation. ‘I knew Savannah could be devious, but I never in a million years though she would act like that. I’m so sorry.’
Then his lips made contact with mine and rational thought was forgotten as his firm, warm mouth began to move slowly against mine.
FOUR
Jack
Finally I allowed myself to glance over my shoulder and scan around the studio complex, but as expected, Caitlin was gone. Giving a reluctant nod of acceptance, I quickened my pace to catch up with the group I was with before I got an earful from my director for slacking behind.
This morning had been nightmarishly busy and my head was already aching, but the pleasant shock of seeing Caitlin walk by had perked me up no end. Presumably her sudden appearance meant that Sean had been correct, and she was applying for a job here at the studio.
My heart rate was still slightly accelerated just from the brief glimpse. Shaking my head, I drew in a deep breath and took a moment to simply enjoy the feelings she sparked in me. That girl really did affect me. Regardless of the fact that I barely knew her, my mind, body, and soul seemed to come alive when she
was near. I’d never experienced anything like it before, and it was turning out to be seriously addictive.
I’d had pretty decent chemistry with women in the past, but this was different somehow, more visceral. I could barely understand it myself, but I felt an electric thrill whenever she was near.
With her sleek chestnut hair, smattering of freckles, and wide hazel eyes she was incredibly pretty, and her slender body was undeniably appealing, but I was certain that this was more than just lust. She attracted me, aroused me, and intrigued me like no one had for a very long time, and that knowledge made me desperate to explore our apparent bond.
I was pretty sure from her reactions in the bar that she felt something for me too, and I’d definitely sensed her curiosity when I’d nearly kissed her, but it had become shadowed by what looked like doubt and fear in her eyes. I’d seen that fear again at the art gallery, and it bugged the hell out of me. What, or who, had caused that to be reflected in her beautiful eyes?
I wanted to get to know her and get to the bottom of her hesitations, but after her request to stay away, I’d figured that playing it cool might be the best way to go, which was why I’d just given her a casual acknowledgement and no more. Not striding across and speaking to her had just about killed me, but I was a patient man, and if Caitlin was to be working here then I was happy to go in for the long game.
My sights were set, and Caitlin Byrne was now firmly on my radar. I just needed to plan my next steps very carefully.
FIVE
Cait
I had a job in television. I still couldn’t quite believe it. Spinning on the spot, I shielded my eyes from the bright sunshine and gazed up at Dynamic Studio’s gateway. A small smile tugged at my lips as pride and excitement welled within me. That job interview couldn’t have gone any better. My left eye twitched as I corrected that last thought – it would have been better if my joy hadn’t been slightly side-tracked by yet another glimpse of Jack flipping Felton – but pushing that worry aside, I nodded. I’d done well, the job sounded amazing. It was perfect for me.