by Alice Raine
Not wanting to alarm Cait with the depth of my anger, I blew out a long breath and tried to lighten the mood a bit. ‘Wow, and there was me thinking your hesitation about this new job was because of Jack Felton. Guess I got that totally wrong!’ I saw Cait’s eyes begin to dart around, looking everywhere but at me, and then the elastic bang pinging began again in earnest, twanging against her skin until I cringed.
‘Actually, you were partly right. I saw Jack at the studios,’ she suddenly blurted, her voice a scratchy rasp. ‘I think he might work there.’
Damn it, I hated it when I was right, but if she was going to turn her back on a job because of the minute risk of seeing Jack Felton, I was going to kill her too.
Shrugging as if that was no big deal, I tried to make her realise how insignificant her worry was. ‘So? He’s an actor, I bet he has to go around all the big studios. The chances of seeing him very often must be tiny.’
Nodding unconvincingly, she flicked her elastic band so hard that I had to lean over and stop her. ‘Hey, stop it.’
‘Sorry. But to be honest, Jack scares me more than Greg’s threats.’
Seeing my astounded look, because Jack Felton was a million, billion, gazillion times better for Cait than Greg ever had been, she held up a hand to stop me.
‘That came out wrong. What I mean is that Greg is just a vague threat. As scary as it was back when it all happened it’s been years and years now, and even though my parents have had postcards here and there, none of us have actually seen Greg. I guess for the sake of my sanity I’ve had to force the idea of him into a worry in the background …’ Cait paused and rubbed at her forehead as if trying to ease her stress. ‘Don’t get me wrong, he’s a serious worry, but … but at the moment, Jack seems to be right in the flipping foreground of my life. He makes me feel …’ She huffed out a huge breath and lolled her head to the side to look at me. ‘I don’t know what exactly, and that’s what’s so frustrating.’ The cloudy worry in her eyes made my chest squeeze at the pain I saw there. ‘But he makes me feel something, and it scares the shit out of me.’
Holding back a groan of pain for her, I jumped up and joined her on the lounger, nudging her until she got the hint and made room for me.
‘I get what you mean, babes, I really do, but feeling isn’t always a bad thing.’
‘I know. I know. But it is for me, especially when the guy is famous and way out of my league.’
She was going back to that excuse again? Blowing out a dismissive raspberry, I grabbed two more beers and opened them for us. ‘Enough of that crap talk, he’d be proud to have you on his arm. You’re beautiful and you know it.’ Cait met my words with silence and then a heavy sigh so I pulled out my phone and decided to see if I could put her mind at ease. ‘He’s in Fire Lab right?’
‘Yeah. Why?’ Staying quiet for a second, I did a quick Google search for Dynamic Studios and Fire Lab and winced when a list of search results came back. Bugger. It looked like he was based at the same studios. What were the flipping chances?
Desperate to reassure my friend, I pulled up a map and showed it to Cait. ‘Do you know which stage you’ll be based at?’
Squinting at the map she then pointed to the top right corner. ‘Here, number 5. Why?’
‘I did a search for Fire Lab, and it is filmed at Dynamic, but …’ I added my ‘but’ quickly to cover the sharp inhale of breath Cait had just made. ‘But his show is filmed right on the other side of the complex. Look, stage 16, see, all the way down here.’ Cait’s wide eyes examined the map before she started to chomp on her lower lip.
‘Judging from the scale on this map, the complex is massive. The chances of seeing him really are minimal.’
‘The site was big,’ Cait admitted reluctantly. ‘We had to use golf buggies to get around.’
‘See?’ I nodded my head enthusiastically and decided to use my intimate knowledge of Cait to my advantage. ‘Don’t turn down a job that’s perfect for you just because of a man.’ That was a bit sneaky of me, but I knew the one thing Cait hated above all else was feeling weak because of her ex.
Sitting up, I saw her spine straighten defensively and allowed myself a small smile at my victory in this debate.
Pulling in a breath so deep it flared her nostrils, Cait turned to me, her eyes bright and chin set defiantly. ‘You’re right. It is the perfect job for me.’ Nodding firmly, she smiled and finally allowed some enthusiasm to show on her face. ‘Actually, I’m pretty excited by it all. You should have seen the facilities, Allie. It was amazing.’ I noticed she made no further mention of Jack, but that was fine by me – we could always raise that topic again at a later date. I would love Cait to take some steps towards dating Jack; he seemed like a complete gent. I got a good vibe from him, but more than that, I liked the fact that he seemed to genuinely like Cait too.
‘What are the hours like?’
‘Not bad, it varies depending on filming schedule, but to start they’re pretty good, lots of morning shoots which means free afternoons so we can still go out.’
‘Good. I hope I still get to see plenty of you.’ I pouted, glad that Cait had a job and would be staying in LA, but reluctant to give up all the time we were spending together.
‘You will, don’t worry. Besides, I might have a plan of how we can make sure we see plenty of each other …’
Seeing Cait’s face lit with anticipation, I felt my eyebrows rise curiously. ‘Come on then, elaborate!’ I chuckled impatiently.
‘Well, I know you might move in with Sean eventually …’ she hesitated, ‘… but the three weeks at the hotel are almost up, and I was wondering how you felt about me and you living together for a bit?’
She’d barely even finished her sentence before I was standing up and grabbing hold of her and dragging her in for a giddy hug as I whooped joyfully. ‘Oh my god! I’d love to!’ Once I had put poor Cait down, I made a dismissive noise in my throat and laughed. ‘And no more talk about me moving in with Sean, it’s waaay too early for that.’ Not that we even could move in together with all this crazy Savannah engagement stuff hanging over us. I gave an accepting roll of my eyes before grinning at Cait with a near gleeful expression. ‘Me and you living together, it’ll be just like uni again! We’ll have to start looking for a place.’
Cait’s face was glowing with excitement. ‘Actually, the guy who interviewed me has lined me up with a house, it’s a two bed, and cheap because I get an employee discount. I’ve seen it already, and it’s great, but we can view it again this weekend so you can have a look?’
‘Yes, that sounds great!’ Grinning, I raised my bottle. ‘Here’s to your new job and our new house together! Cheers!’
Letting out a small chuckle, Cait chinked her bottle against mine and took a healthy swig. ‘So, anyway, enough about me … what have you done today?’
It was on the tip of my tongue to start explaining the fiasco that had happened at Sean’s house, but I was beaten to speaking by Cait, who suddenly laughed rather sporadically and flashed me a funny look, accompanied by a raised eyebrow.
‘Actually, I think I know what you were up to.’ She waggled a finger at me, grinning from ear to ear. ‘Let me see, bikini bottoms on the bottom of the pool, bikini top flung on the poolside to dry, mighty tighty black boxers chucked carelessly in a heap beside them, and a sopping wet towel …’ My cheeks were fast flushing to be the same colour as the red label on our beer bottles as Cait gleefully counted off my mistakes on her fingers.
Shit. Shit. Shit. In the rush to leave with Sean after lunch I had completely forgotten about clearing up the things around the pool. Oops.
Rolling my lips between my teeth, I wondered desperately if there was anything I could say to lessen my embarrassment, but with all the evidence so clearly pointing to the fact that I’d had sex in the pool, there really wasn’t. Best to take one on the chin, I decided bravely. Holding my hands up in defeat, I smiled sheepishly and nodded slowly.
‘Yeah, guilty as char
ged. Sean and I got a bit intimate in the pool earlier. Sorry. I forgot to tidy up.’
‘You had sex in the swimming pool?’ Cait yelped, the horror clear in her voice if I hadn’t been able to see it in her expression, but I didn’t understand her outburst. She had just pointed it all out to me, why was she now looking so shocked?
‘Oh my God, that’s gross! I thought you’d gone skinny dipping, I didn’t think you’d actually had sex in there!’
Oops. Skinny dipping would have been the perfect excuse, why the hell hadn’t I thought of that?
‘I nearly went for a swim in there this afternoon!’ Cait spluttered, the expression on her face still one of marginal revulsion before finally shaking her head and joining me with a chuckle.
‘That’s what the chlorine is for. It kills everything,’ I joked with an embarrassed shrug.
Narrowing her eyes, she glanced at the sopping wet towel. ‘And the towel? How did that feature?’
‘The towel is my little secret,’ I replied sweetly, knowing that as curious as Cait was, she was shy enough that she wouldn’t want to know the in-depth details of my intimate liaison with Sean.
‘Hmm. Maybe I really should move back to the hostel until the house is ready. That way you two can have the privacy you need.’
‘No way. You’re staying here until we move into the house. OK?’ I stated persuasively.
Cait weighed up my words for a second or two, and then nodded. ‘OK, only if you’re sure. Oh, and by the way,’ she said, turning her grinning face toward me. ‘I met your man again at breakfast, so if I’m staying here longer then you need to tell him to start wearing clothes when he visits.’ Her cheeks flushed but I couldn’t really hold it against her. After all, Sean was god-like in the body department.
‘Yeah, sorry. He stayed over. We went to his house this afternoon too,’ I added casually.
‘Oh my gosh! What was the house like? Was it nice? I bet it was huge, wasn’t it?’ Cait asked, but then thwacked her palm to her forehead on a groan. ‘What am I thinking? Forget the house, did you meet the fake fiancée? I get the feeling from the media that she’s a prize bitch, but I might be wrong,’ Cait speculated.
‘No, you’re spot on. Savannah Hilton is a prize bitch. I did meet her today, and you’ll never guess what she did.’
‘Oooh. Do tell,’ Cait said, suddenly looking rather interested.
Missing out the details of our pool liaison, I set about explaining my afternoon to Cait, but the whole time that I was chatting I couldn’t quite shake the sensation that today’s incident wouldn’t be the last stunt I’d see from Savannah.
That instinct stuck with me all evening, and left me decidedly jittery, so as I curled up in my bed later that night, I grabbed my phone and opened up the internet browser. Searching for Savannah, my lip curled with distaste as a list of results popped up, but thankfully there were no new stories involving her and Sean.
I wondered if, or when, she might try some new ploy ‘for fun’, so I decided to set up an alert for her name in my search engine that would send me a notification whenever there was a new story involving her. It was a first for me, but if sneaky Savannah, the wicked witch of West Hollywood, was half as cunning as I suspected, then this might allow me to stay at least one step ahead of her.
NINE
Sean
I finally had a day free, and I wanted to spend it with Allie somewhere there would be no possible interruptions or distractions. Short of going to her place, again, which let’s face it, was getting a bit repetitive, I was pretty limited in my options, so it was this predicament that had led me to the gates of my new beach house.
Private, comfortable, and all mine. In short, it was a perfect place to spend the day relaxing with Allie. My director would probably freak if he knew I was bringing her here, but luckily no one in the press seemed to have caught on to the fact that I owned this place yet, and so far on my few visits, journalists hadn’t been an issue. For Allie, I was willing to take the risk.
I’d been at the studio first thing today, so to save time I’d asked my driver, David, to pick Allie up and meet me here. As I nodded to Billy on security and waited for the gates to open, I got a restless feeling in my stomach, which I supposed was what some people would describe as butterflies in the tummy. Was Allie already here? I hoped so. I always got these little excited tingles when I knew I would be seeing her, but stupidly they were more pronounced today, because I was actually nervous about whether or not she would like my new place.
Pulling past the gates, I began to wind up the long driveway until it separated into three and I took the central path to reach my house, hoping I would see the black limo sitting outside.
Rounding the last bend, a broad grin tugged at my lips as I saw David and Allie getting out of the car.
Pulling up beside them, I practically jumped out as the tumbling in my stomach intensified and made me twitchy with excess energy.
David smiled and nodded before sliding back into the limo and leaving Allie and me alone in the warm morning sunshine. She was wearing a sweet, pale yellow sundress that I instantly loved, because not only did she look gorgeous in it, but it showed off her long legs to utter perfection.
‘Hey, my gorgeous girl.’ I think my excitement and happiness almost quadrupled when Allie practically skipped to my side and promptly threw herself into my arms.
I loved this woman so much.
Pulling her more firmly against me, I hummed my contentment and couldn’t resist briefly burying my face in her hair and inhaling her addictive fragrance as one hand got its fix trailing through the long, silky strands.
Allie leant back, her cheeks pink and eyes twinkling before she rolled up on to her tiptoes and placed a kiss on my lips. I’m not sure if it was meant to be a quick ‘hello’ kiss, but almost as soon as our lips connected she let out a soft moan, clutched a handful of my shirt, and deepened the kiss by pushing her tongue into my mouth.
Fuck. One small moan and a bit of tongue and I was horny as hell and dragging her roughly against me, suddenly intent on finding a fun way to vent my pent-up excitement and nerves.
A seagull squawked loudly just overhead, bringing me vaguely back to the reality of what I was doing on the driveway of my own house. We hadn’t even made it inside, for goodness’ sake. Pulling back with a wry chuckle, I blinked to clear my lust-filled brain and looked down to see a similarly dazed expression on Allie’s face. That was another thing I loved about her – the obvious way she was affected by me just as much as I was by her.
‘Wanna look around?’ I glanced over my shoulder toward the house and grinned, the newness of it all still so exciting. The house was big, but the compound was bigger still, so there was no feeling of being overlooked by your neighbours. All in all it was pretty amazing, and I felt bloody lucky to own it.
Licking her reddened lips, Allie nodded and linked one hand with mine as she stepped from my embrace.
The house was all on one level so I gave Allie a tour of the four en suite bedrooms, study, and kitchen with an endless supply of modern gadgets, and ended up in the vast lounge/dining area with floor to ceiling windows that overlooked the beach. Allie looked suitably impressed, even though I hadn’t really got around to furnishing it a great deal yet – there was a bed, sofa, TV, and appliances in the kitchen, but that was about it. I had a load of gym gear arriving next week for one of the spare rooms, but actually, my lack of effort was secretly deliberate because I was hoping Allie might like to get involved with helping me furnish the place.
Truthfully, if it wasn’t for the Savannah issue hanging over us, I would have asked Allie to move in already. I would love to know that I was coming home to her every night. The very idea made my heart speed up a little, but even though I knew Allie loved me too I sensed that it was a bit too early in our relationship for that just yet. Still, if she helped me decorate and furnish the beach house hopefully she’d feel at home enough to want to spend increasing amounts of time here, and
then moving in would just be a natural occurrence.
‘What do you think?’ I asked hesitantly, because although she had made several appreciative noises as we’d walked around, Allie had been unusually quiet.
‘It’s a really great place, Sean.’ Walking to the patio doors, she gazed over the balcony to the sea beyond, her arms wrapping around her body almost defensively and causing my eyes to narrow. ‘The view is incredible too.’
Which it was, the three homes within this compound were spread around a pointed spit of land so they all had completely uninterrupted views over the beautiful beaches beyond, but what was with her quiet voice and defensive posture? Concern pulled my brow down into a frown and I immediately walked up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist. Laying my hands over hers, I pried her clenched fists open and linked our fingers together.
‘Why do I think you’re going to say ‘but’?’ I asked softly, trying not to sound defensive, needy, or desperate, but probably managing to sound like all three.
In this position I couldn’t see her face, but I did feel the huge sigh that expanded Allie’s ribcage and fluttered from her lips in a long, slow breath.
‘Allie?’ Twisting her in my arms I tipped her chin up so she would meet my gaze and saw her beautiful blue eyes clouded and her lips tightly pursed.
Leaning forward, she rested her forehead on my chest and sighed again. ‘It’s nothing I haven’t said before,’ she murmured.
‘I don’t care. If something is bothering you then tell me.’
‘I’m going to sound like a broken record.’ Looking up to meet my gaze, she raised a hand and gently rubbed her thumb across my chin. ‘It’s just that seeing this place has brought it home to me just how far away our happily ever after seems. I mean, this is your house, but I could only come here because David picked me up. You’re my boyfriend but I can’t be seen in public with you. It’s ridiculous.’
I figured this was always going to be an issue until the Savannah fiasco was sorted. What I didn’t think Allie realised was how much it frustrated and affected me too. She wasn’t the only one who wanted us to be able to be together properly. I loved her so fucking much and I wanted to scream it from the rooftops.