by Alice Raine
Sucking my bottom lip into my mouth, I chewed on it as my stomach gave an excited tumble. The idea of being engaged to Sean was incredibly appealing, although we were still so early on in our relationship that I couldn’t decide if it was too soon.
Sean had seemed to sense that now wasn’t the right time either, so I supposed all I could do was wait and see what happened.
Rolling onto my side, I caught sight of his wallet and keys on the table beside me. They were partially blocking my view of the beautiful beach so I was reaching over to shift them when I spotted a glimpse of a photograph inside that looked like me.
Curiosity got the better of me, and although I knew I shouldn’t snoop through his things I couldn’t resist, and found my fingers removing not one but two tiny photographs and examining them before a gasp left my lips.
Sean
Walking back to Allie, I found her propped up on her elbow examining something intently. When she realised I was behind her she jumped and looked at me with a small frown between her eyebrows. Her face was still flushed from desire, so the frown looked decidedly out of place and caused me to immediately lower myself behind her in concern.
‘Hey, what’s up?’
‘Where did you take these?’ she asked, her voice low and confused as she handed me whatever it was she had been examining. I realised it was just the photographs from my wallet, and relaxed. My eyes scanned the images and a fond smile curled my lips; one showed the two of us looking loved up and flushed in my lounge, and the other was just of Allie. ‘I love this one,’ I murmured, soaking in the details of the photograph of Allie smiling in my kitchen back in England. These pictures were caught on my security cameras before we’d even got together, and this one in particular represented one of the first times I’d seen her beautiful smile in all its glory.
‘But how did you get it?’ she asked again, breaking my fond remembrances. ‘I recognise that room … but I was alone that night. You weren’t there with a camera.’
It was then that I realised my monumental mistake. I’d never told Allie about the security cameras in my house, and how they captured all our movements downstairs. Swallowing hard, I winced. Shit, she didn’t know they’d also caught our downstairs sex sessions on tape either. Double shit.
Things could be about to get messy.
Blinking rapidly, I tried to think how I could get out of this, but nothing sprang to mind. Beside, we’d said no more secrets between us, so I quickly realised I was going to have to come clean. ‘It’s from the security footage,’ I murmured, and when Allie immediately tensed I snapped my mouth shut, not daring to say any more.
‘Security footage? Inside your house?’ she murmured, swivelling on the lounger to face me and dragging up her dress from the floor to clutch it across her chest. What the fuck? I hated the fact that she was suddenly trying to cover herself.
‘Who else sees that footage?’ she demanded, her cheeks turning deep red in a flush that had nothing to do with our earlier love-making. Her words did, however, make sense of her sudden tenseness, and I quickly tried to reassure her.
‘No one but me. The cameras were put in by my security team as a precaution, but no one views the footage, I swear.’
‘Did they record us … when we … had sex in the lounge, and the kitchen?’ My right eye twitched at her cold tone, but seeing as she was spot on the money I couldn’t really argue.
‘Yeah.’
Allie was silent for a second, her entire frame radiating tension and her eyes infuriatingly blank and unreadable. ‘What if your house was broken into? Then your entire security team would get to pick through it for clues, wouldn’t they?’ Her agitation was visibly growing by the second. ‘They could all watch us … us … fucking on your kitchen counter, Sean! I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.’ She was right. Fuck. A brief image of my security crew leering over the images of her popped into my head and my hands clenched at my sides.
The shit had really hit the fan, but even though I could see Allie was furious with me, and understand why, I couldn’t think of one useful or consolatory thing to say.
‘You’ve watched it back, haven’t you?’ she whispered suddenly, her eyes widening.
Busted. Now it was my turn to flush, and I felt my cheeks heating with guilt as I gave a shamed nod. I had watched it back. Multiple times. I’d also pleasured myself to the images, but I wouldn’t tell her that.
‘Oh my god,’ she whispered, clutching the dress even tighter to her body. ‘I can’t believe you didn’t tell me, Sean. This is really screwed up. Are there cameras here too?’
‘No.’ Wincing, I thought back to the email I’d received yesterday from my security team about the impending camera installation. ‘Not yet, anyway. But if it bothers you I’ll tell my team to call it off.’ Drawing in a breath, I ran a hand tentatively up her thigh, hating the way her leg tensed from my touch.
‘I’m so sorry, Allie. At first it didn’t even occur to me, the cameras have been there so long that I forget about them. But then I remembered, and I wanted you so badly that I …’ Removing my hand from her leg I ran it through my hair as I remembered just how desperately I’d been trying to deny my attraction to her back then.
‘I found myself watching you when you were cooking, or reading in the lounge.’ Swallowing so loudly that I saw Allie flash me a look, I finished with my admission. ‘And then we finally had sex, and you’re so fucking sexy that I … I just couldn’t help watching it back.’
She looked devastated, her hands wringing the thin fabric barely covering her. ‘I’ve deleted it,’ I blurted suddenly, hoping it would make this mess better, but almost immediately realised my lie. I had deleted our kitchen encounter and everything that came before it, but we’d had sex downstairs after that and I’d never got around to clearing the tapes again.
‘Well, most of it,’ I admitted sheepishly. ‘I’ll do the rest as soon I get back to the UK, I swear.’
Allie was silent, watching me intently for what seemed like forever, a completely unreadable expression on her face.
‘No.’ Her head shook, but her gaze wandered off across the balcony towards the sea.
No? What did she mean, no? Suddenly panicking that this was one mistake too far, I quickly sat up to try and plead my case. ‘Allie, I swear …’ But she cut me off by turning her crystal clear gaze on me. ‘No, don’t delete it. I want to watch it.’ She paused and ran her tongue slowly and seemingly deliberately along her lower lip.
If we weren’t in the middle of an argument then I would have sworn that move was seductive, but we were arguing, so I must have been mistaken. Mustn’t I?
‘I want us to watch it together.’ Her hand dropped the dress so it pooled on her lap, exposing her breasts again, and then her fingers trailed to my groin, giving a gentle fondle as a shy smile curved her lips. ‘I want to watch you taking me.’
Ho-ly fuck-a-roo. There was no way I could mistake that, and my eyebrows jumped in surprise as my cock jerked its approval. Jesus, she wanted to watch the tapes of us fucking? The idea was so erotic that I struggled to draw in my next breath and had to flare my nostrils in an attempt at getting enough oxygen to my brain because so much blood was flooding to my groin.
‘Am I forgiven?’ I managed to murmur, but my intense arousal had caused my voice to turn gravelly and far from its usual confident tone.
‘You are. I always knew you were a bit of a perv, this has just proved it.’
Standing up I scooped her into my arms with an agreeing hum. ‘Undoubtedly, but I’m your perv. And now I’m going to take you to the shower and do unspeakably naughty things to you to help solidify that theory even further.’
And with that I strode towards the bathroom with Allie giggling in my arms as my mind plotted what I could do to her that would help me live up to my wicked promise.
TEN
Cait
It was now a week since I’d accepted the job at Dynamic, and I was still mildly in shock. I was now a r
eal, genuine, visa-holding resident of LA … the city of dreams. Which was apt, seeing as it was pretty much my dream job. Not only would I earn a nice little pot of money to boost my flagging bank account, but on top of that I would get to spend more time with Allie in the beautiful LA weather.
Shaking my head in wonderment, a satisfied grin spread across my lips. Yep, all in all, things were pretty great at the moment.
Jason from Dynamic had been in touch this week with my start date (one week from today), a copy of my contract, and a list of social events run by the studios in case I was interested in joining any. He’d even highlighted the runners’ club and a sculpture group in the list, and scribbled a note saying that after reading the hobby section of my CV he thought they might appeal. I was quite touched by his effort.
It seemed from the vast array of things listed that the studios’ community were a friendly lot, because there was everything on there from fitness clubs and tapestry groups, right through to club nights and meals out.
Acting purely on impulse, I had woken up this morning and decided to make today the day I took the plunge and met some of the people I would be working with. So I was kitted out in my running gear and heading to the studio site where they held the weekly run around the back lots and wooded areas of the compound.
A morning jog was a habit for me now anyway, so combining it with a group of people with similar interests seemed a sensible way to make work friends.
After hopping off the hotel shuttle which stopped just down the road from the studios, I jogged towards the gate and showed them the ID card Jason had provided for me with my contract.
It still felt so surreal to have a job here that I half expected the security guard to laugh and send me packing, but after checking my card and getting me to sign in, he happily waved me through, and even gave me directions to where the running group met.
Rounding the corner of a large warehouse, I got my first glimpse of the runners I would be joining, and blimey, there were far more than I had expected. I’d thought maybe there would be ten or so, but there had to be at least thirty people standing around in running gear, stretching and chatting among themselves.
So many in fact, that I immediately stopped in my tracks and gave the elastic band around my wrist a quick, reassuring ping. I wasn’t keen on crowds, especially not when they consisted of entirely new people, and I immediately felt nerves settle in my belly.
Just as I was considering turning for home and doing my usual solitary run, Jason appeared from within the Lycra-clad crowd, waved, and jogged to me, effectively removing any chance of leaving undetected.
‘Cait, hi! I’m so glad you came! You can leave any water bottles or bags on these tables if you want.’ He pointed to a row of picnic benches already littered with other people’s belongings and I quickly left my water bottle and running jumper. Leading me back towards the runners, Jason explained that there were three distances I could choose from – five kilometres, eight kilometres, or a more challenging fifteen through the woods.
‘The tracks are all marked with plastic discs on posts or trees, so keep an eye out and you shouldn’t get lost. The five kilometre is marked with red, eight is blue, and fifteen is yellow.’
OK. That all sounded pretty straightforward. Jason then introduced me to two girls – Lisa and Mel – who also worked on Dark Blood, and I was glad that I’d have a few familiar faces to look out for next week.
Unfortunately, there was one other familiar face within the running crowd too. Someone I was trying desperately not to look at ever since I’d spotted him five minutes ago. Jack Felton. If I’d thought about it I could have guessed he might be here, because I already knew he shared my liking for running but I hadn’t really considered the possibility that the actors would come to these social events too.
I was obviously wrong, because as well as Jack I had spotted a few other famous faces, including Christopher Shire, the tall, dark-haired actor who played the lead role in Dark Blood. He looked almost as pale and terrifying in real life as he did when fully made up for his role of a vampire, and I found myself quickly looking away from him as nervous tingles ran up my spine.
I’d spotted Jack almost immediately, as if he were somehow magnetic. Maybe he was, at least that might explain why I kept seeing him, thinking about him, and dreaming about him … my cheeks flushed crimson and I closed my eyes for a second and tried to calm my suddenly skittering pulse before giving him another glance. His head was dipped as he stretched out his side, causing his brown hair to flop over his brow, but he still managed to spot me, look briefly surprised, and then give me a casual nod of acknowledgement before turning his attention back to the guys he was warming up with.
I should have been relieved by his lukewarm reaction, but for some ridiculous reason it made me flinch, and my stomach bunched uncomfortably. I couldn’t actually be feeling upset by his dismissive behaviour, could I?
Drawing in a long breath, I rolled my eyes at my stupid response and refused to look in his direction again. Unfortunately, knowing he was just a few feet away made it tricky, so I focused on the girls I was with and twisted myself around so my back was toward Jack as I began my own stretches. I supposed I couldn’t blame him for his cooler treatment, not after the way I’d practically blanked him when I’d last seen him at the studios.
Luckily, Lisa and Mel were very laid back and really chatty – just my type of people – and their excited talk about working at the studios eventually distracted me from my muddled thoughts.
As the group set off, the three of us decided to run together, but by the time we reached the four kilometre mark, Lisa was starting to struggle, and admitted that she was quite new to running and only just building up to the five kilometre track. So at the next marker where the fifteen kilometre track split off to the right, I bid the two of them goodbye and decided to head off on my own for the challenge of the longer loop.
‘Meet back where we set off, there’s always some juice and fruit while we stretch off. Good luck with the hill!’ Mel called, giving me a wave.
Waving goodbye I followed the yellow marker, but had to laugh as I immediately saw the girls slow to a walk now I was gone. Smiling to myself, I felt quite happy about my new colleagues, and potential friends, and definitely had a spring in my step as I began the ascent up the wooded path.
The path quickly became significantly steeper, but it was far cooler thanks to the shade from the trees. The only problem with this route was that it had now turned thickly forested and I occasionally freaked myself out when running in woods. I say occasionally, but really I mean fairly often. They were inherently beautiful, but I always found something a little sinister in the shadows and dappled shade.
If I allowed my mind to wander, which I often did, I would find myself looking through the trees, squinting until I had convinced myself that I’d seen someone lurking. Of course there was never anyone there, it was just the result of my remaining jumpiness over Greg, which was definitely heightened this week after finding out about his recent postcard.
Shivering slightly, I looked around, but all the other runners had dispersed. Even Jack’s yellow vest had disappeared over the next ridge a while ago. Swallowing hard, I picked up my pace, reassuring myself that I was fine.
I was about forty minutes into my run and getting up a nice, comfortable rhythm when I thought I saw a flash of something in the trees to my right. That area was way too densely wooded to be part of the running track. God, that really had looked like something real moving between the thick undergrowth.
Or someone.
Had it? Was my overactive imagination playing tricks on me again? The trees were particularly thick over there so I couldn’t see if someone was lurking without stopping to look properly, which I was definitely not about to do.
Chewing my lip, I increased my pace, determined to make the next ridge and hopefully be able to see some of the other runners on the other side. With my defences on high alert, I was now runni
ng at full pelt, so when I trod on my own loose shoelace I very nearly went sprawling face first into the gravel. Thankfully, a few long legged strides and some hectic arm flailing later, I’d managed to skid to a halt by a large, gnarly tree and bend to quickly tie my lace.
With my pulse now spiking from the shock of the near fall, not to mention my jumpiness, it was no surprise that I let out a loud, very girly shriek when I stood up and saw someone jogging briskly toward me.
Backtracking a couple of steps, I tried to assess if the man in the distance was a threat or not, and in my over-wrought state it took my panicked brain a couple of seconds to chill out and realise that it was Jack and his hi-vis vest coming toward me.
I was at once both relieved and panicked. Intrinsically, I just knew he wouldn’t hurt me. I didn’t know how I could be so sure, but I was, but still, meeting him again wasn’t exactly ideal considering how much of a response he seemed to cause in me.
The temptation to drop into a commando roll so I could disappear behind a large bush was almost overwhelming, but he had clearly already seen me. I would look utterly ridiculous. Mind you, I usually felt utterly ridiculous around Jack, so it wouldn’t be much different from the norm.
This bloody man and his sodding handsomeness had been randomly popping into my thoughts more and more recently, which was not something I was particularly thrilled with. Add into that his rather annoying habit of being everywhere that I was – park, theatre, gallery, studios, and now running club – it was all getting a bit overwhelming.
Jack jogged to my side and stopped before lifting his sunglasses onto the top of his head and wiping the sweat from his unfairly handsome face.
‘I noticed you’d fallen back a bit so I thought I’d check you were OK.’ His words were rather thoughtful, and thankfully he didn’t comment on the way I’d blanked him so rudely last time we’d met. I almost felt myself soften a little, until he added one final sentence. ‘Did the hill get the better of you?’
He had said it with a smile, but I found myself rather put out by his implication that I wasn’t fit enough to make the hill, and I frowned and crossed my arms as my already heightened defences rose even more, but for altogether different reasons.