“I’ve missed you,” he sighed.
“Have you?” I asked, maintaining control.
“Yes,” he said breathlessly, as I got more creative with my movements. His eyes closed, and he made a little murmur sound.
“I’ve missed you too, Jase. Or should I call you Jason? That’s how you introduced yourself at dinner.”
“Your hand is on my dick. It’s Jase.”
I laughed. “Don’t you want to touch me?”
“I’m afraid. I don’t want to do anything you don’t want me to do.”
All I could think about was removing the memories of Carter from my brain, and I knew Jase was the only person who could do that for me.
“I want you to erase his touch, Jase. Please. Put your hands on me.”
“Okay,” he said tentatively, his hand moving to cup my breast. “Is this okay?”
I nodded. “It’s perfect. Just, please don’t tell me I taste good, okay?” I said, fighting the urge to shudder.
“I won’t,” Jase said sincerely, as he dipped his head, and his lips moved to my shoulder.
“Thank you,” I said, slightly breathless.
“What are you doing?” a small voice asked, and I yanked my hand out of Jase’s pants. He groaned under his breath in protest but got to work tucking his shirt in.
“Hey Sky,” I said, sticking my head around Jase to see my little sister standing in the doorway.
“Oh,” she said, grinning at me. “Hi Jase.”
He glanced over his shoulder at her and cleared his throat. “Um, hey Skyar,” he said hoarsely.
“Were you guys making out?” she asked, her eyes narrowing.
“No,” I said quickly and very unconvincingly. “Jase was fixing the strap of my dress. That’s all.”
Thank God she couldn’t see where my hand had been.
“With his teeth?”
“Yes,” I said, and Jase chuckled under his breath.
“Okay,” she said, but she didn’t probe further. “Mom says you need to come inside for dessert.”
“Okay, we’ll be there in a second.”
After she closed the door, I looked up at Jase. “I’m sorry about that. Are you okay to go inside?”
He adjusted himself once and then nodded. “Yeah, I’m good. Just don’t do anything to get me all worked up again, okay?”
I leaned up and kissed him, not able to help it. “I’ll save that for later, when we get back to your place.”
He reached out and squeezed my hand. “Is that a promise?”
I nodded. There was no way I wasn’t going home with him.
“There you guys are,” Ellie said when we walked back inside. She immediately took Jase’s hand, and my eyes went wide. She leaned over to whisper in my ear. “Appearances only, Logan. I know Jase’s into you. He told me all about you, and I’m not interested in him, okay?”
She was eying me earnestly, so I nodded and said, “Okay.”
“Hey, there’s my girl,” Bryan said, coming up to the three of us.
“Bryan, I’m so sorry,” I said quickly, as he tried to take my hand, “but I actually have a boyfriend.”
Bryan looked stunned, and I didn’t look over at Jase to gauge his reaction. I didn’t want to know if he wasn’t okay with me labeling him in that way, but he’d done the same thing to me. We could talk about it later if it freaked him out.
The four of us walked back to the table and sat down as dessert was being served. From the other end of the table, my mom gave me a satisfied nod. I wasn’t sure if it was because I’d returned to the table or because Bryan was with me, but either way, she was happy.
I dug into my crème brule, looked up at Jase and smiled. He smiled his secret smile back at me, and I was glad to know that I was the secret he was carrying around.
***
“Oh shit!” Jase said, covering his eyes from the dozens of flashbulbs that were going off in our faces as soon as we stepped outside.
I raised my own hand, suddenly very aware of the fact that Jase’s hand was resting on my lower back. I stepped away from him, remembering our promise to keep our relationship out of the media.
“Jase, is Logan Kessler your girlfriend?”
“Does Garrett Lewis know you’re dating his ex-girlfriend?”
“Will this affect your relationship with Garrett?”
“I thought you were seeing Ellie Carlisle?”
“Logan, how long have you and Jase been together?”
“Are your parents happy that you’re dating a celebrity?”
I was in such shock and awe that all I could do was stand there. The questions never stopped coming, and I had no idea how they’d gathered this much information in such a short period of time.
“Don’t answer them,” Jase murmured out of the side of his mouth.
Yeah, I wasn’t planning on it.
Before I knew what was happening, Jase took my hand and was tugging me down the driveway to his car, the vintage Mustang he usually kept in the garage, which the valet had pulled around for him. He threw me unceremoniously into passenger seat and dove into the drivers’ seat as the photogs surrounded the car, snapping picture after picture. And all I could wonder was how in the hell had they gotten on Luiz’s property.
“Shit,” Jase hissed, gunning the engine. “Move!”
He gestured to the photographers in front of his car.
“I will run your asses over if you don’t get out of the way,” he shouted, but they didn’t move.
Without thinking, I picked up my cell phone and dialed Luiz.
“Logan, is everything okay? Didn’t you just leave?”
“Luiz,” I said and heard the panic in my own voice. “The paparazzi are on your driveway. We can’t leave.”
Luiz cursed in Portuguese before assuring me in English that he’d take care of it. Then before I knew what was happening, his security guys were outside pulling the photographers away from Jase’s car enough that we could leave. Then they were chasing his car down the driveway to their own vehicles parked outside the gates. I knew someone must have given them the gate code, but were they there to see us, or had it just been lucky for them that we’d come outside when we did?
“Shit,” Jase hissed, running his hand back through his hair as the gate slowly opened.
As soon as he could, he slid his car through the opening in the gate and hit the gas. The engine growled to life, reverberating through the seats as only a classic muscle car could.
“This car is insane,” I said, running my hand along the restored dashboard.
Jase looked over at me. “That’s what you’re thinking about right now?”
I looked behind us to see the street empty, as Jase pealed onto Sunset Boulevard, and we were soon blending in with the Saturday night traffic. We were safe.
“Well, yeah. What else should I be thinking about?”
Jase huffed. “The fact that someone called the paparazzi and not only tipped them off that Luiz was having a party, but they also let them onto his property, and they got pictures of us.”
I shrugged. “It’s part of the territory, right?”
Jase shook his head. “I did not want to drag you into this, Logan. That’s my life, not yours.”
“Hey,” I said, putting my hand on his forearm. “You’re a part of my life, so that means a little of what you deal with, I deal with too, okay?”
“You don’t know what you’re saying.”
“Seriously?” I asked in disbelief. I wasn’t that dumb. “Jase, I know how bad it can get, okay?”
He sighed. “I just don’t think we should go public, okay?”
“I never said that!” I exclaimed, shaking my head. “But if I’m out with you, and you happened to get photographed, so be it. I’ll just make sure I always look beautiful so no one mocks the girl you’re hanging out with – that you’re ‘friends’ with.”
Jase looked over at me and smirked. “That won’t happen. You always look beautiful.”
I smiled. “Flattery will get you everywhere, Mr. Brady.”
“That’s my plan,” he said, and I was glad to see he was loosening up.
Twenty minutes later we were back at his place, and once again I was so glad to close the door behind us and shut out the world.
-21-
“So you’re dating Jason Brady,” my mom said when she called the next morning. I knew I shouldn’t have picked up the phone.
“Who is it?” Jase mumbled from beside me, half asleep. His arm snaked around my bare waist and pulled me back against his equally naked body and his lips hit my throat.
I jerked away from him like a livewire and scooted to the other side of the bed, glaring pointedly at him.
“Hang on a second, Mom,” I said, looking at Jase as his eyes widened.
I shook my head, telling him silently not to say another word as I sat up and pulled the sheet over my bare chest. It was extremely bright in the room to be wearing as little as I was, and while falling asleep without my clothes on the night before had seemed like a fantastic idea at the time – of course Jase had been peppering my skin with kisses and telling me how beautiful I was, so it was a little hard to feel self-conscious. Now I wished I was at least wearing a shirt and some panties. I didn’t do naked around anyone.
But, I guess when you’re sleeping with someone, they get to see you naked, so there you have it.
And in the morning after, Jase couldn’t seem to keep his eyes off of me. He was hugging his pillow and was resting chin on top of it as he looked up at me endearingly. His hair was all bed-heady and sexy, and he had sleep lines on his cheek. He was completely adorable.
“Hey Mom. How’s it going?” I finally said, dragging my gaze away from the sexy guy lying just a few feet away.
“Logan, don’t be smart with me,” she chastised. “Are you dating Jason Brady or not? Skylar said you were making out with him on the terrace last night. Is that true?”
“No,” I said, trying to sound sincere. “Were just . . . friends. That’s all.”
Jase smirked and shook his head.
My mother laughed. She actually laughed. “Sweetie, I have heard that line many times and have even said it a few times myself. I call bullshit.”
“Mom, my personal life is my own, and I’m choosing not to share it with you, so you’ll just have to be okay with that.”
Jase nodded his head once in agreement, proud of my assertiveness, as he mouthed “Yeah.”
I pictured my mother’s eyes narrowing. “Logan, you are dating one of the hottest young men in Hollywood. Your personal life is no longer your own.”
Yes, I realize that, but he’s who I want to be with, so I’m just going to have to deal with it.
I sat up straighter. “Yeah, speaking of that. Do you know who let the paparazzi onto Luiz’s property last night?”
“No, darling, I don’t,” she said, and something told me she was lying.
Call it daughter’s instinct, but I could always tell when my mother wasn’t being honest, and she wasn’t being honest in that moment. She knew something. My stomach churned at the thought that she could have had something to do with the photographers being staked out on the driveway last night. Maybe she’d wanted to orchestrate a photo-op for her reunion with Luiz. Maybe that was why she was being so cold so early in the morning. I’d stolen her spotlight. And she hated when anyone stole her spotlight.
“Okay, Mom, well I have to go. I’m heading to the library to meet some friends.”
“That sounds lovely, dear. Have fun, study hard. And please make plans to be here for dinner next Saturday night with Jason. I’d like to officially meet the boy you’re dating.”
I rolled my eyes. “Mom, I told you we’re just friends, and you met him last night.”
“Well, I’d like to meet him again – in an official capacity. So, bring your ‘friend’ to dinner at eight, and wear a dress,” she demanded.
“Mom, we can’t do next Saturday. Jase is going out of town.”
Jase raised his eyebrows at me in question, since we both knew he wasn’t going out of town. I shook my head at him, and he smiled, realizing what I was doing.
“Then the Saturday after that. Is he in town then?” she asked, and I could hear the mocking tone in her voice. She knew I was evading her.
“Yes, but I’m not. Ethan and I are going to San Francisco to see Kelly,” I explained.
Jase raised his eyebrows again, and that time it was because I hadn’t told him I was going out of town, but to my credit, I hadn’t been sure what was going on with us, so I hadn’t been sure if I should even share this information with him until now.
“Okay, then,” my mom said. “The Saturday after that then.”
“Hang on,” I said, putting my phone down. I turned to Jase and lowered my voice. “Can you have dinner at my mom’s house in three weeks?”
“I have a movie premiere that night,” he explained.
“Oh, okay. That’s fine.”
I put the phone back to my ear. “Mom, we’ll have to figure out a date some other time, okay?”
“Logan,” she chastised, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. “It is nine o’clock in the morning. Are you with Jason?”
“Bye Mom,” I said, giving her the hint not to go there.
She sighed. “For the love of God, be careful,” she said, dialing up the drama in a major way.
“Yup, Mom. Definitely. No problem. Talk to you soon,” I said in a clipped tone as I hit ‘end’ on my phone. She was un-freaking-believable.
I growled as I threw my phone down on the bed and shook my head a few times. That woman infuriated me. I looked up to see Jase grinning at me.
“What?” I asked, my irritation ebbing away just by being in his presence.
“You’re adorable when you’re mad.”
I pouted and crossed my arms over my chest. “My mom sucks.”
“Most of them do,” he said logically.
“You’re mom doesn’t,” I justified.
He’d told me countless stories about his mom, and she sounded just as wonderful as Ethan’s mother. Why did I have to get the maternal shaft?
“My mom is pretty great, but she’s also not an actress.”
The way he said it was so bitter it made me wonder if he’d sworn off actresses after Chloe. He had every right to. She’d burned him badly enough.
“My mom reminds you of someone you don’t like, doesn’t she?” I asked, not sure if it was okay to go there.
“Yeah,” he said in a clipped tone. “She does.”
“What exactly happened between you and Chloe,” I asked, suddenly wanting to know more about him. He’d told me a lot of things but very little about their relationship.
“She cheated on me,” he said flatly.
Yeah, I knew that.
“My mom cheated on my dad – a few times.”
Jase nodded. “Same here. The first time it was just a kiss that she swore caught her off-guard, and I loved her enough that I believed her. Then the second time she slept with her co-star, but she cried and begged for forgiveness, and I stupidly gave it to her. Then the final time was with the producer of a movie she’d just filmed. She’d been in Georgia shooting for a few months, so we hadn’t seen each other, and when she came back, I thought everything was great. But then she started disappearing without explanation, and every time I asked her about it she acted like I was being ridiculous for questioning where she was. She accused me of not trusting her and not having faith in our relationship.”
“You guys were living together, weren’t you?”
He nodded. “Yeah, we were. We moved in together after dating for a year. It was one of the biggest mistakes of my life, but I’d been living at home before then, and it was awkward to have to explain to my mom that I was staying over at my girlfriend’s house, so Chloe just told me to move in with her, and I did. Anyway, she was out one day, supposedly shopping, and she came back looking like she’d
been messing around, and I just knew. So I confronted her, and she broke down. She begged me for forgiveness, told me she didn’t mean for it to happen and other like statements, but I was just done at that point. I was so furious with her and so hurt, and I just couldn’t look at her any longer.”
I pulled my knees up to my chest and hugged them with my arms. Jase’s face looked so twisted and torn as he talked about his ex. A part of me wanted to reach out and hug him, but another part of me knew I should give him space.
“What did you do?”
“I packed a bag and moved out. I rented a house that afternoon, hired movers to get my stuff and never looked back. The next week the pictures of Chloe and Samuel Klein were on the cover of Celebrity Weekly, and I felt like a huge jackass. They were taken the day before she’d confessed. Apparently, just kissing him hadn’t been enough, and she’d gone back for more.”
I remembered the cover well, and all I could think about was the picture of Jase that they’d included in the inset. He’d looked so pensive, as if contemplating the fate of his relationship. I knew it was a stock photo, but it just fit so well with the story the magazine was telling. My heart had gone out to him, and I hadn’t even known him back then.
“I told myself right then and there that I was done with actresses,” he said, shaking his head. “Chloe wasn’t the first one I’d dated, and I didn’t have great experiences with the others, so I just checked out.”
“Well, Chloe obviously didn’t know how good she had it,” I said, slinking down under the covers and going to lie beside him.
I smoothed his hair back from his face and kissed his forehead.
“And I didn’t know how great having a real girlfriend could be,” he said, as he leaned forward and kissed me, and his arms went around me and pulled me against him.
“I’m your girlfriend?” I asked.
He smiled. “You told Bryan Heller that you had a boyfriend last night, and I can only assume you were talking about me. At least I hope you were.”
I propped my head up on my hand and gazed at him. “I was.”
“Alright, well I’m glad we got that cleared up,” he said, reaching out to finger one of my curls. “So you’re going to San Francisco in two weeks?”
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