The Fan

by Velvet Vaughn

  “She’s not my girlfriend.”

  She smiled mockingly. “No? Then what are all of these?” She reached around behind him for the box of incriminating evidence. Charlotte had sent enough to paper all the walls in his house. And four others.

  “Bella liked the pictures,” he said weakly. “She dug them out of the trash.”

  Jade gave him a look that said, “Yea, right.”

  He sighed. “I have never lied to you. The woman is a friend of my aunt’s. I went out with her once—before Bella—as a favor to my aunt and that’s it. End of story. She is not my girlfriend. There is no relationship. I will not be seeing her again.” No need to mention the little slip of actually having sex with her.

  Jade paused from reading one of the postcards she pulled from the box.

  She really was a nosy little thing.

  Pinning him with a disapproving gaze, she held one of the cards in front of his face. “It sounds like Charlotte didn’t come to the same conclusion.”

  She flipped the card over. “I quote, ‘I dream of you every night, of making love to you again.’” She glared at him.

  Damn it, men didn’t blush but his cheeks were on four-alarm fire. “Last time I checked, sleeping with someone doesn't constitute a relationship.”

  “It does if you don’t tell the other person.”

  “I never implied in either words or actions to that woman that we had a relationship. In fact, I flat out told her that I was not interested in one.”

  “Yet you slept with her.”

  “She threw herself at me.”

  Real mature comeback, Bradley. The whiny tone made it all the more pathetic. Why was he defending his actions to Jade, anyway? It was none of her business who he did or did not sleep with.

  She opened her mouth, probably to tell him exactly what a jackass he was. He couldn’t help it.

  He kissed her.

  A man can only take so much.

  Her eyes rounded, startled. He grabbed her and pulled her against him. Postcards went sailing through the air and scattered across the floor. Her palms touched his chest, whether to push him away or not, he would never know. She melted into him, her body molding to his. The kiss was a frantic mating of lips and teeth and tongues. His hands slipped under her skirt. Jeez, another thong. She would seriously give him a heart attack.

  Never breaking the kiss, he grabbed her and spun around until her back hit the wall. She wrapped her legs around his waist and they both moaned. He couldn’t get enough of her. He grasped her head between his hands and tilted it for deeper penetration.

  He ripped his mouth free, dragging in a breath of air as he trailed kisses down her neck.

  And then as soon as it started, he broke the kiss and walked away.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Jade could not make her world stop spinning. Somehow she went from steaming mad to mad with passion in a heartbeat. Logan’s nasty attitude pushed her to her limit and she decided to give him a piece of her mind. But he turned the tables on her and kissed her.

  It was no ordinary kiss.

  Her insides erupted like a volcano when his lips touched hers. She wanted to climb all over his body, had tried to sink into his skin. Then just as abruptly as it started, he ended it. No, “hey that was great,” or “why don’t we try that again sometime.” Nothing.

  Her anger resurfaced, flared. She whirled around to find him. “Oof.”

  The next thing she knew, she was flying through the air. Logan picked her up like she weighed nothing. Her arms wrapped around his neck for support just as his lips came down and crushed hers. He barely broke the kiss long enough to explain, “Had to reset the alarm…don’t want anyone walking in unannounced.”

  He carried her down a long hall to a room in the back of the house and gently placed her on a huge bed. He followed her down while their lips remained solidly fused together. Somewhere along the way, her shirt and skirt disappeared. The man had very talented fingers.

  She wasted no time with the buttons on his shirt. She grabbed the sides and tugged. Buttons popped free everywhere but she didn’t stop to feel guilty. She would buy him a new one, she just needed to feel his naked skin. He jerked the shirt off his arms and covered her with his body. His chest hair brushed against her sensitive skin and she moaned, raking her nails along his strong back. He tore his mouth from hers and groaned against her neck. His hips flexed, grinding against her. She gripped him tighter and arched her back.

  She wanted this, needed this. It had been too long for her. Not too many people would believe that Juliet LaRue, screen siren, had only slept with two men in her whole life: her college boyfriend and then her husband Kyle. She'd always heard of the casting couch but thankfully, she never had been propositioned that way. Oh sure, men always tried to get her to bed. But unlike her morals-of-an-alley-cat-ex, or equally slutty former roommate, she believed in the sanctity of marriage.

  Logan kissed a leisurely path down her body, sending electric charges coursing through her veins. His talented fingers went to work and her thong went flying. His wicked mouth was driving her mad. She couldn't take the sensations any longer, it was too much.

  “Please, Logan, I need…”

  He ignored her, continuing with his tongue and fingers and teeth. “Let go, honey.”

  She did. Flying apart, her body arching, her heels digging into the mattress, creating deep divots. He kept up the assault, drawing her climax out until she collapsed in exhaustion.

  He kissed his way up her body and boneless, she couldn’t even lift her hand. “Tired…” she mumbled.

  “Don’t go to sleep on me now, honey,” he chided playfully, knowing fully well she would never be able to sleep with him doing such amazing things to her. Unbelievably, she felt her body stir back to life. By the time his mouth met hers again, she'd regained her strength and was an equal and willing participant.

  Pushing his shoulders, she tumbled him to his back. “My turn.” She swung a leg over his hips and straddled him, her hands sifting through the course hair on his chest. He was so solid and hard. He reached up to play with her breasts and she grabbed his wrists.

  “Nuh uh,” she chided. My turn to play.” She pushed his arms to rest beside his head, clasped them together and tucked them under his head. His biceps looked massive in the position and she ran her hands over them, then her tongue, reveling in his strength.

  “Babe, I can't take much of this,” he gritted between clinched teeth. She could feel him throb beneath her, his eyes clamped shut. She loved that she could bring this big, strong man to his knees.

  Jade stared at Logan. How had he come to mean so much to her in such a short period of time? She couldn’t be falling in love, could she? And at the absolutely worst possible time in her life.

  She knew she was half in love with him when she watched him rescue those two teenage girls from certain death and when she witnessed how sweet and caring he was with his young daughter. But had she taken the plunge and fallen all the way in love?

  She thought she'd marginally loved Kyle once, enough to marry him. But it surely hadn’t been real love or she would have been willing to work on the marriage. She hadn’t even cared enough to fight for him. It should have sounded warning bells that she'd never pictured their life together long-term. Certainly she wanted children, but were the kids she saw running around the yard Kyle’s? She honestly couldn’t say.

  But with Logan, she could definitely picture a future—their future. She wanted him by her side through the highs and the rough patches. She wanted it to be his arm she clung to walking in a movie premier and the kids she pictured running through the yard were definitely his.

  She tossed the idea around in her head. Did she love Logan? He was gorgeous and strong and though he acted tough, she'd seen inside him, his softer, gentler side. He was a great father, intelligent, a true modern day hero. She didn’t even want to consider her life without him.

  But she was living a lie. He had no idea who
she was. Her identity was something too important to keep from him. She had to tell him. But she didn’t want to risk losing him.

  Maybe if she convinced him of her love, he would be able to forgive her.

  She rose on her knees, positioned him and slowly sank down until he was fully embedded. Somewhere along the way he'd procured a condom. He let out a shuddering groan and his fingers dug into her hips, guiding her. She was so caught up in the overwhelming sensations, she let him do all the work. He flipped them over and the pace became frantic. It became too much and she exploded, his harsh moan following close behind.

  When she regained strength, she ran a finger down the center of his chest and he hummed deep. His hand came down on hers, trapping it against his rock hard belly. Her gaze flew to his and she inhaled at the look of raw desire.

  “I have to apologize,” he drawled, his voice deep and gravely.

  “If you say something asinine like it shouldn’t have happened, I swear, I’ll slug you.” She would too. Her world had been rocked, turned upside down, changed irrevocably and he wanted to apologize?

  He chuckled, a low, rough sound and then sobered. He shifted so he was propped on his side facing her. “It shouldn’t have happened.”

  Jade pulled back her arm and swung. He ducked and grabbed her wrist. “Hey now, no need to resort to violence.” His amused twinkle set her off again. Though he could stop her, he didn’t. She grabbed chest hairs and tugged.

  “Whoa, there,” he sputtered, trying to remove her grip but she tightened it and his eyes widened.

  He groaned and cleared his throat. “You didn’t let me finish. I wanted to apologize for being rough. I showed no finesse and you definitely deserve finesse.”

  She smiled. “Keep talking.”

  “And I never should have attacked you that way, in the kitchen of all places. I should have wined and dined you, romanced you a little instead of pouncing on you like an animal.”

  “I’m listening.”

  He cupped her face tenderly. “I didn’t treat you like the lady you are, the way you deserve to be treated.”

  Oh, wow, she did love him. Releasing him, she draped herself over his body. Like most celebrities, Jade had a healthy fear of failure. But it never stopped her from going after what she wanted.

  She wanted Logan.

  Grasping his head between her hands, she stared down into his handsome face. “I know we haven’t known each other long.” She paused to brush her lips across his. When he tried to deepen the contact, she pulled back. She needed to get this out while she had the courage. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears, drowning out all other sound. Her voice sounded a million miles away. “But I’ve known you long enough to start falling in love with you.”

  Pure horror washed across his face at her heartfelt admission and he shot out of bed, knocking her off in the process. She scrambled upright, humiliation draining all color from her cheeks.

  “Where are you, Daddy?”

  Oh no, Isabella! Jade hadn’t heard her arrive.

  Logan dove for his closet. He managed to grab a pair of jeans and thrust his legs through the holes. “I didn’t even hear them come in,” he whispered frantically, echoing her thoughts. He hopped on one foot, tugging the jeans up his legs. He swiped a T-shirt from a drawer.

  Jade frenetically snapped her bra in place and pulled her shirt over her head. Backwards. She righted it and skimmed on her skirt. Where the heck was her thong? She couldn’t find it anywhere.

  Although she didn’t want Isabella to catch them like this, a small flutter of happiness washed over her. He hadn’t been reacting to her declaration of love, but the untimely arrival of his daughter.

  Her pride was intact.

  Logan peeked into the hall. “They must have gone downstairs. I’ll keep them there and you can sneak out the front.”

  Jade slid into her shoes, giving up her quest for her undies. She waited until Logan disappeared and then followed. She'd taken two steps when Logan stopped abruptly.

  “Daddy! There you are!”

  Logan picked Isabella up and carried her away, but not before, “Jade!”

  She froze mid-tiptoe, trapped.

  “I was uh, just giving Jade a tour of the house."

  “Jade?” a curious male voice inquired.

  “A tour of the house…is that what they are calling it these days,” another said with a salacious chuckle.

  Jade closed her eyes in horror. There was no way out of this. Well, she was an actress. She could pretend nothing happened. She finger-combed her hair, tossed her shoulders back and glided forward as if she had nothing to hide. Except maybe that hickey on her neck. She arranged her hair to cover the incriminating mark.

  She rounded the corner and came face to face with two tall, dark-haired men, both staring at her with amused grins that quickly turned assessing.

  “Jade, this is my brother Dan and my business partner, Luke Colton.”

  Jade shook hands with his brother first, who looked exactly like a younger, leaner copy of Logan. The other man was also strikingly handsome, his blue eyes sparkling in the florescent lighting. He opened his mouth to say something but before he could, Fiji came bounding into the room.

  Bark, bark.

  The dog dropped to his butt at her feet, and Jade shrieked in horror. Her missing panties dangled from Fiji’s traitorous mouth.

  Again.

  Luke and Dan’s eyes widened comically and then they quickly averted their gaze, unable to contain their mirth. Logan choked. Bella squealed about another sparkly towel.

  Damn perverted dog.

  “Give me that,” she hissed, tugging on the red lacy strap. Fiji jerked back and the strap snapped. Jade went flying.

  Again.

  “Shit.”

  “Shit,” Bella repeated.

  “Bella!”

  “But Jade said it, not me,” she pouted, her lips pursed in an adorable moue.

  “Don’t ever repeat that word again,” Logan ordered.

  “K, Daddy,” she replied earnestly.

  Mortified beyond belief, Jade accepted the hand Logan offered and pushed to her feet, careful not to offer his brother and friend a free front row ticket to the Jade LaRossa peep show.

  She needed to get away. Fast. “Isabella, why don’t you come with me to my house? I just baked some chocolate chip cookies.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I love ‘ookies!”

  Bella held her arms out to Jade in such a trusting manner, her heart squeezed. She told Logan they would be right back without meeting his gaze. She knew her face was flaming red. Cradling the girl in her arms, she scurried out the door.

  #

  Where could his darling Juliet be tonight? He punched a button on the palm pilot and compared the screen to the address on the mailbox. This was the right place.

  He tossed the device in the passenger seat and ducked down when he heard another car approach. Although his windows were tinted, he didn’t want to take any chances.

  The car pulled into the driveway next door to his Juliet’s house. Somehow she knew he preferred siding to brick and two stories instead of a ranch layout. She did a great job. They would be very happy in the house.

  Two men stepped out of the vehicle and one reached in the back to lift out a child. The three disappeared inside the house and closed the door.

  “She’s here, Mother, just like I told you she would be.” He spun to face his mother, her mouth contorted in a fierce scowl. She didn’t approve of his relationship with Juliet. But then, she didn’t approve of anything he did.

  “It was a long drive, Mother. Why don’t you get some rest?”

  His mother continued to glare. He shrugged a shoulder and spun back around to focus on the house. Nothing to do but wait. He pulled out his iPod and attached the earpieces. He could tune out his mother’s overbearing voice this way. He flipped through the menu until he found his favorite Juliet movie, the one where she played a caring school teacher in ‘Siege at Seattle High�
��. He settled into his seat, a smile creasing his face.

  He caught movement from the house next to Juliet’s from the corner of his eye. His head snapped up as the door opened and a red-headed woman stepped out carrying that same small girl. The woman looked directly at him and he got a look at her face. It was his Juliet!

  Should he run out and greet her now or wait? She was holding the little girl tightly, stroking her hair—black, the same color as his.

  He sat up straight, the earphones jerked from his ears. Could that be his daughter Juliet carried so protectively?

  “Yes, Mother, I do think that is your grandchild,” he said absently. She kept talking but he tuned his mother out. Maybe he should run out and meet her now. But he didn’t want to scare their child. She might not recognize him right off. He'd been away for a while.

  No, it would be better if he just watched her tonight and waited until tomorrow, after he gave her the presents he brought for her in his back seat.

  Did she get the other gift he sent? She hadn’t found a way to thank him, but she would. She was always good about that.

  He replaced the earpieces, reclined the seat and finished watching the movie, ignoring his mother’s disapproving stare from the back seat.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Luke and Dan watched Jade practically sprint from the room, their gazes locked firmly on her shapely derriere. Logan smacked both of them on the back of the head. “Cut it out.”

  “Jeez, bro, you truly are my hero,” Dan whispered reverently.

  “You dog,” Luke teased, thumping him hard on the chest. “You were holding out on us.”

  He smiled cockily. He couldn’t help it. “She’s hot, eh?”

  “Hot? Is that all you can say?”

  Logan’s smile slipped. “Killer bod?”

  “And…” Dan prompted.

  Logan was starting to get annoyed. “Look, don’t you be saying anything raunchy. She’s a nice girl.” And she said she loved him. He gulped.

  Both men gawked at him.

  “What?” He didn’t say that part about love out loud, did he? Now he really was pissed.