by Jackson Kane
“Oddly specific rule.” Was that a joke? Did he joke? I studied his profile looking for a smirk or anything else that would give away whether he was being serious or not. I didn’t think he was, but I wasn’t fully sure. It was extremely difficult to read him.
“You feeling alright?” Dante turned back to me.
“Yeah, I’m OK.” The dull pain of my scratches and bruises seemed to flare up at their mention. It was a nightmare trying to conceal all of the ones on my legs with makeup.
An image of my hands coming off his bloody back flashed across my mind. My eyes bulged. How could I stupidly forget about that?
“Your back! Shit. Are you alright?” I remembered the wisps of smoke that trailed from his back where the latex suit had melted to his skin after being pelted by flaming debris. My memory filled up with blood and the smell of burning plastic to the degree that my body gave a little shutter. Instinctively I reached out and touched his shoulder. His hard-packed muscle deceptively hid beneath the fine white suit.
He glanced at my hand, then looked at me, a warm smile cracking his stoic features. “I’m good. It looked worse than it was.”
“You looked pretty bad!” I swallowed, lifting my hand and awkwardly smoothing out my dress with it.
“You look radiant tonight.” Dante’s gaze followed my hand, then flicked his eyes up to meet mine. Ever-so-slightly they narrowed like a camera lens coming into focus. With Dante there was an air of danger in his secretive, bourbon eyes. “It’s Autumn right? My favorite season.”
“Thanks.” I fought the rising heat in my chest with deep breaths of the cool salty air, and tried to keep the smile swelling in me from reaching my eyes. Dante drank in the silence between us as someone might savor a decadent dessert after an expensive meal.
Dante mercifully broke his stare to wave a drink over from one of the gorgeous servers. In their black slacks and breezy, white button-downs both the men and the women were clearly models or acting unknowns, probably working these jobs just to network. I’d worked in the service industry for years and I’d never seen anyone at Dunkies that looked like them.
“Rum?” A wry smile spread across his lips as Dante paused for a beat to lift two shots of dark liquor from the waiter’s tray and place them on the ship’s railing.
“Oh, no thanks.” I brought my glass up, but didn’t drink from it, then felt weird about not drinking from it and took a quick sip.
Dante raised his eyebrows in a suit-yourself gesture. He clinked the shot glasses together; downing one, before pitching it off the side of the ship. It sailed out in a wide arc and splashed into the inky water below.
“Now your wine glass won’t be so lonely.”
My eyes lit up and mouth dropped slightly. I stifled a shocked, nervous laugh and glanced behind us. There were at least half a dozen people looking in our direction, but they looked more amused than alarmed. It didn’t even seem like the wait staff cared.
Was it because of who he was? Did they just expect a stuntman to do something like that?
“See? No one cares.” Dante hadn’t even bothered to look around and check. He wore the impassive face of someone truly undisturbed by people’s opinions of him, even going so far as offer me a small smirk. “You should try to relax more. Enjoy yourself. Life is short after all, and when it comes to a close…” There was a spark of a deeper truth in his eyes as if he knew something that no one else did, then that look faded into playful wink. “We’re going to wish we threw more glasses.”
“I—I guess you’re right.” I chuckled despite myself, shaking my head. His attitude was so infectious that I couldn’t help, but feel more at ease. Dante was nothing if not interesting and he was funnier than I thought any badass no-nonsense stunt guy had any right to be!
He was also surprisingly easy to talk to. I told him all about my YouTube channel and my crazy, wonderful mom, and of course we talked at length about what happened on set and how terrifying that was for me. I had so much trouble talking to anyone else about what happened, but with him it was different. That uncomfortable disconnect wasn’t there because he went through it too. He had been there and really knew what it was like.
“You fight as hard as you can and at the end of the day, if you survived, then you’ve won,” He said with a casual shrug. “You’re still here, Autumn.”
Thanks to you, I wanted to say, but swallowed the words instead. I didn’t want to be dismissive. I took a breath and let his words soak into me. Regardless how it happened I had won. It was time to put that pain behind me. I didn’t realize how much I needed this conversation until we had it and by the end there was this great weight lifted off my chest.
We talked more or less uninterrupted for ages. I didn’t even know how long- there was never a lull long enough for me to want to check my phone for the time, and we hadn’t started back toward the harbor yet so we still had plenty of time. I was glad for that. I’d spent so much time as a tangled mess that it was nice to let myself unwind.
“I feel like I’m dominating the conversation here.” I laughed through the nervousness that started seeping back into me when I noticed that I was the one doing most of the talking. Every time I asked him a question he’d redirect it into some fun story, make a joke, or turn it into a question for me.
“It’s too easy to get caught up in all of this.” Dante drew a lazy circle above his head, gesturing to the entire film community. He turned back to me, those dark eyes of his hinting at a smile. “I like listening to you talk. You have a refreshing personality.”
Despite the other passengers, for a fleeting moment it really did feel like we were the only ones on this boat. We were all alone in the ocean. Why did I like the thought of that so much?
“So, what is it?” He asked finally.
“What is what?” I carefully replied, noting the shift in his tone.
“You came to me.”
“Oh.” Clearing my throat, I collected myself for what came next. It didn’t help that I was still crazy giddy around him like he was Chris Hemsworth or some other actual celebrity. It made the already uncomfortable words even heavier as I spoke them. “The reason I originally came over was I—uh never got the chance to thank you for… y’know—”
I shrugged. We’d talked about what happened but the way the conversation unfolded I hadn’t expressly thanked him for saving my life. A smirk creased the right side of his handsome, smoothly shaved face. Dante watched expectantly not relieving the tension by just saying what I was grasping at.
Was he really going to make me say all of it?
“Saving my life.” I exhaled hard and fought the pressure behind my eyes. God that was so difficult to face. Hearing the words out loud with someone who was there, made me realize how close I came to dying.
“If you want to thank me—” Dante’s gaze rolled down my body like a bead of hot oil. He downed the shot of liquor then pointed across the deck to the stairway that led to the top floor of the cruise ship. “Do it up there. The view’s nicer.”
With that he walked off to the Employees Only rope that stopped patrons from entering. He unclasped it and a mischievous flash of his teeth beckoned me to join him.
I stared in awe for a moment. He couldn’t be serious? Could he? What happened if we got caught? I glanced around, and although some people glanced our way, again no one seemed to care.
Run, Autumn! Get out of there! I felt the same warning I got on set that day blared in the back of my memory. I was standing near the precipice of a different kind of disaster this time. But it was too late.
The thrill that ran through me had already taken hold. It was as unexpected as it was irresistible. I was a dandelion puff and he was the wind.
Dante saved me from explosions, but…who would save me from Dante?
“You’ve followed me this far.” Dante’s voice was low, but strong and dripping with intent. His eyes narrowed slightly, giving them a carnivorous glow. I was looking into the face of danger, and I hated that
I wanted more. “What’s a little further?”
Chapter 4
Autumn
My toe grazed the Spirited Massachusetts’s top step; sliding backwards off and digging my heel into the step below. I squeaked at the sudden loss of footing. Heels, even chunky ones, were the wrong choice for a boat. What the hell was I thinking?
“Careful.” Dante’s hand was on my lower back in a heartbeat. He helped me up to that final landing. The heat from his lingering fingertips threatened to melt through my cotton blouse.
“Heh, thanks. Slippery.” I laughed, trying to think of anything, but the searing touch of his strong hand on my back. I blamed the slow listing of the boat and my last two glasses of wine, but really I was just nervous as hell. “No wonder these stairs are off limits.”
Dante slipped by me. The wry glance and cracked smirk he tossed my way as he passed told me he knew there was nothing wrong with the stairs.
The top level of the ship was another open-air landing that was about the same size as the public one below. The large enclosed room that took up half the deck, which had to be the bridge where the captain and all the navigation deck panels were, was lined with tinted glass.
Were we really allowed to be up here? Another nervous feeling crinkled up my abdomen. Anyone in that cabin could easily see us and the last thing I needed was to get yelled at again.
Needing to regain my composure, I drifted toward the railing and gazed out into the horizon. Dante checked the door of an addendum room that looked like it was only used for storage.
I wasn’t always this clumsy! It had to be him.
Everything about Dante put me off balance. I swear he created his own gravity. Every time I was near him I was consumed with vertigo, like I could fall into him at any second.
“Beautiful,” he said, suddenly behind me, raising the tiny hairs on my arms and neck.
I looked up from my hands, breathed in the crisp sea breeze and I took in the view. The last of Boston’s jagged skyline sailed slowly by us. The Massachusetts had finally escaped the harbor. The infinite black of the starry sky bled seamlessly into the watery horizon and stretched out before us for what felt like forever. The only light was from the full moon, which lit a glistening trail across the ocean so bright that you could almost walk across it.
“It’s amazing,” I exhaled; renewed warmth charged me like a battery despite the nipping cool wind on my cheeks.
How long had it been seen I’d seen the ocean this late? I’d gone to the beach almost every summer, but never at night. Seeing the vastness of the water was magical, but it also made me feel small and insignificant.
Like I could be swallowed whole any second.
“I wasn’t talking about the view.” His voice was a gravelly bellows in my ear that fed the smoldering coals of his earlier touch, and reignited them into a raging inferno. Fortunately it was too dark for him to see the five shades of red he turned me. “Do you still want to thank me?”
“I uh…”
How the hell was I supposed to answer that?
Dante turned, leaning his back against the railing. The moonlight drowned in his dark, inescapable eyes. I worried the buttons of my blouse might melt off if he looked at them long enough. The scar on his cheek and the one through his brow, betrayed his roguish nature and dangerous profession. Up front in his white suit he was all James Bond, but just beneath that was a scoundrel who wanted nothing more than to get his hands dirty.
That’s what I wanted too.
I swallowed a mouthful of hot ash. What was I so afraid of? Hurting my career? What career? I wasn’t an actress anymore. Why not let go and just enjoy myself for once?
“Yes.” I studied him. My courage was frayed at the ends, but it was still there
“Then let me have a sip of your wine.”
Wine? I deflated a little. That couldn’t be all he wanted? I had no idea what he was going to ask for, but my glass wasn’t what I was hoping for.
What was I hoping for?
“Sorry, I’m all out.” I glanced down at the red remnants that glazed the bottom of the glass; it was empty. When had I finished it, and why didn’t it do anything help my parched throat?
“No. You’re not.” Dante didn’t so much as flick his eyes down to check. He slid a hand around the back of my neck, up through my scalp and leaned impossibly close.
A spike of adrenaline raced through my veins as my mind was instantly transported. I reveled in the way his weight crushed into me just like on the pavement that day on set. The vivid memory of him saving me along with his dragging nails through my scalp forced me to grip the railing to keep from falling over.
I sucked in air as a wide smile overcame me. He’s going to kiss me!
I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t fantasized about this moment whenever I thought about him. But it was always just that—A fantasy. I was never supposed to see him again. And here we were.
He didn’t kiss me; our lips barely grazing, he did something far more intimate. He cocked his head to the side, parted my lips with his tongue and dragged it across my teeth. It was then I realized Dante was a thief. He stole all the sensation from my face, somehow even ripping the very air from my lungs.
There was no hiding my eyes were saucers. I didn’t know what just happened, but the thrill that coursed through me was unlike anything I’d ever felt before. My skin crackled. If he didn’t pull away, I might’ve drowned in him.
Dante’s bottom lip was a white line, drawn between his teeth as he pulled away and studied me. Just a taste, his dark eyes shined. He savored the wine; me.
“How’s the wine?” I clumsily murmured, gasping in breath, and desperately trying not to show how much that not-kiss affected me. His look unconsciously drew my thumb and forefinger to my ear stud, but I caught myself immediately after and lowered it.
He didn’t smile, or say anything. Anticipation rolled off him like steam from the hood of a car during a heat wave. With Dante I was quickly coming to understand it wasn’t always what he said, but what he’d left unspoken.
“That’s not the only thing I’m going to lick off you.” His sinful promise was a hot summer rain soaking me to the bone.
The bastard knew exactly what he was doing to me.
I moaned in reply. Equal parts fear and excitement pricked me as he slid his hand under my ass and squeezed roughly. I could feel the bruise form. The thought of a souvenir from tonight, hidden on my body thrilled me.
With one sweeping arm Dante lifted me off my feet and carried me through the door he’d tested earlier. The small room was a combination of storage and repair area and was only a little bigger than Mom’s walk-in closet. Opposite the door was a cluttered work bench and stool beneath a lonely, porthole window; thin racks of electronics lined the other walls.
It was too claustrophobic for a proper workspace, but for us, it was perfect. Déjà vu swelled in me. It was suddenly eleventh grade and I was at Julie’s party slipping into a closet with my boyfriend. Only Jake wasn’t anything like Dante, not even in his wildest dreams.
Electronics danced across the shelf as Dante roughly crashed us against it. The door lazily snapped shut behind us, cutting us off from the rest of the world.
It was only him and me now…
It frightened me how much I wanted this. It wasn’t just Dante that excited me; it was also the thought of giving up so much control to such a powerful man. A one-night-stand was so unlike me, so…out of my comfort zone.
It was the ultimate way to end this grand movie star adventure.
Dante shrugged off his jacket, then pulled his tie and button down shirt off in one overhead jerk. He was a patchwork of tattoos and scars beneath a tuft of chest hair and over more corded, bulging muscles than I’d ever seen on a man. The light that filtered through the small room’s lonely window robbed Dante of his color and cast his sculpted physique into heavy contrasting shadows, making him look even more imposing than he already was.
My indie photogr
apher friends would kill to get ahold of Dante in this stark lighting.
Dante stalked forward and kissed my neck. He dragged his nails down my spine to the edge of my dress’s hem then plunged further. He easily popped the clasp of my new strapless bra that I still had trouble with occasionally.
Doubt swung like a pendulum in the recesses of my heart. I was never going to see him again after tonight but... Did that make this OK? What would Mom say if she found out?
I didn’t know anything about this man.
That wasn’t true. Not exactly.
I knew he was fearless. Dangerous. And he obviously took what he wanted.
“God damn…” Dante said, slipping the spaghetti straps off my shoulder and tearing off my bra. He paused a moment to let his eyes feast on my bare chest. “And here I thought you couldn’t get any fucking hotter. What else are you hiding from me?”
No one had to know about this, about us, I smiled, smoothing down my flyaway hairs and straightening my skirt. It was all I could do to keep from trembling under his ravenous gaze.
Unconsciously I couldn’t help, but beam a little that he chose me. Top-billed actresses, professional makeup artists, French runway models who served drinks; this ship was full of gorgeous people!
Who was I?
“Why don’t you come over here and find out, big boy,” I said with my sexy voice. Black Widow from the Avengers whispered the words into my mind, but when they tumbled out of my mouth it was all Velma from Scooby-Doo.
Damn it! I was too caught up in him to think straight!
“Big boy?” Dante snorted, amused and closed the distance anyways. “You have no idea.”
I swallowed as the air between us sizzled and popped, and welded me to the floor. He slipped a hand up my thigh and cupped my pussy. His pressure flooded through my stomach and ribs like soda bubbles.
“You’re so fucking wet.” His fingers curled against my eager pussy lighting me up like a short-circuiting Christmas tree. The thin panties I wore did nothing to dull his touch. “When I’m done with you they’ll be mopping you up off the floor.”