Limelight (Hollywood Stardust)

by Kim Carmichael

  As if she were about ready to burst into tears, the woman's lower lip shook, but she managed a nod. "I'm a huge fan, and I couldn't believe when I saw the two of you together."

  It seemed as if the entire population of Grand Junction, Colorado gathered to watch the display.

  "Well, we thank you, but as you see Drew isn't quite used to being in the public eye anymore, however, I'm sure we could give you a little photo op." Keeping hold of him, she began signing autographs from the pens and papers that seemed to materialize out of thin air.

  When she elbowed him, he took his cue and also signed the papers, nearly putting Isaac down a few times.

  "All right." Like a pro, Erin got the entire situation under control, answering questions, and joking with the crowd. For a finale, she wrapped her arms around him. "It's picture time."

  No less than fifteen people lifted their phones and snapped their image.

  At last, he was the guy, the one by Erin's side. Through the years he watched various men take this position, hating each one of them for standing where he should be. Now with the title his, he didn't know what to do, how to handle it. Sweat broke out over him, and after a couple of minutes he leaned down to her ear. "We need to go, now."

  Erin held her hand up. "Thank you all. We have to go now."

  Without bothering to glance at the price tag on the toaster or the bandanas, he pulled out some bills from his wallet, and handed them to the first woman as they left the building.

  They didn't speak as they returned to the bed and breakfast. Once inside, Erin glanced at him, put her hand over her mouth and ran into the bedroom.

  "Damn it." While she fixed his career, he must have ruined hers. He set down their purchases, rubbed his hand over his face and followed her, finding her in the bathroom sitting at the edge of the tub with her face hidden in her hands.

  He took his place next to her. Was it his place? "Erin."

  She sniffed and looked up, but not at him. "I'm so sorry Drew."

  "For what?" Though he longed to take her in his arms, he resisted. Instead, he grabbed the edge of the cool porcelain. After having their pictures taken and being with him in public, he was ready for her to drop the bomb.

  "I don't know what I'm doing." She wiped her eyes.

  How did he end up in a rewind of twenty years ago? Before he had a chance to tell her to stop, he didn't need to hear this again, she continued.

  "I insisted on the toaster, I just assumed I could decorate your house, I called the dog hotel multiple times, and each time I made sure Beaker had something special. Then with that whole photo situation, I took control when I should have let you do what you wanted. I just didn't want you or me or the lab getting a bad name." With her outburst, she grabbed onto him and burst into tears.

  As he tried to digest her words, he took her into his arms and shook his head. Did the picture upset her? What had he done to cause her to be sobbing in his arms? "I want you to decorate the house and call the dog hotel and think about me and the lab."

  She wiped her face on his shirt and lifted her face up to his.

  "I didn't want them taking our picture and then having you see it somewhere and think no one would believe we are together." His jaw tightened.

  "Can’t we let it go ever? I thought we were together, finally." The tears continued to stream out of her eyes. "I want the world to know."

  He pulled her in and connected their mouths, her lips salty from her crying, but still delicious.

  "Do you want me?" Her voice came out barely a whisper.

  "That's all I've ever wanted." He answered the question, though she always knew he wanted her. With his fingertips, he wiped her eyes.

  "Tell me what I need to do." The tears welled up again.

  "Start by explaining why you keep asking for my permission on everything." Between backorders, product lines, pictures and still coming down from simply being with her, he didn’t have time to focus on her strange behavior until now.

  "After yesterday I thought that's what you wanted, but I don't know if I'm any good at this outside the bedroom." She bit her lip. “Don’t you want me to be docile and have you make all the decisions?”

  The proverbial light bulb flashed on and he exhaled. What he needed he gained yesterday. He needed to be a man, take control and draw the lines. If he wanted Erin, he had to know how to keep them both happy and that included a definite direction. "I want Erin. I don't want Erin playing a role. I do want the Erin who thinks enough about me and the lab to take over and make sure I don't ruin publicity. I told you yesterday what I wanted."

  Once more she grabbed his shirt and wiped her nose. "I do have to admit I sort of wanted to know how naughty I had to be in order to get another spanking."

  A jolt ran through him at her admission. "I think ruining one of my favorite shirts would be cause for a little discipline." Needing to make her smile, he leaned up and fished a dollar bill out of his wallet.

  She slid to his side and watched him create his intricate folds.

  He finished off the little piece of art and held it out to her.

  “I still have the flower you made me in my wallet.” At last, the tears stopped. She took the little folded heart and pressed it to her chest. "I guess we just have to get used to us again."

  "Yes, we do." With her in his arms, he stood up. They still had a lot of work to do to be together, even if neither of them wanted to admit it.

  HOLLYWOOD STARBURST

  INT. TERRA HAUTE, IN, INSIDE THE BMW – LATE AFTERNOON.

  Steven is driving, Charles is in the passenger seat with a map, William is in the back.

  WILLIAM leans up and sticks his head in between the seats.

  WILLIAM

  So how much longer until we get there?

  STEVEN

  What are you five years old?

  WILLIAM

  No, I’m worried about Roxy. I wish she would’ve called me to tell me she was hurt. Last I spoke to her she sounded amazing, and we—

  WILLAM cuts himself off and moves back into his seat.

  STEVEN adjusts the rearview mirror.

  STEVEN

  And we what?

  CHARLES lifts the map.

  CHARLES

  We should be there in just over an hour.

  STEVEN

  Quiet Chuck, William was enlightening us.

  WILLIAM puts his hands behind his head.

  WILLIAM

  When she returned I was going to go see her.

  STEVEN

  (Smiles)

  Interesting.

  WILLIAM puts his hands down.

  WILLIAM

  What is?

  CHARLES

  I’m glad I stopped for some first aid supplies. Depending on the swelling, it will be good to get a bandage on that ankle.

  WILLIAM

  What – is – interesting?

  STEVEN

  Well, you may have been going to see her, but last I spoke to her she was going to come see me when she arrived home.

  Silence takes over the car. Steven and William glare at each other.

  CHARLES

  Last I spoke to her, she was injured and didn’t want to call either one of you for help.

  STEVEN

  Gee, I wonder why she couldn’t call one of us? I mean if she was going to come to me, and William was going to go to her, why on earth wouldn’t she call one of us?

  WILLIAM

  (Lowers voice)

  She doesn’t know what to do.

  STEVEN puts his hands at ten and two on the steering wheel and shakes his head.

  STEVEN

  Maybe she knows exactly what she is doing.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “YOU KNOW, IF PEOPLE COMPLAIN about it being too crowded in the city, they should just drive from Grand Junction to New Mexico and see the wilderness.” Erin stared at the perfect blue sky, the pristine mountains and the greenery. It seemed as if they were traveling through an extremely long movie se
t painted to look like the outdoors. “Isn’t it weird that there’s all this vast space? Why did no one ever settle right here? What made them decide a city should be somewhere else? What was it like when they built the road? Did no one ever think maybe hey let’s put a building here?”

  “Are we waxing philosophical now?” Drew held his hand out.

  “Drew.” Thankful they finally reached the point where he wanted to hold her hand. She slid over in the seat and took his offering. “Why do you think they never built anything here? Don’t you think it’s strange?”

  “Maybe we shouldn’t have watched that horror movie last night.” He let out a laugh.

  “You weren’t complaining when I hid my face in your chest.” With a little knowing chuckle of her own, she slid closer. “Then again, you weren’t complaining when I moved lower either.”

  “You’re a bad girl.” He quickly glanced at her.

  “What do you plan on doing about it?” Since their little discipline session, Drew had changed. Yes, he was the Drew she wanted and needed, but now ramped up. He was still the man who would watch an old-fashioned movie with her and get a little misty eyed, but then he would be the man who would carry her into the bedroom and take full control while he made love to her. She loved seeing the side of him that took no prisoners and told her what to do. The whole thing was sexy.

  A smile took over his face. “If I were you, I would be good.”

  “Ohh. I will try.” Her body tingled at the thought of later tonight in the hotel.

  “You will do more than try, you will do it.” His tone lowered and he faced her.

  “Don’t look at me like that. We’ll be late to your lecture and I would never, ever want to make you late, boss.” She bit her lip.

  “You are naughty.” He leaned his head back on the headrest. “Behave, I’m trying to get into the mindset of talking about stabilizing polyphenols.”

  “Oh, are you stressed? Maybe I can help in my own naughty way.” A thought on how they could pass the time entered her own mind and she reached down and massaged his thigh. “There’s no one around for miles and I can take care of my man so he will be all relaxed by the time he has to step in front of those eager young college students.”

  “You know you are every man’s fantasy.” He rolled the seat back a little.

  “I only want to be your fantasy.” Her own body heated with the way his erection grew, tenting his suit pants.

  “The entire time you’re talking, I want you to picture how hot you make me every time I get to taste you.” She ran her hand over him, leaned down and unfastened his belt buckle.

  A bump in the road jostled her hand, but she kept her focus and pulled down his zipper.

  “Oh shit,” Drew growled.

  For a split second she thought something unfortunate happened in Drew’s pants. Hell, she wouldn’t make him feel bad if that’s how much she turned him on, but with no evidence and the car pulling over to the side of the road, she lifted her head. “Drew!” Her chest tightened and she grabbed his arm. “What’s wrong?”

  “Looks like a little engine trouble.” His voice came out even and unconcerned. He turned the car off and tried turning it on again.

  Nothing happened.

  Twice more, he repeated his actions to no result.

  Everything in the car seemed to have stopped. “Drew!” Her breath came short. This wasn’t being two miles away from a spa. They were literally in the middle of nowhere. There wasn’t even a telephone pole. Did they even still have telephone poles? In any case, there was nothing. “We’re stranded!”

  “We’re going to be fine. I promise.” He zipped up his pants, fastened his belt, kissed her, and opened the door.

  “Wait!” Adrenaline and panic surging through her, she managed to catch his arm and pull him back.

  “I need to check the car.” The vision of calm and collected, he gave her another kiss.

  “Don’t leave me.” She held on tight. “There’s a reason there’s no civilization here.”

  “I’m just going to look at the engine.” After one more kiss, he untangled himself from her and got out of the car.

  She watched him do the man thing where he opened the hood, shielding him from her. Again, she glanced around. There really was nothing here. Not even a bird. Without even thinking, she grabbed her phone out of her purse and decided to check her email.

  A bit of bile rose in the back of her throat when she saw an email that came in the day before from Rick Southern, the slimy agent, with the subject Things are warming up.

  With Drew still diagnosing the car, she opened the email.

  Well, well Ms. Holland, seems as if your star still wants to shine. Social media is looking good, and from the looks of the latest Internet gossip, you and Drew are doing well. I took the liberty of hinting at your project and already have some bites. Come back with something amazing and your star won’t only shine, it will blaze you back to the top.

  Give me an update and let’s meet when you return from your road trip.

  Rick

  Her first instinct was to go tell Drew. They were an amazing team, sharing ideas. If they banded together in both their businesses, they would be unstoppable. Once their reality show came to fruition, Hollywood Glow would quite literally go super nova. Look what happened with just a couple of social media posts.

  She hit her leg. No way could she take the chance and mention this to him. They were too new and had too much baggage. In the antique mall, he still seemed skittish about being recognized, not to mention he first turned down a tiny role in Hollywood Starburst. When she revealed her project, he would see how they would benefit and work together and be together.

  Wanting to see what Rick referred to before Drew saw, she tried to go to the web browser on her phone, her heart seizing at the error message indicating no cellular connection.

  “Drew.” Though she went to scream, her cry came out more of a garbled squeak. A flash of every horror movie she had ever starred in, or seen. went through her mind. Before stepping outside to join Drew, she retrieved her camera. Documentation of any strange occurrences was vital both for posterity and their show.

  One day she would remember not to wear heels in these situations and she tiptoed around the car, breathing a sigh of relief at the sight of her man hunched over the car. Focused on his unintentional sexy pose, she hit record.

  “Are you okay?” Drew’s voice came out strained as he reached inside the engine.

  “We don’t have any internet or cellular connection. I think this trip is determined to make us live off the grid.” She stood by him. “Do you know what’s wrong?”

  “I hope we have a flashlight.” He pushed back from the car. “You’re filming this?”

  “I like watching you work. It will make for good b-roll for my video.” Though the truth, she still wished she could tell him everything. “Here, I think I can help and get the shot at the same time.” With a quick flip of a switch the light shone on the front of the camera.

  He pointed to where he wanted the light. “How is this part of a video for the lab?”

  Ad-lib. Her mind worked fast. “Well, you already came out as an actor, so I think showing your many facets may be an excellent addition to my cinematic masterpiece.” She nodded to herself. “Also, maybe it will be for my private collection.”

  He chuckled. “Maybe we should add to the private collection.”

  “Anything you say.” She slid against his side.

  “Keep that thought and aim right here.” He motioned to some doodad.

  For quite some time, he fiddled with the engine parts, returned to the inside car and tried to start it, and then resumed his fiddling.

  “Drew.” Not that she knew anything about inner car workings, but it seemed as if he wasn’t truly doing anything.

  “Yeah, baby.” He unscrewed some thingamajig.

  “How do you know how to work on cars?” Wanting to capture how he looked when deep in thought, she
moved the camera.

  “Light.” He tapped the thingamajig.

  In a flash, she moved the light back. “How did you learn to work on cars?”

  “I don’t know. Some from Logan, some from just having to make do when I lived in the United Kingdom, definitely not from my family.”

  At the mention of his family, she decided to simply hold the light steady. His parents forced him into acting. She always thought his adolescent weight problem was his way of trying to make himself unmarketable. Of all of them, he never seemed thrilled to be on set, never possessed the excitement. “Drew.”

  “Hold on.” He pushed back and went back inside the car and tried to turn it on.

  Again, nothing happened.

  She filmed him stomping back to the front.

  “Erin, put that godforsaken thing to good use and aim the light where my hands are.” His tone came out a bit more gruff.

  Still thinking about his family, she did as he asked and stared off at nothing. The couple of times his parents came to the set, he had become withdrawn and upset. Of course, the one time she called his parents to find out if they knew his whereabouts, they hung up on her. “How are your parents?”

  “I get a card on my birthday if I’m unlucky. Maybe they’re on a cruise or making someone else miserable.” Once more, he went inside the car and attempted to start it to no avail.

  She stood perfectly still and her cheeks heated. Apparently, he disengaged from people who hurt him. One day would he disappear on her again?