Limelight (Hollywood Stardust)

by Kim Carmichael

  As she thought of different places Bambi could go that didn’t involve anywhere near Drew or her, she rounded the corner to the actual laboratory and winced at the flash of natural blonde hair.

  This chick seriously needed to find her own forest.

  Thankfully, both Bambi and Erin’s stud were facing away and she had a chance to compose herself. Along with getting Drew to agree to their show, she could probably get him to open up hunting season. Then she shook her head. No matter where she was, a movie set or a laboratory, there would always be co-workers who didn’t get along. There was no getting rid of them because someone would take their place. The only time it worked was when they handed her Drew. It was one in a million, and she didn’t want to hedge her bets.

  Rather than insist Bambi go and make life hell for her man, Erin squared her shoulders. She already aced the game so now it was time to be a gracious winner. At last, she stepped inside and cleared her throat.

  Both scientists turned around and she waited to discover how Drew would treat her.

  “There you are.” Without any hesitation on his part, he came right for her and kissed her on the lips.

  Perfect.

  “Well, you told me to be here by 4:45 and I know how to listen.” She wiped a bit of lipstick off of his lower lip and smiled. “You’re wearing a white coat and everything.”

  “I thought I would dress the part for you today.” He tilted his head.

  Excellent, he wanted to play a role. She had just the project for him. “You look amazing.”

  “I know the two of you have a lot of work to do, so I’ll get going.” Bambi clutched her notebook to her chest. “We were just finishing pulling samples so you can work.”

  “Thank you for that.” Erin swallowed. Why did the world have to be full of confrontations?

  Bambi rubbed her lips together and looked into her eyes. “I heard what happened at Organic Oasis. It’s a huge project. I wanted to say congratulations. Marketing is very important.”

  Perhaps she and Bambi read from the same script. “Before I can market it, someone has to make it, so congratulations as well.”

  They stared at one another.

  “Well then, I look forward to helping make your vision come to life with the new ingredients you found.” The tiniest of smiles flickered across Bambi’s face.

  “Maybe we could go on a little outing, have lunch and study the competition.” If they had a prop of an olive branch, theirs would have taken over the lab. Erin wondered if an olive branch had any ingredients they could use, perhaps something calming.

  “Lunch with Erin Holland.” Bambi glanced over at Drew.

  Drew let out a laugh. “She does eat.”

  Bambi’s cheeks took on a bright red hue. Since everything seemed to be going so well, Erin resisted calling her Bambi, the red-cheeked deer.

  “I suppose I have to get used to working around stars.”

  “Ha!” With a little jump, Erin pointed at her. “I knew you were a fan.”

  “Let’s not go crazy.” Bambi held her hand out. “I’ve seen a few movies, that’s all.”

  Erin took the offering and pulled her in closer. “Do you want an autograph?”

  Out of the corners of their eyes they peeked at each other.

  “Yes, on the paperwork so we can get your line going.”

  They both busted out laughing. One of the many anvils on Erin’s chest lifted. It wasn’t unheard of for her to have a female she didn’t try to murder. Look at her and Ivy, they were basically besties.

  “Now I’m going to go so I can have that autograph.” Bambi squeezed her hand, patted Drew on the shoulder and left, closing the door behind her.

  “Erin.” Drew took her by the shoulders and stood in front of her.

  Oh, here it came, the talk about not taking Bambi to lunch for fear she would do something to her. As if. It would end up all over the tabloids or worse. “Yes?”

  “I love you, baby.” He leaned in and kissed her.

  Again, she was taken off guard. She snuck her arms under his white coat and returned the kiss, but a little deeper.

  A small moan escaped his throat and he pulled back. “So, do you want to see what you have to choose from?”

  “No, I’m happy with what’s right in front of me.” Sometimes it was still hard to believe they managed to find each other.

  “You make it impossible for me to think.” He wrapped his arm around her waist and guided her toward a long counter with a multitude of different capsules set up.

  “That’s my job.” She scanned all the different colors and combinations. “It’s like looking at a rainbow of health.”

  “Now before we get into the particulars of each formulation, let me tell you that we can’t change anything except the label.”

  While Drew continued to expound on FDA regulations and so on, she assessed each one, her eye going right to a black and clear capsule. On the clear side one could see little white balls inside.

  “You can have full control over any box except for the copy that must be there, and we have to pass compliance.” Drew continued.

  She lifted one of the capsules between her fingers, spied a bottle of water with Drew’s name on it, popped the pill in her mouth, swallowed it down with some water and nodded. “This one’s perfect. We’ll call it a white tie affair and the box can have an image of a red carpet. I want the kind of box that has a lift off top like it’s a high-end watch. You have to want to keep the box. It’s like a present.” Her decision made, she put her bag down and slid out her camera. “May I capture this moment?”

  “You don’t even know what’s in it.” His voice hardened. “Also you just took something you had no idea what it was.”

  “Drew.” She spun toward him and faced him head on. “Let me assure you I know what’s in it.”

  “How is that possible?” One of his brows lifted.

  “Simple. First, you would never have put anything in front of me that wasn’t appropriate for the Hollywood Glow project.” A bit of attitude lacing her voice, she put her hand on her hip. “Second, you would never put anything in front of me that I couldn’t put in my mouth. I just wanted to make sure it was easy to swallow.”

  He stared into her eyes.

  Apparently, the word swallow diverted his attention elsewhere. “Can’t you be the sexy scientist and feed me the information, so I can be the starlet and branding expert?”

  After a pause, he gave her a slow nod.

  “Now, I need some knowledge.” She lifted her camera and turned it on. “Tell me about the first item in the Hollywood Glow line.” The best way to get him used to the idea of being in front of a camera again would be by putting him there.

  In less than an instant he straightened up, flicked his bangs out of is eyes and cleared his throat. “The formula for White Tie Affair is a proprietary blend of antioxidants for the skin including Vitamin C, Vitamin A and a complex of B Vitamins with the addition of collagen.”

  “So what we put in our creams can also be good to ingest. Beauty is outside in and inside out.” She stalked up alongside him.

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying, but as my marketing director you know how to put it much more eloquently.”

  “So tell me Mr. Fulton, why bring me to the lab rather than your office?” Just as she knew Drew wouldn’t put anything for her fit for their line or her consumption, she also knew he brought her here for a reason.

  “Well, I thought it was time I show you a few things.” He motioned her over.

  “I’m always up for a private showing. How do you make one of these wonderful supplements anyway?”

  “Well, we start by doing some initial research and look at studies and respond to the market place. As you know, we work with raw material providers and specialty raw ingredient manufacturers. Once we play with a formula for a while, we will make some test batches and choose the container. When that’s ready, we conduct an FDA stability test, which is why once a formula is co
mplete we can’t change it or the container because we would have to do the test again, and it’s costly.” He took her arm and guided her over to a machine. “This is the HPLC.”

  “English would work here.” Though unsure what the big computery looking machine with keypads and tubes was, she filmed it anyway. Drew seemed excited about it and he looked really cute telling her all these things.

  “High-performance liquid chromatographer.” He caressed his hand over the top of the monitor. “Once we get the raw materials in, they are quarantined and checked to make sure they are not contaminated, then we bring samples back here and check them. We run the raws through this machine, and it will tell us the purity of the product, or in some cases, the relative amounts of different compounds.”

  The way he gazed at the thing almost made her jealous. There were definite hearts coming out of his eyes.

  “Do you want to see it work?” While he spoke to her, he kept his eyes affixed on his baby.

  Erin swore she felt the plot to a bad sci-fi fic coming on. The love triangle between man, woman and HPLC. “Sure.” Maybe they needed to have a ménage, but she didn’t want to share Drew.

  The man practically jumped as he turned on the machine and got everything all set up.

  “So we put the sample in here, and it runs through the sensors and it’ll tell us what is in the sample. Here I have a solution I created for one of our supplements.” Using a syringe, he injected some fluid into the machine, hit a few buttons on the attached computer, and stood back, putting his arm around her waist.

  While he stared at the screen, she stared up at him.

  “What the machine produces is called a chromatograph.” He pointed toward the monitor.

  “Oh.” Out of the corner of her eye she watched the little graph come up on the screen, but continued to gaze at him, his eyes narrowed in intensity, his jaw set. Unable to stop herself, she traced his chin with one finger.

  “You’re not watching.” He turned to her.

  “You’re sexy when you’re all scientific.” She raised her eyebrows at him.

  “Don’t you want me to decipher the chromatograph for you?” His hand slid down to her bottom.

  “Absolutely.” She curled her leg around his. “I think all your science is perfect for my film.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Now his hand cupped her backside. “This is pretty perfect.”

  “You know what else is perfect?” Their electricity seemed to spark on a moment’s notice.

  “Enlighten me.” His voice lowered.

  “The erection growing in your pants. Your lab coat can’t hide that.” She lowered the camera, looked down at his bulge and back up into his eyes. “I just have to wonder if you always get hard when a chromatograph graces your monitor.”

  “I get hard when you grace my vision.” A growl accentuating his words, he turned her and pressed his body to hers.

  Wanting to remind him of the magic of the screen, as well as in need of some endorphins, she asked her next question. “In all the years we were apart, did you ever watch me and get hard from the vision on your screen?”

  Rather than answer, he widened his eyes.

  “Do you know how many nights I used to lay in bed, close my eyes and picture you there with me?” She put the camera on the counter near the magic machine. “You’re so much more satisfying in person than anything I made up in my head and anything my fingers could do.”

  He snaked his other hand around her and clutched her other cheek. “There are a few scenes from your more recent movies that may or may not have been relegated into my own personal collection.”

  She brushed her lips against his. “How many times did you come thinking about me?”

  “Too many times.” He ground his hips to hers and kissed her, a quick yet hard one, accentuated with a flick of his tongue. “Maybe not enough, because I always wanted you.”

  As if sharing one thought, they grabbed each other, their mouths connected, their hands roamed. Maybe it was the time they spent together, or possibly the time they spent apart, but Drew seemed to instinctively know exactly how to touch her to make her body ache with need.

  “God, I want you all the time.” Drew’s slid his hands under her dress.

  “Tell me what you imagined when you watched my films alone in your bedroom and maybe I’ll act it out for you.” She nuzzled his neck and worked her way up to his ear where she took his lobe between her teeth.

  “Ummm.” He moaned as he peeled her silk panties down and kneaded her backside. “Would you believe me if I told you it involved this room?”

  “Did you want to conduct experiments on me?” The thought jolted through her. “What would you do to me?”

  “We would start like this.” Without delay, he slipped her dress up over her head leaving her standing in front of him in nothing but partially pulled down panties and her bra.

  Instantly going into her role, she put one hand up to her lips and pressed her knees together. “Dr. Fulton, are you sure this is part of the experiment?”

  “In order for everything to react as it should, we have to take things step by step.” He rubbed his hand over the ever-tightening front of his pants and pulled off his lab coat, holding it out to her. “First, you need to be only in this.”

  “Only that?” The fact he instantly went into character made her body flood even more. As if she were shocked by the prospect, she widened her eyes.

  “Wasn’t my instruction clear, Miss Holland?” His voice took on the same dominating quality as the day at the bed and breakfast. “Do you want to ruin my hard work?”

  “I’m so sorry, Dr. Fulton.” Without delay, she removed her bra and with her eyes on his, dropped it to the floor, then she pulled her panties down, kicked them off the end of her shoe, and put the lab coat on. “Oh.” She wrapped the piece of clothing around her and pursed out her lower lip.

  “What seems to be the trouble, Miss Holland?” He took one step toward her and unbuttoned his shirt.

  “The fabric is rough against my skin, especially here.” Using her best damsel in distress high-pitched voice, she showed him the source of the trouble, circling her fingers over her nipples.

  “I believe I should inspect this unexpected issue further.” Before approaching, he unbuckled his belt, allowing the ends to fall open and bounce with his footsteps.

  First, she pulled the collar tight around her, feigning the shy heroine.

  “Let me see.” Now he stood less than two inches from her.

  “Yes, Dr. Fulton.” After a pause, she finally turned away and opened the coat, exposing her breasts to him.

  “I see the issue.” His fingers brushed over her breasts.

  “What is it? I don’t want to destroy the experiment.”

  “In any experiment, you must be prepared to deal with any contingency.” He gave each one of her tight peaks a light pinch. “Your nipples are hard and sensitive and must be dealt with.”

  His touch shot thorough her and she sucked in her breath. “Oh, yes, I felt that everywhere. It’s very distracting. What can we do?”

  “In order to treat you, I need to do a little further research.” He lowered his head and guided one of her nipples into his mouth, grazing the sensitized nub between his teeth.

  “That’s only making it worse.” At least she didn’t lie. “Now it seems to be spreading.” She clenched her thighs together.

  “A vexing problem, indeed. I believe this requires me to look for something specific to determine my next course of action.” Once more, he stared into her eyes. “Are you ready for what I must do?”

  Lord, he was going to be her undoing. She loved role-play, did it for a living. No other partner she had would ever indulge her. “As long as the situation is alleviated. I’m beginning to ache.”

  “All right, be prepared.” He ran his hand down her side and snuck his fingers between her thighs. “Relax Miss Holland, I promise I’ll make it better.”

  After a brief pause, she parte
d her legs.

  He slid his fingers over her, a soft stroke, but one that served to ignite her senses anyway and she let out a little coo.

  “This is what I expected. You are wet and too stimulated to be of use to me. We must take care of this at once. ” Though his touch was light, his words came out hard and strong. “There’s only one solution, but I assure you it will work.”

  “What is it? What do I have to do?” She put her hand over his. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

  In a flash, he stood up straight and took her shoulders. “Are you questioning my vast knowledge, Miss Holland?”

  “Oh, no. I would never doubt you.” She shook her head. “Just tell me what to do.”

  “Turn around, put your hands on the counter and bend over.”

  Without question, she complied, facing the machine Drew loved. Well, she won, so there.

  The distinctive sound of a zipper lowering echoed through the air, and her stomach coiled with anticipation.

  “Very good.” He came up behind her and slid the lab coat up to her waist.

  Right before she shut her eyes, she spied the flashing red light on her camera. Her muscles tensed. Should she say something or not? She didn’t mean to record this, but the thought thrilled her. However, would he believe her?

  Even if it ruined their interlude, she had to say something, she simply needed to do it without breaking the moment. His reaction would give her a good indication of how he would take the contract and the reality show.

  “Well, do I get good marks for documenting everything we’ve done tonight?” Just to make sure he knew what happened, she adjusted the camera.

  He grabbed her hips. “You recorded this?” The playfulness left his voice.

  “Consider it for posterity sake.” She wiggled her backside at him. “I also think it’s something you and I should revisit in the future if we ever find ourselves in this position again.”

  He didn’t say anything only tightened his hold on her.

  “I think this needs to remain part of our private research, but I also think it’s damn hot. If you don’t take care of me soon, I may have to do it myself.” In an effort to entice him, she bent over further. “I want to see what I look like the second you enter me.”