by E V Darcy
‘Go get dressed,’ Mack ordered him, smacking him on the arm to encourage him to move. ‘We gotta get going, like ten minutes ago.’
‘Going? Where?’ he said, standing and slowly moving towards the house. Bert snuffled and followed, his stubby little tail wagging back and forth as he went.
‘Where, he asks!’ Mack threw up his hands in despair. ‘Christ, kid, you’re going to be the death of me. You’re on The Emma Janney Show tonight, don’t you remember?’
‘What? Since when?’
‘I emailed you two weeks ago.’
‘Mack, you don’t have email. That’s why you always pop over at the most inconvenient of times.’
‘I’m moving with the times,’ the small man said, physically pushing his star back through the patio doors and towards the stairs. ‘Now you get a move on so we can get going.’
Casey stepped up the stairs, eyeing Julian who was stepping out of one of the spare rooms. ‘Stay out of my room,’ he told the mutant. ‘That’s off limits, completely. Understand?’
Julian merely blinked at him in response. Casey sighed as he stepped into his bedroom and began to get ready.
13
The makeup woman was flirting with him. If she pushed her breasts into his face one more time, he was going to have to ask Julian to step in.
Casey internally snorted at the thought of having to ask his bodyguard to get a woman off his case. Two months earlier he’d have already sent the man out, bent the little tramp over the counter and taken his pleasure; maybe he’d have had her up against the wall, or at least on her knees sucking him off under the desk, but now…
Every fucking time the woman’s breasts swung his way, he wanted to reel back, cringe, and shove her away. He frowned, making the woman tut at him, but he didn’t care. What the hell was up with him? He was lucky if he woke with an erection without having dreamt of the little redhead who’d ruined him for everyone else. Dammit.
The makeup woman practically sat on him, pushing his nose into her cleavage. Julian cleared his throat, and Casey rather wished the guy would step in on his own.
‘Look,’ Casey started, gently trying to push the woman from his lap. ‘I don’t want to—’
‘—when that’s done, I’ll come back and collect you. Okay?’
The three of them turned towards the door to the room where an assistant stood holding it open; Paige Hamilton stood within its frame. Paige’s mouth dropped as she saw him sitting in the chair—at least he wasn’t the only one surprised by this turn of events. Her eyes moved from his face to his hands on the other woman’s hips… the woman whose breasts where practically shoved in his face.
‘You’re early,’ the makeup woman pouted, as she stood up. Casey dropped his hands away from her as if he had been burnt.
‘No,’ the assistant answered. ‘Miss Hamilton is right on time.’ The assistant looked pointedly at the star who had apparently been an hour late. Casey frowned back at the little shit—who the fuck was he to look down his nose at him?
‘Well, I’m not finished with Mr. McManaman yet,’ the makeup woman told him, standing up and going back to her colour pallet. ‘She’ll have to wait.’
‘She is right here, you know,’ Paige said as she stepped into the room. She glanced warily at Julian, giving him a wide berth, before seating herself in one of the room’s free chairs.
Casey suddenly felt the need to tell Paige that it wasn’t what it looked like, that he hadn’t been the one trying to get into the other’s pants before he realised that he had no reason to explain himself; he owed her nothing, not after she’d run back to her husband.
‘I’ll be back shortly, to take you back to your dressing room,’ the assistant said to Paige. ‘Make sure Miss Hamilton is ready,’ he directed the makeup woman, who stuck her tongue out at his back as he walked away.
‘He’s an ass,’ she told Casey as if confiding some great secret to him. He heard Paige sigh and shift in her chair. He glanced towards her in the mirror and saw she wasn’t paying him the slightest bit of attention. She was too busy pulling out a tablet and playing with it.
He frowned again. Why the hell hadn’t she even said hello? What the hell was that all about? He wasn’t the one who’d disappeared back to a husband. He wasn’t the one who had lied about his marital situation and made him in to the other bloke—
‘No, no,’ the makeup woman chided, interrupting his thoughts by running her powder brush down his nose, before bopping it on his chin. ‘Turn that frown upside down.’ He saw Paige glance at the woman and give a shake of her head with a roll of her eyes. He narrowed his own at the top of her red head as she turned her attention back to the tablet device on her lap.
That. Was. It.
‘I’m only frowning, ‘cause you’re not sitting back where you need to,’ he purred in his over exaggerated British accent he especially used to make the panties of American women drop. The woman giggled before wiggling her saggy arse towards him and sitting right on his lap. He had to stop himself groaning as she put all her weight on him—she certainly wasn’t as light as Paige. The woman leaned over and he purposefully gazed down at her drooping breasts, as if they were the loveliest he’d ever seen.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Paige glaring at him in the mirror. Her mouth was open and her nose scrunched up in disgust. She made to say something, but Julian got there first.
‘Get off Mr. McManaman.’ Julian’s deep Australian accent surprised Casey enough to allow the bodyguard to take the woman by the arm and remove her from her perch. ‘Do your job, he’s running late.’
‘Down boy,’ Casey told the man with a smile, but the brick wall merely frowned at him. Casey sighed. He glanced towards Paige and narrowed his eyes again.
He saw that little smirk…
When Troy, the assistant… whatever, had opened the door to the makeup room, Casey McManaman in the middle of a seduction routine was not what Paige had been expecting. No one had told her he would be joining her for the interview, but, she supposed, that was really where the story was. After all, he was a star—she was merely famous by association. She wasn’t under any illusions; it was her connection to Casey, being trapped with him, that was the reason she got the job for The After Show, the thing she was actually here to promote. Had she been trapped alone, she’d have been famous for five minutes, then forgotten about forever. She wouldn’t even be a footnote on a history page.
However, Paige had been so shocked by the sight of her ex-lover with his hands all over the—in her opinion—skank, she hadn’t even thought of greeting the man.
Now, they stood in the wings of America’s most popular evening talk show waiting to be introduced by Emma Janney; between them, there was an atmosphere so frosty it could stop global warming. He hadn’t even glanced her way since he’d strutted over to wait in his position. She sighed, and the assistant floor manager frowned, pointing at Paige’s mic and shaking his head.
‘—Casey McManaman and Paige Hamilton!’ Emma Janney’s voice called them to the stage. Paige took a breath and plastered on a fake smile—she prayed it didn’t look like a grimace—as she stepped out of the studio’s wings.
The audience’s applause was deafening, far louder than what they heard at home on their TV set. Paige was momentarily stunned by all the cameras in front of her and then number of people present, considering they were just going to sit on a couch next to a table!
As a camera flew over her head, she wondered exactly what angle it would need to get. She stumbled to a stop as the lights momentarily blinded her; she was following the the line of the flying camera across to the audience. Someone she couldn’t see took her hand and guided her to the marker where she’d been told to stand. She held on to that hand for dear life as a wave of nausea hit her. If she vomited on live TV, she was going to find another pile of rubble to crawl under…
The hand that held hers squeezed gently and she grabbed onto it with her other hand too, desperate to keep her lifelin
e at her side. They were just going to have to include whatever poor soul had tried to save her; there would be room on the couch right?
God, this was not going to look good if The Powers That Be at the Network saw it—fuck, of course, they were watching this!—but The After Show would have no audience, it’d be a recorded show, not a live one like this.
Oh shit, if she made a mistake there was no do-over, no retake… Hell, she was going to look an idiot on national TV. She’d be mocked on the internet, probably become an unflattering meme, or—
‘Smile, Kitten,’ Casey’s voice whispered into her ear as they stopped at their marker to wave to the audience. ‘Just smile as if you’re welcoming your husband home—no that’s supposed to be a smile, not a look to kill.’
She glanced at the hand and followed the attached arm up, in it’s tailored dark suit jacket, to Casey’s handsome, smiling face. The smile was fake; she could tell instantly. It didn’t meet his eyes and he was shifting his gaze between her and the audience. Paige tried to snatch her hand back, but Casey held firm.
‘We’re friends, remember. That ordeal connected us.’ He was speaking through his grin, and Paige thought he could be a ventriloquist; he did it so well. He pulled her gently, a little nudge of the hand that no one else would have noticed, to tell her they had to move. With his guidance they made their way to the leather couch that awaited them.
Emma Janney greeted the two as if they were old friends; there were kisses on the cheeks and big smiles. She talked to Casey about his suit and how dashing he looked as they settled down; the man ate it up, laughing and flirting as if the two had known each other for years, but Paige was sure that he’d never met the host before.
‘And Paige,’ Emma said as she turned to her. The woman’s perfectly shaped red lips parted over perfect white teeth as she included the unknown in the conversation. ‘You look gorgeous.’
‘Thank you,’ Paige said quietly, running her hands over her dress, trying to smooth out invisible creases. ‘It’s nothing special.’
‘Some of the most stunning dresses I’ve worn have been nothing special,’ the talk show host said conspiratorially as if it was some big secret. The audience tittered and Paige managed a little smile.
‘It’s been a while since you’ve really been in the public eye,’ Emma said to Casey, giving Paige a moment to compose herself.
‘Yeah,’ the star chuckled, turning his own beaming grin on her and the audience. ‘I think I’ve cost a few of the paparazzi their incomes. Sorry to their families,’ he added with a wink to the camera. The audience giggled and clapped, and Paige was once again grateful there would be no studio audience for her show.
‘Until recently,’ Emma laughed as a picture of Casey doing the Bunny Hop at the Playboy Mansion flickered on the screen behind them. Everyone laughed, but Paige. Casey stood behind the woman in the gold bikini, hands on her shoulders, laughing jovially with her. He had sunglasses on and his hair was in disarray as if someone’s hands had been running through it all afternoon. She bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself scowling at the image.
‘Am I right in thinking this is your first interview since Desti-Nation back in May?’ The picture disappeared off the screen as Emma asked her question and Casey nodded, his smile instantly dropping into a more mournful line. ‘It’s been two months, are you ready to talk about it?’
What was there to really tell, Paige wondered, as Casey began talking about his side of things, his voice low and sombre. Paige didn’t hear what he said as she tried to look out at the audience, but they were a black wall to her, due to the blinding lights above. She could hear the camera’s shifting, could hear a cough and sniff from the audience, and suddenly she was back in the darkness, the table above them, stones tapping—
‘—Paige, Kitten,’ Casey’s voice murmured in her ear. ‘C’mon, you’re okay, you’re here with me and nothing’s going to hurt you. Shush, shush, c’mon,’ he cooed, trying to sooth her shaking and calm her erratic breathing. She felt herself coming back and blinked her eyes open. Casey’s arms were wrapped around her, her face buried into his chest as she held on to him for dear life.
‘Maybe we should get Dr. Jellyman out here,’ she heard Emma suggest.
‘No,’ Paige said quickly, she didn’t want more doctors around her. ‘I’m okay, I just… I think I just lost myself in a memory for a moment.’ She tried to sit up and felt Casey’s arms drop from her side, but a second later his strong hands cupped her face.
‘Are you sure?’ he asked, his voice quiet, his eyes intensely searching hers. She felt her breath catch as his icy-blue eyes met hers. She’d dreamt of them so often, had wondered what they’d be like moments before he kissed her. Would they be soft and tender as he made love to her, or hard and demanding as he took her fast and deep?
‘Not now, Kitten,’ he murmured, his eyes darkening as his gaze dipped to her parted lips before meeting her eyes again. ‘Later, I promise. Okay?’
He dropped his hands when she nodded but didn’t move out of her space. Instead, his body was a line of warmth next to hers; that felt familiar, comfortable, welcome…
‘It was hard being there,’ Casey said to Emma, but his eyes remained on Paige. ‘Every time we fell asleep we weren’t sure if we were going to wake up.’
‘Rescue workers said you were saved by a table?’
‘Yeah,’ Casey confirmed and Paige nodded her head in agreement.
‘We understand it was one like this?’ Paige felt Casey go stiff next to her for the briefest of moments, and gazed at where Emma was pointing. A conference table was being wheeled on stage. ‘Don’t worry, we’re going to leave it over there,’ the talk show host told them. Out of the corner of her eye, Casey nodded, his eyes fixed on the desk.
‘That’s what stopped us being crushed,’ Paige said, her voice quiet. Emma leaned forward, trying to encourage her to continue. ‘We only survived because the drinks and cookie packets that had been on the table had fallen off and underneath with us during the cave-in.’
Emma began to say something, but promptly closed her mouth again and pressed her finger to her ear. She seemed to be listening to something and Paige realised she was getting directions from somewhere else. She prayed they were telling her to move on.
‘It’s amazing,’ the host said. ‘And while we know what happened was a disaster, we’re so grateful we have some rays of sunshine from it.’ The audience began to applaud and Paige frowned in their direction.
‘She means us,’ Casey said, through his grin again as he nodded at the audience. Paige gave them a small smile.
‘I’m guessing a strong friendship formed between the two of you,’ Emma went on and Casey gave a chuckle that Paige instantly knew wasn’t real.
‘Without Paige, I think I would have gone insane under there,’ the star confirmed, and Paige whole-heartedly agreed.
‘We argued sometimes,’ she added.
‘Oh?’
‘Yeah, it was easier for him to pee into a bottle than it was for me, and I wanted water to wash my hands with afterwards. Looking back now, it was such a stupid thing to want to do,’ she said with a bite of her lip as she realised that every time she used the water to rinse her fingers, Casey had sacrificed a mouthful of his own lifesaving nectar. Her selfishness had caused his collapse, had caused them to be parted so soon after their rescue. Perhaps if he hadn’t given that up, things might have turned out differently.
‘But it gave you a sense of normality,’ Casey told her, nudging her leg with his and refocusing her mind back to where they were again.
The pair continued to answer questions and supported one another throughout, although Paige felt Casey did the lion’s share there. Halfway through, it almost felt like they hadn’t been parted. They were sharing smiles, bickering back and forth, avoiding the darker parts of their story and focusing on the little moments of lightness they’d been able to take away with them.
‘I wish we had those pictures!’ E
mma declared after Paige finished demonstrating her Gollum impression.
‘Me too,’ she said sadly. ‘But the phone got lost in the wreckage.’
‘Such a shame,’ Emma agreed, and Paige felt Casey shift awkwardly in his seat next to her. He was probably glad and didn’t want the softer side of him getting out there. Their tender moments, the kisses they’d shared, would all remain a secret for the rest of their lives.
‘So, Paige, your life’s changed quite a bit since you were rescued. I understand that we’ll be seeing a lot more of you!’
‘You’re not posing for Playboy are you?’ Casey joked.
‘I wouldn’t say no if they asked,’ Paige countered with a wink towards the camera. The audience chuckled, but Paige was deadly serious. If Casey was going to the Mansion, she wouldn’t mind an invite too.
‘Yeah, Casey,’ Emma joined in. ‘You don’t seem to mind the Bunnies of late!’
‘Yes,’ Paige quickly added before Casey could reply. ‘I’ve been given the opportunity of a lifetime, my dream job, here in LA by the Network.’ Casey seemed surprised by her news. ‘After my divorce was finalised I decided to bite the bullet. I was already all packed, so why not head out here!’
‘Why not, indeed!’ Emma said. ‘Tell us more…’
Casey hadn’t been able to focus properly after he’d heard those words—after my divorced was finalised—but Mack said he’d pulled it off.
‘—there’s still a few in the running,’ his agent continued as they left his dressing room. ‘But I think tonight will pull you through to the lead. The way you handled that broad when she was panicking; I swear I heard panties drop throughout the audience.’ Casey shook his head at the thought. When Paige had started to freak out on set, he had reacted on instinct; he had to calm her down, sooth her panic, and help her through the pain she was reliving… Damn his need to be so protective around her.