by Julie Jaret
As he followed her father out to the back patio, Sam glanced at Natalie with an unreadable look.
* * *
Natalie helped her mother put fresh sheets on the guest bed.
“He’s even more handsome in person than in the movies. And I expected him to be arrogant, didn’t you? He’s nothing like what I thought he would be.” Her excited chatter made Natalie’s eye twitch.
“Yeah, he’s very attractive.”
“Of course, Jeff is handsome, too, in his own way.”
“I’m not dating Jeff.”
“Do you think these sheets are nice enough?”
“They’re fine.”
Her mother fluffed the pillows. “A movie star. In my home. I can’t believe it.”
“Believe it.”
“He isn’t the jealous type, is he?”
“Sam?”
“Jeff.”
“Doesn’t matter if he is. I’m not dating him.”
“Just in case, you probably shouldn’t mention that Sam is staying in the room next to yours.”
“You’re right. I won’t tell him.”
After she and her mother finished making up the guest room, they had gone back downstairs to clean up from the impromptu party.
When Sam and her father returned from smoking cigars, Natalie’s mother asked, “You boys heading down for billiards and bourbon?”
“Ed suggested it, but I think I’m gonna call it a night.” Sam’s smile looked sour and Natalie couldn’t resist teasing him a little.
“Green’s a good color on you,” she said with an innocent little smile. He glared a promising threat at her.
“Natalie...” Her mother was watching her with an odd look. “He’s wearing black.”
Her father glanced at his watch and frowned at Natalie. “You should get some sleep, too. You’ll want to get to work early in the morning.”
Sam interjected, “Actually, Ed, I wanted to invite you all to the set tomorrow. We’re shooting an important scene and I’d love for you to be extras in it.”
Natalie’s mother looked as excited as the year her powder room was featured in the Parade of Homes. Even her father seemed intrigued. “Thank you, Sam. Unfortunately, Natalie has gotten behind at work lately, but Lorraine and I would enjoy that.”
As much as Natalie was dying to go, her father was right. She couldn’t miss another day of work for something as frivolous as visiting a movie set. “It sounds like fun, but I really do have a lot of work to make up.”
Sam frowned at her, then his jaw flexed and he turned to her father. “Yeah... I’m afraid that’s my fault.”
“What are you doing?” she hissed.
“Ed, I’m sorry if her work suffered for it, but I think you need to know that Natalie’s been harboring a fugitive the last few weeks.”
Her mother smiled vaguely. “I don’t understand. Is this from one of your movies?”
Sam shook his head. “No ma’am. The day I ran off set I jumped in Natalie’s car when she was on her way to work, and made her take me to her place. Then I got stuck there until the charges were dropped. And since she had every reason to believe there was a felon in her condo, she was stuck there, too.”
Natalie felt her father watching her, but couldn’t look at him for fear of what she’d see on his face. She couldn’t look at Sam, either, for fear of what her father would see on her face. So she looked at her mother, on whose face she saw nothing but Botox.
Sam continued. “Neither of us could tell anybody. If the paparazzi found out where I was, they’d be all over Natalie. She was an innocent bystander and I’m doing my damnedest not to disrupt her life any more than I already have.”
Her mother blinked, slowly processing the information.
Her father nodded once. “Well. That explains a lot.” He packed heap of censure in those four words. “But the fact remains, our associates are expected to bill a certain number of hours and I can’t be viewed as giving preferential treatment to my daughter.”
“Oh, I doubt anyone would ever think that,” Sam said in a tone so dry, Natalie wanted to kick him in his perfect teeth. Before her foot moved of its own accord, he added, “My reps in LA need a lawyer on the ground here in Atlanta. Someone we can trust to keep us in compliance with Georgia law. Nat, sorry I didn’t have a chance to tell you earlier, but expect a call from Mitch Goldstein. On Tuesday. Because you’ll be on set tomorrow.”
Chapter Eighteen
TEN MINUTES LATER, Natalie showed Sam to his room but he kept walking and followed her to hers. She was still reeling from his surprise reveal of their secret and the news that she had just landed a prestigious new client.
As they all said goodnight, her father had implied that her chances of becoming a partner were now “very, very good.”
Really. Wow. Thanks.
Sam stood in the doorway as she paced around her old white four-poster bed, abusing a frilly throw pillow.
“You didn’t have to do that. I’d have made up the hours somehow.”
“I need a lawyer here and I trust you. Why are you all pissy?”
“Because I’m pissed!” She tore down a remnant of one of Sam’s posters which still clung to the wall. Under yellowed tape, a lock of dark hair fell over part of an eye. “Because I’ve worked really hard to prove I’m not the brainless airhead who hung these all over her walls. That I’m serious and smart and focused... and now, if I do make partner, it won’t be on my own merit. It’ll be because the movie star who broke my teenage heart grew a conscience.”
He closed and locked the door, filling the feminine room with his masculine presence. “You wanna know why I did it? Besides that I do need a lawyer and I do trust you? Because I don’t like the way your dad treats you, and it pisses me off to see you put up with it.”
“It’s not your business.”
“It wasn’t. Kinda is, now, though.” He kept moving toward her.
She stood her ground. It was her room. He can’t push me around in my own room! Her chin lifted, partly in a show of confidence, mostly because he was right in front of her and it was the only way to see his face. “What if I don’t want to work for you?”
“With me.”
She crossed her arms to show she meant business. And to not show that her nipples were excited to see him. Really excited. Like, ridiculously excited to see him. “Doesn’t matter, anyway, ‘cause Jeff still has that damn video.”
“No he doesn’t.”
“Trust me, he wouldn’t have announced us to my dad if he didn’t have it.”
“Trust me, I wanted to tear his fucking arm off for touching you. But that wouldn’t go over well, so I just had to be satisfied with our little chat when I walked him to his car. That and knowing my black ops tech guys got rid of the video.”
She felt a quick thrill over his jealousy, then realized what he had said. “Wait, what? How?” She forgot her protective stance. Forgot she was even mad at him.
His eyes dropped to her chest and a dimple creased his cheek. He slid his hands around her waist and down her hips. “Same way they’ve wiped my slate over the years. You’ve never seen a video of me resisting arrest or grabbing the first lady’s ass, have you?” he asked, grabbing Natalie’s ass.
“You did that?” she laughed.
“Yeah.” He held her in place with a firm hand on her behind. His other hand came up to her neck, his thumb stroking her jaw. “There were amateur videos of all the stupid shit I did. But they were erased. And so was yours. Mitch confirmed it today.”
“Thank you.” Natalie grabbed his face and kissed him... all luscious Sam with a hint of sweet cigar. It felt like they’d said goodbye a month ago, rather than that very morning. She knew it was stupid and that she would only end up getting hurt, but she hadn’t expected to ever taste his beautiful mouth again.
Or any of his other beautiful parts.
Sam groaned her name as she pushed his shirt up and ran her hands up the grooves of his abs, the slope o
f his chest. He yanked the shirt over his head and tossed it.
Natalie made sure he was watching before slowly unbuttoning her blouse. His eyes grew heavier and darker with every new inch of skin she revealed. The more slowly she worked, the more tense he seemed and the more powerful she felt. By the time her blouse slid down her arms to the floor, Sam was breathing through his mouth and his hard-on looked ready to burst out of his jeans.
He stood statue-still, tacitly agreeing to let her take the lead for now. She leaned close and brushed her mouth against his, then traced the sculpted lines of his lips with her tongue as she’d done in hundreds of fantasies through the years. When he tried to deepen the kiss, she backed out of reach and took her time wiggling out of her pants. The muscle in his jaw flexed and his hands fisted at his sides, but his brown-black eyes glinted with a promise that he would give as good as he got.
Leaving her pink demi-bra and polka-dot panties on for now, she nibbled her way down his neck, loving the taste and texture of his warm skin. With wet kisses, she trailed across his wide chest, then teased his nipples with light scrapes of her teeth and soft brushes of her tongue. No doubt, he had gotten similar treatment from countless women before her, especially back in his man-whore days. Maybe he’d even been with strippers and porn stars. She tried not to wonder how her experience stacked up, and hoped enthusiasm made up for any lack of technique. As she licked and sucked along the grooves of his abs, the goosebumps that washed across his abdomen gave her a welcome surge of confidence.
Meeting his eyes, she sank to her knees and pressed her palm to the heavy bulge in his jeans. She practically had a mini-orgasm when his tongue slid out and licked his lips. Except for the deep rise and fall of his chest, he didn’t move as she popped open the top button and slid his zipper down... tooth...
...by tooth...
...by tooth.
The ruddy, velvet head of him greeted her over the top of his boxer-briefs. Her cheek accidentally-on-purpose brushed against it as she pressed kisses across his lower abs from one V-cut to the other. She realized her nipples had risen above the half-cups of her bra when they scraped the rough hair on his thighs. He growled and his eyes glittered a warning.
Hooking a finger under his elastic waistband, she tugged it just low enough to free most of his gorgeous length and swiped a dainty lick across the tip. Looking up, she gave him a saucy smile. “Would you like me to suck you?”
He grabbed a fistful of her hair and leaned closer. His cock nudged her lips. “You’re fucking killing me, you know that?”
“Really?” She licked the long line of him from root to tip. “That’s sweet of you to say.”
“I’m not feeling real sweet right now.”
She swirled her tongue around his plump crown like he was an ice cream cone on a hot day. “Hm... Well, you taste sweet.” With that, she pressed down and took as much of him as she could, hollowing her cheeks to keep the pressure on as she withdrew.
“Fuck, baby...”
Natalie sucked and teased until she didn’t think he could get any harder. Then she released him and stood, wiping her lip with a thumb.
Sam groaned as his glistening dick bobbed, flushed and heavy. He reached for her, but she sat on the bed and backed away. “Killing me...”
Before he could make a move to join her, she settled against the pillows, idly running her fingertips along the top edge of her bra where her nipples peeked out. She felt flush with feminine power watching him watch her from the foot of her bed, cock at the ready, fists at his sides.
Sliding her other hand down her flat belly, she mused, “I wonder how many times I’ve done this...” Her fingers disappeared inside her panties. “...in this bed... while thinking of you...”
Sam watched intently. An aura of pure sexual tension rose from his skin, as obvious as shimmering heat on pavement. He gave her a slow, sexy smile -- one she’d never seen before. Deep-dimpled and filled with lust, admiration and pride. A smile that had her melting over her fingers.
“Never imagined you’d be here one day to watch me do it.”
His brow creased and he growled deep in his chest. “Lose the panties.”
The raspy order took her breath. She shot him a teasing look and slowly worked the pretty dotted underwear down her legs. Too slowly for Sam’s liking, apparently. When the panties hovered somewhere around her knees, he grabbed and yanked them all the way off. Eyes locked with hers, he brought the crumpled fabric to his nose and inhaled.
She might have passed out a little from lust overload.
His eyes crinkled, dark lashes framing a mischievous glint. “As you were.”
Cocky bastard knew exactly what he was doing to her. As least he wasn’t immune, either. From the foot of the bed, his black gaze followed her fingers as they slicked through her wet. He wrapped her panties around his thick shaft and stroked himself, his pace slow and restrained. The smooth knob of him flushed deeper each time it emerged from his tight fist.
Maybe he saw her lick her lips or maybe he just read her fucking mind. Whatever it was, the moment she began craving the taste of him, he was next to her, pressing his beautiful cock between her lips.
“I love watching you.” From the deep rasp in his voice, she knew he wasn’t just petting her ego. As he fucked slowly into her mouth, his hand came down over hers on her pussy, controlling where and how she could touch herself. His other hand found her breast, rolling and teasing her nipple until it felt like an extension of her clit. The clit he wouldn’t allow her to touch. When she tried to move her fingers where she needed them most, he pulled her hand away altogether, leaving her wet, open and throbbing.
Her growl of complaint was muffled by his dick, but he ignored it. He took her fingers, one by one, between his sinfully-gorgeous lips and sucked them clean.
Oh my fucking fuck.
Then he slid himself all the way out of her mouth and before she realized what he intended, he spun her around and flipped her onto her stomach. A beat later, firm hands gripped her hips, pulling her back toward him and onto her knees. He shoved her chest to the mattress, forcing her ass in the air.
Jesus. She couldn’t see Sam at all, but her pussy throbbed from the heat of his eyes. His palms smoothed over her ass cheeks, thumbs sliding down to settle on either side of her pulsing clit. She panted into the bedding.
And then his hot mouth was on her. Rather, she was in his fucking mouth. Her swollen pussy was fully inside that beautiful, talented, hungry mouth. When her orgasm began to crash over her, he gripped her thighs and held her in place as she came on his tongue.
“Oh my god. Fuck! No more, no more, it’s too much.”
When she tried to crawl away, he effortlessly flipped her back over. Scooping his hands under her ass, he lifted her to his mouth and almost immediately forced another orgasm out of her. It was so intense, she pressed the frilly throw pillow to her face so as not to wake her parents across the house.
Sam picked her up, still throbbing and boneless, and lowered her to the carpet.
He slid his heavy dick between her legs. Soaked as she was, he entered her easily. He moved slowly, with deliberate control, creating delicious friction as his cock rubbed her swollen tissues.
“Damn, Nat... your pussy feels so fucking good.” His voice was as tight as the muscles in his arms that held him above her.
He had made her lose control. Made her have an orgasm she didn’t know she wanted or needed or had in her. So not fair. Just because he was bigger and stronger, he could throw her around and manhandle her? God, she loved the way he manhandled her... But she wanted to do some manhandling of her own.
Natalie wasn’t big enough or strong enough to move him if he didn’t want to move, however she did have a few tools in her belt. She lifted one of her legs to his shoulder and flexed her hips so she was essentially in a side split, taking him even deeper inside her.
His eyes widened and his face looked pained. A deep, sexy groan rumbled in his throat.
&nb
sp; Kickboxing. It does a body good. She smiled to herself, certain he would explode any moment.
Instead, he leaned down and kissed her as hard and deep as she wanted him to fuck her. And then he did that, too. Bracing himself on his hands, he flexed his hips and nailed her into the floor. Over and over; hard, fast and balls-deep.
His cock stiffened and shock waves rolled through her, milking him until he followed her over the edge. It was quite a long way down. When they’d both landed, he pulled her against him as their pulses slowed and their sweat dried.
She wanted to kiss him. Not with tongue -- just on the cheek or something.
Would that be weird? What was post-coital etiquette with someone you’d like to continue seeing, but can’t for reasons that have as much to do with your life and career as his?
Regardless of the romantic future they didn’t have, she was confident about their friendship, so she poked him in the ribs.
“The floor, huh?”
“It’s your childhood bed. It felt wrong.”
“That’s not a very man-whorish thing to say.”
“Yeah. Don’t repeat that.”
“Your secret’s safe with me.”
And then he kissed her forehead.
Chapter Nineteen
“FUCK YOU, IAN!” someone screeched. “When my uncle hears about this, you’ll be lucky to direct an infomercial!”
Natalie and her parents followed Sam through a colony of white trailers parked in the lot of an abandoned shopping center. As if he didn’t hear the screaming, he pointed out, “That’s the wardrobe trailer. Hair and make-up is next door. They’ll call for you soon, Nat.”
This is a movie set? Doesn’t look like much.
Her thoughts must’ve shown on her face, because his eyes twinkled and he added, “This is just base camp. We don’t shoot here. The set’s about a mile up the road.”
A thin, pretty blonde stormed by in a cloud of entitlement. “Asshole,” she snarled at Sam without slowing down. She stomped up the steps to a trailer they had just passed and slammed the door behind her.