Dream Guy

by Dream Guy (lit)

  He had to know. “This new man? Did Helena tell you his name?”

  “No, I don’t remember a name,” Annie said, a sad expression on her face still. “Just someone her uncle has arranged for her to marry. That’s all she told me.”

  Damn Ernesto.

  He would cut out Ernesto’s heart. He never should have trusted his brother. Ernesto had said he would make things right with Helena’s uncle. He should have gone to see the man himself. But that was forbidden. Arrangements were made only by the head of each family. Ernesto had let him down. And Ernesto would pay dearly.

  Annie squeezed his arm. “If it makes you feel any better, Rico, I don’t think you have to worry about Helena. She said the man was handsome, very wealthy, and that she thought she could eventually learn to love him.”

  Make me feel better?

  He would never understand how the brains of these crazy Caucasians worked. Why would it make him feel better to know Helena could learn to love another man? That reasoning made no sense. Helena was meant to love him. Only him.

  “Rico? Are you okay?”

  Rico grabbed on to his pride and pulled himself back together. “Yes. I am fine.”

  “Great,” Annie said. “Then let’s go get you something to eat. We can’t have our superstar dying of starvation.”

  Superstar.

  That is what he wanted. The life of a big star. The fame. The fortune. It was his dream. He’d just never expected not to have Helena sharing it with him. She would never care that he was not perfect.

  My Helena?

  Becoming another man’s wife?

  Could he really allow that to happen?

  When Annie motioned for him to follow, Rico did not protest. Like the sniveling pet dog he’d become, he followed meekly behind her as if Annie were holding the chain to the collar around his neck.

  But was he hungry still?

  No.

  Just as he’d lost his Helena, Rico had also lost his appetite.

  CHAPTER 15

  Did you see how fast Rico charged out of here when we finished filming that last scene?” Collin asked Annie with a delighted chuckle.

  Not as fast as I wish you’d charge out of here, Annie felt like screaming.

  “How I’d love to be a little fly on the wall when Rico rushes home to Little Five Points and can’t find Helena anywhere.”

  Do they ever shut up on your planet? But the second she thought it, Annie was ashamed of herself. She sighed. Of all the nights for Collin to want to hang around and chat, he had to pick this one.

  Everyone else had been gone for at least thirty minutes. But not Collin. He kept sitting in the library showroom where they’d been filming all day, as if he didn’t have a care in the world. And so did Annie. Waiting Collin out. Willing him to leave first, so there wouldn’t be any chance of him following her to her car and discovering who just happened to be waiting for her in Groveman’s back parking lot.

  Annie looked down at her watch again.

  It was already 6:45 p.m.

  “I’m not trying to brag, but you should have seen Claire while I was telling the cameraman my big Hollywood producer lie. She practically fell over, she was leaning forward so far trying to hear what I was saying.” He chuckled again. “The only thing that saved poor Rico from Claire pouncing on him today was Gretchen, keeping him in front of the camera.” He grinned. “But there’s always tomorrow.”

  Annie nodded absently. Forget tomorrow, dammit. I’m concerned about tonight.

  “Speaking of Helena,” she said. “Do you think she’ll be able to hold out for a couple of days? I mean, she is just sitting there at your house. All alone.”

  “She isn’t alone. Lars is with her,” Collin chirped. “I talked to them a few minutes ago. Lars thinks Helena is a real hoot. The two of them are getting along famously. Helena’s even teaching Lars to make authentic Cuban carne mechada. It’s a Cuban pot roast of sorts. To-die-for ingredients. First you take . . .”

  Annie tuned him out, watching instead the second hand tick, tick, tick around the face of her watch.

  “Doesn’t that sound yummy?” Collin finally said.

  “Definitely yummy,” Annie repeated, fighting the urge to grab him by the hair and drag him to the front door.

  “Hey,” Collin said brightly. “Come home with me and sample it yourself. The more the merrier.”

  “Thanks, but I’m going straight home,” Annie lied. “Rain check, though?”

  “Any time, lovey.” Collin finally stood up from the expensive wing chair he’d been sitting in.

  Annie stood up from her chair as well. “You go ahead,” Annie told him. “I have a few quick things to check on, then I’m right behind you.”

  Collin nodded. “See you in the morning, then. But don’t stay here all night, Annie. Everything is running so smoothly, I can’t imagine anything going wrong now.”

  Annie waited until she was sure Collin had time to leave the store before she followed after him. The second she saw his Mercedes drive past the front entrance, she sprinted for the first-floor women’s restroom.

  She hurried up to the bathroom vanity and plowed through her purse, jerking out her brush.

  Brush. Brush. Brush.

  Scrunch. Scrunch. Scrunch.

  Okay, so she was preening a little. Matt hadn’t been at work all day as she had. He was bound to be fresh and rested. She couldn’t stroll out to the back parking lot looking all drained and frazzled, could she?

  But she’d already made up her mind that she wasn’t going to agree to anything date-like tonight. Hanging out with Matt could get too comfortable too quickly. She’d just follow him to his apartment and then . . .

  Oh God. I hope he intends to go to his apartment.

  Her place was a wreck. She hadn’t even made her bed this morning.

  Annie leaned close to the mirror, studying her teeth, then popped a breath mint into her mouth. After pursing her lips, she applied a little lip gloss, pinched both cheeks for a little color, then sprayed a cloud of perfume into the air and walked through it on her way back out the bathroom door.

  As she headed for the back parking lot, the only thing that worried her more than the fact that she’d kept Matt waiting for two hours was the fear that he wouldn’t still be waiting at all. That fear became a reality when she reached the back of the building and found her VW bug sitting in the rear parking lot all by itself.

  Idiot.

  That’s what she was. A first-class idiot. She’d thought about meeting Matt on and off all day. Oh hell. Who was she kidding? Meeting Matt was all she’d thought about all day. That’s what happened when no-strings-attached spontaneity turned into relationship-like plans.

  Someone ended up disappointed.

  Oh well, Annie told herself. What did she expect? It was just like Matt to get all pissy and leave mad because she hadn’t come charging around the side of the building at five o’clock sharp, tearing her clothes off as she raced across the parking lot.

  Well, she had news for him. She wasn’t just some little peon flunky in his creative department now. Joe Video had been her idea. She had a job to do. And J.B. Duncan himself had said Joe Video had the potential to make Paragon more money than any video game developed in the company’s history.

  But she wasn’t stupid, either.

  The sex was way too good to give up.

  Tomorrow morning when she saw Matt, she would simply apologize for not being able to get away sooner. Then she’d point out that maybe they should stick to the rules if they wanted their current arrangement to work out.

  No more sharing deep secrets. No more hanging out together. No more cryptic early-morning phone calls. Just occasional great sex.

  Here a bing.

  There a bing.

  Everywhere a . . . .

  Annie stopped walking when a sleek white limousine turned into the back parking lot and headed straight in her direction. The limo pulled up and stopped in front of her. When the passenge
r-side window slid down, Annie couldn’t keep the silly grin off her face.

  Matt extended his arm out the window and handed her a beautiful long-stemmed red rose. “I decided we needed a new bing buggy.”

  Annie laughed. “You can’t be serious.” But she couldn’t resist pulling the blossom to her nose to sniff the fragrant petals.

  He hopped out of the limo and bowed low as he held the door open wide. “Get in,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows up and down. “And I’ll show you how serious I am.”

  “How did it go today?” Matt asked when the limo eased out of the parking lot for what would be an uninterrupted two-hour drive around the city.

  Not that either of them would be paying any attention to where they were going, if he had any say in the matter. He took a bottle of chilled champagne from the ice bucket sitting on the limo’s bar, poured both of them a glass of champagne, and handed one to Annie.

  She did look amazing leaned back against the plush leather seat relaxing, her long legs crossed at the knee, sipping from the fancy champagne flute like a supermodel in a magazine ad.

  He could see them starting every evening like this one. Relaxing after a long day at work with a drink before dinner. Later, making love all night long.

  “Today went well,” she said, breaking his train of thought. They looked at each other for a moment and she said, “But I think we need to stick to the rules, don’t you? Didn’t we agree there’d be no idle chitchat?”

  Matt grinned. “If I remember correctly, the rules were no idle chitchat during or after sex. We’re not having sex at the moment, so our chitchatting isn’t during. And since we haven’t had sex yet, we aren’t chitchatting after.”

  “A minor technicality,” she said, but he could see the mirth in her deep blue eyes. She smiled. “Maybe we should stop whatever type of chitchat we’re having, and start concentrating on the during sex instead.”

  He smiled back. “Excellent idea.”

  Matt reached over and slid the privacy cover into place over the small window separating them from the driver. He placed his glass on the bar and took the glass from Annie’s hand and did the same with it.

  “Why don’t you move over there, lie down, and make yourself comfortable,” he said, pointing to the long seat stretching along one side of the limo.

  She smiled again.“I thought you’d never ask.”

  Next stop, Wonderland, Matt thought smugly when Annie stretched out seductively on the seat. He reached into the jacket pocket of his suit and handed over his next surprise gift.

  “Here,” he said. “This goes along with tonight’s agenda.”

  “No way,” Annie said and laughed when Matt placed the pink satin sleep mask into her hand.

  “Put it on,” Matt urged. “It will make it easier to keep your eyes closed.”

  Annie sat back up. “Now you’re scaring me. Why do I need to keep my eyes closed?”

  “Just following your own instructions, Annie. Lie back. Close your eyes. Relax so you can discover the sensuous areas of your body. Sound familiar?”

  “Not funny,” Annie told him.

  “Not meant to be,” Matt said and he sent her a smoldering look that made her pulse race.

  She didn’t try to stop him when he took the mask from her hand. Or when he slipped the band over her head and settled the sleep mask securely into place.

  “Tonight’s bing is all about you,” he whispered and kissed her gently on the lips.

  The sensation of Matt’s warm lips brushing against hers when she couldn’t see a thing was so erotic that Annie shivered. It was as if the minute she was sightless every inch of her body came alive to compensate for what she couldn’t see.

  She felt his fingers unfastening the buttons on her blouse and grabbed his hand. “Matt . . .”

  His finger pressed against her lips. “This is during, Annie. No chitchat.”

  By the time he’d peeled away every stitch she was wearing, Annie’s head was reeling. His hands seemed to be touching her everywhere at once. And the more he caressed her face, her neck, and her bare shoulders, the better she liked it. She allowed him to guide her nude body back against the soft leather seat. Her pulse kicked up another notch when his fingers trailed down her neck to the sensitive hollow between her breasts.

  She gasped when his hand didn’t stop there.

  “Your body is like a beautiful flower waiting to be discovered,” he said, his voice low and sexy as he recited a line straight from her own Joe Video script.

  His finger slid into deep recesses and between soft petals, confirming her flower analogy. Annie bit down hard on her lower lip.

  But she cried out Matt’s name when his amazing hot mouth took the place of his finger, giving Annie a whole new appreciation for the phrase in full bloom.

  All day on Wednesday, Annie couldn’t even look in Matt’s direction without blushing. If he noticed, she couldn’t tell. But her embarrassment over the things she’d eagerly allowed him to do to her in the privacy of that limo was the least of her worries.

  Although Rico had been attentive enough to his fans that morning, he’d become more sullen than ever once he got back in front of the camera. He seemed distracted, and Gretchen was quickly losing patience with him. To make matters worse, Claire kept running over to him every time they took a break to whisper who-knew-what into his ear.

  Damn Helena. Annie had been so eager to keep her away from Claire, it never crossed her mind they should have waited until after they finished filming to implement Helena’s get-Rico-back plan.

  “You need to have a talk with Rico, Annie,” Gretchen said, hurrying over to where she was standing. “We’re running way behind schedule. We can’t afford that.”

  “I’ll take care of it,” Annie said.

  But Gretchen had no sooner walked away than Matt strolled across the room in her direction. Annie felt the heat start at her feet and zoom to the top of her head. Maintain eye contact, she kept telling herself. If she let herself look at that marvelous mouth of his even once, she’d melt into a puddle right where she was standing.

  “Is there a problem?” Matt asked in his strictly business voice. “Gretchen seems upset.”

  “Nothing I can’t handle,” Annie said, her cheeks still ablaze.

  He started to say something else, but Claire swished her way over to both of them. “Just the two people I needed to see,” she said, a conniving grin on her face. “I’m afraid I have some disappointing news for both of you.”

  Claire found out about Helena was Annie’s first thought. She held her breath.

  Claire looked at Matt first. “Sorry, Matt, but I’m going to have to cancel our between-the-sheets date on Friday night.”

  Annie’s head jerked in Matt’s direction. The only thing that kept her from decking him was the extremely relieved look on his face.

  “And sorry, Annie,” Claire said, turning back to her, “but Rico isn’t going to be available for the intimate date you’d planned for him on Friday night, either. He’s going with me to a cocktail party some of Ted Turner’s people are having on Friday night.”

  When Claire prissed off, Annie turned to Matt, eyebrow raised. “Between the sheets?”

  “Intimate?” Matt said right back. But he pressed a folded piece of paper into the palm of her hand before he walked away.

  Annie unfolded the paper and read the note: Bing Number Three. Tonight. Sevenish? The address wasn’t his, but Annie knew the building—some of the highest-priced real estate in downtown Atlanta. He’d drawn a smiley face at the bottom of the note. Except this smiley face had a distinctly Mick Jagger-type tongue.

  Annie blushed again from head to toe.

  “Annie!” Collin wailed, wringing his hands as he ran across the set. “Rico hates the music for the ‘Striptease Aerobics’ segment. He’s insisting on using salsa music. No one could strip to salsa music, Annie. No one. Who does Rico think he is all of a sudden? Ricky fucking Martin?”

  What is this? He
ll with fluorescent lighting?

  “We hate the F-word, remember?” Annie reminded him calmly. Then she said the same thing she’d been saying all morning long: “I’ll take care of it.”

  Annie stepped off the elevator on the top floor of the Regency Building at exactly 7:02 p.m. that evening. She found herself standing in an impressive wall-to-wall marble foyer, with exotic plants aplenty. But she laughed when she saw the life-size poster of Betty Boop sitting in front of the massive double doors that Annie assumed led into whomever’s penthouse apartment.

  Hooked onto one of Miss Betty’s cardboard arms was a quilted pink hanger with a black string bikini so tiny there wasn’t any reason to bother putting it on. And taped to Miss Betty’s other arm was a note that said: The door’s unlocked. The bathroom’s to the left. Follow the trail for bing number three.

  Annie took the hanger with her, opened the door, and stepped into an apartment worthy of an entire issue of Architectural Digest. Expensive wood. Glass brick. More marble than anyone should be able to pay for. The place was posh, contemporary, and definitely all male.

  She found the guest bath, which turned out to be larger than her entire loft apartment. Against her better judgment, she even put on the skimpy string bikini.

  She told the new-Annie reflection staring back at her in the bathroom’s floor-to-ceiling mirror that there was absolutely no reason to be nervous. That she wasn’t reading anything but sex into Matt’s elaborate efforts. And that she could handle the situation completely.

  But still, she couldn’t keep her idealistic heart from sighing as she followed the terribly romantic trail of rose petals through the lavish apartment and out onto a breathtaking rooftop garden.

  And that’s where she found Matt.

  Sitting in a bubbling Jacuzzi. A glass of wine in his hand. And a welcoming come-and-get-me look on his incredibly handsome face.

  As she walked toward him, something told Annie the dynamic between them was changing—becoming way too serious.

  She was having too much fun to listen.

  She flashed Matt a here-I-come-to-get-you smile and kept walking in his direction.