by Maggie Marr
My stomach lurched. I was being used as a cover story for the sex fest that Kiley Kepner and Steve Legend were having. I’d just signed on for their next film—this whole charade could go on for months.
From across the room, Lane’s eyes skimmed over me and Kiley and how close Kiley now stood beside me. My gaze remained on Lane she tried… she tried like hell… I could see pain shimmer across her face as she looked first at me and then at Kiley touching me. Lane’s gaze dropped to the floor and she turned her body away from us.
“So,” Kiley whispered, “if you do want to be the next big action start and eventually call the shots, you’ll figure out who is in charge.” She placed her palm on my lapel again, and with a wicked smile stared into my eyes. “And Dillon, the guy in charge?” She shook her head. “It isn’t you.”
My chest tightened. This whole PR facade could go on much longer than just tonight. Kiley with Steve could get my offer pulled. Her people could leak stories about her and me on set for months—stories that wouldn’t need any kind of confirmation—stories that would be printed on the covers of countless magazines just because of Kiley’s team making innuendos. I could deny each one, but how could I expect Lane to live with all the rumors? How long before she simply didn’t believe me and left?
Kiley turned and linked her arm through mine. “Let’s go,” she said. “The after-party at my place awaits.”
I looked over my shoulder at Lane. Her lips were pulled tight in a thin line, and Amanda had her arm around her shoulders. My heart ached because of the shattering pain I knew I was causing her.
Lane
I didn’t cry at the premiere party. I was better than that. I was more professional. Besides, I’d already cried in the bathroom at the actual premiere—how big of a baby could I be? Instead, I waited until Amanda and I were in the limo. Choo was going home with Jackson.
“I am such a baby,” I said and dabbed at the corners of my eyes. Amanda handed me another tissue.
“No,” Amanda said, “you’re not. It’s just a big mess. But a big mess that will end soon. Right? Dillon’s meant to pretend for tonight and then the whole thing with Kiley is finished.”
I curled my lips upward in a sad, soppy smile. The mess with Kiley would end soon. I sniffled and nodded.
“I can’t go to her after-party,” I said without meeting Amanda’s gaze. “I just can’t.” I pressed my lips together. I had wanted to go to the premiere and the premiere party and I had hoped that I would get to spend a tiny bit of time with Dillon, but that hadn’t happened. He had been too busy with his agent and Kiley and Ryan and we’d barely said two words to each other.
“You can drop me at my place, and then you can go to Kiley’s,” I said.
I didn’t know what time Dillon would get home. He’d left with Ryan and Kiley. My heart had shattered with his departure with them. Of course I’d known that he had to leave with them. I got that Boom Boom and Webber needed to brand Dillon and that by dating Kiley they could do that. My head understood, but my heart… Well, my heart hurt like hell. I wanted to run up to Dillon and yank Kiley’s hand from his arm. I wanted to plant the most amazing kiss on his lips. I wanted him to claim me in front of the world, PR plans be damned.
“I’m not going to Kiley’s,” Amanda said. “No way.” She pulled a compact from her purse, flipped it open, and examined her still-perfect makeup. “I’m going with you.” She clicked closed the compact. “We’ll have a girlfriend gabfest. After we stop for cheeseburgers. Isn’t that what girlfriends do?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I even have some pajamas and some popcorn.”
“Sounds perfect.”
“And ice cream.”
“Ice cream?” Amanda slid her eyes toward me. “You know I haven’t had ice cream since the summer I was eleven. When my mother sent me to a fat camp in Switzerland.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously,” Amanda said. “But I think I definitely need some ice cream tonight.”
Dillon
“I’m out,” I said and leaned over to Webber. He had his lips pressed to the neck of a girl straddling his lap. The time was closing in on four a.m. and I needed to get home. Kiley’s party was filled to capacity with rock stars and actors and directors and TV stars—there were tons of people crammed into her house. This wasn’t my scene. At least not anymore.
“You gonna get him home?” I asked Webber.
Webber pulled his lips away from the girl’s neck and looked toward Ryan, who was passed out facedown on the couch. He was totally okay with sleeping it off right in the middle of this Hollywood bash.
Webber nodded. “I got him,” he said. He pressed his lips to the girl’s and his hand cupped her ass as he pulled her tighter onto his lap.
I walked toward the front door. I was exhausted. Even with the bevy of eye-candy pulsing through this party, the only place I wanted to be was home, in my own bed, with Lane. I opened the door and walked out onto the front step.
Silence thrummed through the night. The quiet felt like a caress after all the noise and music and high-pitched giggles of inside. I took a long, deep breath and pulled my phone from my pocket and texted Bob. He replied he’d be in the drive in two minutes.
“Hey, you’re leaving?”
I looked toward the familiar voice. Kiley stood just outside the front door. She’d changed from the dress she’d worn to the premiere of Mission Ranger into a nearly see-through dress. Her legs went for miles, and while admittedly one of the most beautiful women in the world, she wasn’t Lane.
I couldn’t blame Kiley entirely. I had agreed to the entire charade. Tomorrow the tabs would print pics of us out on the town together. I clenched my hand. Steve Legend film be damned, next week I was having Boom Boom leak that Kiley and I were only friends and would remain only friends. I simply couldn’t see that look of pain on Lane’s face again, even if I had to give up a film with Steve Legend.
“Not your scene?” Kiley purred. She stepped closer to me.
“I’m kind of done with all that.” I forced my anger deeper into my gut. I was a professional and in this town, you didn’t ever want to wipe out a bridge. “Look, Kiley,” I said with an even tone. “Thank you for everything—I mean, you’re right. You and Steve offered me a huge opportunity both with The Legend Returns and all the publicity. I don’t want to seem ungrateful.”
She moved closer to me, her body skimming the front of mine. “Dillon, don’t worry about it. We can’t help who with or when we fall in love. Believe me, I know.” She placed her hand on my arm. “You really helped me out, and I’m looking forward to working with you on The Legend Returns.”
“Thanks,” I said. I wasn’t sure Kiley would be so excited about working with me on The Legend Returns once I told Boom Boom to leak the story that Kiley and I weren’t involved, but I didn’t want to get into details with Kiley tonight. I simply wanted to go home.
Kiley stood too close. I smelled the hot whiskey on her breath. Her lips were close to mine. Any guy in the world would have read the signs and pressed their body into hers. But I didn’t want Kiley. I wanted Lane, I needed Lane, I was in love with Lane.
“Good night, Dillon,” Kiley said. Her lips were on mine and she pressed her body into me. For a fraction of a second, my body, my mind, and my lips were completely confused. I grabbed her arms and jerked back.
“Yeah, Kiley, good night,” I said. My tone was terse. Lip-lock was not part of our deal. Not in any way. I turned toward the Escalade. Bob jumped out from behind the wheel and opened the back door.
“Get me out of here,” I said and Bob slammed the door.
Lane
Dillon’s footsteps woke me. The dogs were sacked out around me on the bed. Each pup stood, stretched, and bounced to the floor. I glanced at my phone. Five a.m. My breath hitched in my chest. Amanda had said that Kiley’s late-night after-parties often lasted well into the next day. I’d wanted Dillon to come home and be with me.
“Hey, baby,” he
said. He’d already undressed and he slipped into bed wearing nothing. He slid his hands across the bed and under my body, then wrapped his arms around me. The pain from this night disappeared.
I loved his touch.
He pressed his body against mine and his hardness pressed against my backside. He cupped both my breasts in his hands. Heat swirled through my body and swept away my fatigue. My skin grew warm and a throbbing desire pulsed between my legs. He pressed his lips to my neck.
“God, I missed you tonight,” he whispered into my ear.
The scent of whiskey decorated his breath beside the lingering scent of something floral, something feminine. My stomach pitted with fear. He’d been out until five a.m. with one of the world’s most beautiful female stars, at her home, drinking. I pressed my lips tight and willed away my thoughts of doubt. Dillon would never be with another woman and then come home to me. Would he? Hadn’t he proved over and over and over that he only wanted me? His lips roamed along my neck and his hand slid down my belly and slipped into my panties.
My body responded to his touch. I anticipated the pleasure I’d receive and my hips pressed backward into his hardness. His fingers slipped between my moist folds and pressed against the spot between my legs, the spot that caused heat to lick every inch of me.
Dillon stroked me. I gasped for air. I pushed hard against him while his fingertips circled the nub between my legs.
“God, Lane.” His plucked at my nipple with his other hand. “Baby, I missed you.”
A deep, sensual moan coursed out of my mouth. I bit my bottom lip. I wanted him. Even when I was confused, I wanted him. His touch sent me spiraling. He slipped his fingers deep inside me and I gasped. I wanted to be filled by him.
“Lane, I want you.”
“Dillon, please, please,” I whispered. I wanted to feel him inside me, I wanted to know that he was mine, I wanted his body, our bodies together to take away these doubts, and these fears, and this pain I felt over tonight and Kiley and that I had to leave to go back to school. I wanted all those thoughts washed away by the physical pleasure his body gave me.
“What do you want, sweet Lane?” His voice was deep, like a possessive growl. His lips pressed to my ear and his fingers pleasured me. His fingers made my body writhe with a hot desire over which I had no control. “Tell me, sweet Lane, tell me.”
I bit my bottom lip. I knew what he wanted; he wanted me to talk dirty to him, he wanted me to say words that I never said. “I…”
He pressed his fingertips harder to my nub and I felt his penis bumping along my backside. I wanted him. I wanted him to…
“I want you to fuck me,” I gasped.
A deep growl came out of Dillon’s mouth. His fingers slid from inside me and his cock jammed upward, slicing into me with a hard heat that made my body explode with pleasure.
“I’ll fuck you, sweet Lane. I’ll fuck you.”
My body was all heat as Dillon pushed up and into me, and I pressed back into each of his thrusts. His fingertips still moved on my nub as he thrust up and into me from behind.
“You are mine, Lane. You are mine,” he growled with each thrust. “Tell me you are mine.”
“I’m yours, all yours,” I wailed. My body and my mind fought to hold on, to ride the edge of pleasure.
“Baby, I’m going to come,” Dillon said as his thrusts grew harder and deeper and my body clasped around him. I fell over the edge and he shattered with me as we both came.
Chapter 24
Lane
The next day, Dillon had to leave to do some final pickup shots for Offend and Defend. I was walking the dogs when my phone beeped. I slid it from my pocket. The number was CTA.
“Lane?” the semi-familiar voice said. “This is Nancy from CTA, HR.”
“Nancy!” I said. “How are you?” I scrambled to the edge of the trail at Runyon Canyon and did my best to catch my breath.
“Good,” she said. “Is this a bad time? You sound… you sound a little winded.”
“No, I mean yes. It’s a good time, but I’m walking the dogs. You know that job you found for me? Well, part of it is walking four dogs.”
“Yes,” Nancy said with a small laugh. “I have heard a great deal about that job.”
My stomach twisted. I hoped she hadn’t heard about me sleeping with my employer. That part I had kind of wanted to keep to myself.
“Listen, Lane, one of the agents here who is in charge of the trainee program that you’ll enter next spring wondered if you’d come in and meet with him. You know, before you head back to school.”
Kong traced a figure eight around my legs, and since he was on his leash, the leather strap tightened around my thigh. “Sure!” I said and tried to extricate my legs without doing a face-plant into the dust. “When?”
“He wanted you to come by today,” Nancy said. “This afternoon, if that isn’t too soon for you?”
“Today?” I pulled the leash above my head and twisted. “Sure, no problem.”
“Great,” Nancy said. “I’ll tell him. Does two thirty work?”
“Okay.” I pressed Off and looked at the time. “Come on guys, we gotta run,” I said to the pack. “I have to go and discuss my future.”
Dillon
The Escalade pulled to a stop on the tarmac. I hopped out before Bob pulled open the back door. This trip to the desert was a surprise and completely unscheduled. Hunter Fabian stood beside the jet steps wearing a Dodgers baseball cap and aviator sunglasses. He walked toward me with his hand outstretched and a giant smile on his face.
“Mate!” Hunter said and swung an arm around my shoulder. “I can’t thank you enough. I just got the call and they said we could get those shots tonight. Ryan’s already on board.”
“No problem,” I said and forced what I hoped look like a real smile onto my face. I didn’t want to be a pain in the ass. Lane would have to understand. It was a military base and if they said we had to do the shot tonight then we had to do the shot tonight. There wasn’t really a way around it. Tonight I’d made big plans for us. I wanted to discuss how we were going to do the long-distance thing. I’d wanted to try to figure out a way to convince Lane to transfer to UCLA or USC to finish her last year of college in Cali. I couldn’t imagine being without her. I would understand if she felt like she had to finish up school where she’d started, but if she was determined to stay in Kansas, then I was moving my home base. I’d go do my films, but then I would come back to her. I’d made my decision; I couldn’t be without her. Not for any period of time. I needed Lane to make me feel grounded and sane, to help me feel like I was a real person in this crazy world.
Hunter leaned in close. “This is exactly why I’m so happy you’re doing the Legend film with me, Steve, and Kiley.” He tapped me on the shoulder. “You’re a team player. You completely get it.”
I wasn’t sure Hunter would believe that I “got it” once I kicked Kiley and our fake love story to the curb.
Hunter released my shoulder and walked toward the jet steps. “Wheels up in ten!” he called to me.
I nodded and waved. I slipped my phone from my pocket. This “team player” had to readjust some personal plans. I punched the button and after two rings Boom Boom picked up.
“Boom Boom?” I said.
“My favorite client, how are you?” she asked.
“Listen, I need your help. I’ve got some last-minute pickup shots tonight. Can you reschedule some dinner plans for me? I got the reservation through your office and I was wondering if you could try to reschedule it for tomorrow night?”
“Consider it done, my love,” she said. “For two, yes?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“So how are the little lovebirds?” Boom Boom asked. Her voice held an edge.
“Lane’s good,” I said.
“You know, Kiley’s people called me today,” Boom Boom said.
I took a deep breath. I didn’t want to hear anything that Kiley’s people had to say. I’d struck
a deal with the devil when I’d agreed to the charade.
“They’d like to postpone making the breakup announcement until you begin to film The Legend Returns,” Boom Boom said.
“No way,” I said. I crossed my arms over my chest. “There is no way—that is like what? Two months from now?”
“Three, darling, but who’s counting? Look, I know it’s hard, but here’s the thing: Kiley is the one who got you that role and—”
“I can’t do it, Boom Boom. I can’t do it to myself and I definitely can’t do it to Lane.” I couldn’t ask Lane to keep our relationship hidden.
“I didn’t want to tell you this, but Kiley’s people are intimating that if you won’t do this for her, they will ask Worldwide to withdraw your offer on The Legend Returns.”
Heat rolled through my belly and climbed to my chest. Of course they would. Webber and Boom Boom had warned me that if I didn’t do what Kiley asked that the offer for The Legend Returns could disappear. And now I knew why. She and Steve Legend were using me to hide their affair—from the public and from Steve’s wife.
“Darling, I told them I didn’t think that there was any way at all that you would agree to it.”
“Absolutely not, I said.
“Right,” Boom Boom said. “So I just got off the phone with Webber, and he’d gotten a phone call from Worldwide Business Affairs.”
My heart clutched in my chest. My gut felt as though I was falling down a never-ending hole.
“And they’re putting a tiny hold on your deal,” Boom Boom said.
I pressed my fingertips to my temple.
“You should definitely give Webber a call. Worldwide has some concerns about how well you and Kiley are getting along. They don’t want to walk into any problems. It would seem that Kiley’s agent might have called the president of production at Worldwide and mentioned that Kiley wasn’t sure she wanted to work with you on the film. The studio is giving us forty-eight hours to work this out.”