Jase crouched before me, cupping my shoulders and drawing me forward to press against his hard chest. “You’re strong. Not a victim. Let me help you heal. You don’t have to worry about Tom anymore. I’m here to protect you as long as you need me.”
I wasn’t stupid. Healing was something I had to do for myself, but agreeing to accept his help was the first step. Talking about everything made me feel lighter, almost as if a load had been taken off me.
That evening, after sharing take-out Chinese, Jase and I watched reruns of his favorite sitcom until shadows darkened the room. We hadn’t spoken more of anything of a serious nature, only teasing each other as the hours slipped past. It was like old times, our feet propped on the coffee table and a bag of chips between us.
“Should I diet, you think?” I asked as a popped another sour cream and onion chip into my mouth.
He laughed and rolled his head toward me. “There might come a day when you need to eat healthy, but if you’re fishing for a compliment, then the answer is most definitely no.”
I rubbed my hand over my full belly. “I don’t have defined abs though. Won’t the camera pick up on it?”
His amusement fled in an instant. “You’re still doing the movie?”
“Uh…yeah. I thought I was.” I sat up and shoved the bag aside. “Do you want me to quit?”
“It doesn’t matter.” He stood and turned off the television.
Damn it. The non-answer pissed me off. I stood too and chip crumbs tumbled from my lap to the floor. “Answer the question, Jase.”
He strode to my side and jerked me to him. “No, I don’t want you to do the movie. You fucking know I don’t. Does it make you happy for me to say it again?”
Delirious actually. “Is it too late to find a replacement?”
“So you’re going to quit?”
I weighed my options. Yes, it made me more dependent on Jase than I wanted to be, but if I was honest with myself, I couldn’t pull it off. “I’ll need to find another job.”
“Whatever you want to do, I’ll find a place for you.”
I cocked my head to one side. “You’ll hire me?”
He smiled. “Want to be my personal assistant?”
“You wish.” I balled up my fist and punched his shoulder. “How about something simple? Like a gopher.”
“I can manage that.”
Chapter Sixteen
With Tom out of the picture and my confession to Jase, life got easier.
On Wednesday, two days before we were set to leave for Florida, I settled into my new position as wardrobe consultant. Honey would be my supervisor, and all I had to do was make sure her selections made it on-set in one piece. It was an easy gig.
Jase hadn’t touched me since New Year’s. He was always there, checking on me and making sure I stayed on an even keel, but he hadn’t spoken about our botched lovemaking, so I didn’t bring it up either. I was afraid doing so would ruin the uneasy truce we’d reached.
Armed with Jase’s car keys, I went downstairs. Honey had called and asked me to pick up an order for Posey, the last minute replacement for my part in the film. Posey was over the moon at being selected, even though it called for her to play a character much younger than her actual age.
“Cara?”
Someone called my name, and I stopped dead in my tracks. “Jackie?”
Jackie approached me, dressed in an expensive looking pink and white ensemble. Her hair was styled in corkscrew ringlets, curls I’d envied as a child.
She stopped a few feet from me and adjusted the strap of her designer purse. “What are you doing here?”
I tucked Jase’s keys into my pocket and hoped she hadn’t noticed his trademark lucky rabbit’s foot. “I could ask you the same question.”
Jackie stared at me as if I were a stranger, or someone she wasn’t especially happy to see. “I came to visit Jase.”
“Same here,” I responded with a blithe wave of my hand.
“Really?” she drawled. “How did you get here? I didn’t see Tom’s car out front.”
I fought the urge to scratch her face. It wasn’t so much her words as the tone used. “I took the bus.”
“Oh, I bet that was horrible,” she chirped. Fake sympathy. Something she excelled at.
I refused to let her cattiness get to me. We’d never been friends. Not really. I recognized the truth now. It still hurt, but it didn’t mean I’d let her bring me down.
I opened my mouth to respond, but someone touched me from behind and pulled me against a warm, hard chest.
“Diamond, I was disappointed you turned down being my co-star.”
Crap. Mark.
I turned to him and widened my eyes, hoping he would get the hint. “Mark, do you know Jase’s sister?”
Mark’s gaze cooled considerably as he looked past me to Jackie. “We’ve met. Hello, Jackie.”
“Hello, Mark.” A smile curved Jackie’s glossy lips. “So Cara was going to be your co-star, huh?”
Shit.
Double shit.
“Jackie—”
Jackie held up a hand. “Tell Jase I said hello.”
She turned to leave, and panic welled in me. I lurched after her, grabbing her arm and towing her to a halt. “Wait!”
She gave me a look so cold it could’ve frozen fire. “Let go.”
“Give me a chance to explain.”
Jackie’s laughter was devoid of any emotion. “That you’re dabbling in porn?” At my shocked face, she continued, “What? You think I’m not aware what my own brother is up to? Rest assured, I know. And soon my parents will too.”
“Why would you do that?”
Jackie crossed her arms and gave me an arch look. “Jase is risking our family’s reputation. It’s best we cut all ties with him before it gets out of hand and someone else realizes what he’s doing.”
“But he’s your brother!”
“So?” Jackie rolled her eyes and brushed an impatient hand over her perfect curls. “He’s a pervert. We’re better off without him.”
I gaped at her.
Pervert?
Was that how she saw her own brother?
She’d been young when she’d learned of his proclivities, so why blow the whistle now? “Don’t do this, Jackie.”
“Why are you even worried about it? You have nothing to do with any of my family except Jase. You’re dead to the rest of us.”
Her attack surprised me. Mark touched my spine, but I tightened my voice and got in her face. “Not through any choice of mine. You ended our friendship. Not me.”
“Seriously?” Jackie placed her perfectly manicured hands on my chest and shoved me backward. “I was an idiot to be friends with you. I only did it because I felt sorry for you.”
Her laughter scraped like nails down a chalkboard. I would’ve done damage to her had Mark not stepped between us.
“Enough. You, get out. Now.” He pointed a finger at Jackie and then the door.
“I’m going.” Jackie held up her hands in surrender and backed away. “I feel dirty just being here anyway.”
After she left, my spirit deflated. “Why is she such a bitch?”
Mark lifted my chin. “I never liked her. Don’t worry about anything she said.”
“She threatened Jase.”
Mark shrugged. “It’s not the first time. Every time she gets mad at her parents, she comes here and takes it out on him.”
“Why would she get mad at them?” Jase and Jackie’s parents were perfect. Too involved in their church for sure, but many times I’d wished my parents were as lovely, as cultured.
Mark rubbed my cheek and turned me toward the elevator. “Not my story to tell. Ask Jase.”
Mark pressed the Up button and I remembered my errand. “I’ve got to pick up a few items for Honey.”
He continued to hold my arm. “It can wait. I have something to show you.”
“What is it?”
He smirked at me. “It’s a surpri
se.”
I stepped onto the elevator with him, wondering what he had up his sleeve now. “Where’s Posey?”
“Being fitted for the schoolgirl outfit.”
The one I would’ve worn.
We stopped on the third floor, and Mark led me to the room I’d auditioned in. The lighting was dimmed, the set complete with a desk and whiteboard. “Is this the setting?”
Mark nodded. “Posey and I ran through a few scenes.”
“You…uh…”
Mark chuckled at my fluster. “We didn’t have sex. No. We ran our lines a few times.”
I walked to the desk and trailed my fingertips across it. The freshly polished wood’s slick surface reminded me of Jase’s hands and how they’d felt on my body.
The days since Jase had somewhat initiated me into sex had been the longest of my life. I needed something to push him over the edge, to make him see I wasn’t the sheltered virgin he imagined me to be.
An outrageous thought occurred to me, one I never would’ve considered had I not been desperate.
I turned to Mark. “I have a favor to ask of you.”
Mark’s smile slowly faded. “What sort of favor?”
“I want you to film me.”
Posey tied the shirt’s ends into a bow and straightened to face me. “Are you sure about this?”
“Not really.” I was going through with it anyway. Mark had roped Posey into helping film me, and I was relieved he’d suggested it. Having another woman present would make it easier on me.
I hoped.
Posey led me back to the set, ushering me forward before she headed to the camera set up in one corner. She picked up a clapboard and snapped it together. “Take one.”
I perched on the desk and spread my thighs like Posey had instructed.
“Perfect,” Mark mouthed.
The heat of a flush burned in my cheeks, but I spread my thighs wider and ran my hands down. The tiny skirt I wore bunched beneath my palms as I lifted the hem and flashed my plain, white panties.
Posey gave me a thumbs-up. A wide smile covered the bottom half of her face. I gained nerve from her encouraging nod and drifted my fingers between my legs.
I’d never touched myself, not in a sexual way. Scared I’d make a fool out of myself, I closed my eyes and crept my index finger beneath the elastic leg of my panties.
A funny thing happened.
I forgot they watched me and focused on the incredible sensation of my finger against my clit. Still reeling from my brief introduction into sex, I flicked my finger against the hidden nub of flesh and sparks shot through my legs.
A moan escaped me. God, yes.
I repeated the motion and my eyes shot wide. “Oh!”
Mark’s cocky grin reeled me in. Even though he wasn’t the man I wanted to impress, I focused on his quickened breathing.
“What in the hell is going on in here?” Lights flickered on, startling me and jolting me from my reverie.
Mark and Posey sprung into action, darting out of the room before Jase could question them. I closed my legs and smoothed my hands over the disheveled clothing I wore.
Dang it. He’d ruined my surprise.
He joined me on set and studied my costume. “Care to explain? You quit the film, remember?”
“I remember.” I hesitated to blurt out the truth, hoping there was a way to salvage my idea. “Mark and Posey offered to train me.”
“Train you?” The quizzical expression remained.
I plucked at the zipper on the side of the skirt and nodded. “I know nothing about sex. I asked for help, and they gave it to me.”
“What do you mean by help?”
I reveled in his apparent jealousy. I leaned back, resting my weight on my hands behind me. My breasts thrust forward, and his gaze dropped to them. I smiled at the mischief I created. “I wanted them to film me.”
“Why?”
Jase’s eyes were darker than I ever remembered. For a moment, I worried I’d pushed too far. But I couldn’t play it safe. Not anymore.
I leaned forward and spread my legs the slightest bit, just enough to show him a glimpse of my panties. “So I could learn how to please a man.”
Jase stepped forward and placed his hands on either side of my legs, not touching me, but close enough to prevent me from escaping. “You think you don’t know how?”
Obviously not.
I held back the response and focused on his face, on how his breathing had sped up, and his skin darkened with a flush.
I widened my thighs again so they brushed his hands, silently begging for his touch. “I need more practice.”
“Really?” He slid his fingers beneath my hips and half-lifted, half-slid me into his arms.
My butt still rested on the desk. I wrapped my legs around his hips and held tight to his shoulders. “Do you know anyone who’d be interested in tutoring me?”
His lips tightened. “I might.”
“But?” There had to be a but.
“He’s not good for you.” Jase flexed against the cradle of my thighs.
He was hard. His cock rubbed against me through the denim of his jeans.
“I don’t care.” My voice grew breathless.
He drifted his hands lower and cupped my ass, pressing his lower body into mine and pinning me to the desk. “I do.”
He let go. Losing his body heat spurred me into action. I clutched at his shoulders, frantic, fraught with the belief he’d leave me. “Jase!”
He didn’t go far. Instead, he spread my thighs and stepped between them again. He ran his hands under the short hem of my skirt. “Have your cuts healed?”
My cheeks burned with discomfiture. “Mostly.”
“Hmm,” he hummed and bent down, flipping the skirt to my waist and studying the pale pink scratches on my thighs. He traced the line of the worst one, and I winced from the slight sting.
His gaze met mine. “No more, Cara. I’m serious. I don’t like seeing you hurt, even if it’s self-inflicted.”
I couldn’t promise I wouldn’t do it again, so I didn’t. All I could do was try my best to fight the urge. “Touch me. Please.”
Jase glanced up. His heated gaze flicked over my face and back to my legs. He delved beneath my panties and touched my damp pussy.
I bit my bottom lip to hold back a squeal. Oh, yes. This was so happening.
“You’re wet,” he said, almost as if he were surprised I would be.
“A good thing?” I figured it was, but it never hurt to ask.
“A very good thing.”
I noticed the red light above the camera. At first, the significance didn’t register. Then I remembered it coming on when Mark pointed the camera toward me.
I straightened and shoved Jase’s hand away. “The camera is still on.”
He glanced over his shoulder and back at me. “So?”
“So it means we’re being filmed.”
He continued toying with my clit. “You’re shy now? A few minutes ago, you were gung-ho about it.”
“That’s different.”
“How?” He touched a particularly sensitive spot, and I moaned out loud.
I struggled to breathe. His fingers were driving me insane. “I planned to give you the disk.”
He stopped moving his hand. “It was for me?”
“Who else would it be for?” I squirmed back and forth, seeking more of the mindless oblivion he could give with a simple touch. “I wanted to please you.”
He licked his bottom lip, slow and intent. “Filming this will please me.”
I wasn’t an idiot. A sex tape had risks. Many celebrities made headlines on the covers of gossip magazines. If my tape had ended up in the wrong hands, no one would’ve cared, but having Jase with me upped the ante. “Are you sure?”
He tugged his sweater and T-shirt over his head in one, smooth movement. “Positive.”
The sight of his bare chest stunned me into silence. He was beautiful. Yes, I’d already establ
ished the fact, but having him stand before me in all his beauty filled me with pride.
Jase Whitmore wanted me. When he could have any girl he wanted, he’d chosen me. It was better than any cheesy eighties’ high school movie I’d ever seen.
Way better.
I closed my eyes and reached for the knot Posey had tied beneath my breasts. I unfastened the ends and pulled the blouse open. Cracking an eye, I looked at him.
“God.” Jase breathed. “You’re so sexy.”
I didn’t hesitate. Grasping the zipper, I pulled it down and unraveled the skirt from my hips. Dressed in nothing but my panties, I waited for what came next. I’d been bold so far, but not enough to take the last step.
Thankfully I didn’t have to.
Jase unbuttoned his jeans and pulled down the zipper, shoving the jeans and his boxers down and kicking them aside.
He was naked. I was damned close. And we were about to have sex in front of a camera.
Why wasn’t I nervous?
Instead, I couldn’t wait for him to finish what we’d started. I arched my hips, and Jase helped remove my underwear. Time to get down to business, but only if he was prepared. “Condom?”
He bent down and tugged one out of his jeans.
I hadn’t expected it to be so easy. “You carry one with you?”
“Not usually,” he answered with a grin. “With you around, I have to be equipped.”
Mollified that he wasn’t a complete man whore, despite what he’d tried to tell me before, I waited for him to roll the condom over his length. Once he had, he gripped my hips and pulled me forward. “Ready?”
“Ready.” I lied.
When he slid inside me, much easier than the first go-round, I nearly screamed. Not from pain, but from the intense pleasure of every inch he moved inside me. Back and forth. Back and forth. Until I thought I would lose my mind.
“Jase!” I cried out, surprising even myself.
He stopped mid-stroke. “What is it, sweetheart?”
“No, don’t stop.” I dug my fingernails into his shoulders and rolled my hips. “Keep going.”
I was having sex, actual sex, with Jase. The first time had been mere practice, nothing like the cataclysmic knowledge that no man would ever be first again. Could anyone even compare to Jase? I seriously doubted it.
Coming Soon Page 14