by Marie Force
They’d cast unknown actors to play Charlie, Stephanie and Grant, but they expected the star power of Flynn Godfrey, Quantum Studios and Hayden Roth’s direction to make the film a massive hit. It was already generating Oscar buzz, and it hadn’t even been released yet.
“What do you think? Sit out the screening and come to the party?”
“That sounds good. Thanks for understanding. I love you so much, and I’m so, so proud of you.”
“I love you more, and I’m prouder of you than you’ll ever be of me.”
“Wanna bet?”
“Uh-huh.” He kissed her lips and then her neck. “Come back to bed for a while.”
“To sleep?”
“Sure. Unless something else comes up.”
Stephanie laughed at the suggestive way he said that. “When we’re in bed together, something else always comes up.”
He helped her up and led the way to the bedroom. “I can’t help it that you’re so sexy, you make me want you all the time.”
“So it’s my fault, is it?”
“Absolutely.” He eased her onto the bed and came down on top of her, careful not to put too much weight on the baby bump. “You make me crazy with wanting you, Mrs. McCarthy.”
As she looped her arms around his neck, she drank in the sight of his handsome face, messy hair and scruffy jaw. She loved him like this, the way only she got to see him—completely relaxed, a little messy, incredibly sexy. “You make me just as crazy, and you know it.”
“Mmm,” he said, kissing her. “That makes us very lucky.”
She reached around him to turn her Pooh bear to face away from what was apparently about to happen, making Grant laugh the way he always did when she shielded Pooh from what went on in their bed. “Now, what were you saying?”
He pressed his hard cock against the V of her legs. “It went something like this.”
“Tell me more.”
“Once upon a time,” he said as he kissed her neck, “there was a strong, brave girl who spent years trying to right a terrible wrong.” He removed her T-shirt and cupped her breasts, running his thumbs over the tight points of her nipples, which were extra sensitive thanks to pregnancy.
“She was faithful, loyal and true to the one person in her life who’d always been there for her.” Drawing one nipple and then the other into the heat of his mouth, he sucked gently on them and nearly made her come from that alone. “Despite every one of the formidable obstacles she encountered, she never gave up on her goal. She sacrificed everything in her pursuit of justice.”
Stephanie’s heart filled to overflowing as his words moved her every bit as much as his tender touch did. Sometimes she still couldn’t believe that this incredible man loved her the way he did.
He removed her panties and settled between her legs where he set out to drive her wild with his tongue and fingers. “And then somehow this strong, brave, warrior woman fell in love with me and changed my life in every possible way.”
She came with a cry that echoed through the large room, and then moaned when he entered her in one deep thrust that filled her completely.
Nothing was better than this, than him and them and what they were together. “Grant,” she said as she arched into him.
“What, honey?”
“Love you so much.”
“Love you more.”
She shook her head. “No way.”
“Way.” He kissed her and kept up the pace until they reached the finish line in a moment of sheer bliss that left her floating in the aftermath.
“Mmm,” he said, “now that’s how you start a day off right.”
That night, Grant sat in the darkened theater with tears in his eyes as he watched Stephanie’s story play out on the screen, seeing the finished film for only the third time. The actress had done such a wonderful job of capturing the desperation and frustration Steph had lived through for so many years as she fought an epic battle to free Charlie.
It had been vitally important to him that he and Dan not come off as the heroes of her story. Yes, he’d called his friend Dan, a celebrity lawyer known for his work to free unjustly incarcerated people, and Dan’s name had gotten them a new hearing that had resulted in Charlie being set free.
But none of that would’ve happened without Stephanie and the effort she expended for so many years to save the one person who’d tried to save her and paid for that with fourteen years of his life spent behind bars. Charlie was played to gruff perfection by a newcomer who captured all his rough edges as well as his massive soft spot for the stepdaughter who waged war to save him.
By the time the closing credits rolled and the people in the theater went wild with applause and whistles, Grant was wiping actual tears off his face.
“Holy shit.” Dan brushed at the dampness on his own face. “That was fucking unbelievable, Grant. Congratulations.”
“Hayden gets the credit. He’s the one who made it come alive.”
“Your words were the magic, my friend. It’s going to be a massive hit, and you’d better get your monkey suit ready for award season.”
“I thought I knew Stephanie’s story,” Dan’s wife, Kara, said, “but I only knew a fraction of it. That was truly remarkable. Congratulations, Grant.”
“Thank you both for being here.”
The four of them had flown together to LA for the premiere and were heading home to Gansett tomorrow. No one wanted to miss any more of summer on Gansett than they had to.
“Is Stephanie okay?” Kara asked gently.
“She’s great, but she wasn’t up for reliving it. Once was enough for her.”
“I can totally understand that.”
“She’s meeting us at the after-party.”
“Oh good,” Kara said. “She can help us deal with him.” She used her thumb to point at Dan. “Flynn Godfrey will be filing for a restraining order by the time Dan is through with him.”
“Oh please,” Dan said, scoffing. “Who else could’ve played me so convincingly but him?”
“I heard they tried to get SpongeBob, but he was booked solid,” Grant said.
Kara howled with laughter and gave Grant a fist bump. “Good one.”
“Flynn’s the only actor in Hollywood good-looking enough to pull off Dan Torrington,” Dan said.
“Do you see what I’ve been dealing with?” Kara asked Grant. “He speaks of himself in the third person now, too. I can’t deal with him.”
“I feel your pain,” Grant said, laughing as he stood. “Let’s get to the party so I can see my best girl.”
“Before we go,” Kara said, “I need to hug you and say thank you for doing such an absolutely beautiful job of telling Stephanie’s story. We’re so proud of you.”
Grant returned her hug. “Thank you. That means a lot to me.”
“All kidding aside, bro,” Dan said. “It’s a masterpiece.”
“Thanks,” Grant said, touched by their praise. “We’ll never forget what you did for her.”
“One of the most satisfying cases I’ve ever been involved in. Let’s go party.”
“He just wants more pictures with Flynn,” Kara said, rolling her eyes.
“He’s my new bestie,” Dan said.
“Well, that’s a relief,” Grant replied. “I’m finally rid of you.”
“You wish.”
They greeted hundreds of people in the theater before heading across the street to the hotel ballroom where the after-party was being held.
Grant looked around the vast room before he saw her, sitting alone on a barstool, her back to the crowd that was flooding into the room. He’d know the copper color of her hair and those petite shoulders anywhere, and as he made his way to her, he noted that the color of her dress perfectly matched her hair.
Seeming to sense his approach, she turned, and a smile lit up her face when she saw him coming.
His heart gave a crazy lurch at the sight of her. It had been that way between them from almost the very beginning.
He bent to kiss her and slid his arms around her, relieved to be back with her after a few hours apart. It wasn’t lost on him how ridiculous it was that being separated from her for even a few hours had become painful at some point in their time together. “Missed you,” he whispered.
“Missed you, too. How was it?”
“Everything I hoped it would be and then some. I hope you’re ready to be a star, babe.”
“I’m not the star. You are. You wrote it.”
“Stephanie, love… You’re the star of this show in every possible way. I hope you’re prepared for how interested people will be in the woman behind the story.”
“Gulp.”
Grant laughed. “The Quantum marketing team has a whole bunch of people interested in interviews, and rumor has it that People magazine wants to do a cover with us.”
“Come on.”
“No joke.”
“Wow. I just never imagined… Wow.”
“And don’t look now, but here comes Flynn Godfrey and Hayden Roth, wanting to meet the woman of the moment.”
“Don’t let me faint.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Grant released her to shake hands with two of Hollywood’s most successful men. If there’d been a dream team to work with on Steph’s story, the Quantum team was it. “Flynn, Hayden, meet my wife, Stephanie Logan McCarthy.”
“Is it okay if I hug you?” Hayden asked. “I feel like I’ve known you much longer than one minute.”
“Of course,” Steph said, hugging the handsome Oscar-winning director.
“Your story moved and amazed us all,” Hayden said. “It was an honor to bring it to life on-screen. Thank you for trusting us with it.”
“Grant said you’re the best, and from what I hear, he was right.”
“We are the best,” Flynn said with a grin, “but your story blew us away from the first time we read the script.”
“That was all him,” Stephanie said, gesturing to her husband.
“No, babe,” Grant said, “it was all you. There’s no denying who’s the heart and soul of this story.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Hayden said. “I’m sorry we weren’t able to convince Charlie to come. I’d love to meet him, too.”
“He’s very happy at home on Gansett Island with his new wife,” Stephanie said. “They’re having a housewarming party Saturday night at their new home. The last thing he wants to do is revisit that time in his life, even though he was supportive of Grant writing the script.”
“We’re so happy he’s found a satisfying new life,” Flynn said.
“No one deserves it more,” Stephanie said. “What he did for me, what he gave up…” She shook her head. “Grant and Dan don’t want to hear that they’re the heroes of the story, but without them, we’d never have gotten him out of prison.”
“I think I speak for Grant when I say that helping to get justice for you and Charlie was one of the most satisfying things we ever did,” Dan said when he joined them.
“I completely agree,” Grant said. “Setting you two free and then telling the world what you did is a distant second to getting you to fall in love with me on my list of life achievements.”
“That was the easiest thing I ever did,” Stephanie said.
Chapter 5
“What a night,” Kara said to Dan as he drove them home hours later. “It’s so nice to see Stephanie getting such praise for how she refused to give up on Charlie. And Grant for writing such a beautiful script.”
“I know. I hope he’s ready to add another Oscar to his shelf.”
“That’d be so deserved.” Kara yawned for the hundredth time since they’d left the party thirty minutes ago. “I’m going to sleep for a week when we get back to Gansett.”
“You can’t sleep for a week in August.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me.” She had about four weeks remaining until her summer season running the launch service in North Harbor came to an end and she could relax until the spring.
“What’s up with you being so crazy tired all the time?”
“That’s what happens when I try to keep up with you.”
“Seriously, Kara. You’re freaking me out with all the sleeping. That’s not like you.”
“I don’t know.”
“Is it possible, you know, that you might be… well, pregnant?”
Kara laughed at that. “As you well know, it’s more than possible.”
“Do you think you are?”
“Could be. It would explain a few things.”
“What other things besides being tired?”
“My boobs hurt, my pants feel snug, and I’m hungry all the time.”
“Kara! When were you going to tell me you’re pregnant?”
“As soon as I confirmed it.”
Dan glanced in the rearview mirror before sliding across three lanes on the 5 and taking the next exit.
“What’re you doing?”
“Finding a pharmacy to get a test.”
“We can figure it out when we get home to Gansett.”
“We’re figuring it out right now.” He drove faster than he should have through a commercial area and took a hard right turn into a pharmacy parking lot. “Lock the doors when I get out.”
“Yes, dear.” Kara watched him go, sinfully sexy in the tuxedo he’d worn to the premiere, eating up the sidewalk with his always-impatient stride, which was even more so now that he was on a mission to find out if she was pregnant. She giggled to herself, imagining her famous husband buying a pregnancy test. It’d probably be all over the news that she was pregnant before they knew themselves.
He returned ten minutes later carrying a big bag that he passed to her when he got in the car.
Kara looked inside and burst out laughing when she saw he’d bought no fewer than twenty tests. “We only need one.”
“I want to be sure.”
“I don’t have enough pee for twenty tests.”
“What do you need pee for?”
Kara lost it laughing again. “You have to pee on the stick to take the test.”
“Jesus.”
“How can you be thirty-eight and not know how a pregnancy test works?”
“Because I’ve never come close to being a father, until now.”
“Don’t get your hopes up. I might just be anemic or something.”
“My hopes are up,” he said as he drove toward the beach where he owned a house a half mile from Grant’s.
“You’re driving too fast.”
“I’m in a hurry.”
“Slow down, or I’ll withhold my pee.”
“That’s gross, Kara.”
“Slow down, Dan.”
He downshifted the two-seater BMW he kept at the house in LA but didn’t slow down all that much.
“I was thinking that we should name our first child Dylan,” Kara said, “whether we have a boy or a girl. What do you think?”
He glanced over at her. “That’d be perfect,” he said gruffly. “Thank you for honoring my brother that way.”
“I wish I’d known him.”
“I do, too. He would’ve loved you, but not as much as I do. It’s still amazing to me…”
“What is?”
“How everything is so much better since you found me and saved me from myself.”
Kara laughed at how he described their meeting. “Is that what I did?”
“You have no idea.”
“You did the same for me. After my sister stole my boyfriend and then married him, I thought I’d never want to take another chance, and then there you were in your pink Oxford shirt and your ridiculous loafers, making a complete ass of yourself on a daily basis trying to get my attention.”
“Um, hello, I was being totally serious, and you just insulted me.”
“Did you or did you not make a complete ass of yourself trying to get my attention?”
“I brought you Diet Mountain Dew. Do you know how hard that is to find on Gan
sett Island?”
“Answer the question, Counselor. Did you or did you not make a complete ass of yourself?”
“I refuse to answer the question on the grounds of self-incrimination.”
“Save your legal mumbo jumbo for someone who doesn’t know all your BS.”
“My ‘legal mumbo jumbo’ is in hot demand. In case you missed it, Oscar-winner Flynn Godfrey just played me in a movie. And if I may add, he did a good job, but he couldn’t quite capture the sexy devil Dan Torrington really is.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Kara muttered. “Do you ever get tired of listening to yourself talk?”
“Nope, not really, and neither do you.”
“Yes, I do. I’m officially tired of hearing you talk about what a sexy devil you are and how Flynn Godfrey played you in the movie.”
“I can’t help that they had to get the handsomest guy in Hollywood to play me in order to do me justice.”
“Shut up, Dan.”
“Make me, Kara.”
Thankfully, they arrived at the house, and she was saved from having to take drastic measures to shut him up while he was driving. He came around to give her a hand out of the low-slung car and steadied her when she wobbled on the ridiculous heels she’d bought for the premiere.
“In case I forgot to tell you earlier, you were a total smoke show tonight, babe. That dress is fire.”
“This old thing?” Kara said, glancing back at him as he followed her up the stairs to the door. Their friend Tiffany Taylor had helped her find the perfect dress for the premiere, and Kara had never felt sexier than she did in the clingy black dress that was far more daring than she normally would’ve chosen for herself. Tiffany had that effect on her—and many others.
“That old thing has had me sporting wood all night.”
“Honestly, Dan.”
“Honestly, Kara.” He put his arm around her from behind and pressed his hard cock to her back to make his point. “Been dealing with that since the first second I saw you in that dress.”
“That long?”
“That long, so hurry up and go pee on a stick so we can do something about my stick.”
She didn’t want to laugh at that, because God forbid she should encourage his juvenile humor, but she couldn’t contain the laughter.