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My breathing quickens, fingertips increasing speed. Is this the start of something between us?
My tongue laps out, soaking my lower lip, a small sigh escaping as my center gets wetter by the second, friction building between my legs. I want Gabe to burst down the door right then and there, to come and take me and finish what he started on that rocky beach in the sunset.
A squeak reverberates through the huge bedroom, and I clamp my lips together, my form quaking against the mattress.
But there’s no Gabe tonight. Just a memory and my fingers.
Tomorrow is another day.
CHAPTER 9
Forrest
This venue is familiar to me. I think I’ve been here, early in my career, before I was a household name, when my agent booked me for a bit part in a Christmas movie that was filmed in this part of Montana.
They’ve made some upgrades, the thick, leather booths for one, a new stage, and the food is definitely better than I remember it being.
I’m enjoying this date much more than I anticipated before we left the cabin. Stella is attentive and laughing at the jokes told on stage to a live audience as we eat. I don’t understand what we’re doing here, honestly, but I’m beginning to relax with Stella.
The cameras are well hidden here, so as not to alert the public to our arrival, and I’m grateful for that. I can’t tell if Stella even knows they’re on us, but I’m far too seasoned in this industry to think otherwise. Just because I can’t see them, doesn’t mean they’re not there. We aren’t here for pleasure. This is all business.
Stella drops her linen napkin on her plate as the comedian on stage wraps up his set, and her eyes widen as if she’s in awe. She gazes at me, and I return her look.
“What? Haven’t you ever been to a comedy club before?” I say, amused by her reaction to the live show.
“Oh, I have,” she titters, meeting my eye. “I just wasn’t expecting such a calm date with you.”
Honestly, I hadn’t expected anything so low-key, either. This doesn’t feel like much of a “challenge,” especially when I’d heard about the Olympic training that Gabriel had been on with her. I can’t help but be concerned.
Are they babying me because of my contract now?I don’t want to be treated like a toddler, but I did do this to myself.
Stella reads my expression and reaches across the table to place her hand on mine. Unexpectedly, a fission of electricity crackles through me on contact, and my head jerks up. But if she feels it, she makes no comment.
“Frankly, I’m glad,” she adds as applause breaks out for the comic who finishes his act on stage. “This is much better for my anxiety levels. I’ll take dinner and theater any night over scaling rock walls, thank you very much.”
I grin at her, appreciating the solidarity, even if it doesn’t line up with mine necessarily. I’m still apprehensive, as if I can sense something else is about to happen. My senses are tingling.
“Ladies and gents, that was our last comic for the evening, but that doesn’t mean that the night is over. In fact, it’s far from over, as we have a very special treat for you.”
A low murmur filters through the club, and dread flushes through me even before the emcee finishes what he has to say.
Ah. Here it comes.
“We have special guests in the audience this evening,” he goes on, and now Stella appears to understand our dilemma, too.
“Oh, no,” she breathes. “They wouldn’t.”
“They sure would,” I growl, squaring my shoulders. “Buckle up, Stella.”
A bright light pours over our table as our names ring out. “Forrest Marlowe and his lovely Heartbreaker companion fromHeart’s Desire, Stella Crestwood, are here tonight, folks. Give them a round of applause.”
The crowd loses it, camera phones snapping photos of me and Stella. Automatically, I play to them, even though I’m blindsided by this public introduction.
“Now,” the emcee continues. “I’m going to hand this mic over to someone who you all probably know and love much better than me…”
The audience turns, and we let out a low, devastated groan as Jasper Royce jumps onto the stage, stroking his skinny beard.
“Hey, everyone!” he calls out charismatically, and now everyone is fixated on him.
