Exposure (8 page)

After the parties were over and the movie
was out there—a big post-Christmas hit to cheer everyone up—the public took
more and more notice of Nathan. He was in demand for auditions and interviews,
and he soon started shooting another movie on the back of the last one, a
romantic comedy set in London. I was pleased he was much closer to home so I
could see him more often.

“Paula wants to sell an exclusive of our
wedding to one of the celebrity mags,” he said casually one day when he was
home on a break in filming.

“No way,” I said. “You told her no, right?”

“I did. I knew you’d hate that. She wasn’t
happy though. She said we could have made bank on the whole thing, especially
at the moment.”

“She might want to make money, but I don’t
want the wedding swarming with photographers. Knowing her, she’ll have them
there anyway.”

“I’ll find some place we can go where they
won’t be able to take a single picture. Just for you,” he said, kissing me on
the nose.

I hugged him. He understood me. It was
great to feel he was on my side over this.

“Maybe just one photographer.” I wanted
something to put in an album. “We can give Paula a few pictures we like and
maybe that will keep her off our back.”

“My cousin does weddings,” he said. “Why
don’t I ask him? He’s supposed to be one of the best. At least he says he is.”

I was happy with that idea. At least the
photographer wouldn’t be a complete stranger.

The venue was a bigger problem. We wanted
to get married that summer but though we were flexible almost every place was
booked solid, some two years in advance if we wanted a weekend. It was crazy.

But Nathan remembered Dumbrae Castle from
when he was on location in Scotland—a private estate where a lot of celebs had
been married without a fuss from the media. We made a provisional booking and
the first chance we got, once filming finished in May, we took a trip up there
to check it out.

I fell in love with the castle at first sight
when we arrived that Friday evening. It was the most romantic wedding venue a
girl could wish for, with turrets and a banquet hall that looked like they had
been there since Braveheart was fighting the English.

We were the only guests staying that weekend.
The Castle normally only catered for big private parties, but they were happy
to accommodate us. Goodness knows how much Nathan paid for the privilege, but
it was bliss being away from the crowds. The few members of staff on duty that
weekend must have known who Nathan was, but they were used to celebrities and
didn’t bat an eyelid when we arrived. I wanted to stay there forever, but we
only had the weekend to ourselves.

This was our time, and we made the most of
it. It was as if we were already on our honeymoon and spent a lot of time in
our suite, but we managed to dress for dinner so we could sample the delights
of the dining room.

That Sunday, the weather was perfect for a
walk, and we explored the vast grounds. The estate was surrounded by high walls,
and it was miles away from anywhere. We thought it was probably enough to keep
stray photographers out, but Nathan said he would employ a security company to
patrol the perimeter and make sure they didn’t get in. It felt like we were a
thousand miles away from the mad world of movies and premieres.

“You know what I’m going to do now,” Nathan
said when we’d checked out the walls and were back walking through the
extensive woods that made up the estate.

“What?”

“Fuck you right here, where no one can find
us...”

I smiled at him. It was so long since we
had dared to make love outside.

“What about the staff?”

“Do you think they are going to be
wandering about in the woods? They’ll all be working or rushing off home as
soon as they can.”

He was right. We had the woods to
ourselves. It was bliss.

“I want you naked,” he said. “Not a stitch
on, like a little wood nymph.” And he started undoing the buttons on my blouse
and removed it.

My heart thudded. He could always get my
heart racing with nothing more than a touch or a word.

“Take off your bra,” he said. “Let me see
you.”

I reached behind to the clasp and took it
off.

“So beautiful,” he said. “Swollen in fresh
air.” He ran his fingers over the tips of my breasts, and the familiar rush of
desire ran through me.

He unzipped my jeans, and I slipped them
off along with my sandals.

“Those panties will have to go too.”

I felt strangely vulnerable as he pulled
them down, and I was left naked in the forest while he was fully dressed. We
always seemed to end up like that. I think he felt more in control that way.

“I love you,” he said, and took me in his
arms.

“I love you too.” I reached for the buttons
on his shirt. I didn’t want to be the only one naked. Nathan let me take off
his shirt, and I felt the hard planes of his bare chest and his cock rigid in
his jeans against my bare body, my back against the rough trunk of a tree.

“You tempt me too much,” he said. “I was
going to tease you and make you wait, but I can’t. I need you now.”

He took out his cock and entered me then,
so hard and deep, I gasped.

“So fucking wet. I love to feel you so
tight around me. You love that too, don’t you, baby?”

“Yes,” I groaned, clinging onto his broad
shoulders as he hammered in and out of me.

I loved that. My bare chested man, love of
my life, taking me like that, not being able to wait, needing to have me right
there right then, ramming into me hard.

It felt so good to be naked in the woods
with him inside me. I wouldn’t have swapped it for anything.

“Come for me,” he said, kissing my nose and
then plunging into me again and again. “Give it up for me. You know you want to
come here, don’t you? Right outside where anyone can hear you, my filthy,
naughty girl.”

And his words took me right over the edge,
and we both came, our limbs shuddering, our voices mingling with the sound of
the leaves and the birds. It felt so right, so good.

We held each other, and he kissed my hair,
my neck, my ears. I was in heaven. I wanted him again. I couldn’t get enough of
him. He undressed and made a blanket of our clothes, and we lay on them,
holding each other until he was ready, and he entered me once more, more gently
and lovingly than he usually did, never taking his eyes from mine, as if he was
under some spell, mesmerized by me. We laughed at the strangeness of that
coupling—two naked people in the middle of nowhere, as if we were part of the
natural world, part of the grass and the undergrowth and the trees. We had
missed being outside. I didn’t know how much until that moment in the fresh air
under the branches in the spring sunshine.

“I wish we could do this more often” I
said.

“Me too. Maybe we’ll have to wait until
they forget all about me, and I can get my cock out anywhere without anyone
caring.”

“I don’t think they’ll ever forget you
enough for that.”

“Fuck. Who was it that wanted to be in a
movie again? Should have thought that one through more.”

“Too late now. You’re famous, and we’ll
have to make the best of it. It’s not all bad. We get to get married in a place
like this.”

“There is that. We’re going to be rich as
Croesus. Paula’s already looking at a pile of new contracts.”

“I don’t care how rich you are as long as
you’re happy.”

“Oh, I’m happy. No mistake about that. And
about to get even happier.” He took my nipple in his mouth and sucked until I
was squirming beneath him.

“Let’s fuck like animals,” he said. “I want
to be an animal with you.”

“You have such a way with words.”

“Nothing wrong with my words. You dare to
criticize me! On all fours, wench, I’m going to spank you for that.”

I giggled and raised my bottom to him. “Oh
Sir, forgive me, I did not mean any harm.”

“No matter, you’ll pay for that. You’re
going to feel the sting of my hand on your naked ass until your cheeks are red
and you’re begging me fuck you.”

“But, Sir.” My insides were clenching at
the very idea of being spanked out there in the open. “Someone might hear.”

“You’d better keep quiet then, hadn’t you?”

I felt the full brunt of his slaps on the
cheeks of my behind, the delicious sting of his hand, the pause while he waited
for the sting to subside, then another and another until a warm burn seeped
into my core. At first I gritted my teeth and managed not to cry out, but as he
continued the assault on my ass, I squealed with every fresh biting slap, each
one bringing me closer to the point where I needed to feel him inside me.

“Fuck me, Nathan,” I said as his hand
landed on my bottom again. “Like an animal. Fuck me now!”

We completely forgot where we were that
afternoon. I’ll never forget it. The complete privacy. The blue sky filtering
through the trees. The love in Nathan’s eyes as he held me after he spanked me,
and had taken me from behind. And how it felt loving him right back.

As we wandered through the woods returning
to our suite, a little exhausted, a little sore, we could not have been
happier, and we were sure this was the place where we wanted to get married. We
confirmed the booking before we left the next morning.

“You should have seen the castle,” I said
to my sister Suzanne as soon as I saw her. “Rooms full of antiques and fine
art. It looked like the castles you see on
Robin Hood
. I felt just like
Maid Marian.”

I looked at her. “What’s the matter?”

“I split up with Paul.”

“Oh God, Suzanne. I’m sorry. You liked him
didn’t you?”

I wished I hadn’t gone barging in, my
excitement spilling over, when I found that out.

I gave her a hug, and she wept a bit, but
she seemed to be okay. Everything was up and down with Suzanne. She always
seemed to be deliriously happy or broken-hearted—nothing in between.

And after a couple of weeks feeling sorry
for herself, she was back to her old bubbly self. I did my bit to help by
taking her to a few parties I’d been invited to. I couldn’t escape them all
since I’d been outed at the premiere as Nathan’s fiancée.

Despite Paula’s fears, being attached didn’t
seem to make Nathan any less popular. Women still clamored for his attention,
but charmer that he was, he deftly fended off their invitations and their
advances without causing offense.

While I stood around like a fish out of
water watching Nathan being a star at those parties, Suzanne was in her
element, getting dressed up, flirting with all the guys, and she was asked out
a lot. Just as I expected, she enjoyed those functions much more than I did.

It was great to see her happy again.

***

Even if I found the showbiz events a trial,
the rest of my life was good.

Nathan and I started looking for a house in
Oxford, our first place together.

“I love this house. Do you like it?” I
asked when we found the kind of place I’d always dreamed of—a Georgian town
house spread over four floors with stone steps up to the front door and down to
the basement below, black wrought iron railings, and a big brass knocker in the
shape of a lion’s head on the front door.

“It needs a lot of work, but I like it,” he
said.

“Can we afford it?”

He laughed. “We can afford a much bigger
place, but if you like this one we’ll get it.”

“I like this one.”

“Then it’s yours. We’ll get an architect in
to sort it out. It might take a few months.”

“I don’t care. I want it.” Fame had some
advantages. Nathan had been paid well for the first movie, even better for the
second and was getting some mind-blowing offers for future projects.

Everything else was falling into place too.
I loved teaching as much as ever, and I loved my time with Nathan. And I loved
planning the wedding. That was just as well because Nathan was a typical
bridegroom and all the planning fell on me once the venue was booked. I asked
his opinion sometimes, but it really wasn’t his thing.

“Have whatever you want. Bridesmaids in
pink, blue or black with orange polka dots. The bridesmaids can dance around
naked, for all I care, as long as we get married and everyone enjoys the day.
That’s all that counts.”

“You’d love the bridesmaids to be naked,
wouldn’t you?”

“Well, yes, but I’d only have eyes for
you.”

“Liar,” I said and laughed.

“Are you disrespecting me, Miss Hamilton,
because you know what that does to me…”

“You turn into the Hulk with twitchy palms?
Promises, promises…” I challenged him.

“Right then,” he said. “You asked for it,”
and he pulled me over his lap.

These were heady days and nights. Sometimes
I had to pinch myself to realize how happy I was.

***

The wedding was going to be a relatively
small affair—just family, close friends, and partners, about ninety guests. I
had been afraid we would end up with five hundred people from the movie world
so I was happy about that, but there would be many I hadn’t met, including all
of Nathan’s family. A whole group of them would be flying in from the States.

I hated meeting new people about as much as
I hated everyone looking at me, but, I didn’t think I would feel too
self-conscious—no more than any other bride on her wedding day.

Emma had helped me pick out the perfect
wedding gown. It was a simple design with a long flowing skirt in ivory silk
embellished with embroidery on the tightly-fitting bodice and tiny
fabric-covered buttons down the back.

“You can have anything you want,” Nathan
had said when I talked about how expensive weddings were. “Nothing but the
best.”

But I didn’t go too crazy. It wasn’t me to
have anything too ostentatious. I was having just two bridesmaids, my friend
Hannah and my sister Suzanne. Hannah was bringing her boyfriend Ben. She’d been
going out with him since college. Suzanne had just brought her new guy home to
meet my parents and I’d popped in for ten minutes on my way to a parents’
evening at the school. Kyle was a stunner she’d met at one of the charity
functions we attended. I was happy for her. I hoped this one would work out. I
liked him, from what little I’d seen of him.

I could have had more bridesmaids, but it
was almost a case of invite all my friends or none for fear of offending any of
them. Everyone knew I had been friends with Hannah since we were five so they
were okay with that.

“Only two bridesmaids. I thought you’d have
more than that.” Justine, my friend at school, seemed a little disappointed.
Perhaps she wanted to be one. “I want at least five and a little flower girl or
a page boy at my wedding.”

“There’s no one cute enough for that in my
family. And I don’t think we can get James Willoughby to wear a page boy
costume.” We both laughed.

Even with Nathan’s growing fame, I hadn’t
expected journalists and everyone and his dog would be interested in the
wedding. There were hundreds of celebrities more famous than Nathan. It’s not
as if he was George Clooney or anything. But it seemed that newspapers loved to
get the scoop on a wedding, no matter who was getting married as long as people
had heard of them.

At least they wouldn’t be able to bother us
on our wedding day itself. I was pleased about that.