Falling Stars (Starstruck Series Book 2) (4 page)

His voice made her shudder. Logan’s hands began to wander, and he traced the outline of her body with his fingertips.  Alisa let her breath out.  He started kissing her, following her jaw line to her neck, down to the exposed area of her chest.  She’d worn a button down shirt, and he started to undo the buttons as his lips kept contact with her skin.

One by one, articles of clothing fell to the floor, until they were both naked, enveloped in each other’s embrace.  Alisa felt his tensed muscles braced against her as she held him, not breaking the voracious lip lock they engaged in.  Logan effortlessly picked her up and set her on the kitchen counter.  It was cold against her bare skin, and she gasped as her body made contact.  Trailing his fingertips over her skin, he felt the goose bumps form from the chill of the cool marble.  Logan lowered himself and began kissing her toes, her calves, the sensitive spot behind her knees, her inner thighs.  She felt him gently nibble her sensitive skin, trailing his lips teasingly to her center.  Alisa reached down, took a handful of his hair, and pulled him to where she desperately wanted him.  He moaned as he pressed his lips against her, his tongue working her over perfectly, as he knew exactly what she wanted.  The bass of his voice traveled from her thighs to her neck, making her tremble.  Logan grinned at her reaction as he continued licking her, anticipating how warm she would feel inside.

She pulled him up on top of her, exposing his solid form in the daylight. Everything about him seemed new, and it felt new. Getting used to his new buff body would take some time, but she was enjoying the sight of it … and the feel of it.  Alisa saw how much he wanted her and reached down to tease him.  He was hard and ready for her.  Logan pushed her hand aside and leaned down to bite her neck, thrusting into her.  Alisa cried out as he did, begging him to pick up the pace.   Her eyes locked with his … when she could keep her eyes open. As she leaned back, his mouth was on her neck, kissing her once again.  In moments, Alisa began climaxing, clenching down on him as he pushed deeper inside of her.  His strong hands grasped her hips, squeezing tightly.  Unable to last any longer, Logan gave one more deep thrust, and they reached the apex of ecstasy together. He collapsed next to her, folding her into his embrace. Both of them catching their breath.

“I love you …” She whispered with a smile.

“I love you.” Logan responded, smiling back. He brushed the hair from her face and curled it behind her ear.  He kissed her cheek then down her neck and gave a devilish chuckle as she moaned.  “Now get ready. We’re going out.”

      After scouring several boutiques, Logan purchased a sleek and elegant dress for Alisa, making her feel like a dream came true.  She owned a few premiere dresses from other events she’d attended throughout the year, but this dress
   
as soon as she slipped it on—the look in Logan’s eyes said it all.  She was sold.

Logan had a date planned for them to see a local show at the nightclub downtown.  Ray, David, Dawn, and her husband Jean had also been invited. They were all extremely excited to see Alisa’s husband back in town.  Of course, their reunion was bombarded by fans that recognized them from the show.  A lot of them were women fawning over Logan.  Alisa stayed out of most of the pictures, even though Logan dragged her into a handful of them against her will.  She posed and smiled accordingly.

“I love that smile,” He kissed her cheek, joining her at the bar.

Alisa turned and handed him his beer.  “My smile? Or blondie’s?”

“Who’s she? The only woman I see is my wife, and she’s all I need.”

Blushing, she snuggled into his arms and kissed him as they swayed to the music. The band was local, with a female singer and several instruments backing her. She was wicked on the guitar, and her songs were danceable, powerful, and very entertaining.  

After she finished her set, the boys stepped out to the patio out back to smoke cigars and enjoy some “guy time”.  Ray did stop to apologize and hug her before he walked outside, and Alisa welcomed it.  She wasn’t going to hold a grudge against Ray for Kassidy’s decision.  

Dawn had disappeared to the restroom a few moments ago, leaving Alisa alone at the bar sipping at the same martini she had from the very beginning.  She remembered the killer headache she had after partying with Ray and the others, and she had no intentions of repeating that night.

“Great set!” Alisa complimented the singer, as she made her way over to the bar.

“Thank you! Thanks for coming out.” Her hair bounced as she talked.  All of the curls fell down her shoulders majestically and were showered in glitter.  

“Logan is a big fan; he told me about your music.”

“Logan?” Megan tilted her head.

“Oh, sorry, you must meet lots of people every day.” Alisa laughed. “Logan Rider, my husband.”

“Oh, really, he’s your husband?” The singer’s dark eyes widened with surprise, “He is such a cutie. We did some work together in the past, but I’m mostly gigging and doing music here. Wow, Logan Rider … married. Did not see that coming. I’m Megan.”

“Alisa.” She smiled and shook her hand. It was always nice to meet old acquaintances of Logan’s, in and out of the industry.

“Good to meet you.  So you must be the muse he was telling me all about.”  Megan patted herself down with a bar napkin and tossed it behind the bar into the trashcan.  

“Muse?”

“Yeah! That movie he was raving about making; he’d written the screenplay based on your book, right?   He stopped by the club—I play pretty regularly here—to rave about you. Logan even sent me several texts, he was so excited. That guy is persistent.”

Alisa laughed.  “I know.”

“Well, if there’s anything I know about Logan Rider, it’s that when he sets his sights on something, he usually gets it.  I’m glad you all took time out of your busy schedules to come out tonight.”

“My pleasure. Everyone with us thinks you’re amazing.”  Alisa complimented the singer and raised her glass to her as she took another sip.

“Logan Rider’s here?”  Another patron at the bar exclaimed. She and her girlfriends giggled and squealed.

“Oh my God!”

“I’m so going to marry that guy.”

“He’s already married!”

“He’s so hot.”

“I heard his wife is not nice at all. She isn’t even that cute either.”

“Hollywood marriages generally don’t last, anyway. He’ll be mine in a heartbeat.”

What the hell?
Alisa wanted to turn around and give the bimbos a piece of her mind, but she knew that this wasn’t the time for it.  She offered an embarrassed smile toward Megan and took another drink of her martini, finishing it off.

Logan and the guys were standing in the doorway across the bar, and he waved in her direction.  She and Megan waved back, and the girls who were standing beside her were fanning themselves and swooning.

“Don’t worry about them, sweetie.  Fans get a little outta hand sometimes and don’t even know what the hell they’re talking about. You’re a doll.”  Megan patted her on the shoulder.

“Thanks.”

She’d been living in LA for almost a year and figured after some time she wouldn’t be fazed by the fans, good or bad. Alisa had been hurt by the girls at the bar, though.

Chapter Four

“New York City?!” The words came out louder than she expected. Alisa was in the middle of the gym doing her third mile on the elliptical when she shouted with joy.  The phone was propped up on the machine and in a video chat with Ray Day, who looked just as excited for her.

“I know, right!”  He grinned.  

“When did ... when did this happen? How
  
?”

“The other day. Ron told me he’d be borrowing you and Evan for the trip out to meet Jenn Vega!”

The memory came back to her quickly, and it was like a boulder crashing down on top of her. At the meeting she had with Evan and Ron, they did mention New York City, though she must have missed the memo about
the
Jennifer Vega.  “Oh, that’s right.”

Ron and the casting department had been in talks with Jennifer Vega’s agent to have her star in
Gateway II
as the new female lead. Jenn was an award-nominated (and winning) actress who now spent her time working as a main lead in a prime-time crime drama.  Her show was filmed in her home state of New York, so it was going to be up to the production company to fly out to meet with her to finalize the talks, as well as scout out possible film locations.  

Then it hit her.

“Wait, doesn’t this mean I have to go with …”

Evan came into view on the video call, and Ray scooted out of the way.  “Me! Hey, yeah. Everything’s booked, so I hope you’ve freed up the day after the premiere. As well as the three days after that.”

She stopped moving on the exercise machine and grabbed her phone down from the stand.  Alisa moved into the locker room and sat down before her legs gave out from under her.  “The day after the premiere? As in we’re leaving ... like tomorrow?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Great.”

“Now don’t sound
too
excited.”

Of course she was excited.  She was going to get to see the big city! Her nerves tied knots in her stomach, and she needed to take a breath and pinch herself to make sure it wasn’t some wild dream.

“It’ll come to me.”

“Fantastic! Make sure you’re packed, and don’t party too hard tonight.  Oh! Did you find a date for the gig tonight?”

“Yeah, I did actually. Logan’s back in town.  He’ll be taking me.”

Evan nodded and looked away from the camera for a second.  If Alisa’s eyes weren’t deceiving her, he looked a little disappointed.  Then he looked into the camera and grinned, “Great.  I will see you there.”  With a wink, he ended the call.

Alisa was instantly filled with dread.  She was already in a hot-cold relationship with Evan. It would grow even more awkward, since she would be with him in a place completely foreign to her.  The trip was in just a few hours, and with the premiere happening this evening, she was immediately stressed out.

“What do I do?” She was driving home and on the phone with Evie.

Evie sounded busy on the other end, “I say you go! You can’t
not
go to meet Jennifer freaking Vega.”

“Double negative.”

“Stop it, grammar police; you know what I mean.  This is Jenn we’re talking about. It’s a huge step for you.  You are not only the writer, but you told Kassidy and Ray that you wanted a taste of being a casting director, right?”

“Yep.”  Alisa replied.

“Then go! This is your chance!  You said the company already set up the meeting, right?”

“Yep.”

“And Evan already booked the flight and hotel?”

“Yeah.”

Evie chuckled, “So what’s the big deal?”

“What’s the big deal?  Eves, he’s gotten under my skin more than once, embarrassed me after Cora’s party, pried his way onto the TV show, and now we’re going to be together in New York for three days?  That’s not how I wanted my first time to be.”

“No comment.” Evie laughed, teasing her best friend with inappropriate insinuations.

“Eww,
no
!  First time to
New York
, Evie.”

“Just saying … Evan Gable is a fine specimen.”

“Yes, so is my husband.”  Alisa retorted.

“Ha!” Her friend exclaimed.  “So you admit this about Evan?”

Alisa grumbled, “Evie, I called you for support, and this is how you help me?”

“Look, babe, I love you.  We’re going to go to the premiere tonight, have a lot of fun, enjoy your fantastic movie, and then you’re going to be off to visit New York City to meet a mega A-lister for your next one.  Tell me you’re not happy.” Evie had a point. “I am quite jealous. I haven’t seen New York since my parents moved out here, and now you get to experience all of the amazing sights.”

“I know. Everything is just moving so quickly. Logan just got home for crying out loud, and now I’m going away.”

“Such is the life.”  Evie responded.  ”Well, I’ll tell you what ... go home, get in the tub, drink a glass of wine or something, and wind down.  You need to relax before your big night.”

Alisa exhaled.  “Fine. They have the event scheduled pretty early, so we are heading to the theater around 4 o’clock to wade through the press before the screening at 6:00.”

“I’ll be there.”

“Good.”

“See you later.”

Logan was out on the back patio making phone calls when she got home.  She saw him through the windows, jabbering into the handset pressed tightly to his ear.  This gave her a moment to herself.  She felt like a sulking child, dragging her feet as she walked down the hallway into their bedroom.  Dropping her gym bag beside her, Alisa fell face first onto the bed, burying herself in her pillows.  Her excitement to get out of Los Angeles and into New York was crushed by the fact that she would be going with an unwanted guest.  His hot-cold nature was unappealing to her, and she wasn’t interested in spending a weekend in the big city with him. After all, he’d made her feel like a princess, then a fool, then comforted her, and then snuck his way onto her television show.  It was bad enough he was going to be her new director, now she would be working with him on set ... with Logan.

Continuing to drag her feet, Alisa skulked off to their bathroom and filled the tub with warm water and bubbles to comfort her after her workout at the gym.  Stepping into the warm water felt wonderful to her aching muscles.  She rested her head against the back of the tub and closed her eyes.  Alisa must not have been paying attention to the time because a knock on the inner wall of the bathroom startled her.

“Ahem.”

Her eyes fluttered open to see Logan standing there, already wearing his pressed tux. “Oh, hey, sweetheart.”

“Hey yourself.”

“You’re dressed already?”

“It’s 1:00 p.m., babe.”

Alisa let a long sigh hiss through her lips.  “Dammit.”

“Good bath, I take it?”

“I just have a lot on my mind.”

Logan was careful not to dip into the tub as he leaned over and pressed a kiss onto her forehead.  “You know you can always talk to me about it.”

Alisa shrugged, though very reluctant to get out of the comfortable bathwater. “I’ll snap out of it. I guess it’s time to get outta here, as much as I don’t want to.”

Pulling herself up from the tub, the water dripped off of her skin and back into the bath, bubbles covering most of her.  She stepped out of the water onto the non-slip rug and reached for her towel, dabbing away some of the bubbles.   When she felt lips caressing the back of her neck, she stopped.

Logan pressed himself against her, and lucky for him she had dried her backside or his tux would be soaked.  However, the slight bulge in his pants poking at her gave her reason to believe he wouldn’t have cared.  “Mmm, you know how crazy you make me?”

A giggle slipped past her lips, and she smiled.  “If we had time, I’d say you could show me …”

His hands explored her body, brushing over her breasts, “I’d say we have time.”

She turned to face him, the towel wrapped around her before she pressed her body against him again.  Alisa offered a kiss before pulling away, “You’re all ready to go.”

“Yeah, I am,” he growled, leaning down to bite her ear.

“Dressed.  You’re dressed already.” Alisa giggled and attempted to evade his teasing, “We’ll have time later, baby.”

Like a hungry beast, he gave a deep growl of desire then a whimper of defeat before conceding with a disappointed sigh.  “Not fair.”

“My makeup isn’t going to do itself.” Alisa laughed, “And I’m not going to let you blame me for showing up
fashionably late
to our own premiere.”

“You don’t need all of that …” Logan stated, kissing at her neck.

“Sweetie…”

“You have an hour and a half before the car gets here.  Think you can manage?”

“I’ll be ready.”  She retrieved the makeup bag from the counter and disappeared into the bedroom.

Sure enough, an hour and a half later, Alisa had transformed from the sweat-covered, gym-worked look into a look worthy of being on the cover of a magazine.  It took a lot of practice to perfect her makeup the way she had but after attending events throughout the year, she learned how to get a tasteful and glamorous look in less time. The dress Logan had purchased from the boutique in town was a black and white, sleeveless number.  The top half was form fitting, and the bottom half was sheer, tulle material, the skirt falling just below her knees.  She looked elegant and comfortable, and her hair was in a simple twist, pulling most of its length to one side.  Alisa preferred not to have much along the lines of accessories, so a single silver bangle with black dangling earrings to match went perfectly with the antique looking ring she had bought months before. Not to mention, everything accented her large wedding band perfectly.

“This is not something I have gotten used to yet.” Alisa fidgeted on the drive over.

“What? Looking beautiful?” Logan grinned and leaned in to kiss her neck. “Get used to it; you were born that way.”

She blushed, “No ... This whole escorted around like royalty thing.  This is for
our
movie!  It’s ... it’s making me so anxious.  What if I fall out there?”

Logan chuckled.  He placed his hand over hers and squeezed.  “Just breathe, sweetheart.  You’ll be fine.  Just like the other premieres we’ve gone to, lean on me. It’ll be over before you know it.”

They’d gone to a few premieres together, but this time it was personal.  
Gateway
was their movie, making it different than the rest.

“If only designers made something lower than a four-inch stiletto with good arch support. Without them, I feel like a little person standing next to you.”

Logan laughed and nodded, “They are a little extreme. I told you to wear something lower than that. You don’t always
need
the killer heels.  Though, I will admit, you do look hot in them.”

“I still can’t believe it’s finally here!” She was still blushing from his compliment, but her excitement had her switching the topic back to their big night.

It had been a little over a year since the movie was put into production … already a year that had changed her life after meeting Logan Rider. Now here she was, on her way to their red carpet premiere for her movie,
Gateway
.  It was enough just getting to know the cast of his show and working on it, but to have a movie release from one of her books and participating in all of the media events they threw for it was definitely a dream come true.

“I know.  What a year, eh?”  Logan said, smiling down at her.  He brushed a strand of hair from her face and leaned in to kiss her softly, hoping to calm her nerves.  

Alisa squeezed his hand.

The car proceeded through the lineup slowly.  With every pause, she could feel the anxiety in the pit of her stomach growing.  The fear of falling or flubbing an interview or taking a bad picture was haunting her and would not go away. She held tightly to her husband’s hand, and he offered a reassuring squeeze to ease her nerves.

Once the doors opened, the paparazzi flashes exploded, almost blinding her.  Logan stepped out first, looking marvelous in his perfect suit with that perfect Hollywood smile.  This smile was very different from the ones he gave her, but it was still charming.  He reached his hand out for Alisa, and after a deep breath, she lifted herself out of the town car with a smile plastered to her face.   She was hoping no one would notice she was shaking; the yelling and cheering of the fans and media behind the gates hitting her with an overwhelming wave of sound.  

Logan slid his arm around her and guided her most of the way as she tried to focus on not falling along the carpet, her heels were a little higher than she was used to.

“Mrs. Rider!”

“Mr. Rider!”

“Alisa! Logan!”

“Alisa, who are you wearing tonight?”

“How excited are you for your film?”

“Logan, I love you!”

“You both look gorgeous!”