Lucky Star: A Hollywood Love Story (32 page)

Alex watched me eyeing the room, admiring its lines and curves, and her face split into a proud, happy grin. “My boyfriend’s the architect,” she announced, tuning in to the fact I wondered who had built it. “The place you’re staying too. In fact, that’s his house.”

“Wait, what? I didn’t even know you had a boyfriend.” I watched as the sparkle in her eyes dimmed just a fraction, while to her left Drea hunkered down in her seat and closed her eyes.

Oops.

Alex didn’t seem to notice her friend’s reaction, or chose not to, her eyes brightening once again. “Yeah, he’s an architect in Vancouver. I met him a couple of years ago when he was here for a bachelor party. He couldn’t resist my scones.” She smiled saucily and I laughed since she was freaking gorgeous and any guy who met her would be stupid not to want her. My guess was her scones weren’t the only thing drew that the architect in.

“First,” she said, “Thad fell in love with Eagle Harbour, then he fell in love with me. When he realized he could have a life here, he built his house. When it won an award, he drew up plans for this place with a chef he was friends with. A year later it was open for business.”

“So your boyfriend co-owns this place too?”

“Yeah,” she said proudly. “Why do you think they haven’t kicked us out yet?”

“I was beginning to wonder. I just assumed it had something to do with Hal’s beer supply.”

“Well, there’s that too,” Drea said sleepily as she laid her head in her boyfriend’s lap before.

“I know I said it jokingly earlier, but it really does seem like your little group runs this town, or at least owns most of its businesses.”

“It’s a great place for young, creative entrepreneurs to set up shop,” responded Stewart, easily switching from his laidback surfer persona into his role as the town’s mayor. “Canada has excellent tax incentives for businesses, as I’m sure you know with your movie being filmed up her, and full time residents of Eagle Harbour are really proud to support locally-owned companies. When you factor in the dollars from tourists, running a small business in town is a really sound financial investment.”

While Stewart and I continued talking about what it was like to grow up here with your father as mayor and his plans to inject even more money into the local economy, Cameron, Hal, and Drea were deep in conversation as well. Every so often I caught his warm laugh breaking through the quiet of the empty restaurant and my heart contracted with contentedness. It’d been so long since we’d hung out together among a group of friends, and doing so now made me realize how much I’d missed not only him, but these sort of moments as well. Because Cameron and I had been friends before anything else, we had an innate ability to be in the same room without needing to be in each other’s pockets, and yet since we’d both harbored a secret love for each other for so long, we’d also developed a keen awareness of where the other was at all times and were able to gauge each others’ moods.

“I hope you don’t mind me saying,” Stewart said, breaking into my quiet contemplation. I flushed pink, realizing I hadn’t been listening as closely as I should have to what he’d been saying. “But you aren’t what I expected.”

“Me, or us?”

He laughed because we both knew he wasn’t talking just about me. I was nobody.

“Well, you guys … as a couple. Obviously there was gossip and in a place this small you don’t miss it. To hear Dolly tell it – and trust me, she told me as quickly as she could – you were this brazen hussy and Cameron was a no good philandering cheat. Arrogant too.” He glanced Cameron’s way and shook his head. “Obviously she was completely wrong.”

“Yeah, well … it’s hard, you know? Only months ago he was a working actor, struggling to make it big. The only people who might have recognized him were fans of the Hallmark Channel or Lifetime made-for-TV movies. Suddenly he’s cast in one of the most highly anticipated films of the decade and now his face is everywhere.” I shrugged because for me this was business as usual. Well, not the part where it was my fiancé’s mug in Times Square, but I’d seen my fair share of overnight success stories.

“He starts doing interviews, the paparazzi start following him, and now people think they know him, know what his life is like. When you factor in a pretty aggressive PR campaign that has him hooking up with his co-star, people start to create their own narratives.”

“That must be hard,” Stewart replied sympathetically.

“You don’t know the half of it.” My words held just a touch of anger. “Would you believe there are whole online communities devoted to him and Jillian? That’s his co-star, by the way. A lovely woman who has her own boyfriend, mind you. Personally, I’ve never seen anything like it. They’ve created this fantasy world that has them living together. Or, she’s secretly pregnant with his baby. One group even has them already married and meanwhile, he has a real-life fiancé,” I jerked my thumb toward my chest, “that he can’t talk about, that no one can know about because it’s not good for business. Hard is an understatement.”

“But thanks to Dolly, the word is out, right?”

“Well, something’s out, that’s for sure. I don’t know exactly how bad it is though because I’ve been too chicken to check in with my boss or go on any of the gossip sites to see what’s being said. The fact that my mom hasn’t been blowing up my phone has me wondering if things have died down of if they’re so bad she can’t even bring herself to repeat what’s being said.”

“I can’t imagine what it would be like if I had to deny Shea.” Stewart turned to stare at the lovely sprite sitting in the chair opposite him. She was talking animatedly with Drea, waving her hands to and fro, giving her story more life than mere words could convey. “I don’t think I could do it.”

He turned his deep brown eyes back to me and while I knew he wasn’t judging me I still felt that horrible sinking feeling I got every time I remembered convincing Cameron to go along with the studio’s plan.

“Yeah, well, clearly we couldn’t either. I mean, we kind of blew our cover immediately.”

He raised his right eyebrow at me, questioningly, and waited. The seconds ticked by and he didn’t speak.

“Yeah, okay. I did it on purpose.” The admission flew from my lips and I gasped. I’d just admitted – out loud – to someone I didn’t know all that well that I’d sabotaged a very expensive PR campaign for an even more expensive film.

Fuck me.

Before I could stammer out a retraction to cover up my blunder, Stewart’s face broke out into a wide grin and he leaned over to squeeze my knee. “Thatta girl.”

“You’re not going to say anything, are you?”

“Hell no.” He glanced over at Shea and then, dragging his eyes to Cameron who was still deep in conversation with Hal, added, “I’d have done the exact same thing.”

After hanging out well past the restaurant’s closing time, we all made our way over to Hal’s for more beer and conversation. As the designated driver, Cameron had stuck to sparkling water after his first beer but didn’t let his lack of inebriation keep him from fully enjoying the small party. By the time we drove home around 3 a.m., I was completely exhausted but my mind was running on overdrive, going over all of the new and wonderful people we’d met, the conversations we’d had, and the warm, open way Drea and Alex’s friends had welcomed us.

Walking in the front door of our rented house, we discarded our clothes carelessly behind us and made our way upstairs and into the large, luxurious four-poster bed. Climbing between crisp white cotton sheets, I let out a sigh as my body relaxed into the mattress. I stretched my hands as far above my head as they could go, closed my eyes, and felt the long hours of the day fall away.

When I opened them, Cameron was staring at me, his eyes hooded and his gaze heated. “Have I told you today how much I love you?” He lowered his body to kiss me.

“Hmm, I don’t know. If you have I’ve forgotten. You should probably tell me again. Just to be safe.” As I spoke he nuzzled my neck and it sent shivers through my body.

“I love you.” He kissed my lips.

“I love you.” He kissed my chin.

“I love you.” He kissed my neck.

“I love you.” He whispered the words into my ear and then bit down on my earlobe, turning those shivers into tremors as they transformed into a thousand tiny pulses of want and need.

I wrapped my arms around his neck as he worked his way down my naked body. “I love you more,” I whispered as I pulled him back up and captured his mouth in a deep, hungry kiss that was designed to make
him
tremble with desire.

Cameron kissed me back, at first softly and without hurry, taking his time exploring, our tongues tangling languidly as he fed from the sweetness of my mouth. He sipped and suckled before tugging my lip between his teeth and then, with hungry urgency, took me even higher.

“I want you,” he sighed as he claimed my lips again. The hard steely length of his desire jutting against me echoed his words.

When he reached down between us and caressed me with strong, capable hands, I sighed into him and he parted my folds with his finger, running it from my clit nearly to the tight, secret pucker of my ass and back again. “You’re already so wet for me.”

“Always,” I moaned and he eased that finger inside of me and followed it with another.

When I felt the tip of his pinkie lightly caress that untouched bud, I gasped, first in shock and then with intrigue. No one had ever touched me there before, but the light, insistent pressure I felt there was so tantalizing, so fucking erotic, that I wanted more of it. My breathing hitched and I rocked my hips, silently begging him to give me more. “Please,” I breathed out when I felt him touch me there again. ‘Yes,” I moaned, knowing he’d understand my plea.

“Are you sure?” he whispered against my lips and I opened to suck his tongue into my mouth.

“Yes,” I said again, more assuredly. “I want you there.”

“Fuck,” he let out on a groan as he closed his eyes for a second of two. Opening them, he swallowed. “I’ve dreamed about taking this ass.” He kissed his way down my chest to suck my nipple into his mouth, and as he continued fingering my pussy, he worked my nipple with teeth and tongue before biting down, sending a bolt of desire through me so strong I nearly came from it.

“Cameron, please,” I begged, not knowing if I was begging for release or for him to continue this exquisite torture. 

Sliding down my body, he kissed my torso, my belly, my hip, and the inside of my thigh, before parting my legs and settling himself between them. Slowly, he licked up and down my cleft, teased me with long, wet caresses and quick, expert flicks of his tongue. When he circled my clit and sucked it between his lips, my hips came off the bed and he trailed a slick, wet finger to my ass and circled the tight bud. At first I clenched against the foreign pressure, but as he continued to swirl tiny circles of my own juices around it, I relaxed into the sensation. My whole body shook when I felt him slip past my barrier and deepen the penetration, his long finger gliding in and out of me while he sucked my clit between his lips and I rocked against him. The feel of him stretching me there was maddening and delightful, like nothing I’d ever experienced before and I loved it.

“More,” I begged on a gasp.

He slid away from me and flipped me onto my stomach. When I heard the opening and closing of a drawer in the bedside table, I raised onto all fours. When he poured the lube over me, coating my hole with slightly cool liquid, I tensed in eager anticipation. “Relax,” he breathed out, and when I did, he slipped his thumb inside of me. With his other hand, he reached around and found my clit, rubbing it and pinching it the way he knew I liked.

He worked me expertly, applying the right amount of pressure to take me just to the edge of orgasm before he backed off and let me come back to myself before starting all over again. My legs quaked and it took everything I had to stay on my knees. When my arms shuddered in strain, Cameron placed his palm on the small of my back and nudged me down into the mattress. 

“Please Cameron.”

“Please what?”

“I want you.”

“Where do you want me?”

Why was he making me talk?! This was no time for talking. Fewer words, more action! When I didn’t answer – couldn’t speak a coherent thought – he started to pull his hand away from my clit and I begged him not to go.

“Goddamnit Cameron, make me come!” I commanded, pushing back into him and feeling his thumb stretch me even more.

He chuckled, and slipped another finger into my tight, forbidden hole.

“More,” I choked out. “Please,” I begged, reaching behind me and guiding his cock to my pussy.

“Where do you want me Sarah? Do you want me to fuck your hot little pussy or this perfect, delectable ass?”

He added more lube as he gently worked a third finger into me. It stung at first but it was the good kind of pain, and it was nothing compared to the exquisite, perfect torture of him stretching me, filling me. Claiming me.

“My … pussy …” I cried out between gulps of air. “My … ass …” I added, surprising myself. Never in a million years would I have thought I’d want that, but right now I wanted him everywhere, even there. “Both,” I gasped. “Everywhere.” I was delirious with desire, my mind no longer one with my body, a writhing mass of feeling, want, and need. And the only thing that could cure me of this craving, this overwhelming hunger, was Cameron driving himself into me. Repeatedly. I was near to tears with my desire, my body strung tight, ready to snap. I wanted to come so bad. Needed to. Was mad with my need for him.