She’d recently got off the phone with her mother, always a downer. Mama was so damn critical of her relationship with Tony. It almost made her want to marry him and really piss the family off. Not that he’d asked her since they’d gotten back together. But if she really wanted him to, he would.
Hmm. . . . Mrs. Tony Alvarez, Sounded good. Or how about Lola Sanchez Alvarez? Even better.
She checked herself out in the mirror. She had on a tight scarlet dress plunging in the front, Jimmy Choo stilettos, ruby chandelier earrings, and her hair was wild and sexy, the way Tony liked it.
Big Jay hovered in the lobby of her suite. “Mr. Alvarez is on his way up,” she informed him. “When he gets here, make yourself scarce.”
“Sure, Ms. Lola, I’ll be outside if you need me.”
“Thanks, you always know what I want, don’t you?”
Big Jay let loose with a rare smile. He’d been Lola Sanchez’s personal security for two years and he savored every minute. Who wouldn’t?
Tony entered smiling, looking sharp in a white suit and black shirt. “Music, babe. I’m in the mood for Marc Anthony.”
“I’m always in the mood for Marc Anthony,” she said, smiling back at him.
“You, my sexy little witch, look hot, Guess who was on my mind in New Orleans? An” believe. me—there’s some freako babes in that city.”
“Not to mention the imported babe you had with you. You’re such a bastard!”
“I kicked her to the curb real fast,”
“I should hope so.”
“C’mere, Lola, lemme take a long look at you.” She sashayed toward him. “Get me vodka,” he ordered.
“Do I look like the room service waiter?” she asked imperiously.
“Get me one of those bottles from the mini bar.”
“Why?”
“ ’Cause I’m gonna suck it off your fine nipples, baby. Go to it,”
“Tony!” she exclaimed, “I’m all dressed and ready to go out. I thought we were planning to salsa the night away.”
“We’re gonna salsa the night away, all right,” he said with a wolflike grin. “Only first I gotta have those nipples in my mouth, so go fetch the vodka. Go, girl, go!”
“No, Tony,” she said stubbornly, “You’ll spill it on my dress.”
“Do It!” he said darkly. “That’s an order, woman.”
There was something exciting about a man who wouldn’t take no for an answer. She did as he asked, fetching a miniature bottle of vodka from the minibar.
As she walked back toward him, she realized that she was already sexually aroused, Tony had a way of turning her on like no other man.
He took the vodka from her, and with a practiced flick of his wrist undid the halter on her dress, peeling it down until her breasts were exposed.
“You’re such a bad boy.” she said, catching her breath.
“You got the finest tits in the world,” he said admiringly. “Take everythin’ off.”
She didn’t need asking twice. Wriggling out of the tight material, she placed her dress carefully on the back of the couch.
The shades were not drawn. She didn’t care who was watching, it was all good.
Naked, apart from a black lace thong, she pressed her body against his.
“You’re somethin’, babe,” he said, thrusting his fingers into the delicate sides of her thong and pulling it down. “Look at you with your shaved pussy and your big juicy tits. You do it for me, babe. Every time. I wanna see you in nothing but diamonds and high heels. My baby was made for Bling Bling. That’s it.” Grinning, he opened the bottle of vodka with his teeth. Then slowly he began pouring the cold liquid over her bare breasts, sucking and licking it off.
She came almost immediately.
Tony. Alvarez was surely the sexiest man in the entire world.
CHAPTER
* * *
27
Line did not trust himself to go back to the hotel; They’d finished filming for the day, but he had no urge to leave his trailer. Instead he snorted a few more lines of coke, before deciding that one drink was a necessity. Too bad if Shelby discovered he’d been drinking; she was hardly in a position to criticize.
He hoped she hadn’t seen the New York papers. Tomorrow they’d be old news, somebody’s cat litter.
He was still furious about the photo in People and about her movie, which everyone seemed to be talking about. And he hadn’t forgotten the USA Today story where she’d trashed him.
The more angry he became, the more he felt like another drink. After a couple of scotches and a swish of mouthwash, he finally got into his car and had his driver take him to the hotel.
When he entered the suite, he discovered Shelby asleep on the couch.
He stared at her for a moment, unable to take his eyes off her. She was so beautiful all curled up and innocent.
Shame she was such a devious bitch.
He didn’t know whether to wake her or let her sleep. Jesus! She had his stomach tied up. in knots.
Was this what love was all about? If it was—you could shove it.
• • •
“What’re you doing tonight?” Nick asked.
“Why?” Cat responded.
They were sitting around on the beach while her cinematographer was busy setting up the next shot.
Nick picked up a handful of pebbles and began hurling them at the sea. “Thought you might fancy goin’ back to Ago.”
“Maybe,” she said tentatively.
“Should I take that as a yes?”
“Hmm . . . I’m not sure that watching you put the moves on a couple of babes is my idea of a thrilling time.”
“No big deal,” he said offhandedly. “The offer’s there if you want it. We get together every night, usual table.”
“Every night?”
“Yeah, it’s like my hangout,” he said, scooping up more pebbles. “By the way, my friend Max was kinda into you.”
“Which one was Max?”
“The dude with the glasses. He writes for Rolling Stone. He’s envious of you, thinks you pulled a lucky break.”
“Of course he’d think that,” she said scornfully. “Hard work and talent had absolutely nothing to do with it.”
“He was quite into your movie too—the one you did before. What was it called?”
“Wild Child,”
“Never got around to seeing it myself, but the word on it was seriously good,”
“I’m surprised you accepted me as your director if you hadn’t seen my movie.”
“I trust Merrill’s judgment. He gave me my first break.”
“Did he also force you to give him a blow job?”
Nick threw her a quizzical look. “What did you just say?”
“Nothing,” she said, grinning. “It’s an inside joke,”
“Oh yeah, I heard the rumor. He makes all the females in his movies give him blow jobs before they get the job, right?”
“That’s what they say.”
“How about you, then?”
“Get serious. Do I look like the kind of girl he’d come on to? My movie was called Wild Child; that should give you a hint.”
“All about you, was it?”
“There were pieces of me in it, yeah.”
“So, uh, Cat—tell me,” he said, rubbing his stubbled chin, “What kind of a wild child were you?”
“You name it, I did it.”
“You were a raver, then?”
She smiled mysteriously. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”
The script supervisor interrupted them, conferring with Cat about a problem with a line of dialogue. Cat jumped up, solved the problem, and began walking back toward the action.
Nick got up and followed her. “You gotta come tonight,” he urged. “We’ll make it a party. Bring Jonah if you want,”
“It’s Jonas,” she corrected.
“Is he a fag?”
“Why would you ask that?”
“He’s always so kind of,
y’know, neat and groomed.”
“Jonas is not gay.”
“You screwed him, then?”
“None of your bloody business.”
“God,” he said amiably. “You’re a cranky one today.”
“You shouldn’t ask so many personal questions.”
“Sorry, I’ll get myself in front of the camera an’ see if I can nail this scene for you.”
She watched him walk ahead of her with his cocky strut. He was immediately joined by the makeup girl and one of the female P.R.’s.
Popular stud, Nick Logan. And didn’t he know it.
She was worried about her possessions in New York; the problem was that Jump was spiteful enough to follow through on his threat. He hated not getting his own way.
Since she still had a few minutes before they were finished setting up the camera tracks, she called her girlfriend Luanne.
“Where are you?” Luanne asked, happy to hear from her.
“In L.A., directing a movie.”
“That’s cool.”
“The not so cool part is that Jump and I have split.”
“Crap!” Luanne exclaimed. “What happened?”
“I’ll tell you when I see you. Here’s the thing— Jump’s on his way back to New York, and he’s threatening to dump my stuff on the street, so I need a favor.”
“Go ahead.”
“Can you organize professional packers to box up my clothes, manuscripts, and other stuff? Ill e-mail you a list, then have them ship everything to me in L.A.”
“Of course,” Luanne said. A long beat. “Did you catch Jump with another woman?”
“What makes you think that?”
“Well . . . when I stayed at the loft, I put in a nanny cam—one of those small hidden cameras that keeps an eye on Nanny while she’s watching the baby.”
“So?”
“When I moved out I forgot to take the camera. You were in London and Jump had gone off to Atlanta for a gig. There were a few days in between me leaving the apartment and coming back for the camera.”
“Go on.”
“I played the nanny tape, and on it was Jump, banging some blonde.” An awkward pause, “Sorry.”
“Why are you telling me this now?”
“I didn’t think it was fair to mention it before.”
“What if I caught your husband banging some blonde?” Cat said vehemently. “Would you think it was fair for me not to tell you?”
“I was waiting until I saw you.”
She sighed. It wasn’t Luanne’s fault; no good blaming her, “Thanks for telling, me anyway,” she said. “It simply confirms that I’m doing the right thing.”
“I’m really sorry. Cat,”
“Yeah,” she said ruefully, “So am I,”
• • •
Sex with Tony seemed to get more amazing every time. No games, just mind-blowing sex with one hugely sexy Latino man. God! He turned her on big time!
By the time Lola redid her hair and makeup it was almost midnight.
They left the hotel, settled into Tony’s limo, and set off for a tour of the salsa clubs, neither of them feeling any pain.
Tony broke open a bottle of Cristal in the car and poured two glasses, “Got a question,” he said, handing her one.
“What?” she asked, taking a sip of champagne.
“Didja sleep with that Linc Blackwood dude?”
“Did you sleep with that puta you flew into New Orleans?” she countered.
“You first,” he said, dark eyes ever watchful.
“No.” A long pause. “I could’ve, but I didn’t.”
“Me neither,” he said, clinking glasses with her. “Here’s the deal, baby girl—you’ve damn near mined me for other women,”
“I have?” she said, delighted.
“Yeah, babe. You’re the shit, an’ that’s the way it is.”
She leaned forward, cupping his face in her hands, her tongue flicking lightly over his lips before grabbing his crotch with her right hand. “Mine,” she said fervently. “All mine. You stick it in anyone else, Tony Alvarez, and I swear to God I’ll cut it off.”
“Oooh, scary, woman,” Tony said, throwing his head back and roaring with laughter.
“Yes, I am. And don’t you ever forget it.”
• • •
“Wake up,” Linc said, not so gently pushing Shelby’s shoulder.
She slowly uncurled her body. “Oh,” she said, yawning. “I must’ve fallen asleep. I wasn’t sure what time you’d be back, so I put on the TV and that was it. Instant sleeping pill.”
He noticed that she had on one of his favorite dresses and her hair was loose around her shoulders. She looked so damn beautiful.
She reached her arms up to bring him closer so she could kiss him. He responded. “I missed you,” she murmured. “I’m so happy to be here.”
It was quite apparent that she had not seen the New York papers.
He pulled her up, holding her close to him for a minute.
“I’ve decided that separations are no good,” she said, “In future I’m turning down any movies that take me away from you.”
He didn’t believe her; she was merely saying that to appease him. She’d probably seen her photo with Pete in People and was wondering what kind of lies to feed him.
Her lips were soft against his. Arousal was automatic.
Details of last night began coming back. Lola Sanchez was a prize prick tease. She’d gotten him hot and drunk in the restaurant, then left him high and dry. Typical female behavior. He hated all of them.
“Love you,” Shelby whispered. “Missed you.”
Yeah. Sure you did. Especially when you were out with Pete
Without saying a word he went for her breasts, caressing them roughly.
She was startled. “Can’t we wait until we’re in the bedroom?”
“No,” he said abruptly. “I’ve waited long enough.” Then he did the unthinkable. He ripped her dress—the dress that he liked so much—off her body.
Now she was shocked. “What’s the matter with you?” she protested.
“Can’t I miss my own wife?” he said, pushing her down on the couch, unzipping his pants, and mounting her. No foreplay, no kissing, just straight to it. Something like her big sex scene in Rapture.
She had a strong urge to fight him off, tell him he had to wait. But he was giving her no choice as he plunged inside her.
Furiously he went at her, desperately trying to rid himself of the anger that surged through him.
When he was finished, he zipped up and walked into the bedroom.
Shelby, lay there, feeling used and abused, trying to figure out what had just happened. Then it occurred to her that, of course, he’d been drinking.
A feeling of dread enveloped her. Slowly she got up, went into the bathroom, and put on a terry-cloth robe she found hanging behind the door.
“What’s going on, Linc?” she asked, wrapping the robe tightly around her as she confronted him in the bedroom, “What was that all about?”
He was sitting on the edge of the bed smoking a cigarette. She glanced around to see if she could spy any booze. Nothing visible. Oh, God! Why had she thought he could be trusted?
“You tell me,” he said, his voice hard.
About what?”
“Isn’t, there something I should know?”
Instantly she realized that somehow or other he’d found out about Pete, Damn! She should have told him herself.
“Nothing I can think of,” she said, adding a casual “I’ve been busy filming, doing press, that kind of thing.” A short pause. “Oh yes, and guess what? There’s an old friend of yours working on my movie. Actually, he’s an old friend of ours.”
“Yeah? Who?” Linc said, his eyes cold and distant.
“Pete,” she answered. “He sends you his best regards. Can’t wait for us all to get together.”
“Can’t wait, huh?”
“That’s right,” she sai
d evenly.
“What’s he doing on your movie, Shelby?”
“Actually he’s the stunt coordinator.”
“Big coincidence,” Linc said with a bitter twist to his words, “Wonder how he got that job.”
“You always used to say that Pete was one of the best stuntmen in the business.”
“Then I suppose you didn’t have to put in a good word for him?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the photo of the two of you in People.”
“There’s a photo?” she said, truly surprised.
“Seems you didn’t realize you were being watched coming out of Jerry’s Deli all tight and cozy together with his arm all over you,”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh.” An ominous beat. “What the fuck were you thinking? You’ve made me look like the biggest jerk walking.” Another long beat. “Did you screw him?”
“How dare you,” she said, blushing a deep red.
“How dare I?” he yelled. “What the fuck am I supposed to think?”
“He’s coaching me to do a car stunt; we were discussing it. Lunch was perfectly innocent.”
“I don’t get you,” Linc said harshly.
“What don’t you get?”
“You know me well enough, right?”
“Yes.”
“Exactly how did you think I’d react?”
She did not wish this conversation to go any further, but it seemed like she had no choice.
“I had no idea there’d be a photo in a magazine,” she said, hoping to put an end to it.
“No idea, huh?” he sneered. “You’re starring in a high profile porno movie, and you have no idea that the paparazzi might be following you?”
“Rapture is not a porno movie, Linc.”
His voice got louder, “You’re stupid, Shelby, you know that—you’re really fuckin’ dumb. First the USA Today piece, now this. Goddamn it, you’re an idiot. And you’re making me look like one too.”
Now she knew for sure that he’d been drinking. He never insulted: her and called her names unless he was drunk; it was only then that his venom bubbled to the surface and he turned mean and verbally abusive.
She couldn’t stop herself from asking, although she knew what his answer would be. He’d deny it. He always did. “Are you drinking again?” she ventured.