Hollyweird (11 page)

To call it a room would be like calling the
Twilight
novels and movies popular … a gross understatement. We'd been upgraded to a dream palace!

Designed after a Park Avenue penthouse, the Presidential Suite, with its white roman columns, high sculptured ceilings, and mix of antiques and chic modern furniture made me feel like both an A-list celebrity and a clumsy bull in a china shop. Petrified of breaking anything or leaving a permanent smudge, I padded across the shiny hardwood floors on bare feet and silently squeed about staying in the exact same room as Julia Roberts' vivacious hooker, Vivian Ward. I thought our Deluxe Room had been living it up, but now we had two bedrooms with king-sized beds, a living room, library, formal dining room, kitchen, and three, count 'em 1-2-3, Italian marble bathrooms. And get this: the master bath had a sunken tub big enough for a whale, a steam shower (for two), a bidet (not trying it!), and mirrors with TVs integrated into them. We also had an amazing view of Rodeo Drive from our eighth-floor windows. The entire suite was four thousand square feet—that's over three times the size of my entire house!

Funny enough, our geekiest delight came from the remote control.

“Look at this!” Des squealed as she started pressing buttons. “The whole place is wired.” She opened and closed the drapes, blasted the stereo system, goggled at the fifty-five inch flat-screen television with stations from around the world, and toyed with the lights. “All of this over chocolate,” she marveled.

“And this place runs over five grand a night,” Missy said out of the corner of her mouth.

“Our hotel guests' safety is of paramount concern,” Armond stated. He stood at the door, hands held behind his back, while two bellhops moved our luggage into the bedrooms.

“Thank you, Armond,” I said. “We apprec—”

“No, Ms. King. I take what happened as a personal affront to my reputation and that of my hotel. Please be assured that the remainder of your visit will be nothing short of perfection, starting with complimentary massages and facials.”

“Sir, that's really not necc—”

“Aly,” Missy said behind a too-bright smile. “If he really wants to.”

“I do, I really do,” he insisted. “It'll make me feel better, and I hope to make you all feel that way as well.”

I smiled my thanks. “You're very kind.”

He bowed his head. “Heath and his staff will be up shortly to take care of you. Good day, ladies.”

What followed is really quite embarrassing.

Merriam-Webster defines Sloth
as
(a) disinclination to action or labor: indolence (b) spiritual apathy and inactivity .

That's right … despite the fact that Des initiated the call to management, Dakota had somehow worked his devil-doo on poor Armond and his staff. Before we knew it we were massaged, pampered, spoiled, coddled, and catered to until we became boneless, languid slugabugs. Around the time I snapped my fingers (insert cringe of shame here) for someone to hand me my virgin pi
ñ
a colada, which sat less than arm's reach away, we
snapped
out of it. This time, Des actually shook the spell off first. And I am mortified that I acted like one of those abusive, lazy, privileged people that I abhor because of their insulting sense of entitlement. I'll be trying to make amends for this the rest of my life.

“We need to get out of here,” I told Des after we politely, and with gobs of gratitude, asked the staff to leave.

She looked around our palatial room and sighed. “I know. Let's go to the beach.”

“Good idea,” I said, “I'm going to ask Jameson if he can meet us.” My cheeks flamed as I made the call, still embarrassed by my behavior. Fortunately, or not, it went straight to voicemail.

“Hey, Jameson. This is Aly. Things have been a little, er, um,
challenging
so we're heading up to the Santa Monica pier. We're gonna hit the beach for a while. Can you meet us there?”

I hung up, feeling trampled by temptation.

“It's harder than we thought, isn't it?” Des asked.

“Way.” I blew out a frustrated breath. “Come on. We've already been bambeezlebubed twice here. How much trouble can we get into on the beach?”

Two words answered it all.

Dakota. Naked.

Jameson

Aly's message worried me, so I hustled my way down Santa Monica beach. The girls probably weren't far from the pier and its carnie atmosphere. I wasn't surprised they'd chosen to skip the roller coaster and Ferris wheel in favor of sun and waves, but Aly had sounded strained. Hopefully she'd found the beach relaxing, if a bit crowded. Now I just needed to figure out what was wrong. It couldn't have anything to do with Dakota. Not yet, anyhow. I'd dogged his every move. I mean, I was the most frickin' kiss-ass PA you ever saw, and I never caught him doing anything even remotely evil.

Fortunately, we broke early from filming, and after I brought him an iced green tea, Dakota said he planned to meet a friend and I could have the rest of the day off. Surely he hadn't been causing trouble already.

“Hey!” I rushed over to Aly, who was leaning against the wall of one of the restrooms that dotted the beach, north and south of the pier. Her face looked drawn and tight. Without thinking, I tucked my hand in the hair above her ear and caressed her cheek with my thumb. “You okay?” I asked, leaning down to look into her eyes.

Tilting her head up, she smiled. “I'm happy to see you.”

“Yeah?”

In answer she moved closer and wrapped her arms around me. I rested my chin on her head and held her tight, wondering if she'd realize she couldn't hear my heart beat. Despite not having a pulse, I felt more alive than ever in her embrace.

“Alyson,” I said softly. “What happened?”

“Sorry,” she stammered, trying to pull away. I pressed her closer and stroked her hair. She gave a jittery sigh and settled back into me. “You were right to warn us. Today's been hard, and—”

“Are Missy and Des okay?” I asked with a jolt.

“They're fine. Missy's in the bathroom and Des went to get us slushies.”

“You shouldn't split up!”

“I … I … you're right.” Aly frowned. “I'll check on Missy and then we'll go find Des.”

I peered around. Everything seemed copacetic. For the moment.

“It's all right. I didn't mean to panic you. Just tell me what happened. I don't understand … ” I cupped her shoulders and pulled her back just a little so I could look in her face. “Aly, I've been with him all day, and he was on his best behavior.”

“Apparently he can work his black magic from afar, because we've already had
Gluttony
and
Sloth
thrown at us.”

I pressed my forehead against hers. “I'm so sorry. I don't know how—but you look okay. Are you?”

She nodded and her nose bumped against mine. Suddenly I became very aware that our lips were just a breath apart.

“I am now,” she whispered, then licked her bottom lip.

I wanted to kiss her so badly I ached with the need.

But I couldn't …

I pressed closer until our lips just barely touched, the scarcest tickling contact. Breath held, I skimmed my lips once, twice, three times across hers. Never taking her mouth with mine, but tormenting myself with what could never be.

Surely God couldn't count that as a kiss.

With regret and longing, I pulled away and cleared my throat. “We better get the girls.”

“Um.” Aly lifted trembling fingers to her lips and I looked away. “Des is walking up behind you.”

I turned to see Des a short distance away with two thirty-two-ounce lemonade slushies. It didn't look like she'd seen our non-kiss.

“Are we glad to see you,” she said by way of greeting as she handed Aly her drink. “Did she tell you what we've been through?”

“She was just getting to it,” I murmured.

“Speaking of getting to it, shouldn't Missy be out by now?” Des asked. “She's taking longer than I did to get the drinks.”

Aly straightened. “I'll go check—”

“Naw,” Des said, and then took a slurpy sip of her drink. “I'll go and you fill Jameson in.”

Aly bit her lip, but nodded.

Once Des left I thought about apologizing, but damned if I felt sorry. That moment, that sweet torment, might be all I'd ever share with her. “Tell me,” I said instead.

She hung her head. “It's really embarrassing. I acted so terrible.”

I lifted her chin and gave her an encouraging smile. “Just remember, the devil made you do it.”

She smiled then and filled me in on maxing out on chocolate and becoming “abysmally demanding” while she gave new meaning to American Idle.

“You beat them, Aly.
Gluttony
is considered the hardest sin to avoid. People are always giving into pleasures of the palate, but when it came down to it, your true nature kicked in and your virtues—
Temperance
and
Diligence—
defeated the sins he served you. ”

“I'm just shocked at how easy it was to get caught up. Speaking of … Des should be back here with Missy now.” She grabbed my hand. “Come on.”

She went into the bathrooms and checked the stalls while I stood in the doorway watching for some lobster-reddened lady to come along and call me a perv.

“They're not in here,” Aly said, chewing on her straw.

We walked out of the bathroom and rounded the corner to the outside showers. “You want to check?” I asked.

“Okay,” she said skeptically, “but I'm sure they're not showering.”

I stood a few feet back, just in case. That whole perv thing again.

Aly immediately came scurrying back, her face stoplight red. “He's here,” she whispered.

“Dakota?”

She nodded and I swear her cheeks grew even hotter. “He's, um, well he's … ” She plucked her T-shirt away from her body and flapped it to cool herself down.

Realization smacked me.
“He's
showering.”

I walked over to the stalls and found Missy and Des peering over the shower walls at a sudsy Dakota with his six-pack abs and tight ass. The dude was built and beautiful and he knew it. This time
he
was the sin, and the two girls were thoroughly ensnared in
Lust.
Their gaze tracked every move and watched every cascading droplet that licked down his physique. It was just a matter of time before he lured them away from their voyeurism and into the steam. I had to get them out of there.

Thinking quick, I stripped off my shirt.

“What're you doing?” Aly hissed, but I noticed she gave me an appreciative look. I might not be the Adonis Dakota was, but I don't think I'm bad.

“If you can't beat him, join him,” I said with a flirty wink.

I'd actually worn my swim trunks, not knowing if the girls would want to go into the surf. Noticing a knot at the back of Aly's neck, I asked, “Did you wear your suit too?”

She nodded.

“Take your shirt off and follow my lead.”

I scooped up some sand and scrubbed it down my legs and across my chest. Her eyes widened, but I just walked away.

“There you are. Were you looking for me?” I said to the girls as if they weren't drooling and mesmerized. “Aly, they're over here,” I called needlessly. “Give me a sec to rinse off and then we'll go hit the carousel like I promised.”

I stepped into the shower and startled to a stop. “Whoop, sorry. Thought it was empty,” I said and began backing up. “Dakota?” I acted all surprised, but kept my gaze away from any of his kibbles and bits. “I didn't know you were coming here.”

“Jameson,” Dakota said as he shut off his water and grabbed a minuscule towel to wrap low on his hips.

I glanced back and saw Aly leading the girls away to shake off the last vestiges of their spell.

“I didn't know you were coming here either,” Dakota said.

“Yeah,” I said as I turned on the water and ducked my head under the stream. “After you gave me the day off, Aly called. She wanted me to meet them down here since they hadn't seen the beach. I'm just rinsing off before we go up to the pier.”

I shut off the water and shook my head. “So, where's the friend you were meeting?”

“She had to leave,” Dakota said as he headed out of the stall.

I followed him and found all three girls standing by the men's bathroom door. Their gazes drifted to the itsy-bitsy towel Dakota was holding on with his fingers because there was too little material to tuck in. He gave them all a knowing smirk and then sent a smoldering, seductive stare Missy's way. She surged forward to go after him, but Aly grabbed her arm and yanked back while Des dropped her gaze to the pile of crushed ice in the sand where she'd dropped her slushie. Dakota's hot gaze then zoomed in on Aly, who looked amazing in her bikini top and denim shorts, sparkling crystals of sand clinging to her golden legs and sprinkled across her flat tummy. I couldn't blame Dakota for noticing her, but I fisted my hands at my side as he gave her a slow once-over.

“Hey, Aly,” he said in his most sexy, gravelly voice. I expected her to get all hot and bothered like every other female he used that trick on, but she just gave a squeaky little “hi!” back and then took a long, slurpy sip of her lemonade slushie.

Dakota looked baffled and then intrigued by her reaction, while I silently cheered inside.

“Gorgeous, don't you think?” he asked with blatant vanity.

“Yes,” she said and triumph flashed in his eyes until she added, “The beach is definitely gorgeous. I'm so glad we got a chance to see it.”

“Um, yeah. Ooo-kay. See ya,” he said and gave Aly one more curious look. Then he spun away, giving a dismissive wave over his shoulder as he headed into the bathroom to get dressed.

Ten pounds of tension left my body in a sigh-whoosh and I herded the girls away before anything else could go wrong.

“He wants me,” Missy said to Des, who in turn rolled her eyes and said, “Does nothing penetrate your bleach-soaked brain?”

Aly and I walked ten steps behind them. “Do you think he'll try anything else tonight?” she asked.

“I don't know,” I said, and then chuckled. “I think you bruised his ego and I didn't think that could be done.”

“What do you mean?”

I gave her a sidelong look. “You didn't fall for him. You weren't even bedeviled. How'd you do that?”

She didn't say anything for a long moment, just kept walking. And then, “Easy. I'd already fallen for another.”