Hollywood Husbands (53 page)

Chapter Seventy-Five

Jack awoke with a sudden jolt, automatically groped for his watch, and realized it was only four in the morning and he was not alone. Jade was asleep beside him. She lay on her side, her arms stretched languorously above her head, the sheet tangled around her waist.

The window shade was up, and a misty dawn filtered through the windows casting a faint morning light.

Leaning back against the headboard he watched her intently as she lay motionless. God! She was so beautiful and desirable. There was something about her that really reached out to him. And it wasn’t just a sexual attraction, although the sex was incredible. Instinctively he knew Jade Johnson was destined to be much more than just a great time in bed. He had known it the first time he saw her.

Stirring in her sleep, she shifted slightly.

‘Hey,’ he said, very softly. ‘Are you awake?’

‘Mmmm…’ she murmured, still fast asleep.

Gently he reached out and touched her breasts, lightly caressing her nipples.

‘Mmmm…’ she sighed again.

Caught up in the sharp burn of desire, he felt as if he hadn’t been with a woman in months, and yet, only a few hours ago, they had made love twice with hardly a pause for breath.

Christ! He, who usually had such admirable control, was ready for lift-off almost immediately.

Sliding down beside her, he let his hands roam her body, as his insistent hardness pressed up against her cool, smooth skin.

She was asleep – but she felt him.

She was asleep – but she wanted him.

How little she knew of Jack Python, and yet already he was an addiction. Her eyelids fluttered – almost awake… almost.

He teased her breasts with his tongue – slowly – surely – small strokes destined to stimulate and excite her.

What was it about this man? Arousal was immediate.

Stretching luxuriously she whispered, ‘Is it morning?’

‘I guess if you usually have breakfast around four a.m. we can consider this morning.’

‘Oh, no! Why are you waking me?’

His laugh was husky contentment. ‘Take an educated guess, beautiful lady.’

She felt a deep flood of pleasure, and opened up to allow this intimate stranger to transport her to the edge of ecstasy.

He was filled with pure energy as they began the incredible ride.

Almost immediately she was swept away, her breathing constricted, a rush of voluptuous sensuality waiting to explode.

Usually he could wait. It was a trick, a game. Making love was an art.

And yet, with Jade, he couldn’t even consider waiting. They were so in tune, and conscious of each other’s every need.

He rode her with a compelling exquisite certainty. They were heading in the same direction… Breathing the same intoxicating air…

‘Ohhh… God! This… is…
sooo
fantastic…’

A sudden jolting rush.

A simultaneous shudder of satisfaction.

And then a slow, dreamy drift back to sleep, once again wrapped contentedly in each other’s arms. Two soulmates who had finally found each other.

* * *

‘Good morning.’ Jade ventured onto the set, fully made up with her hair done, ready to shoot the second batch of Cloud commercials. She’d had two hours’ sleep, but it didn’t matter. Everything about her was alive and glowing.

Shane Dickson threw her a stony look. ‘Feeling better?’ he asked sarcastically.

‘I’m sorry about rushing off last night,’ she said apologetically. ‘I couldn’t help it.’

Shane was a picture of jealous fury. ‘Was he as good as his reputation?’ he asked bitterly.

She ignored the question.

‘I’m surprised at
you
,’ he said incredulously. ‘Miss Commitment and Caring. According to Kellie – who was completely humiliated by the entire incident – Jack Python sticks it into anything that doesn’t struggle.’

She refused to be baited into a conversation about Jack. Maybe she was dreaming, but as far as she was concerned, from now on he belonged to her, and she belonged to him.

Not that they’d discussed it. In fact they hadn’t discussed anything at all. Just savoured the unlimited pleasures of each other’s body. In the early morning she’d had to leave while he still slept. A cab took her home to change, and then a car picked her up and delivered her to the studio, where she’d sat dreamily in the makeup room thinking about him.

She smiled. A big, satisfied smile which irritated Shane even more.

‘Wipe that dumb grin off your face,’ he said brusquely. ‘Today we’re shooting the dream sequence.’

She didn’t feel at all like working. She just felt like smiling and singing and looning about.

Was it like this with the English asshole at first?

She couldn’t remember. In fact she couldn’t remember one damn thing about Lord Mark Rand, except that he was married, and a liar.

* * *

She was gone.

He groped for her cool velvet body and found that she was no longer there.

Jack got up and investigated. She was not in the bathroom. Her clothes, left trailing across the living room floor last night, were missing. The lady – as the saying goes – had vanished.

Disappointment flooded over him. And then he found her note in the kitchen, propped against the toaster, and the moment he read it he felt great.

Good morning. Thank you for putting a smile on my face that will probably stay there until I die! If I was with you now I’d make you toast, or maybe I’d just make you… Gone to work to shoot a commercial. I’ll be home after seven. If you want me to, I’ll cook for you.

JADE

He was doing his show later, and the guest was an interesting and controversial senator. Last night, after dinner with Kellie, he had planned to read a lengthy bio on the man. Now he couldn’t even concentrate on getting dressed, let alone anything else.

Throwing on clothes, he headed for the studio, where he immediately instructed Aretha to send six dozen yellow roses to Jade Johnson.

‘Is this persuasion or thanks?’ Aretha asked jauntily.

‘Don’t be so inquisitive.’

‘Any message along with the flowers?’

‘Just say ‘And you cook too?’ Have them put a question mark
and
an exclamation point.’

Aretha rolled her eyes knowingly. ‘My, oh my! I guess that answers the question!’

‘Oh, and have somebody call that French actress we had on – you know who I mean.’

‘Big bazoombas and a frog in her throat?’

‘You got it. In fact, do me a favour and call her yourself. Lie a lot on my behalf. Tell her I can’t make dinner tonight.’

Aldrich hurried into the office looking harried, his usual expression on the day of a show. ‘Have you read all the material?’ he asked anxiously.

‘Honey,’ sighed Aretha, ‘the only thing
this
man read last night was the stars in his lady’s eyes!’

* * *

‘It’s not going to work,’ Shane said shortly. ‘Can’t you at least try?’

‘I
am
trying,’ Jade replied patiently. He had been on her case all day.

‘You’re supposed to look ethereal and dreamy. Why are you grinning like a fucking Cheshire Cat?’

They both knew only too well why she was grinning, and it wasn’t helping matters.

‘Imagine something serious,’ he said sternly. ‘Like getting AIDS or the clap. That’s what happens when you sleep with a person who fucks like he’s on an assembly line.’

The smile disappeared from her face. ‘That’s an uncalled-for,
dumb
remark.’

‘Think about it,’ he repeated vehemently. ‘I’m only telling you what everybody in this town already knows.’

‘No.
You
think about
this
,’ she said furiously. ‘
I’m
the star of this commercial.
You’re
the director. You can be replaced –
I
can’t.’

She hadn’t planned on being quite so forthright, but he’d been asking for it all day.

After her outburst, they finally got some work done, and she was able to get out of there just after six. Instructing her driver to stop at the Irvine Ranch Market in the Beverly Center, she bought thin slices of veal, potatoes and vegetables, butter pecan ice cream, a rich chocolate cake, and two bottles of wine.

Gathering an armful of fresh flowers, she rushed home, where she was surprised by an apartment full of glorious yellow roses, placed in vases by her cleaning lady – and Jack’s voice on her answering machine. Listening to his message three times, she glowed with delight.

How was it possible to be
this
crazy
this
fast?

She didn’t know and she didn’t care.

I’m doing the show today
, said his voice on the machine.
And after that I can’t think of anything I’d like more than you cooking for me.
A pause
. Yes, as a matter of fact I can. Let’s forget about food. I’ll see you later.

He had a great voice. A great everything else.

She put Springsteen on the stereo, and without a trace of tiredness began to unpack the groceries.

Chapter Seventy-Six

‘I gotta fly to Arizona,’ Howard announced disgustedly.

‘Why?’ Poppy demanded.

‘Because Whitney Valentine is trying out for cunt of the year.’

Poppy pursed her lips. ‘You know I don’t like that word, Howard.’

‘Sometimes there’s just no substitute.’

‘Try and find one,’ she said sternly.

‘Back off, Poppy. I’m not in the mood for your “holier than thou” number.’

One thing about Poppy, she knew exactly how far she could go, and when he told her to back off she did so at once.

‘I’ve had a day that was pure murder from beginning to end,’ he grumbled, and proceeded to tell her about the Silver/Carlos/Zachary incident on the set.

Her eyes widened. ‘Zachary Klinger actually
hit
Carlos Brent?’

‘Punched him right out.’

‘What’s going to happen?’

‘Guess who spent the afternoon sorting it out?’

‘You, of course.’

‘Right on. Silver started it all. Another cunt.’

‘Howard!’

He held up a restraining hand. ‘Okay, okay, no more cunts.’

‘Is everyone speaking?’

‘Barely. Carlos is threatening to walk – and he can do it – you know the kind of temper
he
has. The good thing is that he needs us more than we need him. What other studio is gonna give a burnt-out bum like him the lead in a twenty-million-dollar movie?’

‘Oh, Howard,’ Poppy exclaimed, little-girl voice in full swing. ‘You’re so clever!’

Poppy knew how to trowel on the flattery just when it was needed.

‘Anyway,’ he continued, ‘we had to stop shooting for the rest of the day, and hopefully, by tomorrow, all will be calm.’

‘Shouldn’t you be here to make sure?’

‘You bet your ass I should. But we’ve got bigger problems on
The Murder
. If I don’t get down there and get Whitney’s ass back in gear,
that
production’s gonna have to stop. She’s only playing a cameo role, but all her stuff takes place on the location shoot in Arizona.’

‘And what’s she doing?’

‘Pretending to be sick, which is bull. She’s pissed off because Mannon and Clarissa are steamin’ up the screen.’

‘Isn’t Chuck with her?’

‘He was. And yesterday they had another fight and he took off. That’s when the – uh – that’s when she supposedly got sick and took to her bed.’

‘It’s so unfair,’ Poppy wailed. ‘All these problems, and only
you
to solve them.’

‘I’ll do it,’ he said bravely, thinking this might be the perfect opportunity to fling a fast fuck into Whitney. God knows, he’d waited long enough.

‘Shall I pack you an overnight bag?’ Poppy asked, the concerned wife.

‘You’d better. I shouldn’t be gone for more than twenty-four hours.’

He was on the company plane shortly afterwards.

Poppy, left to her own devices, called Carmel to find out Orville’s version of the story. Then she reported the entire event to Ida, who already knew, and couldn’t have cared less anyway.

‘Don’t forget my lunch tomorrow for Jade Johnson,’ she reminded everyone. ‘The Bistro Garden, at twelve-thirty.’

She tried to decide whether to call Melanie-Shanna or not. No, she thought. Very soon Melanie-Shanna could be the
ex
Mrs Mannon Cable, and there was nothing more boring than having to pretend to be friends with an ex-wife. Once the husband was no longer around, what was the point?

On the other hand, shouldn’t someone
tell
Melanie-Shanna about Mannon and Clarissa? After all, it was only fair that she should know. If Howard was dropping his pants elsewhere, Poppy would most
certainly
want to be alerted.
And
the poor girl was about to give birth any minute, so maybe Mannon wouldn’t dump her, and she would remain Mrs Cable.

Poppy sighed. Ah, decisions, decisions. Her manicured hand reached for the phone.

* * *

Dirk Price, the director/writer of
The Murder
, met Howard at the airport in Arizona. He was a long-haired, twenty-eight-year-old graduate of UCLA Film School, and had made two other movies, both of them teen-oriented (naked virgins, horny boys and the trashing of public property) and both of them enormous money-makers. This was his first venture into grown-up territory, and the dailies – flown to Howard in Hollywood every day – were quite impressive. Especially Mannon’s performance: he was really marvellous, surprising everyone. Clarissa, of course, was incandescent as usual. And Whitney looked sensational and acted like she’d just got out of drama school.

‘I want to replace her,’ were the first words out of Dirk’s mouth. ‘She’s ruining my film.’

‘
Our
film,’ Howard corrected. ‘And we have a contract to honour.’

‘She’s not honouring
her
part of it,’ Dirk said heatedly. ‘I had to shoot around her all day, and it’s going to put us over budget.’

‘That’s why I’m here. I’ll talk to her.’