Loving David (17 page)

David smiled and kissed Charlotte’s hand. The plane descended and touched down in a matter of minutes. David and Charlotte were first off the plane, and David pulled a baseball cap out of his carry-on while Charlotte slipped on her sunglasses. David grasped Charlotte’s hand before they stepped into the airport.

“Ready?” he asked.

Charlotte squeezed his hand back. “Ready.”

They stepped through the door where two large security guards were waiting. They nodded at David and Charlotte.

“Mr. King? Follow us.”

Before Charlotte knew what was happening, they were on a fast-track through the airport. David wasn’t kidding ---- he moved at the speed of light, his long legs crossing over giant patches of floor at a dizzying pace. Charlotte had to run to keep up with him, and she was a little out of breath. Within seconds they were outside and being hustled into the backseat of a large black Town Car. Charlotte barely even noticed what the weather was like in Vancouver.

“You okay?” David asked.

Charlotte nodded and exhaled. “Yes; that was… different.”

For the first time, Charlotte noticed the dapper gentleman with sandy blonde hair in an expensive-looking charcoal gray suit with a pink silk handkerchief peeking out of the breast pocket. He was reclining against the plush seats.

Don’t worry kid,” he said. “My assistant will pick up your bags and bring them to the hotel.”

“William,” Charlotte smiled.

He winked. “The one, the only.” William said as the car pulled out of the airport. Charlotte sized him up. She pegged him to be in his early forties, and there were streaks of gray at his temples. His loafers shimmered like mirrors, and his socks looked to be silk. She noticed that his gold cufflinks were emblazoned with big W’s and his gold watch flashed in the sunlight.

Charlotte extended her hand. “I’m Charlotte, although I guess you knew that already.”

They shook hands, and William chuckled. “Based on what David said, I’d know you anywhere.”

Charlotte twisted around to look at David. “Really? And just what has he been saying about me?”

“That he’s nuts about you, although I have to say, you’re far prettier than David described.”

“William!” David scolded.

William waved his hand and clucked his tongue. “She knows I’m joking, right Charlotte?” William winked as he looked at Charlotte, who giggled. “All kidding aside, he’s been e-mailing me about you non-stop, and I’m so glad you came with him.” William leaned back and crossed one leg over the other. “You’re gonna love Vancouver.”

Charlotte looked out the window. “It looks beautiful so far. David told me you used to be an actor, right?” Charlotte asked.

“Ha! Yeah, you could say that. Mostly bit parts, supporting roles, dime-store stuff. I managed to squeak out a decent enough living, but I’ll tell ya kid, the real money’s on the business side.”

“Oh, I do alright,” David grinned.

William chuckled. “That you do, my friend. No; I’m much better at managing and producing than I ever was at acting. Oh, and running after this one all the time,” he said, pointing at David. Charlotte looked back and forth between the two.

“Seems like you guys make a pretty good team,” Charlotte said.

William grinned. “I guess we do, huh?”

“Yes well, as long as William’s able to make his tennis lessons he stays quite productive.”

The car slowed in front of a lavish hotel that easily took up one city block. They turned the corner and stopped in the back, next to some dumpsters. The driver opened the door, and the trio exited the limo. Charlotte put her hand over her nose.

“Anyone who says the movie star life is a glamorous one should trade places with me right now,” Charlotte muttered.

William held a service door open for David and Charlotte. “Sorry, kiddo, but we go through the front and it’ll be a brigade of camera phones and a stealth paparazzo or two.”

Charlotte nodded as David grabbed her other hand and followed William through the dark and dank loading dock, which reeked of yet more garbage. A security guard met them at the entrance to the kitchen and hustled them onto the service elevator. They all rode silently to the fiftieth floor, where security walked them right to their room. Charlotte saw William slip the guy some money before he whipped out the room key and showed them inside.

“Your home away from home for the next week,” William said as Charlotte slowly walked in.

“Whoa,” she whispered as she drank in the luxurious accommodations. It was a four-room suite complete with a master bedroom, a smaller guest room, living room, kitchen, and two bathrooms. The scent of fresh-cut flowers eradicated the stench of garbage from Charlotte’s memory, and the entire room was ablaze with the sunshine that poured in from the floor-to-ceiling windows that took up one wall. Oversized graphic artwork dominated many of the walls, which were wrapped in pale beige wallpaper with flecks of gold. She could hear David and William murmuring to each other as she walked over the window and pressed her forehead against the glass and looked down. People scurried around on the street below like ants at a picnic.

“Charlotte?”

She turned at the sound of her name, still dizzy from the room.

“Yes?”

William was standing by the door. “I’m taking off. Great to meet you and I’ll schedule you in for drink so we can talk smack about David behind his back.”

David jabbed William on the shoulder while Charlotte laughed and waved. “See you soon.”

William closed the door, and Charlotte stood in the center of the room, her jaw still on the floor.

“God, I feel like Julia Roberts in
Pretty Woman.
Except for the hooker thing.” Charlotte continued to explore the suite. “I mean, this room is really something --- I think it’s bigger than my entire house,” she yelled from the guest room.

David grinned as he sat on the edge of the couch and watched her. “Even though it was a pain to get here, right?”

Charlotte walked to David and threw her arms around his neck. “Yeah, well, except for that.” She kissed his nose. David dove down and picked up Charlotte behind her knees. In spite of herself, she squealed as he ran toward the master bedroom and dropped her on the bed. She closed her eyes as she sank into the down comforter.

“My God, it’s like falling into a cloud,” she said as she spread her arms and legs out to either side of her. She yawned and closed her eyes and felt David lie down next to her. He began to trace her lips with his finger.

“Tired?” he whispered.

“You’re not?”

“I’m beyond tired, and I have to be up at dawn.”

Charlotte’s eyes flicked open. “Dawn?”

David leaned his head against the palm of his hand. “You don’t have to go with me. You can stay here and enjoy the hotel or take the car and driver and see some sights. Or,” David leaned down and pelted her face with kisses. “You can go with me and sleep in my trailer. That way I could come and see you on my breaks and wake you up with my lips.” He nibbled on her ear.

“Do you want my answer now?” she purred.

He moved from her ear to her lips. “
Mmmm
…” he moaned.

She held his face in her hands. “Sleep now, trailer tomorrow.”

He grinned. “Excellent.”

Charlotte gave him one last kiss before she rolled over to assume her sleep position. David spooned around her. Within minutes they were both snoring away.

#

Charlotte and David had woken up long enough to order room service and call down to have their luggage sent up before drifting back to sleep. Their wake-up call the next day came at four in the morning, and they stumbled around the room trying, to get ready to head to the set. While David read through his script in the back of the limo, Charlotte dozed on his shoulder. When they arrived on set, David whisked her away to his trailer before having a production assistant load up a plate of fruit from the craft services table and get them both steaming mugs of coffee. After they devoured their food, Charlotte helped David run his lines before he got called to the set. Charlotte forced herself not to avail herself of the bed in the back by going back to sleep and decided to take advantage of the quiet time by continuing work on her new manuscript. She got herself a bottle of water from the mini-fridge and waited for her computer to boot up. Her home page was a news site, and as she did every morning, she scanned the various headlines. She saw David’s name in the top of a group of headlines under the “Entertainment” section. She leaned forward to read it and gasped.

“David King Playing in a Cougar’s Den,” Charlotte murmured. “Oh jeez.” She paused for a moment, contemplating if she should click on the link and read the story.

“Oh, what the hell,” she decided and clicked on the link. A photo of them getting out of the limo at LAX popped up and Charlotte groaned, before she read the blurb:

“Looks like mega heartthrob David King’s short-lived reconciliation with Olivia Hudson is kaput as he and a ‘mystery cougar’ boarded a flight to Vancouver early Wednesday morning, where King is doing some reshoots on the upcoming thriller,
Claim
. Could it be that 26 year-old Hudson was just a tad too young for King? Stay tuned.”

Charlotte winced. Cougar…just like her friends had warned her.

The trailer of the door swung open, and David stepped inside. “Hey, love,” he said. “Lighting problem, so thought I’d come hang out with you for a few moments.” He looked over her shoulder and saw what she was reading. “Bad?” he asked.

“I don’t know about bad, but definitely not good.”

David read it and shook his head. “Charlotte, you’re too smart to let this get you down. I could be five years younger than you and it would say the same stupid thing.” David flopped down on the couch across from her. “Personally, I don’t see what the big deal is. My dad was twelve years older than my mum, and nobody ever said a word. I really don’t get why it’s such a big deal for the woman to be older. After all, it’s not like we’re the first couple---- and won’t be the last, I might add---- who are like this.” He shrugged and stretched out on the couch. “I find it bloody fascinating that people would find this scandalous or strange.”

Charlotte cocked her head and looked at him, still amazed over his nonchalance over their age difference.

“How’d you get to be so wise?” she asked.

“Years of practice,” he grinned.

“You really are an old soul, you know that?”

“So I’ve been told.” He nodded toward her laptop. “I hope you were actually going to do some work and not just surf the Web all day reading tacky tabloid articles.”

“No, no, no. I really am planning to do some work on my new book.”

David sat up and stood over her. “Oh yeah? What’s this one about?”

Charlotte ran her hand up David’s thigh until it landed on his butt cheek. “Can’t tell you yet, although I do need some inspiration.”

He pulled Charlotte into a kiss. “It’ll probably be about an hour before they get that lighting thing resolved,” he breathed.

Charlotte chuckled and began to undo the buttons of his shirt. “Good. Maybe you can inspire me twice.”

“Indeed. Just don’t smear my makeup,” David said as he picked up a giggling Charlotte and carried her to the back of the trailer.

#

It was late afternoon when Charlotte looked up from her laptop and rubbed her eyes. The words were starting to blend into each other, which was her cue to take a break. Charlotte stood and stretched before she stepped outside for some fresh air. Even though the sun shone, it did little to warm the crisp, cool air. Charlotte shivered a bit as she made her way to the one of the director’s chairs just outside David’s trailer. She peeled her eyes for David, but all she could see were cranes and lights and cameras and a bunch of people running around like chickens freed from the coop. Charlotte closed her eyes and let the chilly wind wash over her face for a moment. She took a big inhale and opened her eyes in time to see William decked out in yet another impeccable suit, walking toward her. She smiled and waved.

“How’s everything?” she asked.

William nodded and dragged a nearby director’s chair and planted it next to Charlotte’s. “Everything’s on schedule, and who knows? We may even get out of here a day early. And you?”

Charlotte nodded. “Good. Just taking a break.”

“Ah, yes. The books, right? David told me about that. He’s determined to read them all, you know.” William snapped his fingers. “Hey, maybe we can option some.”

Charlotte shook her head. “If my books were made into movies, they’d be the kind you show on cable at three in the morning.”

“Hey, don’t knock it. There’s a market for just about everything.”

Charlotte grinned. “True.”

William shifted in his seat to face her. “There’s something else I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Okay. Shoot.”

“I know from here you guys are heading to New York for a premiere.”

Charlotte nodded. “Right, except I’m meeting David
after
the red carpet.”

William rubbed his earlobe and looked down at his lap. “Listen; he would never say this because he’s a selfless son of a bitch---- which as you know gets him into trouble---- but it would mean a lot to him if you were there.”

Charlotte straightened up a little in her seat. “Really?”

“You better believe it. And hey, it might not be a bad idea. You know, just get the photo ops out of the way and be done with it. Then maybe the press will move on. Otherwise they’ll just ----”

“Crawl up our asses with flashlights and never leave us alone,” Charlotte cut him off as she remembered Karen’s declarations.

William chuckled. “Yeah, that’s about the size of it, kid.”

Charlotte spun a lock of hair around her fingers, mulling over what William had said. “I mean what you’re saying makes sense, but...”

“But what?”

“Well I don’t have----”

William nodded, understanding. “A dress. Got it. I’ll take care of everything. You tell David that tomorrow you’re taking a little ‘me’ time, and he can hang out in that drafty trailer by himself.” Charlotte giggled in spite of herself.