Mr. Hollywood (10 page)

Ethan started to say something about Grayson, but I put my hand up and stopped him. "No. Don't speak of that person in my presence."

Ethan turned to Jennifer, giving her a look. I didn't care, though. I didn't want to be rude, but at the same time, I didn't want to talk about Grayson either.

“So what sounds good for lunch?” I asked as I picked up the menu.

A chill ran down my spine as a man cleared his throat. “May I join you?”

I knew that voice. I dropped the menu and whipped my head around to see if I was right. No way could he be here in this restaurant, no way, no how. But there he was, standing there in all his glory, looking better than ever. Damn it.

“What are you doing here?” I asked quietly in hopes that others wouldn’t hear me. I didn’t want others to stare at us if they thought we were fighting.

“I needed to see you. Can we talk?”

"Are you kidding me? Do you think that just because we are in public, I won't make a scene?"

I started to stand up, and Jennifer jumped up to stand beside me. "Please, Alison just hear him out."

I glared at her. Did she just say that to me? I couldn't believe it. She's my best friend, and she knew what he did to me. How could she side with him? How could she do this to me?

"I'm going to walk out this door where there will be a bazillion cameras trained on me. You are welcome to follow me, but if you do, I can't promise I will have anything nice to say to you. We both know they will catch every single minute of it on film. The choice is yours."

I stood up, grabbed my purse and headed for the door. I would just take a damn taxi back home.

I didn't get as far as the front door before Grayson caught up with me. "I promise never to bother you again if you would please just give me five minutes of your time," he pleaded.

I turned to him and glared. "I'll give you two, and the clock has already started."

I stood there before him with one hand on my hip and the other looking at my watch.

“Not like this. Can we please go somewhere quieter?”

“Is your limo out front?”

"It can be in a second if you need it to be."

“Fine. Call for it and you can take me home.”

“You don’t want to stay and eat?”

“No. Are you going to call for your car or what?” I asked impatiently.

He waved his hand to someone, and a moment later he took me by my arm and led me out the door and into the back of his limo.

“How did this happen to us?” Grayson asked when we got in the back of the car.

“I saw something on Facebook this morning that sums this whole thing up perfectly Grayson.”

“What’s that?”

“Nothing stays the same. Nothing is permanent. Feelings, people, circumstances. They all change eventually.”

“That’s so negative. That’s not like you Alison.”

“No Grayson, it’s not me being negative, that’s me being realistic.”

He sighed and then turned to face me and put my hand in his.

"Ali, I've waited for you my whole life. I didn't even know it was you I was waiting for, but when I found you, I just knew you were the one. You bring out the best in me, and you make me want to be a better person. You make me smile with just a single thought of you. You make me crazy at the thought of anyone else being with you. And not talking to you these past few months has been more than I can handle."

I took a deep breath, trying my best to hold back the tears.

"I'm sorry Grayson, but we are just two very different people. I could never be with someone like you."

I looked out the window trying to figure out how close we were to my apartment, but sure enough, we were stuck in LA traffic.

"That night at the party, I don't know how we got separated, but I really did look for you. I just kept getting pulled in every direction."

"I understand, when eventually, instead of finding me, you found Miss Nude Universe. I got it. It's fine. Whatever. But not to worry, I was being kept more than entertained by your little druggie friends."

"I don't know who those assholes were but when you left, I made sure they were kicked out of the party."

“Yeah because escorting me home wouldn’t have been the right thing to do so instead you go back and join your whore at the party.”

“Are you kidding me? You left me. I was only a minute behind you and you had the driver peel out of there, leaving
me
at the party." He growled and said something under his breath that sounded like "I can't fucking believe this."

"I tried to call your cell phone and ask why you left me at the party, but you didn't answer any of my calls. I ended up having to wait for my driver to return after he dropped you off at the hotel. When he came back for me, I immediately went to your room to find you, but you weren't there.

“How did you get in my room?”

"You are kidding right?" When I didn't answer, he just continued. "Being Grayson Chase does have some benefits."

I rolled my eyes.

"Alison, you have to believe me. I called you the next day numerous times, and when I was doing interviews, I had my assistant call you too, hoping she would have better luck reaching you than I did. You ditched the bodyguard I assigned to protect you and Danii too. She said she parked out in front of your hotel room door for hours waiting for you. Where did you go?"

"My sister and I went sightseeing. We'd never been to LA, and we wanted to see things like the Hollywood sign."

“On your own?”

“Yes, we went on our own.”

“I wished you wouldn’t have done that Alison. It wasn’t safe. That’s why I assigned you a protection detail in the first place.”

He put my hand up to his mouth and kissed it softly. I pulled it away and put it back in my lap.

“Whatever, we were fine. It all worked out in the end.”

"Alison, not a day goes by that I don't think of you. I've tried to call, text, email and Skype you without any luck. Any flowers I sent were refused. Please just talk to me."

"Grayson I am talking to you, and you aren't saying anything that changes my mind. We are two very different people from two very different worlds. Even if you didn't mean to leave me alone at your big fancy party, you did. Even if you didn't mean to hang out with some drunken whore while I was all alone, you did. Even if you didn't mean to leave me alone while three guys perved out on me and gave me drugs, you did. I'm sorry, but that isn't right. What kind of man does that? You say you care about me, but your actions speak much louder than your words."

“You are right Alison. You are absolutely right in every way. I have no excuse for it and all I can do is apologize and assure you it will never happen again if you please just give me a chance to make it up to you.”

"I'm sorry Grayson, but that party showed me that we aren't the same, we come from two very different worlds. I would never take a friend to a party with a bunch of druggies. I'm sorry, but that just isn't who I am. Call me naive or whatever, that's fine. But it's not who I am, and I don't want to be around those kinds of people."

"You are right. Those kinds of parties suck. That's why I stopped going to them years ago. I don't know why I went that night with you. I just thought it would be something you might want to experience being your first time in LA and all."

“That you thought I would enjoy something like that shows me just how little you really know me.”

"No Alison, you are wrong. That this is your reaction to that kind of party shows me just how much I need you in my life. You are everything to me, and I didn't realize it until it was too late, and you were gone. I knew I had feelings for you before you flew out to LA to go to the premiere with me but once I lost you, I realized just how deep those feelings really go."

He put his hand over mine again.

"I would even leave LA and move away with you. We could go back to Texas to be near your family or maybe Oklahoma and be near mine. I own a lot of lands out there; we could start a ranch or something. You could write all day, and I could grow us food or rustle cattle or something. I don't know. I don't care. I just want to be with you."

I couldn't believe he would be willing to give up everything just to be with me. Still, as flattering as that may be, there was more than just his Hollywood lifestyle between us. How could I expect him to understand? Even if I wanted to be with him and a huge part of me really did want just that, someone like him would never be happy with someone like me. I've kissed fewer men in my entire life than he's probably had sex with this year alone. He's a man, an incredibly sexy man with thousands of women who want him, all of which have more experience than me. What could I ever bring to the table to satisfy him?

"Grayson, no. I don't want you to give up your career. It's not about your acting. It's not about overzealous fans or even the paparazzi. Okay, I admit I don't exactly love the paparazzi but even that I could learn to live with." I sighed. "It's … I don't know how to say this. When I say we are very different, I mean that in a fundamental way."

"I don't understand; please explain it to me. Don't just say we are different and walk away without giving me a chance to know what you mean by we are so different."

"As you pointed out before, your entire life is documented through the media. You're a major star and pretty much everything you do, they catch on camera and write story after story about it, including the women in your life."

Grayson opened his mouth, clearly about to try and defend himself.

“Please, just let me finish.”

Grayson sat back and let me continue.

"I never assumed you were a monk before you met me. I get that you had girlfriends and apparently quite a few of them. The problem is, well… I haven't."

“You haven’t had any girlfriends?” Grayson teased.

"No, my little smart ass, I haven't had any girlfriends either. Well, okay I've had boyfriends, a few of them over the years, but nothing ever too serious. I've never …"

"Alison, are you trying to tell me that you've never had sex before, like ever?"

I shook my head no. “But you’ve done other things, right?”

My face turned bright red, and I whipped my head around to make sure the divider was up. I didn't want to share my sex life or lack thereof with the limo driver.

“Don’t worry,” Grayson soothed. “He can’t hear us. The divider also works as a sound barrier.”

Grayson tugged me closer to him and before I knew it, I was sitting on his lap.

“Your lack of experience isn’t a bad thing.”

“You may say that now, but I’m sure you’ll get bored of me rather quickly.”

“Are you kidding me Alison? There is no way in hell I could ever get bored of you, in bed or out.”

“You don’t know that Grayson.”

“I do know that. Your kisses are hotter than any full blown sexual experiences I’ve had. Your touch sets my whole body on fire Alison. Do you not realize what you do to me?”

He didn’t give me a chance to answer before his lips came crashing down on mine. He took control of me like he owned me. It wasn’t just a kiss; it was a possession that I felt to my very soul.

Without breaking our kiss, I turned my body so that I was straddling him and when I did, his hips surged forward for a torturous tease. I tore away from him, for just a moment but with a desperate cry of need, I leaned in for another kiss. I didn't want this to stop. Not anymore. He rocked forward again, and I felt every inch of him.

Fear splintered through me. I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t give him the last thing I had to give. There would be no coming back from that.

“I can’t. I can’t do this Grayson,” I said frantically.

Even though the words left my lips, something inside of me was telling me I could -- More than I could, that I had to.

I ran my fingers through his hair as he feathered kisses along my jawline. I pulled at his bottom lip with my teeth, and he groaned.

“Alison …”

My eyes locked on his at the raspy sound of his voice. There was something hard and resolute in his expression.

Dear God, the man was good-looking. I could smell his skin, all clean and masculine. I wanted to open my mouth and just breathe in the air around us.

The last of my resolve threatened to slip out of reach as I felt the bulge in his pants pressing against my core.

He didn’t move a muscle. He just continued staring at me. The air was thick with tension. I didn’t understand what was happening, but I wasn’t going to back down from this, whatever
this
was. Then again, even if I wanted to. I don't think I could have. My heart was racing, and blood was pumping furiously through my body. 

Suddenly, he took my face in his hands, his fingers weaving through my hair and his tongue pushing into my mouth. My whole body felt like it would combust as I found myself melting into him.

He let out a tortured groan as his tongue plunged more deeply into my mouth. I moaned as well, as my tongue danced with his. Finally, we broke apart, each of us gasping for air.

His lips returned to mine, and his tongue worked its way in and out of my mouth. It was like he was starving for me and I loved it. I wanted the kiss to go on and on. I never wanted it to end.

Suddenly, he pulled away from me again, breathing harshly, looking slightly dazed. I could feel his erection pushing hard against me, and it took everything I had not to grind against it.

“We can’t do this. Not here, not like this,” Grayson said tenderly.

I understood what he was saying; I really did, but before I knew what I was doing I leaned in and kissed him. My mouth was devouring his and I found myself grinding against his cock.

Grayson stroked me wherever his hand could feel flesh, my arm, my neck, my outer thigh. I sat up straight, adding leverage as I ground myself against his erection again. A gasp of need left my throat at the pure and sensual pleasure that raged from the action.

Tightening my legs around his, I lifted closer to the erection throbbing beneath his pants, and I dug my nails into his arms as my core rubbed against it. He was so hard and so ready for me.

“Not yet,” he growled as he tried to extricate me from his lap but I wasn’t having any of it. I never felt this way before. The pressure that was building between my legs was unexplainable and seemed to have taken control of me.

I writhed in his hold as he placed kisses down my neck, sending vicious pleasure hurling through my body. Then he pushed his hips upward and with just that touch, I ceased to be myself, instead becoming a mass of need wrapped around him, open to him, his to exploit and possess.

I could no longer hear anything but my thundering heart and our panting breath as he raised me up and down on his lap. He had me riding his erection through our clothes, sending never to be forgotten ecstasy corkscrewing through my every nerve ending.

The flowing throb between my legs escalated into pounding until finally I cried out with a need I never knew existed. In one swift move, he held me tightly in one arm, while the other came down between my legs. He pushed my panties aside, and his fingers invaded me.

I was barely able to breathe and definitely unable to protest.

“Are you mine?” He asked. His voice was strangled, the need to own me evident.

“Oh God yes, Grayson, yes.”

He held me still as he pressed his fingers further inside of me.

My back arched as burning pleasure tore through me. It was like a jagged lightning bolt of hot sensations racing through my body.