Payback (8 page)

When I got home
, I was both mentally and physically frustrated with my life. I’d just kissed off my chances with Caden and now, with the exception of a possible rewrite of one or two scenes after editing, I was out of a job. My agent wanted me to write another novel, but, frankly, I was exhausted and nothing was coming to mind, or at least nothing I wanted to publish under my name was popping into my head.

Tina managed to land me a stint writing for three television series. I wrote five episodes in the next year
, so I managed to keep quite busy and maintain a good income.  But that night, the night of the wrap-up party, I was worried about both my love life and my future as a writer.  Was I going to be a JD Salinger? Have one big hit and that’s it?

The season changed, we marched into the rainy season. We’d had three days of solid rain, not unusual for Los Angeles.  Southern California doesn’t get much rain
, but when it does, it tends to come all at once. It was one of those wet March nights, the rain was heavy, and I was cold to the bone.

I was
stopping by to pick up some takeout at the Vinery, a nice, but not posh, restaurant.  I had to walk three blocks, because there was nothing closer, to park. By the time I reached the restaurant in my vinyl windbreaker, jeans and T-shirt, I was thoroughly soaked and looked like a drowned rat. They sat me on a bench by the door while they prepared my meal. I was there scrolling through my iPhone when Caden popped through the door. He was holding it open for someone else. Jessica Winthrop, his co-star from
Rowhouse,
came running in with her gorgeous trench coat and wide umbrella. Caden was laughing at something until his eyes latched onto mine.  He went dead cold silent.

“Hi
, Caden, Jessica.”

Jessica was put off by
Caden’s silence but when she realized that she knew me, she made a valiant effort to remember my name. “Mary!  How are you?” Leaning down, she gave me two air kisses on each cheek.

“Great. Really great.”

“Caden! It’s Mary! You remember, she was an assistant to the writer, uh, what was his name? Aaron! Aaron Gold.”

Aaron had been the writer who helped me with some adjustments to the script but I had done the heavy lifting on
both the script and rewrites.  Nonetheless, I insisted that he be given a byline as a screenwriter on the film. 

Caden didn’t take his eyes off of me. “Yes, I remember Mary,” he said with some glee at the mistaken version of my name.  “How is Aaron?” he
added, with a mischievous look in his eyes.

“I haven’t seen him in a
while,” I said, as detached as I could.

“We’ve just been to an interview about
Rowhouse
over at Entertainment Tonight,” Jessica mentioned.

The hostess was practically peeing in her pants as she stood holding menus
, ready to seat Jessica and Caden. Jessica had always been pleasant to me, even though she didn’t have a clue who I really was and what I really did on the movie. So it was no surprise when she looked down at me and said, “Are you alone?  Why don’t you join us?”

Terror flashed in Caden’s eyes.  I almost burst out laughing when he panicked at the idea of me eating with them. “I’ve already ordered dinner as takeout.  I’m just waiting for it.”

“Nonsense. You can eat it here just as much as you can eat it alone in your apartment,” Jessica insisted.

I wanted to let her know I actually owned a house, but it wasn’t worth it.

“Come on, Mary, eat with us. Caden, we can’t let her go out in that weather. Her meal will get cold by the time she gets home.”

“I’m sure she thought about that when she ordered it.”

“Jessica, you’re very sweet, but I think Caden may want to have your company all to himself.”

Jessica tilted her head and blinked several times in thought. “Really?
Is that true, Caden?”

Caden’s breath caught
, and I knew that if we were alone he’d have his hands around my throat. He gave Jessica a real actor’s smile, “Of course I want to be alone with you, Jessica. We’re good friends, and I’d really like to get your take on my
recent relationship with Laura Grafton
.” The mention of the new girlfriend was emphasized for my consumption.

Jessica didn’t look too disappointed
, and I knew why.  Contrary to popular thought, Jessica preferred that her lovers have a vagina.  I know because she asked me out on the set one day. I was flattered until I learned she had asked just about all the females out on the set. I stood as the hostess brought my food over.

“Congratulations, Caden, I’m sure you’ll be very happy with Laura.  She’s a very beautiful woman. I’m sure she looks perfect on your arm.”  I wasn’t sure my jibe was understood. I wanted to remind him that he went out with beautiful, not brilliant, women. 

He rolled his eyes. “Jessica, I’m sorry, but I don’t really feel hungry anymore. Give my best to Natasha.” He turned and started out of the restaurant. The hostess’s face fell when he left.

Jessica explained,
“Natasha is going to join me here.  I invited Caden for appearances. The paparazzi have been following Natasha and me.”

“I see.  Well, I’m going to take my food and go home.  It was lovely seeing you
, Jessica.  Good luck with the movie.”

More air kisses and the brunette woman with the multilayered hazel eyes said good
bye. I pulled the hood over my head and made a mad dash out the door and up the road. I was looking down, the rain pounding so hard I was having trouble navigating my way towards my car.

A car pulled
up and the door opened. “Get in.”

I looked and was surprised to see Ca
den in his Escalade. “No thanks. I’m just another block away.”

“Get in, Mary!  I need to talk to you.”

I glared at him for calling me Mary, but I crawled into the passenger seat anyway.  He drove down the road for a few minutes, passing my car and making a turn onto Santa Monica Boulevard heading towards the Pacific Coast Highway.  “Whoa!  Where are you taking me?”  My heart was skipping with both the excitement of seeing him and the fear that he had snapped and was about to kidnap and murder me.

“My house.”

“What?  My car is back there on one of those side streets.”

“I’ll buy you a new one if it gets stolen or towed
, but this ends tonight.”

“Have you gone bonkers?  What ends tonight?”

“Christ, I dream about you every night.  I can’t give any other woman any serious attention because I keep thinking about the night in my cottage, and I’ve got to know if I was just drunk or if what I was feeling was real.”

“What feelings?  You were just horny.”

“I’ve been just horny before…this was so different it’s had me completely turned around.”

“You’ve had four months to ask me out on a date and you didn’t. Plus, you just admitted you are in a relationship with Laura!  I won’t be the other woman.”

He laughed.  “Laura and I have been out twice in two weeks.  I’d hardly call it a real relationship.”

We turned off the Pacific Coast Highway onto the 27
, which takes you into Topanga Canyon. After several curves, turns, and hills we finally drove through gates, pulling up to an adobe house designed to look like an old Mexican ranch house. He opened the door and lifted me out of the Escalade, dinner and all, carrying me up to the old mesquite door, which was opened by an older woman. 

“Mr. Kelly, geet out of the rain. Ay, you look like a rat in a ree-vur.”  Her Mexican accent wasn’t too pronounced
, but she definitely wasn’t born here.

We stepped down into the great room
, which was framed with large mesquite beams and covered with real Saltillo floor tiles.  Straight ahead, across from the front door, were several multi paned garden doors that lead to a courtyard. The home appeared to be shaped like a wide ‘U,’ centered around a stunning courtyard with fountains and several seating areas.  Just beyond the courtyard was a swimming pool and a 180-degree view of the Pacific Ocean. The kitchen and dining room were on the right and opened to the great room.  A hall, which formed the left spine of the “U,” could be seen, as well as another hall that traveled down behind the kitchen and dining area forming the right spine. 

“Would you like something to drink?” he asked.

“What do you have?”

“Everything.”

“I’d like a single malt on the rocks.”

His eyebrows raised and a smile cracked across his face, amused at my choice.  I watched him walk over to the far end of the room behind a bar with four stools in front of it.  He apparently had an icemaker behind the bar because I heard the clinking of ice in the glass.

“Is Oban okay?”

“Lovely,” I said. The fireplace posted a mesquite mantle. Above it was the painting of a very beautiful woman
with Caden’s blue eyes sitting on a white horse.  “Is that your mom?”

He nodded.

“She was beautiful.”

He brought two glasses with him as he crossed the room and handed one to me. We toasted and then I knocked
mine back. He almost choked.  “That was a thirty-year-old Scotch…you’re supposed to sip it.  If you want shooters, I’ve got Wild Turkey.”

“Sorry, but I
feel really nervous.”

“It’s just me.”

“Right…just you, who essentially kidnapped me for the purpose of having sex, or am I mistaken?”

He looked up at the ceiling and pretended to think.  “No, that’s about right.”

“You’ll excuse me if that makes me a little nervous.”

He sat down and patted the sofa next to him.  “Look, I have no problem with just talking. This could be
just a date.”

I was still soaking wet. “Would you
mind if I take off this jacket?”

“Oh, where are my manners. Let me get you a robe
, and you can change your clothes.  I’ll have Gabriella throw your clothes in the dryer.”

I shook a finger at him. “You’re going to have to work harder if you think I’m going to take my clothes off that easy.”

He moved towards me, his eyes, which were now dark like a predator’s, gripped mine.  I almost didn’t notice that his hands were on the zipper to my windbreaker until I heard the unzipping sound as he pulled the tab.  Swallowing hard, I assisted him when he pulled the arms off.  The jacket was thrown towards the roaring fireplace, falling several feet short. 

I looked down and winced when I saw I w
as wearing my Star Trek T-shirt—really romantic.  He was staring at my chest too, but I had the feeling he was more interested in what was under the T-shirt.  I had only thought I’d be gone a few minutes so I didn’t bother putting a bra on, and it showed. 

There were no polite moves to gingerly take me in his arms.
He pounced like a leopard on a gazelle.

His tongue and his kisses all tasted like whiskey.  Obviously, he had decided to start where he had left off, because he grabbed the hem of my
T-shirt and had it over my head so quickly my head felt like it was spinning. I was up in the air, cradled in his arms as he carried me down the hall to the furthest room, a bedroom with windows and French doors on three of the four walls to take advantage of the view of the Pacific. After throwing me on the bed, he grabbed my wet sweatpants and pulled them down. I quickly grabbed my panties to keep them from being pulled off too.

Caden’s clothes came off so fast I didn’t have time to really appreciate the reveal of
his chest again. The silk boxers exposed just how excited he was to have me sprawled on the bed shaking.  Crawling up to the pillow, he leaned in and kissed me gently, turning down the heat a little, savoring the contact between us.

“You’re shivering. Are you cold?”

“I’m not sure.  I’m a little overwhelmed.  I went out for a Cobb salad and now I’m naked…mostly naked…under a man who didn’t call me.”

“Well, I had to buy condoms.”

“It took you
four months
to buy condoms?”

He gave me a cheeky grin. “I had to
special-order the extra-large ones.” He pushed my hair back from my face. “I didn’t know how to convince you that you’re more than a sexual conquest to me.”

I rolled my eyes before grabbing his neck to pull him in for another kiss.  Slipping my hands down over his ass, he chuckled into my lips when I gave them a good squeeze.  At the end of the kiss, I wiggled my eyebrows and whispered, “Nice ass.”

He countered with a squeeze to my breast.  “Nice hooters,” he teased.

“Really?” I looked down at them and nodded.  “You know, you’re right.” I grabbed one and fondled it for his enjoyment. “They are very perky.”

He licked my nipple. “I like the little pink nipples, so plump and inviting. I think I need to say hello.”  Caden’s mouth covered my breast causing my groin to twitch with expectation. My body responded to the stiffening of his erection between us.

This is going to happen!  Caden Kelly is going to fuck me. Holy moley!
I gasped as his hand slid quickly down my body and under my lace panties.  There was no teasing; his finger was a heat seeking missile, finding my clit. With just a few strokes, he owned it. My body started dancing like a bolt of electricity was coursing through it.