Rumor Has It (Limelight) (20 page)

He laughed and I got off his lap so he could get up. “I’m going to take a cold shower. Be back in a few.”

“Want some company?” I asked.

“Are you trying to kill me?” He adjusted his nether regions and walked into the bathroom.

We arrived at the studio before everyone else. I was sitting on Mason’s lap on the couch in the control room when Amber, Deshawn, and Troy arrived. I’d been a little disappointed to see them since Mason had been explaining all the things he could do to me while I was on his lap and wearing my sundress. I’d chosen a pale yellow dress for the day but had brought along my sweater in case. It’d look like a toddler had put my outfit together if I had to put it on but I didn’t have any other options.

Mason was wearing a pair of black jeans with a dark grey t-shirt with some kind of designer emblem on it and a white hat. I’d secretly thrilled in the hotel room when I saw him grab it, remembering the way it’d looked on him the last time he wore it. It set-off his green eyes even more than usual.

Amber skipped into the room. “Hey, lovebirds.”

I blushed and moved to sit beside Mason.

“Hey, Deshawn, can I talk to you about something real quick?” Mason asked.

“Sure, man. What’s up?”

“Let’s go into the hall.” I was puzzled as to what that was about. Amber turned to look at me. “You able to get caught up on your sleep last night, or did Mason keep you up all night doing unspeakable things?” She grinned ear to ear.

“Uh, no. I got my rest.”

“Glad to hear it because we’ll be finished here today and we’re all going out to celebrate tonight.” It was difficult not to catch her enthusiasm. She always appeared chipper and full of life. “I’m going to go into the recording booth and warm up my voice,” Amber said.

That left me alone with Troy who’d leveled me with a steely gaze. Stellar.

“So, Ellie. How did you and Mason meet?” he asked from across the room. He stood with his legs spread wide and his arms crossed in front of his white button-down shirt.

“I work for the real estate company he rented the beach house from in Virginia Beach.” I hoped he couldn’t sense my discomfiture. I wasn’t about to let this asshole make me feel bad.

“Hmm. You go to school?”

“No, I’ve already graduated.”

“Where from? What did you take?”

What was this, twenty questions? “I went to school in Miami and graduated with a degree in Comparative Media Studies. Why?”

“It just seems curious, that’s all.”

I raised an eyebrow wondering what he was referring to. “Curious?”

“That you just
happen
to work for the rental company that Mason used, and that you just
happen
to have a degree in Media Studies.”

Now I got where he was going with this and his barely contained hostility toward me made sense. “I can assure you I have no designs on using Mason to launch any type of career in entertainment. Believe me, there’s nothing more I’d like than to stay out of the spotlight.”

“You have to realize that’s never going to happen if you’re dating Mason.”

“Of course I do. But let’s be clear that I’m under no fantasy that this thing between us is going anywhere permanent. I know that when his time in Virginia is done I’ll only be a distant memory.”

That seemed to appease him a little, if the fact that his jaw had stopped twitching was any indication. “As long as you know where you stand,” he said curtly and turned to look at the control panel so that his back was to me.

I almost respected the guy for looking out for Mason but it still irked me that he’d called my integrity into question. But then who was I to him? I’m sure he’d seen his fair share of wannabe actresses and singers make their way in and out of Mason’s life. Mason had alluded to the fact that he’d dated people who only wanted something from him.

Mason and Deshawn returned before I could respond to Troy. He must have been able to sense the ominous air in the room because he asked if everything was okay.

“Of course,” I responded.

Deshawn clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

Hours later Deshawn declared it a wrap as we all listened to the tracks in the engineering room. “Great job, you two. This is gonna be a hit. I’m tellin’ you right now.”

Amber turned to Mason. “Thanks so much for agreeing to do it on such short notice.”

“No worries. We’ve been talking about working together for a while now. I’m glad we finally found the right project to make it happen.”

Amber turned to the group. “Okay, so to celebrate we’re all meeting at Boulevard3 tonight. I don’t want any arguments.”

Holy shit. I didn’t make a habit of following celebrity gossip much but even I’d heard of Boulevard3 before. I knew all the top celebrities frequented it when they were out on the town.

“We’ll be there,” Mason said.

“Great. I gotta run. I have an appointment with my trainer. This body will not stay fit on its own.” She leaned in to give me a hug. “Ellie, it was great to see you again.”

“Same here,” I said. It felt strange that this huge superstar was being so nice and so normal with me. I’d seen her on the cover of so many magazines and the fact that she made an effort to not only acknowledge my existence, but to be nice to me was more than I would have expected.

“Boys,” she said and nodded at the rest of them and then left. I noticed that Deshawn watched her until she was completely out of sight. Interesting.

“Deshawn, think we can take care of that thing we talked about earlier?” Mason asked.

“For sure, man. Give me a minute to get set up.”

Mason put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me in to him. The contact with his muscular frame instantly sent the message to my lower half to be on high alert. I really needed to get a grip on my physical reaction to this guy.

“Come in the recording booth with me,” he said.

After yesterday’s embarrassment I really didn’t want to be back in there but I’d made sure to leave my phone back at the hotel so there could be no more accidental interruptions. “Why?” I asked warily.

“You’ll see.”

“Mason, I’m not singing anything.”

“I know. I don’t want you to. Just come with me.”

“Okay.” I acquiesced and walked with him into the recording booth. He motioned for me to sit on the stool while he stood in front of me. “So, what is this about?”

“You. Your laugh more specifically.”

Was he on something? This was making no sense. “I don’t understand.”

“When I heard your laugh the other day I knew I wanted to record it and sample it in a song. It’s something that happens sometimes. I hear something and I see how I can incorporate it into a song.”

“I hardly think my laugh in a song is going to be a good thing.”

“Are you kidding me? You’re laugh is so rich and full of joy…how could it not be?” He brushed his thumb along my cheek as he looked down at me.

“All right. What do you want me to do? Just sit here and laugh?”

“I don’t think that will work. Have you ever tried to laugh? It almost always sounds forced. No, I had another idea.”

“Such as—”

Before the words were fully out of my mouth he started tickling my under arms. I bucked up off of the stool and laugh uncontrollably. I begged him to stop with what little breath I could muster but he paid me no attention, continuing his assault for another torturous minute.

He finally stopped and wrapped his arms around me. I was still trying to catch my breath when he leaned in to kiss me. “Thank you for that.”

I smacked him on the arm. “No problem, although I don’t know what you’re going to do with that. I’m sure I sounded like a cackling hyena.”

He chuckled. “You’ll see.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

I watched as Ellie stood in the hotel room gaping at the rack of clothing hanging in front of her. “This is too much,” she said, clearly overwhelmed.

I came up behind her and pulled her into my chest. Her warm flesh and her vanilla scent sent my mind spiraling into the abyss where all I could think about was getting inside her.

“Stop it. Just go try some on,” I said.

After leaving the studio Ellie had confessed she hadn’t packed anything suitable to wear to a nightclub, so I’d called up my stylist and asked her to have some outfits sent over to the hotel room for Ellie to go through.

“I’m looking at the names on these tags, Mason… They must have cost a small fortune.”

“Well, no worries then. I’m only paying for the one you
do
decide to wear tonight.” I gave her a squeeze. God, her body was so soft.

“Still.” She shook her head and looked at the rack in disbelief.

“Think of it this way. You really have no choice. You need something to wear and there’s no way we can leave Amber hanging and not show up tonight.”

Ellie turned to face me with her arms crossed over her chest. “Nice use of guilt.”

“Thanks. I thought it was pretty clever myself.”

She smiled that smile that was meant to capture a man’s heart with one look, grabbed some dresses off the rack and headed into the bathroom in a huff.

“I expect you to model each and every one for me,” I called after her.

“Dream on,” she yelled from behind the closed door.

I laughed. Oh, Ellie. She had no idea the dreams I had for the two of us.

*****

I ended up settling on a shimmery bandage dress. It had a dark grey hue at the bottom and gradually got lighter until it was cream at the top. It was like a second skin, holding in all the right places, had straps, and ended above my knee. I matched it with a pair of nude and silver hooker heels the stylist had left for me.

I purposely didn’t look at the tag; if I knew how much it cost, the price would be running through my head all night. I was out of my element. I’d never worn anything so expensive and I was pretty sure I’d never worn anything quite so sexy either. It wasn’t revealing but it didn’t leave much to the imagination.

I finished curling my hair and styled it down in loose waves. I purposely hadn’t let Mason in the bathroom when I was getting ready, for two reasons. One: I wanted it to be a surprise since he’d never seen me this dolled up. Two: I was pretty sure if we were in close proximity for any amount of time, we’d have a hard time getting out the door tonight. I didn’t want to disappoint Amber by being a no-show after she’d gone out of her way to be so nice to me.

I studied myself in the mirror. I looked pretty good. I felt sexy and desirable and I was ready to have fun with Mason outside the bedroom. He’d already warned me there was a good chance we’d be photographed at some point during my visit. Truthfully, I was over it. It was time to just deal with the fallout, if there was any. I took a big breath and walked into the main room ready for my big reveal.

Mason was sitting on one of the white leather chairs facing away from me. When he heard the bathroom door open he turned in my direction.

His jaw slackened and his eyes went wide as he slowly got up from the chair.

I’d thought a sexy reveal would be fun but now I was feeling awkward with Mason just staring at me not saying anything. “Ta da,” I said throwing my hands out to my sides. Okay, now I felt like an even bigger freak.

Mason scrubbed a hand over his head. “Ellie. You’re…exquisite. And sexy as hell.”

That’s the reaction I was looking for. I beamed. “You like?” I spinned around to give him the full three-sixty view.

“Understatement of the year. You’ll be lucky if I let you out of this room tonight looking like that.” He walked toward me with purposeful strides, the look on his face telling me he was about to devour me. The phone rang and he stopped in front of me, ignoring it. Instead he stood there looking into my eyes, breathing heavily. Not taking his gaze from mine, he slowly ran a finger along the seam of my dress, from my shoulder down across the top of my breasts. When he reached my cleavage he stopped and dipped a finger in between. He closed his eyes tightly.

I pressed my thighs together as my nipples puckered. “Shouldn’t you get the phone?” I whispered, swallowing the lump that had formed in my throat.

He turned on his heel and walked back to pick up the receiver. He said nothing for a moment and then, “We’ll be right down.” He placed the phone back down on the receiver.

“Our car is here. It’s time to go.”

I nodded, unable to form a coherent thought to manage the words. I walked in a sexual haze to the hotel room door. When I placed my hand on the door knob I felt Mason’s presence behind me. He leaned in and his breath brushed across my ear.

“We’ll go make an appearance for Amber’s sake. But remember this…every time you see me watching you from across the room, know that I’m envisioning all the ways I’m going to take you when we get back here tonight. Remember I’m counting the minutes until I’m deep inside you again, until I’m tasting your sweetness on my tongue.” He patted my ass and then grabbed the handle from me and opened the door, motioning for me to go ahead of him.