Debutante (3 page)

‘Emily?'

No answer. He checked his cell phone. Eight p.m. on the nose. He'd followed Marion's instructions to the letter. He was about to call out again when he heard a soft moan coming from Emily's bedroom.

The door was ajar. He pushed it open. The sight that met his eyes was astonishing.

Em was lying in bed, naked and uncovered. The movie, their movie, the one that had caused all the fuss, was playing on her TV. The sound was turned down low but he could hear their voices, thick with lust. He could see the purity of their love in the way they looked at each other, in their kisses and caresses. It was a heady combination.

‘Em?' He stood in the doorway, unsure of his next move.

She looked over her shoulder. Her face was flushed and her grey eyes were as misty as a seaside morning. Damp blonde curls framed her face.

Her beauty left him speechless. He ventured into the room. Now he could see that she was toying with her nipples while her right hand stroked her pussy.

‘Help me?' Emily's voice was so sweet he could almost taste it. She turned her attention back to the TV.

Luke stripped. He crawled onto the bed until he was pressed up against her back. He reached around her hip to place his right hand over hers.

In unison their two hands teased and pleased her sopping wet pussy. At his touch, she'd begun to shudder. It wasn't going to take long.

Luke gently tucked the damp curls on her cheek behind her ear. He licked the sweat from her face and neck. When he spoke on the screen, he whispered the same words in her ear. ‘Em … I love you, Em …'

Emily trembled from head to toe. She joined him in repeating the words she said on tape. ‘Mm. I love you too, I do. I love this, too.'

His hard-on rubbed her spine. He slid lower to take her from behind. ‘… so wet, Em. So wet and hot …'

Luke slid smoothly inside her warm, welcoming pussy, the sheath to a sword that was back from away. He fucked her in long, slow strokes while covering her hand with his, applying extra pressure to her fingers on her clit.

She moaned, still shaking from head to toe.

He licked her cheek. Tears mingled with sweat. His eyes blurred with tears, too. ‘… come so bad …'

For a moment Emily seemed to freeze. The trembling ceased as she stilled, a warm ivory statue wet with rain.

‘Go for it,' whispered Luke. ‘It's yours, baby. Take it.'

She let out a strangled shriek and then another, not so strangled.

Luke pressed his palm against hers, mashing her clit as he fucked her through the grasping spasms of her orgasm and on into the grand release of his.

The short film was over. But Luke was still shuddering, spurting weakly inside her, when she groped for the remote and powered off the TV.

Finally, both were still.

He slipped free of her.

‘I watched them all,' she said. ‘They're love tapes.'

‘Yeah!' A part of him swelled with pride. She'd finally seen what he'd been sure he'd captured. ‘But we can get rid of them. I can –'

‘No. I … I like them. I want to make more.'

She rolled over, wrapped her arms around him and burst into tears. ‘Never leave me again,' she said. A small, balled fist whacked his shoulder for emphasis.

‘I won't,' he said. Tears slid down his face and he made no attempt to hide them. Nor did he choose to remind her who had left who. It didn't matter.

Nothing mattered. Emily was his again.

Not only that, but she wanted to make more tapes. His cock twitched at the thought. Add to that the fact that he'd finished his third year of film school and his world was complete.

What could possibly go wrong?

The Film Department was in a frenzy. Students wandered the halls as if lost and one girl had thrown up her hands in dismay before bursting into tears. She stood, sobbing, among scattered papers, text books and discs.

Emily stood at the front entrance to the building, panting. She'd just run from Business, almost across the entire campus, with her knapsack bouncing on her back. The halls should be close to empty, but it looked like practically no one had gone to class. She spotted Marion, her face white beneath her unruly mop of crimson hair.

‘What?' said Emily.

‘They just informed us that tuition is going up forty per cent.'

Emily's shoulders slumped. Her knapsack thumped on the floor.

‘You've got to be –' She'd been about to say ‘kidding' but it was obvious from the scene before her eyes that this was no joke. ‘The whole University?'

‘Nope. Just Film. How do you like that?'

‘Can they do that? Is it even legal?'

‘The University's been threatening it for years. You know that. Cost of this, cost of that … and now it's done. Starts in September. I'm screwed. We're all screwed. Except for you, I guess.'

‘What makes you say that?'

‘Don't you have some fat trust fund you can dip into any time you like?'

‘Yeah, I only schlep plates three nights a week for the fun of it. I'm studying for a part because when I graduate I really want to play a waitress.'

Marion shrugged.

Emily spotted Luke and dragged her knapsack across the floor until she reached him. Like the others, he was stuck in freeze frame.

She gave his arm a shake. ‘Snap out of it, Luke. C'mon.'

Luke followed her like a robot, down the hall and out of the building. She stopped at the bus stop.

‘Do you have any money?' she asked.

‘Some. Where are we going?'

‘To see my stepmom,' Emily said.

‘What for?'

‘To try to talk her into letting me have access to my “fat trust fund”,' she replied grimly.

It was a short bus ride to Beverly Hills. Emily peppered Luke with instructions but she could tell most of it wasn't getting through to him. It was her own fault. She'd chosen to keep her life story to herself, easily deflecting his questions by asking her own questions about him. As a result, she knew plenty about his childhood in Brentwood, Vermont: mom, dad, two older sisters and a little brother, happy, middle class, everyone loved going to the movies on a Saturday night. All Luke knew about her was that she came from money, didn't remember her long-dead mother, did remember her much-loved late father and barely saw her stepmother.

Emily stopped talking. Luke stared forlornly out the window, as if seeing LA for the last time. It had been a mistake to bring him along, she saw that now. But it was too late.

She tugged at his arm. ‘Luke. Listen to me.'

‘That was fun last night, huh?' He gave her a wan smile.

Emily nodded. Ever since their magical make-up sex they'd experimented with shooting their lovemaking sessions. With a few mirrors, decent lighting and proper sound equipment, they'd made some seriously steamy little movies. It had taken surprisingly little time for her to get used to the idea that her naked body and Luke's, engaged in the most intimate acts possible between two people, with all the accompanying sucks and licks and moans and orgasmic howls, was being recorded.

‘You're a good film-maker, Luke,' she said.

‘Nah. It's you, Em. You're as pretty as a porn star.'

Emily blushed, oddly pleased by a comment that would've made her mad as hell a month ago. She jumped up. ‘Come on. This is our stop.'

It was a long walk from the stop to her house. She tried, again, to get a couple of facts hammered into his head, but he'd gone from glum to dazed.

‘Bobby mustn't know about the film-making course, Luke. Got that?'

‘Fuck me. Look at that place. It's a palace!'

‘Luke!'

‘Right. Bobby mustn't know – hey, why do you call her Bobby, anyway?'

‘I had a deviated septum when I was little. I couldn't say “Mommy”, I said “Bobby”. The nickname stuck even after I had surgery when I was twelve.'

‘So that's why you have a perfect schnoz.' Luke ran his finger down her admittedly perfect nose.

‘Yeah but it wasn't, like, a nose job, I mean it wasn't cosmetic, it was – look, it's not important, Luke. What's important is that you remember not to let on that I'm studying Film as well as Business. OK?'

He shrugged. ‘Sure.' He gazed around. ‘Jeez, can you imagine shooting in this place? Look at the ultra-cool shadows those palm trees cast on that stone path – what kind of stone sparkles like that? So where's home sweet home?'

Inwardly, Emily groaned. ‘This is it,' she said.

‘Holy shit.'

‘Oh and try not to swear. Please, Lukey? Please.'

‘Holy cow.'

It was an impressive house on a block of impressive houses. An unexpected surge of pride made Emily straighten her back and raise her chin. This was where she'd grown up.

The sloping roof of the bungalow was red; her dad had been one of the very first residents to install solar panels. It was a bit of a climb up the stone walkway and each level offered bright bursts of colourful flowers among overgrown shiny green bushes. The double doors were flanked by huge bay windows. Above the doors, a smaller lead glass window completed the voluptuous, yet cosy, façade of the manse.

Emily pointed to the little window. ‘My room.'

‘Fuuuuck,' whispered Luke.

Her heart sank.

They hadn't taken three steps into the foyer before a slender, tanned woman in figure-hugging Capris and a peasant blouse emerged from the kitchen.

‘Who's there?'

Emily dropped her knapsack and opened her arms. ‘Bobby!'

‘My God, girl, you gave me a scare.' Even after over a decade in the States, her voice was still flavoured by a delicious hint of her original Brazilian accent.

Bobby enveloped Emily in a long, hard hug.

‘Mm. You smell good,' said Emily. ‘I miss you.' She loved the feel of Bobby's skinny arms around her but at the same time, being breast to breast, her stepmom braless as always, felt a bit awkward. That, in turn, made her feel guilty. Moms are supposed to be sexless in their children's eyes. Shouldn't it be the same for stepmoms? Somehow, for Emily, with Bobby, it wasn't, but then Bobby hadn't come along until Emily was ten. Did that make a difference? It didn't help that Bobby was all touchy-feely; if you were within reach, she had a hand on you. The house boasted a state-of-the-art sauna, but Emily had never used it, just in case Bobby decided to join her. She wriggled free of her stepmother's arms.

‘You didn't tell me you were coming,' Bobby accused. ‘I would have ordered some food. Students are always hungry, yes?' She squinted her warm caramel eyes at Luke.

He nodded helplessly.

‘Sorry. It was kind of an impulse thing,' said Emily.

‘Good impulse. Have it more often, please.' She turned her full attention to Luke, crossing her arms under her voluptuous breasts. ‘And who's the handsome boy?'

‘A friend. You always say you want to meet my friends.'

Bobby lifted a thin eyebrow. ‘Friend or
friend
?'

‘Don't embarrass him,' Emily scolded.

‘Don't worry. I'm no prude. I know how it is these days with college kids. Friends with benefits, huh?'

‘Real life isn't like TV,' Emily defended. ‘We're much more than friends.'

‘But you are not engaged?' She grabbed Emily's left hand and, seeing no ring, let it go. ‘Never mind. Your father and I, we were not engaged.' She focused on Luke again. ‘For us it was love at first sight. He was in my country, looking for tin. You know – minering.'

‘Mining,' corrected Emily.

‘And me – I was young. I was looking only for fun. But we met and – poof! A month later we were married.' She touched her fingertips to the inside rims of her eyes. Her left ring finger sported a brilliant diamond set in yellow gold. ‘Daniel gave me this,' she said, flashing her ring at Luke.

‘Awesome,' he managed to squeak.

Emily tried not to cringe. She refused to be embarrassed by the man she loved.

‘He say if I come to America we can live anywhere I want. “Oh I want to live in Hollywood,” I say. It is the only place I know about, in America. From the movies. Can you imagine?'

Luke nodded. ‘I love LA,' he said.

Emily interrupted. ‘Bobby –' she began.

‘I know, we must not dwell.' She blinked rapidly, her lashes, thick and long as little brushes, drying her eyes. ‘We were very happy family, no?'

‘Yes,' said Emily. ‘We … we still are.'

Bobby flashed a brilliant grin. ‘True. Now, your young man will please remove his rucksack and I will tell him, “My name is not really Bobby but you may call me Bobby anyway,” and I will call you –?'

‘Luke.' He dumped his knapsack and extended his hand.

Bobby took it and pulled him into an embrace. ‘Luke! I like this name. May the farce be with you, no?'

‘I guess …' He nodded against her neck, his furiously blushing face mostly hidden by her thick black curtain of hair. He shot Emily a helpless glance.

Emily had to laugh. ‘Come on, let's go sit by the pool,' she said, tugging Luke free.

Bobby dismissed the idea with a wave of her hand. ‘I have closed the pool. If I go out for a dip or a little topless tanning the neighbours flee into their houses. Americans – so
up
tight. We go sit in the kitchen, OK?' She turned and walked away, hips swinging. ‘You want coffee, you have to make it. I don't know how to drive the machine.'

‘Mary's day off?' Emily asked.

‘Mary? She's not with me any more. I manage for myself, for now.'

‘What happened to your little job at the spa?' asked Emily. Mary had been a fixture in the house since before she could remember. The only reason Bobby would possibly have let her go would be lack of money. ‘Are we OK?'

‘So many questions.' Bobby frowned. ‘I admit it will be good when you finish business school so you can help me understand what is what is what with these mining stocks and companies and corporations and etcetera.'