Sweetest Sin: Bad Boy Bundle (82 page)

“Yeah, I'll be there tomorrow at eight. Bye Craig,” I cut him off mid sentence and hung up. I didn't have time for any more crap, especially if I was going to have to get up early in the morning. I needed sleep and plenty of it.

I went upstairs and lingered for a moment outside of Savannah's room. I couldn't hear a sound, but there was light streaming out from under the door. She was awake. Maybe I should confront her about the ring.

“Goodnight, Dane,” she called through the door, taking me off guard. Shit, I must have made a lot of noise coming up the stairs.

“Night Savannah,” I said.

We could talk in the morning.

Savannah

I spent the evening locking myself away in Dane's beautiful guest bedroom, even though I wanted more than anything to hang out with him. It was just too dangerous. I was already feeling vulnerable from being fired. He'd been so kind to me in the midst of all this drama as well. I knew that if I let my guard down I would fall in love. Well, that wasn't going to happen. I couldn't let it happen. I didn't want to be just another Dane Reynolds groupie.

Instead, I called my mom and reassured her that I was all right. She had a million questions and I
had to lie in response to most of them. Yes I knew Dane Reynolds, but no we weren't romantically linked. I was helping him design his own menswear collection which was why we were spending so much time together. It was also the reason why I wasn't working for the agency anymore. Yes, I was being paid plenty and this might just be my big break. Yes, I was taking vitamins. I said goodbye and hung up, feeling worn out from the conversation as well as the jet lag. I was such a fantastic liar, it was a shame that I couldn't make a career of it. I got undressed and slept for a while. I woke up to the sound of footsteps outside the bedroom. It was Dane of course, hoping that I'd invite him inside. I told him goodnight before I had time to allow myself to give into temptation. Sleeping alone wasn't nice, but it was better than getting my heart broken. I put all the worries I had out of my head as best I could and allowed myself to sleep properly this time, through the night and without further interruption. It turned out that was exactly what I needed.

When I woke up there was light streaming through the window and the sun was already risen. It felt so nice to wake up in a comfortable bed with a beautiful view. My work responsibilities were gone and now, for the first time in a while, I felt hopeful. Maybe this would be the fresh start I needed.

There was a knock on my bedroom door. Three guesses who that was. I wrapped the bed sheet around myself, got up and opened the door.

Dane was standing there, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt that showed off his muscle definition. It took all I had not to reach out and feel that hard abdomen and those big, tattooed biceps. He smirked at me.

“Are you naked under there?” he said, and I felt myself flushing.

“I didn't bring pajamas, so yeah. Are you gonna be annoying about it?” I said. Dane shook his head but he couldn't keep the grin off of his face.

“No. I guess you didn't have time to pack anything, did you?” he said, then his eyes fell to my left hand, “Except that.”

“Huh?” I lifted up my hand and saw what he was talking about. My emerald ring. “Oh this? I wear
this all the time.”

The smile disappeared.

“Who gave it to you?” he asked, and he couldn't help adding, “I didn't know you were engaged to someone.”

“My grandma gave it to me. It was her engagement ring. I wear it on my left hand because I wear a Cladagh ring on the right,” I said, showing him, “It's no big deal. I know the rule is that the left is for when you're married, but it's my body and I'll do what I want.”

“Something tells me you'll always do what you want,” said Dane, but he seemed happy again now. I wasn't sure if that was an insult or a compliment, but I decided to take what I could get.

“Anyway, what do you want? It's still early. I thought movie stars slept in all day,” I said. Dane shook his head.

“Not this movie star. I've got to re shoot some scenes today for this shitty indie movie. Just figured I'd let you know that I'm leaving in thirty minutes. You can take what you want from the fridge and use the TV, or whatever. I thought you should know in case you figured I got murdered or something.”

“Oh, OK,” I said. The two of us just stood there, awkwardly looking each other up and down, until Dane spoke again.

“Or you can come with me.”

Well, how was I supposed to say no to that?

Dane

Inviting Savannah to set was what Craig would call a 'fucking terrible idea'. I knew it, she knew it, we both knew it. She wouldn't fit in. Yet, I wanted her to be there anyway and see that I didn't spend all my time posing for magazines and fucking actresses. That was just some of the work.

The first problem arose before we even left the house. Savannah had nothing to wear. The only clothing she had was the outfit she'd worn on the airoplane.

“So, wear it again?” I said. This was not what she wanted to hear from me.

“Wear it again? Wear it again? Dane, I'm not wearing a two day old outfit to a movie set!” she insisted. I reminded her that it was an indie movie and the director was some film school punk who probably didn't even change his underwear. Savannah didn't care. She needed something else. “Fine, I'll let you look through my closet,” I said. She didn't look very hopeful, but it was better than nothing. Besides, it wasn't like she didn't have a lot to choose from. I was a jeans and t-shirt kind of guy at heart but that didn't do in Hollywood. I got sent all of these suits to wear on the red carpet and designer shirts that probably cost more than Savannah's rent. I needed a large walk in closet just to store all of that crap. I barely even looked in it most of the time.

When I opened the door to let Savannah in her eyes nearly popped out of her head.

“Your closet is so big!” she exclaimed, “I wish I had one like this. And stuff to fill it with!” I shrugged.

“Makes it hard to find stuff sometimes. Anyway, if you can find anything that will fit you you can take it, I don't care,” I said, but she was already off in her own little world. She stroked my suit jackets and gave a soft moan and the feel of the material. She admired my shoes and told me that they were Italian, which was news to me. Then she found a crisp white shirt and held it up.

“This is perfect,” she said, though it was about four sizes too big for her, “I'll wear this.”

I opened my mouth to ask how the fuck she expected it to fit her small frame, but I quickly closed it again. Just as if I wasn't there, Savannah let the sheets drop so that she was standing naked in front of me. Though I'd seen it all before I couldn't help but admire the soft contours of her body, the full breasts, tiny waist and curvy hips that I just wanted to grab. I watched, speechless as she put on my white shirt and buttoned it up over her naked body. It looked amazing on her pale skin and draped her frame like a dress. She gave it a little bit of shape using her own belt and let down her hair. “How do I look?” she asked cheerily, admiring herself in the mirror.

“You look great,” I said. She looked beautiful. Radiant, even. I wanted to kiss her so badly, but I didn't feel like being rebuffed right now.

“Thanks,” she smiled, “So, will we go?”

“Sure.”

Savannah

Dane's driver brought us to a studio just on the outskirts of time. There was a booth that we had to go through to be allowed inside. The limo slowed and Dane rolled down the window.

“ID please,” said the man in the booth. He was looking down at something but suddenly, his eyes met Dane's and I could see the look of sheer panic spread across his features, “Oh, Mr Reynolds! I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there!”

“That's no problem,” said Dane, with his sparkling white movie star smile. It was funny to see how people lapped that shit up.

“Please, go right ahead and I hope you both have a great day,” said the booth operator, giving me a glance. I wondered if he recognized me from those paparazzi photos or not. It was strange that people knew my name now and cared who I was sleeping with. I was still boring old Savannah and yet being associated with this star had driven me to infamy. It all felt like a strange dream that I wasn't sure I wanted to wake up from.

Dane rolled the window back up and we felt the limo move forward once again. He glanced at me. “You nervous?” he said with a smile, “You shouldn't be nervous.”

“I'm not nervous,” I said, but my voice was shaking. So maybe I was a little on edge, but I'd never been in this kind of environment before. I imagined that everyone would be talented and beautiful and I'd just be sitting there, watching them all. As out of place as I usually was. It was a scary thought.

Dane saw right through me, of course.

“Hey, seriously, there's no reason to be nervous,” he said, uncharacteristically gently. Hah, of course there was no reason to be nervous. Not if you were Dane Reynolds, the star of the show. The production would be ruined if he pulled out, so of course they were going to go out of their way to
be kind and accommodating to him. Me on the other hand? I would be a nuisance at best, taking up space where I wasn't wanted. Even so, I knew that turning the opportunity down would be a mistake. How often did most normal people get to visit movie sets during filming? Not many.

The driver parked and helped me out of the limo. Dane got out on the other side and grinned at me. “Now, you wanna see a movie star's trailer? How does that sound?” he asked. I shrugged but I felt myself smiling at him.

“Sure, if there are any movie stars around here,” I said. He laughed at me and led me to the trailers, which were parked at the back of the studio. Each one had a star on the door with a name written on it. I tried not to panic when I read 'Chrissy Jones' on the one next to Dane's.

“I thought you said this movie was low budget,” I said. Dane pulled out some keys from his pocket and opened the trailer door. He glanced back at me.

“It is. Kind of, but the director's Dad is a big exec so he's pumping this picture with as much money as he can without making it look too expensive. It's like buying a pair of ripped jeans for a hundred dollars. He wants the movie to seem really low budget in a good way but not so low budget that people don't want to see it,” he grinned, “That's why I'm in it.”

“And Chrissy Jones?” I asked. Chrissy Jones was possibly the hottest actress in Hollywood at the moment. She was the same age as me but in her short life she'd been on the cover of Vogue six times, nominated for about a million acting awards and she'd released two albums. At design school I'd always designed with her aesthetic in mind. I hoped that some day she might wear one of my gowns on the red carpet. A girl could dream.

“Yeah, Chrissy is cool. I think she's back today too. Now come on in,” he beckoned me inside. The trailer was the size of a small apartment. There was a kitchen area complete with breakfast bar and soft brown leather sofas. On the other side was a double bed with a large mirror placed behind it.

“Did you ask for that?” I asked, raising one eyebrow at the mirror. Dane grinned sheepishly. “No, but it has its uses.”

“Well don't expect to use it with me,” I said. I sat down on the sofa and looked up at Dane, “So,
when does filming start?”

“Not for another hour or two. I've gotta reread the script and see what scene we're redoing,” he said. A copy of the script had been left on the bed, a certain page highlighted in red. Dane looked at it and rolled his eyes, “Oh for fuck's sake.”

“What? Is there something wrong?”

“No, just that Mark's making us redo one of the sex scenes. I would have gone to the gym yesterday if I'd known. I'm starting to get all soft, see?” he lifted up his shirt to reveal his perfectly chiseled six back, complete with a defined v cut by his hips. Most guys would kill to be in that kind of shape. Most girls would kill to fuck a guy with a body like that. If that was soft for Dane I wondered how he looked when he was at peak fitness.

“Yeah, you're practically obese,” I said, my eyes fixed on his body until he pulled his shirt back down, “What's so bad about sex scenes? I thought that would be your kind of thing?”

I tried to sound casual but my heart was beating fast. I'd seen plenty of Dane's sex scenes and enjoyed them all immensely, but that was different. The thought of him rolling around naked with another woman in front of me was upsetting. That was my own fault, of course. I was getting too attached.

Before Dane could answer me there was a knock on the trailer door. Since I was closest, I stood up and answered it. A baby faced redhead guy dressed in a baseball jacket and jeans gave a double take when he saw me. He had a copy of the script in his hands.

“Hi,” he said breathlessly, “I'm Mark Dixon, the director.”

He put out his hand for me to shake. I took it, though I found it strange. He hadn't mistaken me for an actress, had he?

“I haven't seen you around here before,” he said.

“I'm Savannah, Dane's friend,” I said, just as Dane appeared behind me with the scrip. I saw the blood drain from Mark's face as soon as he spotted his star.

“Oh, hi Dane. Thanks so much for coming along at short notice. It means a lot,” he said, but Dane
wasn't having it.

“What do you want?” he snapped. Mark nodded, as if he understood Dane's frustrations. “Chrissy just arrived and she'd love to run lines with you for a little bit. I think it would be a good idea. I just want you to have the same chemistry you had before,” he said.