Throb (18 page)

“Is it the cameras?” he whispers in my ear.

I have no idea how to answer, so I tell him the truth. Well, mostly the truth. It was difficult for me to forget the cameras even before I met Cooper. “Maybe a little.”

A member of the
Throb
crew comes out from nowhere. “Sorry to interrupt, guys. But can you speak a little louder? We can’t pick up your voices out here too easily.”

Flynn sighs loudly. “Yeah. No problem.” He smiles and leans his forehead to mine, intentionally whispering to avoid the mics. “I get it. I like that you’re more comfortable when we’re alone. Real life won’t have cameras.” He kisses my cheek and his sweet smile turns flirty again. “Well, unless you want cameras. I’d be into that too if it’s just for our eyes.”

“Coop. You got a minute?” Miles pops his head into my office.

Not really.
“Sure. What’s up Miles?”

“The ratings on
Throb
are climbing every week. Most reality TV shows drop as they go. We’re heading in the other direction.” He beams, but I stiffen, waiting for the other shoe to drop. He’s not here to only share good news.

“That’s great.”
I wish the damn show would end already.

“The final four are going to be picked tomorrow night. I can’t wait to film the overnight dates.”

“What do you need, Miles?” Exasperation and anger shine through loud and clear.

“We rented a wing of the Four Seasons in Barbados to shoot the overnight date shows in. But it’s expensive. Between putting up the crew and closing off a section of the hotel to shoot for two weeks, it will eat away at a lot of cash. Cash that can be better used for more advertising.”

“So you want another loan?”

“No. I was hoping to use the house in Barbados to shoot.”

“
My
house?”
Yeah. I’d like nothing better than to have Kate fuck Dickhead in my bedroom. Awesome idea.
“I don’t think so, Miles.” The house was our father’s; I bought Miles out when we settled the estate. “Do you want to shoot them
fucking
in our father’s room?”

Miles shoves his hands in his pocket nervously. At least he has the decency to look embarrassed for asking. “What about if the crew stayed in the main house? And the contestant stayed in the guesthouse. Alone. We can keep the honeymoon suite at the Four Seasons and shoot there, but at least it would save me a fortune putting everyone up.” He pauses for a moment. “Dad used to give the keys to the crew sometimes after they worked hard on a film, as a bonus. I don’t think he’d mind the crew staying there.”

“I don’t know, Miles, let me think about it.”
How the hell did I get so involved in his crap?

“That’s great.” He perks up and smiles like I’ve just agreed to something.

“Don’t look so happy, I didn’t say yes yet.”

“No, but you will.”

“I have a meeting.”

“Thanks, Coop. I have to cancel the hotel by tomorrow … if you could let me know by then.” Miles walks toward the door and looks back. “Oh. I almost forgot.” He reaches inside his suit jacket pocket and pulls out a DVD. “Today’s daily. The last one-on-one date. Women are going to eat this shit up. He actually sings to his date under the moonlight in the back of a catamaran.”

“Who was his date?”

“Kate.”

The contents of the large envelope I finally tore open are scattered all over my desk. I’d hired Damian Fry to dig up dirt on Kate right after she told me she was doing the show because she needed the prize money. The envelope arrived the morning after we’d spent the night together. But by then, I’d flip-flopped back and forth a million times between needing to know and feeling like I was invading her privacy reading through what she was obviously not ready to tell me. Forcing myself to ignore the report, I’d shoved it into the back of my drawer, unopened. Until an hour ago.

The visual Miles left me of Kate and Dickhead under the moonlight this morning has left me unable to focus. Again. Everyone has some skeletons in their closet—I needed to harden my heart by learning Kate’s. I thought whatever was inside the envelope might help me.

I stare at the mess of papers—the dirt Damian Fry dug up on Kate. Well, not really on Kate—she’s squeaky clean. Which is actually pretty amazing considering the man she was raised by. It’s her father who got her into the mess she’s in today. Leaving her sick mother with enough debt to drown her. And her brother. Damn it. I’ll never be able to think straight in a day full of jam-packed meetings.

Sitting around the boardroom table, I vaguely hear the voices of each department head drone on with their project updates. My mind is somewhere else. A vision of Kate beneath me fills my head, her smiling up at me, eyes shining with emotion. But then just as quickly as it came, the vision is gone, replaced by
him
singing to her. She looks up at him with the same emotion in her eyes.

I thought not seeing it on the screen would save me from another day of picturing her in his arms. Damn, was I wrong. My brain has gotten more creative, deciding to play a scene for me to watch, even though it has no idea what really is on the video.

I make no effort to participate in the meeting. It’s a waste of my time and that of a dozen other high-priced people on my payroll. “Thank you for coming. See you next week,” I mutter, standing abruptly, and walk out of the room, leaving faces full of confusion in my wake.

Irritated with myself for my lack of focus, I decide to feed my obsession, even though I know it’s a bad idea. I walk into my office and head straight for my laptop. Helen follows me in, looking concerned. “Is everything okay? It’s only eleven and your meeting usually goes until at least one.”

“It’s fine. I cut it early. I have some pressing things I need to take care of today.”
Yeah, like stalking.

I open the jewel case and slip in the DVD just as Helen begins to walk back to her desk. “Do you have Miles’s show schedule for today?”

“Yes.”

“Can you tell me when they’re shooting?”

“Sure.” She heads to her computer and comes back a minute later with a printout. “He’s shooting a commercial up at the rental house.” She looks at her watch. “It’s scheduled to start right about now.”

My jacket is on before she finishes the sentence. “Reschedule my afternoon meetings.”

“Really?” The surprise in her voice matches her face. I don’t go off schedule.

“Push them until tomorrow. I may not be back this afternoon,” I yell back over my shoulder, already halfway out the door.

My foot leans on the accelerator harder as my anxiety builds. The needle on the speedometer ratchets up to eighty, although I don’t even notice. My hands grip the wheel tightly as I weave in and out of traffic.

Her beat-up blue Jeep is parked in the circular driveway, jammed in with twenty other cars. I catch my reflection in the window—jaw tight, eyes set with determination, mouth in a taut line. The same way I look when a deal I’ve been salivating over for months is about to go south. I take a deep cleansing breath before walking inside.

“How’s it going today, Joel?” The director turns, surprised to see me again.

“Cooper. Twice in as many weeks. You must have a big investment in the show.”
You could say that. And it has nothing to do with the one-point-two I loaned my brother.

“What are you shooting now?”

“Some footage for commercials. We’re going one woman at a time. Still waiting for the first one to come out of makeup. This one’s a bit of a prima donna.”

“Which one?”

“Name’s Jessica.”

“What’s the scene?”

“A kiss. Rough life this Flynn has. Has to kiss five beautiful women today.”

“Where’s Miles?”

“Last I saw him, he was giving one of the women a lecture on what her kiss should look like.”

I pass by the makeup and wardrobe room. Jessica’s in a chair, a team of frayed-looking assistants primping and priming as she berates them. I stop a stagehand walking down the hall. “Kate?”

“Bathroom, I think,” he says, pointing in the direction he just came from.

I knock gently on the door. Her voice hits me like a ton of bricks. “I’ll be out in a minute.”

I wait, eyes anxiously patrolling the empty halls. Finally the doorknob begins to turn and I see Kate before she sees me. I guide her back into the bathroom and close the door quickly, successfully avoiding being caught by anyone.

“Cooper!” Her eyes go wide. “What are you doing here?”

“I needed to see you.”

“Here? What’s the matter?”

“Why did you let me win?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Cards. Why did you let me win?”

“You know why.”

“No, tell me.” I move in closer.

“I wanted to be with you.”

“And now?”

“Now I’m here. You knew I had to come back.”

“Have you slept with him?”

“Did you seriously just come here and push me into a bathroom to ask me that?”

“Answer the question.”

“No.”

“Answer the damn question, Kate.” I grip her hip tightly.

“It’s none of your business.”

“It is.” My other hand combs through her hair and I wrap the back length around my fingers.

“We agreed to one night.”

“I lied.”

“But—”

I interrupt her. “I’m going out of my mind. Just tell me. Did you sleep with him? Answer the question.” I sound desperate and I hate myself for sounding that way. “I need to know, Kate.”

We hold each other in an intense stare-off before she finally responds. “No, I didn’t.”

I let go of any hesitation I’m restraining and my mouth crashes down on hers fiercely. It takes less than a heartbeat for her to join me. We claw at each other, desperation and longing mixing together into a combustible spark that leads into a slow burning to be inside of her. Now.

We tear at each other’s clothes. It’s a testament to our need that we can’t even wait until we’re both fully unclothed. I grab her ass and lift her to the sink. It’s the perfect height. Her hands clench my ass, and before I even realize what’s happening I’m poised at her opening.

“Fuck.” My body trembles as I pause. “You want this?” I push the desire that’s fueling me aside, needing to hear I’m not forcing her into something she doesn’t want to do.

She responds by lifting her legs from the floor and wrapping them around my waist. “God, yes. I’ve missed you.” Her voice is raw and needy and it’s all I need to hear.

I sink inside of her with one thrust of my hips, burying myself as deep as I can. The feeling overwhelms me. It’s raw and carnal and I can’t even try to fight the urge to fill her body like an animal claiming his mate.

I fuck her hard. Starved for the feel of her perfect body taking every inch of me inside of her. It’s a ferocious race to make her scream my name.
My
name. One hand wraps around both her wrists holding them behind her back, subduing her as I pound into her without mercy. She trembles as she climbs higher and higher, until I feel what’s left of her resolve flee from her body, finally surrendering to me completely.

“I’ve been going crazy thinking of you here.” My lips worship her neck. Sucking and kissing and biting along the pulsating heartbeat running from her ear to her collarbone. “I can’t think of anything else but you,” I rasp. Both of our breaths are ragged, fast, erratic.

A juddering moan falls from her lips. “I’m … I’m …”

“That’s it, beautiful.” My hips slam into her harder and harder until I feel her body tighten and then go limp. Her eyes roll into the back of her head and shut as her pussy convulses around the length of me. It takes everything I have to hold back my own orgasm. But I do, until her gaze finds mine again, then I look deep into those sated blues and come inside of her. Erupting long and hard and deep.

My reflection stares back at me, looking like what I am—thoroughly fucked. Lips swollen, hair disheveled, face completely flushed, I respond to the third knock on the bathroom door. “I’ll be out in a minute.”

The production assistant sighs from the other side of the door. He probably thinks I’m busy dolling myself up before I go on camera. Although for all I know, the whole place may know what I was doing in here fifteen minutes ago. I try hard to remember if we were loud, but all I can seem to recall is the incredible feeling of having Cooper inside my body once again. Everything else faded into the oblivion.