For the Night: Complete Box Set (36 page)

‘It’s not as if I’m about to announce the fact, if
a journalist stops me and asks what I do,’ he replied coldly. I
had
hurt
him.

‘But what if someone recognises you? If someone
sells your story to the newspapers? Do you have any idea what that would do for
my career?’ I replied.

‘As much damage as it would do to mine. Women pay
me handsomely because of my ability to be discreet, Miss Beresford. Anonymity
is key. It’s one of my conditions for booking.’

‘So was “no contact after the event, unless it is
for a new booking,” and you’ve broken that rule tonight,’ I reminded him.

‘You have a photographic memory?’ he asked.

‘No, but as an actress I have to remember my lines
and given I never heard back from you, I read over your contract a few times,
to see if there was a one booking only clause.’

‘I told you I never got your email, so assume that
this is that booking you requested.’

‘I haven’t paid you and I couldn’t afford to pay
you now, I spent the money on living expenses for the last ten months and
helping out my parents.’

‘I don’t want paying,’ he sighed. ‘I told you that
this isn’t a “job,” I’m here for you.’

‘It still doesn’t solve my problem though, does
it?’ I retorted, feeling frustrated. Right now I didn’t care how many women
he’d fucked in the time since I’d last seen him, I just wanted his lips on
mine, kissing me into a stupor, the way he’d kissed me before. The way I’d
dreamt of every night. I blinked back some tears.
What was wrong with me?
Thousands of available men in London and I had to fall for a man who fucked
women for money. He frowned as he looked at me, his brow creasing in that sexy
way I’d remembered. I doubted there was anything he could do that wouldn’t be
sexy. God seeing him in jeans and a shirt had been bad enough, but all James
Bond in a tuxedo?

‘Then I’m not your “date,” I’m simply a friend and
if someone tries to go to the tabloids to expose me, they’ll be handled.’

‘Handled?’

‘I have connections in very high places, Summer.
Trust me, a story would be squashed before it got to print. Besides, none of my
clients can afford to expose themselves as having booked me. Just as you’re
worried about your reputation, so are they.’

‘Are you sure?’ I asked, my reservations wavering
with every second he sat looking at me. Looking like
that
. The thought
of him walking away, had me in a downward spiralling vortex. I craved his
touch, to feel his lips on mine again, even if it was just the once.

‘I’m sure,’ he nodded. I swallowed, which wasn’t
easy given my mouth was so dry from nerves. ‘Why do you still look as if you
want to stop the car and run?’

‘Because being so close to you is unsettling,’ I
replied honestly. All I could think about was blowing off the premiere and
letting him make love to me again. I wanted to know if my memories of that one
night with him were as good as I thought, or if I’d over romanticised the whole
thing.

‘Because you find me attractive?’ he asked, as a
slight smile played on his lips.

‘Is there a woman that doesn’t?’

‘Well I’ve yet to meet her,’ he chuckled with a
cocky grin, that instead of pissing me off, only made him even more appealing.
‘But I don’t care about anyone else. Do
you
find me attractive, Summer?
Do you want me, the way I’ve wanted you for the last ten months?’

‘Yes,’ I breathed and watched him nod his
approval.

‘So no one since me has compared?’

‘You can’t ask me questions like that,’ I
protested, as I felt my cheeks heating up.

‘Why not?’

‘You just can’t, that’s very personal.’

‘It’s personal to me, I highly doubt anyone has
pleased you more than I did that night, but on the off chance they did, I need
to know how I stop
sucking
in any particular area.’ He was teasing me,
the way he said “sucking” had me shiver. He knew there’d been no one else, he
had to know.

‘I think you know that I had no problem with your
“sucking” when I last saw you. You’re teasing me.’

‘No, but I’d like to,’ he grinned, before looking
at me seriously again. ‘I’m serious, Summer. I want to know if you’ve had sex
with someone who made you feel better than me?’

‘No, ok? Happy now?’ I retorted, looking at him
annoyed.

‘Not yet. So how many men have there been?’

‘How many women have there been?’ I shot back.

‘This isn’t about me,’ he replied quickly.

‘Then why should it be about me? Why should I
answer questions that you’re not prepared to?’

‘Very well, if we leave my job out of it, because
that’s all it is, a job, just like your acting, there’s been no other women.
I’ve not slept with anyone in my personal life.’

‘That’s not an answer, job or not. You want to
hear me say a low number to make yourself feel better, yet I’m expected to
accept that you’ve probably slept with more than forty women since our night
together, and I’m being conservative.’

‘With no emotional attachment, there’s a
difference.’

‘Your
rule
is no emotional attachment,
you’re obviously well practiced at switching off your feelings,’ I reminded
him.

‘Yet here I am, without payment.’

‘Yes, here you are. You turn up out of the blue,
hijack my evening, ask me inappropriate questions and you seem unwilling to
explain to me exactly what you want from me. You’re a very infuriating man,
Logan Steele,’ I uttered.

‘I told you why I’m here, I came for you. I want
you, Summer. Tell me you haven’t thought about my lips on yours? Kissing you,
making you groan my name again? Sucking on your nipples, teasing that big clit of
yours with my tongue, before I sink my cock into you and make you sob with
pleasure?’

‘Stop,’ I moaned, just hearing him say things like
that made me want to scramble over to him and kiss him. Could he really be
serious? He wanted me,
really
wanted me? What did that mean? A one off
thing, or a relationship? I jolted in surprise as he suddenly swung himself
around and sat next to me, his hip touching mine and I had to remember to
breathe. ‘My dress, it’s expensive,’ I warned, as I gently tucked it out of the
way.

‘I know, I bought it for you.’

‘Logan,’ I sighed as I looked at him. Just how
much had he spent on me? ‘I have nothing to give you in return.’

‘Yes, you do. Say you’ll let me accompany you
tonight, to spend the night with you again. If it goes well, we talk about what
that means tomorrow.’

‘I just … Logan I …’ I closed my eyes as my head
and my heart argued. I wanted to believe he was sincere, he’d gone to so much
trouble, spent so much money, but what could he possibly see in an ordinary
girl like me? I gasped as I felt his hands clasping my face and opened my eyes
to see his perfectly clear grey ones staring intently into mine.

‘Do you have your lip gloss on you?’ he asked
randomly, in a seriously deep sexy tone.

‘Yes, why?’ I asked, perplexed. He was too male to
want to wear makeup, surely?

‘Because you’ll need to reapply it, as I’m about
to convince you that you want me by your side,’ he stated, his chest rising and
falling as rapidly as mine was, to have him so close to me, touching me. Just
to have that connection made me forget all about his other women, all that
mattered was him here, in this moment, with me. ‘And I think feeling my tongue
in your mouth again, might just do that.’

‘I would need
a lot
of convincing,’ I
whispered as my voice shook. He chuckled and moved closer, so close you’d
barely be able to slide a piece of paper between our lips. I could feel the
heat of his breath, smell his seriously sensational combination of swoon worthy
aftershave and natural male muskiness. I cursed myself as I heard a loud high
pitched squeak of excitement escape my lips, but he ignored it as he finally
let his lips graze mine.

‘You still taste of strawberries and smell like
honey,’ he groaned, before kissing me more firmly. Ten months, ten whole months
I’d dreamed of kissing him again and I flopped against his firm chest as his
lips crushed mine, bruising them with the urgency of it. I realised that no
amount of dreaming could ever have prepared me for how my body was already
reacting to him. I ran one hand up his firm thigh to clutch his hip as the
other slipped into his jacket, my fingers curling around his slim waist. His
lips mashed harder against mine, making me moan. He took advantage and quickly
slid in his tongue and sensuously wrapped it around mine. Stars were exploding
behind my closed eyes. I was almost tempted to blow off this premiere and let
him just take me here. I’d tried masturbating since that night, when he’d shown
me how amazing orgasms could be, but nothing I did replicated that feeling of
having his fingers, his tongue or his lips touching me. I’d despaired of ever
feeling that alive again, yet here I was, right back in the moment with him.
I’d not let anyone touch me since, many had tried, but none of them made me
feel as safe as Logan did, none of them turned me on like he did, with just one
look. I gasped as his hands moved and I was suddenly hoisted up into his lap.

‘I feel like
The Princess and the Pea
, I
feel something very hard beneath me,’ I giggled, as he breathed deeply, just
gazing at me through half-closed lustful eyes.

‘Say yes and you’ll feel something very hard
inside you,’ he growled, making my skin prickle.

‘Now?’ I uttered.

‘Much as I’d love to, we’re in the queue to get
out on the red carpet.’

‘Shit,’ I gasped. ‘
Shit.
’

‘Take a deep breath. You can do this, I’ll be with
you every step of the way if you need me, but you definitely need more gloss,’
he smiled.

‘And you need less,’ I laughed, as I reached up
and swept my thumb across his lower lip, removing the evidence. He closed his
eyes and sighed.
Did he really feel as much as I did when he touched me?
I quickly opened my clutch, reapplied my gloss and checked my appearance in my
compact. I had a very rosy flush to my cheeks and my eyes were sparkling.
However complicated things were with this gorgeous man, I wasn’t sure I was
ready for him to walk away, I’d never looked more alive. I slid off his lap and
looked back up at him as the limo came to a halt. ‘Come with me now, I want you
there.’

‘You do?’ his face lit up with a smile so wide, he
looked like a kid on Christmas day.

‘If anyone asks, especially my parents, you’re
just a friend. And please tell me that you didn’t hijack Daron’s ride? If he
doesn’t make the premiere because of you, I’m going to have some explaining to
do.’

‘His driver was instructed to bring him directly
here, to forget about picking you up.’

‘Are you in the mafia or something?’ I asked as I
looked at him. I had no idea how he knew what he did, or got done what he did.
In fact I barely knew anything about him, other than the fact that he had some
animal magnetism that I was drawn to. I couldn’t stop looking at him and my
body instinctively cried out for him.

‘No, I told you that I had friends in high places.
It pays to have connections, Summer. Are you ready?’

‘As I’ll ever be,’ I nodded, as James opened the
door. Logan stepped out and I heard a wave of screams go up from the crowd, as
I watched his hands button up his jacket. He was better looking than any
leading star in Hollywood, no wonder the crowd were going wild. He’d better be
right about his anonymity, or he was about to screw up both of our careers. He
bent down, offered me his hand and helped me out onto my first ever red carpet.
I seriously hoped it wouldn’t be my last.

Summer

I was dazzled by the
flashlights going off and nearly deafened by the screams, from the hundreds of
people gathered along the railings. I froze, totally forgetting my instructions
of what to do next and looked up at Logan. He gave me a reassuring smile and
placed a hand in the small of my back and moved me forwards. I was in a daze as
I tried to smile at the crowds and felt lost when Logan suddenly stepped away
from me, as we approached the photographers area. I turned again and again, trying
to look as sexy as possible as I posed for photographs, while trying to gain
some composure. My mind was all over the place. I was a ball of nervous energy,
laced with serious sexual desire. My eyes kept drifting over to him standing on
the side lines, talking to people in the crowds and laughing. He was a natural,
I wouldn’t have a clue what to say to complete strangers. I wondered what my
shy working class parents would make of all of this fuss.

‘Summer, who’s your date?’ yelled one
photographer. I just blinked at him, as I opened and closed my mouth, unsure
what to say.

‘Just a friend, a very close friend,’ Logan called
back, as he appeared at my side. He dipped his head and kissed my temple, as I
closed my eyes and let out a breath. ‘You’re doing great, let’s keep moving,
people want your autograph. You’re going to be a star, Summer Beresford.’

‘You haven’t seen the film yet,’ I retorted, as I
looked up at him. He smiled down at me.

‘I don’t need to, I knew it the moment I saw your
photograph. Relax, enjoy it. It’s your night.’

He stayed by my side as I walked along the
railings and shook hands with people, mindful of the diamond ring on my finger,
which I seriously hoped
was
on loan, that he hadn’t purchased that and
the other jewels as well. I signed autographs in a daze.
Was this really
happening?
I was on a red carpet, the centre of attention, with Logan
Steele next to me. He laughed as people asked for his autograph too and
explained that he wasn’t in the film. I could see the looks in the women’s eyes,
he weaved some kind of magic over them, young and old alike, no one was immune
to his charms. We were moved along by one of the security team, toward the
gardens where TV crews were set up for interviews. I gulped, feeling guilty, as
I saw Daron in his tuxedo, his hands shoved in his trouser pockets, as he spoke
into the microphone being held in front of his face. He glanced up and a frown
crossed his face as he looked at me, a frown that turned to a glare as Logan
whispered something in my ear and put his arm around my waist. I’d spent more
hours in Daron’s company than Logan’s, pretending to kiss him, faking sex with
him, yet I felt more relaxed and at ease with Logan than I ever had with Daron.

‘You’re here at last,’ came Mandy’s voice. ‘I need
to check your makeup. Holy mother of Jesus,’ she gasped, as she stood in front
of me and looked up at Logan. ‘Who’s James Bond?’

‘Logan, pleased to meet you,’ he replied, as he
stretched out his hand to greet her.

‘Logan?’ She looked at me and raised her eyebrows
as she shook his hand. ‘
The
Logan?’

‘Shall we go and touch up my makeup,’ I declared,
as I grabbed her elbow and quickly steered her away.

‘
The
Logan?’ she repeated, as she looked
back over her shoulder at him and nearly tripped over her own tongue, which was
dragging on the floor.

‘Yes,’ I sighed.

‘Holy shit. H.O.T. With a capital …
everything.
That man has serious appeal.’

‘Tell me about it. What the hell am I doing?’ I
asked, as she shoved me into a chair under a white canopy next to a dressing
table.

‘Him I hope. If you’re not going to, I don’t think
he’ll be lacking for offers. Me for starters.’

‘I slept with him,’ I uttered, as I looked at her
horrified. She shrugged and opened her makeup case.

‘Totally gross and wrong I know, but for him, I’d
go there. I’m not too proud for sloppy seconds, not with him. He’s bloody sex
on legs, Summer.’

‘I know. So why’s he here, with me?’

‘You didn’t book him?’

‘No.’

‘O my God. He must really want you, to come here
without getting paid. Keep your head still, I need to touch up your blusher.
Have you been fucking in the limo?’

‘No,’ I objected as I flushed. ‘We just … had an
amazing
kiss. I’m so confused. I mean he’s … you know what he is. It took me months to
get over him, what am I doing?’

‘To get over him?’ Mandy laughed. ‘Honey, you’re
so not over him, you’ll
never
be over him. So what’s the deal? He’s
giving it all up to go on a date with you?’

‘I have no idea, we didn’t get that far with the
conversation. I’m not sure he’s the dating kind and I’m not sure I’d want to,
not knowing his
history
.’

‘Well I know someone who’s going to be seriously
pissed off you’re here with him. Daron was livid you weren’t in his limo.’

‘Great. Actually no,
great
. Maybe it will
be the thing that’s needed to get him to back off. Fingers crossed I won’t have
to do anymore movies with the jerk.’

‘Did that amazing kiss wipe your memory? Is the
Steele a stealer of brains, as well as hearts and intact vaginas? You’ve only
filmed part one of the trilogy. If this flies, you’ll start filming part two
anytime.’

‘Damn it,’ I groaned. ‘I can’t bear the thought of
Daron touching me again.’

‘If I was in your shoes, for the increase in pay
you’re likely to get, he could fuck me for real on set, instead of just faking
it.’

‘Don’t say that, he’s repulsive, you can do so
much better than him.’

‘Please, for good money I bet anyone would fuck
him. Sure he’s an arse, but he’s not a leading guy for nothing, he’s got looks
and the body. Though Logan blows him out of the water. Suck in your cheeks,’
Mandy ordered, so I did as I was told, as my eyes were drawn back over to
Logan. He was chatting to the director and laughing, but I tensed up when I saw
Daron stride over to him with a look of fury on his face. It looked like he was
arguing with him, Steve the director backed away, but Daron was trying to get
in Logan’s face. ‘Shit, are they going to fight?’ Mandy asked, as she forgot
all about my blusher.

‘I really hope not,’ I replied. We both hissed in
through our teeth as Daron shoved Logan in the chest. Quick as a flash Logan
grabbed his wrist and twisted him around into an arm lock, bent forward and
whispered something in his ear. Daron went pale and nodded, Logan released him
and he strode off towards the theatre.

‘What the hell was that?’ Mandy uttered.

‘I have no idea,’ I replied, as I watched Logan
tug at his shirt sleeves and adjust his jacket before flashing a look my way. I
smiled and turned my attention back to Mandy, as the production manager gave me
a two minute warning that my interview was next.

I blew out a sigh of relief as I was given the
thumbs up after my interview. It had gone well, better than I’d thought. I was
able to keep a smile throughout, because Logan positioned himself in my line of
sight, his arms folded across his broad chest. I’d dodged the question about
who he was, by saying a family friend and quickly excused myself as I was asked
if we were dating. He strode over and put an arm around my waist and walked me
into the theatre, where we were shown to our seats with glasses of champagne.

‘A family friend?’ he smirked.

‘It seemed appropriate, as I really have no idea
who you are, or what you are to me,’ I replied.

‘You know what I can do to you, what I’d like to
do to you later,’ he whispered, as his lips brushed against my ear. ‘Say you’ll
spend the night with me, Summer. I’ve never wanted anyone so badly. You’re all
I can think about.’

‘I am?’ I looked up at him surprised, as my
stomach fluttered.

‘You have no idea how desirable you are, do you?
Look at you. You have Daron prepared to fight me for you, he was furious that
you were here with me, he wants you almost as badly as I do.’

‘What did you say to him? He didn’t look very
happy.’

‘It doesn’t matter, but you don’t have to worry
about him coming onto you anymore.’

‘Why must you be so secretive?’ I enquired.

‘Why must you be so evasive? You haven’t answered
my question about spending the night with me.’

‘Because I haven’t decided yet,’ I replied and
heard him take in a shocked breath. He sat back in his seat with an annoyed
look on his face, as the director took to the stage and welcomed everyone. I
tried to forget my dilemma with the gorgeous man by my side and focus on what
was happening in front of me. I’d not seen the film yet and watched as it
started with my heart in my mouth, praying my parents wouldn’t have a heart
attack.

Logan

She was still trying to resist me, what the hell
did I have to do? If she thought she was sleeping anywhere but in my arms
tonight, she’d better get with the program. I watched the film, with half an
eye on it, as I tried to sneak glances at her by my side. She was breath taking
tonight, I mean I thought she was breath taking normally, but tonight she was
in a different league. She didn’t look like my meek indecisive virgin anymore,
she looked and acted more like a confident sexy woman. It was bad enough watching
her kissing Daron on screen, but I bristled as the first sex scene came on and
sprung an immediate erection to see her stripping out of her lingerie and
crawling over the bed to him. I wanted her to do that with me tonight, I
needed
her to do that with me tonight. When he flipped her onto her back and
settled between her thighs, then the camera zoomed in to catch her innocent
blue eyes looking up into his, I heard myself growl with anger, as my fists
bunched up at my sides.

Daron had tried to warn me to back off, but
telling him that his abuse and recent sordid internet searches would be leaked
to the press if
he
didn’t back off, soon had him agreeing to walk away.
Even if she didn’t know it yet she was mine, she was going to be mine, I hadn’t
got a damn clue how I was going to make that happen, but it started with
tonight. I reached over and grabbed her hand, lacing my fingers through hers,
gripping them tightly, prepared for her to try and pull away. I was surprised
when she didn’t and tore my eyes away from the screen to look at her and caught
her looking at me. She gave me one of those adorable half-smiles of hers, the
one that said she was embarrassed, and her cheeks turned pink. I stayed
watching her for a while, as she quickly looked back at the screen and fidgeted
in her seat. What
was
I doing? Were we on a date? That’s what it felt
like. Shit, I had to get this straight in my head before the morning, or I’d be
back at square one, thinking about her every day but not seeing her.