Persona (The 'Professional' series) (8 page)

He bent down
towards the sink, filling his hands with the cold water and splashing his face
with the icy water.  He grabbed the edge of the sink and looked at himself
in the mirror,  his vivid blue eyes stared back at him.  He noticed
the slight purple under his eyes, lack of sleep.  What was going on? 
Why did it seem as though Ella had turned his life upside down in such a short
time?  Why did he want her so badly?  Was it because she was
unavailable? Did that make her more appealing?  Most of the women he had
slept with recently had been more than willing to jump straight into bed with
him.  Hell, most of them had thrown themselves at him.  Perhaps Ella
was just stirring up feelings that he hadn’t felt in a long time.  The
chase
- something which he used to enjoy.  It would explain why he sometimes felt
like an awkward teenager around her.   He looked at himself
again.  He made up his mind.  He would keep his distance for the next
month.  Then apart from the article, he would not have to deal with Ella
Hender anymore.

More
determined and settled, he turned back into the bedroom.  He placed the
water and tablets on her side table, ready for when she needed them.  He
sat back on the bed.  He wondered where the zipper was to remove her
skirt.  He was hoping it wasn’t underneath her, a side zipper would be preferable. 
He ran his hand across her stomach to get to the right side, where he
thankfully, found the zip.   He noticed the slight protrusion of her
hipbones encased in the black skirt, not the razor sharp hipbones of
Cassandra.  He suddenly remembered how soft women’s bodies could actually
be.  It suddenly felt too long.

The
sensation of someone touching her, disturbed Ella again.  She made a soft
sighing noise and ran her hands slowly up from his stilled hand, up her torso,
over her breasts and they finally stopped when they were stretched above
her.  She stretched, curving up her spine which pushed her breasts against
her bra.  A small smile on her face.

Not again!
He was outwardly as still as a statue.  Just inner torment churned through
his system.  His blood had managed to work south once again.  He
needed to get out of here as fast as he could! 

After he had
calmed slightly, he leaned across to undo her button and pull down the
zipper.  He stood up and went to the end of the bed.  He grabbed both
sides of the skirt by the bottom hem seams and gently started to pull it
off. 

In her
sleep, Ella raised her bottom off the bed to help him remove it.  Daniel
briefly wondered if Jeff had ever done this for her. He quickly squashed the
thought.  The material moved effortlessly down her body.  He watched
first as her flat stomach and then her belly button were revealed.  Then a
brief pair of lacy knickers were revealed.  He didn’t look at these too
much, they were far too see-through.  Down her thighs the material
glided.  He stopped pulling.  Great, just what he needed! 
Black, lacy topped, stay up stockings stared back at him.  Something to
haunt his sleep even more, he didn’t think he would ever sleep again!

He turned
and folded the skirt over the back of the chair.  He took in a last deep
breath before his final assault.  He did feel as though he was going into
battle!  He gingerly walked back to the bed.  He sat and carefully
placed one of her legs across his lap.  As gently as he could, he really
did not want her to wake up now, he started rolling her stocking down her leg
towards her toes.  He made an oath quietly to himself.  He would love
to be following its journey with kisses.  He tried to blank his mind and
quickly completed the second leg.  He stood up, a little shaky.

He looked
back down on her, from a small distance.  Never had mismatched underwear
been so appealing to him.  He knew he couldn’t pick her up to put her into
bed.  If he had her in his arms, he knew he wouldn’t be able to stop himself. 
Instead, he grabbed the bedspread off his bed.  He wouldn’t need it
tonight, he was already too hot.  He tucked it around her.  She gave
a sleepy smile in her sleep.

Daniel
grabbed the key card and made his way to the door.  He wasn’t going to be
able to sleep near her at this moment.  He thought he might as well go
back out.  He switched off the bathroom light and plunged the room into
darkness.

Ella woke
with a pounding head.  Where was she?  It was dark and her spinning,
throbbing head was making her disorientated.

It came to
her in a flash.  She looked quickly towards the other bed.  Good, no
one was there.  She grabbed the bedspread tighter and realised with a gulp
that she only had her underwear on.  How embarrassing, she could not
remember anything that had happened since the flight.

Did she take
her clothes off?  She looked for them. They were neatly folded over the
back of a chair.  She heaved a sigh of relief.  Well, obviously
nothing passionate had occurred, otherwise they would be flung
everywhere!  She gave a giggle, it could have been fun though! 
 The pounded started again, karma for her thoughts. 

She spotted
the tablets and water on her side table.  She gulped them down, hoping to
get the pounding to stop before she had to get up or before Daniel came back.
 She wanted to be up and dressed before his return.  She heard a
noise in the corridor. 
Oh no, too late
.  She watched as
Daniel struggled through the door carrying a breakfast tray.

So, she was
awake.  He was hoping she would have been out of bed before he
returned.  But he did not have that much time before having to get to the
studio.  He placed the tray, full of pastries and the all-important
coffee, on the table and opened the curtains.  He saw her wince in his side
vision.  So she did have a hangover.  He turned and gave her a big
smile.  “How are you feeling this morning?  Nice sore head?”  He
gave a little laugh when he noticed she touched her head as though it was made
of glass.

“Mmmm. 
Yes, a bit.  I didn’t… I didn’t do anything embarrassing last night did
I?  I can’t remember anything after the flight.”

He stared at
her and shook her head.  Something about the look he gave her made her
shiver.  She clutched the bedspread closer to her chest.

“No, no you didn’t
do anything embarrassing.”  His seemingly lazy gaze moved to an exposed
bra strap. He recalled her body last night.  He needed a cold shower. “I’m
going for a shower before I go to the studio.  You take your time to get
ready.  I will send a car for you in about two hours.”

“Oh,
alright,” she replied.  She would love to go with him, but she was too
embarrassed to get out of bed with him there to get ready.  She didn’t
want him to see her
normal
body after he was used to those
perfect
ones.  She watched as he picked up some clean clothes from his suitcase.
 “What about the pastries and coffee you brought up?  Aren’t you
going to have any?”

“What?” 
He was trying to ignore her sitting in bed, looking all lonely, he wanted to
take that lonely look away.  He concentrated on closing his suitcase
instead. “No thanks.  I had mine earlier with Scarlett.”  He walked
towards the bathroom without looking at her. 

Oh, she felt
disappointment.  Of course he had had breakfast with Scarlett.  That
was most probably where he spent the night too.  She had to get back to
see Jeff.  Her urges were getting out of control. 

She folded
her knees up and held them with her arms.  The pounding and swirling were
starting to retreat slightly.  She realised the irony of the situation. 
If her heart and pulse weren’t pumping so hard, perhaps the pounding in her
head wouldn’t be so bad. 

She grabbed
a pillow putting it over her head and lay back down. The breakfast and coffee
could wait.

~~~~

Ella awoke
with a start.  The room was empty, Daniel must have left. She looked at
the clock.  She must have gone back to sleep for an hour.  Even
though Ella knew the coffee would be cold by now, her body still craved the
caffeine it would give.  She also needed the sugar boost of the pastries. 

She got up
tentatively and noticed that her headache had gone.  Looking at the plate,
she chose her favourite, a Danish pastry.  She took a huge bite, wiped the
icing that had stuck to her lip, and enjoyed.  She looked around. Perhaps
a shower would wake her up?  She put the half eaten Danish back on the
plate, she would finish it after her shower. 

Looking at
the clothes in her suitcase, she decided upon her old comfortable jeans and a
fitted top that she had brought.  It was the weekend, she didn’t need to
dress in her usual work clothes.  Anyway, she felt comfortable in jeans
and the top gave enough glamour not to feel untidy.  Ella knew she would
be meeting that gorgeous woman, Scarlett, and wanted to feel a little confident
and relaxed within herself.

As she
stepped into the shower and went to switch it on, she noticed it was on
cold.  Funny, the hotel room wasn’t that hot to need the water on
cold.  Another difference she though between her and Daniel, she turned it
back onto hot.

After blow
drying her hair and applying a subtle amount of make-up, Ella stood back and
looked at herself in the long hotel mirror.  Not bad.  Not as good as
Scarlett, obviously, she could never compete with her.  She was… what was
the word? …
normal
, that was the one.  She turned her head back
around for one more look before leaving.  Yes, she felt as confident as
she would ever be with herself.  She picked up her bag, notebook and tape
when she left the room.

Daniel knew
when Ella had entered the room.  He felt the tingle in his spine.  He
was getting more used to these reactions when she was near.  It didn’t
seem to be anything he could control, or want to control really. 

He had just
finished acting out the major love scene with Scarlett, to see if they still
had chemistry.  The chemistry still shone for the camera.  He had to
virtually peel Scarlett, or Ava as she would be known on the film, off
him.   It unnerved him slightly to recognise that he had more of a
reaction to Ella walking into the room, than he had with Scarlett straddled
over him - he must be going crazy!  

He was
thankful that Ella hadn’t been there to see the love scene.  He knew it
was only for the cameras, but watching something like that wasn’t always
easy.  He shook his head again to chase away those thoughts.  For
goodness sake, she was a reporter, reporting on his life as an actor, not his
girlfriend, someone who might be embarrassed or jealous of the scenes he had to
do.

Great,
great!  
boomed
the voice of the Director.  Ella watched the small, rotund Director make
his way over to Daniel and Scarlett.  He said something to make Scarlett
smile and then he walked away.  She then watched Daniel whisper something
into Scarlett’s ear.  She threw her head back and gave a very sexy laugh,
playfully hitting Daniel on the arm.  All of a sudden, Ella felt a blush
rise on her checks.  She just realised that Scarlett was straddling
Daniel.  Scarlett was fully clothed, but the scene still looked too
intimate to watch.  For goodness sake, they most probably were up to the
same thing last night, without the clothes. Totally embarrassed now, she walked
over to the water dispenser to get a drink, her headache suddenly pounding
again.

Daniel’s
voice came from behind her.   It made her jump guiltily, she nearly
splashed the water everywhere.  She hadn’t heard him come over, too
absorbed in her own thoughts.  He laughed at her startled reaction.

“Penny for
your thoughts?”  He thought he would scare her if she asked for his! 
“Hey, we are off to lunch to celebrate.  It has just been confirmed that
we have the parts.  Will you join us?”  He noticed her pale face. “Or
do you still feel ill?  We can go back to the hotel, if you want?”  A
protective instinct surged through him as he grabbed her elbow to steady
her.  She looked as though she was just about to faint. 

Initially,
she was pleased for him, he had a major part in a film!  Then, she felt
the colour drain out of her.  She realised that he would be spending
months getting up close and personal with Scarlett.  More blood drained
out when she realised that there was not a single thing she could do about
it. 

She felt him
grab her elbow to support her.  She fathomed in one quick moment that she
was jealous of Scarlett.  Oh no, she was in love with him!  What on
earth was she going to do now?

The buzz in
the restaurant had increased ten-fold since Daniel, Scarlett and Ella
entered.  Even though Daniel and Scarlett seemed oblivious to the stares,
it made Ella uncomfortable to be under so much scrutiny.  Well, okay, she
reasoned that they
would not
be looking at her anyway.

They were
shown to a fine-looking table which had stunning views through the wide
windows, but was still slightly shielded from the rest of the prying eyes in
the restaurant. 

Ella noticed
Daniel making eye contact with her, while he pulled a chair out for her. 
As she made her way over to the chair, Scarlett sat in it, right next to
Daniel.  Daniel lifted a brow behind Scarlett, while Ella waited for the
waiter to finish pulling her chair out.  She sat down opposite them.
  As she looked at the two of them opposite her, she suddenly wished
Eric was there with them too, she felt such a gooseberry.