Player in Paradise (10 page)

I never thought I’d want to leave this beautiful island, but it just hasn’t been the same since Austin left. Cassidy and her entourage took off in a private jet and there was no way I was joining them, even if it was going to be a luxury experience. In my head I pictured throwing her out of the plane as we were 50,000 feet above the ground or smashing her over the head with a bottle of in-flight champagne.

As we fly over the Pacific, I try to devise a strategy for getting Austin out of Cassidy’s clutches without any repercussions. There’s no way I can bring this to Priscilla’s attention – I know she’ll shut it down on the spot.

My mind plays through different ideas, but I’m too busy handling the hundreds of media requests I received over the past eight hours since Cassidy sent her ring photo around the Internet. Damn in-flight Wi-Fi, I should’ve just kept my laptop off and gone to sleep.

I land at LAX, and just like Austin said, there’s a driver waiting for me at t
he gate. He helps me load my luggage and leads me to the car. There’s a man already inside who has the same body-type as Austin, but a much older face.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Steve,” he says, reaching out his hand.

“Good morning Steve, I’m Olivia,” I respond, sliding in next to him.

Steve agrees to
cover his face and run as fast as possible into the house when we arrive, then he’ll leave a few minutes later, dressed as a pool-cleaner. I almost feel like I’m in a spy movie with the amount of lies and deception going around in the past few days!

We pull into a gated community and drive up to a large compound in the Hollywood Hills. He has three cars in his driveway and one motorcycle. Who knew he could ride a bike?

Sure enough, there are about fifteen paparazzi outside waiting for Austin to arrive. Steve bursts out of the car and dashes inside the house, shielding his face with a hoodie, baseball cap, sunglasses, and his own arm. I slowly emerge and the driver walks me into the house. No one is paying attention to me since all eyes are on “Austin.”

The housekeeper greets me at the door and welcomes me inside. Steve moves away from the windows and heads toward the back. I’m so caught up in the excitement of deceit that I just now realize how utterly amazing Austin’s home is. Black tile lines the floors and smooth, grey paint covers the walls. A giant red glass sculpture is planted on a shiny, black table in the foyer and two staircases lead up to the second floor, meeting in the middle.

Minimalist, modern – it’s a far cry from the disheveled bachelor pad I thought I’d find. I keep forgetting that he’s a millionaire movie star.

Austin
rushes down the stairs and swallows me up in his arms, lifting me high off the ground. Setting me down on my feet, he places his hands on my shoulders and smiles. “Hi.”

A rush of butterflies
swarm my stomach. “Hi.”

Grabbing my hand, he
leads me further into the house, passing by a living room and into a spacious, granite-counter-topped kitchen. “How was your flight? Are you tired? Do you want something to drink?”

I laugh, he seems very excited. “I’m fine.
A little tired, but not too bad. And yes, I’ll have some water.”

He
grabs a water from the fridge and hands me the bottle, his fingers grazing my knuckles during the transfer. I pause at his touch…I missed it more than I thought. “Thanks.”

“Need ice?” he asks, moving away slowly. His long, lean body stretches
out as he reaches for a glass from a cabinet. A sliver of skin peeks through between the top of his jeans and the bottom of his shirt.

“Um, sure.”
I hold the bottle with two hands to keep it from shaking.

He drops a few ice cube
s into the glass and steps toward me.

“Here,” he says, holding it out for me to tak
e. His icy-blue eyes stare down into my brown ones as he towers over me.

I grab the glass and bite my lip, unsure of what to say or do next.

“Hey, Austin, I’m leav
ing out the back. See ya ‘round,” Steve yells as he speeds past us, breaking the tension momentarily.

“Thanks man, I owe you one!”
Austin shouts back.

I slowly pour the water into the cool glass and take a sip.

“So, what do you think of my humble abode?” Austin asks, splaying his arms wide.

“It’s amazing,” I nod in approval.
“Very…big.”

“That’s what she said.” He chuckles and slides his hands down my sides, landing on my waist.

I stick out my tongue playfully.

“Come
on, I’ll give you a tour.” He reaches for my free hand and leads me back through the hallway and up the grand staircase. There are too many rooms to count and they all look like they’ve never been touched.

“…and this is my office,” he says, guiding me in. “Take a seat.”

He sinks into a plush, dark leather chair and swivels himself from side-to-side slowly.

“You look like the boss now,” I joke, pulling out the small
, dark wooden chair on the other side of his sleek desk.

“I’m always the boss,” he replies with a smirk.

“Uh huh, sure. Let’s get down to business then,” I say, scooting closer.

He passes me a pen and notepad from a drawer.
Leaning back in his chair, he stretches his arms behind his head. “So how are we gonna take this bitch down?”

“How far are you willing to go?” I ask, tapping the pen on the paper quickly. How can I concentrate on planning anything with his eyes locked on me
like he’s ready to pounce?

He springs from the chair and grasps the edge of the desk. “All.
The. Way.”

I take another sip of water and try to clear my throat.

“What about you?” he asks.

“I’m all in…” I respond
, pressing my leg down to keep it from bouncing.

He slowly rises from his
chair and walks around to stand behind me. Placing his hand on the backrest, he wraps a lock of my hair around his fingers.

“I
thought we were here to work…” My shaking hands cause the pen to drop to the carpeted floor.

He quickly dives down
to grab the pen and kneels next to my knees. Instead of standing back up, he slowly runs his fingertips up my right leg. “I’ve missed you.”

G
oosebumps immediately prickle all over my body. But has he really missed me, or just my body?

I push
my chair back. “No, Austin, come on. This should probably stop now. We’re not on an island anymore; this is real life.”

He holds
himself steady with his hands on my thigh. “Don’t you get it, Liv? This
is
my real life. I don’t want a fake life with Cassidy…I want a real one…with you in it.”

My heart
thumps through my chest at a thousand miles a minute. He can’t be serious, can he? I stare up at the vaulted ceiling, contemplating his words. He sounded pretty sincere.

Moving
his hand up my leg further, he pushes the hem of my dress aside. “I’m not acting when I’m with you, I swear.” He lightly scrapes the sensitive skin on the inside of my thigh with his nails and continues his plea. “Everything I feel is genuine and I can’t remember the last time I’ve felt like this.”

I search
for a tell-tale fibbing sign, but he hasn’t averted eye contact once.

“
Honestly Liv, I can’t even remember anyone ever caring about me enough for me to try to reciprocate.”

M
y eyes sting from his emotional admission, but he rushes his mouth to mine before I have a chance to let a tear drop. It’s only been a few days since our last kiss, but it feels like a lifetime.

As our tongues swirl, I feel
his wanting; his needing to be with me. I pull back, gasping for a quick breath. “I believe you. And I care, Austin, you have no idea how much I care about you.”

Our lips meet again and I feel like I’m finally allowed to feel how
I want to feel. I don’t have to hold back or worry about what my boss will think or what Cassidy might see. If he’s all in, then I am too.

I wrap my arms around his neck and push him
playfully back onto the desk.

He squints back at me and smiles.
“My dick’s been hard since you walked through the door.”

He
grabs my ass and slaps it quick, delivering a brief sting. I yelp, but grin with him. Changing our positions, he places me down on the hardwood desk gently, spreading my legs around his waist. He leans down, nuzzling his head between my breasts, and kisses his way over to my left nipple before skimming it with his teeth through the cotton material.

“This needs to come off,” he say
s, sliding one hand down the back of my dress and unhooking my bra.

“Did you take a class for that?” I joke. I can’t even manage to take my own bra off one-handed.

He winks. “I have many tricks you haven’t seen yet.”

I pull his face back to mine and run my fingers through his soft waves. I breathe in his scent, which
is earthier than the sunblock and ocean water I was accustomed to in Hawaii.

His fingers toy with my panties as they explore underneath the skirt of my dress. I’m craving more, but I know he likes to tease.

“So, did you dream about me last night?” he whispers in my ear. His warm breath sends another wave of tingles through my body.

I don’t know what I dreamt
of, but I play along and nod. He bites down on my earlobe. “Good.”

He quickly turns
me over so that I’m pinned against the side of the desk. “Grab on,” he says, placing my hands on the outer edge.

His belt jingles and I hear the sound of a zipper coming undone. Lifting my dress over my
backside, he slides my panties down my legs and feels me from the inside. “You’re ready,” he whispers.

He tears open a condom wrapper, and in a matter of seconds his fingers dig into my waist as he
enters me.

I cry out
, but stifle the sound.

“You can make all th
e noise you want,” he says, rocking his way further inside. “No one’s up here.”

He pushes harder and
my body temperature rises. I want to see his face, but his hands are tightly clasped over mine.

I wail louder as he moves
faster, until he finally turns me over and tears my dress over my head.

“I need to see these,” he says, grabbing at my chest.

I slide back onto him as I sit up on the desk. Leaning back slightly, I steady myself with one hand on his shoulder and the other behind me. My legs are wrapped tightly around his slim waist, and the v-cut of his hip bones flex forward, crashing into me at a rapid pace.

“Fuck,”
he murmurs, pulling me closer so that I’m nearly lifted off the desk. He searches my mouth with his tongue and bites down on my lip.

I’m nearly there
, and let him know with a small moan and a scratch of my nails against his back. Waves of pleasure overcome me and I find his lips again. He slows down his pace after a few more minutes and falls forward on top of me, sighing loudly.

Nuzzling his face into my neck, he
plants a soft kiss on my skin. “You’re fucking amazing.”

“
You too,” I say, still finding my way back to earth.

He backs
himself off of me as I lay limply on the desk. Grabbing my hands, he helps me sit up. He slides his boxers back on and hands me my clothes from the floor, but I’m in such a state of bliss that I can’t even move.

“Fine by me, but we’re not going to get any work done that way,” he jokes.

I shake my head slowly, close my eyes, and smile.

“That good, huh?” he asks.

I nod and lean in for another kiss.

I’m back in my clothes, sitting across from Austin, who decided to stay shirtless. Very distracting, but I can’t complain.

“So, we’re going to need to catch her doing something bad. Something that would make it seem like it was understandable for
you to break up with her,” I recommend.

“I can’t imagine Cassidy doing anything
wrong, she’s like Little Miss Perfect.”

“I know…but can you think of anything she may be hiding? Do you know anything about her past
that we can dig up?”

We’re playing dirty now, but I don’t care. She deserves it.

“Hmmm,” he taps his pen to his chin and stares at the ceiling.

“Any ex-boyfriends we
can get some dirt from?”

He
rests his elbows on the desk and leans in. “Actually, that’s not a bad idea. When we first got together, she had to kick her other guy to the curb. But what was his name?”

I pull out my cell and search
the web to dig something up. I search for “Cassidy Evans ex-boyfriend,” and to my surprise and delight, a name pops up on an old blog post.

“Does Tyler Kraft ring a bell?”

“Yes!” Austin jumps up from his chair and slams his hands down on the arm rests. “Tyler, that was definitely it. She talked about him a lot at the beginning. I think she really liked him, but her quest for fame must have won over her relationship.”

I search the web again with his name, but it doesn’t
seem like he was famous. All that pops up is a Facebook page. He’s actually pretty cute, with smooth mocha skin and bright brown eyes.

“Should I friend request him?” I ask.

“No…too obvious,” he says. “Try and find out where he works or hangs out so you can casually run into him.”

I raise an ey
ebrow. “Maybe the CIA will want to recruit me after I hang up my publicist hat.”

“
Maybe you should wear a black bodysuit and a pink wig while you’re at it,” Austin says, biting his lip.

“Let’s not make this into one of your role-play fantasies. Come on, we need to concentrate.”

“Ok, ok. But, it would be pretty hot…”

I roll my eyes. “Shut up.”

I search until I find what I’m looking for. “Got it. He works at the Coffee Bean. Up for a caffeine run?”

Austin shakes his head. “I think you
’ll need to go this one alone. I can’t really sneak around this town like you can, remember?”

I nod. “True, true, Mr. Movie S
tar,” I tease. “I’ll try to pay Tyler a visit after work tomorrow.”

“Perfect,” he replies, smiling wide. “I think this may actually work.”

“I think so too.”