The Director (Hollywood Nights) (21 page)

He had read to
her on many nights as they lay in bed. She would fall asleep sooner than she
wanted to under that steady voice. He really had no idea just how amazing he
sounded. The reason many of his documentaries worked was because of his
commentary. Jed liked to research an issue and display a variety of
perspectives. He was fair and honest. She admired him for so many reasons.

           
“You should record some children’s
books for them to take with them.” She moved closer to him and he made room for
her on his lap. Shay stroked the baby’s back. She could imagine them with a
child. He would be a good dad. She would be a good mom. Only, she wasn’t
thrilled about the diapers, the crying, and the constant feeding. Not to
mention two of the most energetic people she had ever known were knocked out on
a couch from exhaustion.
 

           
“Maybe.” Jed smiled. “I don’t know
if I want to make it that easy for him.”

           
“Then do it for Frankie.”

           
“We’ll see,” he said. “Did you see
them? They are exhausted.”

           
“We definitely need to get a That’s
Life segment while they are here.” Shay grinned. “Janice doesn’t seem as tired
or crazy.”

           
“She has Buddy.” He said as if that
explained everything.

           
Shay wasn’t sure exactly when she
too fell asleep in Jed’s lap, only that he nudged her and said, “Hey, I need to
get up. My legs are falling asleep.”

           
“What time is it?”

           
“Time for bed.” He looked at his
niece and said, “And time for food.”

           
Shay looked at the clock and
realized the baby had slept for almost five hours. She had slept for almost
two. He passed the baby to her and then made a great production of moving his
legs around and stretching them.

           
“Hey,” she said playfully. “You’re
going to give us a complex over here. We are not that heavy.”

           
“No,” he agreed. “I’m sure it’s the
chair not the ladies.”

           
She squinted with a playful glare
his way. She carried little Justine to the living room where her parents had
only shifted around on the couch. Shay looked at Frankie and thought she looked
relatively comfortable under one of the throws with one of the pillows Jed
thought were useless propped up behind her head. Jonas, the poor thing, was
going to have a neck ache for sure. He apparently did not share his brother’s
views on decorative pillows. Jonas had them stuffed everywhere around him
trying to make himself comfortable on the couch.

           
“Frankie,” Shay called and Frankie’s
head popped up immediately.

           
“What time is it?”

           
Shay laughed. “She’s ready to eat
again. Jed fed her the last time, but it’s been five hours.”

           
“Five hours?” Frankie sat up. “He
really is the baby whisperer. I can’t leave here. He has to come back with us.
Five hours!”

           
Jonas stirred. He grabbed his neck
and said, “Where’s Jed?”

           
“He’s off to bed himself. I’m
heading there too. See you guys in the morning.”

           
Shay passed the little bundle off to
Frankie.

           
After saying goodnight she heard
Frankie say again, “Five hours.”

***

           
They had escaped the men for the
day. If there was one thing Shay trusted Frankie on it was that they could get
around a lot easier without Jonas tagging along.

           
“So,” Frankie started. “How’s it
going? I feel like I haven’t seen you in ages. I miss you.”

           
“It’s going well. I’m learning…a
lot.”

           
“Me too.” Frankie looked at the
baby. “I feel so much more relaxed today. You have no idea how bad I needed
that sleep. Flying with an infant is ridiculous. I sometimes feel like I should
just stay home until she’s like five or something.”

           
Shay looked at the stroller and all
the gear. “I can see why.”

           
“It’s so nice here. It won’t be soon
enough, winter is going to be brutal, but it is really nice right now.” Frankie
looked out the window and sighed. “Are you guys going to have any?”

           
“Any what?”

           
“Children of course.” Frankie picked
up her drink and took a sip.

           
“It’s not in the plan, but if one
got through we wouldn’t be sad about it.”

           
“It’s really not in the plan?”
Frankie seemed sad about it.

           
“No,” Shay admitted. “Why are you
looking at me like that is a bad thing?”

           
“Well,” Frankie started. “I thought
if you had children you guys might move back to LA. Janice misses him. He has
only seen his new nephew once. Jonas misses him. I miss you. We just want you
guys back in LA.”

           
“I start rehearsals in less than a
month. Jed is knee deep in a documentary on homeless people in the city. If I’m
not mistaken, your husband will be off on location in a few months and Janice
and Buddy are not lined up for anything anytime soon. So why does he have to be
the one to move?”

           
“I don’t know.”

           
“What?” Shay looked at Frankie. She
normally had all the answers.

           
“It just seemed like he should move
because the rest of us are there. I wonder if I could talk Jonas into moving
here. At least for the summer months. We can go back to California for the
winter. I don’t want anything to do with this place in winter. You know how
much I hated it here during the winter.” Frankie was already formulating a
plan, and Shay knew that Jonas would do whatever Frankie wanted. “Do you think
you could get him to dedicate a few months at a time to living in LA?”

           
“I don’t persuade Jed to do
anything. I can tell him the truth. I want to see Justine more than once or
twice a year. I can remind him that his family misses him and that his niece
and nephews are only going to be little once. Ultimately, the decision will be
up to Jed.” Shay shrugged.

           
“I thought for sure by now you would
have flipped the roles. I’ve never seen you this…passive before. You left your
house, you moved here, you…”

           
“Fell in love with a man, a man who
forced me to try out a job that I really enjoy and doesn’t take up much of my
time. I came here with a man who opened my thoughts about what it meant to be a
working actress, and he encouraged me to have Alex keep an eye out for theatre
opportunities. He helped me get Kai, the label, up and running. I left LA with
an alpha male, I get it. I know he is stubborn. I live with him. But I also
know that he has given me everything I have ever wanted. If that means living
in New York because it is the one thing he ants, I’m not going to press him to
move.”

           
Frankie nodded. “I get it. I told
Jonas and Janice that I would ask. I have.”

***

           
Jed looked at his little brother and
asked, “So what do you want to do?”

           
“Besides move in with you so I can
sleep for five hours a night?”

           
Jed laughed. “You’re already
pressing your luck. This was her idea to have you here. I figured you might be
better off in your own space, but I can see now that you’re not. Why don’t you
get a nanny? Frankie can’t possibly keep up with everything on her own. You
look like shit…”

           
“Thank you,” Jonas said
sarcastically.

           
“Well you do. What’s the deal? Why
are you resisting help?” Jed asked as he handed his little brother a cup of
coffee. They were staying in today. Jonas didn’t want to go out and that suited
Jed just fine. Anytime Jonas was about it was just a matter of time before he
had a crowd around him.

           
“Frankie doesn’t want to hire any
help. Her mother didn’t have help, our mother didn’t…”

           
“She needed it.”

           
“Yeah, but she didn’t hire any. I
don’t think she realizes that mom put everything on hold until we were older.
She wasn’t working and raising three kids. Not in the same way I need Frankie
to work. If you didn’t know she is also a bit of a control freak…”

           
“Yeah, I kinda got that from the
ruler incident.” Jed smiled as Jonas moved awkwardly in his chair and blushed.

           
“Well, Justine is definitely on the
two hour feeding schedule, but aside from that this kid is throwing her for a
loop. She has read entirely too many books, articles, blogs, you name it. If
she doesn’t pee or poop in a certain amount of time between feedings, she frets
over her. If she doesn’t cry, if she does, I don’t remember it being like this
with Buddy Junior. Janice was not this nuts.” Jonas exhaled.

           
“Janice had Buddy. And when she
didn’t have him, she had mom. Why don’t you ask the grandma’s to get in on the
rotation a little bit.” Jed knew that Buddy hadn’t worked the first six months
his son was born. He didn’t have to and he wasn’t going to miss out on what a
lot of parents miss due to work. He also knew that their mom had given Janice
breaks when Buddy did go back to work, and helped even more when Janice went in
for a guest spot on a television series for a few weeks.

           
“Well,” Jonas sucked in a breath.
“Frankie has a particular way of doing things. When her mom came over, I
thought she was going to strangle her.”

           
“Frankie wanted to strangle her
mom?”

           
“No. Her mom wanted to strangle
Frankie. I mean she obviously knows how to change a diaper, but Frankie has a
routine and…”

           
“Oh.” Jed nodded. “Well you have to
be the voice of reason then. You have to explain and remind them that they were
once first time mother’s too. Talk to dad, I’m sure he can help in that
department.”

           
Jonas nodded. “So how did you get
her to sleep?”

           
“Same way I used to get you to
sleep.” Jed shrugged.

           
“I’m going to figure it out before
we leave, you know that.”

           
Jed smiled.

Chapter 16

Shay had to admit, she was glad
to see them go. It was nice to have company, but it was also nice to have her
man all to herself again.

 
She stepped into the shower behind him and
traced her finger down his back as if racing against a drop of water. He had
let his hair grow out a bit. She wasn’t sure if that was because he didn’t make
time for a haircut or if he was purposely letting it get longer. His beard was
in that length she liked the best, not long, but not prickly stubble. She could
touch and enjoy the feel of it.

 
She had missed his touch. They had refrained
from sex with Jonas and Frankie there because Jed had volunteered to take turns
getting up with his niece. His shifts lasted longer than everyone else since
she actually slept when he held her, but woke immediately when he put her down.

“Hi,” he said as he turned. She
looked him over languidly. Her eyes started at the tips of his toes and she
appreciated every inch of his body. By the time she actually looked at his
cock, he was hard. A fresh wave of heat rolled through her.
 

She smiled. “It is seems like it
has been forever since we…”

He leaned over and kissed her on
the lips. The kiss was ravenous. Hungrily he delved into her mouth with his
tongue and explored as though it were the first time he had ever kissed her. His
hands moved in an attempt to pull her closer to him though she was already
hugging him as close as possible.

He let one hand loose and turned
the water off. He lifted her and she wrapped her legs around him so he could
carry her to his destination. He said, “Grab the towel.”

She reached out to grab the towel
on the rack as they passed. Once in the bedroom he sat her to her feet. She
made quick work of drying herself off and then handed it to him. He barely made
the attempt to get dry.

“Get up there,” he directed.

She moved anxiously to get onto
the bed.

“Wait,” he said and halted her at
the edge. “Turn around. Right here.”

She watched him move to a
kneeling position as she turned over to face him. She was sitting at the edge
of the bed. She knew what he was going to do before he even began setting it
up. Her core grew hot, liquid, and anticipation reverberated throughout her
body.

“Right here,” he said as pointed
to his shoulders. Her feet moved into position on those broad shoulders and
opened her up as he leaned in. She moved to lie back and he stopped. “Nuh, uh.
Sit up, watch.”

Her arms were already trembling
and he had barely touched her. How could she possibly stay upright to watch?

Jed moved in between her thighs
gently shifting his bearded chin along the tender flesh of her inner thigh. The
smooth feel always got a reaction from her. Her knees relaxed opening her more.
He did that for a few moments, occasionally licking her thigh, nipping it,
until she was gritting her teeth. Until she was visibly wet. Until she
attempted to touch herself.