Thursday morning, I slowly woke up from my dreamless sleep and became aware of a heavy arm lying across my stomach.
“What the hell?” I said groggily as I forced my eyes open and found Lucy sprawled all over me.
At the sound of my voice, she snuggled closer and threw one of her legs over mine.
“Lucy,” I groaned, trying unsuccessfully to push her away. “Go back to your own bed, dammit. For once let me sleep in peace.”
“I can’t,” she muttered, not even bothering to open her eyes. “Jameson fell asleep after our sexathon. I might have accidentally fried his brain. No matter what I do he won’t budge.” Her face snuggled closer to my breasts. “Mmmm. How do you make your boobs feel so soft yet so firm? I love sleeping on them. Best. Damn. Pillows. Ever.”
“I’m thinking I should sleep with my door locked from now on.”
“I can pick locks, remember?”
“Right. Well, I can’t go back to sleep with you pawing all over me so go back to your own damn bed.”
“I can’t sleep in the same bed with him.” Blindly, she patted my face. “This is comfy. You go back to sleep too, you are breathing too much.”
“Sorry to inconvenience you, you crazy octopus. Why the hell can’t you sleep in the same bed with him?”
“Because.” She stretched out the word as if she was talking to a child. “It was a one-night stand and he is breaking the rules. If I fall asleep when he is in the same bed with me, it will turn into a relationship.”
“And what is wrong with that again? You salivate every time you see the guy, not to mention this is probably the 20th time you’ve had a one-night stand with him, which isn’t the way one-night stands work at all. Have a relationship with the guy for god’s sake and save us all the trouble, please.”
“Aurmm yu sleepmy,” she mumbled, already falling asleep on me.
“Lucy!” I yelled, loud enough to wake her up.
She jolted awake, her sleepy eyes meeting mine. “What? Where are we going? Who’s dead?”
“You are about to be if you don’t get off me.”
“Tonight, you need to fuck Jason Thorn’s brains out or we’re gonna have to find someone to get you laid. Like pronto.” Huffing, she turned her back to me and comfortably settled down, hogging my pillows and muttering, “Always so selfish about her boobs.”
“I’m starting to feel sorry for Jameson.”
“Don’t. Unlike you, he got it good and hard last night.”
“Please stop talking. I don’t need the details.”
“Not giving away any details, you prude. Just saying, it was pretty satisfying, and you could use some of that satisfaction, too. I’m still sore in all the right places.”
“Got it. Thanks. Now, go back to sleep. I’m begging you.”
When there was no answer from her—which was a big surprise—I closed my eyes and hoped I would get a few more hours of sleep.
A few minutes later, Lucy spoke up. Again.
“Olive? Are you awake?”
“No,” I groaned.
“Good. Are you going to fuck Jason Thorn’s brains out tonight? Because I do want details of that. Like every little dirty detail. Is he fat and curvy? Short and fat? Veiny? Thick and long? Can you imagine how lucky you’d be if that was the case. Be honest, you never sneaked into the bathroom when he was taking a shower? I bet even at eighteen his junk was impressive.”
“Are you done? What time is it anyway?” I mumbled.
“6 AM.”
“I’m going to kill you.”
“Sure you will. And no, I’m not done. I want more details. I need more details. Like how does he kiss? Does he kiss the way he kissed in Fast Money or does he kiss the way he kissed in What’s Left of Me?” I could feel her turning in bed to face me, getting more into it. “I mean it’s important to know these details, you know? What’s the reality? Will he gently cup your face when he kisses you? Or will he thread his fingers through your hair and roughly hold you against his body?
“You’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this, haven’t you?” I asked finally.
“Who the hell doesn’t?”
“If I ever find out any of it, I’ll make sure to let you know so you can die in peace. Can we please go to sleep now?”
“Can I spoon you?”
“Will it get you to sleep faster?”
“Promise.”
“Just the arm.”
“Just the arm,” she repeated.
She snuggled closer and slowly put her arm around my waist. “Thank you.”
Trying to be as gentle as possible with my words, I said, “I think Jameson is a keeper, Lucy.” Under the tough exterior she showed to the world was the sweetest and most romantic girl I’d ever known. She was even mushier than I was, and that was saying something. The only problem was that she never trusted a man enough to show her weaknesses. Despite that, the guy sleeping in the room right next to us was proving to be a stubborn one. I always liked a guy who knew what he wanted and wasn’t afraid to tough it out until he got it. In this case, my money was on Jameson.
“And I think we need to come up with a plan on what you should do with Jason Thorn.” I started to protest, but she talked over me. “No, hear me out. You are a knockout who has brains, and you already have a connection there.”
“Can we talk about this some other time?”
“Before you leave for your date tonight?”
“It’s not a date, we’re just going over my contract with his agent. It’s a…work thing.”
“You say tomato, I say tomato.”
“God, you talk too much in the mornings.”
After that I completely tuned her out and finally, after several minutes of trying to engage me in a conversation about Jason, she gave up and let us get some sleep in peace.
***
“I think I’m a little in love with your car,” I said a few minutes after I got in Jason’s car that night.
“Yeah?” he asked, smirking.
“Yeah. I love the midnight black, and the red leather accents. Oh, and his eyes are so cute when you look at him from the front.”
“Him? My Spyder isn’t a he, woman, and nothing about her is cute. Sexy? That’s a hell yes. Cute eyes? No.”
I shrugged.
I’d had Char distract Lucy for me as I escaped from the house before she could corner me and discuss her newly made plans. She’d even made a list with the title How to Get Jason to Fall Crazy in Love with Green Olive. Her reasoning behind the importance of the list? She needed him to fuck my brains out. In her pretty little mind she thought I was her best bet for getting some answers to her questions. All in all, having effectively escaped that line of thinking, I felt pretty good about the evening. There was nothing worse than having Lucy making you her pet project. I was already struggling with being near Jason as it was; I didn’t need to think about how certain parts of him looked when he was naked.
His home was on a hillside overlooking a breathless view of Beverly Hills. Strangely, up until I saw the beautiful, ornate steel gates, I hadn’t felt out of place with him. After he did something on his phone I couldn’t quite see, the gates opened and he drove up the driveway, stopping the engine when we reached the enormous white doors of his home—or small mansion was more like it.
“Wow.” I breathed out as I stepped out of the car. “This is amazing, Jason.” Looking around in awe at the well-kept garden that surrounded the place, I had the sudden urge to take off my shoes and simply walk around on the grass.
“You like it?” he asked with an odd, innocent smile on his handsome face. “You don’t think it’s over the top?”
“You’re a full-blown Hollywood star, Jason,” I said, unable to take my eyes off of every little detail around the house. “It would be disappointing if you had a run-down house. Your girlfriends must go even more crazy over you after seeing this place.” As if a sincere smile from him wasn’t enough to make you hand over your soul to the devil.
“You’re the first girl I’ve brought here.”
I glanced around one last time and walked to his side. “What do you mean?”
He scratched the back of his head then gestured for me to follow him to the front door.
“I guess you could say I’m a little weird about that. This is my home, my escape from a demanding industry, in a way. I’m constantly surrounded by thousands of people when I’m off somewhere filming. Forget about filming, everyone knows every detail of my life whether I want them to or not. When I come home, I want this place to be untainted by all that. I don’t even have a staff that’s around 24/7. I like my privacy a little too much,” he said as he opened the door and invited me in.
A little too excited about seeing his home for the first time, I stepped inside. “So…you’re saying there are no outrageous Hollywood parties in my future? Damn, I was hoping to snag an invite.”
He laughed. The throaty sound was entrancing.
As we walked through a narrow hallway, our arms almost touching, I couldn’t take my eyes off of him and his smiling eyes.
“How about I’ll promise to take you with me if I’m ever invited to an outrageous Hollywood party?”
“Yes please.”
When the hallway came to an end and I saw the open plan of the living room and the kitchen, I gasped and walked ahead of him straight to the floor-to-ceiling glass walls that revealed not only a killer view, but an expansive backyard with an infinity pool and a hot tub.
My face an inch away from the glass window, I felt Jason come up behind me. “Can they bury me here? Will you let them? Please? I just want my ghost to sit over there and look down at the city, and maybe walk around the grass every now and then. I won’t bother to haunt you at all.”
He chuckled again. “I didn’t think you’d enjoy it this much.”
“Are you kidding me? I would give pretty much anything to come to this place at the end of every day.” Giving the pool a longing look, I faced Jason.
“Seriously, this is amazing, what you’ve accomplished, what you’ve built for yourself. It will probably mean nothing to you, but I’m proud of you. So proud to have known you when you weren’t such a hotshot.” Giving him a small smile, I shrugged. “I’m also glad that you lived with us for as long as you did back then. Otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to annoy you as much as I probably did when I was a kid.”
I felt a familiar tug on my hair as he hooked his arm around my neck and drew me to his side. I let my shaky hand rest on his chest, near his heart. When his lips touched my forehead and he didn’t loosen his hold on me, I closed my eyes and let my heart enjoy the peace.
When he drew back, my heart was going a mile a minute. Looking into my eyes, he smiled. “You have never in your life annoyed me, little one. If I didn’t have you looking after me, who would’ve always given me the first and biggest slices of those pies you made with your mom?”
I chuckled. “Do you remember the first time you came to our house? I promised you the biggest slice of the apple pie and ended up giving you half of the damn thing. I can still see the shock on your face when I brought it over.”
His eyes twinkled with laughter. “How could I forget? You looked so pleased with yourself, just waiting in front of me to hear what I thought of your baking skills.”
“Yeah, well, I wasn’t so happy when my mom swooped in and took the thing right out of my hands before I could give it to you.”
“You brought me five slices worth of pie, little one. After your mom’s dinner, I barely had enough room to eat one piece.” His voice had gone quiet when his eyes met mine.
“Well, I was heartbroken,” I said, equally softly.
His dimple beckoning me to take a very, very small taste, Jason’s eyes looked down at me with such a warmness to them that I didn’t know what to do or what to say for several seconds.
Could I handle being his friend?
Could I ignore my heart begging and screaming against my chest?
Did he even want to be my friend, or was this just a one-time-only favor kinda thing?
The loud ringtone of his phone burst our little bubble, and he took his arms away from me to answer the call.
“Tom? Yes. Take your time, we’ll be okay. Fine, call her and come up with a new strategy then.” Ending his call, he turned to me. “He’ll be here in an hour or so. I had Alvin bring in Chinese takeout, you hungry?”
“Alvin?”
“My assistant. You’ll meet him soon enough.” As he padded toward his beautiful kitchen, I followed a few steps behind him, admiring the way his shoulders moved with every relaxed step.
Don’t look at his ass, Olive. Just don’t.
Outside the glass walls, the sky was slowly darkening, and suddenly the entire back patio lit up with dim lights, making the entire place look…magical.
“Olive?” Jason called my name in an amused tone when he spotted me straying toward the glass panels to take a closer look.
With a sigh, I made it back to the long kitchen bar as Jason took out more than a few takeout bags from one of the cupboards.
“What’s for dinner?” I asked hopping onto one of the bar stools and almost sliding right off of it.
Jesus, why in the hell would they make the seat so small?
Trying to be all covert about it, I pushed myself up on the foot rest again and tried to sit on it sideways so it would look like I was actually sitting comfortably on the stupid thing.
As my arms started to burn from trying to balance myself, I gave up and jumped down before I fell off again.
After taking off my leather jacket, I rounded the huge island and came to stand next to Jason.
Peering into one of the boxes, I asked, “Oh, chicken chow mein, do we have beef, too?”
“Thankfully, we have two beef chow mein and two chicken chow mein, and all this extra stuff.”
“Great. Can I help with anything?”
“I’m trying to find the chopsticks,” he muttered as he emptied all the bags on the counter. “Can you check the drawers to your left? I should have some extra ones somewhere in there.”
“Sure.” Picking up all the empty paper bags and setting them aside, I leaned down and tried to figure out how to open his drawers. Since there were no handles, I lightly pushed at the first one, and it opened automatically.
I rolled my eyes.
Rich people.
It was full of knives, impressively organized by size, but no chopsticks, so I pushed it back.
When I lightly touched the second drawer, suddenly the third one snapped open, hitting me just below the knee. I gasped in pain and had to take a step back with the unexpected force of it.
The only problem was, instead of finding my balance like the graceful human being I was supposed to be, the back of my thighs hit another drawer Jason had opened behind me, and I lost my balance. In that split second, I accepted the fact that I was about to fall right on my ass; I just wished it didn’t have to happen right in front of Jason fucking Thorn.
However, instead of feeling my ass hit the floor, I felt one hand firmly close around my left boob as an arm hugged me right under my breasts. For a moment—for a looong moment—both of us stood still, my bottom parallel to the floor. Jason’s hand flexed on my breast as if he was checking the size of it, and the other dropped lower toward my stomach.
“Fuck,” he cursed in a raspy voice right next to my ear, and the word sent shivers down my spine.
Please, how could I have not closed my eyes to live that shiver to the fullest? And so what if I did arch into his touch just a little bit? Maybe barely held back a moan? Who could blame me? I was just a human, after all.
When he suddenly pulled away his right hand from my stomach as if touching me had burned his skin off, my legs shook and I reached for the first thing I could grab on to.
His hand.
The one that was still covering my boob.
And fine, if you really need me to admit it, at some point I might have kind of squeezed his hand and that might have inadvertently forced him to squeeze my boob. Or maybe I had groped myself with his hand? Who the hell knows, and more importantly, who the hell cares? Hands touch boobs all the time, all over the world. I bet, at that exact moment, a lot of boobs were being touched.
“Little one.” He growled and his chest—oh, dear god, his chest—hit my back, holding me firmer against him.
One deep breath.
Two deep breaths.
His hand was still on my boob, and my hand was—not so surprisingly—still over his when I said, “I’m so sorry. Just…just give me a second to get my balance back.”
His arm wrapped around my middle again and he hoisted me up.
When I was no longer parallel to the beautiful hardwood floor and felt like I could master standing straight all by myself again, I reluctantly let go of his hand, which was resting comfortably on my breast.
As soon as he made sure I was okay, he lifted both his hands off me and slowly took a few steps back.
Not knowing what to say, I looked down and saw the damn chopsticks sitting in the open third drawer.
I cleared my throat, a few times actually. “I found them.”
“Great,” he said a few seconds later, his voice all rumbly.
Jesus! Talk about dreams coming true.
Not having the courage to look at him, I snatched up two sets of chopsticks, pushed the freaking drawer closed, and walked back to the glass panels.
Even though my face was probably as red as a frigging tomato, I was grinning like crazy. When I noticed there was no way I could figure out how to open the panels, I decided it would be wiser to wait for Jason before I brought the house down on us.
Two takeout boxes in his hand, he came to stand beside me with a small remote control.
When all the glass panels surrounding the living room and the kitchen area opened up, I took my first step out to heaven and took a deep breath of the crisp air.
“It smells amazing,” I said in a low voice, not quite having the courage to look at his face yet.
“It smells…like grass,” he said.
“I know. I love it.” I took a few more steps. “Can we sit by the pool?”
“We have a table.” He pointed toward a big table on the patio.
“I saw that, but I want to dip my toes in.”
His hand touched my back and he guided me toward the pool.
Pushing the chopsticks into my pocket, I took off my shoes, bent down, and rolled up my jeans. When I was happy with the length, I straightened up and stood at the very edge of the pool.
“It’s amazing up here, Jason.” When he didn’t answer, I glanced back and saw him taking off his shoes and socks. I bit down on my bottom lip to keep myself from smiling and turned back to face the amazing view.
Taking the chopsticks out of my pocket so they wouldn’t break when I sat down, I lowered myself to the ground and dipped my legs into the pool.
I closed my eyes and turned my face up toward the sky with a small smile on my face. There was a quiet splash of water, and I knew Jason was sitting down too.
“Thank you for inviting me up here,” I said finally, opening my eyes to glance at him.
His eyes were already on me. Smiling back, he shook his head and handed me my dinner, grabbing his chopsticks before I could hand them to him myself.
“You are different from what I’m used to, little one. Different from the little kid I remember,” he said as we started eating our dinner in a comfortable silence.
“Different how?”
“I don’t know yet.”
I thought about it for a minute, then in a conversational tone said, “Maybe it’s the boobs?”
Choking on his food, he coughed for a good minute while I sat there serenely, looking straight ahead.
At last, in a strangled voice, he said, “Yeah. It might be the boobs.”
Yup, he had noticed my boobs.
Score one for my boobs!
***
When Tom finally came around, it was almost nine o’clock.
“I’m sorry I’ve kept you guys waiting for so long. I was with another client.”
“Please, I should be the one thanking you for sparing time for me in your hectic schedule, and I have no idea what percentage you take for these kinds of things, but please let me know so I can—”
“That’s been taken care of, you don’t have to worry about it,” Jason cut in.
“But—”
“It’s okay Miss Taylor—”
“Please call me Olive,” I interjected as I reached out for the papers he had pushed in front of me.
Smiling, he continued. “Olive, it’s a pretty standard contract, but we’ll still go over it so you can decide if there is a clause you aren’t feeling comfortable with.”
I nodded. I knew nothing, nothing at all about this stuff.
“The first good news is,” Tom started as Jason got up from his seat next to me to get Tom a drink. “This project is never hitting the ‘development limbo’.” When I stared at him blankly, he explained in a bit more detail.
“After a producer or a studio options the movie rights to a book, the timeline is usually around twelve to eighteen months or sometimes even longer to get the production started, and even after that, there is no guarantee that it will ever happen. In your case, they want to capitalize on the buzz that’s been going around your book, meaning since they’ve already secured a big name like Jason, the rest of it will come through quickly.”
Reaching up, he accepted the whiskey—or maybe bourbon, either way they both tasted terrible—from Jason and kept going.
“Jason will be in Canada for a while for another shooting, then he has press junkets with the other cast members of The Witness. Because of that, they are aiming to start filming when Jason is back in the city. So, Olive, if you sign the contract, this is definitely happening. The casting for the smaller characters will get done while Jason is in Canada, but they will hold off on choosing the right person for Evie until Jason can spare a few days and come back to LA.” He turned to look at Jason. “We need to arrange your schedule accordingly. They want you to sit in on the auditions for Evie and do a screen test with the remaining few. You can come back on your day off from the filming.”
“Screen test?” I asked, looking between Jason and Tom. When I said I knew nothing, I meant it.
“A screen test is a method they use to determine the suitability of an actor or actress for the role. Since the book is centered on Jason and Evie’s relationship, they have to have a strong on-screen chemistry. It doesn’t matter if someone aces the audition. They need to see how she works with Jason, so he’ll have to come here for those last steps of the audition process.”
“They don’t want me to audition at all?” Jason asked, frowning at Tom. “I can do a reading from Olive’s book instead of waiting for the screenplay to be done.”
Tom took a sip of his drink and shook his head. “Since they know you are interested, they want you in it, and you’ve already established yourself as a strong actor. They don’t need you to audition. But the other stuff…” Tom glanced at me before hardening his gaze on Jason again. “The other stuff we need to talk about. Otherwise, everything you’ve worked on will go up in flames. You haven’t seen your contract yet; the studio has some restrictions over your personal life.”
“Fine. I get it,” Jason snapped at him. “Leave my shit out of this. You’ll get your say tomorrow at our meeting. Just go through Olive’s contract tonight.” Jason’s harsh voice made me turn to look at him. Without saying another word, he got up and disappeared from our sight.
A little confused, I had to force myself to focus on Tom when he started talking to me again.
According to my contract, I wouldn’t have any say on the final script. If they ended up changing the end—like they had hinted—I didn’t have the right to throw a fit over it. Since I was a new author and not yet established, Tom didn’t see a way where he could get them to modify that specific clause. The option fee was a flat fee, but the initial ‘purchase price’ for the movie rights would be three percent of the initial funding—with a cap of course. That was something Tom had already negotiated for, and I would be getting paid when production started.
In the end, we decided that there were only a few points worth negotiating before signing it, and apparently, the most important one was where and how they would be using the author’s credit—meaning, my name and the book’s title.
When we were finally done with everything, Tom left, and I found myself alone with Jason again.
“They actually want my book, Jason,” I said, hugging my knees as I sat on the fancy couch.
“They had you in their offices, little one,” he reminded me as he came to sit next to me. “Of course they want your book. Did you have any doubt?”
“Yeah. I think up until this moment, I didn’t take them seriously.”
“And now? How do you feel?”
Resting my temple on my knees, I looked at him through blurry eyes. I was having trouble containing my smile. “You’re probably going to freak out, but I might start crying at any moment now.”
I could already feel my nose tingling.
He stood up and offered me his hand. “Come on, I’ll give you a big hug. If you are going to cry, well, you deserve to have a hug while you cry.”
Can I swoon? And maybe take him down with me so we could do some naughty things?
Smiling through my tears, I took his hand. As soon as I was on my feet, I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him. My toes were barely touching the floor.
I had worked so hard and for so long on that book. My heart was in every page of it. My secrets, my dreams, my tears. It had taken a lot of time for me to be happy with every single sentence that I’d written.
And now that same book had brought me to Jason’s arms.
Swallowing, I leaned back and looked straight into those warm brown eyes. The same eyes I’d stolen glances at across the dinner table when I was old enough to know I was irrevocably in love with my brother’s friend. Those same eyes I’d shyly met when he was only a kid. Those eyes I’d watched on the big screen for years, longing after something I’d never had, missing something only he could make me feel.
Feeling happier than I’d ever felt in my life, I smiled. “My story will be on the big screen.”
“It will, little one.” He smiled back, his dark brown eyes holding my gaze. The day after, I would obsess about how long he had looked into my eyes, but at that moment…I chose not to question every unexpected little glance, every extra second of eye contact.
“Thank you so much, Jason. For everything, thank you so much.”
“I didn’t do anything, sweetheart. This is all you.”
“The book, yes, but this.” I gestured to the copy of the contract I would be signing if the studio accepted the changes we wanted. “This I would’ve screwed up if I had to do it all by myself.”
“We both know that you’d have been perfectly fine, Olive.”
There was a slight hesitation on his part, but when he pressed another precious kiss on my forehead, I closed my eyes and held on to him tighter, certain I would have trouble letting him go this time around.
