Chapter Twenty

“Who the hell do you think you are?” I said as calmly as I could muster while I stood up and turned to face her.

I don’t know if she hadn’t seen me or just didn’t recognize me in vintage clothes, but I certainly caught her by surprise, judging from her expression.

“You were never interested in Tom. You only ever wanted the fame that being with him brought you. Now you have the gall to come here and act all hurt, like he was the one who wronged you? You jumped-up, two-bit little user!”

She was incensed. She lifted her hand to slap me, but I easily deflected the blow and began to advance on her, making her stumble back on those ridiculous heels!

“He’s not an idiot. He knew you were selling stories to the press! He gave you false information to prove it, which you promptly trotted off to sell to the tabloids, so don’t you dare imply that he was anything other than a means to an end for you!” I knew my face was probably red with fury, but I didn’t care.

She was looking around now, possibly hoping someone would ride to her rescue.

“You are a superficial, heartless, grubbing little twit. Turn on your too-high heels and get the fuck out of my village, you cheap, backstabbing bitch!”

I had backed her up to the pavement—or sidewalk, as she would say. Although I hadn’t raised my voice at all, she looked terrified.

Suddenly, clapping erupted behind me. I realized that I’d totally forgotten that we had an audience. I couldn’t afford to look away from Evelyn, though, because I knew she’d try to strike me again if I gave her even the slightest opening.

I saw someone approach in my peripheral vision. I realized it was someone with a camera, and behind him was another photographer.

“I should have known.” I shook my head. “Of course you orchestrated this whole little fight. You called the paparazzi to make sure it got coverage, didn’t you?” I could tell from her expression that I had caught her. “You’re still using him for publicity? My God, how desperate are you? Move on! Find some other chump to suck the life out of. Or better yet, actually learn how to act so you don’t have to sleep your way to the top! Have a little self-respect!”

I backed up a few paces, keeping my eye on her until I was far enough away to have warning if she tried anything. Then I turned, walked back to the table, and sat down.

“Darling?” Tom kneeled beside me. “Are you all right?”

I nodded, huffing out a furious breath.

“You’re trembling.” He laid a comforting hand on my arm.

“Just adrenaline,” I said with a shaky smile that quickly morphed into an exhilarated laugh. “I can’t believe I did that!”

“You were magnificent!” Tom’s smile was brilliant, and I couldn’t help grinning in reply.

“I kind of was, wasn’t I?” I wish I didn’t have to put the question at the end, but one argument wasn’t going to change who I was. I needed to know that I hadn’t made a fool of myself.

“You were brilliant, wonderful, and outstanding,” he reassured me.

“Where is she?”

He looked over my shoulder.

“Trying to get back in her car. The paparazzi are blocking her way. She’s taking a few swings at them. Oh, she is not happy at all!”

I began to belly laugh. Tom looked on, probably wondering if I was hysterical. I had tears in my eyes by the time I was done. I had to wipe them away before my makeup ran.

“Oh God, that felt good!” I grabbed the shaving foam, which I had dropped on the floor earlier. “Come on, let’s go graffiti a classic car.”

“You’re sure you’re all right?”

“Perfect!” I stood up and saw everyone standing around. “Hey, back to work! We don’t pay you to stand around,” I teased.

“You don’t pay us at all,” Bridget said with a grin. “And standing around is exactly what we’re supposed to do!”

“Oh right! Well, in that case, you’re all doing brilliantly! Carry on!”

Everyone laughed. We attached white ribbons to the car with tiny strips of masking tape and wrote “Just Married” in shaving foam on the rear window. Tom watched me the whole time, as if he expected me to break down or something.

Given how much of a basket case I’d been since he met me, I couldn’t blame him. And maybe I would break down and sob later, but I didn’t think so.

I’d stood up to someone who was not just angry, but violent. Me! Without . . . okay, there was a fair amount of fear, but I did it anyway. And I won! What’s more, I won without resorting to violence myself!

I was sure there were going to be consequences for my rash actions. There always are when you fight back against bullies. But just then I was too damned proud of myself to care!

***

The rest of the day was a dream!

We finished up at the church and let the extras go, and then we moved back to Diane’s for lunch. I quickly changed back into jeans and a jumper.

Jim and Karl had done an excellent job of making the room look dated by using the props and furniture Tom had hired. I made a few adjustments, moving furniture and some of the set dressings such as lamps and rugs slightly, in an attempt to make the shots we would take more balanced.

The real dining furniture was currently piled up in Diane’s study-cum-library.

We shot the family scenes that afternoon, borrowing Mrs. MacLusky’s grandchildren for the task. We started by just filming basic family things, such as Sylvia feeding, changing, and cuddling the baby. Daniel played with the older child, using building blocks, model airplanes, and letting him riding around on his shoulders. There were also a couple of more scripted scenes, such as opening Christmas presents and cutting a birthday cake.

The outfits had to be changed frequently to give the impression of time moving forward. Tom mostly just let the adults play with the children, and the cameraman filmed it. I suggested to Tom that I take some footage with my camera, which could capture video too. I thought some of it could be made to seem like an old home movie and spliced into the professional footage.

It worked out so that I filmed whichever parent Mike wasn’t filming. We both tried to have our backs to each other, so we weren’t in the other’s shot. When everyone came together, such as to open the Christmas presents, we both filmed.

The baby had to have a nap midafternoon, but aside from that, the kids were generally not the nightmare everyone says that working with children is. Then again, they were only eight months and three years old, so they had plenty of time to become divas. Of course, they also got to play games and keep the “Christmas presents,” so what did they have to complain about?

The children were particularly delighted with the cake-cutting scene, for obvious reasons. We had to leave that for last because they were bound to be distracted by the sugar. Tom had thought that he would be able to get several takes of the older child blowing out the candles on her cake, having apparently forgotten that the children were not professionals. She soon disabused Tom of that notion! Quite loudly, in fact. One does not come between children and their cake!

We did manage to get some beautiful footage of the children, though. They were both terribly photogenic. Yes, even when the baby cried because of a soiled nappy she did that pretty Hollywood cry, with big, fat tears and no other bodily fluids or hiccups that us regular plebs suffer when we cry. That kid was a natural!

We let the kids go by five o’clock, then filmed a couple of shots of Daniel and Sylvia reading the manual to set up a sixties-style TV, relaxing in their new home, and just being a young couple very much in love.

We finished by half seven. Diane had dinner ready and waiting for us all.

The next day, we were filming with teenage children in the sitting room, which would also need to be dressed like a room from the seventies.

I was still feeling buoyant as Tom and I made our way home. I took his hand as we walked and promised myself that tonight was going to be the night.

About an hour after getting the children on set, things had become so manic that Tom had stopped checking on me every five minutes. He seemed to accept that I was okay. Just then, he actually seemed pretty happy, if his chatter about the filming was anything to go by.

He’d slipped out earlier to give Liam a heads-up about the Wicked Witch’s return, but I couldn’t blame him for that. I don’t know how Liam reacted, nor did I want to at the moment. I was quite happy living in my little bubble and pretending that the wider world didn’t exist.

“Do you want some wine?” I offered as we went in.

“Um . . . yes, please,” he said, opening his laptop.

“Oh no. Not tonight,” I said, taking the computer from him and putting it on my desk. “This morning’s scenes will take ten seconds to edit, but this afternoon’s are a big old mess that will take hours to sift through. You need a rest.”

I returned a few moments later with the wine and sat next to him.

“Are you okay?” he asked me for the hundredth time, looking worried.

“I’m fine,” I assured him once more, taking his warm hand in mine.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Are you mad about what I did?” I bit my lip in worry.

“Mad? No! Seeing you take her down was amazing!” He laughed. “I wish I could be that eloquent under pressure!”

My shoulders relaxed in relief.

“Then thank you. And no, I really don’t want to talk about it. I think I’d just as soon move on from the whole incident.”

Wow, I was getting quite dominant. Judging from the slight smirk on Tom’s lips, he quite liked it.

“What do you propose we do instead?” he purred.

I sipped my wine, then set it on the coffee table.

“I can think of a few things,” I said in a rather sultry voice as I gave him my best coquettish look.

“What kind of things?” His deep voice now had a rumbling quality to it that sent delicious shivers up my spine.

“Things like this.” I slid my hand around the back of his neck and pulled him forward for a hungry kiss.

My stomach was doing somersaults but it was from exhilaration rather than fear, like I was just tipping over the precipice on a roller coaster. Oh boy, was I about to enjoy this ride!

I had to release Tom and pull back briefly, needing to be sure before I made an even bigger fool of myself.

He looked every bit as aroused as I felt. “Kelsey . . . ,” he said, sounding breathless.

“I’m here.”

I let my hand wander down his taut stomach to his cock. He groaned as I pressed my hand over his hardening length. I felt like purring at the fact I could make him so hard. A tingling rush washed over me that I hadn’t experienced in . . . well, ever.

“Come here, Kelsey.” Tom tugged at my hand, urging me to straddle his lap. I nearly overbalanced as I lifted my knee over him, accidentally hitting one of his saline balloons.

“Shit, Tom. I’m sorry. I—”

I didn’t get a chance to apologize again. His hand snaked around the back of my neck and he kissed me with a passion that assured me my clumsiness hadn’t cooled his ardor.

He took my hips and guided me as I straddled him. Directly over his cock.

At that moment, I was ready to give up this whole foreplay palaver and just have a raw, feral fuck. Why hadn’t I undressed before starting this? Then he could be sliding into me already.

Tom’s hands stroked up from my hips, taking my top with him. He broke our kiss only long enough to pull it over my head and toss it aside. Then his hands slowly slid back down my spine, from neck to arse.

The tiny frisson of apprehension when his fingertips stroked the tiny hairs at the back of my neck and the rolling lust that his large hands evoked as he squeezed my backside told me that I was exactly where I needed to be. My world was reduced to that moment. There was no future, no past, just sensation.

Desperate to feel more of his skin, I quickly pulled his sweater off, then bent over to bite his neck. I scraped my teeth over the sensitive skin, being careful not to leave any marks.

Tom hissed, but it quickly turned into a groan of need. His head fell back against the sofa.

“Condoms?” he gasped.

“Shit!” I groaned and closed my eyes.

“You don’t have any?”

“I can’t remember where I put them. You didn’t bring any?”

“I didn’t want to be presumptuous.”

We both laughed.

“You want to head upstairs?” I asked.

“I was thinking more kitchen table,” he confessed. “This leg—”

I put a finger over his lips. He didn’t need to explain himself.

“I’ll go look for the condoms, but when I come back down, I want you naked. Got it?” My bossy tone surprised even me, but Tom seemed to like it.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied with a satisfied smirk.

I rushed up the stairs, taking them two at a time. There were only two places I would have put condoms: in the bathroom medicine cabinet or in the bedside drawer. Of course it was in the second one I checked, the medicine cabinet. I tried not to dwell on the possibly naked Tom waiting downstairs for me. My hands were shaking enough as it was!

When I got back down, Tom was in the kitchen. He had moved a chair aside and was leaning against the end of the kitchen table, looking resplendent in his birthday suit. His arms were crossed, he had that trademark cocky smile on his lips, and I could see for myself that he had every right to look “cocky!”

“Come here,” he commanded. My feet moved without conscious thought. “Darling, I think you’re wearing entirely too many clothes, don’t you?”

I realized that I still had my bra and jeans on. I made a move to unhook my bra, but Tom reached out and took my hands.

“That’s my job.” He took the box of condoms from me and put them on the table behind him, and then he took my shoulders and turned me around. He undid my bra clasp and slowly pushed it off my shoulders, his hands coming around my front to grasp my breasts just as his lips planted a soft kiss on my shoulder. I leaned back into him and moaned in appreciation as he pinched my nipples, rolling them between his long fingers.

His hands ventured lower, creeping over my stomach to the waistband of my jeans. Rather than unbuttoning them, he hoisted them up, forcing the seam up into my pussy. I gasped at the surprise move, then moaned at the pressure on my most sensitive places.

“Are you wet, darling?” he purred in my ear as he undid the button and lowered my zip.

“Yes,” I replied shakily. My arms came up and slid around the back of his head, my hands sliding into his hair to keep his lips anchored to my neck. The feel of his mouth moving over my skin sunk deep into my body, eliciting a rush of moisture from my pussy.

His hand slipped inside my jeans and under my knickers, roving until he found my slit. I was so wet that my lips easily parted for his probing fingers. He stroked my throbbing clit, making me gasp.

“Oh yes, you’re ready,” he murmured. “So very ripe and ready.”

The next thing I knew, he was standing in front of me, bending over to lower my jeans and underwear, which I helpfully kicked off. Then his broad hands gripped my hips and he hoisted me up onto the kitchen table. He stepped between my legs, laying his length along my slit and rubbing gently, just enough to drive us both insane with need while providing no satisfaction. I reached blindly for the condoms, fumbling a little in my haste to get them open. It didn’t help that Tom began to kiss my neck again.

Finally, I brandished the latex roll. Judging from the smug expression Tom was wearing when my hands trembled as I was putting the condom on, he knew exactly what effect he was having on me. He stepped back just enough to align himself with my pussy, and then he slid home in one smooth motion, making me gasp. Wrapping his arms around me, he held still for a few moments, letting me acclimatize to how his hot length filled me.

He was just the right size. I felt beautifully full but, more than that, this felt right. It was as if we were puzzle pieces designed to fit only each other.

I appreciated the moment he gave me to adjust to his size. I hadn’t done this for quite some time, after all. A moment was all I needed. I scratched my nails over his bum cheeks, making him thrust harder against me for a moment so he would squish my clit, which throbbed in reply.

He got the message and was soon pounding into me, actually moving the heavy table a fraction with each thrust. Frankly, I didn’t care if we ended up in the back garden, as long as he didn’t stop!

He bent his head again and captured my lips in a heated kiss, swallowing my cries of pleasure.

My clit throbbed from the brief contact of each thrust. It wasn’t long before I was coming, my sheath clamping down on him and increasing the delicious sensations for both of us. Tom lasted only a few moments longer than I did before he spilled his seed. We just stayed still for a few seconds, panting and holding each other as we recovered.

“Next time will be more romantic,” Tom murmured after a few long moments.

“I hope not, because that was amazing,” I mumbled. “Much more and you might kill me!”

He chuckled in reply.

I pulled away so I could look into his beautiful blue eyes, which were gazing down at me with warmth and affection. As I spoke, his self-satisfied smile returned. I realized that I could quickly grow to love that smug look.

“You really liked that?”

I felt like laughing, but worried he might take that the wrong way. Instead I leaned closer and whispered.

“Trust me, I’m not that good an actress!”

He laughed and pulled his softening length from me. He removed the condom and tied it off before tossing it in the bin.

I missed the feeling of him inside me already, but logically I knew we couldn’t fuck all night long . . . right?

Since my shower is tiny I offered him the first go. I promised myself that I would find somewhere bigger to live soon—hopefully with a shower or bath that had room for two.

It had been a long day, so there was no round two. As Tom spooned me from behind and we both drifted off to sleep, his erection pressed into my butt cheeks.