To Love Jason Thorn, page 22
I closed my eyes and tried to breathe through it, but it only made matters worse when I inhaled in her scent. Don’t judge me—I did try to pull my hand away, but she was faster than me, and before I could react she flattened her hand over mine.
“I’m soaked,” she moaned as she started to touch herself with my fingers.
“Olive,” I hissed when I felt her wetness all over my fingers. “Olive, please stop.” I tried to pull my hand away, but she held on to my wrist with her free hand to make sure it stayed where it was.
Pushing my forehead against her temple, I whispered. “Olive, you’re killing me, sweetheart. Please, let my hand go.”
God.
Her legs fell open and she pushed one of my fingers firmer against her clit.
Her scent was driving me crazy, her soft panting reaching right down to my dick as if she had her mouth wrapped around me. Pulling my hips back just in case she decided to go for my sweatpants and got ideas because I was hard as a rock, I jerked my hand away from her wetness before she could stop me again and brushed a kiss on her temple.
“You’re still drunk, Olive. You don’t know what you’re doing.”
Unexpectedly, she fully turned to me and buried her face against my throat, her weight forcing me to fall on my back. When I felt a wetness on my skin, I held her jaw back and looked at her face.
To my utter shock, she was silently crying.
“Baby, what’s wrong?” I asked, clearing her tears with my thumbs.
Her beautiful eyes met mine and she broke my heart into very, very small pieces. “I just want to consummate so they won’t take him away from me.” She sniffled and hid her face against my neck again.
Jesus. How could she still be drunk off her ass? Exactly what had she had while I was gone, and for how long?
“Baby,” I whispered, trying to calm her down.
I knew this wasn’t my Olive talking, but if she hadn’t been so drunk, we could’ve…hell…done something about this. Talk? Fuck? Whatever she needed.
“Can I have my toy now?” she asked, still sniffling.
Goddamnit!
Maybe she slept with a stuffed toy or something?
I had my fingers crossed, but…
“Is this toy you’re asking for…is it something you use to make yourself come, sweetheart?”
Her tear-filled eyes met mine as she nodded and nibbled on her bottom lip.
There was no way I was going through her stuff to find a plastic dick. There was also no way in hell I was letting myself have her, no matter how much my dick disagreed with me.
“How about we cuddle?” I asked. Girls loved cuddling, didn’t they? And the idea was very appealing to me too when the person I was going to cuddle was Olive.
“Okay,” she murmured and turned in my arms.
I let out a breath. If she wasn’t so drunk I would’ve loved nothing more than giving her what she needed, but not like this where she would barely remember we had done something.
She settled into my arms a little more heavily, no doubt sleep slow claiming her. I wrapped my arms tighter around her and breathed her in.
Then I brushed another lingering kiss on her temple and let her curl into me. I glanced down at her and her eyes were closed. I closed mine too and relaxed. Soon, her breathing evened out and she fell asleep in my arms.
It had been a long time since I’d felt the way Olive was making me feel—if there had ever been a time…
I’d missed something. I’d missed what was happening between us. She wasn’t Dylan’s sister in my eyes any more. She was my Olive, just like the very first day we’d met. And now she was my wife.
Every time she looked into my eyes with her heart wide open, she was pulling me in deeper. As much as this whole thing had started as a charade, I didn’t know if I would be able to let her go when the time came.
I curled myself around her small frame and tucked her closer against my burning body. It wasn’t enough. Slipping my arm under her head, I pulled one of her legs over my thigh and made sure she would stay just like that.
With a soft smile on my face, I whispered, “Sweet dreams, wife.”
It took a moment for that single word to hit me in the gut.
It took another to feel how right it sounded.
It was a shame she wouldn’t remember anything past the point of me carrying her into her new home when she woke up the next morning.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR OLIVE
“How could you not tell me this before today?”
“Megan sprung it on me at the very last minute, Olive. Don’t worry, it’ll be fun. You’ll like it.”
“Are you sure? Are you very sure that I will like it, Jason?” I narrowed my eyes at him and watched his lips twitch as he focused on something on his phone. I heard a chuckle come from beside me so I turned my gaze to Alvin and lifted a brow.
I had met Jason’s assistant just a few days before when we’d literally run into each other at the house. I didn’t know much about him, but he seemed to be an okay guy. He was definitely on top of everything. From what I had seen for the past few days, he was practically running Jason’s life. Kudos to him.
“Did you know?” I asked him.
“Of course he knew, Olive. He arranges my schedule.”
“What the boss says,” Alvin agreed with him.
“Great. Awesome. Neither one of you thought it would be helpful to mention ahead of time that I’d be in a magazine shoot. As in, maybe, I don’t know, a few days before?” I kept fidgeting with my hands.
“Stop fidgeting. Other than making you freak out like you are doing right now, how would it have been helpful?” asked Jason.
I gave him a disbelieving look. “If I could’ve started freaking out a few days before, right now I would be much calmer, Jason. Also, doesn’t Megan need to instruct me or rehabilitate me or some crap like that? How am I supposed to know what I can say and what I can’t?”
He finally lifted his eyes to meet my gaze. “You don’t need instructions for a photo shoot, Olive. Just be yourself, and I’ll handle the rest of it.”
Photo shoot. Every time I heard the word, I started shaking all over again.
Apparently, Megan’s idea of announcing our happy marriage to the world was to announce it through the most fucking popular women’s magazine on the planet. I learned that there had been a talk of doing a live interview, but thankfully that idea hadn’t taken hold. A photo shoot was the lesser evil in my book, but it didn’t mean I was over the moon with that outcome either, especially when I learned about it the morning of.
“We’re here,” Alvin announced as our car stopped in front of a relatively small industrial building.
I released a big breath and exited the car after them.
“Holy crap!” I whispered when we stepped inside the building. It was a fully furnished loft, and it looked spectacular—apart from all the people running around, that is. As I took in everything around me, I forgot all about my nervousness. Putting his hand on the small of my back, Jason guided me farther in.
Seconds later, before I could take in my fill, Alvin was walking toward us with quick steps and a woman by his side.
When had he even left our side?
I forgot all about the loft and focused on the woman next to him. By the time they were standing in front of us, she had practically eye-fucked Jason and had a salacious grin on her face.
“Hello, Mr. Thorn.” Jason reached for the woman’s outstretched hand and shook it.
“Please, call me Jason. It’s Julie, right?”
Her grin turned brighter when she realized Jason remembered her name.
She nodded. “Yes. We are so excited to work with you today.”
Finally, they let go of their hands and she continued. “Our makeup and hair stations are ready for the both of you. As soon as you’re ready we can begin the shoot and then the interview will take place on the first floor, after we have the shots.”
I cleared my throat and caught her attention.
At last.
Her cheeks flushed, but only slightly. “Nice to meet you, Olive. I’m Julie.”
I shook her hand and tried to give her a genuine smile. “Nice to meet you, too, Julie.”
She clapped her hands once. “Okay. Let me take you to hair and makeup, then I’ll introduce you to our photographer.” She was still talking directly to Jason. Apparently, I was just an afterthought.
Jason grabbed my hand and my heart gave a small jump. I was getting used to the annoying thing catching me off guard; I kept telling myself that he was just a guy, but the heart wants what it wants, right? Well, mine was dead set on throwing itself at Jason’s feet until he picked it up for himself.
Loser heart of mine.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and trailed after them.
Almost two freaking hours later, we were finally ready. Thankfully, they kept my makeup on the lighter side, murmuring that they were after a natural look since I was already a ‘nobody’. Okay, maybe they didn’t use exactly those words, but, trust me, the meaning was there.
Whatever. I rocked the natural look.
Then started the wardrobe decisions. There were racks of clothing. Racks. They spent more than an hour deciding on the right wardrobe for us. At one point, they asked me if I’d be okay with being covered up in a white sheet while Jason was half naked, but Jason vetoed that idea before I could. Considering they ended up choosing only three outfits, the whole process seemed a bit excessive to me. Then again, what did I know?
The first outfit we all agreed on was a dress similar to the one I’d worn at the London premiere. Nothing too risqué, not too much cleavage, not too much legs, but definitely a little playful. The second one was for a casual look they were going for with black jeans and a white t-shirt that would be tied at the back, showcasing a bit of my stomach.
The third outfit…that one was my favorite of them all. It was white, backless, had cutouts in the front, and was very formfitting.
It was perfection.
How it would look on me? I had no idea.
They wanted me in the third one first. A girl from the team came to my side and hurriedly showed me into a makeshift fitting room where I could change into the dress.
I got into the dress, all right, but I decided not to go back out there. While the dress looked amazing on the hanger, on me…it was too much. The back was almost showing my butt crack, and the front…well, the front was showing too much breast without showing too much skin. When I had asked for the bra, the girl had just shaken her head. I could almost make out my nipples.
“Olive?” Jason’s voice came from right outside. “You ready?”
“Jason,” I whispered, crossing my arms against my chest as if he could see through the thick curtain. If he got a look at them, I knew my nipples would give him a show. “I can’t go out there like this.”
“What do you mean like this?”
“I mean–”
The beige curtain parted and Jason walked straight into me.
“Whoaa,” he said, grabbing on to my shoulders as I wobbled. Once we were okay to stand on our own, he let go of my shoulders and took a step back. “What’s wrong?”
“Jason,” I started miserably, my face falling. “It’s too much. They won’t give me a bra and my breasts are…” I opened my arms to give him a look and his eyes bulged.
“Whoaa,” he said again, his eyes getting bigger.
“Yes, exactly. And then my back…” I turned and looked at him over my shoulder. “It looks so bad on me.”
By then his brows were up to his hairline and his eyes were glued to my ass.
“My ass looks huge, doesn’t it? Jason, please. I don’t wanna do this. I’m not cut out for this.”
When his eyes stayed on my ass and he started rubbing his forehead, I faced him again and pulled on the long sleeves of my dress.
“Christ,” he said.
“Christ, what? What?!” I raised my voice. “They’ll make fun of me. I’m not fat. It’s just this dress…”
His eyes finally met mine and he tilted his head. “What are you talking about Olive?”
I rubbed my eyes. “You look like that,” I explained, gesturing to his body, then to mine. “And I look like this…” I could feel the tears gathering in my eyes.
Did he need more explaining?
His voice gentled. “Sweetheart, I’ll ask again. What are you talking about? You look…you look fucking stunning. If I could, I would…” His eyes dropped down to my breasts, but then quickly back up. He took a step toward me and held my face in his hands. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not happy about the dress either, but I’m afraid it’s not for the same reasons. I don’t want anyone to see you in this.” Another glance at my chest. “It’s a good thing there are mostly women out there. I’ll go crazy if they spend another hour choosing another outfit. What do you say we go out there, give them a few good shots, and call it a day, huh? Then we can meet your friends and head to the party. You were looking forward to that, remember? The faster we wrap this up here, the faster we’ll get to your friends.”
With my freak out, the small party had completely slipped my mind. The production company had closed down a bar for that night so the cast and crew could get together and mingle before the filming started a few days later. I was assuming most of them already knew each other, but when Jason asked if I wanted to go and maybe take the girls with me, I’d jumped at the idea.
“You promise I don’t look that bad?”
Something flashed in his eyes and his voice was gruff when he answered. “Promise.”
He held out his hand for me and I took it without hesitation.
“We’ll start the shoot on the second floor,” the photographer, Amelie, said once we were by her side. “Then depending on the shots, we’ll take a few down here or maybe on the stairs. We’ll see how it goes.”
Jason nodded his agreement and guided me toward the stairs with his hand on the bare skin of my back. The way my entire body ached when he was touching me…it was something else.
Amelie and her small team went ahead of us, and I stopped once we reached the bottom of the stairs.
“Jason,” I whispered and tugged at his hand to get his attention before he could start climbing up. There was something different in his eyes when he was looking at me, something that was making my heart do funny things, but I brushed it away. “If you don’t want me to flash Alvin and everyone who is still downstairs, there is no way I can go up these stairs with this dress. Unless I bunch it up and—”
Without a warning, Jason leaned down and lifted me up in his arms. I was too late to hold back my scream as he started up the stairs. My hands flew to my back to make sure everything was covered, but Jason’s forearm was already taking care of that little problem.
Everyone was looking at us—even Alvin, who was trailing behind us, had a small smirk playing on his lips as I clung to Jason’s shoulders. Taking advantage of the situation, I closed my eyes and rested my forehead against his warm neck. It was all I could do to not trace his bulging biceps with my fingers. Before I could savor the moment, we were at the top of the stairs and he gently put me back on my feet. I swore I could hear every woman in the loft release a sigh and fall a little bit more in love with my husband.
Jason cleared his throat and distractedly reached for my hand again.
“Okay. I want you guys in front of this wall,” Amelie said, placing us in front of the concrete wall.
More blinding lights, great.
Taking our place, I looked at Amelie for more instructions, but what did she do? She lifted her camera and started taking pictures. Baffled, I looked up at Jason and he smiled at me.
“What am I supposed to do?” I hissed at Jason. I tried to force my lips into a smile as I looked at the camera, but I could only guess how awful it looked.
Then Jason’s lips were at my ear and he whispered, “You’re supposed to love me, my beautiful wife.”
Tingles…
My mouth dropped open, but Jason’s expression didn’t even waver. His eyes on me, he leaned against the concrete wall and pulled me flush against his chest, my front to his front. Now everyone had a clear look at my barely covered ass and naked back, but at Jason’s words I’d already forgotten all about that.
“What?” I whispered, keeping my eyes on his face.
“Perfect,” the photographer announced from somewhere behind me. “I want to capture your natural chemistry. Please, Olive, try to relax a bit more and forget about us.”
Be quiet lady.
Jason buried his face in my neck and spoke softly—only for my ears. “They have no idea that we’re married, but they know we’re engaged.” He lifted his face from my neck and looked into my eyes. “You should look at me like you love me, Olive, the way I’m looking at you.”
Say what?
Had he lost his mind in the small amount of time it had taken him to get dressed in a white shirt and black slacks?
He lifted his eyes from mine and looked over my head. “Amelie, is it okay if you give us a few seconds?”
The clicking stopped.
Jason kissed my nose. “You’ll have to be a little more convincing if we want them to think we are in love. I’ll have to… touch you.”
“Touch me?” I squeaked.
His eyes dropped to my lips and he nodded. “And you’ll have to touch me like you actually like me.” Reaching down, he took my hand and put it on his chest.
“Of course. You’re right,” I said, barely recognizing my own voice.
“It’ll be over soon. You won’t suffer for too long, don’t worry.”
“Sure. No suffering. Over soon. Got it.”
“You ready?”
I relaxed my shoulders and nodded. Act and look like I loved him? Child’s play.
When he gave the okay, the shoot started up again.
Jason straightened from the wall and took me with him. His hand still on my back, he kept me close to his body, my breasts properly squished between us.
“Olive, can you look at the camera while Jason is focusing on you?”
I took my eyes off Jason and looked at the damn camera.
