Isle of Sensuality (7 page)

And yet…

He remembered back to the first night they’d met. He’d had her pressed against the door and tried to kiss her. She’d practically run away from him and looked terrified. And again, last night when they’d eaten dinner by the woods, she’d seemed afraid.

Well, that changed everything. He could understand her terror about filming and another pang pierced his heart. He’d try to persuade Sean to drop it, or perhaps cut it short. Still, he wasn’t hopeful. The romance was the only thing the poorly written script had going for it.

Sadly, he could no longer pursue his idea of a brief fling with her, regardless of how much his body protested. Caitlyn had held onto her virginity for a reason. One which he had no interest in finding out. In his experience, women who put so much value on sex were the kind of women who wanted commitment and promises. He couldn’t give either. For the next few months he was just going to have to ignore his heightened sex drive and get on with what he’d come here to do. Work.

Chapter 5

Nerves. That’s what the skittery feeling in Caitlyn’s stomach was.
Not
anticipation. Jake had barely spoken to her at work since she’d admitted why she wasn’t comfortable with the scene. He hadn’t flirted. There were no more cheeky grins. No more invitations to dinner. Only a cold professionalism which made her feel strangely bereft.

And the love scene had not been cut.

Jake had kept his promise. He had
tried
to convince Sean to cut it, using the excuse that what sounded like a steamy scene on the beach would in actual fact appear tacky. But Sean had refused.

She paced across the tiled floor of the fancy villa she’d been allocated. A hard knock at the door froze her to the spot and she stared in the direction of the exit. Who would be calling on her at this time? She’d yet to make any connections with the other actors and she was due on set in half an hour.

She hurried to the front door, wishing there was a peep hole there. Her nerves were making her skittish. Caitlyn opened the door, placing one foot firmly in its way, halting the intruder from entering. She was shocked speechless when her gaze locked onto the hunky Adonis leaning against the door frame. Jake looked every bit as sexy and nonchalant as she’d remembered.

She swung the door open all the way and drank him in with her eyes. He lounged there like his appearance at her temporary home was something he did all the time. His face gave way to that special grin which never failed to weaken her knees.

“Can I come in?” His deep voice rumbled through her.

Caitlyn stepped to the side with her head down. Maybe if he couldn’t see her face he wouldn’t be able to guess how his presence made her lose control of herself. Or more specifically, her body.

He strolled past her, swinging a glass bottle by his side. Her attention focused on it and she saw it was black labeled vodka. What on earth was he doing with that?

“Where’s your kitchen?” he asked.

“Why?” Caitlyn couldn’t mask her suspicious tone. In fact, hiding any of her emotions in front of this man was proving to be a challenge. It was embarrassing to think her eight years of experience of pretending she was someone else couldn’t help her around him. She felt irritation bubble in her stomach.

Jake didn’t answer. Instead, he opened several doors in the hall until he discovered the room he was looking for. He marched through without a backward glance. She followed.

“What are you doing?” she demanded as he placed the vodka on the table and began rummaging through the cupboards.

“Where are your glasses?” Before she answered, he found them. “Never mind.” Jake pulled out two tumblers and brought them over to the table. He poured two heavy shots of the spirit into each glass. He offered her one. Caitlyn frowned at the glass of liquid in his outstretched hand.

“I don’t drink,” she insisted and folded her arms across her chest.

Jake sighed. “I thought as much when I saw your face after you drank the wine on the beach.” He picked up his glass and downed it in one gulp. “But, in my experience, it helps with these kind of scenes. As much as a score of champagne usually helps the tension afterward.”

Caitlyn eyed the glass he’d poured for her. Could one little glass of fluid really turn her into her father? She doubted it. He had drank bottles at a time before going to the pub. It was only when he returned that he had lashed out. A part of her, even during the beatings, had gone out to her father. He had never gotten over her mother’s death, but she could never justify the way he’d dealt with it.

Still, Caitlyn wasn’t going to let a glass of translucent liquid get the better of her. And Jake did have a point. She’d heard alcohol calmed nerves and loosened inhibitions, and she could really use the Dutch courage right now. Perhaps that was what she needed. Before she chickened out, Caitlyn swiped the glass from his hand and swallowed it in one burning, eye-watering gulp. Good God, it hurt. She gasped and, to her ever present irritation, Jake laughed.

“The burn will fade and the glow will help. I’m going to leave the bottle here. Help yourself.” He walked to the kitchen door, paused, and then turned back to her. “Don’t drink too much though.”

She frowned at him. “Of course I won’t!”

After throwing her another of his bone-melting grins, he was gone and Caitlyn was left staring at the empty glass in her hand. Jake was right, the burning taste had disappeared and she felt a tingle of warmth in her tummy, almost masking the nerves. Surely one more would banish them completely?

Pouring herself a slightly larger helping of the fire water than Jake had, she put the glass to her lips and noted it smelled worse than turpentine. Ugh. Caitlyn’s nose wrinkled as she inhaled again. After a moment, she had the idea that if she didn’t smell it, surely the taste wouldn’t be so bad. Plugging her nose between a thumb and forefinger, she gulped the heavy-handed shot and scrunched her features together as the burning liquid trickled down her throat.

Soon, her nerves vanished and a warm glow crept through her body. Caitlyn was ready to face the scene. God, she was ready to face anything. A grin spread across her face as she picked up her bag and made her way toward the door. Maybe she didn’t know how to act in a love scene, but, for the life of her, she couldn’t care…

* * * *

The fancy villa with the glass wall facing the sea which she’d driven by with Jake all those nights ago was where Sean eventually agreed to film the dreaded scene. Caitlyn noted, with a smile, that the dread was long gone. Her head felt fuzzy and her body warm from the two shots of alcohol she’d drank. It was lovely.

“You have to put these on.” Julie handed Caitlyn a pair of skin colored panties and bra.

Caitlyn accepted the garments without fanfare, all the while wondering if the drink really had changed her. She frowned at the thought. It was ridiculous. Two shots of vodka weren’t enough to change her. Only relax her like Jake said it would.

Jake. God, how had he known? There was so much she tried to hide from everyone—and managed to surprisingly well—but it seemed she couldn’t hide everything from him. The thought should terrify her, but it didn’t. Caitlyn was too busy enjoying the artificial warmth creeping through her veins to worry about anything at that moment.

Julie slid out of the master bedroom where filming would commence, leaving her alone to change. Caitlyn paced over to the huge window. The rain spattered against the glass and rang in her ears.

Yesterday, Jake had slipped in casually that it would be all right, she just had to follow his lead, to trust him. And Caitlyn was beginning to. If not would she have drank vodka, knowing how alcohol had transformed her father into a monster? It was merely herself she couldn’t trust.

All week she’d fought against her attraction to him, and it had been harder since the kiss they shared. Now, she’d be kissing him again, their almost naked bodies twined together beneath the sheets on the impressive king-sized bed. Caitlyn had no idea how she would be able to mask her attraction under those circumstances. Even under the influence of the vodka and after she’d convinced herself he wasn’t her Mr. Right, she still wanted him.

Caitlyn shucked her clothes and donned the underwear and a robe, and then walked across to the bed and sunk onto the edge. She placed her head in her hands. Five deep breaths later, and the sound of Sean’s voice grew nearer. God, it was happening. It was really, really happening.

Thankfully, the build up shot was in the lounge and would be filmed another day from a smaller villa. Sean just wanted this room for the love scene, and she could see why. Four posts rose from the corners of the sturdy oak bed frame. White silk material draped with art-like precision around the top, and the view of the ocean, even with the dark clouds, was spectacular. The room was magical.

The bedroom door swung open and Julie entered, followed by Sean, two cameramen, the boom operator, and, at their heels, Jake. Her eyes widened as he entered and her heart leapt into her throat. He hadn’t bothered with a robe.

His body was a masterpiece. A sculpture of flesh and muscle even Michelangelo would have been proud of. Wide shoulders rippling with undisguised strength led down to a slightly narrower waist. His chest was defined solely by muscles, and gold hair sprinkled from the heart of him all the way down to a pair of skintight bare briefs.
Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!
Caitlyn turned her attention away to hide the fact that her body was melting from the inside out.

“Okay, guys, you know the drill,” Sean said and sunk into a fold-out chair beside the wicker wardrobes.

The cameramen set up at the side and rear of the bed. Jake approached her, his jaw tense and his eyes shuttered. She tried to stand, willed herself to run, tried to move at all, but couldn’t. She was trapped in his gaze and under the spell of want his near-naked presence had caused.

He lowered himself onto the bed next to her, and then leaned close to her ear. “It will be okay. You’ll do great. I promise.” The whisper of his breath made her shiver.

The secret place between her thighs ached and her nipples tightened. She wished, with all her heart, she could just be immune to him. Caitlyn had been counting on the vodka to assist. She never had any luck.

Caitlyn nodded, not trusting her voice. He took her hand, stood, and pulled her up with him. One of his hands settled on her lower back and rubbed small circles, while he threw back the sheets. Even through her robe, she could feel the heat of his skin seeping into her, turning her body into a shell of vibrating hormones.

He laid down on the bed and tugged her hand for her to follow. She kept her attention on his eyes, knowing his body would only make her arousal far worse. A deep, almost feral hunger was barely concealed in the chocolate depths. Her stomach quivered as that same hunger sped through her body, banishing her insecurities. With trembling hands, Caitlyn slid off the robe.

Jake pulled her to his side with a tenderness she wouldn’t have guessed he possessed. Her heart gave a tug in her chest, but the heat raging through her veins, blended with the warmth of the vodka glow, made every inch of her skin sensitive and wiped the thought away.

With the covers propped loosely on his hips, he rose over her and she instinctively opened her thighs. Jake moved between them and propped his weight on forearms bracketing her head, the muscles there bunched with the pressure. He gave her a tense smile.

“Action,” Sean called, and Caitlyn’s breathing sped.

Jake threaded his fingers through her hair and angled her head toward his face. Tension lined the hard planes of his jaw. She linked her arms around his back and felt the muscles bunch beneath her fingers. His breathing grew ragged along with hers.

Jake brushed his mouth against her jaw, her cheek, and then finally her lips. Caitlyn could feel his bare thighs against hers. Fire spiraled out from her core and spread to every part of her body. His spicy smell made her blood boil, and her hands snaked around his neck as she wrapped her legs around his torso.

“Caitlyn,” Jake whispered into her mouth, a broken whisper which she didn’t so much hear as feel. She groaned, tasting the addictive substance his kiss was made of and let instinct take over.

The length of Jake’s arousal rubbed the thin, cotton panties which were now almost soaked through. She groaned into his mouth as one pretend thrust skimmed her sensitive nub of flesh, now swollen and desperate to be touched. She ground her hips against him, again and again, the vodka warmth and fire inside her morphed into a pressure which ached to be released.

What on earth had she been thinking of, shying away from something as amazing as this all her life?

Jake’s thrusts increased in speed and pressure. Her mind went fuzzy around the edges. Everything around her disappeared. All that was left was the sound of blood pounding in her ears. His mouth against hers. The feel of his hard strength pushing her closer to some unknown pleasure.

Caitlyn hovered at some undiscovered edge. Needing more pressure. Needing, something. She couldn’t think. Moans escaped her mouth that sounded almost alien to her. This…this was almost bliss. It was so close she could feel it.

“Cut!”

Jake froze, the tension in his body clear from his rigid frame. Caitlyn trembled with unfulfilled need. For a moment, she couldn’t figure out what had happened. Where she was. Then the world came back into focus, and she remembered.

The frustrated embarrassment made her cheeks flame unbearably. The vodka burn did nothing to hide her internal torture. Just one more second and she’d have known. She’d have known what that unbelievable mounting of pressure would do when it exploded. She’d wanted it more than she’d ever wanted anything. And now, now it was ripped away.

“Let’s shoot that again. Less panting, more moaning,” Sean declared.

Jake sank his head into the pillow next to her and groaned, his body still taut. She could understand his frustration. If he felt even an ounce of what she did, then this would be torture for him too.