Jane Millionaire (10 page)

She wanted to know more. Wanted to move beyond her twenty-six years of being a good girl, and just live for the moment--even if it was only for one month.

But what she wanted more than anything was for Rob Lancaster to make love to her over and over until she couldn’t see straight. More caught up in her thoughts than her workout, she lurched and stumbled awkwardly on the machine.

“Ouch.” She rubbed her hand over her calf as a muscle pinched into a spasm. She hadn’t had a cramp in years, but lusting after the man in the mirror rather than paying attention to what she was doing had apparently triggered all sorts of aches.

“You okay?” Rob dropped his weights onto the mat and crossed the room.

“Charlie horse.” She groaned in total misery.

He knelt next to her and ran his hands over her calf. Her spasm eased as he massaged her tight muscles. Magic. That’s what his fingers were. Pure zinging masculine magic. Jill stared at the top of his head, spotting a single strand of gray mixed in with his shiny dark hair. How old was he?

“Thirty-one. Not that it’s any of your business.”

Had she asked that out loud
? Yikes. She needed to be more careful, or she’d be begging him to kiss her--possibly more.

“Don’t you want to know how old I am?”
Now why had she asked that
?

“You’re twenty-five.” He recited Jessie’s age reminding Jill she was living a farce in more ways than one.

“You know, it really isn’t fair that you know everything about me, and I know next to nothing about you.” His hands stopped massaging. “Don’t quit. That felt great.”

He frowned, eyeing her skeptically. “Did you have a Charlie horse?”

She flexed her toes upward. No pain. Had she had a real cramp, or had her body given her an excuse to get his attention? A reason knowledge of the camera wouldn’t cancel out? Her leg had hurt, but her pain was gone.

“Maybe you’re so good my pain went away?” Okay, so she was feeble minded, and her excuse was even worse. His hands on her body had been worth it.

“Maybe.” He conceded, his eyes briefly meeting hers. She wished she could read his thoughts, but those whiskey eyes revealed nothing. He stood and turned back to where he’d left his weights.

“Wait.” She grabbed his arm, the one she’d been fantasizing of running her fingertips over. His biceps flexed, solid and hard, against her palm. The ever-present zings of their skin contact pulsated through her.

He slowly pivoted. “What?”

She leaned close, whispered the words in his ears to prevent them from being picked up by the recording equipment. “I know I’m not supposed to be, but I’m attracted to you.”

She held her breath as she waited for him to react to her foolish admission.

“Don’t be.” He pulled back, his body tense, his hot masculine scent tempting her nostrils.

“I’m not very good at the games men and women play. Maybe it’s the cop in me, but I don’t like to evade the issue.” Her heart raced, and if not for the desire she saw in his gaze she would probably chicken out, but her every instinct told her he wanted her as much as she wanted him. She’d learned to trust her instincts long ago and doing so had saved her live on more than one occasion. Of course, in Rob’s case, her instincts sent out conflicting messages.
Stay away. Kiss him
.

She reached up, closer, almost close enough to press her lips to his ear. Heat, his heat, emanated, seduced her to go ahead, to taste his salty flesh. “I’d really like you to kiss me.”

She could barely hear his strained words. Had that been a Spanish curse under his breath? Whatever, it sure hadn’t sounded like an endearment.

“So? Can’t I spend this evening with you? Somewhere away from the cameras? At least until it’s time for me to show at the pool? Or afterwards? No one has to know.” Part of her was embarrassed by her boldness. Part of her warned she was skirting with danger. Another reveled in her initiative. Jill Davidson was hitting on a man--and, for once, not with her fists. Cool.

“Not a good idea.” He pulled his arm free but didn’t step away.

“I’ve seen how you look at me.” The same way he looked at her this very moment. As if a genie granted him one wish, he’d choose her as his prize without hesitation.

“That’s why we don’t need to spend any more time together than is absolutely necessary. I made a mistake by spending so much time with you before the bachelors arrived. I knew better, but,” he paused and ran his hand through his dark hair. Looking frustrated, he shot a glance at the camera, then leaned forward and whispered into her ear. “If we do, I won’t be able to help myself; I’ll have to have you.”

And that was a bad thing?

“What if that’s what I want?” She told him with her gaze that was exactly what she wanted.

“You
can’t
.”

A bead of sweat trickled down his neck and she was pretty sure it had nothing to do with his workout. Her gaze followed its path until his sleeveless t-shirt absorbed the drop. Tension visibly coiled through his body. He wanted her. She wanted him. Forget all the reasons why she shouldn’t be with this man.

He forgot to keep his voice down, or he simply didn’t care if the camera picked up the sound. Jill was too shocked to remind him as he ripped her heart to shreds with his next words.

“And that’s all a girl like you could ever be to a man like me.”

# # #

Jill plastered a smile onto her face as she stepped, clad only in a bikini, outside the castle a little before nine. An itsy, bitsy, teeny, weeny green bikini. Ugh. She always wore a functional one piece, but Gregory had insisted she wear the tiny scraps of shiny material. She had so much skin on display she may as well have been naked.

Oh, and don’t forget her stiletto heels.
Heels with a bathing suit
. She rolled her eyes toward the star-strewn sky. The beauty of the cloudless sky with its bed of twinkling diamonds failed to impress her. She was too busy concentrating on putting one foot in front of another. How ridiculous. She’d probably fall and break her neck, Jessie would have to fly overseas, and the truth would come out. Just peachy keen.

Wolf whistles greeted her.

Jill cringed on the inside, squelched the desire to fold her arms in front of her chest, and smiled like she was auditioning for the role of Miss America as she click-clacked across the patio.

Just remember, you wanted all this male attention
.

Even after she stumbled,
darn high heels
, she forced herself to continue smiling. After all, two cameramen stuck to her like glue.

“What’ll you have, doll?” Bachelor #7 asked, placing his hand on her rear.

“Not you.” She pulled away and suppressed the urge to toss him in to the pool. Several bachelors laughed. Very self-conscious of her state of undress, she carefully swayed over to a poolside table, praying the entire way she wouldn’t fall smack dab on her face. Who ever heard of wearing three-inch heels with a swimsuit?

Two of the bachelors grabbed her chair to pull it out.

“Thank you,” she said as she winked at another. She would play the role JP had outlined for her--even if she felt ridiculous doing so. Her ego needed a boost after the beating Rob had given it in the exercise room. Not that he wasn’t right, or that he’d told her anything she hadn’t already known.

The best thing she could do was forget about the way he made her pulse race.

Too much was at stake. His hot, sweaty body had made her lose reason, but he’d doused her in cold reality. She needed to stay away from him before she forgot she was a fake in every sense of the word. Before she forgot that personal relationships with co-workers never worked anyway. She’d focus on the bachelors, hope she didn’t get caught, and make it through these next few weeks. Then she’d go back to California and do as Rob suggested--forget he existed.

And maybe buy a little oceanfront property in Arizona while she was at it.

After two hours of smiling, laughing, and, surprisingly, enjoying the bachelors’ company, Jill excused herself. She walked through the house and toward the stairs minus the two cameramen who were still filming the bachelors--probably discussing her. She froze when Rob stepped into the foyer seconds after she did.

“You did a great job tonight.” His eyes raked over her bikini-clad body even while he grimaced, as if he hated looking yet couldn’t help himself.

“It
is
a bit nippy in here.” She turned to walk away, determined to ignore how her body reacted to him, but his hand clasped around her upper arm.

“Surely, you see the problems that would ensue if we act on the attraction between us?” He whispered into her ear, and she almost shuddered at the effect his closeness wreaked upon her senses.

“Whatever.” She pursed her lips. How was she supposed to ignore how he affected her when he was touching her? “The only problem I see is your fingers on my arm. Unhand me, or I’ll unhand myself.”

His eyes glittered. “I’m not one of the bachelors who will let you make a fool of me.”

“Oh really? You think they’ve been letting me kick their butts?” She poked her finger in his chest. “Maybe you’d like to see how you measure up, stud-muffin?”

“Don’t push me.” He clenched his jaw.

Jill was too far gone to care. She’d had enough of his steamy looks, then cold shoulders when she’d bared her heart to him and told him how much she wanted him.

“Oh-h, I’m so-o scared, dude.” She tapped her finger against his solid pecs. “One-on-one. Basketball, hand-to-hand combat, boxing, the firing range. Name your poison.”

She tried to ignore the way her breasts brushed against him, the way his spicy, fresh-from-the-shower scent intoxicated her better judgment. A tiny tic along his jaw line proved he wasn’t as calm as he’d like her to think. Good. Calm was the last thing she wanted him to feel when she was so frustrated she could scream.

“Meet me in the gym in fifteen minutes.” He pulled away and walked off, only pausing long enough to toss a parting shot over his shoulders. “You might want to change as I don’t intend to go
easy
on you.”

The jerk. She ought to wear the bikini. It would serve him right. So what if she broke her neck while trying to run in her heels? Maybe she could use the spindly spikes as a deadly weapon and deflate that ego of his.

She didn’t know. All she was sure of was that she wanted Rob more than she’d ever wanted any man and she couldn’t have him. She really needed to stay away from him before she got in over her head.

Chapter Six

“Hey, boss, you need to come see this,” one of the crew working at the computer station called to JP as he stepped into the makeshift studio.

JP rubbed his neck, cursing the ache in his bones. Growing older was hell. And he needed a smoke something fierce.

“Catching something good on film?” he asked as he slid into Rob’s leather seat. Crazy boy carted the worn chair everywhere he filmed. Said sitting in it got his juices flowing. Ask JP and he’d say that’s what a willing woman was for.

Still, he had been the one to give the chair to Rob. That had been on the day he’d convinced the film production company he currently worked for to give a prodigy kid actor a chance to direct his own production. Of course, he’d had to agree to supervise the whole damn thing, but JP had never regretted the decision.

Rob Lancaster was the son he couldn’t have thanks to a case of the mumps during his teenage years. With the ability to put a man on the moon, you’d think modern medicine would be able to prevent things like mumps and arthritis pain.

Settling back into the chair, he glanced at the screen for the first time. He’d just come in from shooting the pool scene so he expected to see footage of the bachelors still at the pool or Jane with one of the bachelors, maybe in a clutch embrace. Probably #6, Steve Jernigan or #10, Jeff Kensington as she seemed to have taken a liking to those two.

“Holy mother,” he cursed as his eyes took in the couple squaring off against one another in the foyer.

Jane’s eyes flashed green fire that matched her bathing suit to perfection. Hands on hips, she glared at Rob. Rob didn’t look too happy, either. Actually, he looked like a tortured man.

“How long has this been going on?”

“About thirty seconds after you walked through the foyer, Rob did. I think he was waiting for her. They’ve really been going at one another, but I can’t pick up on most of what they’re saying.”

JP leaned back in his chair, regarding the screen. What was Rob up to? He’d seen how the boy looked at her, but Rob was a professional and was never led around by his trousers. At least, he never had been before.

“What did she just say?”

“I think she just threatened to kick his ass.” Barely contained amusement laced the man’s words.