A Little Less than Famous (20 page)

“This is so awesome,” I said. “I’ve lived in California my whole life and I’ve never come up here before.”

“I thought you might like it,” Jake said, wrapping his arms around my waist and kissing the top of my head. “You like it?”

“Yeah, of course I do,” I laughed. “Sometimes you make me laugh, Jake. Super huge TV star and you’re so unsure with me.”

“Maybe its just because you’re so beautiful,” he said.

“Oh, I know,” I said
, lightly
, taking out my phone and snapping a couple pictures of the back of the Hollywood sign. Jake chose not to answer this, just came to stand next to me.

After we had made our way back down the trail and back to the car, we drove back to Jake’s house. I made it all the way through the house, up the stairs and up to the unmade bed before I collapsed. “I hope you have nothing else planned because I am seriously pooped.”

“Of course that’s not it,” Jake said, walking into the room and peeling off his shirt in the process. “You might want to shower; you’re going to get a little dressed up after this.”

I looked over at him, my eyebrow raised in amusement. “Oh y
es? Have a fancy
n
ight on the town all planned out
?” I asked, trying to ignore his bare broad shoulders as he tossed his shirt into the hamper by the door.

He shrugged, a lazy smile on his face. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“You say that a lot, did you know that? ‘Wouldn’t you like to know?’ Well contrary to your beliefs, Mr. Kennedy, I don’t always want to know,” I said, getting off the bed and heading towards the bathroom.

“I don’t think that’s true,” Jake laughed. “I think you’re the type of girl who always wants to know.”

I shook my head and shut the door of the bathroom behind me. I turned on the shower, setting the temperature to as hot as it could be without completely burning my skin off
,
and grabbed a towel from the cabinet behind the Jacuzzi tub. I was peeling off my dirty, sweaty clothes when I heard the door open behind me. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Jake standing in the door, without an article of clothing
on. I felt an intense desire
at the sight of him; there was a reason that women all over the world pined for this guy. “Jake, what are you doing?”

“What do you think I’m doing?” Jake said, walking past me, his fingers reaching out to graze my waist lightly. “I’m taking a shower.” He stepped into the shower, not even looking back at me.

I took a deep breath and
let it out, hating how shaky I
was. Every time I tried to keep the upper hand, he had a way of knocking me off my feet and unnerving me, in a way that had never happened before.
It didn’t help that Jake was so incredibly perfect. There wasn’t a flaw on him. His black hair was perfectly messy falling into those big blue eyes. He had full lips, a sharp jawline, wide shoulders and a narrow waist. Then there was the fact that he was fitter than any other guy I had ever been with. His back was
solid;
his arms were hard and muscled, his chest and stomach flat. It wasn’t fair; how could someone resist?
I crossed the few steps to the shower, and climbed in next to him.

The first thing I registered as I climbed into the shower was the hot water hitting me, simultaneously calming and exciting me. The second thing registered was how close Jake was standing to me, looking way too irresistible. I didn’t have to resist for long though. Before I had a chance to even react, his arms had wrapped around me, his lips pressing hard against mine. I responded in kind, a little ga
sp in the back of my throat. H
e deepened the kiss, a moan emitting from him as he moved closer to me, pressing me against the shower wall.

“How’s this for a birthday gift?” he breathed, his hand travelling down my shoulder, brushing against my breasts before moving down my stomach and then between my legs, causing my knees to buckle. I moaned slightly, pressing myself tighter to him, not wanting to wait anymore. He smiled mischievously at me, before pressing his lips to my neck, biting the skin there softly. His hands came right underneath my butt, lifting me up so that my legs were around his waist, my back pressed firmly against the wall.

He pulled away just far enough to look me in the eye, one arm holding me up, the other one guiding my hand down to touch him. As I looked back at him, I saw something in his gaze, something deep that I had never seen before and something that scared me beyond anything. I squeezed my eyes shut, pulling him even tighter against me, shutting out the emotion I was seeing in his eyes. “Now,” I pleaded, softly, under my breath, my fingernails digging lightly into his back.

It didn’t take him long to oblige. A few moments later, I was moaning into his neck, my fingers tangled in his wet hair. Jake was a beat behind me, his fingers pressing into my skin hard. He leaned his forehead against mine, both of us breathing heavily. My hands were still in his hair, as I opened my eyes and saw him staring right back at me. I smiled and said, to break the tension, “Wow.”

Jake laughed quickly, a quick breath of sound. “Yeah, definitely, wow. Happy Birthday, Kinley.”

I laughed, trying to ignore the shaky feeling in my knees. I felt ridiculously relaxed, happy and one hundred percent satisfied. “We should probably actually shower now.”

“Right,” Jake smiled, lowering me so I could stand on my own.

After we had showered, and dried each other off, he took my hand and pulled me to the closet. “I have a present for you. I hope you like it.”

“I already liked the present you gave me in the shower,” I said, wrapping an arm around his waist.

“Stop,” he said, smiling
, “or we’re going to end up
on the bed and your birthday isn’t over yet.” He reached into the closer and pulled out a garment bag and handed it to me.

“Jake, what is this?” I asked, suspicion in my voice.

“Just open it,” he said.

S
till staring at him curiously
, I took it over to the bed and laid it out neatly. I grabbed hold of the zipper and pulled down, pushing the bag aside to reveal what was inside. I gasped and pulled my hands back. “Oh, no, no, you didn’t. You take this back, Jake Kennedy.”

He came over and sat on the bed next to the dress, looking worried. “Why? Do you not like it? I can take it back; we can get you another one if you don’t like it.”

I swallowed hard, looking down at the dress that I had spent months, maybe even years
,
trying to track down, a gorgeous Suzy Perrette black party dress, with a ruched bodice and hitting right above the knee. It had been nearly impossible to find, unless you wanted to pay more than I could ever afford for it. “No, Jake, it’s…it’s beautiful. But I can’t take this from you. It’s too much.”

“It’s a gift, McKinley. I want you to have it,” Jake said, pulling me into his lap. I stared at it, longingly. Jake laughed. “Take it,
or I’ll have to wear it and we don’t want that
.”

I reached out for it, still feeling reluctant and longing both at the same time. “If you say so…”

“I do say so,” Jake said, his lips on the back of my neck. “Now get dressed; we have somewhere we need to be.”

A half an hour later, we were both in his car, dressed and ready, driving to some unknown destination. I turned the radio to the local jazz station and then settled back in my seat, feeling nervous about whatever the final destination was. It wasn’t until we had been driving for a while and had taken the turn off for the 57 freeway that I got suspicious.

“Where are we going? Are you taking me home?” I asked.

“Will you just sit back and relax?” Jake said, turning down the radio so he wouldn’t have to yell over it. “Just sit there and look pretty; I’ve got it all under control.”

“No, I can’t just sit here and look pretty,” I laughed. “I hate surprises and I want to go know what’s going on.” Jake took the normal exit, heading toward the diner. “You
are
taking me home?”

“Yeah I am,” Jake said. “You do want to see your dad for your birthday
,
right?”

“Of course but…” I trailed off, feeling extremely confused. I felt a little dressed up to be heading back to the diner, just to spend time with Jake and Luke. We pulled into the diner parking lot.

“Did you think I had a huge elaborate plan for tonight, McKinley?” Jake laughed. “I thought you didn’t want any of that.” He got out of the car and came around to my side to open the door.

“Of course not,” I said, my voice tense. “I just thought that this was kind of a fancy dress for you to get me for just a night at the diner.”

“I knew you wanted it and besides, you look pretty in it,” Jake said, his voice just as tense. “Now come on, it’s your birthday and your dad is waiting.” He came up beside me, wrapping his hand around mine. I smiled at touch and allowed him to pull me to the back door. I slipped the key in the lock, jiggled it a bit and then turned it, flipping the light as I did so.

“Surprise!”

I jumped back, my keys flying from hand and skidding across the floor and underneath one of the booths. I blinked a few times and took in the scene before me.

All the regulars were there, looking happy as can be: Diane and Robert, Cassandra, Oliver, Iris, Frank, Dave and his
family, even the cooks, Chris
and Mitch. Luke was in front holding a small sign, reading “Happy Birthday, McKinley!” I turned around to Jake, who was smiling broadly.

“You!” I said, pointing at him and laughing.

“Got you pretty good didn’t I?” he laughed, pulling me into a hug. I nodded. “I just figured you should spend your birthday with your family,” he whispered in my ear.

I pulled away, feeling that weird fizzle in my stomach that I had felt that morning when he had brought me breakfast in bed. I cleared my throat. “Thank you.” I turned around and walked away to embrace Luke and the rest of my family, trying to ignore what was becoming harder and harder to deny.

Chapter Eight

“They want me to what?” I asked, my mouth dropping open.

“Wow, no need to scream, McKinley,” Wendy said, winci
ng. “I’m pretty sure everyone
on the lot heard that.”

“Sorry,” I said, quickly. “Seriously, though,
Jake, this has got to be a joke.
”

“I’m not joking, McKinley. I was just surprised as you are,” Jake said, from the make-up chair. “They want you to audition to play Charlotte.”

“But…but I thought Isabelle Monroe was playing Charlotte,” I said, feeling really confused.

Wendy laughed. “She was playing Charlotte until she screwed it up by being a little too diva; too many demands, not enough work. They need to cast someone and fast.”

“Which is not to say that they’re desperate,” Jake said, shooting a look at Wendy. “Josh, the director, was talking it over with Cam and Cam mentioned that you were doing a great job reading her lines while you were helping me.”

“That’s crazy. That is some serious
crazy talk.”

Jake rolled his eyes. “Look, we need someone to play Charlotte and Cam was impressed with your skills. That
,
on top of the fact that you are the talk of town right now
,
makes you very appealing for this role. Charlotte is scheduled for six episodes, just to stir up some drama between Mikey and Maggie.”

“Are you seriously
suggesting that I do this
?” I asked, wiping my sweaty palms on my jeans.

“I’m not tell
ing you to do anything, Kinley;
I’m just saying why not try for it,” Jake said. He noticed my hesitation. “All right, think of it this way, if you get the part, Andrea will be super pissed.”