Dazzled (34 page)

Miles

Waking up with Clare was the best fucking way to start the day. I wanted every day to start like that from now on.

Last night had been one hell of an emotional rollercoaster – actually dodgems would be a better metaphor. Bloody Lilia had nearly trashed the whole evening, but the ending was better than I could ever have imagined.

Clare. My best friend, my best girl. My
girlfriend
. It was kind of hard to get my head around the idea, but damn, it made me happy.

And the sex!

Jeez, what I’d been missing out on all these years! Just thinking about that made me a bit crazy. Hot, wet, tight; all soft curves and silky skin; flesh a man could sink his fingers into – or his teeth. So passionate. I felt like my lungs weren’t big enough to breathe her in, and my heart couldn’t beat fast enough to love her the way I wanted to.

I couldn’t get enough of her
.

I hoped she’d forgive me for behaving like such a fucking animal all night, but seriously – I could not get enough of this woman.

How had I been so blind? All this time, my dream woman had been right in front of me and I hadn’t seen it.

I blamed her.

I’d always thought she wasn’t interested in me. She was forever laughing at me, for one thing, and she was so smart – book smart and street smart – so I’d always figured she’d end up with some brainy guy from her university, someone who was as clever as her. I never thought she’d settle for me. Damn, I was happy that her standards were crashing.

Now, it was my job to make sure I did my best to live up to what a woman like her deserved. To try and deserve her. Because I sure as hell hadn’t
earned
her.

I wasn’t entirely certain how I was going to keep Miles Junior in check around her either. And seeing her cum! I’d never seen anything so fucking hot in my entire life. And I’d watched
a lot
of porn. Well, Jim the Unwashed, the guy that I used to share a house with, he’d insisted we got cable just so he could have access to porn 24 hours a day. But a real flesh and blood woman – there was no comparison.

And now I could close my eyes and have my own private porn show running in my head whenever I wanted it. Yeah, probably best not to do that around her parents. I mean, they liked me well enough, but no father wants to think that some guy is getting it on with his little girl, right?

It was hilarious seeing Clare so flustered this morning. For a moment, I really thought she was going to have me shinning down the drainpipe or something, just so I could avoid her parents. I’d stayed at her place hundreds of times – true, most times it was on the couch – but a couple of times we’d ended up in bed together, even though nothing had ever happened. It pissed me off to think about all the lost opportunities.

I let her go ahead, so she could break the happy news to Sheila and Graham that she’d been shagging the next door neighbor, but from the look on their faces when I walked into the kitchen, I realized that she’d left out that detail.

I could tell that Sheila was okay about it, but Graham wasn’t quite sure what to think. I guess he thought he needed to have ‘the talk’ with me, because after I’d eaten three of the most fuck-tastic bacon sandwiches ever, he took me aside for a ‘man to man’ conversation.

I didn’t know what to expect, but I wasn’t too worried either. I could run pretty fast.

It was fucking freezing outside, and his shed was no barrier against frost.

We sat on a couple of old deckchairs, and he poured me a glass of sweet sherry. God, I hated that stuff.

“So, Miles,” he said. “It’s good to see you again, son.”

“Thanks, Graham.”

We both took a sip of that God-awful syrup, and I felt my tongue disintegrate from the contact.
Damn
. I’d had plans for that.
Licking Clare’s soft, round stomach; licking her warm thighs; licking her full breasts and…
Oh, shit. This was getting awkward.

I shifted around on the deckchair trying to get comfortable. It was a losing battle.

“Ahem.”

My head snapped up as Graham cleared his throat.

“I want to know what your intentions are toward my daughter, to our Clare.”

I squared my shoulders and looked him in the eye.

“I love her, Graham. I want to marry her. I just haven’t told her. Well, I’ve told her I love her – I haven’t asked her to marry me – yet. But I will.”

“I see. Right. Well…”

There was a long pause while I waited for the axe to fall, to be told that I wasn’t good enough for his daughter. I wouldn’t have disagreed.

“So,” he said at last, “what do you think about Tottenham’s chances against Manchester United?”

We didn’t stay outside, I mean, in the shed, much longer after that, thank fuck. I was freezing my balls off in there, and I was pretty sure I’d need them later. In fact, I was hoping that Clare had plans for my balls. Wow, that sounds really bad, but you know what I mean.

Yeah, it’s probably not cool to be thinking about shagging a man’s daughter while you’re sitting in his shed drinking his sherry.

Graham popped a breath mint before we went back in. Sheila probably didn’t approve of sherry at that time of the day. It was so fucking disgusting, I didn’t approve of it either, whatever time it was.

Actually, I had no clue whether it was still morning or afternoon already. Not that I cared much either. My only plan for the day was to make up for lost time. With Clare.

When we got back to the kitchen, Clare was waiting for me with a tense expression on her face. I don’t know what she thought Graham was going to do to me – maybe hit me with a shovel and bury me in the back garden. She looked relieved when I walked in and sat next to her.

“Wow, your hands are freezing!” she said, as I touched her fingers.

“Yeah. December. Shed. But I can think of a few ways that you can warm me up…”

She blinked a couple of times and then gave this sweet, shy little smile. It was so un-Clare, but I liked it.

“Can you?”

“Yeah.”

“Um, okay. But I thought you had that interview thing to do.”

Shit.
She was right. I’d forgotten about that. Melody would have my ass, and not in a good way.

“Crap! What time is it?”

“Just after 12.”

“Damn. I have to go. I told mum I’d see her this morning as well.”

Clare’s face fell.

“But we still have a date for the Jacuzzi, right?” I said, praying she hadn’t changed her mind.

Her smile made my cock sigh with anticipation.

“Yeah, sure. What time will you be finished?”

“About four, I think. Come by after then? Room 607.”

“Okay. Have fun.”

I couldn’t help rolling my eyes. She knew I’d rather chew my foot off up to my elbow than sit and talk about myself for two hours.

The only person I wanted to spend time with was her.

“And, ah, stay the night with me, please, baby?”

“At the
Dorchester?”

“Yeah. Please?”

“Wild horses doing a clog dance couldn’t stop me.”

She stood up to say goodbye to me, and a quick peck on the cheek turned into something much,
much
hotter. I barely heard Sheila’s embarrassed cough, but then Clare was pushing me away.

“I’ll see you later,” she whispered.

I didn’t think any paps were watching the house, but I went out through the backdoor just in case.

Mum was standing at the sink. Yeah, and smoking a cigarette!
Busted!

I tapped on the door and she jumped. I couldn’t help laughing as I saw her stub the butt out and wave her hands around, trying to dispel the smoke. Believe me when I say that doesn’t work – I tried that shit when I was 15 and I didn’t get away with it then.

She unbolted the backdoor, a guilty expression on her face.

“Mum! You were smoking!” I said in an accusing voice, looking sternly at her.

“It was just one,” she said. “It’s been a stressful few days.”

“You nearly killed me when you caught me smoking!”

“You were 15 – and it’s a horrible habit to start. Besides, I’m your mother. Come here and give me a hug.”

“I don’t know, mum, you smell all smoky.”

She slapped my arm. “Don’t be cheeky!”

I laughed and she pulled me into a real bone crusher.

“I was so proud of you last night,” she said, into my chest. “So proud. Not just the film, but the way you looked after that awful girl, too.”

She looked up at me, and I felt my lungs tighten at the mention of Lilia.

“I know, love, I do. Believe me, but it was the right thing to do.” There was a pause as she looked me up and down. “I take it you’ve come from next door.”

I nodded.

“From Clare?”

I couldn’t help grinning when she gave an excited squeak.

“Really? You and Clare?”

“Yeah. I know it’s weird and…”

“Rubbish!” she snorted. “The only weird thing is that it’s taken you two all this time to work it out.”

I wasn’t quite sure what to say to that.

“You’re happy.”

It wasn’t a question.

“Yeah, really happy. She’s just…”

I didn’t know what words to use to describe Clare or how I felt about her. My admiration for scriptwriters grew by the second – they always knew what to say.

I stayed for a quick coffee, and mum filled me in on what the lawyers had said about a likely moving date to her new house.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to get back for that, mum. There’s a whole load of publicity stuff I’m contracted to do. I mean, maybe, but…”

“Don’t worry, love. I don’t expect you to. Sheila and Graham have already offered to help. So has Clare. I’ll be fine.”

That made me feel worse. Not that they were helping, but they were doing what I should be there to do.

Yeah, I was a lucky bastard in so many ways, but some things – like missing your mum’s big day – that sucked.

I got a few odd looks as I walked to the tube station. Probably the fact that I was still wearing my tux, or maybe the fact that I didn’t have a coat. Or it could have been because there was a bloody great nine foot high poster advertising
Dazzled
at the station’s entrance. It still felt strange. It didn’t feel like the guy in that photograph was me.

The train was crowded with people standing, but not really busy like it could get – not so close that you had your back shoved against somebody’s rancid armpit. Trust me, for the
London underground in summer, you need a biohazard suit.

My mind drifted back to Clare, and I knew I had this huge, goofy smile on my face. I couldn’t help it.

Then I saw the newspaper that the guy standing next to me was reading. The front page had a photograph of the crowd at the premiere and close-ups of people yelling at Lilia. It looked bad in the stills photograph; it had been a helluva lot worse to be there. The headline said, ‘Angel to Devil – Lilia Under Fire’.

The guy flipped the page over, and inside there was a strip of photographs showing the whole event, moment by moment, shot by shot. This time the headline had my name in it: ‘White Knight Miles Better’.

Fun-nee.

The guy probably felt me reading the paper over his shoulder because he glanced up, an irritated expression on his face. Then his eyes crossed and he did this comic double take. I knew I had about two seconds before he said something. Thank God the train was pulling into the station at Hyde Park Corner.

I pushed my way to the doors and had just managed to jump off when I heard him call out, “Hey, man!”

Too slow, sucker
.

The winter afternoon sun felt bright compared to the gloom of the underground station, and I walked briskly through the park, my breath weaving like smoke through the winter air.
Jeez, it was cold
. I’d gotten, um, become so used to LA weather, I’d forgotten that London in December was cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey. I shoved my hands in my pockets and picked up the pace, then risked life and limb crossing the busy road in front of the hotel…