Extremely Famous (15 page)

“I realized I left you without one of the guys,” he says slowly,
now unsure of my mood.

“Well, I don’t need a babysitter Drew.”

“Don’t be like this Syd.” His eyes clearly show the hurt that I’m inflicting.

I take a deep breath
. “You’re right, I’m being rude. But as you can see,” I twirl in a circle, “I’m fine.”

He grabs my arm and
brings me up against his chest. “Yes you certainly are.”

Okay, I’m not mad anymore. I drop the phone and let him show me
exactly how fine he thinks I am.

I stay at the hotel the next day while Drew does two print interviews and tapes another talk show. I have no desire to
watch another ambush. Denial of the entire situation, it’s much easier. Instead, I sleep late then head down to the pool to relax with a book.

The patio is crowded since it’s a Saturday
, so I walk directly to the covered cabana that I reserved and strip down to my bikini in the privacy it provides. Lying back on the soft lounge chair, I pull out a book that I’ve been meaning to read.

The pool staff seems to know
exactly how much to bother me. Just enough to keep my water icy and full but not so much as to be annoying. They also bring me an ice pack for my aching shoulder. I still don’t want Drew to find out that it hurts, his reaction would not be pleasant.

I’m just nodding off when the shrill ring of my phone startles me from my book. I take a look at the ID, Leah.

“Hey, what’s going on East Coast?” I say when I answer.

She laughs at my greeting
. “Not a whole hell of a lot West Coast. Having fun running around your old stomping grounds?”

“It’s okay,” I say cryptically. I can’t tell her that I visited all of my old childhood haunts, it’s too painful right now.

“Uh-huh,” she says, unconvinced. “I saw
Late Night Report
last night.”

Oh crap.

“Okay.”

“Okay? Did you just about die when you saw those pictures? You know that all of the tabloids went back and combed through every single picture taken since you met Drew just to find that ring in them?”

“No, I didn’t know that.” Wonderful, more scrutiny, more speculation, more paparazzi. I don’t tell her how angry Drew is that I won’t let him announce the engagement. I’m not even going to wear my ring anymore, something that is sure to piss him off to no end. But now that they’re looking for it, it would just fan the flames.

“Yep, they found quite a few
, Syd. It doesn’t look good. They’re going to be all over you now,” Leah says sadly.

“Well, we’re leaving the country tomorrow, so we won’t be as accessible. We’re only doing a day or two in each city. There won’t be time for us to go out let alone be papped
.”

Leah snorts.
“Keep wishing Sydney. They’re not going to have forgotten that quickly. They’ll still be waiting for you when you get back to New York.”

I sigh
into the phone. “You’re right. Plus, he’s taping a show today. Right now actually. Hopefully they won’t show the pictures again.”

“Yep, keep wishing.”

“How’s Ry?” I ask her, eager to change the subject.

“Not great.
He doesn’t want to leave the apartment anymore. Unless it’s for work, he’s pretty much a hermit.”

“Can you blame him? Those women are brutal!”

“I know. It hurts to see him like this Syd. I don’t know what to do,” Leah confides in me.

I laugh out loud.
“Well I do. You two need human-repelling costumes.”

“Human what?” Leah asks.

“Human-repelling costumes, you know, disguises? Like my ugly wig?

“That’s actually not a bad idea,” she tells me, sounding more excited than before. “I gotta go. I’m going to run this by Ry.”

“Okay Leah, tell him I said hi.”

“Bye! Thanks Syd.”

Well, hopefully my miserable experiences helped make someone’s day better. I toss my phone back into my bag and decide to brave the crowd and move to a lounger in the sun.

“Well, well, how are you?” A male voice says from behind
me as I settle into my new chair by the pool.

I stretch my neck ba
ck to see who it is and find my nose a few inches from the obscenely hot, washboard abs of Zane McNamara.

“Zane,” I say, relieved that it’s not a fan or worse, a reporter. He takes a seat on the lounger next to mine, a giant smile on his handsome face.

“I guess great minds think alike,” he says in a friendly manner.

I smile back at him. He’s so approachable and pleasant. He’s one of those people that makes friends with everyone in the room five seconds after entering it.

“So, are you enjoying the press tour so far?” he asks me.

I arch my eyebrows and my mouth
drops open. “Are you kidding?”

His face falls.
“Uh, no. Did I say something wrong?”

I
stifle a laugh. “No, no. It’s just that, I guess I’m used to people knowing that I can’t stand interviews or reporters or any of that Hollywood stuff.”

He smiles, relieved that I wasn’t offended at something he said. “Whew, I thought I insulted you. I wouldn’t want Forrester on my bad side when we still have a lot of days left to this thing.”

“Yeah, having Drew mad at you is definitely no picnic,” I agree.

“Well, I’ll let you relax. Do you mind if I take this chair?” Zane
indicates toward the one he’s currently occupying.

“Not at all.” I lay back and close my eyes, ready for a little nap.

When I wake up, Zane is gone so I gather my stuff and head upstairs to shower. As I’m lathering up my hair I think about what a nice quiet day I had. Well, except for finding out that the tabloids are going apeshit on my personal life,
again
. But New Sydney doesn’t care, right?

I’m so wrapped up in my thoughts that I don’t notice Drew watching me shower until he speaks.

“The view from out here is pretty nice.”

I scream and drop the bottle of conditioner.

“Jesus Drew, you scared the crap out of me!” I yell.

He smiles, his gaze traveling up and down my soapy body.

I hold up a hand. “No way buddy, stay out there,” I threaten.

H
is eyes darken at the challenge I’ve just thrown down. “Why would I do that? It looks so much better in there where you are.”

I instinctively lick my lips and lose my train of thought for a moment.
His shoes and socks are off and his dress shirt is unbuttoned. When Drew starts to move toward the shower I snap out of it.

“No, I’m st
arving and I want to get dinner. I haven’t eaten all day.” Plus, I want to talk to him about why we can’t announce the engagement and get him on my side. That way, I can let him know I won’t be wearing my ring for a few weeks. I’ll never be able to do it if he distracts me with sex.

His eyes narrow and he mashes his lips together in frustration
. “Fine, but I don’t think I’ll have this image out of my head. I’ll be thinking of it all through our meal.”

Hmmm, if he’s thinking of me naked the entire meal, maybe I’ll get what I want.

“Okay Drew, you can picture me naked if you want.” I run my soapy hands all over my breasts and stomach, down to the junction of my thighs.

“What are you doing?”
His voice is clearly strained.

“Me?” I ask innocently. “I’m washing up.”

I have no time to react, because Drew is in the shower with me, fully clothed, pressing me against the wall with his body before I can blink.

“Drew…” His lips crash down on mine before I can
say anything else. He penetrates my mouth with his hot, probing tongue, his hard length digging into my soft flesh through his soaked pants.

I reach
out and push his wet shirt down his arms, letting it slap to the tile floor. Drew hurriedly undoes his zipper and yanks down his pants and briefs with one hand, fisting the back of my neck with the other so I can’t move away from his aggressive kisses.

He hitches my leg on his hip and thrusts
into me unexpectedly, forcing a moan to tear from my throat. “This is what you get for teasing me,” he growls against my mouth as he releases my neck and grabs my other leg, shoving me against the cold tiles and driving into me over and over as the hot water rains down on us.

The sensation of him filling me up, pounding against
that incredible sweet spot that he always manages to find, renders me speechless. All I can do is cling to his strong shoulders and cry out in ecstasy.

“Fuck.” The word slips from Drew’s
mouth as I clench around his steel length, quickly falling over the cliff in a burst of pleasure that pulses through every nerve ending in my body. He grunts and submits to his own release, the tight grip of my orgasm milking him dry as he shudders against me.

“Jesus Syd,” he whispers into my neck
between rough breaths, dragging his lips up and down from my ear to my shoulder. Drew gently lets my legs down to the floor, never letting his mouth lose contact with my skin. “You make me crazy,” he admits as he pulls back to look in my eyes.

I smile and stroke his face. “I’m still hungry
. You’re not getting out of feeding me.”

He laughs and turns off the shower. “Then I guess we should eat.”

“I’ll be ready to go in about fifteen minutes,” I tell him sweetly right before I dash out the door to get dressed.

Drew doesn’t want to leave the hotel to get dinner so we’re eating downstairs at the same Italian restaurant we ate at the first night
. I hope that his post-sex contentment overpowers his possessive nature and I can get him to drop the whole ‘announce our engagement’ idea.

Once our food arrives, I broach the subject. “I know you’re upset that I don’t want to tell anyone about our engagement.”

Drew looks up from his food, surprised that I’m bringing this up. He finishes chewing and takes a sip of wine. “Yes, I am. But you know this already. I don’t like that you aren’t wearing your ring either, Syd.” His eyes fall to my hand and back up to my face.

My skin heats up, embarrassed
, as if he caught me doing something I shouldn’t. “I just want us to be on the same page, Drew.”

“So do I
.” He shifts in his chair and puts his utensils down on his plate. “What’s this about Sydney?”

Wow, direct as usual Forrester.

“I’m tired of feeling guilty for wanting to keep this private. I don’t want the media poking around in my life.”

Drew lowers his voice and narrows his eyes.
“Syd, this isn’t the place for this.”

Looking around for the first time since we sat down
, I notice that the dining room is pretty full and a lot of the patrons are sneaking glances at us.

“Jesus, see what I mean Drew? We can’t even have a conversation without it ending up on TMZ.” I throw my napkin on the table, my appetite gone.

“What do you want me to do?” he asks, unexpected condescension dripping from his voice. “Should I threaten to punch everyone who listens to our conversations? Because you get pissed when I do shit like that!”

I
feel as if he just punched me in the gut. Blinking back tears, I push away from the table and stand up. “You’re being an asshole,” I hiss as I turn on my heel and leave.

I stalk to the elevator and jab the button repeatedly, wanting to get to the room before I break down
or start yelling. It takes so long to arrive that Drew and Steve have caught up, and they quietly stand next to me while we wait.

The ride up is uncomfortable,
and no one says anything. The second the doors open on our floor I dash out, unwilling to pretend that everything is okay.

“Yeah, I’ll call you if I need one of you later,” I hear Drew say to Steve as I put the keycard in
our door.

I
dart into the suite and down the hall to the bedroom, yanking off clothes as I go. Pulling on my tank top and sleep shorts I stomp into the bathroom and wash my face. As I scrub I think about Drew’s attitude. Why should he always get his way? I don’t want this and he knows privacy is important to me. He should give me this one concession.

I leave the bathroom, even more determined to get what I want from Drew. His stubbornness isn’t going to deter me this time
, if he wants a fight then he’ll get one.

I find him in the living room of the suite, talking on the phone and pacing back and forth in front of the wall of windows, yelling at whoever is on the other end.
Frightening doesn’t even come close to describing the look on his face.

“Holy shit
!”

“Y
eah…”

“No
, you bettah fuckin’ fix this!”

H
e is beyond angry. Drew is the angriest I’ve ever seen him and I’ve seen him pretty damn furious. His neck and face are so red that they’re almost purple, his veins bulging as he speaks.

“I’ll fuckin
’ kill them!” he roars and I cringe back into the doorframe.

What the hell is going on here?

I want to know what has him so upset, but I’m too disappointed. There’s no way I can talk to him about the engagement when he’s angry like this.

Drew doesn’t even seem to notice me standing by the door. He’s too focused on
screaming at the person on the other end of the call. Knowing I’m not going to get anywhere with him tonight, I go back into the bedroom and climb onto the bed, listening to his half of the conversation.