Love Through LimeLight (12 page)

“I see you’re confused. Well. I wasn’t lying when I said
you’re famous, Fallon. In many circles. Your business sense and intuition make
you something of a…Moby Dick to certain people. We’d just love to woo you over
to our side so you could use your talents to make everyone around you very,
very rich.”

I snap my mouth shut at that. There are bright spots dancing
in my vision but the way Jayme is speaking tells me that I need to stay
conscious. I’m no criminal. She should know that, based on my past. I would do
anything to keep my hands clean and she must know that.

“Why…me?”

Jayme laughs. It’s a cruel, grating sound that makes me want
to throw up. “You took on the mainstream media without batting an eye. Someone
with balls like that would flourish here. Not to mention how seamlessly you
meld into the underground.”

I suck in a breath and start shaking my head. My days as a
Sugar Baby should have been confidential. Completely untraceable.

“Oh, come now. Don’t be so shy. Your exploits are
commendable.”

Without another word she jerks me up and grabs for the
bottle that I dropped before. She tsks again before uncorking it. I can hear
some kind of liquid sloshing around in the base and my stomach bottoms out when
she touches the rim to my mouth.

“No!”

I gasp the word, trying to fight her but it only helps her
cause. With my mouth open, she pushes the liquid past my tongue. I don’t get a
chance to spit it out because she knuckles my jaw closed with the bottle. “Swallow
or I’ll add more poison to your gloves. You’ll be dead before Harper even knows
what happened.”

I hope she can see the hate in my eyes as I work my tongue
to swallow. My stomach burns with the strange liquid but it doesn’t taste bad.
In fact…I flush as I realize she’s given me an aphrodisiac, one I used to use
on my clients during my Sugar Baby days.

The tingle that spreads through my body is the first sign
that I’ve taken way too much. My skin burns as my blood vessels expand, pushing
more hot blood to my pussy. I’m immediately soaked, caught in a horrible place
between arousal and terror.

I’ve felt this before. This complete, drugged helplessness.

“Now, now. Don’t cry. Look, I’ve got something for you.”

Jayme pulls me forward with an alarming amount of strength
for a woman her size. I stumble but she catches me and pulls me deeper into the
room. When I try to call out for help, she casually puts her hand over my
mouth, silencing my cries.

“We can’t have any of that now, can we? Just be a good girl
and go along with me for a minute. I promise to make it worth your while.”

Even if I had the strength to answer her, I wouldn’t. There’s
nothing I can say right now that would convince her to leave me alone. To let
me go. I seal my lips, pressing them together.

“You remember Angelica, right? Of course you do, you only
just met her.” Jayme laughs at her own stupid joke and I hope she can tell how
badly I want to roll my eyes. “Well, my little angel just about begged me to
let her take a crack at Harper. She’s quite irresistible, you know.”

Bile rises up in my stomach. I understand why they would
want to hurt me. I hate it, but I understand. These are people used to getting
what they want and I am a valuable commodity.

But the thought of anyone doing the same to Harper makes me
sick. I can’t let them hurt him.

By the time Jayme gets me to the next room, my mind is
working in sluggish jolts. After the fact, I realize that she had to walk me
through a crowded hallway to get to this new location. Unfortunately, at the
time my brain hadn’t been working well enough for me to register much.

I vaguely remember her apologizing in hushed whispers,
telling other patrons that I had had “a little too much wine.” I put a pin in
that and forced my humiliation and anger into a fine point. I will worry about
the damage she has just done to my reputation after Harper and I are safe and
sound.

If we get out of this in one piece.

The severity of the situation isn’t lost on me. I am very much
aware of the fact that I might be in mortal danger right now. But I can’t focus
on that or else I’ll just be scared. I can’t think if I’m scared, so I force it
away from my thoughts and focus on the here and now.

“Where are you taking me?” I wince because my voice does
sound drunk. I know enough to know that even though I haven’t touched a drop,
that won’t mean much to some people.

Jayme yanks me along, not bothering to answer my question.
When we finally stop, I am sincerely hoping that when I throw up it lands right
on her expensive shoes. “Take a look, Fallon.”

I raise my head weakly and immediately jerk. I’m in a tiny
room. It’s actually, more of a large closet than anything. There is one door
and little to no light. The walls are blank, except for the one right in front
of me. That is covered with a what I think at first is a huge mirror.

“It gets better.” Jayme hisses as if she reads my thoughts.
She presses a button and a light flashes behind the mirror-wall.

It flares to life and I know instantly that it’s two-way
glass. On the other side of the mirror is an ornate sitting room. The
furnishings are expensive, the decorations are tasteful. But I ignore all of
them.

My entire being is focused on Harper.

He’s standing in the middle of the room with his shirt off.
The dusky expanse of his chest is bare for anyone to appreciate and that is
exactly what Angelica is doing. She slithers up to him, stopping just short of
touching him.

“Are you sure you don’t need any help?” she says to him.

Harper’s voice isn’t the least bit playful, making her
fevered whisper seem out of place and strange. “I’m pretty sure you’ve helped
enough. Did you really think I wouldn’t be able to tell that you pretended to
spill that?”

A rush of dizziness hits me and I try harder to focus on
what Harper is saying. I can see him clearly but my ears feel like someone has
stuffed cotton in them. Everything is muffled and all that I can make out
completely is the pounding of my own heart.

Angelica reaches out to touch Harper’s skin. The world
shifts and I am not sure if it’s because my heart is breaking or because of
whatever Jayme drugged me with.

Crack.

The sound of skin connecting with skin in hard slaps jerks
me out of the haze that has been blanketing my mind. At the same time, Jayme
shoves me to the ground. She throws open the door to the little room in a
furious rush and steps through it.

Now’s my chance. I can get away.
Even though I think
the words, I can’t get my body to move. Nothing is working in my head. I turn
back to Harper, hoping he will be able to somehow get to me.

I black out again. I don’t know how long I am out but when I
come to, Angelica is crumpled against the expensive carpet. She is holding both
of her cheeks, which are marred with red handprints.

“Come on, Harper. You can’t be serious about her. She’s a
porn
star.
”

Harper takes a menacing step forward and the door to the
room bursts open. “Please, don’t!” Jayme’s red in the face and she has kicked
her shoes off.

The look on her face is sheer terror and that makes me
happy.

“Where is she?” Harper’s voice is cold and dangerous.

I’m here. Harper, I’m here.

* * * * *

Harper wraps me in a blanket while I shiver. We’re outside
the gallery, the blue lights of an ambulance flashing around us. I try not to
pay attention to the crowd of people gathering behind the police tape because I’m
sure someone has a cellphone out and is taking a ton of pictures.

“Jayme and Angelica probably won’t be arrested, you know,”
he says.

I brush the hair out of my face and crowd a little closer to
him. Sitting in the back of the ambulance with an IV hooked up to my arm isn’t
exactly comfortable. “Of course they won’t. People like that would never see a
jail cell.”

Harper chuckles, kissing the top of my head. “Don’t say
that. Look at Martha Stewart.”

I shake my head, refusing to touch that with a ten-foot
pole. There were more celebrities on my side of the argument but that would
just launch me into something more.

Harper runs his hands up and down my back as I try to sort
out my feelings. A paramedic appears and whispers softly to Harper, who hands
him a wad of cash. I raise my eyebrow but the paramedic ushers us inside and
shuts the door, giving us a little privacy.

“What was that?”

Harper shrugs. “Just a little precaution to try to keep this
as hush-hush as possible. I know you said you didn’t want to go to the hospital
but they’re going to do a little work-up to make sure the drug is out of your
system.”

I bite my bottom lip. “What did she give me, anyway? Were
they really going to kill me?”

Harper’s face turns stormy and he pulls me tighter against
him. “No. I’m sorry Jayme scared you like that. They drugged you but it wasn’t
going to kill you. If I had to guess, they were going to publically shame you.”

I grit my teeth to keep from saying what I think. I’ve
worked hard clean up my reputation to the point where I can go into board meetings
without worrying someone is undressing me with their eyes. Mine is a name that is
well respected and feared.

Anyone who tries to screw with that might as well be making
an attempt on my life.

“Did they tell you how long it would take to get out of my
system?”

“It should be a couple more hours. Why? Do you still feel
weak?”

I worry my bottom lip, knowing I’m peeling off my supposedly
color-stay lipstick. “I’m still feeling the…blood flow issues.”

That’s as far as I have to explain it before Harper takes a
deep breath. I get the distinct feeling that he’s breathing in the scent of my
arousal and the animalistic response only jacks up my interest another few notches.
I swallow audibly and he tracks the movement with his eyes.

“Fallon…”

“I know,” I whisper into the super-charged air. “But what
about just a kiss? Kiss me like you mean it, Harper. I need it.”

For just a quick second, it’s as if Harper lets down his guard.
He pulls me into his lap and I finally get warm enough to stop shaking. “Are
you sure?” His cultured, lilting voice is rough with strain and arousal.

I practically bounce on his lap and the blanket around my
shoulders slides down to my waist. “Please. I’m sure.”

His big, warm hand slides behind my head and down to my
neck, holding me steady—or holding him steady, I can’t be sure. When his mouth
touches mine, it’s all I can do not to whimper.

He’s not so lucky.

A groan of supreme male satisfaction slams into the air and
attacks my eardrums. My toes curl at the sound, catching the blanket and
twisting it around my bare feet.

The movement grinds me against his crotch and his hard cock
finds the perfect cleft in between my legs. When I move against him, he hisses
as if I have burned him. “Don’t move.”

I don’t get the chance to decide if I’m going to obey or
not. He grabs hold of my hips with strong hands and pins me to his thighs so I
can’t even rock against him. A mewl of displeasure climbs up my gut and into my
throat but he silences it with an easy brush of his mouth against mine.

“Just a taste, my opal. I can’t let us get too carried away.”

I want him to get carried away. I want to shatter his
control and make him want me as much as I want him. I don’t say that. Instead,
I lean into him, letting him brush his mouth against mine.

He tastes like expensive wine and good, clean man. My head
spins as he fills my lungs and suddenly the horrors of the past couple of hours
mean nothing. They never happened.

With one kiss, he transports me back to the beach, where I
realized I love him and would do anything to be with him. When he pulls away
from me, I can see that he’s in the same place as me. He sees himself in my
eyes and I see me in his. Just as it should always be.

“I love you, Fallon.”

His soft confession is like music to my ears. It makes me
want to sing, to get up and dance, to kiss him until he can’t breathe.

“I love you so much that is scares me. That I feel like it
should scare other people.”

I shake my head. “I’m not scared. I love you too.”

Peace, like nothing I’ve even known before, settles in my
chest.
This
is what I needed. This is what makes me whole.

And it’s enough.

I pace back and forth, too jittery to sit down. It’s been
almost a month since Bora Bora but I still have a hard time keeping my hands
from shaking when I think about it. That’s one of the reasons I’ve made an
appointment to meet with Giulia.

She watches me move back and forth, her keen eyes seeing
more than I want her to, but I can’t help it. I’m still not feeling completely
stable.

I huff out an agitated breath. “It pisses me off that there
aren’t any charges being filed. Who gets away with things like this?”

Giulia’s soft voice only adds to my frustration. “The rich
and powerful do. You know this.”

“That doesn’t make it right. I was attacked. There are
witnesses who just won’t come forward.”

“Can you blame them? If the powers that be can get away with
attacking someone as in the public eye as you are, what could they do to said
witnesses?”

I swear out loud, something I make every attempt not to do
one a regular basis. The entire situation has me tied up in knots. Even with my
power and prestige, there are still doors being slammed in my face. Injustices
are still being laid at my feet.

“But they know the difference between right and wrong. If we
all stand up and tell the truth, there won’t be any negative repercussions.”

Giulia tilts her head to the side. “This isn’t your first
unfair brush with the law, though.”

The reminder makes me want to cry. She’s right. I’m starting
to think that the legal system is just as screwed up as the media world.
Nothing seems to be just and fair anymore. My hands plow through my hair and
stop at my ponytail. I flinch. “What am I doing? Look at me, I’m wearing
sweats. My hair is in a ponytail.”

Giulia smiles for the first time since I entered her office
almost twenty minutes ago. “You’re allowed to relax every once in a while,
Fallon. I think now is the perfect time to focus more on being comfortable than
looking good.”

I throw myself into the plush chair I had been in and out of
and sigh. “How can you even say that? Every time I let my guard down, something
horrible happens.”

“That’s not true. Didn’t you tell me last session that you
had opened up with Harper? You said that was going well.”

Harper. Just hearing his name takes the edge off of my
rawest nerves. I run my hands through my hair, wincing as they catch in my
ponytail. The worst of my memories dull when I think about him. The way he held
me after the police had left made my heart break. He touched me as if I were
more precious than gold.

“‘Going well’ doesn’t begin to describe it. He’s perfect.”

I wave a hand in the air when Giulia raises an eyebrow.
“Don’t jump to any conclusions. I know that no one is perfect. I didn’t mean
that he’s without fault; I just meant that for me…he’s everything I could ever
want.”

Giulia nods. “I wasn’t going to get all shrink-y on you. I
know what you mean. Anyone could see that you guys were meant for one another.”

Other people have said so too but for some reason, hearing
those words out of Giulia’s mouth really touches me. I smile, letting her know
that I appreciate it. “There’s a lot more to him than you can see. Not only is
he handsome, he’s smart and funny…warm.”

I don’t mention the darkness I’ve seen in him. I know she won’t
understand. I fully believe that Harper would kill for me. Would find the
people who hurt me and turn them into paste if I hadn’t made him promise not
to. There is an intensity and honesty to his love that excites me in the best
possible ways.

He was right. Most people would be afraid of the way he
loves me. They would run away from the way he looks at me, the way he trembles
when he touches me.

But all I see if the potential behind his actions. The
intensity in his gaze promises the best sex of my life. It promises the kind of
thing people only dream of but are too afraid to ask for. I close my eyes for a
second and I can practically feel his hands on me again. That’s how strong our
connection is.

His hands, rough but never too rough. Pushing, pulling,
dragging me down and lifting me up. I shiver as I picture his teeth on me.

“…Fallon!”

I jerk out of my daydream and give Giulia a sheepish laugh.
“Sorry, I got distracted. What were you saying?”

She looks at me suspiciously. “Your face is flushed and
you’re breathing kind of hard. What were you thinking about?”

I blush even harder, shaking my head from side to side.
“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it. What were you saying again?”

Giulia grins knowingly before shrugging. “I was talking
about your relationship with Harper. I think you should focus on that. You went
through a horrible ordeal. No one can ever know the depths of your pain on
that. Even if they tried, they might not be able to understand how shaken you
are. So don’t let them try.”

“You think I should just let this go, don’t you?”

“No. Hell no. Those bitches deserve the worst kind of
punishment.”

Her vehement respond takes me by surprise. “Are you supposed
to say things like that?”

She clears her throat. “Probably not but it’s the honest
truth. I may be a therapist but I’m still human and what they did was
deplorable.”

It feels good to have someone else on my side. I fold my
hands in my lap, realizing they’re steadier than they have been in a month.
“Thanks.”

She clears her throat, seemingly a little embarrassed by her
passion. “You’re welcome. Now tell me about something else that’s happening in
your life. Where are your plans taking you?”

I shrug a little, giving her the rundown of my latest
business plans. Not only have I acquired several additional companies, I have
international traders begging for my attention. It feels as if I could conquer
the entire world from behind a desk at this point. However, I’m not sure if that
is what I really want.

I am spreading like wildfire, across different industries
and barriers. I can do anything I want with these companies. They know that I
know how to appoint the right people and implement the right strategies to turn
a profit. I take pride in the fact that I am making more money with my brain
than I could ever make with my face.

That kind of power can’t be taken away by anyone or
anything.

“Harper is even talking about getting me into the art
business. Maybe if I breach their world, I can see some actual change happen.”

“You sound like a politician.”

I open my mouth to deny it but her statement strikes me like
lightning. I’ve never considered it as a possibility before but most
politicians start their careers in either law or business. Why not me?

If I were one of the people helping to put laws in place, I
could protect people from the evil mainstream media. I could defend the private
lives of celebrities from vulture “reporters” who only thought to spread gossip
and lies.

That
is a fight worth taking up.

A slow smile curls over my mouth and grows until I am
laughing. I laugh even harder when I catch the confused look on Giulia’s face.
The thought of me in politics isn’t funny. I know that I will throw myself into
everything I do. I never do anything halfway and if I take up this venture, it
will be my whole life. I will do anything and everything to help the people I
take under my wing.

“Why are you laughing?” Giulia’s curiosity gets the better
of her and she taps her finger against her chin.

“Can…you just…imaging the looks…” I gasp between breaths,
trying to get my mirth under control. “Can you imagine the looks on their faces
if I make an announcement about running for some political position?”

I hiccup as Giulia starts to giggle, understanding why I’m
so amused. It would definitely turn the something another world on its axis.

Maybe that’s what I am good at.

At this point, I don’t even know if I’m serious but the
possibility is definitely there. It is always something to reach for. And I am
made for reaching new heights.