More Than Famous (Famous #2) (10 page)

"What? He told you about that, did he?" Layla looked stunned. "He's ruining all of my fun!" She chuckled under her breath. "Damn, I don't have any of those pictures with me, either. He used to rummage through mom’s frocks and jewelry. It was ridiculous."

Cade's mother just shook her head. “He always was theatrical.”

"So Brook, tell us about yourself."

"Come on, Dad," Oliver interrupted. "Like she isn't the only thing Cade talks about! Honestly, Brook, I think we know you as well as he does by now."

I felt my cheeks flush as color came into my face at his words.

Lillian leaned over to pat my hand. "Don't worry, darling, he thinks very highly of you."

"Pffft. Is
that
what you call it?" His father got up to get some more coffee. "That boy's done for, I'd say. Brooklyn, can I get you anything else?"

"Um, no, thank you. It was delicious." I bit my lip as pleasure filled me at his words.

"I'm so sorry for my husband's, uh, brashness, dear. Men are so indelicate, aren't they?" Lillian shot him a look that clearly told him to stop talking. I wanted to laugh. They were so cute.

"It's just that we just haven't seen our son this happy before, and we know there is much more to it than his success." She arched her brows and her mouth widened in a big smile.

"He deserves everything that is happening for him. He's very dedicated in his work." His sister and brother were both looking at me with their eyebrows raised. She and Oliver were so like their brother. "He always downplays how talented he is, but it's just so essentially... Cade."

Okay, why are they all staring at me?

I couldn't help but shrug and shake my head. "Is this the place where I say, he's gorgeous and brilliant and sexy as hell?" I smirked at them as they all burst out laughing. "Seriously," I nodded at them, "Because he is
all
of that! But, if you tell him I said so, I'll completely deny it!" We all laughed for a couple of minutes, and his mother came over to hug me wiping her eyes on the way.

"Cade is very lucky to have such a supportive family. I can see where he gets so many of the awesome things about him. You're all so great! I’m really glad to have this time with you. Thank you, for making me feel so welcome."

"Oh, it's our pleasure to finally meet you, honey," his mother put her arm around my shoulder. "It's obvious why Caden is so taken with you."

"Well, I'm very... taken, with him, too."

"Is there anything about him that you, Brook?"

"Layla!" her mother admonished, though his father just laughed. “Forgive my children their terrible manners, Brook.”

"Oh, come on! Don't be such a bunch of prigs, will you? You know you're all dying to know." She would not be put off. "Well?" Her eyes sparkling as she looked at me over her coffee.

Carter chuckled again and shook his head.

I laughed. "Uh... um, not really. I basically think he's pretty perfect." They all looked at me expectantly as if they wanted me to continue, "Um, except for the fact that so many women are in love with him... I could definitely live without that." I laughed and they all laughed with me again.

"You're a good girl. You make sure to tell me if my son misbehaves, honey, and I'll have his arse," his dad winked at me.

We were all still laughing when Cade walked in, wearing black jeans, a white T-shirt and a black stocking cap. My heart stopped at the look on his face.

"Okay, enough of poisoning my girl against me! Don't believe anything they say, love." He walked in and his mom got up to put her arms around him.

"We'd never do that, would we?" His mom's eyes looked pointedly at her other two children. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing.

I wasn't sure what to do next.
Do I hug him, just sit here, what?

Cade let go of his mother and moved to where I was sitting on the sofa next to his dad
.

"Hey, give me some love." He took my hands to bring me up from the sofa to take me in his arms and pull me close. "I haven't seen you in what? Ten or eleven hours?"

I let myself melt into him as his scent closed in all around me as he buried his face in my hair and held me tight.
Mmmmm...

My arms slid around his shoulders to hug him back and he pulled back slightly to place a brief, hard kiss on my mouth.

"Yeah, I missed you." All eyes were on us as we greeted each other.

He sat down on the sofa and pulled me down next to him, his arm going across my knees

"So, tell me how ridiculous they've been."  He gazed at me with an expectant smile on his face. "Don't leave anything out!"

"Well, they've been great. Very nice... and they only told me one or two really horrible things, I promise." I nudged his shoulder then winked at Layla who smiled wickedly.

“Yes, how dare you question our loyalty, Cade?” She added.

His parents and siblings laughed at Cade’s expression when it twisted wryly.

“I’m sure,” he said flatly.

"I like this girl, son. She's sassy. She's gonna kick you in the arse, boy," Carter teased his son.

Cade looked at me and then back at his family while everyone remained silent, all of them trying not to laugh. I bent my head to rest it on Cade's shoulder and put my hand over my mouth to hold back the laughter.

When his eyes returned to my face, his brows went up.  "What?"

I shrugged and looked at his dad from underneath my lashes.

As the morning progressed I told them about my family, my mother's interior design company and my dad’s job with Reebok, as well as my aunt who was in the business. It felt great to spend time with Cade in an atmosphere where we could be ourselves and let our feelings show. I was relaxed and calm and so was he.

Lillian was so warm and loving to everyone around her so it was easy to see how Cade would turn out to be so wonderful, too. All of them were witty, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with them.

"Brook, what are your plans for the holidays?" Lillian asked as her husband and children went to get their bags together. They were going to the airport to take an evening flight back to London.

"Um," I looked at Cade. We hadn't talked about the holidays, but my family usually went on a trip somewhere, and up until this year, David came along. "We usually take a trip somewhere, but I'm not sure my parents have made any plans yet."

"Well, if you would like to, you're welcome to come to our home in London. We'd love to have you join us."

"Mum, I haven't had a chance to talk to her about it yet," Cade interjected. "Don't feel obligated, love." He put his arm around my shoulders and rubbed my other arm with his free hand. I could see in his face that he wanted me to make the trip.

"I'd love that, but I do need to check with my family. I know you don't celebrate the American holiday of Thanksgiving in London, but I'm hoping Cade will join us this year." His eyes lit up and his hand closed over mine.

I turned to look at him and our eyes met.

"We have several more promotional obligations up through the first week of December, so you'll still be here, right? Until we fly to London on the 5th?"

"Yes. I'd love to, thank you." He hugged me closer to his body with the arm that was wrapped around me. "Will you be making the big turkey dinner, Brook?" He was teasing me.

"Caden! You shouldn't put her on the spot like that."

"Oh, Mum. It's Brook. She
expects
me to put her on the spot... quite frequently, in fact." He grinned at the both of us and I couldn't keep the silly grin off of my face.

"Yes, like you did in your interview, today?" I shoved his shoulder with mine.

His eyes widened and his brows went up slightly as an easy smile played around his mouth.

"Oh, about that; Bloody hell! He asked that question out of nowhere, and um, I wasn't prepared, I suppose. I'm not good at lying, as you know." He rolled his eyes at me.

"Hmmmm... Well, Denise won’t be happy, so get ready for a lecture." He leaned in closer to me and stopped a few inches from my mouth.

"How about you? Are you going to
give it to me good
, too?" The corners of his mouth raised in the start of devilish grin before he placed a soft kiss on my mouth, his hand and thumb brushing against my jaw as he brought my mouth to his. I blushed at his emphasis on the words.

Cade! Did you forget that we aren't alone?

I couldn't say it aloud, but he knew what I was thinking, and he shook his head, his mouth still hovering over mine.

My face burned at the blatant display in front of his mother, but I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of backing away from the challenge. He was testing me, and I knew it.

"You wish." I scoffed, laughing back and then glanced at his mother, who was smiling from ear to ear as she gathered her things.

"Yes... I do. No disputing here," he said as he once again lowered his mouth to mine.

I WAS SITTING
in first class on Virgin Atlantic with Noah, Martin and Brook on our way to London for the first of our Western European premieres. Both Brook's and my managers, Jeanne and Denise, were also accompanying us on this trip.

We had a five or six day stint in the series and while they weren't all stacked on top of each other, it would be tiring due to the jet lag and the fact that we'd have to hole up in the hotels for most of it. While we didn't expect mobs to the proportion that we did in the States, there would be more than would allow us to go out or see any of the sights.

We were on another red eye flight, designed to help us sleep in advance of the tour so we'd be as rested as possible during it, and get us in with the least amount of press coverage. The plane took off just before midnight L.A. time and we'd be arriving at about 11 AM in London, with one stop in New York to refuel.

The stellar success of the opening weekend in the United States had secured the scheduling of the second film in the series, which was slated to go into production in March. We'd gotten confirmation just three days ago. Our heads were still spinning at the seventyish million dollars that it had made in the first three days. Extraordinary and certainly passing even the studio’s lofty expectations.

I had mixed emotions about it. While it would be great to work with Brook again, it would also jettison her career at breakneck speed, and it would mean more sneaking around. Before this, they hounded me incessantly, but less so Brook. Now all bets were off.
Holy Hell.
If only we didn't have to sneak around anymore, but no doubt it would be ten times worse now.

She was sitting across the aisle by herself. The light over the seat next to her was casting a soft glow on her skin and hair as she slept. She was wrapped up in one of those red, airline blankets, and I yearned to go sit next to her, to take her in my arms and hold her close to me.

I sighed loudly and Denise leaned in to speak to me. "Cade, it's only an airplane ride. She's right there in front of you."

"Jesus, am I that bad? But that's not the point, is it? I'm sorry. I just see this as a huge bloody waste. I mean, why is this necessary? We've practically got the whole of first class booked, so no one would know if we sat together," I whispered urgently.

She looked at me sardonically, but I knew that she felt my misery.

Due to all of our promotional obligations and the paparazzi hounding us night and day, Brook and I had hardly had any time alone for the past three weeks. Even when we had interviews and such together, usually Wendy, Jennifer, Ethan or Noah were in the mix as well.

I missed being alone with her.

I was in the same damn town, not halfway across the globe, and yet, we'd hardly even seen each other. The only exception had been over Thanksgiving when I'd spent a couple of days at her house with her family. Unlike the first time when I'd stayed over after the MTV awards, her father was home so we weren't able to spend the nights together in her room and I was relegated to the spare room.

Talk about aching
. Knowing she was ten feet away and not be able to go to her, to touch her like I wanted was torture.
Like now.