Unforgettable (15 page)

I did not say yes. But I could not say
no.

I kissed him on the cheek and went to
find a beer.

I stared at my beer for a long time,
then I walked to the back and knocked on Fritz’ door.

He opened the door and smiled. I had to
have him, at least hold him.

He took me by the hand and led me
through his amazing house, to his bed.

“No sex,” I whispered.

He moaned.

His shirt was off .

He lay down beside me and kissed
me.

“I love you Samantha Rose.”

“I love you, too.”

We kissed.

“
Marry me tonight,” he
whispered. “We would be so fantastically happy, you and
I.”

I nodded. He was right.

I turned over, hugging his arm, kissing
his hand, feeling warmth and fear all at once. What would Jack do
in the morning?

I had a hard time falling
asleep.

The Chief of Police, Eugene
Matthews, was not a large man. But his face was a screwed up
symphony of mean. He met the council member, a pert, blonde, woman,
behind an ice cream shop.

"Eugene," she
smiled.

"Yeah."

"Any requests this month I
need to know about?"

"Seems there was an
unfortunate suicide."

"Again, Eugene?"

He nodded.

"People get very depressed
around you."

He grinned and handed her a
box of doughnuts.

"Some people get very
happy. Like you."

She peeked in the box and
smiled.

"I'm sure the evidence will
support you, Eugene. As always. I'll back you up you with the
council. Again."

He nodded. He leaned
forward as if to kiss her but withdrew.

"How's the
wife?"

"Visiting her
sister."

"Again?"

He shrugged.

She noticed, for the first
time, the attractive blonde woman in his car.

"Guess you keep busy while
she's gone."

"Always."

She walked to her Mercedes,
got in, winked, and drove away.

Wednesday

I woke up, still in my clothes, in
Fritz’ bed.

Without Fritz.

He strolled in with coffee.

“
You’re awake.”

“
Is anyone awake at
three-thirty in the morning?”

“
Yes, lots of people. Did
you sleep well?”

“
No. I woke up twice and
worried about what Jack would do. If he knew I was here.
Terrible.”

“
This is all his world.
That’s why I keep saying we need to go away. I think you would feel
much more relaxed and we could work on that panic problem of yours.
Day and night. Night and day. Relentlessly. I’ll sacrifice
everything. In the name of fabulous, fear-free, fornication.” He
had that mischievous twinkle.

I hit him with a pillow and he tackled
me. We wrestled until I landed on top. He had my hands. He thrust
against me.

“
Now, love,” he
whispered.

“
You have no idea how much I
want to. But I can’t. Soon, though.”

He smiled, playing with my nipples. I
was on the edge of a seismic orgasm, leaning back like a kid on a
merry-go-round.

His fucking phone rang.

“
Yes?” He pretended to
breathe hard. “She’s not missing, she’s here naked with me. Oil
dripping from her sweet, sweet body. I was just about to shag
her…again. What is that, love, twelve times now?”

He laughed and hung up.

“
Bugger’s always testy this
time in the morning. ‘Suppose we should get on the
road.”

I kissed him, he slipped his hand in my
pants, laying me down. Seconds later the waiting orgasm
exploded.

He held me tight, playing through
it.

“
Oh my God.” I rolled into
him curling up in his arms.

“
I always like to finish
what I start.”

“
You are so good at this.
Can’t we lock the door and stay here all day?”

“
You’d be breaking your own
rules. And David’s instructions. Not to mention Jack breaking down
the door. You worked up quite a sweat. ‘Can’t wait until we do the
whole show.”

“
Me, too. Fritz?”

“
Yes.”

“
How will I ever choose? I
love you, I love David, I love Jack. I’m going insane.”

“
I don’t know. But time will
tell. It will. Just know I’m here. And I love you.”

We were on the road by four-thirty,
driving in the dark.

“
This reminds me of when I
was a little kid and we went on vacation. I don’t know why but my
dad would make us get up really early so we could beat the
traffic.”

Jack, never the morning person and
already pissed that I had spent the night with Fritz, leaned the
seat back and tried to ignore me. We were in one of the SUV’s,
Gloria and Luis were following us.

“
I’d love to drink this
coffee but if I do I’ll have to pee and pee and you’ll have to
stop…just like on my family…,” I stopped as Jack turned around and
stared at me.

“
You want me to stop
talking?”

He put his head back down and closed
his eyes.

I waited to deliver the final
blow.

“
That’s just how my parent’s
friend, Martha, was, always asleep—and I mean snoring. And she’d
stick her feet right over the heater so we’d all freeze—for the
first…”

Jack threw his empty cup at me and I
laughed.

Fritz got us there at ten after six. I
was surprised at how worn and rugged the ranch was. To the right
was one long, low house that looked like it’d been stepped on, with
a tent city around it. Horses and pigs were corralled and cars,
trucks and vans occupied one entire field. The place was moving,
people going everywhere even though the sun was just waking
up.

Jack told Fritz to go ahead. He looked
at me.

“
I need to talk to
Sam.”

“
Don’t start anything…”
Fritz almost growled, hesitating, then walking on.

My stomach was churning.

He motioned me to the front
seat.

“
You went to Fritz last
night.”

“
Yes.”

He nodded.

“
Have you made your
decision?”

“
No.”

“
If I recall, when you were
in
my
bed, you
told me you wanted me more than you wanted anyone in your
life.”

He turned, facing me, holding my
hand.

“
Yes.”

“
You weren’t
lying.”

“
No, Jack.”

“
Then why? Last night? With
Fritz?”

I really didn’t know. Then the truth
suddenly spilled out of my mouth.

“
In the bedroom. Upstairs.
You scared me. I felt out of control. I wanted to be with Fritz.
Feeling in control.”

“
I’m sorry I scared you. Did
you and Fritz…?”

“
Have sex? No. Played a bit.
Clothes on, no sex. I’m going to have tee shirts made.”

Jack grinned.

“
Played a bit. I can only
guess what that means. I take it you’re going to see David
again.”

“
Yes.”

“
You’re going to bed with
him, aren’t you?”

“
Jack…I can’t…”

“
You’re driving me
insane.”

“
I don’t mean
to.”

He stared at me then got
out.

We left the car and walked toward the
center of the activity.

“
I see Kelly. She’s over
there in the yellow baseball hat. Let’s go talk to her.”

“
Who’s Kelly?”

“
Second Unit Director,” Jack
yelled over his shoulder.

“
Jack, good morning.” Kelly
was a short redhead with a generous dose of freckles. “Costume and
make-up are over in the orange tent. Coffee and food in the gray
tent. We’ll be shooting over by the tree…with all of the lights.
How’s the ankle?”

“
Good,” he lied.

“
Right. Selling any bridges
lately?” Even though she seemed to have a sense of humor her face
had no smile function on it, just stress. “Winston and Randy are in
make-up. We’ll do scene six first. I had Shandi’s scene first but
she’s running a little late.” She rolled her eyes and Jack
laughed.

“
I’m hungry,” he
said.

We walked to the gray tent, where there
was a large crowd milling around. The terrain was tough on
crutches. He kept hitting holes and rocks throwing him off
balance.

“
Are you sure you can’t make
this damn ankle heal faster?”

“
Yup, I’m sure.”

“
But you can sneak out in
the middle of the night to hop into bed with Fritz.”

Fritz came up behind him. He moaned.
“Now you’re going to upset her and she was perky,
remember?”

“
Clothes on, no sex. We just
discussed this Jack. Did you ask Luis or Gloria who they slept with
last night?”

“
Not this crap again,
Sam.”

“
You’re right. Next time I
won’t sneak. Do you have a form to fill out? JN7slashFslashFU? You
know, the Permission to fuck form?”

I threw my food in the trash and walked
to the horse corral. The horses were agitated, butting into each
other, making bitching noises. They were huge. And
beautiful.

George had been watching
Howard McMorris since they left the airport headed for the palatial
McMorris three bedroom bungalow. Howard resembled Frank but was
shorter, stockier, and nearly as pretty.

George bumped into him,
slipping the transmitter into his carryon.

"Sorry. Been bumping people
all day. Balance is all screwed up. Sorry."

"No problem." Howard
watched him walk away.

Years of living with a
secret agent brother had taught him to trust his gut. The man
seemed too friendly. But...he wasn't sure what that
meant.

After a while Fritz stood beside me not
talking.

Kelly walked by again and looked at her
watch.

“
If Shandi doesn’t get here
soon we won’t make the afternoon shoot,” she barked into her
headpiece. “You know how long her costume takes. The harness
alone…Yes, they have the riggings ready for her. …I don’t care
whose dick she’s sucking at the moment!…She will fly if I have to
kick her in the butt…”

A track had been built along the tree
and on it was a seat for the cameraman and a large
camera.

“
Do you always go with him
to the sets?”

“
Not in the studios. But
sometimes when we’re doing these sorts of site scenes. And always
when we travel. Looking forward to New Zealand. Thinking about
buying a house there. Perhaps you could help me pick it
out.”

He smiled that smile that I was
beginning to like very much.

“
And try it out.”

“
Maybe we should leave
today,” I whispered.

“
Angry?”

“
To the tenth power. David
said I should kind of treat you two the same for right now. I
tried. I wanted to be with you last night and I knew it wasn’t
going to go well.”

“
Eventually you will have to
choose.”

“
I know.”

“
You look fantastic in the
morning light.”

“
So do you. Kind of Errol
Flynn profile in this light.”

He laughed. “You do like old movies.
And I’m not nearly that pretty.”

“
Do you know how painfully
horny I am?”

He looked surprised. “Do you know how
many men would pay any amount of money for you to say that to
them?” He put his arms around me.

“
This is only making it
worse.”

He grinned pressing against me.
“Really? Perhaps we should try it tonight with no clothes, hours of
sex.”

“
I have to call
David.”

I walked away, to a group of trees on a
hill, and called.

“
Hello my sweet.”

“
Sorry to call you so
early.”

“
I’m actually on my way to
the airport.”

“
Oh?”

“
Japan. Meeting with some
investors. But you and I need to get together.”

“
Yes.”

“
Everything
okay?”

“
They’re driving me crazy. I
want to sleep with them.”

“
Sweetheart, you can, but
you may only add to the
fear of the
panic
if it happens again. I don’t think
you’re ready. I’ll be back tomorrow late. How about Friday
night?”