Feast of Saints (34 page)

When they walked up the steps leading from the beach to the bar, a crowd of crewmembers, including Clara and Bryce, had just pulled four sizable tables together and it looked like they expected their party to get even bigger. Bryce’s smile grew wide when he saw Lilly coming up the stairs from the beach and he waved her over, although he faltered somewhat when he saw who was right behind her. She waved to Bryce and stopped at the top of the stairs, turning back to Jake, who was surveying the scene over her shoulder.

“This is not going to be quiet,” she said. Since he obviously hadn’t wanted to give her the wrong impression by ordering room service, she was out of suggestions for a quiet place for them to dine. Just as well. She didn’t think she was capable right now of playing it cool with Jake, making polite conversation through an entire meal.

“It won’t hurt my feelings if you’d like to call it a night, or go join Monty and Alison. I’ll just grab a bite here and hit the hay,” she said bravely.

“Is that what you’d like?” he asked, looking over her head at Bryce, who was walking toward them.

Lilly suddenly felt tearful. “No. No, it isn’t.” Taking a few steps to close the distance with Bryce and scrounging up a smile, she said, “Thanks again for going out of your way today.”

“Come join us,” he said to her, then over her shoulder, “Evening, Mr. Durant.”

Before he could extend the invitation to Jake, she said, “Honestly, Bryce, today was tough, and I have to be back at it at four. Tomorrow’s going to be equally challenging. I can’t thank you enough for this morning. It made a big difference having that oasis as a staging area.”

Turning to Jake, she managed to stay calm and cool, “Goodnight, Mr. Durant. I’ll see you at five.”

Patting Bryce on the shoulder, she walked away toward the lobby. In ten steps, she realized Jake was right behind her. He walked to stand next to her at the elevator. Lilly reached for the button, realizing it was blurring in front of her.
Oh no, please don’t be crying. This is tooooo humiliating
. When the doors opened, she stepped on without looking at Jake, who entered with her. When she went to push her floor, Jake took her hand and tucked it under his elbow. Pulling a key card out of his wallet, he swiped the security pad required to access the penthouse level.

She tried to focus on the lighted button and pull herself together. When the doors opened on the top floor, she let Jake lead her down the hall to his corner suite. Swiping his keycard and pushing the door open, he released her arm and gestured for her to enter before him.

Although not feeling particularly composed, she had beaten back her tears by the time they entered the suite. The penthouse was amazing. There was a real entrance hallway that opened into an extravagantly furnished room, à la Ethan Allen. On one side of the living area there was a baby grand piano. French doors, one after the other, opened in both directions to a huge, wrap around balcony twenty feet deep. The corner suite faced both the ocean and the mountainous volcanoes.

She turned to say something to Jake about the beauty of it all, but his bland expression was back in force. He picked up a hotel booklet and asked her what she would like to eat.

“Anything,” she said. Then added, “Fish, not meat.”

Lilly, who’d done nothing but work since she arrived, allowed herself to walk out and just admire the view. Standing on the farthest corner of the balcony, a light breeze brushed her cheeks. She heard Jake on the phone with room service. Glancing back toward the suite, Lilly wondered how anyone would get the wrong impression at being invited here. She wasn’t even sure which door opened into the bedroom, or more likely, bedrooms.

Her exhaustion resurged. With a sigh, she turned away from the view. The balcony included a net hammock that stretched between two vaulted pillars. She walked over to it, kicked off her intricately patterned sandals with their four-inch heels and nestled in. She closed her eyes. Wrapped like a cocoon in the hammock, she promptly fell asleep and didn’t wake up until the buzzer sounded with room service.

She watched from the balcony as Jake led the waiter, pushing a linen-covered table, to a space by the French doors and removed the warming covers from the food.
How much did he order?
She noticed that the waiter did not present Jake with a bill.
I guess he doesn’t have to go around squirreling away receipts for reimbursement
, she thought sourly. After the waiter left, she padded into the suite, leaving her sandals where she’d kicked them off.

Jake pulled out a chair for her as she surveyed the abundance of colorful food. Well, this is more like it, she thought, her mood lifting as she sat. She looked from item to item, not sure where to start. Jake knelt down next to her chair, his eyes searching her face.

“When did you last eat, or sleep?”

She turned her face to his, so close. She just shook her head, because with the packing and repacking before leaving LA, prompted by her paranoia that if she forgot anything she wouldn’t be able to find it in the island marketplace of Hawaii, and then the long flight and the time change and the all-nighter at the Lab, she honestly couldn’t remember. Jake sighed, and standing, walked to the minibar and pulled out a jar of OJ and poured it in her wineglass. Setting it in front of her, he said simply, “Drink.” Then he took her plate and filled it with small bites of everything on the table, fruit, salad, fish, bread, and set that in front of her, too. “Eat.”

Lilly drank half the juice and didn’t look up again until she’d taken a bite of everything on her plate. Jake was sitting across from her drinking a bottle of sparkling water, watching her.

“I hear Phillip has finally won you over,” he said.

She nodded, her mouth full of mahi mahi. She had signed the agency contract with Mjicon before leaving LA.

“You’re not going to eat, too?” she asked, a forkful of the best pineapple she’d ever tasted halfway to her mouth. Jake smiled ruefully.

In a welcome fit of full disclosure, he said, “I can’t eat this late when we’re filming, especially with the script we’re shooting this week. Too many barely dressed scenes. I’ll be glad when this film is over, so I can stop worrying about my weight like a high school girl.”

Lilly surveyed his frame. From working with him, she knew he was long lean muscle everywhere. His complete lack of fat made for incredible film. On screen, he was the perfect balance of muscle and bone, his angles so stark and elegant. She’d gotten so used to seeing him like this, she’d forgotten that compared to his normal state, he was overly thin. She hadn’t considered what a delicate balance of calories, exercise and weight training he must do to stay this way. She’d always thought that between the two of them, she worked the longer hours, with all the prep and clean-up she did before and after filming. She hadn’t thought about what he must have to do on his off hours to prepare every day.

“How do you do it?” she asked.

“Do what?”

She looked him over again, from head to toe. He looked sleek in an exquisite navy silk shirt, creamy slacks and handmade loafers. Smoking hot.

Returning her gaze to his face, she said, “You obviously work out with those muscles, but when do you have the time? And you’ve got to burn a ton of calories, but you hardly eat anything at all.”

Jake looked inquiringly at her, as if to gauge how serious her interest was in his physique. When she continued to look expectant, he said, “Well, I run, outside if possible, about five miles in the mornings. I can’t eat just before running, or just before filming, so it’s a trick sometimes getting enough calories before the start of the day. So, I get up at three a.m. to eat, then I wait forty-five minutes before running, and I fill that time working on biceps, triceps and delts. To avoid over building muscle, I use light weights with high reps. It’s time consuming. I eat protein bars throughout the day, and as soon as filming is done, I eat a meal of lean meat or fish, lots of steamed or raw vegetables. No bread, no pasta. No fruit,” he said, looking longingly at the juicy pineapple she kept popping in her mouth.

“No fruit?” she asked, guiltily putting down her fork.

“Too much sugar. To supplement my diet, I take vitamins religiously, including extra vitamin C.”

Lilly calculated the hours Jake spent making sure he was camera ready before he even hit the makeup trailer and quickly realized he devoted at least as much time, if not more, preparing for work during his off hours as she did.

“I had no idea. You know, you should have Monty assign one of the cameramen to you this week while we’re here in this beautiful setting to do a behind the scenes segment on your routine.”

Jake frowned with displeasure at the idea of being followed around during his off hours.

“Seriously, Jake. I know I’m inexperienced, but everything about this production screams blockbuster. And if you’re not prepared for this, you better start preparing now. You are going to be the It Man next year.” She looked him over again, admiringly.

“I see cover after cover, from GQ to Vogue to People’s Sexiest Man Alive. Men and women alike are going to want to see more of you. I bet a behind the scenes YouTube video of you would get a million hits the first day.”

Jake’s frown deepened. “You sound like Alison.”

At that, she stuck out her tongue at him.

“You don’t like Alison?” he asked.

“Does anyone?” she asked snarkily, thinking of the way Alison had come on to Jake in the elevator. When Jake didn’t respond, she realized that she had no right to resent Alison for flirting with Jake after the way she’d thrown herself at him this morning.

Chagrined, she said, “I’m sure her job is hard.” Then she added, “She sure seems to like you.”
Shut up
, she scolded herself.

“Yes, it seems so,” Jake acknowledged, no hint of what he thought about Alison’s interest. “I’ll talk to her about the behind the scenes idea. Whatever her faults might be,” he gave her a pointed look, “she’s a master at marketing.”

Done with doling out and listening to compliments about Alison, and stuffed, Lilly pushed back from the table and would have started cleaning up, but Jake said, “Leave it,” and, standing, extended his hand to her.

When she took his hand, feeling a flush of pleasure, he led her out onto the balcony again, releasing her all too soon to sink into a white, linen-covered, rattan sofa. Sitting next to her, but not close, Jake leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees, clasping his hands together. Not exactly a relaxed position. He looked like a man with something on his mind. Looking back over his shoulder at her, he gave her that wry smile, her favorite expression of his.

“Sexiest Man Alive, huh?”

“Absolutely, without a doubt,” she said with a nod and a smile.
In for a penny, in for a pound
. It’s not like she hadn’t been expressing her admiration all day.

Jake shifted back on the sofa, rested his arm along the back and began drumming his fingers, looking out toward the ocean. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from his profile in the half-light cast from the interior of the suite.

Jake stopped drumming his fingers and turned to look at her. “I should walk you back.”

“That’s not what I want, but I’ll go right now if that is what you want.”

Jake looked at her for a moment before responding. “You’re so tired, you can barely sit without falling asleep.” So he knew she had catnapped on the hammock.

“I’m not tired anymore,” she braved.

Jake glanced back to the interior of the suite. “People tend to come and go here. Someone brings in a meal at three, and I never know when Monty or Alison will show up.”

Was he contemplating the option of her spending the night?

“No one comes to my room,” she ventured. And so he wouldn’t mistake her invitation, she added, “We could go there.”

Jake turned back toward the ocean, and the drumming of his fingers started again. It matched the pounding of the pulse in her throat.

After a moment, Jake stood smoothly, and said as much to himself as to her, “I’ll take you back.”

Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he headed into the suite. Lilly, numb from putting herself out there so boldly only to be rejected, slipped her feet into her sandals and followed him. At the elevator, Jake pushed the button for the fifteenth floor. It was her floor, one level below the penthouse, although he hadn’t asked. When the doors opened, she followed Jake in silence as he led her to her own room.

Groping for something neutral to say as she pulled the key card from her clutch, she asked, “How’d you know my room number?”

“You didn’t respond to my text. I came looking for you,” he said simply.

Opening the door, she turned back to him, feeling like she was in a Mayberry moment, although she couldn’t recall Ellie Walker ever inviting Sherriff Andy to sleep over, and if she had, she doubted Andy would be so rude as to reject her.

“Thank you for the food,” she muttered, staring at his shirtfront.

Jake hooked a finger under her chin and raised her face to look at him. “Get some rest,” he said.

Oh, why was he so tall?
He’d have to lean in pretty far to kiss her, and it made it nearly impossible for her to take the initiative. Nearly impossible, but not
im
possible. Without pausing to think twice, she took his hand and tugged him into her room. He didn’t resist her, although it took more force than it should have to get him moving. The self-closing door shut behind them as she led him all the way to the edge of the single king-sized bed that dominated her “deluxe” room.

For a below liner like herself, it was a nice room, although it seemed puny compared to Jake’s palatial suite. Dropping Jake’s arm, she put both hands on his hips and turned and maneuvered him until the back of his knees were against the bed. Placing her hands on his chest, she pushed until he was forced to sit. At this elevation, Lilly had the advantage.

She stepped between his knees and slid her palms up his chest over the silky-soft shirt to the sides of his face. Moving slowly, she bent and softly pressed her lips against his.