Feast of Saints (37 page)

With her hand wrapped under his, he guided himself to her plush, wet entrance. Lilly kissed him back forcefully and pulled him in. Jake, expecting her to use her grip to keep him in check, had to struggle to stop himself from slamming into her.

It was a tight fit. Delirious with wanting, she first registered his fullness, and then her fog was pierced by a burning sensation as her body stretched to accommodate him. Still a ways to go, she had to push her heels against the arms of the chair, backing off from Jake’s press to enter her completely.

At her resistance, Jake stilled immediately and would have pulled out if she hadn’t shushed him and held him in place.

“Shhh, shhh,” she sounded, holding him to her, halting his withdrawal. She rested her forehead against his chin for a second and puffed out a breath. When the pain receded, she leaned in, put her teeth on a point on his clavicle that she’d have to cover with makeup later and wrapped both arms around his lower back. Spreading her knees wider, she pulled him forward as she tried not to bite down too hard to distract from the pain.

“Ah God, Lilly,” Jake hissed as he finally seated himself in her.

She could feel the surge and bunch of the muscles in his lower back, but he quelled the instinct to thrust himself in and out of her and stayed still, not moving, allowing her to adjust. As the worst of the pain subsided, she released her bite and experimented by gingerly rocking her hips, tiptoeing her feet on the arms of the chair to rock herself forward and back.

Jake had one flat palm between her shoulder blades, the other on the small of her back. As her movements became bolder, Jake matched her rhythm, his arms circling her, groaning with pleasure.

The searing pain had stopped but was too fresh for her to release herself to desire. With conditioning, she knew the fullness of him would become an addiction. Right now, she’d work on getting used to him.

As she continued to rock against him, she could feel Jake holding back, trying not to hurt her. He was resting his forehead against the cool mirrored glass, following her lead, taking it easy on her with measured strokes, mindful of the fact that the extremely snug fit could be causing her distress.

At least she could assuage Jake’s sexual hunger. She opened her legs wider and pulled Jake hard against her, giving him permission to uncheck his strokes.

Jake was surprised and unprepared when Lilly escalated the pace, signaling that she wanted a more forceful penetration. He reared his face up and arched his back into her with a guttural shout. He pulled out and then convulsively slammed back into her, crushing her to his chest. With her hands on his hips, Lilly urged him on.

Jake’s control slipped entirely at the immense pleasure of finally, unreservedly plummeting into Lilly Rose. Unleashed, he became an instrument of sex, bowed and taut. His rigid groin muscles hammered against her clitoris with every punishing stoke. He buried his face in her neck to keep from hollering.

His sounds of desire, muzzled against her neck, washed over her, erasing her self-awareness. She let go of the remembered pain and a pulsing orgasm rocketed from the tips of her toes to explode within her. Her muscles around Jake convulsed, spasmed and convulsed again in repeated patterns until she was left quivering.

Jake called out her name hoarsely and wrapped a hand around the back of her head to keep her skull from banging the glass as he thrust hard against her and gave in to his own orgasm, lifting her off the counter. Twice Jake tried to set her down on the counter, only to push back against her, lifting her higher, forcing her to wrap her legs around him, as his release kept rolling through him, into her.

Finally subsiding and setting her down gently, his face still buried under her ear, Jake compulsively stroked her hair, speaking softly. “Are you okay? Did I hurt you?”

At the shake of her head, he kissed her earlobe, whispering hoarsely, “I think I lost it there for a minute.”

She nodded, “Me too,” and stroked his back, hoping she hadn’t raked his skin with her nails. When he leaned back enough so that she could see his face, she saw that his long lashes were spiked and wet.

“Are
you
okay?” she asked hesitantly.

Jake blinked rapidly and rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hand. When he looked back at her, his smile was huge, and he chuckled. “I didn’t think I was going to stop coming. I’ve got to sit down for a minute before I fall down.”

Plucking a Kleenex from the box on the edge of the counter, Jake wiped his eyes, and then used it to wrap the used condom and drop it in the wastepaper basket. Stepping back from the counter, he pulled her down with him as he sat shakily, folding her into his lap.

She brushed her fingertips along his lashes, feather-light, looking at him with concern.

“I’m fine,” he scowled in mock irritation. Then, looking around ruefully, said, “We’re going to need to soundproof this thing and pad the edge of that counter.”

Lilly giggled, pleased that Jake was already talking about the next time, but she quickly sobered when she heard the voices of crewmembers walking nearby outside the trailer, headed to the set.

When she registered the time, she grabbed Jake’s face and inspected him carefully. Gorgeous as ever, maybe even a bit more so, she thought. She pulled him forward so that she could peek over his shoulder at his naked back. She saw a few reddish streaks made by the trail of her fingernails, but it didn’t appear as if she had broken the skin, thankfully.

Pushing him back against the chair, she looked at his collarbone where she’d bitten him. She could make out the impression of her small teeth on the skin covering his clavicle and the start of a bruise.

Hopping up from his lap, she opened the small refrigerator and found a tiny ice tray in the embedded icebox. Wetting a paper towel, she cracked the little cubes into it and brought it back to Jake, pressing it to the bite mark.

Jake was looking at her, appalled.

“It’s not that bad,” she said. “Let’s just ice it while I get the rest of you ready, and then I can cover it.” She palmed the ice-filled paper towel over the bite mark, pressing it to slow the bruising.

Sitting forward in the chair, Jake said, “It’s not me, Lilly.”

He grasped her by the hip and touched his fingertips to her inner thighs. “There’s blood, Lilly,” Jake said, his face white.

Following his interest, she saw the small blooms of blood smeared high on each of her inner thighs. Thinking of the burning pain at Jake’s initial penetration, she wasn’t surprised. It had hurt as much as the first time, although she recovered more quickly. Jake’s expression was mercurial, alternating between fury and concern.

“Are you – were you – a virgin, Lilly?” His brow knitted. “You should have told me. I wouldn’t have taken you like that, here. I… you should have told me,” he said again.

“I’m not a virgin, Jake.” At his disbelieving expression, she insisted, “I’m not.” Although with as little experience as she had, and factoring in their ridiculous size difference, she might as well have been.

When he continued to stare stormily at the plumes of blood, she grabbed his chin forcefully, directing his gaze back to her face. “I’ll be fine. I am fine. I feel great as a matter of fact.” Bouncing on her toes to demonstrate her vitality unfortunately elicited a slight, not so reassuring, wince. “It’ll just take time to adjust to you,” she admitted.

Jake was unconsoled. Brushing off the makeshift ice pack, he gathered her into his arms, holding her softly, rocking her gently. His gesture was so sweet and so loving that, for Lilly, the moment expanded into eons.

“First call, Mr. Durant!” came the warning knock on the door.

Lilly fell back to reality.

She placed her small palms against his cheeks. “I loved every second,” she insisted, their faces close.

Then, pushing back from him, she said brightly, “Now, let’s get our game faces on, okay?”

Jake tried to shake his head, his face trapped between her palms.

At his obstinance, she admonished, “Well, you have two minutes to buck up and find your chi while I wash and get dressed. When I come back, I want your butt in this chair with your costume pants on.”

She kissed him hard on the lips and let go of his face. Stooping to scoop up her clothes, she darted into the little bathroom.

Looking into the mirror, Lilly saw swollen lips and dark, heavy lidded eyes. Turning the water on cold, she doused her face then stood in the little shower, grabbing the spray handle to wash her vagina and thighs.

The bleeding had stopped and when she touched herself she didn’t feel bad at all. Quite the opposite. Shaking off the compulsion to linger under the spray, she flipped off the water, blotted dry and dressed quickly.

She was out of the bathroom in less than two minutes. Jake was dressed and was standing with his fists on the counter below the mirror, looking sternly at his reflection.

No more time for melodrama. She interrupted his brooding with a cheery, “Okay, ready?”

Jake raised a sardonic brow at her, but he nodded and sat. She came to stand in front of him. Leaning in, she put both of her hands on the arms of the chair demanding his undivided attention.

“I usually baby you because you’re a big star and all. But you’re about to get the second string treatment. I’ve got less than twenty minutes to accomplish what usually takes at least an hour. Here’s my advice: try not to move. On second thought, don’t just try.
Don’t
move. Got it?”

“Do your worst,” he said, his glittering eyes never leaving hers.

“Oh no. This is me at my best. Ready, set,
go
.”

With that, Lilly was an inferno of activity around him. The shortcuts she took were all creature comforts. She abandoned her usual practice of babying and comforting Jake by warming applicators, working out sore muscles and pressing her thumbs on trigger points while she massaged in the lotions and gels. Although these tricks were an important part of her trade, Jake would have to get over it this one time.

She gave up painting and airbrushing in short strokes, too, which didn’t chill to the bone the way full stroke painting did.

In short, she treated Jake like he was one of her plaster casts, blocking out the fact that he was human and that some of the things she did threatened to cross the line from discomfort to pain.

She knew this character’s art so well that she could have done it blindfolded. Her trays were so organized, she barely had to look away from Jake to put her fingertips on the apps, tubes, gels and lotions, glues, pencils, powders, paints and sprays she needed. The only time she slowed was when she carefully set the CG dots, measuring twice on each placement to make sure they didn’t vary significantly from the previous day.

Lilly was squatting at Jake’s feet, having just finished the last touch up of polish on his toenails, when the next knock came on the door, “Second call, Mr. Durant.”

She jumped up and pumped her arms in the air like she’d just won a marathon. Jogging in place, she yelled playfully, “TIME!” Out of breath, she grinned at Jake.

Jake’s face was frozen. Only his eyes moved, tracking her movements in case she suddenly attacked him again with another brush or product.

Putting her hands on her hips, Lilly did her characteristic full body survey, taking in the whole picture to make sure everything meshed together. His makeup looked great. The actor, however, looked shell-shocked.

“You look great,” she said, honestly, standing back so he could see himself in the mirror. Jake finally moved, just his head, looking from her to his reflection then back to her.

Cracking a smile, he said, “You’re amazing, Pixie. I swear there was a moment when I thought you levitated. Do you have invisible wings?”

“I told you I had secrets for your eyes only,” she said, winking at him and licking her lips.

Jake’s eyes went black and suddenly he wasn’t Jake, but Allegrezza Cavender, growling and grabbing for her. He appeared just the same way that he had the first time she’d made him up. And just like that time, the effect was scary as hell. Lilly screamed and jumped back.

“Ahhhh! Don’t do that!” she hollered, holding her speeding heart.

Any remnants of Jake’s earlier serious mood evaporated as he cackled at her.

“It’s not funny!” she scolded.

“Yes, yes, it is. Every. Time.” Still chuckling, he stood, ready to start the day’s filming.

With all the body paint, it was impossible to make any meaningful physical contact with her while they still had some privacy. Instead, Jake leaned down until his face was level with hers and stared into her eyes for a long moment. With a warm smile, he kissed her on the tip of her nose, so softly it felt like a dragonfly had landed briefly. Then he was at the door. “See you out there.”

When the door shut, she hugged herself tightly, thinking only happy thoughts.

Chapter 24

The day was a bear. If the CG and makeup crew thought the day before was bad, it was a picnic compared to the tsunami of glitches and mishaps that swamped the production on day two in Maui. Lilly really was wishing she had pixie wings as she rushed from trailer to tent, actor to crewmember, fielding complaints and adjusting effects. At the only two minutes she found to get a drink and catch her breath, she jumped up to help find a lost prop before Monty, apoplectic, stroked out on the boom.

“Rose!” she heard her name called for the eightieth time. Ah, jeez, this time it was Alison. Plastering on a smile and straightening her shoulders so that she didn’t feel so small, she turned to face the AD. Uh oh. Alison was sporting a distinctly predatory look.

“Listen, I’ve been angling for weeks to get a cameraman on Jake off the set for a BTS piece. Now all of the sudden he acts like it was all your idea. If you want your production credit on this picture to be in a font size that your grandma can read, stick to the monster stuff. I’ll take care of promoting Jake and the film.”

“BTS?” Lilly asked. She knew she was supposed to acquiesce to something, but not exactly sure what.

“
Be
hind-
Th
e-
S
cenes. Don’t play innocent with me.”

Ah. Alison thought she was trespassing on her territory. Adopting a conciliatory tone, she said, “I’m not sure where you got the idea that Jake credits me. We only talked about it briefly.”

Alison’s eyes narrowed, suspecting a trap. Even this pint-sized chicklet might have tricks.

“Truthfully,” she said, “I’m sure he thinks it’s your idea. He said it was something you wanted.” Well, that was close to the truth. When Lilly had advocated the idea, he’d said she sounded like Alison. He didn’t actually say Alison had already come up with the idea.

Watching Alison’s changing facial expressions was like watching a foreign movie without subtitles. Everything she thought was broadcast on her face, but more often than not, the twists and turns of Alison’s thoughts were so alien to her that she never knew how to read her. Her next expression made Lilly distinctly uncomfortable. She looked like an old man handing out candy to kids in exchange for foot massages. Lilly backed away, but Alison’s next words fished her back in.

“Tarantino is filming a zombie piece in New Zealand. Think of all the eye popping and rotting flesh. Lots of work there for a smart girl like you and the timing is perfect. You’d wave goodbye to Monty and hello to Quentin with less than a week of downtime.”

Was she kidding? It was a great opportunity.
Jonathan Strange
wasn’t even in preproduction. It could be months before filming began. There might be time to squeeze in a few zombies.

Lilly didn’t know how to have this kind of conversation. She knew she was going to get hit with the request for the foot massage, but did she just ask what Alison wanted in exchange, or was she supposed to say something oblique? Finally, she opted for the truth, “I’m interested,” she said simply.

“I thought you might be,” Alison said coyly. “Here’s the thing. I’m running my tail off here and the BTS project hasn’t gotten off the ground the way I’d like it to.”

Suddenly it was a full-blown project, not just an idea. That implied a budget, a staff and studio approval. Lilly suspected none of that had happened. What was Alison suggesting? That Lilly run a side project? As if she had a spare moment. And how was she supposed to fund it? Cameramen, equipment, lighting, editing. All of that cost money. Loads of it.

Folks like Alison dealt with an entirely different professional currency. Lilly didn’t know the first thing about pitching the idea, much less finding the time to make it come about.

“Alison, I don’t think I’m the right person….” she started.

“Of course you are,” Alison cooed. “Quentin’s going to love your work,” she said, intentionally mistaking her meaning.

Lilly looked at her watch. If she was going to do this, she needed help. Now.

“Let me see what I can put together. I’ll touch base with you later today.” She jogged back to the Lab, hitting her speed dial on the run.

“Hullo, Peanut!” Greg answered before the “Qu’est-ce que c’est” of his ringtone. When she explained the situation, Lilly had to wait a full five minutes for Greg to run through his repertoire of Tarantino movie quotes using actual voices. He concluded with a rousing rendition of the entire Samuel L. Jackson “Lay my vengeance upon thee” speech from
Pulp Fiction
.

Her patience paid off, though. He had a solution for her.

“You need a one stop shop creative agency, production house and digital media specialist, and it just so happens that I know a guy.” The guy was Park Kim. Park had just moved to LA to work at Ruminate USA after having worked three years with its sister company in Amsterdam.

“He literally just landed in the States yesterday,” Greg told her. “That’s good for you because he doesn’t start his new position until next week. I guarantee you that he will have projects enough to keep him tied up until he’s in Depends so call him as soon as we hang up. I’ll tell you something else that’s good for you. Ruminate does high-end work, but it’s all commercial. Park is looking to break into studio work, and he’ll see you as a potential foothold. It’s win-win for both of you.”

“Greg, I’m a lost ball in tall weeds here. I need somebody who knows what they’re doing, or we’ll just flail around together and produce a piece that will embarrass me. Worse, embarrass Jake. I’m not going to take this on if that’s even a possibility.”

“Here, I’m emailing you some links to his work. He and a chick named Davina, who came with him from Amsterdam, produce, direct and edit short features and mini-dramas for companies like Samsung, Apple, Mercedes, etcetera, to promote their stuff on the web. Ruminate’s
raison d’etre
is grabbing the attention of netizens, from the casual surfer to the hourly blogger. They know how to create Internet buzz, manage it and measure it. And I know for a fact that Park’s work has blown up the Internet. Check out the vids I sent.”

“Alright, I’m looking at the Mercedes video and I’m liking it.” She was sitting in front of her laptop in the Lab, her enthusiasm mounting. “Wow, that’s nicely done. I’m going to view the rest of these and call. Would you mind texting me his number so I don’t lose it?”

“On its way. I’ll hang on.” Hearing the buzz of the text as it came through, Greg exclaimed, “Ooooh, that’s a bingo!” in a fair imitation of Christoph Waltz’ cunning Nazi colonel in
Inglorious Bastards
. Before Greg could get going again on the Tarantino quotes, she signed off with a heartfelt thank you.

Glancing at her watch again, she hoped no one was looking for her on the set. Clicking through the video links that Greg sent, she was extremely pleased. The number of views per video was in the stratosphere. Although commercial, they resonated on an emotional and artistic level, never hitting a wrong chord. A lot of the content was sexy with a subtle undertone of humor. Opening the Ruminate Amsterdam website, she found more videos. Although she couldn’t be sure they were Park Kim’s work, she watched a few that had a style similar to the videos she knew were Park’s. Realizing she had spent ten minutes in the thrall of Korean heartthrob Hyun Bin selling the newest Samsung smartphone, she snapped the screen shut on her laptop and touched the number Greg had texted her.

When she got his voicemail, she left a short message explaining who she was, who had referred her to him and that she’d like to talk to him as soon as possible about working on a project centered on Jake Durant. To get his attention, and hopefully get a call right back, she added, “We’re on set right now on Maui with Monty Davidson and we were hoping you could come over and kick it around.”

Uggh
, she thought as she hung up.
I should never talk like that. I sounded ridiculous
. But results are what mattered, she thought, when her phone buzzed two minutes later showing Park’s number. She answered as she headed out of the Lab. She had just finished complimenting his work, telling him how Greg had sung his praises and how she thought he was just the man for the job, when she got within view of the oasis and saw Jake sitting in his chair drinking grape Gatorade and looking around for her.

Jogging over, still on the phone, she stopped to stand right in front of Jake. “Well, here’s the thing, we’re running a tight schedule on this film,” she said to Park on the phone, but looking at Jake.

Jake adopted an expression of affronted inquiry, raising his hands as if to say, “What work? I don’t see any work going on,” and looking around for the work that was not going on in the oasis. She grimaced at him and pointed at the phone, trying to convey that this was someone more important than Jake at the moment.

“Park, if you could make it here, say by early evening tomorrow, we could spend some more time talking about it.” She saw Jake frown in irritation at her. “And, if you don’t mind me putting you on the spot, if you think you’re interested, pack enough for the week, and let’s get started.” Pause. “Well, when you see the scope of the project you can decide if you have the time to commit yourself. You can meet Jake and spend some time behind the scenes. Thursday we’ll be filming Jake and Maya Trent.” There was a pause. Nobody could pass up a free trip to Maui with the certainty of meeting Maya, especially not a male.

“Can you take care of getting here, or do I need to put somebody on it? Alright, that’s great. You’re coming to the Fairmont Kea Lani. Text me if you can’t get a reservation and I’ll take care of it on this end.”

Pocketing the phone, Lilly surveyed Jake’s irritated face, trying to ignore his expression and focus just on the colors. She swiftly picked up a lip brush and, leaning in, she pinched his chin gently, pulling his lower lip into a pout. She crinkled her nose, amused at the put-out pouty boy expression he wore. Just before she touched the brush to his lip, he growled, “We’re done.”

Straightening and dropping her hands, she stared at him, open-mouthed. Tears pricked behind her eyes as he continued to scowl at her. “What? Why?” She stammered, “We… we just started.…”

Jake’s expression grew serious. “We’re done for the day. What did you think I meant?”

“Oh. Well, I didn’t know. You seemed so mad.”

“I’ve been sitting in this chair for ten minutes waiting for you and I’m hungry. Really hungry.” Apparently, hungry Jake was easily irritated. Like an adolescent. She smiled inwardly. That explained a lot. Over the previous months, she’d noticed that he did tend to get a bit touchy toward the end of the day. He must be running on fumes.

“Where’s Mary? Why didn’t you get her to take all of this off of you?”

He pouted in earnest this time, “Because I wanted you.”

Feeling ridiculously pleased, Lilly picked up his hand, tugged him out of the chair and moved around behind him to gently shove him toward the makeup trailer. Jake took one step and then stood in place wobbling like a giant rag doll, waiting for her to do something to maneuver him again.

Playing along, she tucked herself under his arm, put her hand around his waist and adopted a motherly tone, “Come on, big guy, let’s get you out of this yucky makeup and get you something to eat.”

Jake draped himself over her as she tried to step forward with him, causing them to stumble side to side, Lilly giggling furiously. She ducked out from under him as soon as they stepped out of the semi-privacy of the oasis, smacking him on the back to signal him to straighten up and stop messing around.

Although she’d barely touched him, Jake looked at her in mock outrage, “What? Why’d you do that?”

She sidestepped when he would have pulled her back under his arm. She rolled her eyes at him in embarrassed exasperation, glancing around at all of the crew milling about. Although they all looked busy packing up and stowing props and equipment, every one of them had their radar half tuned in their direction. It had nothing to do with her, she knew. It was the irresistible draw of star power that actors like Jake and Maya wielded. He was always, always under scrutiny, even by the crew, who ought to be used to him by now. But actors like Jake were so good at what they did because they had a magical draw, a gravitational pull that never let up. Jake’s gaze followed hers around at the milling crew.

When he looked back into her eyes, he was suddenly serious. “Are we in hiding, Lilly?”

Uncertainty washed over her. Did he mean to broadcast the change in their relationship? A sudden flood of images of her and Jake in the tabloids filled her head: her goofy faced with whatever silly expression she always tended to have when the camera snapped, Jake suave, sleek and elegant, towering over her.

She snorted at the ridiculous images, unable to help herself. But at his still serious expression, she said, “I think that’s best, don’t you?”

Shutters came down on his face. Blandly, he said, “Whatever you think, Lilly.”

Had she hurt his feelings? Trying to explain, she said, “I thought maybe we could see how things go before involving the whole world.”

“See how things go,” he was repeating her words, no hint of emotion.

Oh for Pete’s sake
. Lilly could barely tolerate bland Jake. “Let’s just go get you cleaned up. We’re both pooped.”

Jake watched her walk before him. She was like water. He had no way to hold her. Every time he thought he had her, she slipped through his fingers.

In the makeup trailer, Jake asked, “Who’s Park and why am I meeting him?” When Lilly explained Alison’s demand that she orchestrate a behind the scenes video featuring Jake, he exploded.

“She what!?”

Wow
. Lilly blinked in surprise at the intensity of his reaction. Trying to calm him down, she said, “You said yourself it was a good idea. Alison said you expressed interest.”

“I did,” he ground out. “It is a good idea, but why you?”

Defensive, Lilly matched his angry tone, “Well, why not me?”

“With everything else you’ve got going on, you’ve got to be kidding. You cannot be seriously considering taking this on. Have you ever produced a short film or video, Lilly? Ever?”