To Love Jason Thorn (25 page)

“You’re not smiling. Smile,” Megan warned
me from her spot next to me.

I showed her my teeth and she sighed,
shaking her head.

When Jason was done with all the
interviews, the time came for him to join his costars for the group shots.

Close to the finish line, right? After the
most disappointing kiss in history, what else could happen that would ruin a
beautiful night even more than it already had been?

Jennifer Widner could happen, folks. And
she actually did happen. She appeared out of nowhere and took her place next to
Jason and their other costars. She could’ve stood next to any of the others,
but, nope, she chose Jason, and she put her hand on his chest just like I had
done minutes before.

Imagine my surprise when she caught my eye
and winked at me.

I was standing way off to the side so I
couldn’t see Jason’s face to tell if he had seen her wink. They posed for a ton
of pictures and when Jason came back to my side, he still had his dimpled smile
on his face.

Me? Not so much.

***

At the end of the night, after all the
craziness had ended, we made it to our hotel room in one piece. I bid Megan a
good night and thanked her for all her help. Without her firm instructions, I
would’ve looked like a fish out of water, at least more than I already had.

After Jason and I entered our suite and he
made sure to lock the door, I put a few paces between us and looked at him with
a tired smile on my face. “It was a beautiful night, Jason. Thank you for
everything.” Not exactly sure what I should do, I put my hand on his arm,
hesitated for a moment, and then leaned up to give him a soft kiss on his
cheek.

When I backed away, his dimple was out to
play, but I was done for the night. I didn’t even have enough strength to appreciate
the way he was looking at me, his eyes traveling my body from head to toe, or
how good he looked with his shirtsleeves all rolled up, or how…the list went on.
Reaching down, I pulled my heels off my feet and winced in pain.

My feet were gone. Dead.

“You never said what you thought about the
movie.”

“Oh, I didn’t? Sorry. It was amazing. You
were great. Thank you for bringing me here.”

His smile brightened his face.

Lifting the shoes up in a wave as I backed
up, I said, “I’m heading to bed, so goodnight. And again, thank you Jason.” He’d
had the security check every inch of the suite so I knew we were fan-free that
night, which meant I had no reason not to sleep in my very own room.

His brows drew together. “You’re going to
bed, now?”

“Megan said our flight changed and we’re
leaving early tomorrow.” I shrugged. “Also my feet are killing me, so yes, I’m
ending the night.” I gave him another small wave and turned around, but his
voice stopped me before I could escape.

“You’re sleeping in there?” His voice
wasn’t exactly harsh, but it wasn’t as soft as it had been seconds before
either.

I looked over my shoulder. “Yeah. Goodnight
Jason.”

Striding directly to the bathroom, I filled
the magnificent clawfoot tub with hot water, took off my equally magnificent
dress, and sighed with relief as soon as my toes sunk into the water.

***

In the middle of the night, I woke up when
I felt something moving in my bed. For a second, I was confused, but then I
realized it wasn’t a dream. I screamed and tossed the covers at whoever was in
my bed—as if that would be enough to scare away the intruder—and rolled away to
jump down and somehow get to Jason.

When a strong hand landed on my stomach and
dragged me back against a hard chest, I lost my breath.

“Stop yelling,” Jason grumbled behind me.

“Jason?” I whispered. “Jason!”

My heart still beating against my throat, I
slapped at his hand where it still laid on my stomach and yelled a bit more
just for good measure.

“Are you crazy? I almost had a heart
attack.”

“How would I know you would wake up?”

“What do you mean
how would I know you
would wake up?
” I tried to roll over to face him, but his arm tightened around
my waist and drew me closer against him.

This time I lost my breath for an entirely
different reason.

“Don’t move. I’m trying to sleep.”

“Oh, and what did it look like I was doing?
Cartwheels?”

When he just grumbled under his breath and
otherwise kept silent, I asked, “What are you doing here, Jason? Couldn’t you have
knocked and woken me up before you crawled into my bed? I thought one of your
crazy fans was in bed with me, thinking I was you!”

“Well, it wasn’t. It’s just me. What the
hell is that noise?”

“What? Oh, crackling fire and wind in the
trees.”

“Crackling fire and…wind…in the trees,” he
repeated.

“Yes.” I turned my head to look at him over
my shoulder. He was giving me a ‘you’re out of your goddamned mind’ look. “What?
It relaxes me before I fall asleep,” I said, taking offense.

“Can you sleep without it?”

“Of course. I just like listening to it.”

My body was all stiff, but his hand
caressing my arm slowly helped me relax and settle back into him.

He put his chin on my shoulder and eyed my
phone where it sat next to my pillow. His hot breath was tickling my neck, but for
the most part I managed to stay still.

“The wind is kinda creepy, Olive.”

“I can change it to rain.”

Pressing his face deeper into my neck, he
chuckled.

“Let’s hear that one.”

Quickly, I stopped the wind and changed it
to ‘rain on roof’.

He hummed to himself for a few seconds then
approved. “I like this combo much better.”

“There is waterfall or ocean, too.”

“No, keep the rain and your crackling fire.
Do you remember how you used to sit by your window and listen to the rain with
your eyes closed?”

“Of course I do.” But how did he?

“You always had a smile on your face when
you did that, your mind miles away. Your mom used to get so frustrated with you
when you walked out in the rain without an umbrella. You got sick every single
time, but nothing could stop you.”

“Yeah,” I agreed in a thick voice. “And I
remember you trying to stall her whenever you saw me trying to sneak out
without her noticing.”

“Well, it’s hard to trick your mom. It’s a
two-man job.”

We were silent for a while after that.

“I think the AC in my room is broken. I
didn’t see the need to call someone up just to check out what’s wrong when we
have another perfectly warm room.”

“So…?”

“So, we have to share the bed for another
night. You can go back to sleep now.”

“I can still hear my heartbeat, Jason. I’m
pretty sure I won’t be going back to sleep any time soon.”

“Let me see,” he whispered, and suddenly
his hand was moving upward from my stomach toward my heart.

Carefully skipping my boobs—
darn it!
—his
hand rested over my heart.

“Hmm, you’re right; I can feel your
heartbeat.”

I couldn’t speak. No words whatsoever.

He took a deep breath against my neck,
causing my entire body to shiver, and said, “Go to sleep, Olive.” Then,
finally, his hand moved away from my heart and went back to my stomach. Maybe a
minute after that, his breathing evened out and he fell asleep.

Just like that.

I stayed awake for hours.

Engaged
to a bad kisser?

Did you see the new photos of Hollywood’s most
talked about couple? While they were photographed all over the city last week
and generally looked happy together, things seem to have taken a bad turn for
Olive Taylor.

The new author and Hollywood’s heartthrob
attended Jason Thorn’s latest movie premiere in London last night. While they
both looked amazing together and stole their fans’ hearts by signing everything
that was handed to them, it all changed when it was time to pose for the
cameras.

For days now, rumors have been swirling that the
new couple is considering tying the knot after losing so many years that
could’ve been spent together. In the second photo, you can clearly see that
Miss Taylor is proudly sporting a diamond ring on her finger. We are thinking
the rumors are true! How many of you ladies would die to be in her place?

But then, the unthinkable happens. When the
couple is asked to share a kiss for a photo, Jason gives her a peck! A peck,
people! The handsome star, who is known for his sexual prowess, who we’ve seen
devour numerous women on the big screen, gives Miss Taylor only a peck! And the
funny thing is you can see the disappointment on her face so clearly.

We were definitely expecting a much more heated
kiss from the couple, and considering the look on Olive’s face after the whole
thing was over…dare we say Jason Thorn is a good actor, but actually a bad
kisser in real life?

It had been exactly a week and a half since
we had returned from the movie premiere in London. A week and a half since all
the tabloids made the picture of me—the one nobody could seem to stop talking
about—their cover. While Jason never even mentioned the existence of it, Megan
had been fuming. She had called me more than a few times just to make sure I
was aware of how much I was screwing things up for Jason. After that specific conversation,
I’d expected to get a call from the man himself where he would gently let me
know that our fake wedding thing was off.

That call never came.

While we barely saw each other the week
after getting home, I’d kept myself busy with packing and writing the first few
pages of my new novel. As much as I was happy that my muse was back, I was just
as unhappy about the fact that I couldn’t tell my mom and dad or even Dylan
about what was going on in my life. At first, they hadn’t believed that
something was going on between Jason and me and chose not to listen to the
press, but after they saw the photos of the premiere, they had called and asked
me point blank if everything was true. I hated lying to them, but I had no
other option if I wanted a chance to make things real with Jason.

Needless to say, neither one of them were
happy with me. While my dad only spoke to me for a few seconds, my mom was…she
was sad and worried that I was making a mistake. Because the filming for
Soul
Ache
was about to start, I couldn’t even go to them until Jason had free
time to come with me because there was no way I was facing them alone. No way
in hell.

So, that morning, in Jason Thorn’s millions
of dollars’ worth of Bel Air home, I had officially become Olive Thorn. Other
than Lucy, Tom, and Megan, there were no witnesses to our holy matrimony. Even
Char couldn’t make it because she had a full day of exams.

Two hours after our ‘wedding’, Jason had
left me with Lucy because he had to be on set for rehearsals and some other
stuff. A while after that, Lucy had had to leave for a class.

Which left my newly married ass all alone
in Jason’s home. As the hours passed, I gave myself a tour of his house and
happily discovered that he had a huge media room with incredibly comfortable
leather seats. After walking around aimlessly, in and out of his house, I
forced myself to sit down next to the pool with my laptop and get some words in.

When the sky started to darken and I was
still alone, I decided that it would be a good idea to start celebrating my
very own wedding day with a drink. Then one drink led to another, and then another.

I did awesome. Happy fucking honeymoon
to me!

The next thing I knew I was dialing Lucy’s
number.

“Being Jason Thorn’s wife is not”—I
hiccupped—“as glamorous as I thought it would be.”

“Are you drunk?” Lucy asked.

“So what? So what if I am? Were you having
sex with Jameson? Because if you were, good for you. Good for everyone who is
having sex. Technically it’s my honeymoon, and do you know how much sex I’m
having right now? Nada. Zilch. Exactly that much. Think about that. Your mind
is blown, right?”

Lucy laughed for a good minute. “Yours
sounds blown, all right,” she said, still chuckling. “I think you should slow
down on the drinks.”

“You would think that, right? I mean, if
Jason Thorn can’t blow your mind, who the heck will? But is he here blowing my
mind right now? Nope. My vagina is perfectly untouched by a Jason Thorn penis.
Hell, even my lips are untouched.”

“I thought he would come back by now.”
There was a rustling at the end of her line and she murmured something to
someone.

“You were having sex with Jameson! I knew
it! Everyone is having sex right now!”

“Do you want me to come? And just for the
record, you horny newlywed, I wasn’t having sex with Jameson. We were…we were
just lying in bed. He is sleeping actually.”

I sat up straighter and almost knocked down
my champagne glass. “You’re falling in love with him!”

“Okay, now you’re just rambling nonsense. I’ll
be there as soon as I can.”

“No,” I whined, taking the last gulp of my
champagne. “I wanna come to you. I’m seconds away from going to his room and
just rubbing myself all over his sheets. I can’t stay here for long.”

“It sounds like you already did that.”

“Not exactly. Soooo, would you like to tell
me about how you are in love with Jameson but pretty much scared out of your
mind to hope?”

Silence.

“Ok. Hold tight. I’m coming to get you.”

***

“He smells so, so good, Lucy. I smelled
everything in his room. It was so, so good. Why don’t you smell like him?” I
leaned forward in her arms and tried to sniff her hair. “You still don’t smell
like him.”

“I’m thinking that’s a good thing right
now. Try to stay still for a minute! We’re gonna fall down the stairs then
you’ll never get to smell him again.”

“I can’t fall. I want to smell him and lick
him all over.”

“Good, then help me a little so we can get
you up these last few steps and in a bed.”

I hummed a song that was stuck in my head
and managed to make it in front of our apartment’s door with Lucy’s help. “I
did it!” I yelled, lifting up my arms. “I did it! Now, what do I win? One night
with Jason?”

Lucy’s hand clamped down on my mouth. “Be
quiet for god’s sake,” she hissed, and instead of taking out her key, she
knocked on the door.

Marcus opened it. “What is going on—”

“Marcus,” I cried and threw myself in his
arms.

Catching me at the last second, he glanced
at Lucy before looking down at me.

“I got married,” I announced as I shoved my
ring in his face. “See?”

“I do see,” he said, pulling me up in his
arms as I started to slide down.

“What’s wrong with her?” he asked to
someone over my shoulder. I looked back and remembered that Lucy had brought me
back home. Then I noticed that my hands were touching bare skin.

I frowned at Marcus’ naked chest. “Why are
you not wearing anything?”

“I think you lost the privilege to ask
that, don’t you think?”

My frown deepened. “Why should I lost
privy-le…privilg—”

“Oh, stop it you two,” Lucy exclaimed from
behind my back. “Either help me get her in, or get out of our way so I can—”

  Before she could finish her words, I was
up and in Marcus’ arms.

“Whoaaaa,” I chuckled. “You never carried
me before, Marky. Why didn’t you ever carry me? I don’t think I’m feeling so
good,” I added, resting my head on his shoulder.

Charlotte was leaning against her doorframe,
her face unreadable. “Char, I missed you today,” I said, holding out my hand to
her, but she shook her head and closed her door.

“Where are you going?” asked Lucy, following
us hurriedly. “Take her to my room.”

“What’s wrong with Char?” I asked, but both
Marcus and Lucy ignored me.

“Marcus, are you hearing me?” she repeated.

Marcus opened his door, carried me to his
bed, and gently placed me in the middle.

I curled into myself and murmured, “My
stomach is doing something inside.”

“What do you think you are doing, Marcus?”

“I’m taking care of her. Someone has to.”

“What the hell do you think I was doing?”

“You’re being too loud,” I said, cringing
and grabbing on to the sheets so I could stop spinning.

“Come on, Olive. Let’s go to my room.”

“Let her be,” interjected Marcus. “Jameson
is still in your room and Olive’s room is practically empty. She needs to sleep
it off. Where the hell is her so-called husband?”

“That’s none of your concern, Marcus,” I
heard Lucy say.

Someone sat down beside me and started to
brush the hair away from my face. It felt nice. Why couldn’t Jason brush my
hair away, too? It must’ve been Marcus. I couldn’t remember Lucy having such
big hands. “I think it is. Doesn’t look like you are doing a very good job of
looking after her, Lucy.”

I groaned and turned my back to them. I was
too tired to listen to them bicker.