Hollywood Hearts: A Steamy Standalone Instalove Romance Read online

  Security has moved their attention away from me and luckily have decided to concentrate on shielding us both from the crowded office space.

  It’s not every day Jack Mercury shows up at your workplace, and along with the throng of media and fans outside, there’s quite an audience in here too which I didn’t mind until just now.

  There’s an open office door and I bundle her inside, kicking it closed behind me before laying her down on a couch. My own hands still under her as those baby blues flutter open.

  Her full lips part with a sudden gasp and one of her tiny hands grips my shirt.

  “Jack?” she whispers, her eyes going out of focus before rolling back into her head a little.

  I’m worried she did hit her head or something, but the grip on me she’s got, the little mewing sound she makes as she smiles to herself tells me she’s okay.

  “I’m here,” I tell her. “I’ve got you and I’m not letting you go anytime soon,” I promise her.

  It’s true, I’ve never felt more protective of anyone or anything so suddenly. The caveman in me wants to toss her over my shoulder and jump out the window, climbing down the building so I can take us both somewhere I know we’ll be safe.

  Somewhere we can have some real privacy.

  But that’s not gonna happen.

  I hear the door and a familiar voice. “Everything alright Mr. Mercury? Do we need a doctor?” The head of the security team asks.

  “Just need a little air,” I hear myself say without turning around, confident I have at least a few more minutes alone with my prize once I hear the door click closed again.

  “My prize…” I hear my own voice say again, brushing the hair back from her sweet face in time to see her eyes pop open again, for good this time.

  I feel her tense up but leave my hand where it is. I don’t want this moment to end. Don’t want to ruin it by saying something stupid like I usually do.

  “I’m Jack Mercury,” I hear myself tell her. The same deep, husky voice I use when the cameras are rolling for romantic close-ups.

  So much for not saying anything stupid.

  “I’m Olivia,” she squeaks and I feel her shiver, realizing I still have a hand underneath her.

  “I think you fainted,” I observe, trying to recover some of myself. Trying not to sound like some Hollywood actor. Just trying to be myself for a change.

  “All those people…” she murmurs, looking faint all over again as I take her hand in mine.

  “It’s a bit of a shock I guess, but you won the contest. They made a big deal out of wanting to film your reaction,” I tell her. Hearing how dumb it all sounds when I say it out loud.

  What was Denise thinking? There was no mention of a media circus, she must have ‘arranged’ the whole thing, dammit.

  Olivia’s eyes open wide suddenly and she sits up, a hand on her chest as she gasps with embarrassment.

  “It’s okay, it’s alright,” I try to console her, noticing how small she looks now. Like a wounded bird as I try to let her know she’s safe without frightening her.

  I’m a big guy and my size can be a little intimidating. But Olivia doesn’t seem worried about me, her eyes dart to the closed door before settling on mine.

  “I really won?” she asks, her teeth almost chattering with nerves.

  I nod and shift back, giving her some space as I remain squatted on my hams.

  “I think I’m in trouble,” she confides in me, whispering as if the whole world might hear.

  “What kind of trouble?” I ask, suddenly feeling on the defensive again. The thought of this girl in any sort of trouble has my back up, my whole body tensing to match her fearful mood.

  “I mean, I must’ve called about a hundred and fifty times. Run up a huge phone bill for the office to enter the contest,” she explains, and I feel myself relax.

  Noticing how she can’t.

  “They’ll probably fire me,” she gulps, and I reach for her again, placing my hand over hers as I explain one thing at least. “I’ll make sure the phone bill is taken care of. Nobody’s gonna fire you,” I assure her, trying not to smile.

  It seems to be all she needs to hear, but I do register her hand reaching for mine when I go to take it away.

  She relaxes and closes her eyes, but I can feel her heart beating through the pulse in her hand.

  It matches the thundering of my own heart, pounding against my ribs as well as someplace else.

  Someplace I haven’t felt stir for a long, long time.

  “Is this really happening?” she finally asks, daring to open her eyes again, focusing on mine as I feel myself wondering the same thing.

  “I sure hope so, Olivia. I mean, of course, it is,” I tell her, smiling.

  “I suppose you have fans fainting all the time?” she asks, rolling her eyes before propping herself up on one elbow.

  “I’ll be fine now,” she chimes, the look on my own face registering with her.

  “Uh, great,” I stammer, wondering just how I’m gonna stand upright in front of her with my newfound tent pole at the front of my pants.

  I wasn’t looking at Olivia like that. And not because she isn’t pretty.

  I mean, she’s beautiful.

  She’s perfect.

  She just has that effect on me though and the more I look at her, the harder I seem to be getting.

  “Are you alright?” she asks me, looking as concerned as I sounded just moments ago.

  The door opens again, and her eyes shift for a moment which gives me the second I need to stand up and situate myself on the edge of the couch quickly crossing my legs.

  I almost groan in pain as my arousal gets caught on my clothes, but being so close to her, feeling something as intense to match my hardness only seems to make it harder than ever.

  “Umm. Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Mercury. But we have some paperwork here for uh… Olivia to sign. And Denise is on the phone, she’s on her way down.”

  One of the ‘crew’ my mom has arranged, already ruining everything by butting in. He’s a scrawny sly looking guy.

  I think he’s one of the lawyers she hires.

  “What paperwork?” Olivia asks, sounding suddenly edgy again and sitting herself up but choosing not to get up all the way just yet.

  “Just a formality, some privacy consent forms, and the usual stuff, Y’know,” he murmurs.

  “Uh, no. I don’t know,” Olivia says firmly, managing to stand up on her own and take a few steps towards the guy who sighs, giving me a ‘really?’ kind of look.

  But I’ve got issues of my own over here. Seeing Olivia from behind now, that perfect heart shaped ass of hers, her legs oh so gently set apart as she stands her ground.

  I let out a low moan without even meaning to, making both of them look over to me instead.

  “Paul, isn’t it?” I ask him absently.

  “It’s Rick,” he answers briskly.

  “Rick. How about we worry about that later. I’ll call Denise and fill her in. I think right now we’d like to be going, so maybe have the car ready to meet us in the basement? The same way we came in, I think it’s time we-”

  I’m trying to get us both out of here before my agent mother appears, but also before anyone else interrupts us.

  I thought this was gonna be a day with Jack Mercury. So far it’s been nothing but interruptions.

  “Maybe leave any paperwork with me,” Olivia pipes in, shrugging cheerfully, “Just gimme a minute to go over it?” she suggests, sensing my mood and playing along perfectly.

  Once Rick shrugs himself, he hands Olivia a clipboard and a pen before leaving us alone again.

  “Is there another way out of here?” I hear myself ask her, not meaning to sound so desperate.

  “Sure, right through there,” Olivia says knowingly, tossing the clipboard down onto the couch as I hold a hand out to grab hers in mine.

  “You thinking what I think you’re thinking?” she asks, hardly able to contain her excitement now th
at she’s feeling more like herself.

  “It’s supposed to be a day with just me isn’t it?” I ask, grabbing her hand and pulling her along as we swiftly find another exit and make our way down to the basement car park.

  “A whole twenty-four hours or just a workday?” she asks once we’re in an elevator.

  It’s only then I notice I’m staring at her and she’s staring at me in the same way.

  Not even seeming to mind that I’m flying at half-mast still and minding even less when I don’t even answer.

  I just give her a look that tells her that it’s really up to her just how long we have together.

  I’ve already settled for as long as humanly possible though.

  Maybe even longer than just one day if I have anything to do with it.

  Chapter Five

  Olivia

  Seeing Jack Mercury up close, it really does feel like I’m in a movie with him. He looks the same as he does on the big screen, but way better.

  He’s bigger too, in lots of places. I mean, they say the camera adds ten pounds, but in real life, Jack’s body is all muscle. I can see that even through his pale linen shirt. Every movement he makes sends a part of his body flexing up against the fabric.

  But it’s not just his looks that make me shiver, it’s how he carries himself. He has an aura about him that nobody else does.

  I’ve never met a celebrity, but meeting Jack proves that at least he really is different from ordinary people.

  I met the billionaire owner of the paper at a work function once. He didn’t have an aura. He was boring, cold. More average than an average person. No, Jack Mercury is special and I’m feeling it in more ways than one.

  Apart from how perfect he is physically, how amazing he even smells. It’s how well we just seem to click straight away that has me hooked.

  Without him saying much so far, it feels like we’re already a team, escaping the office and with his guidance going on some adventure I’m pretty sure even he has no idea where it’s actually headed.

  Maybe he just has this effect on everybody, but I didn’t see the guy at the office with the clipboard and the privacy forms looking up at Jack with the same look I know I have now.

  I don’t imagine anyone on his staff making goo-goo eyes at him when he tells them to do something either.

  I breathe in some more of him before the elevator opens, it’s a woodsy-musky cologne that I’ve never smelled anywhere else. It’s as though it’s coming from inside him somehow rather than a product he would have bought and put on.

  It’s just another dimension of the Jack Mercury universe that I feel myself being drawn into.

  Not that I’m resisting either. Despite all my reservations about a girl like me being so close to and suddenly alone with a man like him, I feel a thrill of excitement knowing I’d probably do anything he asked me to.

  The elevator opens silently and the cool rush of cement and exhaust hits my nose, slapping some reality on the dream-like quality of my day so far.

  “I hope you don’t get in trouble with your boss,” Jack says cheerfully, making me jump when I feel his huge hand on the small of my back, guiding me towards a waiting limo.

  But it’s not his hand that makes me jump. I’d give anything to have more of those hands on me.

  It’s the sudden reminder of my boss. My job. The responsibilities I’ve broken to enter the contest I never in a million years thought I’d even win.

  “Everything alright?” Jack asks, sounding genuinely concerned.

  I glance up at him, looking like I’m hesitating to even get in the car with him. But it’s only the thought of my boss, Naomi. The paper I work for and the history I know it has with Jack that’s really bugging me.

  He doesn’t seem to care or maybe he doesn’t even know.

  The best I can manage is a crooked smile and a mumbled word about being fine as I get into the limo.

  I can feel his eyes on me, as I crawl in awkwardly, but it’s not the feeling I usually get whenever somebody looks at me from behind.

  Everything with Jack just feels different. It feels right. Like he’s the first person in a long time who just accepts me for who I am.

  For someone who thinks the world of him, I’m suddenly freezing up and it shows.

  By the time he slides himself into the limo, sitting next to me on the huge back seat, I can tell he feels awkward.

  “Sorry if I hit a nerve,” he says quietly. “About your boss I mean. I met most of the people in the office before you got there though. They seemed nice enough,” he offers, running his hands down the tops of his thighs.

  If I didn’t know better I could be tempted into believing that he was actually nervous. But it’s not that I want to bring up with him.

  “My boss. The office I work in,” I start to explain after taking a deep breath.

  He’s all ears and I can see his eyes wide with expectation. Grateful we’re finally breaking the ice after my more than awkward introduction.

  “It’s a paper. The entertainment section,” I confess, but he only nods with polite interest.

  “My boss is Naomi Pilkington,” I add, looking down at my hands, expecting the car to stop so he can tell me to get out.

  But he doesn’t. In fact, I hadn’t even noticed we were moving the ride is so smooth and the windows tinted so dark.

  “Oh,” he says knowingly, a smile playing on his lips as he nods to himself. “That’s a name I’m familiar with, I’m surprised she wasn’t there this morning to try and put me on the spot with some awkward questions,” he reflects.

  “You’re not mad?” I ask, surprised at how amused he is by it all. I thought he would have had the opposite reaction, considering how much the column and the paper seem to prey on celebrities for a story.

  But Jack just shrugs, laughing it off.

  “My agent who’s also my manager deals with all that stuff,” he tells me casually. “I only hear about things usually after the fact, and I never watch TV or read a newspaper,” he confides in me.

  “Truth?” he asks me in a near whisper, lowering his voice and leaning in so close I can feel the warmth of his breath on my ear.

  “I made more last year from lawsuits against the press than I did from any movies, so I guess your boss is really doing me a favor.”

  I’m a little shocked to hear him say that, but feel instantly relieved he doesn’t mind who I work for and just a little bit more interested in him hovering so close to me when he speaks.

  I want to hear him tell me more, but he pretends to get defensive. A consummate actor whether he likes it or not.

  “How do I know you haven’t been sent to spy on me?” he asks, trying to keep a straight face but giving himself away when he smiles, his hand brushing mine by accident as he slaps his own thigh with another laugh.

  “She doesn’t know about today, me winning the contest I mean,” I tell him honestly. But I don’t feel like going into real details, like how I just know she’d want me to be part of something horrible to get a story that just wasn’t true.

  “How do you feel about it?” he asks, suddenly sounding more concerned than serious. “About writing all that stuff, being part of it? You don’t strike me as someone who would be drawn to any of it,” he observes, his eyes casually passing over me again.

  Making my chest stiffen and my legs press together.

  There’s a way in which Jack Mercury can look at you and then change in a second.

  One minute he’s the actor, the movie star. The next, he’s all man. Letting you know with a single glance that he’s also a man who knows what he wants and he always gets what he wants.

  This is confusing me though because I know the look. But why would he be looking at me like that?

  “I’m just an intern really,” I say quickly and way too loudly. Something I always do when I’m nervous. “I got my degree in journalism and this is the first… the only job I could get that’s even close,” I remind myself, feeling my s
houlders sag and my own voice trail off.

  Jack breathes through his nose and makes a low sound. “I think you might surprise yourself. I think you’d be more than capable of a hundred things, given the right opportunity,” he says.

  I figure he’s just being polite, but when I look up at him, those intense dark eyes of his are locked on mine.

  “Anyway,” he announces. “We have a whole day ahead of us and I promise I won’t just pick your brain about work. Tell me more about you. Tell me about Olivia Fanning.”

  There’s really not a lot to tell, and I’m worried if there’s a whole day of this in front of us it might all be over before lunch.

  But Jack is interested, in everything I have to tell him about myself.

  He’s a keen listener and only speaks when he has another question.

  I try and think of the million questions I know I must have for him, but it’s no use.

  He’s determined to know more about me whether I like it or not, and before I know it I feel like I’ve told him my whole life story.

  Chapter Six

  Jack

  She hasn’t mentioned a boyfriend, husband, or significant other.

  Only spoken about her job, college, and some of her early life. But not enough to tell me everything I want to know about her.

  I’m used to fans telling me what they think about me, how much they think they know about me. All that kind of thing, but with Olivia, it’s almost like she’s never had anyone to talk to let alone talk to about herself.

  That’s all I want to hear about, her. I’m the last person to want to talk about myself either. Everything I say for the cameras or in an interview, it’s all scripted.

  Just lines on a page.

  And although it’s great not to hear someone who’s never met me go on and on about me, I get the growing feeling she might not be that interested in me after all.

  At least not in the way I’d hoped.

  Not in the way I can’t help myself thinking about her with each moment that passes.

  I either dodged a bullet with her not noticing the effect she has on me in the office, or she’s politely ignoring the fact she’s a walking aphrodisiac.