Hollywood Rebel by Misti Murphy

Chapter Fourteen

 

Summer

“Hey, you’ve reached Summer Heart. I can’t come to the phone right now because I’m avoiding men. If you’re one of my brothers, this is directed at you. Please leave a message, and I will get back to you as soon as possible. Beep.”

“Funny, Little,” Owen says over the speaker. “We both know you don’t use voice mail.”

“You don’t know that,” I mutter. Damn it, I gave myself away, didn’t I? Sitting cross legged on my bed in a towel after my shower, I study the photos I have loaded up on my laptop from the trip to Copper Rock a few days ago. Rebel is so naturally photogenic, it ought to be a crime. Whether he’s glaring at the lens or smiling into it, he’s sexy.

Not as sexy as he was between my legs though. The way he looked at me. With so much hunger. When he’d kissed me, when he’d gripped my hips to pull me against him, he’d been starving. I could sense his control and his need, and I wanted to experience the intensity that poured from him. The memories stir butterflies in my belly. I trail my fingers down the side of my neck. That was off this planet, outta this world erotic. I’d never felt so… wanted.

“Summer, you were supposed to come home to visit three months ago,” Owen reminds me.

Days later and I swear Rebel’s scent is still lodged in my skin. His touch… my body craves it. His kiss… I touch my lips and a sweet hollow ache starts to throb between my thighs.

“Summer,” Owen growls in his big brother voice, snapping me out of my inappropriate daydream. “Are you listening?”

“Sorry.” I take my phone off speaker.

For the last three days I’ve avoided getting too close to Rebel. I told him it shouldn’t have happened. It can’t happen again. But that would be so much easier if I didn’t want it to. And if I would quit getting sucked into fantasies where his fingers didn’t stop on the outside of my panties and where we both ended up naked…

So, it was a good orgasm. So what? I can give myself as many as I need without the complications that come with involving another person. A man who I technically work for. One who I can barely stand at the best of times. But ugh, it was a truly spectacular orgasm.

I push Rebel out of my head and close my laptop. “I just need to finish up what I’ve been working on.”

He sighs. “How is work?”

“You know, busy.” I brush him off like I always do. Before, it was because I didn’t want to tell him that my job entailed getting Bernadette’s coffee order right. Now, it’s because I’m working with the notorious Rebel Maddox.

The last thing I need is for any of my brothers to get wind of my professional involvement with the bad boy. I swallow and press my lips together as I climb off my bed. Thank God, my inappropriate behavior with Rebel was a onetime thing that my brothers will never find out about. They would arrive as a pack to hogtie me and cart me back to the safety of the ranch if they knew Rebel had touched me the way he did. And whilst it would be unwarranted and unappreciated, they’d be right to do so. I’m clearly losing my ability to make sound judgements. A kiss for a whisky deal? What the hell kind of bullshit was that?

Although he did keep his side of the bargain. It’s the first time I’ve seen him passionate about something other than pushing my buttons.

“You have your own client list yet?” Owen asks.

“Yes.” I hold my phone with my shoulder as I pull my hair into a ponytail and secure it with a hair tie. My towel starts to droop and I hurriedly tuck it back into place. “I’ve got an A-List client.”

“Who’s that?”

“You wouldn’t know him. He’s… a hermit.” Well, he’s only just started leaving the house after a stint in confinement so it’s kind of true. I don’t want to lie to my brothers, but it’s only a little white lie, and they wouldn’t be supportive if they knew the truth. They’d remind me of how easily I can be hurt. But I’m not a child anymore. I’m not naïve. I don’t believe in fairy tales and romantic comedies the way mom did. I know all the rules by heart. “How’s my nephew?”

“Growing like a weed,” Owen says with a whole heap of pride in his tone. “He’s going to be taller than you the next time you see him, with the way things are going.”

I fake a pained hiss. The truth is I am the shorty in my family. It comes with having girl chromosomes, I suppose. It’s one area where I’ve never been able to compete with my brothers, but I have a stiletto collection that says I’m not afraid to try. “You know I want to visit. I just have a lot going on.”

“With your hermit crab.” Owen snickers.

“Sure, we can call him that if you want.” The crab is crabby after all. I have a blue and purple bruise on my thigh from when he pinched me and for some reason I get turned on when I relive that moment in my head.

“You’re really not going to tell me who you’re working with?”

“I’m really not.”

“Mom would be so proud of you, Little,” Owen says in that way he has where it seems like he can read my mind.

I hope he can’t, because he’d be shocked by the filthy images that crowd my thoughts since I started working with Rebel. Earlier still. Since the night, as Rebel likes to remind me, my lips touched his dick. I roll my gaze as I grab a glass from the high cupboard. “I hate when you call me that.”

“Sorry, Little. After twenty-two years you’re kind of stuck with it.”

“I know.” I fill the glass with water. “Do you really think mom would be proud?”

“Yeah. She knew you were the only one of us who was leaving Devil’s Bend. Well, except him.”

Him is our father. We never talk about him like he’s a flesh and bone person with a name. We pretend he’s Voldemort. We speak like he never truly existed.

Truth is, I used to miss him. My memories are bittersweet. He was charming and kind when I was growing up, and then mom got her diagnosis, and he didn’t stick around. Just packed his stuff while I was at school one day and walked out. He up and left like he had no reason to stay.

Mom used to say that he couldn’t handle watching her fade. The idea that he’d lose her broke him. I don’t know if she was right. I only know it wasn’t fair to her. Or to any of us. Owen was twenty-five and he suddenly was head of the house. I was fifteen and I was losing both my parents. It was hard. These days, it turns my stomach to stone to think about him.

I blink back the wetness that fills the space between my lashes.

“But she also wanted you to come home from time to time. You know, unless you want us to come to you. Kale is dying to visit L.A.”

“No,” I all but shout. The six of them would want to stay in our tiny apartment and there’s barely enough room for me and Jennie. The main house at the ranch is huge and wasn’t big enough to hold all of them.

Owen and Henry and my nephew Ernie still live there but Burke took over the old ranch hand cabin about eight years ago. Since then they’ve added a couple more cabins so they could spread out. And while they come together for meals there is no way in hell they could live in my shoebox of an apartment with Jennie and me for even forty-eight hours without something going wrong.

And they’d want to meet my friends. If they got wind I was working with Rebel they’d want to meet him too. I can’t think of anything worse. “I’ll come home. I’ll visit as soon as I can. I’m just really tied up with work right now.”

“Is that Little?” I hear Burke’s voice in the background as the old screen door to the main house closes with a shriek. It’s been making that same noise for as long as I can remember. “Can I speak to her?”

“I really have to go, Owen.”

“Little, you coming home?” Burke’s voice comes on the line. “Do you need me to come get you from the city? I can be down there in a week.”

“No. I don’t know when I can get back yet.” I collapse onto the sofa and drag a cushion onto my lap, succumbing to the inevitable. They will always treat me like a baby who needs to be brothered. Although it’s more like bothered, but I do appreciate it. In the background I can hear Jett and Storm. Then Henry’s piercing whistle as he calls the dogs to their dinner. I miss the rowdiness that comes with having a bunch of brothers, and it has been too long since I’ve seen them. But I can make the trip without them having to worry about me being accosted. “I’ll buy a plane ticket. It’s quicker than driving.”

“I don’t know if I trust planes, Little,” Burke grumps. “Those tin cans can fall out of the sky. All we need is an EMF attack.”

“Owen,” I yell down the phone line. “Is Burke watching conspiracy shows again?”

“I don’t watch TV, Little,” Burke says like I’m the one talking crazy. “I use YouTube.”

I rub my temples. “Try not to fall too far down the rabbit hole, please.”

“Hey,” he says and I can practically hear him bursting to tell me the gossip. “Wanna hear the latest?”

“What have you got for me? It better be juicy.”

“You couldn’t squeeze more juice out of a lemon,” he crows. “You remember the girl who used to live next door? Moved away ten years ago?”

“Vaguely.”

“Yeah, well, she’s been babysitting Ernie since she moved back.”

“What happened to Mrs. O’Toole?” She’s been our neighbor for as long as I can remember and used to look after us from time to time. How she managed to keep all seven of us out of mischief back then is beyond me.

“Ernie’s a handful.” Burke laughs so hard he wheezes. “He put a toad down Connie’s dress. She was jumping and yelling and carrying on. You should have seen it.”

“I can imagine.” Didn’t Owen do that to Suzie, the next-door neighbor Burke’s referencing, when he was younger? “Just like his dad.”

“Yeah, well after that she said she’s too old for any more shenanigans.”

“So, Suzie is looking after him?”

“Yeah. And Owen’s been sniffing around the girl like the unneutered cattle dog we had when you were a kid. You remember that?”

Unfortunately, I do. That mutt would hump anything that moved. Cows. Chickens. The barn cat. Every single one of my dolls. “That bad, huh?”

“Pretty sure I almost caught him and Suzie trying to inseminate something other than cows in the barn the other day, if you know what I mean.”

“Unfortunately, I do.” And I wish I didn’t. My phone beeps with an incoming call. I take the device away from my ear to check the screen, and Burke keeps talking.

Rebel is trying to Facetime me. I glance down at the terry cloth still wrapped around my body. I haven’t brushed my hair and I’m not wearing any makeup. Oh, that is never going to happen.

Cancelling the secondary call I catch sight of a message from Bray. He texted me on Sunday to see if I wanted to watch a movie and I’d totally flaked on him. I feel guilty about it, considering how badly things went at the club. He’s my friend and Rebel was such a jerk. I should apologize for ruining his night. Make it up to him. I glance at the time. I could eat. I should suggest dinner.

“Little, are you listening?”

“Yes, Burke.” My phone starts ringing again. Damn it. “Look, I have to go. My client needs me. But I will come visit as soon as I can. Hold the fort while Owen’s busy, and don’t get any crazy ideas about coming to get me.”

“Okay, Little. You make sure you buy that ticket soon. Or you won’t leave me any choice.”

“Bye Burke.” I hang up on a chorus of my brothers’ farewells and general household chatter. Tap out a text to Rebel.

 

Me: You do realize I have a life outside of work, don’t you? I’ll see you in the morning.

Rebel: Come on, Red. Pick up when I call you.

Me: I have no interest in Facetiming you.

Rebel: How come? Naked? Because I don’t mind. I’ll take off my clothes too. We’ll be even.

Me: Oh my God. Boundaries!! I have some. Respect them.

 

My heart skips a beat at his flirting. Which is why I have to be careful. Keep things on track and make sure I keep those professional limits firmly in place. It would be too easy to get swept up in Rebel’s wake and find I’ve screwed myself over.

My phone rings again. Bray’s name comes up on my screen.

I jump on the call like it’s a lifeline. Put him on speaker. “Hey, Bray. I was thinking about you.”

I wince at the small untruth, but is it really? I was thinking about him before Rebel forced himself into being the center of attention.

“I was wondering if you’d like to have dinner with me?” Bray asks.

“Great idea.” My phone pings with a new message. “Dinner with a friend sounds really good right about now. Jennie is working tonight.”

“Nice to know I’m your second choice,” Bray jokes.

“Sorry. That wasn’t what I meant.” I pull up Rebel’s new message.

 

Rebel: You say oh my God a lot. I like it. Can’t wait until you’re underneath me, screaming it over and over and over.

 

“Oh my God,” I say on an exhale, before slapping my hand over my mouth. Holy shit, I do say it a lot, don’t I? And now I’m never going to be able to say it without imagining being with Rebel. Naked. Skin on skin.

My thumbs fumble over the screen.

“Everything okay?” Bray asks.

“Uh-huh. Sure.”

 

Me: When I say boundaries, what do you assume that means? Because I can tell you right now that it doesn’t mean you should sext me.

Rebel: Come on over, Red. I’ll cook for you.

 

Maybe I can ask Bray for a raincheck and go to dinner another night. Oh my God, no. What am I doing? I stare at the message like it’s in a foreign language. Rebel totally ignored my text, no doubt because it wasn’t what he wanted to hear. And like an idiot moth drawn to a flame I’m one small give in away from being burned.

I’ve let things go too far between us already. If I don’t stop it now, I’ll have no one to blame but myself when it costs me my job. I mean, I don’t even like the guy, right? But my body doesn’t seem to want to get the memo.

Well, he can hear this. I tap out another text to Rebel.

 

Me: That is not going to happen.

 

“Seven-thirty sound good?” Bray asks.

“Absolutely.”

“I’ll pick you up,” he offers.

“I’ll see you then,” I say and hang up.

My phone starts to ring immediately. Rebel’s calling me. He’s so insistent. It shouldn’t make me feel so…giddy. I take a breath to steady my pulse before I pick up. “You completely ignored the fact that I asked you to stay out of my personal life.”

“Come on, kitten. Your boundaries crumbled when you let me stick my hand up your skirt to make you come.”

See, this is what I get for giving into him at Copper Rock. But it doesn’t mean I can’t hammer those breakers in now. In fact, I really need to. “And I told you that won’t happen again.”

“Well, no. At least not until you pay back the favor. I can see you on your knees. Your mouth open for my—”

“Oh my God, Rebel.”

His laugh is this smoky, deep vibration that makes my chest tight. “I don’t know how you’ll manage to mumble that around my cock, but I’m willing to find out if you are.”

“That’s not going to happen.” I lift my gaze to the ceiling. Deep shades of poltergeist, I am going to need to come up with a new habitual saying that doesn’t lead to his dirty innuendo.

“Whatever you say, Red. When are you coming over?”

I glance at my watch. I have an hour to get ready. I don’t have time for this. “I’m not. I have plans.”

“Change them,” he orders.

“I can’t.”

“You can’t or you won’t?”

“I won’t,” I snap. “I have a dinner date with a friend. You should try it. Ethan seems to spend a lot of time at the house. Surely he could hold your hand for a couple of hours.”

“He’s on location.”

“What about…” I mentally rifle through all the research I’ve done on the wayward A-lister. “Linc?”

“It has to be you, kitten.”

“Well, it can’t be,” I retort. “Because I’m busy.”

“Who are you hanging out with?” his voice is low and tight and sends a shiver down my spine that makes my nipples hard. I want so badly to give in, but I can’t. He’s the kind of guy a girl could lose herself in if she isn’t careful.

“A friend.”

“That guy from the club? The one who couldn’t keep his hands to himself? He thinks he has a shot with you.”

“No, he doesn’t. We’re friends is all,” I say.

“I know exactly what he’s thinking when he looks at you, because I know what I think when I look at you, and none of it is friendly. You have got to stop stringing him along.”

“Nothing is going on between me and Bray. It’s not like that.” Does he hear how ridiculous he sounds? Like he knows what Bray’s thinking. “And I am not stringing him along. If he was handsy that night, it was because he was a little drunk. Which was your fault, really.”

“Summer.”

“Yes, Rebel?”

“You’ll spend an evening alone with that guy over my dead body.”

“Are you serious?” I ask. I can hear the pitchiness of my voice. How dare he order me around outside of my job as his publicist. No one gets to tell me what I can and can’t do. Not even my brothers. Not since I finished high school and moved away from everything I knew to go to college. I’m my own person, and I can handle my own decisions. “Because that can be arranged.”

“Threatening me, kitten?” he murmurs, like he’s still in control of where this conversation is going.

It makes my skin buzz and my heart beat harder. Is it wrong that I kind of like how self-assured and confident he is, even when I want to fight my attraction to him with every fiber of my being?

“I grew up on a ranch. I know how to dig a hole large and deep enough to bury a dead bull,” I say sweetly.

He laughs. “That may be, but I don’t think bumping me off would be good for your job now, would it?”

“You’re infuriating,” I snap.

“And you are going to come to realize that you’re not the only one with a stubborn streak, Summer Heart. I’ll get what I want.”

“Don’t you dare try to show up tonight.” I stab at the end call icon like my life depends on it. My heart is racing a million miles an hour. Butterflies are ricocheting around in my stomach.

He gets what he wants? And what he wants is me.

But what will I get if I let myself give in to Hollywood’s baddest rebel?

Screwed. That’s what I’ll get. Completely and utterly screwed.