Fran Lee - Out of Her Dreams

Sam swallowed, unable to frame an immediate response. When she got control of her tongue, she replied rather breathlessly, “I had no idea my novel would find its way to Hollywood. I’m flattered that you think it’s good enough to make a film of.”

“Good enough? My dear, your first novel sold over half a million copies in less than a year. It was on the New York Times Best Seller list for twenty-four weeks. You do yourself an injustice.” Juliette’s smile was quietly assessing.

“Well, I suppose I’ll have to get in touch with my business manager. I appreciate your interest.” She shook her thoughts back to earth and asked, “So you are in the film-making business with Mr. Ramirez?”

Hector Ramirez laughed softly. “Juliette was already a high-powered movie producer when I first met her, Samantha. Is it permissible for me to call you that?”

Sam drew a slow breath. “Yes, of course.”

“And you must call me Hector, since we will undoubtedly be working together in the future.”

Sam startled the man by turning to Juliette and saying quietly, “I’ll leave that decision to your wife, Mr. Ramirez. If she doesn’t consider it too familiar.”

The blonde laughed outright. “I think I’m going to really like you, Samantha Hastings.” Her eyes danced with deviltry. “Of course you may call him Hector, as long as you don’t keep calling me Mrs. Ramirez. My name is Juliette. My close friends call me Juli. And it looks as if we are to be very close friends.”

She felt David’s hand tighten gently on her shoulder and she glanced up into his face. “Did you know about this, Chance?” She used his ring name.

“Only when Hector approached my manager to see if I might be interested in playing some wild-ass character called Chance Davis.” His dark eyes met hers and she blinked. “I told him I didn’t know if the part would fit my personality.”

Sam pursed her lips. “Well, if you had the right screenwriter and you got some acting lessons, you might just manage.”

He moved closer against her back and she could feel the response to her teasing. She laughed a trifle breathlessly and her eyes moved back to Juliette’s smiling face. “I don’t know if I can work with this man. He is totally impossible to control.”

“Oh, I think you have no trouble at all controlling him, Samantha. I’m sure he’ll do anything you ask, if you just ask the right way.” Juliette glanced up into David’s dark eyes and slipped her arm through her husband’s crooked elbow. “Let’s go get something to eat, darling. It looks like our friends have forgotten entirely about supper and they both look hungry.”

It was well after midnight before they were able to slip away from the party. Sam had met no less than a dozen producers and directors who all expressed interest in her books. Her head was spinning with all the proposals and business talk. The meal hadn’t settled well and she’d had one too many glasses of wine. She had simply smiled at them when they got into detailed discussions and said sweetly, “You’ll have to discuss that with my business manager, I’m afraid. Here’s her card.”

Victor Mulvayne was in seventh heaven. She could see his mind counting all the cool cash his star performer was going to bring in for him, since he held David’s exclusive contract for the next three years. And Frank James was pleasantly contemplating the hefty commissions he would collect when he negotiated a couple of ultra-sweet movie deals for his client.

She was overwhelmed by all the possibilities thrown under her nose during the evening and by the time David drew her out of the private ballroom and toward the elevator, she truly felt shell-shocked. In fact, she was so bone-tired, she could barely think.

How in God’s name could she manage to write something as complicated as a screenplay, when she’d barely been able to write one damn word in months? It was, indeed, the chance of a lifetime and here she stood, nursing a case of writer’s block from hell. She felt uncertain, out of control and frightened. What the hell was she doing in this circus? On this mad merry-go-round?

She desperately needed to start writing again. To start feeling as if she existed in the real world, instead of some breathless sexual fantasy of David’s. His hands touched her. His body grazed hers deliciously. His eyes followed her. He wanted her. He enjoyed her. But as she wondered if he would ever really love her, she felt a sense of total hopelessness wash over her weary soul.

She wanted the kind of love others seemed to have found.

“Let’s go see what we can find to do upstairs, hmmm?” His voice was a purr of desire and she shivered slightly as she felt his warm breath against her temple.

“You have a wonderful sense of timing, David. But can we just walk for a while?”

“Walk? Walk where? This is New York City, after midnight. No one walks in New York City after midnight, unless they have a death wish.” He gazed at her quizzically.

“Oh well. If New York even scares Chance Braza, I guess we’ll just go upstairs and fool around some more.” She sounded tired.

He frowned down at her. That wasn’t exactly the response he had expected. Although her lips had said the words, he sensed instantly that she didn’t mean them.

She wasn’t interested in going back upstairs to bed and enjoying sex again tonight? He swallowed hard. A sudden sense of foreboding filled him. He’d pushed too damn hard. Had demanded too damn much. But she had enjoyed it too-hadn’t she? Or had he just imagined her responses? He stared down at her bent head and felt as if the floor had just dropped out from under his feet. He pressed the button for the elevator and ground his teeth to keep from cursing aloud.

Here he was, with a hard-on from hell, breathing like a steam locomotive and ready to tear his clothes off and throw her onto the bed. He drew a couple of deep, calming breaths and did his damnedest to get his mind and body back out of the zone. That was way easier said than done but when they finally stepped out of the elevator, he was able to walk the short distance to their suite door and slide his card key through the slot and open the door quietly, allowing her to step into the airy suite before following her.

She moved into the center of the sitting room and sank onto the antique divan, her head in her hands.

“You okay, Sam? What’s wrong?” He stepped up beside her and dropped to his haunches, his face level with hers. He almost didn’t dare to touch her but he gently slid his hand over her slim back and let it rest there without forcing the more sensual caresses his body craved. Needed. Desperately.

Sam swallowed hard. Her mind was a jumble of disjointed thoughts. She hadn’t been able to write a cohesive sentence in months and here she had the opportunity of a lifetime. She had been so damn immersed in the sensual pleasure of David’s desire for her, she had forgotten that living the dream left little room for trying to imagine anything more.

She felt his fingertips on the soft silk of her dress, toying with the zipper at her back, and she closed her eyes. The closeness of his body was enough to make her forget her own needs. The sound of his voice was enough to melt her resolve. And the gentle caress of those strong fingers was enough to send her to the stars. She wanted to turn into his arms and forget everything. But that was all she’d done for months now.

Tonight had made her realize that she was on a wonderful, crazily tilting carousel. One that would stop shortly and leave her in the dust while her emotions were left scattered and tangled in pain and rejection.

She so desperately wanted more than just this marvelous sexual gratification. She wanted so very much more. She wanted him to see her as a woman he could love, could be with forever. But all he saw was the way she responded so pathetically quickly to everything he said and did. He would never see her as anything but a willing, eager bed partner.