To Love Jason Thorn

Do you know what happens after you start acting like you’re in love with a girl? Or, hell, forget about being in love, do you know what happens when you act like you’re dating each other? Falling for each other? No?

Let me tell you what happens: you start to get lost in your own fucking game. You begin to think you’re actually dating each other. What the fuck are you supposed to think when you’re holding hands, looking into each other’s eyes, laughing, and just fucking enjoying your life?

Only, it is a special kind of hell where you can’t reap the benefits of dating as you would if you were actually fucking dating.

The days after our meeting with Megan passed in a flurry of activity. As much as I hated seeing myself on every media outlet out there, I couldn’t deny the fact that I didn’t mind it that much when Olive was in the same shot with me. After looking at so many damn photos of the two of us together, laughing, smiling, and holding hands—always holding hands—I could see what Tom and Megan had initially seen.

We looked good together.

Happy.

I was afraid I was starting to believe in the lie we had so meticulously created. I was starting to believe that Olive belonged with me and only me.

Late night movie date?

Check.

Shopping at the farmers’ market?

Check.

Coffee date?

Check.

Lunch date?

Check.

Dinner date?

Check.

We were following Megan’s instructions to a T, and as we went through her list one by one, we had a whole crew of paparazzi following us everywhere—and when I say everywhere, I mean everywhere. They all seemed to have forgotten about my sexcapades and chose to focus on our new love instead. Judging by all the articles and videos everyone kept posting, people were loving it. Everyone who read Olive’s book—which was a large number of people—were rooting for Olive to win my heart. They all liked the idea of their troubled movie star falling for an ordinary, girl-next-door type.

What they didn’t know was that Olive was nothing short of extraordinary.

***

After a long flight to London, we finally made it to our hotel room. “Is this our room? Or should I say palace?” Olive asked after turning in a circle and taking everything in.

“High ceilings, big windows, two freaking balconies.”

I chuckled. “I take it you approve.”

“I definitely approve. I’m very happy that you’re picking up the bill, though.”

Keeping my eyes up and away from her ass, I trailed after her and listened to her comments about every room in the suite.

“Jason!” she gasped once she reached the main bathroom. She looked over her shoulder to make sure I was following her. Not so fortunately for me, she had it all, especially when she bent forward to check out the…the… I couldn’t even see what she was trying to look at. Her shirt rode up and all I could see was that damn ass of hers.

“Jason, did you see this?”

She had righted herself and was looking at me, her green eyes sparkling. I knew she was excited about every little thing because even the plane food had made her happy.

“Everything is all compartmentalized, it’s so cute. Isn’t it cute? And they keep giving us free champagne, and snacks, and Danish pastries. I’m literally in heaven right now.”

I didn’t see any of it; all I could feel was her getting under my damn skin.

After she had eaten two of my pastries on top of her own, she had fallen asleep all snuggled up against me.

I hadn’t moved an inch the rest of the flight.

“Yes?” I asked, focusing on her face again.

“There is a vintage clawfoot tub in here.” Her voice echoed in the tiled bathroom.

“Great,” I muttered, quickly turning away from her before I lost my damn mind. The things I could do to her in that tub… I didn’t need a visual of her standing next to it.

A few minutes later she found me in my room. “There are only two bedrooms here,” she commented from the doorway.

I lifted my brow and stared at her. “Two isn’t enough? How many did you expect to find?”

“No, it’s not that. It’s so big, I just assumed it would be more than two. There is a dining room so if we want to invite our non-existent friends over for dinner, that will be useful I guess. Anyway, you’re taking this room?” she asked as she entered the room and sat on the bed. “The other bedroom is bigger; why don’t you take that one? I’d be more comfortable if you took that one.”

When we’d landed at the airport the sky had already been darkening, but I still parted the blinds so the city lights would illuminate the room without me having to switch the bright lights on.

I turned around to move out of the room, but Olive was sprawled on the bed, looking up at the ceiling.

“Okay, give it to me.” Oh, how I wish I could. “What is our itinerary for tonight? Is it something like this? At 8, exit the hotel, make sure to get photographed hand in hand with Jason Thorn. At 8:30, enter the restaurant, hand in hand with Jason Thorn. At 9:30, exit the restaurant, laughing and clinging to Jason Thorn.”

Grinning, I sat down next to her and looked at her upturned face. “I didn’t know my hand was causing you such grief.”

“Your hand… Holding your hand is no grief at all. It’s just weird how detailed she is on her lists, as if she has to mention that I need to smile when I’m looking at you. What does she think I’m going to do? Slug you in public or something? And, hell, maybe I’m having a moment and I just want to look at you for a second.”

My fingers stopped playing with the ends of her soft hair. My voice came out husky when I spoke. “Tell me more about this moment and I’ll try to answer as best as I can.”

She turned to her side and squinted her eyes at me. Before she could answer, my damn phone vibrated with a new text.

“It’s Megan. We have a car waiting to take us to dinner. Apparently she is joining us.”

Olive groaned and covered her eyes with her arm. “She is going to go over her game plan for tomorrow. We’re screwed.”

***

The dinner was exactly what Olive had predicted it would be: Megan giving each of us detailed instructions on what to say, what not to say, etc. Toward the end, she focused completely on Olive and explained what would happen at the premiere the next day. When neither Olive nor I could keep our eyes open any more, she agreed to end the night and we all returned to our rooms.

I eyed the alarm clock on my left side and noticed it had been only eleven minutes since I had left Olive alone on the balcony after giving her a quick kiss on her forehead. It was the closest we had gotten to a real kiss so far, always a forehead kiss, or sometimes an even more innocent cheek kiss. I’d already discovered that I preferred forehead kisses over the cheek kisses. The way she looked at me after I gave her one always undid something inside me, so I took what I could get.

Another minute passed. Was she still talking to her friends? It was the first night we’d be sleeping under the same roof, and I was having trouble guiding my thoughts away from that fact.

Finally, I heard a door being clicked shut, then soft footsteps took her farther away from my room to her own bedroom. Maybe I should’ve found a suite with only one bedroom.

I took a deep breath and let it all out.

When I heard Olive’s ear-piercing scream, I was out of my bed and running for her in seconds. As soon as I hit the living room, she collided with my bare chest, knocking the air out of me.

“What is it?” I asked urgently, my heart racing in my chest. When she kept shaking in my arms, trying to catch her breath, I gripped her elbows and pushed her away from my body. “What’s wrong?”

Her chest rising and falling rapidly, she met my eyes. “Someone is in my room.” Her breath hitched. “The closet.”

Just as she finished her words, I heard a soft clatter coming from her room. I gripped her arm tighter. “Go to my room. Now. Call the hotel security.” She nodded sharply, but didn’t move. “Go, sweetheart. It’s gonna be okay,” I said, softening my tone. She ran without questioning me further.

When I entered her room, I caught the faint smell of Olive, the scent of her perfume: fresh apples and flowers. As I walked father in, a heavier smell clouded the one I was starting to recognize whenever Olive was near.

“Hotel security is on their way. If you don’t want to get in more trouble, you should come out of there.”

A slender blonde strolled out of the walk-in closet at my words. She was wearing a black lingerie set that left nothing to the imagination. I made sure to keep my eyes on her face and not an inch below that.

I balled my fists and took a deep breath.

“How did you get in?” I asked, trying so very hard to keep the anger that was burning inside me out of my voice.

What if Olive hadn’t noticed this person’s presence in her room and this lunatic had managed to hurt her?

She shrugged and offered me a small smile. It wasn’t the first time some fan or stalker had paid a hotel employee to get into my room, but having Olive here with me…

It changed things.

Her eyes roamed my naked chest and she found the courage to take a step toward me as she licked her lips. I crossed my arms over my chest.

“I guessed you would bring her here with you, but I wanted to give you options tonight. I’m game for a threesome, too,” she said.

I clenched my jaw and had to force myself to not throw her out on her ass on the spot.

“Jason? Is everything okay?” Olive’s softly spoken words came from right outside the room.

“It’s okay, Olive.” I raised my voice. “Open the door so security can get in here as fast as possible.”

Turning to the lunatic, I saw the shocked expression on her face. “Perhaps you want to put on your clothes before more people see you like this.”

“But…but I love you,” she said, taking another step forward. “Please, give me a chance. I really love you, Jason! I’ve watched every one of your movies a hundred times!”

I gritted my teeth and turned away from her to wait for security.

“I’ll do whatever you want, Jason. Just give me one night, please,” she begged instead of putting clothes on. “I only want one chance. I’ll let you do anything you want to me. I don’t even care if you fuck me in front of a bunch of people. Whatever gets you off, I’m down with it.”

Hearing raised voices coming from outside the room, I walked out without glancing back at her. I was doing my damnedest to ignore her words. She was still begging me, her pleas becoming desperate. The head of the hotel security, Daniel…something, who I had met as we checked in, reached me before I could get to them.

“What’s the problem, sir?”

“Someone managed to get into the room and hide in the closet. I suggest you take her out of here immediately or I’ll be pressing charges.”

“That’s impossible. Our security—”

I held up a hand. “I don’t have time to go over this with you. She obviously found her way in. Get her out of here, right now.” His eyes hardened and before he could move toward the room with the two other men that were standing right behind him, the girl came running outside, still in the same getup.

“You took him from me,” she cried as she ran toward the door. While I was thinking she was finally getting out, one way or another, my eyes caught something in her clenched fists: a taser.

She was running toward Olive.

I growled Olive’s name, trying to warn her as my heart leaped to my throat. Before I could reach Olive where she was standing next to the open door or take out the fucking lunatic, one of the security guys tackled the girl down on the hardwood floor and restrained her hands behind her back, forcefully prying the weapon out of her hands.

Once I reached Olive’s side, I was shaking just as much as she was, if not more. Holding her face in my hands, I forced her to meet my gaze. “You okay?”

Her mouth opened, but no words came out. She gave a small nod.

I buried her face in my chest and willed my heart to slow down.

She is okay. She is fine.

“Get her the fuck out of here,” I growled when the security guys seemed to be taking their sweet time with the wailing girl.

I pulled Olive as far away from the door as possible. Her skin was cold under my touch.

“Sir, do you want us to—”

“Get out,” I roared, finally fed up. Thankfully, they obeyed.

Before the last one could close the door, Megan peered in through the small opening. “What the hell is going on here? What’s with all the yelling?” She looked over her shoulder. “Did someone try to get in?”

Letting go of Olive for a second, I walked toward the door and closed it on Megan’s face. I was in no condition to talk to her.

This time I was gentler when I held Olive’s face in my hands. She lifted her face and her eyes locked with mine. “I’m so sorry, Olive.” She had stiffened when I’d touched her again, but seemed to relax as I slowly caressed her cheeks with my thumbs. I didn’t like the fact that her face was still pale, but she didn’t seem to shake any more.

She grabbed my forearms. “It wasn’t your fault. I think I overreacted a little. It’s just…” Her eyes broke contact. “When the closet door opened and I saw her reflection in the mirror…”

“Don’t apologize, sweetheart,” I said gruffly. It was my own damn fault for not bringing my own bodyguard. “I’m sorry, Olive,” I murmured again and pulled her against my chest.

A few seconds later, her arms tentatively closed around my waist and the tension quickly left my body.

“You took ten years off of my life,” I muttered against her hair. I was holding her head in place, right over my heart.

“It’s okay, Jason. Calm down. I’m okay.”

Did she even know how much she had scared me? “Don’t do that again,” I said, pulling away so I could look down at her. “Don’t ever stand around like that again.”

Her brows drew together, her coloring slowly coming back to her face. “I was wait—”

“Don’t argue with me either. You should’ve waited in my room after security got here.”

Her frown deepened and I matched it with my own.

“You’re sleeping with me,” I announced before she could get a word in.

That made her frown disappear completely as her pretty little mouth dropped open.

So many things to do with that mouth.

So many things to say looking into those captivating eyes.

“What do you mean?” she asked, her eyes narrowing when I let her go and gently pushed her toward my room.

“The bed is big enough, Olive. You’ll sleep in my room with me.”

“Okay,” she replied, finally starting to walk.

“That’s it? No argument?”

“Well, I did get scared, and it was your fan scaring the shit out of me after all, so the least you can do is sleep with me—to protect me of course, sooo…yeah, I’ll gladly sleep in your bed.” She looked at me over her shoulder, her eyes all innocent. “It’s not like you’ll touch me, right?”

Holding back my laugh, I shook my head. “No touching, don’t worry.”

“Phew.” She whistled, pretending to swipe imaginary sweat from her forehead. “For a second there I was out of my mind with worry. Let’s go to bed, then.” We stopped next to the bed, my hand barely touching her back.

“Oh,” she said, fully turning to me as she stood between the bed and me.

There was a chance that I was standing a little too close to her.

Her gaze dropped down to my chest and her eyes slightly widened as if she was just realizing there was a half-naked man right in front of her. When her eyes started to trail lower, my skin prickled and I had to fight with my body to not react to her beautiful wandering eyes. “I…I should take a shower first so I’ll just…” Her eyes jumped between my eyes and collarbone. “I’ll head to the other room and grab…my things. I’ll be right back.” She patted my arm and ran away.

Chuckling, I got into bed.

Twenty minutes had passed when she finally put her knee on the right side of the bed and climbed up next to me. There was too much space between our bodies for us to ever come in contact, but instead of lying on the very edge of the bed like I was doing, she quietly got under the covers and settled in the middle.

I tensed.

Maybe she just wanted to lay in the middle so we could share the covers without having to pull on them? Or maybe she was a turner, and to avoid tumbling down, she needed to fall asleep far away from the edge? Either way, I would stay on my side so it was okay.

Everything would be fine.

Another ten minutes passed and thanks to Olive’s tossing and turning, I was still wide awake.

Every single time she turned, moved, fluffed her pillow, or quietly sighed, my body got a reminder of her presence and of course acted accordingly. Hell, even her breathing was starting to get to me.

Groaning, I turned to my right to see her back facing me.

“Jas—” she started to whisper, but before she could finish my name, I reached out, splayed my hand on her stomach—thank god she was at least wearing something—and pulled her back against my chest.

She gasped and her body stilled. For a moment, I didn’t know what I should do with my hand, but then I decided to rest my palm on the bed, still keeping my arm against her stomach, caging her in. At least this way she would stop tossing and turning and we would finally go to sleep.

“Jason? Are you sleeping?” she whispered, not turning her head.

“What do you think?” I muttered.

“Sorry. I can leave if you want—”

My chest still cushioning her back, I pulled my hips a few inches back—just to make sure she wouldn’t feel anything she wasn’t supposed to feel—and gave her body a gentle tug with my arm.

“Go to sleep, Olive.”

“Oh, okay,” she murmured.

A few minutes later, just when I was about to fall asleep, she started to wiggle her bottom. The little minx managed to rest her ass right above my dick. One wrong move and my already raging dick would have been resting right against her round, shapely ass—not that I had spent much time looking at it…

While her breathing had deepened shortly after she’d made sure her ass was perfectly placed to torture me, it took me hours to fall asleep, battling with the urge to move forward, just a few inches, just to let my dick cop a feel.

***

My eyes still closed, I took a deep breath and smiled to myself. I could feel the morning sun filtering through the open blinds, warming my skin. It felt good. The other thing that felt more than good was Olive’s scent in my room.

When I tried to lift my arm to stretch, I noticed a heavy weight on it. Opening my eyes, I found my nose inches away from Olive’s forehead.

Shit!

At some point in my sleep, I had cradled her in my arms and her leg had somehow gotten thrown over me, pressing my morning wood into my stomach. I tried to see if I could move away, but it only made matters worse. When Olive’s hips moved and her thigh pressed firmer against my dick, I couldn’t hold back my groan.

Shifting in place, she snuggled closer and buried her face in my throat.

Oh, fuck me for fuck’s sake!

With my free hand, I reached to grab her thigh and push it down, but my hand rested over…her bare skin? Before I could stop myself, my hand crept up and my fingertips touched the side of her underwear.

Sweet Jesus…

Had she been naked when she’d gotten in bed with me? Was she crazy?

I tipped my head down and looked at her through my half-closed eyes. She still had her shirt on, but it was all bunched up around her waist.

Dropping my head back on the pillow, I sighed and belatedly noticed that I had started massaging her thigh, right under her ass.

After stilling for a second, I pulled back my hand quickly.

She made a soft, sweet noise in her sleep and tried to climb on top of me.

“Oh god,” I groaned quietly. I managed to hold her in place before she could climb up on my lap. When she suddenly pulled her leg away and turned to her other side, I sighed in relief. We weren’t touching. Don’t get me wrong, her ass was still free of her shirt and if I dropped my eyes a little lower, I could find heaven, but I was able to restrain myself.

I palmed my cock, and yeah, I had one hell of a morning wood I would have to take care of in the shower. Propping myself on my elbow, I looked down at Olive and sighed.

She looked so innocent in her sleep, so beautiful, and she was going to be my wife in just a few days.

Just to see if she would wake up, I touched her arm with my fingertips and gently trailed them down to her wrist.

Nothing.

I made my way back up to her shoulder, but she only burrowed deeper into her pillow.

Feeling like a proper creep, I decided to get up and take care of myself in the shower before I did something stupid. No reason to play with fire.

Leaning down, I placed a small kiss on her temple, and she released a soft moan.

A noise that my dick liked a little too much.

Bad idea, Jason. Worst fucking idea.

Rolling away from her, I jumped into the shower and took care of my wayward dick under the hot water.