Free Absolutely Famous by Heather C. Leigh Page A

into me, our slick fluids joining as the sounds of our hedonism fill the room.
    I collapse on his shoulder panting, and feel Drew skim his lips up and down my neck, whispering his love for me as he holds me to him. We’re so good together, it shouldn’t be so difficult. In this moment nothing else matters; not the fans, not Kiera, not the cameras, not the g ossip. Only me. Only him. Only us.
    Brushing my hair back from my face, Drew loosens his arms from around my small frame, urging me to look at him. I lift my head from its resting place against his warm neck and we lock eyes once more.
    “I love you, Sydney.” He grazes small kisses along the corners of my mouth.
    “I love you too. We’ll be okay, right?” I ask in a broken voice, willing myself not to cry.
    “Yeah, we will.”
    I hope he’s right because I have a nagging feeling that we can’t go on like this.
     

Chapter 11
     
    I nervously tap my fingers on the arm of the sofa, trying for the millionth time to reach my mother on the phone. Voicemail, again. Damn!
    I was hoping to talk to her, anything to distract me from the destructive thoughts that have been torturing me all day. Drew, filming scenes with Kiera today. Kissing scenes. Nearly naked, fake orgasming, all-consuming love scenes.
    For the first few hours of the morning, I laughed at the thought of them in front of the camera. Drew didn’t shower this morning, and after his workout with Damien and then our own private workout, he was pretty ripe. I think of how wicked he sounded when he whispered to me that he wanted the smell of me on him all day, especially if he was going to have to pretend to like being touched by someone else. Kiera was definitely in for a noseful today, and that made me giggle.
    But now it’s not all that funny anymore. If it were anyone but her, I think I’d be okay with it. Well, as okay as you can be when your boyfriend has to simulate sex with other people for a living. Kiera hates me though, and her misguided grudge is not something I take lightly. She wants Drew and has the potential to be a conniving bitch.
    I jump out of my skin when my phone rings in my hand where I’m clutching it in a death grip.
    “Hello.” I’m trying to control my shaky voice.
    “Sydney? Is that you?”
    “Yes, who’s this please?” I don’t recognize the man’s voice.
    “It’s Jeff Talley, from the Warren Hotel Group. How are you?” He sounds way too excited.
    Jeff Talley wasn’t my favorite person in the world a few months ago. He was the project manager for the interior design remodel that I did for his hotel chain’s flagship nightclub in New York City. He strong-armed me into going to the nightclub launch party with Adam Reynolds, who I knew casually from Leah’s coffee shop.
    I had no idea when we were hanging out that Adam was an internationally known rock star. Adam, however, knew that I was in charge of the remodel because we had discussed it before. He called me out on the pages of GQ magazine then had his agent arrange with Jeff for me to be his date.
    No one seemed to care that I had a boyfriend at the time, not Jeff and not Adam. Kiera Radcliff certainly cared though. She’s Adam’s ex-girlfriend and was downright hostile to me when I showed up with him for the party at Verve. I haven’t forgiven Jeff yet for forcing my hand like and causing trouble for me.
    “Jeff, I’m fine. How are you?”
    Why is he calling me? I should have changed my phone number.
    “Well, Sydney. I have news for you.”
    God! I can just see him smirking on the other end of the line because he knows something that I don’t. It makes me want to scream.
    “Oh, and what news would that be Jeff?” His news is never the kind of news I like.
    “The Warren Hotel Group loves what you did with Verve so much that they are going forward with another nightclub redesign. Ben Walton has asked for you personally.”
    Ben Walton is the CFO of the entire worldwide Warren Hotel Group. I like the