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Chapter 12: Encounter on the Beach
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The Fontaines of Hollywood series: The Sweet Taste of Sin Chapter 13: Facing the Demons
"What are you doing?" I ask Dante as he sits down beside me."I'm not ready to go back to the party either," he says."It's your party," I remind him again."And most of the people in there are used to my parties by now. They know not to expect to see much of me."I stare out at the dark surface of the sea as I consider this, tightening my arms around myself. And then I feel a weight coming down on my shoulders - his suit jacket."Don't argue," he says when I start to do just that. "You need it more than I do."He's right, and I'm too cold and wet and miserable to argue. I pull the jacket closer, covering myself. I dig my toes into the sand and wait for him to speak. He's the one who insisted on staying with me - let him come up with something to say. I'm too busy trying to figure out how to extricate myself from this interaction gracefully."It's been a long time since we sat out here together," he muses finally.The comment is casual enough on the surface, but I know better.
The Fontaines of Hollywood series: The Sweet Taste of Sin Chapter 14: In Which I Almost Make A Very Bad Decision
Even now, after all this time, my memory of that intimate moment on this beach still affects me. I can still feel the frightening buzz of that connection Dante and I made."Why did you invite me here tonight?" I ask him, pulling his coat tighter around me.He shifts next to me. Though I'm not looking at him, I'm oh-so-aware of every move he makes."Have I changed so much that you can't guess?" he asks, his voice low. "I invited you here for the same reason I showed up at your bakery. Because I wanted to see you."And to meet my boyfriend, I think. I may not have a lot of ex-boyfriends - and certainly none who shared the same intimacies Dante and I did - but I recognize the game we're playing here. Dante was never exactly what I would describe as possessive - he didn't freak out if I talked to another guy or anything like that - but he'd never needed to be. Even when we were together, we never defined what we were to each other - and for most of our relationship, I never thought we
The Fontaines of Hollywood series: The Sweet Taste of Sin Chapter 15: Meeting the Boyfriend
"Put me back down!" I say to Dante, my voice cracking. I wriggle, trying to free myself, even though I know my ankle can't support my weight right now."I'm not going to leave you to hobble over there by yourself," he replies. His arms tighten and his fingers press into my skin as he marches across the sand toward the stairs.We reach the base of the steps just as Jack does."God, Ash. I've been looking everywhere for - " His words cut off when Dante steps into the glow of light cast by the strands of twinkling bulbs in the palms above. His eyes widen as his gaze flies from me to Dante and then back to me.I expect Dante to put me down, but instead, he just continues past Jack and starts up the stairs. Jack's wide-eyed look of surprise turns into one of full-on shock."Dante, what are you doing?" I wiggle again in his arms, then look around him and back down to where Jack is standing with his mouth open. "I hurt my ankle," I call to my friend.Jack must see the desperation in my
The Fontaines of Hollywood series: The Sweet Taste of Sin Chapter 16: Damsel in Distress
I wake the next day with a hangover that threatens to split my skull right open. The blare of my alarm is like a gunshot right in the brain.I groan and roll over, slamming my hand against the screen of my cell until the horrible sound goes away. I'm stiff, and my skin is oddly both dry and sticky. The hair that flops across my face feels gross too, and it smells like the ocean. And that's when I remember everything that happened.I leap up from the bed, then nearly fall over as the hangover vertigo hits - and a sharp pain shoots up from my ankle. I fall back on the mattress, cursing at myself. How could I forget about my injury? I lift my foot, giving myself a better view of the damage. My ankle is currently a lovely shade of purple and about three times its normal size. I remember icing it sometime between the bottles of wine last night, but I'll need to wrap it before I do anything else."Jack?" I call. He was good enough to bring me back to my place after the party - and he thre
The Fontaines of Hollywood series: The Sweet Taste of Sin Chapter 17: In Which The Devil Performs A Rescue
I've heard Dante's mesmerizing voice say my name a hundred times before, but it's the last voice I want to hear right now. If I weren't stunned out of my mind with pain, I'd hang up, but Dante rushes on while I'm still trying to figure out how to handle this."Where are you?" he says. "At your place? Have you moved since the last time I was there?"At least my shock has managed to completely shut down my sobs. But the panic is already setting in. He intends to come here."I'm fine," I force out through pain-clenched teeth. "I thought you were Jack. I'll be fine. I'm fine.""Like hell you are. You can hardly even speak.""I don't need you to come here. I'll call Jack. Jack will come." Fuck - but Jack is at work for another eight hours. I rush on, "Or Mama Pat. She'll help me." I grimace as another wave of pain sweeps through me. "I-I'll be fine. Really. Fine.""Where are you, Ashlyn?""I'm fine," I repeat, but my resolve wavers as the pain once again threatens to pull me under. A
The Fontaines of Hollywood series: The Sweet Taste of Sin Chapter 18: I Didn't Imagine It
My ankle isn't broken, thank God. But it's a bad sprain. And my wrist is sprained, too - though only mildly. The rest of me is just bruised, but those two injuries are going to put me out of commission for a couple of days, maybe longer.Dante stays with me the whole time at the ER, even though I know he probably has plenty of better things to be doing. He gets a couple of phone calls while we're there, but they go the same way as the phone call he took during our cake consultation - both end with him tersely insisting he'll send pages as soon as they're ready. In spite of everything, I find myself curious about these conversations, about the business he's always kept so private from me. His big movie just launched. Shouldn't he be on top of the world right now?I manage to bite my tongue until we're on the car ride home, and then my curiosity gets the better of me."It looks like Cataclysm: Earth had a great opening weekend," I say. "The newspaper in the waiting room said it broke
The Fontaines of Hollywood series: The Sweet Taste of Sin Chapter 19: A Match
When Dante returns, my heart leaps into my throat. For the first time since he showed up this morning - hell, since he walked back into my life - I allow myself to really look at him, to face the demon who broke my heart.His dark hair is slightly ruffled, and I wonder if it fell that way on its own or if he's been running his hand through it. He used to do that - run his hand through his hair - while he was working, thinking his way through a problem in his script.And I used to run my fingers through his hair when we were making love.My belly warms as I let my eyes drop to his face, to that strong mouth with those eager, demanding lips, and then up to those rich, mesmerizing eyes. He's looking back at me, watching me take him in, and in those eyes I see things I don't want to see. That I'm not ready to see.Why is he doing this to me?I turn and grab a book from my nightstand, but that doesn't stop Dante from returning slowly and deliberately to the side of my bed."The food h
The Fontaines of Hollywood series: The Sweet Taste of Sin Chapter 20: All The Things That Aren't The Same
I force myself instead to think of the pain - of that night when everything fell apart. The years have done little to dull the hurt, to make me forget."Ash," Dante says, the rumble of his voice drawing me back into the present. He's still touching me - in fact, his hand has curled around the side of my face, and his eyes have softened just enough to make my insides go weak.I turn my face away from him."I don't know what you want," I say, "but I have nothing to give you.""Because of Jack.""Among other reasons."I don't have to be any more specific than that - I can tell by the look in his eyes that he knows I'm referring to how things ended between us the last time around. But he doesn't rise, doesn't look away."Ash.""Don't," I say, holding up a hand. "It doesn't matter now."He presses his lips together. That's another thing he always did when he was working through a plot issue in one of his scripts.And then he leans toward me. And though he doesn't touch me this tim
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