Baby Be Mine

heating.
    ‘I wonder how many staff it’s taken to keep those pumpkin candles burning all night,’ he wonders aloud.
    ‘I was thinking the exact same thing when we walked in!’ I exclaim.
    ‘Great minds,’ he says.
    ‘Can you really do kung fu?’ I ask with a smile.
    ‘Yeah.’
    ‘I can’t believe I missed your part in the movie.’
    He chuckles. ‘You didn’t miss much.’
    ‘How did you get into martial arts?’
    He glances at me and then looks away again. ‘I wanted to know how to fight.’
    ‘Why?’ I ask with a frown.
    He shrugs. ‘Something to do.’
    I know that’s not the real reason, but he’s not opening up to me. And why should he? I’m not opening up to him, either. I’ve barely told him anything about Johnny, and I sure as hell am not going to be mentioning Christian anytime soon. He’d run a mile if he knew what sort of a person I really was – the lies I’m capable of. I suddenly feel deflated. Almost as though sensing my mood, he turns to face me. We’re alone. We’ve left the party-goers back at the mansion and we’ve wandered along this winding path for some time. There’s no one else around – even the pumpkin lanterns have dried up.
    I look down at his lips and then back to his eyes. Neither of us says anything for a very long time, and then he’s kissing me.
    I feel drunk, giddy. His hands are on my waist. I do what I’ve wanted to do for what seems like forever and slide my hands inside his uniform. Oh my God, he feels so hot and warm and so deliciously toned. I want him. I really, really want him. Everything else has flown far from my mind.
    ‘Come back to mine,’ he murmurs into my mouth.
    ‘Yes,’ I gasp.
    He wrenches my hand away from his chest and leads me along behind him as we hurry back towards the house, his phone to his ear as he arranges for his friend’s car to be waiting.
    We reach the mansion and hurry through the rooms. Somewhere along the way I become vaguely aware of Dana’s glow, but I don’t look back to see if she’s accompanied by Johnny. I don’t want to see his face. I don’t want anyone to ruin this moment.
    Out at the front, a vaguely bored paparazzo takes a couple of lazy snaps, but no one’s interested in us when there are so many A-listers still inside. Joseph grips my hand hard and my heart is pounding as much from rushing through the house as from the adrenalin of kissing him. His car pulls up and he yanks open the door and climbs in after me. The heat of his hand in mine is scorching, but apart from that he doesn’t kiss me or touch me on the journey home to God knows where. I couldn’t concentrate on geography right now if my life depended on it. All I can think about is him.
    Finally, we’re there.
    ‘It’s nothing fancy,’ Joseph warns as he unlocks the door.
    ‘I won’t be looking at the furniture,’ I reply and then he’s kissing me again and I can barely take in my surroundings as we trip and stumble our way to his bedroom.
    ‘I can’t get this bloody knot undone!’ I gasp, grappling with his black belt.
    ‘Fuck that,’ he says. ‘Where’s the zip?’
    ‘Here. Mind my tail!’ I cry. ‘I don’t want to pay for the repairs.’
    He just laughs and unzips me and the look in his eyes as he grins down at me makes my heart flip. I want to kiss him again. So I do.
    I slide his top off and butterflies swarm in my stomach when I see what I’ve been dying to see ever since I first laid eyes on him at the premiere party. He’s beautiful, so beautiful. It’s not right that he’s not a big-screen star already so other woman can share in his glory.
    Oh, God, and he’s such a great kisser. I go to take my cat ears off.
    ‘Leave them on,’ he says with a grin as he pulls me onto the bed. ‘Sex kitten.’
    I laugh and lie down on top of him. A split second later I’m underneath him and his lips are on my neck. His hands cup my breasts and then I’m pulling him into me, hot and urgent and utterly desperate to be back on the . . .
    Johnny.
    Christian.
    GO. AWAY.
    And then it’s just Joseph, Joseph, Joseph . . .
    ‘That was mind-blowing,’ I say with a small laugh afterwards. My head is still tingling, and as for the rest of me . . .
    ‘Mmm,’ he murmurs, his eyes closed.
    I lie there for a while in his warm arms, and I desperately want to stay there, but reality keeps tugging away at me. Finally I shift in his arms and sit up.
    ‘I should go.’
    ‘Really?’ His voice is tinged with