Love under the Lights (Whole Lotta Love) Read online

Sheesh. Toni didn’t know whether to be relieved or pissed that they weren’t paying more attention.

  This was it. She had to do this. She could do this. If not—well, the alternatives were even worse.

  She stood and told herself she was in a doctor’s office. It was all clinical. All about business. That lasted about ten seconds as her willpower dropped to the floor with her white blouse and her best silk skirt.

  Beneath, she’d worn her precious lace lingerie, a peach tinged froth that had cost her a week’s paycheck back in the days when she could manage to spend a week’s paycheck on herself.

  Quality always paid off, though. The bra and bikini panties might be old, but they still looked fresh and stylish. To Toni’s eyes, anyway.

  “And the underwear, please.” Bud flicked his fingers at her lace, glancing briefly at her before returning to his notes.

  Damned heathens. No appreciation for the finer things in life.

  “Hoookay then. Here goes nothing.”

  Toni unclasped the bra and let it fall, then eased the elastic of her panties down over her hips, lifting her legs one at a time to step out of them.

  She was embarrassed, struggling against the urge to cover herself in that pose so beloved of sculptors, and scared shitless to look at either man.

  There was a thick silence for a moment or two as she stood in the office, buck naked, waiting for—what? Something. A cough. A sneeze. A gasp of wonder at her nude body?

  Nah. Not gonna happen.

  “Would you turn around slowly, Ms Sinclair?” Henry Adams snapped his cell phone shut and looked at her. “Now walk across the room and back?”

  That took all of three steps. But by God they were the longest steps Toni had ever taken. As she twisted around and headed back to the desk, she couldn’t help but see the men’s eyes roaming over her.

  To give them both credit, they took stock of everything—from her short black shiny hair to her calves and her toes—not lingering with undue attention on anything in between.

  “Very nice indeed. You have a unique skin tone, Ms. Sinclair.” Bud smiled. “I’m guessing your heritage is…” His gaze lifted to her eyes. “Well, I admit I’m not quite sure.”

  Toni chuckled. “I believe my father was from Haiti. Or possibly the Dominican Republic. To be honest, I’m not quite sure either. My mother was never too forthcoming when it came to that particular discussion. He left before I was born.”

  Henry smiled sympathetically. “I quite understand.” He stood and moved around Toni. “If your skin photographs as well as I think it might, you’ll be a very welcome addition to our roster, Ms. Sinclair.”

  “Really?” Toni blinked. “Don’t you want me to say some lines or something?”

  Bud lifted an eyebrow. “My dear, this isn’t repertory theater. We’re not doing Shakespeare here.”

  Henry was struggling to hold in a laugh. “Oh I dunno, Bud. We did Midsummer Night’s Cream, didn’t we?”

  Bud rolled his eyes, and then picked up his phone. “Get hold of Ryan for me, would you? Send him over? I need him for five minutes.” There was silence, interrupted by the chirp of a voice on the other end of Bud’s phone.

  Bud sighed. “Okay. As soon as he’s finished coming, then. Tell him to make it quick.” Another pause. “Pants yes. Shirt no.” He hung up.

  Henry went to the cabinet and pulled out a file from which he extracted a few papers. “We’ll need you to fill these out, Ms. Sinclair. The usual tax forms, contact information and so on.”

  Just like any other interview, except for the fact my butt’s getting cold and my boobs are wafting in the breeze. “Okay. I can do that.” Toni glanced at her clothes. “Should I…”

  “Not yet.” Bud looked up as a knock sounded. “C’mon in.”

  Toni cringed. She’d just gotten used to flashing her stuff at two guys. Now there was a third?

  The door opened and admitted a guy who must be Ryan, she surmised. Then she took a look at him and forgot what the word “surmise” meant. She also pretty much forgot her own name and the fact that she was doing the jaybird thing.

  He was, to put it bluntly, fucking hot.

  Over six foot of muscle was blinding her, chest rippling and gleaming under what might have been sweat or baby oil. No matter what it was, Toni had the definite urge to lick it off him.

  The bod was everything a guy’s bod should be, from shoulder to toe. And, miracle of miracles, his face was even better. Rugged, hewn from a tasteful block of granite with sharp edges in all the right places and a jaw line that jutted perfectly—it was almost too much.

  Throw in the shoulder-length tousled blond hair and the winning smile…if Toni had been wearing panties they’d be pretty damp by now. As it was, she settled for a squirm or two and choked down her instinctive feminine response Which was, of course, something along the lines of “Ravage me, you splendid creature. I’ll probably never get this close to another one like you. Not naked, anyway.”

  “Ryan, this is Toni Sinclair. She’s joining the cast.” Bud introduced them.

  “Hi Toni. I’m Ryan. Ryan Spalding.” His grin got wider as he held out his hand. “You’ve probably played with my balls.”

  Toni, who’d dabbled in tennis during high school, couldn’t help laughing as she got the reference and shook his hand. “Oh yeah. I think I did.”

  Ryan’s blue eyes twinkled at her. Honest-to-God twinkled. Shit, he should be declared illegal. Or at least have a Government warning stamped someplace. No wonder he was here, on a porn set. He must have a gazillion fans. All drooling.

  “Ryan, would you do a quick clinch with Toni?” Henry stepped back and observed them.

  “Sure. I’d be happy to.”

  Toni couldn’t help a quick glance at his crotch to see if all of him was “happy” to. Apparently it wasn’t. But then again, from the sound of things, he’d just come on command. One couldn’t expect miracles, even from Adonis-like marvels of nature.

  “C’mon, Toni. Over here next to the window.” He tugged her hand and led them both into the light. “They want to check how we look together.”

  Her breasts met hard chest in a formal introduction that squished them almost flat as he clasped her closely. Toni swallowed as visions of more ravaging tramped solidly across her brain cells. The ones that were working, of course. Not the ones that were fanning themselves and panting rapidly.

  “Okay. That’s good. Assume the position.” Ryan’s hand slid around her spine and he bent her backwards a little, falling naturally into a pose that would fit perfectly on the cover of any romance novel.

  One that featured erotic and hot sex, of course, since Toni was stark naked.

  However, she managed to follow his lead and simply lifted one arm, resting her hand on his shoulder while she leaned back into his extremely well-muscled arm.

  “Yeah. Nice.” Henry nodded. “See that, Bud? Her skin tones are a lovely contrast to Ryan’s.”

  “I think that should work well on camera.” Bud sounded thoughtful.

  “It will.”

  Another voice made Toni jump and she peered around Ryan’s bulk to see someone standing in the doorway, studying them. Dear God, who was next—the goddamn janitor?

  “Ah, good. Paul.” Henry glanced over at the man in the shadows of the doorway. “You agree?”

  “I do indeed. The skin colors are great together. Maybe even some black and white stills would work. Pull out the contrast.” He lifted his hands and made a little square with his fingers in that gesture typical of photographers everywhere.

  “Toni, Paul is our cameraman. If anyone knows how you’ll look on film, it’s him.” Bud waved his hand towards the door as Paul stepped further inside. “Paul, Toni Sinclair. Our newest cast member.”

  Paul nodded. “Ms. Sinclair.”

  “Uh, hi.” Toni did her best to hide behind Ryan while not appearing to be unfriendly. She waved her fingers at him then looked toward Bud and Henry. “Any chance I could get dressed now befo
re anybody else decides to drop in?”

  Surprisingly, it was Paul who chuckled as Ryan gently released her. “It gets less important as time goes on. And of course it’s a lot easier in the studio.”

  “If you say so.” Toni slithered into her underwear as rapidly as she could, refusing to make eye contact with anyone until she’d got some of her clothing back on. They probably were checking out her pussy, but damned if she was going to watch them do it.

  Feeling a lot more secure once her bra and panties were back in place, Toni dressed herself automatically, one ear on the conversation around her.

  “Huntington Beach, Ryan.” Bud tapped his fingers on the desk. “Location shoot. We’ll do the settings, some scenery shots that can be cut in during editing and take advantage of my pool and hot tub.” He glanced at Paul. “Okay with you?”

  Paul nodded. “Sure. We can use it as the tropical getaway and do a couple of the fantasy scenes there too?”

  Henry stood. “I’ll get on the phone to Suze and let her know.” He scribbled something as Toni picked up her purse. “Tomorrow?”

  “Yeah. We’ll be back here Monday and should be able to get this one in the can next week.” Bud looked at Toni. “Would you mind starting tomorrow? We could use you at the location shoot. I’m thinking you’d fit in very well with the scenes we’ve got planned. Nothing too demanding. Whaddya say?”

  Toni’s mouth opened but words temporarily deserted her. She cleared her throat. “Tomorrow?” It was a croak, so she coughed and tried again. “Huntington Beach? Tomorrow?”

  Ryan laughed. “You won’t need to pack much. Look at it as a working vacation. Tif and I sure do.”

  Paul looked at Toni. “Tif’s his wife. Tiffany Wonder. She’s in film too.”

  “Ah. Okay.” This was a bit much to process, so Toni went back to basics. “So I guess you’re hiring me.”

  “Of course.” Bud lifted his eyebrows. “I think you’ll be great.”

  “If you stop by the office on the way out, you’ll find Debbie out there with forms and payroll stuff. She takes care of our administrative needs.” Henry tore off a sticky note. “Here’s the address of Bud’s place at the beach.”

  “Uh…I don’t have a car.” Toni blushed. “It’s…it’s…”

  Bud lifted a shoulder casually. “Paul, can you drive her?”

  Paul stared at Toni. His eyes were an interesting shade of brown, in contrast with his rumpled blond surfer-boy look. There was something in that gaze, something she hadn’t seen in any of the other men this morning.

  Or perhaps she was imagining it. Next to Ryan, any guy would look—ordinary, but this Paul…well, there was certainly plenty to admire. Distracted, Toni blinked at him.

  “Yeah, no problem.” He turned away. “Make sure you leave your address with Debbie. I’ll pick you up around nine. That way we’ll miss some of the traffic.”

  “Okay. Thanks.”

  And that was pretty much the end of the meeting. The men filed out, Ryan taking his lovely body with him, to Toni’s silent sigh of regret. Bud’s desk phone rang, Henry pulled out his cell phone and Toni gave them both a smile as she left the office in search of the administrative Debbie and the paperwork she had to do.

  Debbie turned out to be a motherly sort who had everything organized and before she knew it, Toni was on the payroll.

  And one helluva payroll it was too. One glance at her salary figure and her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. “Are you sure this is right?” She just managed to stop herself from rubbing her eyes.

  Debbie giggled. “Yeah, it’s right honey.” She made copies of the various contracts. “That’s just for this movie, of course.”

  “Er, of course.”

  Toni tried to sound casual, but knew she’d probably failed. The numbers were dancing in front of her eyes. It was more than she’d cleared in a couple of months at her previous job and would certainly take care of a lot of her outstanding financial problems.

  “I’ll get your address to Paul.” Debbie glanced at the scrawled notes that had found their way to her desk. “Pack for the weekend, but don’t worry too much about it. What costumes there are will be provided. Bikinis probably.” She sighed. “Bud’s got a great place down in Huntington. I envy you.” She shrugged. “Just make sure you have some of your own makeup in case they don’t have the right one to match your skin tone.” She glanced at Toni. “Which, I might add, I also envy.”

  Toni grinned. “I can’t claim responsibility or give you any tips. I was born with it.”

  “All the worse.” Debbie grinned back. “I can’t hate you for it.” She turned back to the papers, passing a neatly-stapled batch to Toni. “Here’s your copies for your files. Checks are cut on Thursdays. I’ll make sure yours is ready.”

  “Wow. Thanks. You’re really on top of things.” Toni stood, clasping the papers to her chest like they were precious treasure. Which, all things considered, came damn close to how she felt about them.

  “Can’t afford to be anything else. We move fast around here. Gotta keep the audience coming.” She chuckled. “Pun intended.” Her phone chirped.

  “I get it.” Toni smiled. “I just don’t know if I believe it’s happening to me yet.”

  “You will.” Debbie reached for the ringing phone. “Have fun at the beach.”

  Toni nodded her thanks and walked out of the building, trying not to stagger as the reality hit her like a punch to the gut.

  She had a job.

  She’d been naked in front of what seemed like a battalion of men, one of whom was a god, another was—interesting.

  She was going to the beach tomorrow, to shoot scenes for a porn movie.

  She was gonna get paid a hefty chunk of change for it, too.

  Mr. Interesting was picking her up in the morning and driving her there, with her appropriate makeup and beachwear.

  Holy fucking shit.

  Toni’s life had just become amazingly complicated—and wasn’t that wonderful?

  Chapter Three

  It had been a long day and all Paul wanted was to go home, crash on his sofa and watch some mindless, testosterone-infested, car-crashing, machine-gun-toting macho movie. Something brain-numbing to help him relax before the upcoming trip to Bud’s.

  At least he had some company for the ride. Real nice company too. He had to admit that Toni was fucking hot. She had that sexy tone to her skin and a kick ass body and that ass…he knew he’d focus on that ass when filming her. Being a cameraman in the porn business was a tough job—but someone had to do it.

  Unlocking his door he found a handful of mail—mostly junk—and a few bills he’d take care of later. Looking around, he noticed the kitchen light was on and the television sounded from his living room.

  “What the fuck?” He walked to the fridge and opened the door. “Where’s all my beer?”

  The purse on the small kitchen table clued him in. Kari was there again. He closed his eyes for a moment and tried to remember when giving her a key had seemed like a good idea.

  Shit, not tonight.

  He heard noises coming from his bedroom, so Paul figured she was in there changing or something. As he walked down the hallway he glimpsed some of his DVDs scattered on the floor in front of his television. He wasn’t a neat freak by any stretch of the imagination, but he believed in respecting someone else’s shit. He frowned.

  Opening the bedroom door he was greeted by the sight of a guy’s hairy ass going back and forth. Clenching his fists, he walked in to find Kari getting it from behind by one guy as she was sucking another guy’s cock in front of her. The guy in front was kneeling on the bed with his eyes shut and a handful of Kari’s hair.

  “What the fuck’s going on?” Paul could barely speak the words.

  Kari turned and mumbled, her mouth full of a large cock. “Just a sec, Paul.” She spit it out and they all paused, turning to look at an outraged Paul.

  “These guys are in the movie I’m doing so I invited them o
ver for a party. We were waiting for you. You wanna join in, baby?” An excited smile crossed her face as the guy behind started fucking her again.

  “Get the fuck out of here!” Paul was steaming mad.

  “Gimme a few minutes dude, I’m just about to get a nut here in this bitch’s ass.” The guy in the back obviously didn’t see how mad Paul was or did he take him seriously. “Just wait your turn.”

  A cock poked Kari in the face and she went back to sucking on her second playmate.

  Paul stood in utter shock. This was his house. His stuff, his girlfriend—and these guys were fucking her like it was nothing out of the ordinary. He stepped back to his desk and grabbed the nearest thing he could lay hands on. His old leather camera strap.

  With a mighty swing he hit the idiot fucking Kari’s ass right across the buttocks with a loud sharp slap.

  The resultant shriek and jump pushed him hard into Kari, making her jerk forward and choke. She tried to shut her mouth too, which wasn’t a great idea at the time, since she ended up biting down on the cock she was sucking at that moment.

  “Oh shit, oh shit. My ass. I think you broke something, you mother fucker!” The guy pulled his cock out of Kari and turned to Paul, both hands rubbing his ass as tears leaked from his eyes.

  Paul took the strap, folded it double and pushed it against the guy’s chest—hard. “I’ve had a really bad day. I come home to find you butt-fucking my girlfriend. You’re lucky I don’t kill you. Get the fuck out of my house before I really leave more than a mark. My daddy taught me how to use a whip. Leave now asshole, before I start drawing blood.” Paul barely noticed him scrambling for his clothes and the door.

  The other one had fallen over in agony, clutching himself in pain after Kari’s teeth had bitten into his cock.

  Paul had no sympathy whatsoever. “Hey, numbnuts. Get the fuck off my bed and get the hell out of here.”

  The guy grabbed his pants and shoes from the floor, whimpering as he left, still holding his crotch. “My cock, oh shit, my cock.”

  Kari lay on the bed crying a little. It had probably hurt her when the guy ended up rammed into her ass and Paul could see the muscles in her face twitching the way they did after a long blowjob.