Before We Fall

Chapter Fifteen

Jacey

I’ve never been in a chartered plane hangar before, but I try not to act like it. I try to restrain myself from gazing around like an idiot… at the shiny jet, the staff who is waiting to meet us, and the carpet that is rolled out for us to walk on.

Holy crap. Is this seriously how famous people live?

Nonchalantly, I follow Dominic up the steps and onto the plane, trying my best to seem blasé. But as Dominic turns to ask me which leather sofa I’d like to sit on, I can see his eyes twinkling, and he knows. He knows that I’m way over my head. But I still don’t give him the satisfaction of admitting it.

“Anywhere,” I shrug. “They all look the same.” As in, they’re all expensive, soft-as-butter Italian leather. Dominic grins.

“Okay,” he shrugs back. “We’ll take that one. Amy can have the other.”

“Amy?” I raise my eyebrow. Dominic looks surprised.

“Did I forget to tell you? Amy Ashby is in Chicago right now. She’s sharing this jet with us.”

I feel a monster-sized weight form on my chest and I swallow hard.

“Uh, yeah. I guess you did forget to mention that part.” I’m going to be riding with one of the biggest actresses on the planet, and not only that, but she’s notoriously bitchy. Super.

Dominic stares at me curiously as he sits, pulling me down next to him. “Is that a problem? I’m sorry that I forgot to tell you. I just found out myself last night.”

I shake my head. “No, of course it’s not a problem. I’m good.”

I’m not good. My legs are shaking again, and that pisses me off. No one is better than you, I remind myself. She’s famous, not better. I’m practically muttering to myself as I settle in beside Dominic, automatically resenting that he’s so calm and cool.

But he’s used to this. He’s used to fancy planes and Hollywood stars and people being at his beck and call. I take a deep breath. I might not be used to it, but I’ve got this. I can do this. I turn to him.

“So, how much will you have to shoot this weekend? I’ve heard horror stories about how sometimes shooting can go on all day and night.”

Dominic chuckles. “It all depends. But right now, we’re doing bits and pieces, the smaller scenes. We won’t get into the meat of the movie until I’m back in LA for good. I’m a character actor, so it’s hard for me to bury myself in my role when I have to keep flying back and forth between Chicago and LA.”

“And your studio is okay with that?” I ask dubiously.

He starts to answer, but is interrupted by a female voice.

“They might be, but I’m not,” Amy Ashby snaps as she hauls herself onto the plane with a little yappy dog in her arms. She’s spindly skinny with giant boobs that must be fake. “This is bullshit, Dom. Serious bullshit.”

Dominic turns to me, rolls his eyes, then turns back to Amy with a sigh. “Hey, Amy. So good to see you.”

I want to giggle at his resigned tone and the outraged look on her heavily made-up face, but I don’t. Something tells me that wouldn’t be the best first impression.

She stares at me with narrowed eyes, extremely interested all of a sudden. “Who’s this?”

“My friend Jacey,” Dominic answers easily, sitting back in the seat with his arm looped loosely behind me. I enjoy the sense of security that brings me, the warmth from his arm. It’s like an anchor in a sea of unfamiliar shit.

“It’s nice to meet you,” I tell her politely. “I love your work.”

She sniffs, looking down her nose at me before she deposits her tiny dog on the seat and turns to the flight attendant. “I need some water for Pichachu. He only drinks Acqua Panna. If you don’t have any, you’re going to need to find some before we take off.” She turns away without waiting for the attendant to reply, and I can’t help but chuckle because her dog’s name sounds like a sneeze.

“Why are you coming?” she asks me bluntly as she settles the dog on her lap, stroking its puffy hair. “The set will be closed.”

“Since when?” Dominic asked her sharply. “I didn’t request that.”

“I did,” Amy stares at him. “Well, I’m going to. I don’t need your little girlfriend watching our sex scenes.” She levels a brilliant blue gaze at me, and I’m astounded at her hostility when I haven’t even done anything to her.

Jesus. What a bitch. She’s an even bigger nightmare than I thought she’d be. Dominic chuckles humorlessly as Amy crosses her skinny legs and stares at him.

“It’s not like we actually have sex, Amy, on or off set. But whatever. Do what you need to do.” Amy’s cheeks flush and she turns away, lifting her nose in the air.

Dominic turns to me. “You can either hang out in my trailer or you can stay at my house by the pool. Either way, you’ll have a good time. I promise.”

He puts his hand on my leg now, possessively, and he stares back at Amy. She can’t help but stare back at him, and I’m not sure exactly what he’s trying to convey, but whatever it is, it’s effective. She’s effectively pissed.

“Whatever, Dom. You know that’s not true. You and I both know it.”

Her words are icy and laced with venom. Dominic won’t show you a good time. That’s what she means.

But Dominic ignores her. He stares at me instead, angling his body so that he’s blocking her completely out.

“I’ve got some things planned,” he tells me conversationally. “I think you’ll like them.” I hear Amy sniff, but she doesn’t remark.

“I’m sure I will, too,” I answer. I take note that his hand is still on my thigh, his fingers lightly gripping me. “Can I have a hint?”

Dominic smiles, leaning down to whisper into my ear. “What did you pack to wear?”

I stare at him, but before I can answer, he continues, “Because you won’t be needing it.”

I gulp, then smile. “Maybe.” I shrug. “We’ll see.”

He smiles knowingly. “Oh, we’ll see.” He chuckles again, and the dangerous glint is back in his eyes. The one that I love. It means I’m going to like whatever comes next.

“I brought you something,” he tells me quietly. “It’ll help pass the time on the flight.”

I stare at him. “Something tells me it’s not a crossword puzzle.”

Dominic laughs, his teeth gleaming white. “Uh, no. It’s a million times better.” He reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a little nondescript box. Leaning forward, he whispers into my ear again, his breath warm on my cheek. “I like kinky things. Dirty things. Is that a problem?”

I suck my breath in. Kinky things? Regardless of my trepidation, I smile.

“I’ll try anything once,” I murmur.

He grins the grin of the devil. “Good. Go to the bathroom. Put this in.”

In?

I stare at him again, half in shock, half eager to see. I hold out my hand, a thrill shooting through me as he hands it to me.

“Trust me,” he whispers with a wink.

Oh yeah, right. Trust him. For some reason, I can practically see Lucifer himself saying the same thing with the same expression on his face. In all honesty, Lucifer might be safer than Dominic.

Regardless, I make my way to the bathroom in the back of the plane and lock the door behind me so I can open the box in peace.

As I slide the lid off, I suck in a breath. Lying in the white tissue paper, there’s a silver bullet–looking thing, shining in the dim light of the bathroom. I pick it up and it’s heavy and cool in my fingers. There aren’t any instructions, but I instinctively know where it’s supposed to go.

Where it’s supposed to go in.

Good Lord. I feel a moment of panic, but then calm myself. He might be Dominic fucking Kinkaide, but I’m Jacey fucking Vincent and I’m not scared of anything. I’ve got this. I’ve so got this.

I like new things, damn it.

With trembling fingers, I pull down my shorts and my panties and insert the silver bullet, nestling it up to where it needs to be. Inside of me. I suck in another breath as the cold metal slides in.

I stand back up and straighten my clothes.

It’s not so bad. It’s like a metal tampon. I hardly even know it’s there. I drop the box into the trash and head back out to Dominic.

“Everything go ok?” he asks innocently, watching as I buckle up next to him.

“Of course,” I tell him. “Child’s play.”

He rolls his eyes now. “Nooo,” he drawls. “It won’t even be close to child’s play. I promise.”

And there is a promise in his voice, a dark and sexy promise. I stare into his eyes and find myself lost there for a minute, inside the glimmering green depths.

I shake my head, shaking away my trembly feelings, and stare out the window as the plane taxies down the runway and takes off. After we’ve leveled off in the air, I settle into the seat, into Dominic’s arm. Flying always unnerves me a little, but I always relax after takeoff.

“Comfortable?” he asks softly. I nod.

“Yeah. I think I might take a nap.”

“Oh, I think not,” he murmurs. And with his words, the bullet inside of me starts to buzz urgently, enough to snap my head back. As the vibrations spread through my body and threaten to overwhelm me, I notice that Dominic’s holding something in his left hand.

A tiny remote control.

My eyes fly to meet his, and that look is there, lurking in his. That dangerous, sexy look.

Fuck.

I want to throw my head back into the sofa cushions, to embrace the vibrations that are cresting me toward an orgasm, but I can’t. Amy is across from me. Her nose is buried in a magazine, but any minute she could look up and notice me writhing in my seat.

So I sit rigidly, my knees clamped together, my jaw clenched.

And Dominic smiles.

As he does, the vibrations stop. His finger falls away from the button and he stares at me with a grin.

“How do you like the ride so far?” he asks innocently. I take a deep breath and gather myself, willing my tongue to form coherent words.

“It’s nice,” I tell him finally. “I’ve never been on a private plane before. It’s different than I expected.”

He chuckles now, a genuine laugh. “Oh, I’m sure,” he grins. He moves his hand and I flinch, preparing for another onslaught of vibration, but he reaches for a glass of water instead. He grins at my reaction.

“You’re jumpy,” he observes. “You should calm down. The ride should be very smooth. Nothing to worry about.”

I roll my eyes. “I wasn’t worried.”

“No?” He raises an eyebrow, and I jump as the vibrations flood my nether regions again, and I find that my palms are actually sweating. “How about now?”

Amy glances at us over her magazine, but as soon as I meet her eye, she looks away. She pointedly doesn’t want to interact with me, and at the moment, that’s very fine with me.

“I’m perfectly fine now,” I manage to say in a very normal and casual voice. “Very fine.”

Dominic chuckles, and for a moment I cuss him out silently. But at the same time, the pulsing bullet is spreading warmth through me, building orgasmic waves that I want to float on forever. Something about the vibrator itself, combined with the fact that I’m in public—in front of one of the biggest actresses in the world and a team of flight attendants—makes this whole thing exhilarating.

Apparently, I’m a freak.

Just like Dominic. I can see on his face that he’s getting off on this. He loves thinking about me coming in front of all of these people while they’re all blissfully unaware. I can see it in his eyes.

I grit my teeth as an attendant bends in front of me.

“Would you like a pillow, dear?” She smiles, and sweat breaks out on my forehead.

“N-no,” I stutter, then gulp. The vibrations kick up a notch to a faster speed. “No, thank you,” I finally manage to say. She looks at me in concern.

“Is everything all right?”

I grit my teeth again. “Yes,” I eke out. “It’s fine.”

She looks at me again with concern, but smiles. “Okay. Just let me know if you need anything.”

I nod, unable to speak now, my entire body melting into the sofa. I couldn’t stand up right now if the plane was on fire and I needed to run for my life. I’d be totally screwed.

I reach over and grip Dominic’s right hand, hard. My fingers curl around his, my fingernails cutting into him as he ramps up the speed of the vibrator even more.

“Holy shit,” I breathe. He grins a beatific smile. I close my eyes and breathe deeply, in then out. And then I hold my breath, because I know that I’m going to come. Right here in front of god and everyone on this plane, I’m going to fucking come.

It happens and I feel like climbing the inside wall of the plane as the sensations rock my entire body, hard. My leg twitches and I’m pretty sure that my eyes bug out. And still Dominic smiles. I grip his hand even tighter, my fingers damp, until he releases the button and the sensations stop.

I let go of his hand and fall back into the sofa, my head on the seat.

“Feel better now?” Dominic smirks, curling his long arm around my shoulders.

I nod. “Very much. I feel like I need a cigarette.”

Dominic raises a brow. “I didn’t know you smoked.”

I smile, closing my eyes. “I don’t.”

He chuckles, but I know I’m not going to last long now. I’m completely spent… from the orgasm and from trying to hide the orgasm. It took a lot of energy. I don’t know how long it takes, but it’s not long before I’m asleep. The last conscious thought I have is of Dominic’s scent filling my nose… musky, manly… so uniquely him.

Being on a private plane, his private plane, is leaps and bounds better than flying commercially. What’s that old airline slogan? “Fly the friendly skies”? Yeah, Dominic should totally make up his own slogan.

Come and fly with me.

As in, fly with me and I’ll make you fucking come.

Suddenly though, the thought of Dominic doing this with anyone else sends a hundred-pound weight slamming into my stomach. I’m shaken as I realize that I don’t want him to be with anyone else.

Only me.

I gulp, because that’s a dangerous thought when we’re talking about someone like Dominic.

Someone who, for all intents and purposes, cannot commit, cannot get close, cannot be intimate. I know I’m supposed to be proving that I can casually be with someone without falling for him, but I don’t think that’s me. I’m not the kind of girl who can do that.

I’ve got to face the facts, and they’re not just about me. They’re about Dominic too.

He isn’t the “friend with benefits” kind of guy.

He’s the kind of guy who gets fallen for, hard.

True to Dominic’s word, the flight is smooth. I don’t open my eyes again until after the wheels have touched down and he shakes my shoulder.

“Do you need to use the restroom or anything?” he asks me. “It’s probably nicer on here than it is in the airport.”

That’s no lie. I nod and climb out of the sofa, only to realize that Amy is following me to the back. When we get there, I pause.

“Do you want to go first?” I ask her hesitantly, because she’s looking at me so oddly. She shakes her head.

“No. I just wanted to tell you something.”

Oh, great. Here it comes.

“And that is?”

She smirks. “Dominic will never fuck you. So I know you’re walking around thinking you’re god’s gift right now, but just know that he’ll never fuck you. He’s probably secretly gay or something.”

I stare at her. “Or he just didn’t want to fuck you,” I suggest firmly. “You think just because someone doesn’t want to fuck you, it means they’re gay? Jesus.”

I turn away, but she grabs my arm with talon-like fingers. “Dominic likes to play games. He’ll string you along until he’s done with you. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” She smirks again. I roll my eyes.

“Oh yeah, out of the goodness of your heart, I’m sure.”

Amy stares at me, her eyes as hard as glass. “He’ll get you to do more perverted things than you ever thought possible,” she says icily. “And you’ll do them all because you’ll want to please him. Because you think that you’re proving yourself to him. But in the end, it won’t be worth it. Because he’ll never be anything more than a perverted asshole.”

I close the bathroom door in her face and sink onto the toilet, trying to collect myself. What the fuck was that? Why would she tell me such a thing? I mean, she’s a catty bitch, but seriously. If Dominic didn’t want to sleep with her, then he simply didn’t want to sleep with her.

The only thing is… the only thing that gives me pause is… that he hasn’t slept with me yet either. I’ve flat-out asked him to and he said not yet.

That begs the question: What the hell is going on with him?

He’s not gay. I know that. I can feel it in the way he looks at me. There’s also nothing physically wrong with him. He can definitely get it up. I’ve felt his erection pressed against me too many times to count.

Why then doesn’t he want to actually use those perfectly good erections?

Or maybe he does. Maybe Amy’s right and he just wants to use them to do perverted things. This whole making me come in front of Amy thing was pretty kinky. Finger-fucking me on the Ferris wheel was kinky. Going down on me in the supply closet was kinky.

He is perverted.

There’s no question about that. The only question is how perverted? And why? Something seems to scream out to me that there’s something really, really wrong with him.

Which is exactly what Amy is trying to imply.

It’s either that, or he just enjoys playing fucked-up games.

She’s implying that, too.

I take out the bullet, stick it in my pocket, and wash my hands, and when I go back out Amy’s already gone, deplaned with her stupid little yappy dog. I have to admit, that’s a relief. I don’t want to deal with her again. I know a million fans would love to be around her right now, but that’s because they don’t know exactly how much of a bitch she really is. It’s unfathomable unless you witness it firsthand.

Since we don’t have to traipse through the airport like normal people, we are out and into a car within a few minutes, sitting in the back of a limo while it drives us toward Dominic’s house.

“This is the first time I’ve been in California,” I mention absently, trying to be casual, trying to hide the unsettled things that I’m thinking about Dominic now as I stare out the tinted windows at the suburban landscape rolling past. It seems to be dry here, with only a few specks of green. Dominic glances up from his phone.

“Really? How is that possible?”

I laugh. “It’s very possible. I’ve never had a reason to come out here before.”

Dominic shakes his head but doesn’t comment. I stare at the back of the driver’s head for a while and ponder telling Dom what Amy had said, but decide not to. What’s the point in it? I know him well enough to know that he’s not going to give me a straight answer, and he doesn’t seem the least bit bothered by her or her implications anyway.

The ride to Hollywood Hills doesn’t take long, and I have to admit that driving into the exclusive community sends my tummy rolling. I watch out the window, wondering who I might see stepping out of a mansion. And then reality hits me, and I remember that I’m sitting in a limo with one of the most famous actors on the planet.

Reality check.

I stare at him for a minute, at the way he’s so casually graceful in the dark of the limo, his legs sprawled in front of him.

“Cool trick with the vibrator,” I tell him. “I didn’t see that one coming.”

He rolls his eyes. “How is that even possible? You work for Saffron and you don’t know what a bullet is?”

I shake my head. “I’m a waitress, not an escort, dickhead.” He grins.

“Fair enough. Are you still wearing it?”

I take it out of my pocket and hand it to him. “No. I didn’t trust you not to use it again.”

Dominic laughs. “Smart,” he nods. “Very smart.” He slips it into his pocket and stares out the window. “We’re almost there,” he tells me, gesturing toward a house at the end of the street, nestled onto the side of a huge hill.

I almost gasp when I see the house.

“Holy shit. Your house is even bigger than Sin’s,” I exclaim, pressing my nose to the window. And it is. It’s enormous and sophisticated and modern. Everything I should’ve known it would be.

Dominic grins, satisfied with my answer. “Regardless of what Sin says, everything about me is bigger than his,” he announces. I burst out laughing as I get out of the limo.

“Well,” I answer, still giggling, “I’m sure you’ve had no complaints.”

That was me fishing… trying to get him to say something, anything about women he might have slept with before. But he doesn’t say a word.

With a sigh, I stare upward at the house looming above us.

It’s majestic. And overwhelming.

“Do you have staff here, or do you somehow take care of this whole thing by yourself?”

Dom shakes his head. “I have housekeepers that come in once a week or so, but that’s it. I like my privacy. I do have a security detail, but they don’t live here. They only come with me when I go out. This is a gated community, so I don’t need them when I’m at home.”

I exhale slowly as we walk in the door, my heels clicking loudly on the stone floor of the foyer.

“I can’t believe you have such a huge house all for yourself,” I marvel as we wind our way up the curved staircase. He leads me to a bedroom and opens the door.

I pause in the doorway. “I get my own room?” I raise an eyebrow. “I wasn’t expecting that.” I was expecting to sleep in his bed.

He stares at me, his gaze hiding a million things. “I thought you’d want privacy.”

“That’s considerate of you,” I murmur as I walk past him and into my lush quarters. I can’t complain. It’s gorgeous… from the sunken marble tub to the fantastic view of the surrounding hills.

“If you need anything, just ask,” Dominic tells me graciously. “I’m going to leave you for a bit to freshen up while I take a shower. Want to meet on the veranda in an hour for dinner? The sun will be going down and you’ll want to see that.”

I nod and he leaves as I drop onto the bed in a heap. All of a sudden, everything here is overwhelming. This mansion, Amy’s bitchy attitude and her ugly implications… all of it. Including Dominic and his games.

His games.

Is he playing a game?

If he is, it’s clear that I don’t know the rules.