Page 57 of Lucky Star

Chapter Twenty-Two

Cameron

We’d done it. Sarah and I were alone together at what felt like the edge of the world, and almost immediately the hustle and bustle of our jobs—and the world as we knew it—fell away.

On the drive from the airport to our cabin, we marveled at the beauty of Eagle Harbour, nature’s beauty surrounding us as far as the eye could see. With the empty road stretching out before us, I couldn’t help but feel small and insignificant in the face of Mother Nature’s bounty.

“Can you believe this place?” I leaned forward to stare out the windshield as an eagle soared overhead.

Sarah’s answer was a soft, bubbling laugh laced with wonder and awe. “I know, right? It’s like a whole other world. The pictures made this place look heavenly, but they’re nothing compared to reality. It’s almost like …” her voice trailed, off as if she was embarrassed by what she’d been about to say.

“Like what?” I never wanted her to feel uncomfortable sharing her innermost thoughts with me.

“You can smell the green, can’t you? The air is perfumed with it. It’s like a potent combination of spice and earth and … I dunno, something else. Like you could just walk into the woods and disappear into the embrace of the trees.” Her cheeks turned a lovely, dusky pink as she finished speaking.

She painted a pretty picture, but we’d been warned about wandering into the woods alone. “And get eaten by a mountain lion or a wolf.”

“Shut up; you know what I mean,” she chided, sticking out her tongue.

I blew her a kiss. “You’re right though. We don’t have anything like this in Ohio, and I’ve been in L.A. so long that I’ve almost forgotten what real nature looks like. This place is on a whole other level. It’s practically untouched.”

“That’s what I’m counting on,” she said, twisting to face me, her eyebrows waggling. “I’m expecting all kinds of privacy.”

“I like private,” I smirked, my eyes darting back to the road.

Since Sarah had pulled that stunt on the plane with her hand up my shirt, I’d done nothing but imagine all the filthy things I wanted to do with her in the privacy of our cabin. I couldn’t wait to lock the door on the outside world and claim her over and over and over again. We had a lot of lost time to make up for.

When I glanced back across the SUV, Sarah was worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. It wasn’t meant to be seductive—she’d always chewed her lip when deep in thought—but even so, the sight made my cock twitch in my jeans. With lush curves and tits for days, she set my blood on fire. Her body was a perfect mixture of all my biggest turn-ons, but what I really loved was that Sarah was completely unaware of her sex appeal.

“I can see the wheels spinning in your head.”

“I’ve been thinking …” she said, twisting a lock of hair around her finger.

“About what?” I asked, flicking on my turn signal and hanging a left where a smaller street met the highway.

“I want us to go public.”

She watched me, her face a mask of concern, as I considered her statement against the promises I’d made to her on the plane … and my last conversation with Jillian. Was it really essential that we keep up the charade? Admittedly, the extra press had been good for my star power, but now that I knew Jillian had ulterior motives, did I really owe it to her and the studio to see this thing through to the bitter end? I’d signed my contract before they’d hatched their scheme, and nowhere in that document did it state that my fauxmance with Jillian was a stipulation of my employment. Everything we’d agreed to had been verbal. I’d need to ask a lawyer to read the fine print, but I was pretty sure the only thing they could fire me for was failing to show up on time or having a very public drug problem.

“Only while we’re here, I mean,” she rushed to clarify. “It’s just that with Eagle Harbour being so remote, I don’t think we need to worry about being found out. Sarah McLachlan used to live here, and the locals never ratted her out to the press.”

“We’re not from here, Sarah. The locals have no reason to protect our privacy.” I felt bad for crushing her hopes, but we needed to be realistic.

“No, I know. I just meant this doesn’t seem like the type of place where you have to worry about getting papped when you’re out to dinner.” She rested her head against the window and closed her eyes. “I just want to be with you, like we’re supposed to be. I want to know what it’s like to hold your hand when we’re walking down the street.”

I wanted all of that too, but I didn’t want to put our future at risk either. As soon as my lawyer let me know I was in the clear, I’d hire a skywriter to tell the world that Sarah and I were together, but I wasn’t as convinced as she seemed to be that we could get away with going public without there being some very severe repercussions.

Turning down a lane led into a thick, verdant forest that hid the houses from the road, I opened my mouth to tell her this when she bounced in her seat and pointed. “Oh look, there it is,” she exclaimed, drawing my attention to a yellow metal starfish nailed to a tree, the only indication we’d reached the hidden driveway to our rental.

Partially obscured by lichen and moss, we were lucky she’d spotted it at all. If she hadn’t, I didn’t know how we would have ever found this place. The driveway—if that’s what you could call it—was barely wide enough for our SUV to fit. As it was, our mirrors kept getting tangled in ferns and other greenery.

Slowly, we inched the car toward the cabin, and when it came into view, I sucked in a quick breath. “Are you sure this is it?” I craned my neck to take in the large wood façade. “It’s massive.”

Sarah was out of her seat and walking toward the house almost before I could bring the vehicle to a stop. Standing in a clearing that could easily fit twenty parked cars, she threw her hands out and twirled around in a circle. When she laughed out loud, my heart pinched with a feeling so immense I thought I might break from it. I loved her, and I’d almost lost her.

A little bit wobbly from her spinning, she swayed on her feet and sighed happily. “It’s perfect.”

I threw open my door and joined her, seeing that the house was even more massive than I’d initially thought. From this vantage point, I could see that it extended far back into the lot toward the ocean. It was way too big for the two of us.

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