Page 51 of Half of My Heart

ChapterNineteen

I paceback and forth in my suite’s living room and look at my watch for the umpteenth time. It’s almost five o’clock and Jenna has been here since this morning, but I’ve yet to see her. I’ve been in interviews all morning and when she arrived, she was whisked away to her own suite by my team of stylists to prepare her for tonight. I made sure she was in a beautiful two-bedroom suite with food and drinks at her fingertips and a bouquet of fresh flowers from me to welcome her. I know she’s uncomfortable being away from Avery, so I want to take as much stress off her plate as possible and make her feel pampered.

I’ve missed her and Avery terribly while I’ve been gone. I don’t like not having them with me and I know this is going to be an issue with my next movie when it’s in a different location. I don’t even want to think about how Jenna is going to react to that news. She’s had her guard up with me since our kiss and it’s been hard to crack that icy exterior of hers over the phone. Now that I get to see her in person, I’m eager to have some alone time with her so we can talk.

A knock on my door halts my pacing and I walk over to open it. Sean is there, looking dapper in his black suit with a white collared button down underneath. “Time to go, loverboy,” he teases as he walks in. He looks around and walks to the bedroom but comes back out with a puzzled frown.

“Where’s Jenna?” he asks in confusion.

“In her own suite,” I respond in amusement.

He wrinkles up his nose in disgust. “But why?”

I sigh, annoyed that I have to explain to him. “Because we aren’t ‘officially’ together yet and I wanted to be respectful and make her comfortable by having her own room.”

“Well, that’s fucking dumb,” he responds, and I roll my eyes at his lack of sensitivity.

“And this is why you’re still single. That and your horrible taste in women.” He punches my arm at my jab, and I chuckle at his scowl.

“Fuck you and hear me out on this, mate. Jenna’s been single for over a month now, not even crying over the ex-boyfriend anymore and you haven’t made your move yet?”

“Well…yes and no.”

He blinks at me, even more confused than before. “What the bloody hell does that mean?”

“It means I’m trying to regain her trust by taking things slow. We’ve kissed, but she’s still weary of me and our situation.” I give him the Cliff Notes version because I don’t have time to get into specifics and frankly, Sean Lindsey is not the best man to give relationship advice. He goes through women like water and the one woman he wants to be serious with doesn’t reciprocate his feelings.

“Cal, rip the Band-Aid off already. Tell her how you feel and stop giving her options. You want her, she wants you, blah blah blah. It’s just semantics.” He shrugs as if it’s really that easy and already I feel a headache coming on from his speech. “Stop walking around on eggshells and just fucking be with her already.”

“Thank you, Dr. Ruth,” I comment sarcastically, and fortunately, a knock on my door saves me from having to continue this conversation. My publicist, Liz, and Cora, walk in, and I try to hide my surprise at seeing the latter. I haven’t spoken to her since the award show, so I was unaware that she would be at tonight’s premiere. She probably pressured Sean into inviting her and unfortunately, he has no willpower when it comes to her. She gives me a hesitant smile, and I politely smile back at her, having no desire to exchange pleasantries.

“Limo is waiting for us downstairs, and Kellan called saying Jenna is ready,” Liz announces, and my adrenaline starts to pump at the mere mention of her name. Kellan is my main stylist and I informed him that Jenna is the priority whenever she’s with me. I’ve been doing this long enough that I can dress myself. He dropped off my suit this morning and spent the remainder of the day with her.

“Let's grab Jenna so we can leave.” Everyone exits my suite and I shut the door behind me. We walk toward the end of the hall where Jenna’s suite is located and knock on her door. It doesn’t take long for one of the stylists to open it and let us in.

We greet Kellan, Morgan and the rest of the team and thank them again for everything. Sean is the first one to see Jenna and goes to hug her. It gives me a chance to stand back and appreciate the vision that she is. She looks like a Greek goddess in a teal Grecian style gown that simply takes my breath away. I drink her beauty in, and I want nothing more than to demand that everyone leaves us so we can stay in this suite for the next forty-eight hours with no interruptions, no distractions. Just her and I, talking out our feelings, our hopes for our future together and exploring each other’s bodies.

I walk toward her, my body craving to always be near her whenever she’s around. Cora steps up next to me and we both stop in front of Jenna. I let Cora introduce herself and I can tell it’s taking all her strength to be nice to Jenna. Jealousy is radiating off her and I glare at Sean for even bringing her.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Jenna tells her with a cordial smile.

“It’s a pleasure,” Cora responds in a husky voice. “Cal has told us so much about you.” I stiffen as she slides her arm around my waste and squeezes. Jenna watches with a bemused smile at Cora’s antics. I push Cora’s arm off me and move to stand in front of her so that Jenna is finally looking at me and only me.

I see her breath hitch as she looks me up and down and I can tell Jenna likes what she sees. Her gaze rests where the top two buttons of my shirt are undone, revealing a peak of my chest. She licks her lips and I swear to God if we didn’t have an audience with us, I would be taking her right now. She finally looks up at me and our eyes lock. I know she feels my hunger for her smoldering from my stare and it starts to affect her as I watch her eyes slowly start to dilate from her own desire.

“All right everyone, let’s go. Limo is waiting downstairs,” Meg announces, breaking our trance.

I give Jenna a sexy smile and wink before gesturing for her to go ahead of me. My politeness gives Cora the perfect opportunity to snake her arm through mine. I look at Sean and motion for him to follow Jenna while I have a little chat with Cora.

“What are you doing, Cora?” I hiss in a low whisper, not wanting to cause a scene in front of the team of stylists who are packing everything up so it’s ready to board the plane to New York.

“I’m just walking with my friend,” she says in a childlike voice. “I’ve missed you, Cal. I hope you’re not still mad at me?” She raises her eyes feigning innocence, but I don’t fall for her old tricks. We walk out of the suite and down the hallway together, but before joining the others, I stop us and turn to face her.

“Understand something, Cora, I’m here with Jenna. Jenna is my future and if you want to remain friends, then you will respect her, respect my daughter, and respect my relationship. Got it?” My voice is harsh, but I don’t care. I’m done playing her games and if she’s any friend at all, she’ll be happy that I’ve found someone.

“Of course, Cal! I would never do anything intentional to hurt you or your sweet little family. I can’t wait to get to know them better,” she smiles smoothly at me and pats my arm before untangling herself from mine and joining the others. I need to watch that one like a hawk because my gut tells me that I still can’t trust her.

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