I asked Krystal if she had a cooler.
“Yeah, but it’s on the back porch and it’s filthy. I’ll wash it for you guys!” She was bizarrely excited about the offer.
“We’ll just get one at the store,” Max said. “Don’t go to that trouble.”
Krystal looked at me and placed her hand on Max’s shoulder. “This guy is amazing, girl!”
I was getting embarrassed for her. She was on something, no doubt. A total trainwreck. Sad.
She asked what we had planned that day, and then said she’d been up all night so she was going to try to get some sleep. I held back from saying that sounded like a great idea, and that maybe she needed to sleep for about a month or so.
When she was gone Max said, “Coke.”
“I was thinking something like that.”
We were headed out the door when he said, “So, when do I get to see her DVD?”
I knew he was joking so I hit him back with, “Maybe you and I should just make our own.”
“Don’t tempt me, Olivia.”
“Aren’t there sharks out here?” I asked Max, as we sat on the stern of his boat, getting ready to swim in the Pacific Ocean. We were a mile or so offshore. The water was calm, but all I could think of was how deep it was and all the creatures below the surface.
“Yep,” he said.
“So…why are we doing this again?”
He reached around to my back and untied my bikini top. “It’s just one of my ways of getting you naked.”
“There are plenty of ways for you to do that without making me shark food.”
We were about to skinny-dip. My first time ever.
Max chuckled. “It’s going to be fine. Really. California sharks mostly go for blonde girls, anyway.”
I watched him toss my bikini top on one of the cushioned seats. “I didn’t know you were an expert in marine biology.”
“You’re feisty today,” he said, slipping his fingers under my bikini bottoms. “I like it.” He knelt before me and lowered the bottoms. “I like this too.” He kissed me once between the legs.
“Excuse me, but why am I the only one who’s naked?”
Max remedied the situation by dropping his swim trunks.
I laughed.
Max looked down at himself, then back up at me. “What?”
“Nothing.”
He grabbed me. “No, you laughed. What’s so funny?”
We were both laughing now. “Your tan lines.” I laughed, unable to get more words out.
He picked me up as if he were going to toss me into the ocean. I screamed and held on to him tightly.
“Relax,” he said. “I wouldn’t do that.”
We got into the water and my heart raced. I’d never been in water this deep before, and while I was undeniably nervous about it, having Max there made me feel safe.
“Don’t splash,” he said. “That’s what brings the Great Whites.”
Okay, maybe not so safe.
I swam toward him and he took me in his arms. I wrapped mine around his neck. He treaded water for the both of us, holding me up, and I marveled at his strength.
The water lapped at our shoulders and necks. Max gave me a salty kiss, but I didn’t care if I swallowed a gallon of the Pacific’s water.
Later, out in the bright sunshine of the open sea, Max and I oiled each other up with suntan lotion. All that touching didn’t lend itself to a relaxing time lying on towels and soaking up rays.
We ended up fucking on the bow of the boat, our bodies slipping and sliding against each other as Max filled me and thrilled me as though it was our first time.
I talked to Mom and Dad early Sunday evening after getting back home, and they told me they were considering coming out for a visit in two weeks. I wasn’t expecting it to be that soon, and I started to mentally prepare for how I would handle the issues of Krystal and Max.
If they saw Krystal in the current shape she was in, it would just give them more ammunition in their war against me being in LA. If they found out about Max, they were likely to kidnap me and haul me off to some institution to have my mind reprogrammed.
Okay, maybe I was being a bit drastic in my worrying. But I really did need to find a way to minimize their interaction with Krystal. As for Max, I would simply tell him I wasn’t ready for him to meet my parents, what with our relationship being so new and all, and it would be easy to keep that part of my new life hidden. For now, anyway.
FOUR
Boring week. That is, until Thursday, when I got yet another call from our soon-to-be movie star client, Jacqueline Mathers. Based on all of my previous interactions with her, I thought for sure she was calling to demand another perk. But she wasn’t.
“I saw Max Dalton’s picture with that woman.”
Ah, shit. Not this. She had no idea I was involved with Max, so I had to hide my frustration as she asked me if I believed the denial from Liza Carrow.
“I do,” I said.
“I don’t. I keep hearing from other actresses that he has a casting couch that’s pretty worn out.”
She wasn’t the first person in town to say that about him. Krystal’s friends had been the first at that party a few weeks back. That was when I had my doubts about Max. But no more. I knew who he was, even if no one else did.
“I really don’t know,” I said. “It’s never come up in business meetings with him.” There. I tried some mild snark. Maybe she’d drop it.
“As long as I don’t have to do that. I mean, I already have the part, so he’s not expecting anything, right?”
It was a good thing we were on the phone and I could freely roll my eyes. “Jacqueline, don’t worry. It’s not going to happen.”
It was an odd conversation, to say the least. Not only because of the content itself, but also because I found myself on the verge of defending him like a girlfriend would. I mean, without the cursing and hanging-up on her part.
I kept my cool, changed the subject, and soon we were discussing scheduling and other details of the upcoming shoot.
After our call, I went in to tell Kevin about it. He laughed and said, “She’s going to be a handful to deal with.”
“Already is.”
He was reading something on his iPad and I had a brief flashback of him showing me the screen with that picture of Max and Liza in the tabloid rag.
Kevin said, “Let’s close up early and go have a cocktail.”
It was just after 4pm. Kevin’s suggestion was odd. He’d never asked me to go have a drink with him before, but when the boss wants to shut down and unwind, what can you do?