Page 11 of Hollywood Crush (West Wales Romance #2)

Tudor

I awoke, as usual in the summer, to a demanding alarm and to sunshine finding its way through moth-bitten curtains that were slowly falling apart.

I stretched out, feeling particularly content and rested for the first time in a while. I had shown someone my secret sanctuary, shared my plans for the future, and…oh, fuck.

My leg had come to rest against another in the bed and I knew in that moment that I had completely and utterly fucked up.

I looked over at Daniel, gorgeous tussled Hollywood hair and relaxed face even in sleep, and I started to panic a little bit.

Why had I let things go as far as they had last night? And why had I pushed so hard for it?

I knew why. It was because he was gorgeous, and not just on the outside like you would expect Hollywood stars to be.

But on the inside too. I loved the way his smile had lit up as I’d talked about my own passions and as he had eaten the food I had made.

If I could, I’d keep the man. But I couldn’t.

And sleeping with him was highly unprofessional.

What if he complained to production? Would they take all their business and investment from the hotel?

We had both drunk a little bit, but what if he said I had taken advantage of him?

I sat upright, trying to get my breathing under control.

I hadn’t had a panic attack since…well, a while.

I had so many coping mechanisms like breathing deep to get my heart rate under control, but now each breath seemed to make the problem even worse.

The deeper the breath I took, the harder it was to take another, and I felt like I wasn’t taking in enough oxygen.

I could feel the edges of my vision flickering, and hard as it was, I knew I had to get myself under control. What if you faint now in bed with this guy? The rational part of my brin supplied, but that just made things worse. Until I felt a warm hand rubbing little circles on my lower back.

“Hey,” said Daniel quietly. He sat up next to me and continued to rub his hand across my naked back. “What’s up?”

The lack of anger or regret in his voice helped to calm me down a bit. Maybe this wasn’t my career, livelihood and hotel on the line. Maybe we could just pretend none of this had ever happened.

“There we go,” said Daniel. His hand moved absently up my back, tickling my spine and resting on my shoulders. “What’s up. What’s brought this on? ”

“Nothing, don’t worry,” I replied.

“Well I do worry. And I won’t stop worrying til you tell me what’s going on.”

“Well…” I started, not sure what to say. But then the door slammed open with some ferocity.

My mother strode into the room, not even looking at us as she walked over to the curtains and wrenched them open.

“Come on, your alarm must have gone off ages ago! And you left the conservatory in a hell of a state last…” she trailed off.

She had turned toward us, now sitting in a patch pf blazing sunlight on the bed.

“I see.” Her tone was clipped and I knew she was forcing down a wave of anger.

“Meet me in the conservatory…when you feel up to it.”

She left the room, slamming the door shut behind her. “Shit, shit, shit! ” I said. I stood up and started pulling my clothes on - jeans from the floor, a fresh shirt from my wardrobe.

“Gonna leave me stranded, dude?” Daniel asked. He gave a quirky, lopsided grin that I was sure worked wonders in Hollywood. I remembered then that his clothes were covered in red wine and that he might have to pass a hundred of his work colleagues on his way back to his room.

“Shit, sorry.” I took a pair of joggers and a t-shirt that said All I Want for Christmas is a Sugar Daddy that Glyn the baker had thought was hilarious when he bought it one Christmas. Unsurprisingly, it had very rarely been worn. “Don’t ask,” I said as Daniel chuckled.

I didn’t’t know what to do about him as an immediate problem, but I knew we had to talk about this somehow .

“When do you finish shooting today?” I asked.

“It’s my day off,” replied Daniel.

“Great. Could you meet me at…” I checked my phone for the time. “Twelve o clock, in main reception? I’d like to talk over all this. If that’s OK with you.”

“Sure thing.” Daniel smiled form where he lay still naked in my bed.

“Let yourself out whenever you like,” I said. I closed the door and sighed. I knew this was going to be a fun one to go over with my mother now, and didn’t have any idea how I was going to approach it.

I headed down the corridor to the conservatory, anxiety growing with every step. I knew what had happened last night was a bad idea in and of itself. I knew even more that Mam would not just see it as a bad idea but as a complete betrayal.

I opened the door and made sure it was closed behind me. I hadn’t seen any of the crew use the gym, so they wouldn’t have a reason to be at this end of the hotel. Still, it couldn’t hurt to avoid anyone hearing.

Mam was sweeping away the broken glass from the smashed wine glasses.

A deep red stain permeated the concrete floor.

“Let me,” I said, but Mam snatched away the brush.

“You can try and fix the floor,” she said.

She kept sweeping until she was satisfied and then gestured at the stain and the cleaning stuff she had brought.

I dutifully got to work on the stain, scrubbing at it with an old cloth.

“I’m-” Mam started, but I cut her off. I had been expecting a tirade.

“Very annoyed, I know. Furious, in fact. And I know that because I’m furious too.

How could I be so fucking stupid as to sleep with a customer?

A VIP nonetheless? And after everything Dad did to you, falling just a little for someone who’s going to take off and leave the village is ridiculous.

I know. I agree. And I know I’ve fucked up, OK?

I know I have. And I’m sorry. And I’m going to fix it. ”

Mam looked thunderstruck. She took my hand in hers. “I was going to say, I’m sorry for barging in on you like that earlier after you’ve previously told me not to. But the rest is a little bit of an overreaction, aye?”

“Oh. Sorry. You’re…not annoyed?”

“Lovely boy, I am. But you’re quite obviously old enough to know when you’ve done something wrong. And if you want to keep doing things wrong…that’s on you. This is your hotel, not mine. And you’re going to live with the consequences if your actions take it to the ground.”

I wasn’t sure what to say to that, so just kept scrubbing. My ears and cheeks were burning. Mam was usually much more brusque and upfront with her feelings so I didn’t really know how to take this sudden subtlety.

“Was last night the first time?” she asked after a moment.

“Yes.”

“And do you think it’ll be the last?”

“I…think so. I don’t know, Mam.” We hadn’t ever really had boundaries but still, talking about sex so directly with her was a bit embarrassing. “He’s a nice man. And kind. And I don’t want to say it’ll never happen again because it could. I just have to ask him where he stands on all this.”

“If you’re after a bit of fun, and you think it won’t hurt you or us, go for it. But I’m begging you not to fall for him.” Mam pulled me up into a standing position. “I’m not saying love doesn’t happen, or can’t. But you saw what happened to me. How it broke me. Don’t make my mistakes, cariad.”

◆◆◆

My mother’s words were still echoing in my mind at midday, when I stood behind the reception desk waiting for Daniel to arrive.

It had been a quiet day since most of the crew had left early morning and myself and Mam had split up our allocated room to clean.

I had been tasked with walking down to pick up the hotel’s van from its service down at the mechanic on the other side of town.

I figured it was as good a time as any to get Daniel to talk .

I heard his footsteps on the stairs before I saw him. He was dressed, as usual, like a star. He wore tight-fitting jeans, Chelsea boots, t-shirt and jacket that all fitted him exceedingly well. “Where we off?” he asked with a grin.

“You’ll see,” I replied. I tapped at the keyboard to lock the reception computer and gestured for him to follow me.

It was a lovely day outside — sunshine and very little wind. As we walked down the steep hill from the hotel in silence I rolled up my shirtsleeves to catch a bit more of the sunlight on my skin.

“Have you been into the town much?” I asked Daniel. He seemed to be having a bit of difficulty with the hill in his fancy boots.

“Nope, mostly just stuck to the hotel and wherever we’ve been shooting,” he said. “I don’t like going into towns or villages. Always people asking for pictures and autographs.”

‘Well look at you, Mr Famous,” I said. “Can’t you just tell them to piss off?”

“I couldn’t possibly…” Daniel said.

“Well in that case, let me be your ‘piss-off-er’ today. Anyone cause you any trouble, I’ll tell them where to go.”

“I really don’t want to cause trouble.”

“Good, I will.”

We were coming to the bottom of the hill.

The village really did look lovely in the summer sunshine.

The river sparkled as it meandered by the high street and the flowers were blooming in their planters, diligently watered daily by an ageing parish council.

The high street consisted of one long row of shops on one side of the road.

The other side of the road offered picnic benches and views over the river.

The high street had been revitalised a little bit in recent months.

James’ cafe was doing a booming business and a new family had moved into one of the shops in the row and opened a florist. The bakery, and charity shop had been staples for years but the new additions were starting to take the high street from shabby to chic.

“Those are beautiful,” said Daniel, pointing at a bouquet of flowers in window of the florist as we passed. He crossed over the pavement, almost tripping me up, and entered the shop.