Page 50 of Love At First Fright

“We missed you!” “You look so good!” Dina and Immy squealed in her ear as they hugged.

“I missed you both so much.”

“I can’t believe you’re dating a celebrity, and one who is SO HOT, too,” Immy said, and Rosemary heard Immy’s husband, Eric, chuckling behind them.

“Good to see you both!” Rosemary said, hugging Eric and Dina’s partner, Scott, in turn. There was clearly a common strand between all three friends, as Eric, Scott, and Ellis all towered above them by at least a foot. They all had a type, and that type was tall.

Rosemary felt Ellis’s presence behind her and said, “Everyone, meet Ellis and his sister, Annie.”

As she moved to the side of the corridor, watching her favourite people meet for the first time, Rosemary was acutely aware that this was a Big Life Moment ? . When did Ellis become one of them? In fact, when had he become her favourite person of all?

After everyone was introduced, they began the lunch.

Ellis served and carved up the leg of lamb, and Rosemary filled everyone’s plates with the roasted veg and the Parmentier potatoes they’d prepared earlier.

Annie and Scott were busy debating the retrieval methods of a recent Egyptian dig, though Rosemary noticed Scott’s hand holding Dina’s, his fingers caressing the engagement ring on her finger.

Immy and Eric were regaling Ellis with a tale about their twins, and it was clear that they both loved nothing more than being parents.

Rosemary had schooled her friends beforehand so that they wouldn’t ask any pointed questions about Ellis being famous, or what it was like working with other actors.

She wanted him to feel like he was just Ellis, not Ellis the movie star. And so far, it was all going to plan.

“What do you plan to work on after When the Devil Takes Hold, Ellis?” Immy asked.

Ellis, whose free hand was tracing circles on Rosemary’s thigh under the table—making it a little hard for her to focus on general conversation—said, “I’m not too sure yet. That depends on a few things.”

“Like what?” Dina asked.

“Well, like where Rosemary will be.”

Rosemary felt her heartbeat stuttering. What did he mean by that? She looked at him, trying to read Ellis’s expression, but he was looking at her friends. “If she’s in the States, then I’ll look for a job there. If she wants to be in the UK, then the same applies.”

Finally, he looked back at her.

“You’d do that for me?” she whispered.

“Of course.”

“That’s a big decision, Ellis.”

“You make it pretty easy, love.”

The room suddenly felt too crowded for their private conversation. Ellis must have noticed the blush climbing her cheeks, because he squeezed her thigh in a sort of “let’s discuss it later” gesture, and turned to ask Dina a question about her bakery.

Rosemary’s persimmon pie went down a treat, with Dina groaning over it in the corner—causing Scott to whisper something no doubt entirely filthy in her ear. Annie even told Rosemary that she would like the recipe to add to her collection.

“You bake?” Rosemary asked.

“Not at all. I like to collect things, though. You would be surprised how many recipes are entirely oral, and can get lost if they aren’t written down through generations.”

After lunch, Eric, Ellis, and Scott took charge of clearing up, and Ellis had promised them a tour of the garden, so while the men went outside in the cold, Rosemary took Dina and Immy to the home office Ellis had set up for her.

Annie, who appeared a little tired of the intense socialisation, said she wanted a minute to look through Ellis’s books to borrow a few things.

“Can you believe this? Isn’t it amazing?” Rosemary said, showing Dina and Immy the framed posters of her favourite horror movies that Ellis had mounted on the walls. “He even put a bird feeder outside so I can bird-watch as I work.”

Dina and Immy gave each other a knowing glance.

“What?” Rosemary said.

“That man is in love with you.”

Rosemary plonked herself down on her beanbag chair. “No, it’s too soon, he can’t be.”

“Trust me,” Immy said, “I recognise the signs. I saw them last year with Scott. Ellis Finch is smitten.”

“But he knows I’m moving back.”

“Didn’t you hear him?” Immy said. “He’ll follow you anywhere in the world. If you said you wanted to move in with him, I reckon he’d have a courier booked to fly the rest of your stuff over within the hour.”

“You’re both being dramatic,” Rosemary said half-heartedly. “Love can’t happen that quickly, can it?”

“It absolutely can,” Dina said. “I was in love with Scott within days of meeting him, even if it took me longer to realise it.”

Immy leant back against the desk looking very pleased with herself. “You both know this makes me two for two now.”

“What on Earth are you talking about?”

“My matchmaking. I put you and Scott together and now Ellis and Rosemary.”

Dina rolled her eyes. “Please explain to me how you were responsible for Ellis and Rosemary getting together when you weren’t even on the film set?”

“I sent that video to the group chat of him kissing a bunch of actresses in movies, or don’t you remember?”

“And that is your classification for matchmaking? Honestly, woman, you’re off your rocker.” Dina laughed, earning herself a punch in the arm from Immy.

Dina turned to Rosemary. “How did he take the ghost thing? Was he weird about it?”

“Well, he had a lot of questions, but he took it better than I expected. We actually have a remnant here. The house used to be a bakery and there’s an old baker spirit.”

“I didn’t think this house could be any cooler, but now you’re telling me there’s a bakery ghost? Obsessed,” Immy said.

“It is a lovely house. I—I like it here,” Rosemary said tentatively. It wasn’t that she was nervous talking about these things with her friends, it was just that they tended to discuss the others’ romantic lives, since Rosemary hadn’t really dated all that seriously until now.

“Do you want to move back? To England, I mean,” Dina asked. “I read your cards last night at home, and I drew the upright Fool.”

“That seems like a good sign,” Rosemary said drily.

“No, it is. Much like Death or the Devil, the Fool has a bad rap, but it stands for new beginnings, new adventure, unlimited potential. It’s not something to be worried about, but it got me wondering about you.

I hope you don’t mind me saying this, because you know I mean it with love: you’re clearly not happy in America.

Whenever we have calls, you’re always saying how busy it is near your apartment, and how annoying it is to be far from us and your dad. ”

“I hadn’t realised I complained about it so much, but you’re right. And it’s true. I just keeping thinking how much further this would be from my dad, though, from Blossom Ridge. And he isn’t getting younger. But being here, it feels right.” Rosemary exhaled.

“What do I say to Ellis, though? Oh, I love living with you and being with you and I think I might have really big feelings about you? There’s no way I can say I’m moving here without Ellis thinking I am really serious about him.

I don’t want to scare him, it’s all been so whirlwind.

What if he thinks I’m just doing it for fame? ”

Dina took Rosemary’s hand in hers. “He won’t think that. I am telling you, that man has some ‘big feelings’ about you, too, as you put it. If he didn’t run when you told him about being able to see ghosts, then there’s nothing you can do that will scare him off now.”

—

Dina’s words rang in Rosemary’s ears for the remainder of the afternoon, even after everyone had left. Rosemary was changing out of her jeans into some cosier leggings when she heard Ellis calling her from down the stairs in a stage whisper.

“Love, come quickly. But be as quiet as you can.”

Rosemary didn’t have a clue what was going on, but she did as Ellis asked, tiptoeing down the stairs.

He was standing in the kitchen, looking out at something through the garden doors. He beckoned her over, with a finger on his lips.

As she approached, Ellis placed his hands on her arms and pivoted her into place between him and the glass.

“Look at the birdbath to the left, can you see it?” he whispered in her ear.

Rosemary looked, and stuttered in a shocked breath when she realised what Ellis was showing her. There, with its small round body, mottled brown and white feathers, and sooty black cap, was a willow tit.

Rosemary practically vibrated with excitement.

“I can’t believe it,” she whispered, pressing her forehead to the glass to get a better look. It wasn’t the most remarkable garden bird, but she’d been hoping to see it for years, to complete her collection of tits.

“I’ve been leaving sunflower seeds in the feeder in the hopes it would come,” Ellis whispered.

They stood there, looking out at the willow tit washing itself and Rosemary realised something: she was in love with Ellis Finch.

She had carried this love with her each day, not knowing it by name, but letting it grow.

Every action, everything he said to her had made it deepen and form.

And all it took was the presence of this small songbird to make her realise it.

The willow tit flew away, but Rosemary barely noticed it. Could she tell him? Should she?

“I’ve been thinking about what happened yesterday,” Ellis said.

“When you said you didn’t know how anyone could live like that, with all the attention.

I’m worried, Rosemary, about what it would be like for you if we go public.

What if, someday, I decide to come out. All the gossip columns, all the tabloids… it would be a lot.”

Rosemary turned to face Ellis, and together they moved to the sofa.

“What if you realise that it’s not worth it, all the harassment. What if”—Ellis’s deep voice began to crack—“what if you realise I’m not worth it?”

This wouldn’t do. She took his face in her hands.

“You listen to me, Ellis. I would happily be dragged through the mud in every tabloid in the country if that meant I get to be with you. I will be seriously pissed off with you if you try to pull the noble card and push me away for what you think is my own good.”

Ellis sniffed, a smile beginning to crease his eyes. “You’re sure?”

“More than sure,” Rosemary said. “In fact, wait here.” She went and got her laptop, and opened it to the page she’d been working on earlier. Before she could sit back on the sofa, Ellis pulled her onto his lap.

“Is this what you were hiding from me earlier?”

“Yes. It’s the first few pages of my script for Julia.

I didn’t think I’d be able to manage it, these deadlines.

But working here, being around you, it feels easier.

I’ve been working on this, and I want you to be in it, Ellis.

I want you to play David, the main character.

You can’t say no, because I’m unable to picture him as anyone else now. ”

“Oh really?” Ellis grinned, kissing Rosemary’s exposed shoulder. “You can’t picture anyone else?”

“Nope, you’ve ruined me for anyone else, hope you’re happy.”

“I’m very happy about that.” Ellis pulled her flush with him on his lap.

“Read from the script, love,” he said in that stern, commanding voice that had heat suddenly flaring through her.

She became aware of how her ass in the thin leggings was resting right on Ellis’s quickly hardening cock.

Rosemary couldn’t help but grind against him, and she tried to put her laptop down, but Ellis stilled her hand.

“I said read,” he growled in her ear.

“Okay,” she breathed, beginning with the scene description as Ellis pushed her legs open with his left hand. His other hand had come up under her T-shirt and was lightly grazing her budded nipple, sending jolts of desire straight to her pussy.

“Exterior: submarine in the deep ocean. No sunlight touches…mmph…” Rosemary struggled to continue as Ellis dipped his hand into her underwear and began circling her clit. She was already soaked with need.

“Keep going, good girl. Don’t stop reading.”

Rosemary couldn’t stop her voice from whimpering a little as she read on.

“No sunlight touches the water. We pan closer to one of the submarine’s windows where we…

fuck, Ellis,” she hissed, bucking against his hand as he fucked into the heat of her pussy with his fingers.

She was already close, and the way he ground his cock against the seam of her ass only made her more so.

“I want everyone to know we’re together, sweetheart,” Ellis said in her ear. “I want to tell them you’re mine. No keeping this private anymore.”

Desire and her climbing orgasm shivered through Rosemary. “I want that too, so much.” She couldn’t focus on the words of the script anymore and pushed the laptop away. She pivoted on Ellis’s lap, so they were face-to-face. Ellis drank her in with his dark gaze.

“What else do you want, Rosemary? Do you want to come back?”

“Yes.” She arched into him, never breaking eye contact. This was more than fucking; it felt like Ellis was looking into her very soul.

“You want to be with your friends, to move here?” His fingers moved faster and faster.

“Yes.”

“To be with me?” His composure was crumbling. She bent her face close to his.

“ Yes, Ellis. ”

With a grunt, Ellis moved her to all fours on the sofa, and ripped down her leggings. His hands moved back to her hips, and she heard the erotic sound of him spitting on her pussy from behind, making her even wetter for him.

“Can I, sweetheart?” His voice broke.

“Yes.” Before she knew it, Ellis was inside her, fucking her mercilessly, his hand gripping her hair in his fist. It was fast, hard, brutally exquisite.

She moaned, coming for him again and again, the wave never ceasing.

He fucked her until her eyes were weeping tears and feral moans clawed from her throat.

It was primal, the force of him slamming into her from behind like this.

“You’re mine,” Ellis growled, claiming her.

“Yours, Ellis.” The orgasm hit her fast, making her keen out in pleasure.

Ellis came with her, shouting her name as he filled her with his come.

Even after he pulled out, he continued to fuck her with his hands.

“Taking my come so fucking beautifully,” he hissed, kissing his way down her spine.

“Mine,” he whispered, again and again, until Rosemary’s world shattered once more.