Hot Off the Red Carpet Page 3

  Addison stood outside the door to her office for a moment to collect herself. Finally taking a deep breath, she walked in.

  Trevor was leaning back against the desk, his arms folded across his broad chest, and Addison’s pulse quickened. Even on the verge of being fired, all she could think about was how incredibly sexy he was.

  “You wanted to see me?” she asked in a small voice.

  He pushed away from the desk. “Close the door, if you would,” he said.

  Addison did as he asked, and then turned to face him. She waited for him to say something, but he only stood regarding her with those soulful dark eyes, his arms still crossed over his chest.

  “Y-you’re going to fire me, aren’t you?” she asked, looking up at him from beneath lowered lashes.

  “No,” he said.

  She blinked, not sure that she’d heard right. “You’re not?”

  “No,” he said again. “But I am going to make sure that we don’t have a repeat performance of what happened tonight.”

  Addison frowned, not sure where he was going with that. “I don’t understand.”

  “Which is why I intend to make myself perfectly clear,” he said.

  As he spoke, Trevor took her arm and marched her over to the leather couch that was set along one wall. What was he going to do, sit her down and lecture her? She was just about to say that wouldn’t be necessary when he sat down and pulled her unceremoniously over his knee.

  Addison was so startled that for a moment all she could do was lay there draped over his muscular legs and stare down at the plush, beige carpet. What the heck was he doing? She craned her neck to look over her shoulder at him and was shocked to feel a sharp smack on her upturned bottom.

  “Mr. Bradon, what...?” she gasped, only to let out a yelp as his hand came down again, this time on her other cheek. Oh my God, he was spanking her! “Trevor, what are you doing?!”

  “I told you,” he said, smacking her again. “I’m making sure that we don’t have a repeat performance of tonight.”

  She yelped as his hand connected with her ass again. “By s-spanking me?!”

  He met her gaze, his hand resting on the curve of her bottom. “It’s the best way I can think of make sure you take your job seriously.”

  “I do take it seriously,” she protested.

  He lifted a brow. “Is that why you forgot to talk to the lighting guy? Or inform the show producer that personal questions were off limits? Or tell Leo to pick us up in back of the television studio? Or spilled coffee all over the director?”

  After each question, he delivered several spanks to her upturned bottom, which was quickly beginning to sting.

  Addison couldn’t believe they were having this conversation while she was draped over his lap. Could anything be more embarrassing? “It’s not like I did any of that on purpose! I honestly didn’t know about the limo thing. And I only spilled the coffee because I...” Was looking at you. Her voice trailed off as she realized what she’d been about to say.

  “Because you what, Addison?” he prompted.

  She chewed on her lower lip, hesitating for a moment. “B-because I wasn’t paying attention,” she finally stammered.

  “Then a spanking will help you to focus more,” he said.

  Before Addison could reply, he lifted his hand and began to smack her ass even harder. He worked back and forth, moving from one cheek to the other with an easy rhythm that made her wonder just how many women he’d spanked. While he wasn’t spanking her as hard as he probably could have, the spanks still stung, and she let out a little yelp each time his hand connected with her bottom. Trevor, however, paid no attention to her protests, but simply held her down with a firm hand on her back as he continued to spank her.

  She didn’t know what was burning more, her face or her bottom. No matter how much she squirmed, she couldn’t get away from his hand. But the embarrassment was even worse than the spanking. How could she possible look him in the eye after he had spanked her?

  But then, just as quickly as it had begun, the spanking was over and she was back on her feet. Unable to help herself, Addison reached back with both hands to cup her tingling bottom.

  Trevor reached out to gently lift her chin with his finger, forcing her to meet his gaze. “After that, I trust you’ll pay more attention to your job.”

  All Addison could do was nod. When Trevor continued to just look at her, she wondered if he expected her to actually answer. But apparently, her nod must have been good enough because without another word, he turned and headed for the door.

  Addison stared at his retreating back, still unable to believe that Trevor Bradon had actually put her over his knee and spanked her like a child. She should go up to her room, grab her bags, and leave, she told herself. But instead, she stood there rubbing her stinging bottom.

  Chapter Two

  Trevor lay in bed the next morning, staring up at the ceiling. What the hell had he been thinking last night? What bout of insanity had made him think that spanking his new personal assistant was a good idea? Could it be the number of times she had screwed up her first day on the job? God knew, she had certainly done enough of that. But that wasn’t the reason he had put her over his knee. No, he had spanked Addison for one simple reason. He was absolutely mesmerized by her ass, plain and simple.

  He had never really thought of himself as an assman, but the moment Addison had walked past him coming into the house yesterday, his eyes had been drawn to her bottom. Even concealed by the simple skirt she had been wearing, he could tell that it was perfect. Firm, but rounded, it had the most amazing wiggle when she walked. When she moved, he had automatically found himself following behind her the whole day, just to get a look at it.

  Of course, the rest of her was equally alluring, from her beautiful face and long, blond hair to her lean, shapely legs and beautifully rounded breasts. But damn, that ass of hers was gorgeous!

  When he had called her into her office to scold her last night for her less than stellar performance, he really had only intended to give her a reprimand. But then he’d caught a glimpse of her ass when she had turned to close the door and he’d suddenly been reminded of this movie he had done years ago. From that point on, it was like another part of him had taken over. He had just been along for the ride.

  In the film, his saucy costar had been giving him grief. His character, a no-nonsense cop had responded by threatening to give the girl a good, sound spanking. Of course, the scene hadn’t gone any further than that in the movie. But last night, it just seemed as if the situation had been begging for him to finally play it out. Which was exactly what he’d done. One second, he had been talking to Addison, and the next thing he knew, she’d been over his lap. He had never spanked a woman in his life before last night, but once he had Addison over his knee, it had come naturally.

  And it had been amazing. Her ass had been just as tight as he’d imagined, and watching her wiggle that perfect bottom of hers while he’d brought his hand down on her cheeks again and again had to be the sexiest thing he’d ever seen. He had been hard as a rock for half the night, dreaming about how delectable she had looked.

  But that had been last night, in the midst of some fit of madness. Now, in the clear and alarming light of day, he realized how incredibly stupid he had been.

  Oh yeah, he was going to pay big for those few moments of insanity. He could see the tabloid headlines now.

  HOLLYWOOD HUNK PADDLES ASSISTANT!

  Access Hollywood would probably run a special segment on him, maybe Entertainment Tonight, too. They’d call it “Hollywood Men and the Women They Spank.” Damn, this was going to be bad.

  Trevor ran a hand through his hair. Maybe he could smooth things over with Addison by apologizing to her, he thought. He could promise not to spank her again. Even offer her a pay raise. He swore under his breath. Who the hell was he kidding? He was screwed. He might as well go downstairs and face the firing squad. Hell, for all he knew, Addison had lef
t in the middle of the night and was already telling her story to some slimy reporter. He could only hope that Murray was as good at damage control as he was at managing money.

  With a groan, Trevor rolled out of bed and headed for the adjoining bathroom. He needed a shower. And yet even though he knew he was going to be in for one hell of a long day, he still found himself thinking about Addison Mattingly and that gorgeous ass of hers.

  * * *

  Addison still wasn’t sure why she hadn’t gone upstairs, packed her bags, and left after Trevor had spanked her last night. It would have been the smart thing to do really. But instead she had calmly gone up to her bedroom and unpacked, as if getting spanked on the first day of the job was the most natural thing in the world. For all she knew, maybe in Hollywood, it was.

  Lying in bed now, she could almost believe that she had imagined the whole thing. But as she replayed the entire embarrassing scene over in her head, she knew that she hadn’t. Trevor had put her over his knee and spanked her. She should be furious with him, she told herself. Oddly enough, though, she wasn’t. She had screwed up a lot yesterday, and while that certainly didn’t justify him given her a spanking, it did explain his actions. Besides, it hadn’t really hurt. Nothing besides her pride, that was. Did she really want to walk away from her dream job over a little spanking? But how the heck could she look him in the eye after last night?

  She sighed. While part of her wanted to leave, the other part of her – the part that had made her come to LA and take the job as Trevor Braden’s personal assistant in the first place – wanted to stay. That was the part she ended up listening to.

  Telling herself it wouldn’t look good to be late her second day on the job, Addison got out of bed and padded into the adjoining bathroom. Taking a quick shower, she put on her make-up, pulled her long hair back in a loose bun, then got dressed. Hoping the simple black skirt and light blue blouse looked professional enough, she slipped her feet into a pair of black pumps and left the room.

  Knowing she should probably go to her office first, but unable to resist the delicious smell of food coming from the kitchen, Addison made her way there instead. Maribel was standing at the stove making pancakes, and she looked up as Addison walked in.

  Maribel smiled. “Good morning. You’re just in time for breakfast.”

  Addison looked longingly at the pancakes. “I’d love to, but I’m just going to grab some coffee and take it to my office.”

  The other woman’s brow furrowed. “Nonsense! You need a good breakfast to start the day.”

  Addison couldn’t help but smile at the motherly tone in the cook’s voice. “Probably, but I slept later than I should have and I really need to get to work,” she said, and then added, “After that debacle with the hors d’oeuvres last night, I don’t want to give Trevor – Mr. Bradon, I mean – a reason to fire me.”

  Mabel waved her hand. “Good heavens! Trevor isn’t going to fire you for having breakfast. Now, pour yourself a cup of coffee. The pancakes will be done in a few minutes.”

  Addison knew she should have protested, but the thought of having pancakes was already making her stomach growl. “Okay,” she agreed, moving to get a mug from the cabinet. “But at least let me help with breakfast.”

  Though she wanted to help, Addison had never been particularly handy in the kitchen, so she was glad when the other woman didn’t ask her to do anything more complicated than cut up some fresh fruit.

  While Addison sliced the strawberries, Maribel told her about her family, and her newest granddaughter, in particular. Addison didn’t come from a big family herself, but had always thought it would be nice. She couldn’t help but laugh as Maribel regaled her with one amusing story after the other. It really sounded like the woman had a great family. Of course, at some point Maribel got around to asking about Addison’s family. Addison made sure she was very careful how she answered. She didn’t want to slip up and mention her twin sister. That might lead to some awkward questions that she didn’t want to answer.

  “How long had you worked for Trevor?” Addison asked, changing the subject as she reached for another strawberry. “I mean, Mr. Braden,” she quickly corrected herself when she’d realized that she had used his first name again.

  Maribel laughed. “You can call him Trevor, honey. We all do around here,” she said as she ladled more pancake batter on the griddle. “I’ve been with Trevor since he first started out in the business. Of course, he lived in a one-bedroom apartment back then, and all I did was make him meals and show up once a week to put them in the freezer.” She smiled fondly at the memory. “It started out as a favor to his mother, really. She and I have been friends since we were little girls. She called me and told me that she was afraid Trevor would come down here to LA and forget to take good care of himself. You know, not eat right and so forth. So, since I lived nearby I said I’d look in on him and make him some healthy meals. Trevor insisted he pay me, but I wouldn’t hear of it. The poor boy made a pittance back then. He could barely afford to pay the rent on his apartment, much less anything else.” She slid the spatula underneath one of the pancakes and expertly flipped it over. “When he finally got a starring role in his own television show, he insisted on putting me on the payroll and wouldn’t take no for answer. And you know what? It was the best decision I ever made.”

  Addison remembered the television show she was talking about. It was called LA Nights. Trevor had played a uniformed cop with the LAPD who had been pulled off the streets to go undercover in the nightclub scene. It was the first time she had ever seen Trevor, and she had fallen in love with him, along with every other girl on the planet. Little did she know then that her celebrity crush had a habit of putting his personal assistants over his knee and spanking them, she thought wryly. Not as many women might have been so crazy for him if they knew that.

  Who the heck was she kidding? There were probably thousands of women out there that would fall all over themselves at the chance to lie over Trevor’s lap for a spanking if it meant getting to be that close to him. Who knew? Maybe he spanked all his assistants.

  For some reason, that thought bothered Addison and she found herself quizzing Maribel about Trevor’s previous personal assistants. “How many has he had before me?” she asked. “And why did they leave?”

  Maribel transferred two of the pancakes to a plate. “How many? There was only the one, Sophia. She started about the same time I did, I think. She was good at it, but the job just got to be too hard for her. She and her husband moved to Florida and enjoy their grandkids.” The cook gave Addison a smile as she set the plate down in front of her. “She thought Trevor needed someone younger to keep up with him,” she added, winking at her.

  Addison felt herself blush, and she quickly busied herself with putting some sliced strawberries on her pancakes. It was nice to know that Trevor’s previous assistant had left because she wanted to spend time with her grandchildren and not because of something he’d done. And for some perverse reason, it made Addison feel better knowing that Trevor probably hadn’t spanked her, either, seeing as the woman was obviously old enough to be his mother.

  She was just putting syrup on her pancakes when Trevor walked into the kitchen. His dark hair was damp from the shower and he was dressed in shorts and a T-shirt. It was all Addison could do not to stare. God, he was enough to make her mouth water!

  Abruptly realizing she was in fact staring, Addison put down the pitcher of syrup. Lowering her gaze to look down at her plate, she was surprised to see that her pancakes were swimming in syrup. She had been so distracted by Trevor’s gorgeous body that she hadn’t been paying attention to what she’d been doing. Just like last night when she’d spilled coffee all over the director.

  “There you are!” Maribel said to Trevor. “Sit down and I’ll make you some pancakes.”

  When Trevor didn’t answer, Addison looked up at him from beneath her long bangs to find him regarding her with those soulful brown eyes of his. She held her
breath, waiting for him to say something, such as, “You’re fired,” but after a moment he turned his attention to Maribel.

  “Thanks, but I want to work out before I head over to the studio,” he said. “I’ll grab something to eat later.”

  Addison waited for Maribel to give Trevor the same lecture she’d gotten about the importance of eating a good breakfast, but he left the kitchen before the woman could even open her mouth. Addison chewed on her lip as she watched him go. Was Trevor as uncomfortable about what had happened between them last night as she was? Addison wondered. If so, didn’t that mean he wouldn’t be as likely to put her over his knee and spank her again?

  Relieved that she probably wouldn’t be getting any more spankings, Addison picked up her fork. Even with all the syrup she had put on them, the pancakes were delicious. Thanking Maribel for breakfast after she was done, Addison picked up her coffee and went to her office.

  Remembering reading something on the schedule about doing a few pick-up shots for the movie he’d just finished filming, Addison picked up the day-planner from her desk and flipped through it. Finding the contact number for the studio in the book Murray had given her, Addison called and introduced herself, then checked to make sure she knew exactly where Trevor had to be and when he had to be there. Hanging up the phone, she thumbed through the book looking for Leo’s number, but then decided it would be easier to simply go see him instead.

  The tall, blond driver was in the garage stocking the fridge in the limo with bottled water, and he looked up when she walked in.

  “Hey,” he said, giving her a grin as he climbed out of the car. “Good to see we didn’t chase you off. What can I do for you?”

  She smiled. “I just wanted to remind you that Trevor has to be at the studio at ten o’clock.”