FALLING FOR SHAWN

Chapter 14 - Feeling the Panic

Camila turned around one way and then the other looking at the dress her stylist had chosen for her performance with Shawn. She had actually brought along half a dozen choices but this one was just perfect, white and lacy and sparkly and see-through, she loved it. She tried the other dresses on just for fun, picking one out for the after party they would attend later, and then she tried on the red carpet dress again, another white one, almost Grecian instyle with drapes and cut-outs, a short skirt and a long train.

The hairdresser had recently cut her bangs so that they covered her little scar and the rest of her hair, including generous extensions, was permed for volume. She left the hotel knowing that in three days she could surprise him and they would walk the red carpet together. She knew already that Tiffany had fitted him for a jade green Dolce and Gabbana suit which he would look gorgeous in, so the white would look wonderful against it. She rushed home so that she could see him, but when she got there, there was a note on the kitchen bench. Since she had a busy day, he had gone out to visit Connor and discuss some creative production for the coming tour. She was disappointed, but there was always work to be done and never enough time to do it, so she sat at the desk in her bedroom and answered emails, electronically signed some documents and approved some merchandise designed to along with her upcoming album release.

After that she was restless so she put a YouTube video on the big TV in the living room and worked herself into a lather following the African dance routines. She was surprised he still wasn't home when she finished, since it was dinner time, and he had yet to answer any of her texts. She started to get anxious, her heart thumping and her mind going places it shouldn't. He could have been in a car accident. The image of him hanging, trapped, in the driver's seat of the Range Rover would forever be etched into her brain. Her hands began to sweat and she took a swig of iced water and then bent over the sink and splashed the icy cold water on her face. He was fine, there would be a logical explanation. She started to wonder if they had gone to visit Sam, he was Connor's friend and Shawn's and hers by extension, and they loved him, but he lived a hedonistic lifestyle and there always beautiful semi-naked women around and her green streak came out just thinking about it.

She tried to breathe, finding herself becoming overwhelmed by all the thoughts, and she was particularly obsessed by the image of him and a supermodel like his ex-girlfriend Ana - tall, willowy, blonde – hanging from the roof, trapped in his car. She ran upstairs and stripped off and jumped in the shower, noticing it was now dark out. She pressed her forehead against the tiled wall, and began singing Senorita, but it only made her cry. She sang one of her new ones for the album, a song about love and hurt and the ups and downs and on and offs, and yes it was written with Shawn in mind. She couldn't believe that only hours ago she had been excited about walking the red carpet and it was probably over.

She looked up and he was there, leaning in the doorway, wearing jeans and a t-shirt, his hair windswept, his face pink from the sun, smiling at her, his eyes raking her naked body

"Well, this is a nice welcome home," he said slowly. "Feel like company?"

She wanted to yell at him and tell him to fuck right off, but she was so relieved to see him, and he looked so glad to be home and to see her, that she immediately realised she had been an idiot and had imagined scenarios that didn't exist.

"Depends," she said saucily, her heart beating fast. "Where have you been all day that you can't even answer my texts and let me know where you were?"

"I left you a note," he said, pulling his t-shirt over his head. "I went to Connor's. We ended up going out on a friend's boat and there was no service out there, and we got back late. I texted you as soon as we got in."

"You did?" She watched as he kicked off his sandals and started to unzip his jeans.

"Of course I did," he frowned and smiled at the same time.