The automatic headlights, which had been illuminating a swath of chaparral and scrub oak, switched off, coc.o.o.ning them in the soft, warm darkness. "Here"s the thing." He unsnapped his seat belt. "I"ve let logic rule my life for years, and frankly, it hasn"t worked out that well. But I"m an actor now, which officially makes me a maniac, so I"m going to start doing what I want. And what I want"-he leaned into her and pressed his lips over hers-"what I want is this..."
All she had to do was turn away. Instead, she let herself enjoy his taste...his scent...The heady, intoxicating rush. She wanted more.
But her days of sacrificing her best interests for a quick thrill were long over. She sank her hands into his hair, kissed him deeply, thoroughly, then pulled away. "That was fun. Don"t do it again."
Paul hadn"t really expected anything else. But he"d hoped. He stroked her cheek with his knuckle. She wouldn"t believe him if he told her he was falling in love with her, so he didn"t intend to. He could hardly believe it himself. At the age of fifty-two, he was finally falling in love again, and with a woman he"d known for years. But even in the days she"d let him bully her, he"d been physically attracted. expected anything else. But he"d hoped. He stroked her cheek with his knuckle. She wouldn"t believe him if he told her he was falling in love with her, so he didn"t intend to. He could hardly believe it himself. At the age of fifty-two, he was finally falling in love again, and with a woman he"d known for years. But even in the days she"d let him bully her, he"d been physically attracted.
He"d always liked women with rounded corners and soft edges. With fluffy hair and eyes the color of Armagnac. Smart, independent women who knew how to make their own way in the world, who enjoyed food, and were more interested in talking to the person in front of them than checking their cells. The fact that he hadn"t let himself get close to anyone with those qualities only proved how determined he"d been to keep himself safe from all the messy emotions that had nearly destroyed him.
But even though he"d been physically attracted to Laura, he hadn"t respected her, not until the day she"d stood up to him. As he"d witnessed her integrity, her caring, she"d gotten under his skin, and she"d sealed the deal when she"d finally made him remember he was an actor. She"d known what he needed before he knew it himself.
These past weeks he felt reborn, sometimes as wobbly legged as a newborn colt, other times filled with a sense of rightness. He couldn"t believe he"d allowed himself to stay lost for so long. Only his concern for Georgie shadowed his perfect contentment. That and the nagging worry he wouldn"t be able to get past the very sensible barriers Laura would insist on maintaining between them.
But he had a game plan, and tonight he"d made his first move by letting her know that more than business lay between them. He intended to take it slow from here so she had plenty of time to adjust to the idea that they belonged together. There"d be no sudden moves. No baring of the soul. Just a patient, deliberate pursuit.
Then her purse slipped from her lap, and as she bent over to retrieve it, she b.u.mped her forehead against the glove compartment, and his plan dissolved. "Laura, I"m falling in love with you."
He was so stunned to hear himself say it aloud that her burst of laughter barely registered. "I know it"s crazy," he said, "and I don"t expect you to believe me, but it"s the truth."
Her laughter grew brighter. "I never knew you were such a player. You don"t really think I"m going to fall for a line like that." Still laughing, she rubbed her forehead and gazed into his eyes. She took her time, paying attention as she always did. Tilting her head. Taking him in. Gradually her laughter faded, and her lips parted ever so slightly. Then she did something that truly shocked him. She read his mind. "My G.o.d," she said. "You"re serious."
He nodded, unable to speak. Long seconds ticked by. He gave her the time she needed. Her bra strap slipped off her shoulder. She blinked.
"I"m not in love with you," she said. "How could I be? I"m only getting to know you." She pinned him with those brandy eyes. "But ohmyG.o.d, am I ever in l.u.s.t, and I swear to G.o.d, if this doesn"t work out, and you even think about firing me"-she unsnapped her seat belt-"I will blackball you with every casting agent in town. Is that understood?"
"Understood," he said, just before she attacked.
It was glorious. She cupped his jaw in both her hands and let their mouths play. As she offered him the sweet tip of her tongue, a wash of tenderness made his arousal all the more powerful. He slid far enough out from beneath the steering wheel for her to slip a knee over his thigh. Her flyaway hair brushed his cheek. Their kiss grew more urgent. He had to touch her, feel her. He curled his palms around her sides. Beneath the thin silk of her dress, her flesh was a poem of sensuality.
"I love you," he whispered, no longer caring about his game plan.
"You"re a lunatic."
"And you"re a delight."
He hadn"t done anything like this in a car since he was seventeen, and it was no more comfortable. He fumbled for her zipper and managed not to make a muddle of lowering it. His hands slid inside her dress. He touched her bra.
"This is insane." She groaned against his mouth as he peeled her bra down far enough to suckle her. Her fingers plowed through his hair, and her head fell back.
The car had become their enemy. She pulled at his shirt, scratching him with her ring. Somehow he lifted her far enough so he could slide beneath her into the pa.s.senger seat, but not before he caught an elbow in the jaw and her knee jabbed his side. Finally, she straddled him. With their mouths still joined, he reached under her skirt...
Their caresses grew hotter. Her hand, bawdy and wise...Clothes in the way. Another lush kiss, and then he was inside her. Loving her. Filling her. Pleasuring her. Claiming her as his own. The sounds of their groans, their breath, their melding bodies, rushed in his ears. She clutched him. Went rigid. They hung...suspended...flying...dissolving.
Afterward he stepped out of the car to decompress and surrept.i.tiously eased a kink from his back. She joined him a moment later. out of the car to decompress and surrept.i.tiously eased a kink from his back. She joined him a moment later.
"That," she said matter-of-factly, "was crazy-ridiculous. Let"s pretend it never happened."
He gazed up at the stars. "Perfect. Then we can look forward to our first time."
Her toughness slipped away, leaving concern behind. "You"re really serious about this, aren"t you?"
"Yep." He put his arm around her. "And I"m just as shocked as you."
"Amazing. You"re an amazing man, Paul York. I"m looking forward to making your acquaintance."
He turned his lips into her soft hair. "Is it still only l.u.s.t for you?"
She rested her cheek against his shoulder. "Give me a couple of months to get back to you on that."
Georgie couldn"t find her moorings. She lay on a teak chaise as the late-afternoon sun slanted over the white stone patio. It was Tuesday afternoon, exactly sixteen days since she"d arrived in Mexico. She would force herself to go back to L.A. before the end of the week instead of staying here forever as she wanted to. Stay here until she figured out what new form her life should take. Unless she was in front of the computer she"d bought a few days ago, she couldn"t concentrate on anything. She hurt too much. her moorings. She lay on a teak chaise as the late-afternoon sun slanted over the white stone patio. It was Tuesday afternoon, exactly sixteen days since she"d arrived in Mexico. She would force herself to go back to L.A. before the end of the week instead of staying here forever as she wanted to. Stay here until she figured out what new form her life should take. Unless she was in front of the computer she"d bought a few days ago, she couldn"t concentrate on anything. She hurt too much.
A pair of geckos scurried into the shade. Boats bobbed in the distance, their windshields flashing like strobes in the sun. It was too hot for her to lie out any longer, but she didn"t move. Last night she"d dreamed she was a bride. She"d stood by a window in her gown, wisps of white ribbon in her hair, and watched Bram approach through a gossamer lace curtain.
The gate creaked on its hinges. She looked up, and there he was, sauntering onto her patio as if she"d conjured him, but the romantic bridegroom of her dream now wore gunmetal gray aviators and a surly expression. She hated the way her stomach dipped. He was lean, tall, and healthy, the years of dissipation long behind him. Her self-absorbed, self-destructive bad boy had stopped being a bad boy years ago, only no one had noticed. The constriction in her throat made words impossible.
Through the lenses of his sungla.s.ses, he took her in from her sweat-damp hair to her purple bikini bottom and then to her bare b.r.e.a.s.t.s. The patio was private and she hadn"t expected a visitor, especially this visitor, so here she was, topless when she least wanted to be.
"Enjoying your vacation?" The soft rumble of his voice drifted over her skin like the leading edge of a storm.
She was an actress, the cameras had started to roll, and she found her voice. "Look around. What"s not to love?"
He wandered toward her. "You should have talked to me before you ran out."
"We don"t have that kind of marriage." Her arm felt rubbery as she reached for her yellow-and-purple-striped cover-up.
He s.n.a.t.c.hed it from her hand and flicked it across the patio, where it landed on a small table. "Don"t bother getting dressed."
"Smooth." She walked over to fetch it, counting slowly under her breath so she didn"t rush, letting her hips sway in the tiny purple bikini bottom-maybe in a last-ditch effort to make him fall in love with her? But he wouldn"t. Bram didn"t fall in love, not because he was as self-centered as he believed, but because he didn"t know how.
She slipped on the cover-up and shook out her hair. "This is a wasted trip. I"m going back to L.A. soon."
"So I hear from Trev." His fingers curled into fists at his sides. "I talked to him in Australia a couple of days ago, but I got the full story from the tabs. According to Flash, Flash, we"re both moving into his house while he"s on location so we can enjoy summer at the beach." we"re both moving into his house while he"s on location so we can enjoy summer at the beach."
"My once-retiring P.A. has turned into quite the media mouthpiece."
"At least somebody"s watching out for you. What"s going on, Georgie?"
She tried to pull it together. "I"m moving into Trevor"s house. You"re not. It"s a good solution."
"A solution to what what?" He jerked off his sungla.s.ses. "I don"t understand that part-why this happened all of a sudden-so maybe you"d better explain it."
He was so cold, so angry. "Our future," she said. "The next phase. Don"t you think it"s time we get on with our lives? Everybody knows you"re working, so it won"t seem strange for me to spend the summer in Malibu. Aaron can keep planting his stories if that"s what you want. You can even show up for a couple of very public beach walks. It"ll be fine." It wouldn"t be fine at all. Any contact she had with him from now on would only prolong the agony.
"This isn"t how we decided we"d handle it." He jammed the stems of his sungla.s.ses into the neck of his T-shirt. "We have an agreement. One year. I"m holding you to it, every second."
He"d insisted on six months, not a year, but she let that go. "You"re not paying attention." Somehow she pulled off Scooter"s innocent act. "You"re working. I"m at the beach. A couple of public appearances. No one will suspect a thing."
"You need to be at the house. My house. And I seem to have missed your explanation about why you"re not there."
"Because it"s long past time I started setting a new course for my life. The beach will be a great place for me to take my first steps."
The shadows of an African tulip tree cut across his face as he moved closer. "Your present life course is just fine."
She played the mildly exasperated female even as her heart broke. "I knew you wouldn"t understand. You men are all alike." She picked up her towel and clutched it to her chest like a child"s lovey. "I"m going to take a shower while you cool down."
But just as she turned to walk back into the house, he stopped her cold.
"I saw your audition tape."
Bram watched Georgie"s expression change from confusion to puzzled understanding. He wanted to hold her, shake her, make her tell him the truth. expression change from confusion to puzzled understanding. He wanted to hold her, shake her, make her tell him the truth.
Her fingers grew slack on the towel. "Are you talking about the tape Chaz recorded for me?"
"It was great," he said slowly. "You were great."
She stared at him with her big green eyes.
"You nailed it, just like you promised," he said. "People underestimate me as an actor. It never occurred to me that I was doing the same to you. We"ve all done it."
"I know."
Her straightforward response unnerved him. He He hadn"t known, and when he"d seen the tape, he"d felt as if he"d been punched in the stomach. hadn"t known, and when he"d seen the tape, he"d felt as if he"d been punched in the stomach.
Last night he"d sat in his darkened bedroom and watched it. As he hit the play b.u.t.ton, the blank wall in Georgie"s office had come into focus, and he heard Chaz"s voice off camera. "I"ve got things to do. I don"t have time for this c.r.a.p."
Georgie stepping into the frame. Her hair was severely parted, and she wore a minimum of makeup: light foundation, no mascara, the barest hint of eyebrow pencil, and a shockingly deep scarlet mouth that couldn"t have been more wrong for Helene. The camera caught her from the waist up: an austere black suit jacket, a white sh.e.l.l, and a set of intricately twisted black beads.
"I mean it," Chaz said. "I need to start dinner."
Georgie pierced Chaz"s bl.u.s.ter with Helene"s icy imperiousness instead of her normal friendly puppy-dog manner. "You"ll do as I say."
Chaz muttered something the mike didn"t catch and stayed where she was. Georgie"s b.r.e.a.s.t.s rose ever so slightly under the suit jacket, and then a smile-a f.u.c.king ice-pick smile-curled over the bottom of her face and made that scarlet mouth seem absolutely right.
You think you can embarra.s.s me, Danny? I don"t embarra.s.s. Embarra.s.sment is for losers. And a loser is what you are, not me. You"re a zero. A nothing. We all knew it, even when you were a kid.
Her voice was low, deathly quiet, and completely composed. Unlike the other actresses they"d auditioned, she didn"t emote. No teeth gnawing or scenery rattling. Everything underplayed.
You don"t have a friend left in this town, but you still think you"ve gotten the best of me...
The words poured out of her, cold fury prowling behind her bloodred smile, perfectly capturing Helene"s selfishness, her guile, her intelligence, and her utter conviction that she deserved whatever she could grab. He sat spellbound until finally, with that smile frozen like black ice on her lips, she came to the end.
Remember how you used to make fun of me when we were in school? How hard you laughed? Well, who"s laughing now, funny man? Who"s laughing now?
The camera stayed on her, but she didn"t move. She simply waited, every cell of her body discharging quiet rage, intractable pride, and dogged determination. The camera wobbled, and he heard Chaz"s voice. "Holy s.h.i.t, Georgie, that was-"
The picture went dark.
He looked at Georgie now, standing across from him on the whitewashed patio, her hair caught up in a sweaty, unkempt knot, her face scrubbed free of makeup, a beach towel dangling at her side, and for a moment he thought he saw Helene"s calculating eyes looking back at him-resolute, cynical, astute. He"d fix that. "I woke Hank up this morning and made him look at the tape before he even had coffee."
"Did you now?"
"He was blown away. Just like me. No other actress we"ve seen has delivered what you did-the complexity, that dark humor."
"I"m a comedian. It"s what I do."
"Your performance was chilling."
"Thank you."
Her reserve was starting to unnerve him. He expected her to crow and say she"d told him so. When she didn"t, he tried again. "You blasted Scooter Brown into oblivion."
"That was my intention."
She still didn"t seem to have registered his message, so he spelled it out. "The part"s yours."
Instead of throwing herself in his arms, she turned away. "I need to take a shower. Make yourself comfortable while I get dressed."
Chapter 25.
She locked herself in the bathroom and let the water wash over her. She"d been vindicated, and it didn"t mean anything. She"d known exactly how good she was. Ironic. The only person"s approval she"d needed was her own. How was that for personal growth? locked herself in the bathroom and let the water wash over her. She"d been vindicated, and it didn"t mean anything. She"d known exactly how good she was. Ironic. The only person"s approval she"d needed was her own. How was that for personal growth?
She pulled on the same white shorts and navy baby-doll she"d worn that morning and ran a comb through her wet hair. It was time to face him with as much of the truth as she could bear to reveal, but she couldn"t do it by herself. She needed help from her most faithful companion.
The cool, compact living area had whitewashed walls, a tile floor, and brown wicker basket chairs with cool blue cushions. Every morning, she opened the sliding gla.s.s wall so the patio became an extension of the interior, allowing an occasional gecko to get inside, but she didn"t mind. She"d read that some of the species were parthenogenic, meaning the females could reproduce without a male. If only she could do that.
Bram had located the iced tea pitcher in the refrigerator, and he sat with his feet propped on the coffee table, a heavy-bottomed green tumbler balanced on his thigh. He heard her padding across the cool terra-cotta tiles, but he didn"t look at her. "You don"t seem as happy about your casting as I thought you"d be."