Hollywood Lies

by Mari Carr

  It was as if she’d rung the bell to begin the round.

  All traces of the gentleman Levi vanished as he deepened the kiss, pressing her into the mattress. His tongue found hers, giving her another taste of the bottle of wine they’d shared at lunch. He shifted his weight, leaning over her more fully, so that he had use of both his hands.

  Hands he was putting to very good use as he tugged the tie out of her hair, ran his fingers through her long tresses, then cupped her cheek as he kissed her even harder.

  God. Levi knew his way around a mouth.

  She gasped slightly when those same fingers drifted away from her face to her waist, dipping under her blouse, skimming softly along the sensitive skin of her midsection. They continued to travel upwards, and there was no question what his final destination was.

  Beatrix arched her back slightly, an unspoken invitation for him to keep going. She broke the kiss briefly as Levi cupped one of her breasts firmly, squeezing with the perfect amount of pressure. Lightning sizzled along her spine and straight to her pussy when he pinched her nipple beneath the lace of her bra.

  She clenched her thighs together tightly, undulating in need.

  Levi tried to reclaim her lips, growling when she turned her head away slightly.

  “Can’t breathe,” she gasped.

  He wasn’t in the mood for excuses. “Yes, you can.”

  He kissed her again, his hand still cupping her breast, driving her slowly out of her mind.

  Beatrix lifted one of her legs and wrapped it around his hips, trying desperately to pull him over her more fully. She needed him between her thighs, needed pressure and heat and...fuck...him.

  “Please,” she whispered, once again turning her head to suck in some much-needed air.

  “Please what?” Levi’s voice was deep, husky, and so fucking sexy. Jesus. The man could probably dirty talk her into an orgasm.

  “I want you,” she confessed, not giving a shit about her whiny/begging tone.

  “I want you too,” he admitted, resuming their kiss.

  Argh. He wasn’t getting it.

  She didn’t want him after an hour or six of foreplay. This was a want-you-right-fucking-now situation.

  It had been so long since she’d felt this way, and her patience was gone.

  “Now,” she demanded.

  He chuckled.

  Which was definitely the wrong thing to do in her current state.

  Beatrix narrowed her eyes as she pushed on his shoulder, fully prepared to take what she wanted if he wouldn’t give it to her.

  Levi fell back to his side, not because she actually had the power to move him, but because it was what he wanted to do.

  “Bea, baby,” he started.

  “Take off your clothes,” she said. “Actually, just lose the pants. We can take the grand tour after.”

  He laughed again. “Grand tour.” Levi sat up and she thought/hoped he was standing to do as she’d said. He shook his head as if coming out of some sort of trance, looking around the room for something. When he just sat there, her temper started to build.

  “Levi—”

  “Bea. We can’t...shit. What time is it? You make me forget...everything. Hell, most of the time I’m with you I’m hard-pressed to remember my own name. I need to tell you something.”

  “Tell me after,” she said, reaching for the hem of his T-shirt, struggling to take it off him.

  Struggling was the right word because Levi kept trying to peel her fingers away, tugging the material out of her grip.

  “Bea. Stop.”

  “Why?” She didn’t want to stop, but she did, lifting her hands away. If he didn’t want to do this, she certainly wasn’t going to force him, but she’d thought their arousal was mutual. If he didn’t want to fuck her, then that was one thing. If he wanted to talk…well…

  There was absolutely nothing he needed to tell her that couldn’t wait until after the first couple—maybe four, Levi looked like he knew his shit—orgasms.

  “Dammit, woman. I’m trying to do the right thing here. Trying to tell you that someo—”

  There was a knock at the suite door, and Levi sighed heavily, the long slow breath telling her he wasn’t surprised by the sound.

  “Who’s here?” she asked.

  “I meant to tell you as soon as we got to the room, but you asked me to kiss you and, shit, that progressed fast and I wanted…”

  There was another knock.

  Beatrix narrowed her eyes. “Levi?”

  “It’s Stefan.”

  She shook her head. “No. He’s in L.A. Why would he be—” She sucked in a harsh breath, her anger rising. “You called him. You told him where I was.”

  Levi nodded, not even bothering to look guilty. “Bea. I can see how much you’re still hurting. The two of you need to talk, need closure. Without it…”

  She closed her eyes and counted to ten. Then she headed to twenty, fighting like the devil to sort out all the emotions currently pummeling her. It didn’t help that her horniness was affecting her ability to reason out anything.

  Ever since learning about the Trinity Masters and Stefan’s membership, she’d had a hard time holding on to her anger. More than anything, she just wanted answers, wanted to know why.

  Beatrix also wanted to feel betrayed by Levi, wanted to lose her shit, rage and rail, but she couldn’t. Couldn’t find it in her because...Levi was right.

  She’d pushed Stefan away for months, too hurt and angry to even look at him. Now that she knew his reasons…

  It didn’t change a damn thing. They still couldn’t be together. Stefan had never been free to choose her and she’d given up those same rights only yesterday.

  But they’d spent too many years together, meant too much to each other, to let it all go without a few words, without acknowledging their love. It would be the first time they could have an honest conversation, the truth of “why” fully exposed now that she too was a member of the Trinity Masters.

  “You’re a good influence on me,” she told Levi. “A bit high-handed, but you’re right that he and I should talk.”

  “Wish I could say the same. But right now...you’ve been a bad influence on me and I’m paying for it.” Levi grimaced, and a quick glance below his waist told her he wasn’t lying.

  “Sorry,” she said with a wicked grin that prompted him to scowl.

  “No, you’re not. Go open the door. I need a minute before I can walk.”

  She stood up and left the bedroom, crossing the large main room of the suite, with its full bar, dining, and seating areas. Her shirt was untucked and disheveled and her hair was a mess.

  There was no way Stefan wouldn’t know what she and Levi had been up to.

  She opened the door, just as Stefan lifted his hand to knock again. He dropped it.

  “Bea.” There was a wealth of feeling in his voice.

  “Stefan.” She suddenly didn’t know what to say or do.

  “I wasn’t sure you were here.”

  “I’m here.”

  Stefan stepped inside, closing the door, then he glanced over her shoulder and nodded once, acknowledging Levi. “Hey, Levi.”

  “Stefan. Glad you made it okay.” Levi was standing in the bedroom doorway, arms crossed. “I’m going to go and let you two—”

  “Freeze.” Beatrix held up her hand, palm toward Levi in the classic stop-right-there gesture. “You’re not going anywhere.” She’d talk with Stefan, and then she and Levi were going to have fun.

  “Bea,” Levi started.

  Stefan’s gaze shifted from Beatrix to Levi curiously, taking in their disheveled states and the fact Levi was coming out of the bedroom and still sporting a hard-on. “What were you two doing when I knocked?”

  “Seriously?” Beatrix asked.

  Stefan ignored her, his gaze locked with Levi’s. Beatrix didn’t have a clue what sort of male telepathy voodoo was passing between them, but it ended with Levi shrugging and Stefan nodding, both of them g
rinning ruefully.

  Stefan’s attention shifted back to her and his eyes softened. “Congratulations on joining the Trinity Masters. I’m sorry I didn’t make the connection—you’d told me that story about your great-grandfather and his business partner, but it never occurred to me that they were a trinity.”

  “I’m planning to ask about what records they have on my family.”

  An awkward silence fell.

  Stefan took a half step closer to her. “Now you understand why I had to say no. I didn’t want to. I had to.”

  She nodded slowly. “I understand, but you never should have let things go as far as they did. You knew—right from the start—we could never be together.” Anger made her cheeks heat, her fingers curl into her palms. “You let me believe that we had a future when we didn’t.”

  Stefan ran his hand through his hair. “I know that. And I’m sorrier than I can ever say, Bea. I never intended to let things go so far. I thought—I mean, in past relationships—casual came easy. We were working together on the set of Final Mile and I thought we would just have a short, fun fling.”

  “Fling,” Beatrix repeated, the word tasting bad on her lips. “I told you, before we ever slept together, that I didn’t do flings.”

  “You did.”

  “That’s when you should have stepped back. You knew we could never have more than a fling, the one thing I said I didn’t want.”

  “I did, remember? I’m not an asshole. When you said no flings, I stopped trying to get with you.”

  He was right. He had stopped acting romantic towards her, trying to charm her out of her pants. She hadn’t thought about that in years.

  “But things went off the rails,” Stefan continued. “We became friends. Good friends. Suddenly, I needed you in my life, not for sex, because of who you are. You made me want to be a better person.”

  “You’re not a bad person, Stefan,” she said softly. She’d known all too well of his bad boy reputation before they met. And while he laid on the playboy act pretty thick at the start, as they got to know each other better, she realized the real man did not match the press. “And you’re aware that we could have remained friends forever. In fact, that’s where you should have left things, knowing you couldn’t marry me.”

  “I know that. And I swear once I realized my feelings for you ran deeper, that was my intention. Then...” Stefan said.

  “We kissed.” Beatrix remembered that night very well. It was tattooed on her brain. They’d just finished filming a pretty intense scene that day. Everyone on the set claiming their performances were Oscar-worthy. They’d decided to celebrate alone together in her hotel suite, since they were both emotionally drained, though riding high. One bottle of champagne became two, and then...

  “I fell in love with you the first night we kissed. Hell, I was probably halfway there before that kiss. Bea, you’re everything I could ever want in a woman, in a wife. I never regretted joining the Trinity Masters until you.”

  “Even so—”

  “Even so,” he interjected. “I let it go too far. I swear I opened my mouth a million times over the past few years, determined to break things off, but I couldn’t do it. I love you so fucking much, it kills me.”

  She swallowed hard, her throat tight with tears.

  “I…I had a plan.” Stefan ran a hand through his hair. “I was going to leave the Trinity Masters.”

  “What?” Levi said, the word like a shot in the suddenly tense silence.

  “You can do that?” she asked.

  “No, you can’t,” Levi said.

  “You can if you’re willing to disappear,” Stefan said softly. “I’ve been working on it, planned our escape. Fake passports, a non-extradition country, and enough money so we could live comfortably.”

  “Stefan, that’s crazy. It would mean giving up—”

  “Everything. I would give up everything. Anything. To be with you.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” she whispered.

  “I was waiting until I had the plan in place and then I’d explain it all at once. I didn’t think you’d believe me about the Trinity Masters. It sounds fantastical. I was worried you wouldn’t be properly afraid of them and what they would do to me unless I could show you what it would take for us to be together and safe.”

  “Stefan, that’s crazy.”

  “I would move mountains, pull down the stars, change the course of rivers, for you, Beatrix. All you have to do is ask.”

  “Stefan,” she said, her voice wobbly.

  “I’m sorry, Bea. I should have told you what was going on, should have trusted you enough to give you the truth. I love you. I’ll always love you.” Stefan looked down at her wrist, at the cuff bracelet she wore. He took her hand in his and carefully worked the bracelet off. He turned and set it on a side table.

  “The offer still stands, Bea. Run with me. The plan is mostly in place. It will take me a week to get our new passports then…poof. We’re gone.”

  “We’d never see our families again. We’d be giving up everything for a life on the run.”

  “‘Fugitives with means,’” he said, quoting The Thomas Crown Affair.

  “I want better for us than a life spent in hiding. How long could we be happy like that? What would happen when one of our parents got sick? What would we do if—”

  Stefan smiled sadly as he grabbed her bracelet, slipping it back onto her wrist. “It might have worked, if they’d just been hunting me down. Maybe, eventually, they would have forgotten and we’d be able to sneak home, or sneak our families out. But with both of us members…” Stefan’s voice trailed off, and he shook his head slowly before raising his hand to stroke her cheek. “If the choice of who I could marry was mine, I would choose you every time.”

  Beatrix swallowed heavily, trying not to cry. What he’d been planning, what he’d been willing to give up for her…that was the proof her battered heart needed that the love between them had been, was, real.

  If she’d known all this before she’d walked into the library yesterday, would she still have joined? Would she have come to Boston at all?

  No.

  Yes.

  She didn’t know, and the answers didn’t matter, because it was done, the die cast.

  “Stefan.” She cupped his beloved face in her hands. “I’d choose you too. I love you.”

  Stefan leaned his cheek into her hand, his eyes closing. Then he took a very deliberate, and definite, step back.

  After a moment, he turned to look at Levi, who raised his hands. “I wasn’t here. I didn’t hear anything or see anything.”

  “Thank you.” Stefan rolled his shoulders, and with a visible effort, shifted to a lighter mood. He glanced back at Beatrix and said, “I hope that we can find a way to be friends again.”

  “I’ve missed you,” she admitted, matching his light tone. “I picked up my phone at least ten times a day these last few months, wanting to talk to you, to tell you about my day.”

  “I did the same, except half the time I wanted to tell you about my elaborate fugitive plan. It’s bittersweet, but I’m glad I get to have you back in my life.”

  Beatrix hadn’t forgotten about Levi, who she’d seen inching toward the door out of her peripheral vision. “Levi. Wait. Don’t go.”

  Levi stopped. “I’m sort of a third wheel here, Bea. The two of you—”

  “I need to thank you,” Stefan cut in. He walked to Levi, hand extended.

  “We’re going to be just friends,” Beatrix added. “So you’re not the third wheel.”

  Levi shook Stefan’s hand, even as he snorted in reply to her comment. “Right, sure. I can feel the heat between you two from here,” Levi said.

  “That heat is emotional trauma,” Stefan said dryly.

  “This suite just has sex vibes,” Beatrix declared.

  “You two have sex vibes,” Levi insisted as he crossed his arms. “Okay, and emotional trauma vibes. Do you two need…a therapist or something?”r />
  “Absolutely, but like any good thespian, we’ll just bottle up the feelings and save them for later use on film.” Stefan slouched back against the door, making it clear Levi couldn’t leave.

  “That is deeply unhealthy,” Levi pointed out.

  Beatrix patted him on the chest as she walked past him to the bar, grabbing a bottle of water. Her throat was still tight from the tears she hadn’t shed, and she needed something to drink.

  Stefan went to the dining area and picked up the in-room dining menu. “Have you two eaten?”

  “We had a light lunch,” Beatrix said, jumping on the mundane topic of food. “So an early dinner is a good idea.”

  “It will be lunch for me. Levi, I hope you’ll stay?”

  Levi nodded slowly, then walked over to join Stefan in perusing the menu.

  An hour later, the intensity of her and Stefan’s emotional confessions had faded. Food, sparkling wine, and deliberately light topics of conversation had allowed all of them to relax. Stefan, in particular, was back to his languid, confident norm. When he started to look back and forth between her and Levi with a glint in his eyes, she knew he was thinking wicked thoughts.

  That was the look he got right before he suggested they try something new, or get particularly kinky.

  Stefan cleared his throat. “Returning to the topic of vibes…you two have sex vibes. If you add in our emotional vibes, it’s a nice little vibes triangle.” He drew a triangle in the air between them.

  “Stefan, whatever you’re thinking, it’s a bad idea.” Beatrix tried to look stern, but she doubted it worked. Part of her, most of her, was desperate to know what naughty thing Stefan was thinking.

  “What’s a bad idea?” Levi asked. Then his brows rose. “Oh. Yeah, that is a bad idea.”

  Stefan looked at her and raised one brow, the corner of his mouth curling. It was a look that had made him the “sexiest man alive” a couple years ago. “I have a proposition.” That look also made it very clear what it was he was proposing.

  “I feel like that’s something people say before shit goes FUBAR.” Levi didn’t sound convinced. In fact, the way he was looking between her and Stefan made her wonder if the former Ranger would have proposed something himself if Stefan hadn’t beaten him to it.