Drew played until he looked about ready to drop from exhaustion, and RaeLynn had already fallen back asleep in her stroller. Brexton gathered the kids and left, hoping that Blossom was finished and ready to go home. He was starving, and the kids had to be as well. They’d been really good though, not really fussing much. At the salon, he froze in the doorway. He’d known that Blossom was beautiful. Seeing her now though… his heart skipped a beat then took off. He’d never understood the expression that someone took your breath away, until this moment.
Blossom danced from foot to foot, wringing her hands in front of her.
“Do you hate it?” she asked.
He left the kids in the waiting area and moved closer, somehow remembering how to walk, and reached for her. She’d had a few inches cut off her hair, bangs swooped across her forehead, and her plain blue hair was now a myriad of blues with aqua highlights.
“You look beautiful,” he said. Even that word didn’t do her justice.
Her cheeks flushed and she glanced up at him bashfully.
“They colored it, did a deep conditioning, then cut and styled it. I didn’t want to spend too much, but they said my hair was in bad shape.”
“Don’t worry about the cost. As long as you’re happy with it, that’s all that matters.”
The stylist noticed him and hurried over. “I tried to style it so she could keep it long, but it would be easy to tame into an updo or something else equally appropriate for the red carpet. I figure now that you’re out in the open with your family, you’ll want to show them off.”
Blossom ran her hand through her hair and bit her lip. He could tell she wanted to correct the woman about them being a family, but she kept quiet. He wondered how many times something like that had been brought up during her appointment, and whether or not she’d been uncomfortable being left alone. If the kids hadn’t been antsy, he would have stayed to make sure she was all right.
“Blossom,” he said softly, drawing her attention back to him.
He held out a hand when her gaze fastened on his and she came toward him, sliding her palm against his. Leaning down so that only she could hear him, he whispered in her ear.
“Please play along until we can discuss this more at home. I promise we’ll figure things out.”
She smiled up at him, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. Hopefully no one else would notice. Since he’d outright lied to those fans at the baby store, his manager would need to do some damage control. He just hoped that Stella had some ideas on how to handle the situation.
Brexton paid the bill and gave the stylist a generous tip, then ushered Blossom and the kids back out to his car. After everyone was buckled, he went straight home. The kids fell asleep during the car ride, and Blossom stared out the passenger window, not saying a word. Her silence bothered him. Shouldn’t she be asking a lot of questions, or expressing her displeasure over his lie? She wasn’t acting at all the way he’d thought she would, and it confused him even more.
He pulled to a stop at the foot of his driveway and rolled down his window to enter in the gate code. The tension rolling off Blossom was thick as he pulled through the gate and drove toward the house. He’d had trees and shrubs planted that hid his home from view of the road, and when they entered the clearing, he heard her gasp.
“Something wrong?” he asked, glancing her way.
“We can’t stay here,” she mumbled. “The kids… they’ll…”
“The kids will be fine, and so will you,” he assured her. “It’s just a house. Brick, glass, a roof… same as every other home.”
“No, Brexton,” she said, exasperation in her tone. “This is nothing like every other home. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
“Blossom, it’s just a house. Really. What is it that has you so worried?” he asked as they stopped in his four-car garage.
“What if the kids break something, or ruin your floors or walls?” she asked.
“Then I’ll have someone fix it.” His brow furrowed. “I’m not sure I understand why you’re worried.”
“Brexton, this house has to have cost you a fortune, and I can only imagine what it looks like inside. The things you have likely aren’t cheap. My kids can be really sweet, but they’re really destructive at times too. Drew has been known to draw on walls or floors, or stick toys down the toilet and overflow the bathroom.”
He reached over and took her hand, giving it a slight squeeze.
“Blossom, the things you’re talking about are all just objects, just random things that can be fixed or replaced. In twenty years, are you going to be angry that Drew decided to mark the walls or floors, or are you going to look back on that memory and be able to smile? If the bathroom floods, then there are several others to choose from while that one is repaired. You’re worrying over nothing. It’s not material things that matter in life, it’s the people we share those lives with. The people are what makes us rich.”
She blinked a few times and the tension slowly eased from her body.
“Wait here for just a moment,” he said. “I’m going to take some of the bags up to the kids’ rooms and make sure everything is in place for them. I have a housekeeper who would have let the delivery men in if the furniture is here already.”
She looked into the backseat at her sleeping kids and nodded.
Brexton gathered as much as he could carry, then went inside. Mrs. Connors smiled in greeting, a twinkle in her eyes.
“So, a baby bed and toddler bed were delivered an hour ago. Something you’d like to tell me?” she asked.
“We’re going to have guests for a while,” he said.
He kept moving but she followed him up to the second floor and down the hall to the two rooms that had previously been empty. The toddler bed had been placed in Drew’s room, which had pale green walls. He didn’t know if that was appropriate for a small human boy or not, but they could repaint if they needed to. After putting Drew’s things away, and leaving Mrs. Connors to make the bed, he went to the next room to put RaeLynn’s belongings in her dresser and the toys into the box in the corner of the room. Mrs. Connors set up the baby bed next.
“Brexton, I’ve never meddled in your life,” she said, making him snort because that was precisely what she did on a regular basis. “But bringing two children home is out of the ordinary for you, and there’s rumors circling that you have some secret family.”
“I’m just trying to help them,” he said. “We were cornered while we were shopping and I…”
“You what?” she asked, hands on her hips.
He sighed. “I told the fans that she was my girlfriend. Now everyone seems to be under the impression her children are mine and that I’ve been hiding them from public view.”
“And have you?” she asked.
“Mrs. Connors, are you really asking me that?”
She shrugged. “You’re not the first celebrity I’ve worked with, so it wouldn’t surprise me. You’d be amazed at the things I’ve heard and seen over the years. I didn’t get this gray hair from living a quiet life.”
He smiled. “You’ve often told me that Mr. Connors gave you that gray hair, so don’t go blaming me or anyone else for it.”
She waved her hands at him. “Are you just going to leave them in the car or bring them inside? I want to see those babies!”
He shook his head and went down to the car. Lifting a sleepy Drew out of his car seat, he waited for Blossom to pick up RaeLynn, then he led the way inside and up to the kids’ rooms. Blossom stared at everything with wide eyes, and when she saw Mrs. Connors waiting in the hallway, she stopped and froze.
“I’m Mrs. Connors, the housekeeper.”
Blossom gave the woman a tentative smile. “I’m Blossom, and these are my kids. Drew and RaeLynn.”
“May I?” Mrs. Connors asked, reaching for the baby.
Blossom glanced at Brexton before handing her daughter to the woman. They went into the baby’s room first, where Mrs. Connors promp
tly sat down in the padded rocker and cooed over the child.
“You two go on,” Mrs. Connors said. “The baby and I will be just fine in here.”
“She might wake up hungry,” Blossom said.
Mrs. Connors smiled at her. “Don’t worry dear. When I saw the pictures online, I had organic baby food delivered, along with some things your son might like.”
Blossom blinked a few times, opened and shut her mouth, then walked out. Brexton followed and carried Drew to his new bedroom. Easing the boy down onto the small bed, he removed the kid’s shoes then pulled a blanket over him. Blossom walked over to the toy chest and pulled out a stuffed animal, then tucked the little dog under her son’s arm. She grabbed Brexton’s hand and pulled him out into the hall, then looked around but didn’t seem to know where to go.
He took her to the end of the hall and into his room, thinking she wanted privacy to fuss at him about something. He left the door open so she wouldn’t feel threatened or uncomfortable. It was something he’d picked up about human females, or at least the ones he’d interacted with so far. They seemed to associate bedrooms with sex, and while the thought of getting to know Blossom intimately was an intriguing one, he didn’t want to scare her either.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“There are pictures of my children online? What if… what if Mike sees them and knows where to find us?”
He pulled her closer and when she gripped his shirt and pressed her head against his chest, he wrapped his arms around her.
“Do you think I’m going to let anyone hurt you?” he asked. “Or those children?”
“You can’t be with us all the time, Brexton. And I know that all of this is just temporary. I stopped believing in fairytales a long time ago, and men like you don’t end up with women like me. You might have told those women I was your girlfriend, but you’d never have picked me.”
His hold on her tightened. “Women like you?”
“I’m trash, Brexton. I have kids from two different daddies, and neither of their fathers is the man I’m trying to get away from. Since Drew’s dad split, I’ve let one man after another into my life, hoping to survive the world I was born into, but all I ever end up with is more trouble.”
“That doesn’t make you trash, Blossom.”
“Maybe not, but I’ve lived in that neighborhood my entire life. That’s what makes me trash. I have no way of escaping that hell. No one will hire a high school dropout for more than a minimum wage job.”
He leaned back a little and tipped her chin up so she had to look at him.
“Blossom, you’ve done what you felt was necessary for you and your children. I’m not going to hold that against you. If you’d been given the opportunity, would you have left that life long ago? Would you have dated those men if you’d had any other choice?” he asked.
“I’d have left if I’d had a way to do it, and no, I never would have dated them if I’d had other options. They weren’t good men, but I was desperate.” She worried at her lower lip. “Brexton, if they’re splashing pictures of me and the kids all over the place, it’s only a matter of time before someone figures out who I am and where I come from. They aren’t going to be kind to you if they think you’re dating someone…”
“If you say someone like you, I’m going to put you over my knee and spank you,” he said.
Her cheeks warmed, but there was a flash of awareness in her eyes. Interesting.
“I’ll call my manager and have her come here. We can sit down and discuss the situation while the kids are asleep,” he said.
“All right. We should probably get her here quickly though. My kids won’t sleep for more than an hour since they fell asleep in the car. I think they’ve napped more today than ever before.”
“Let’s go downstairs and I’ll make the call. I have a feeling Mrs. Connors won’t be releasing your daughter anytime soon, but I promise both children will be safe with her.”
Brexton didn’t know what Stella would have to say about the situation they were in, but hopefully she had a solution that wouldn’t upset Blossom, or confuse the kids. He really did want to help them, whatever it took. At the very least, he hoped they would stay through Christmas. If they hadn’t even had a tree, then it was doubtful they’d had gifts. Had they ever received a Christmas present? Did this Santa person only visit those who were wealthy? Maybe he should have paid more attention when his manager was explaining how this Christmas thing worked.
Human culture sometimes gave him a headache.
Chapter Four
Blossom eyed the fierce looking woman and felt an urge to hide behind Brexton. This was his manager? The woman looked like she chewed people up and spit them out all before she’d even had her morning coffee. The black hair, pale skin, and bright red lipstick didn’t do anything to soften the woman’s look. She supposed the big alien would need someone like her though. So far, Stella didn’t seem impressed with Blossom, or the fact Brexton had claimed her as his girlfriend.
“The damage is done,” Stella said. “You’re the one who told your fans that this woman was your girlfriend. If you retract that statement now, it would out you as a liar, and your fans would revolt. You’d be lucky to land a commercial for off-brand toothpaste by the time they were finished raking you over the coals.”
“She has a name,” Brexton said.
“I don’t care what her name is. The point is that you fucked up, big time. I’d thought you would be the one actor I could work with who would keep his dick in his pants, but apparently I was wrong. I’ve paraded models and actresses under your nose, hoping you would select someone who would further your career, or at least be good arm candy. But no… you go to the slums and pick up this… this…”
“Careful,” Brexton said, his tone hard and brittle. “Watch what words you use next, or they may be your last as my manager.”
Stella puffed up and her cheeks flushed.
Blossom placed a hand on his arm, but he only pulled her tight against his side, his arm going around her like a steel band.
“You’re going to choose some slut from the wrong side of town over me?” Stella demanded. “I’ve done everything for you, made sure you landed the best contracts, argued for top dollar on each movie. I’ve done things to make sure you’re a star, things you don’t want to know about, and you’re going to toss me aside now? For a piece of ass?”
Brexton growled and Blossom felt the muscles in his body tense.
“Brexton, I’ve been called worse, and once the papers figure out who I am, where I’m from, they won’t be kind either. I’ll be seen as some gold digging whore who is only after your money.”
His eyes flashed with fury and Blossom realized that he wasn’t going to be rational about the situation. She didn’t understand why he was so upset over the things his manager was saying. It wasn’t like they weren’t at least somewhat true. And she really had been called worse over the years -- but for whatever reason, Brexton had decided he was her hero. While it felt nice to have someone stand up for her, she was worried that he was about to tank his career, and she didn’t want that on her conscience. If he hadn’t met her, if she hadn’t let him into her apartment, then none of this would be happening right now.
“Use the head on your shoulders and not in your pants,” Stella said. “I bet she has a record. How’s that going to look to your fans?”
Blossom bristled. “I do not have a record. I’ve never received so much as a speeding ticket.”
Granted, it was because she didn’t drive, but still… she’d always obeyed the law. Just because she was poor didn’t mean she was a criminal. While she didn’t think Brexton saw her as one, she knew that a lot of people would feel she was a common thief or maybe even worked the streets just because of her address. It was hardly fair, but it was just the way the world worked. Unfortunately.
“Or maybe you just haven’t been arrested,” Stella said. “I’m sure cops are willing to look the other way in exchan
ge for a favor or two.”
Blossom paled and clung tighter to Brexton, but he looked down at her in confusion. If people started saying that about her, if her name was dragged through the mud, what would it do to her son? Her daughter was small enough, that it wouldn’t make much of a difference to RaeLynn. But her son was old enough for kids to say mean things they overheard. Right now, she was an unknown, or had been until their outing. Brexton had put her in the spotlight.
“I don’t understand,” he said.
“She’s saying that I don’t have a record because I whored myself out to the cops in order to avoid being arrested,” Blossom said softly. It wasn’t true, not even close, but she knew it was what other people would think. Once they found out where she came from, they would paint her as trash.
“You’re finished,” Brexton said. “Get the fuck out of my home.”
Blossom started to pull away, trying to ignore the pain in her chest at his words, but he tightened his hold on her.
“Not you. Stella is the one leaving.”
“Brexton.” Blossom bit her lip. “She’s not wrong. She’s only saying what everyone will think. You can’t fire her for being honest, or at least telling the truth as your fans will see it.”
“She insulted you. I won’t stand for it,” Brexton said.
There was a sigh behind them and Blossom looked over her shoulder at another large purple alien.
“I had a feeling this might happen,” the man muttered.
Brexton leveled the intruder with a glare. “What are you doing here, Pryntar?”
“I heard you were asking about helping a human family.” The man shrugged. “I know you’ve wanted a family for a while. It wasn’t a big stretch to think you might claim them.”
Blossom’s eyes went wide. “No one is claiming anyone. He’s just letting us stay here for a short time.”
The man smiled faintly. “No, little one. Trust me. He wants to claim you. The papers might have started spreading the rumor, but he’s not upset with this turn of events. Are you, Brexton?”
Blossom and the Alien Actor Page 4
