by BETH KERY
“And you being Jessie suddenly feels like a trap. Yeah,” Seth agreed with his typical laconic preciseness. He seemed to hesitate.
“Seth?” she prompted.
“It’d be like that for us in L.A. too. You realize that, don’t you? It’d be for different reasons, and you wouldn’t be in disguise, but we’d always have to be careful of showing too many displays of affection. We’d always be in front of the camera’s eye.”
Gia inhaled slowly, trying to ease the sudden tightness in her chest. She could bear that, even if she didn’t love it. Seth was a privacy hound though. She realized she cared about him too much to force him into the spotlight.
“Do we have to talk about it right now? Can’t we just enjoy this beautiful day?” she hoped.
She felt his stare on her cheek as she averted her gaze.
“Yeah. Let’s do that,” he said.
* * *
While they were in the grocery store, Seth picked up a celebrity gossip magazine as they stood in the checkout line, reading the pages with seeming bored idleness.
“What did that magazine say?” Gia asked when they returned to the SUV and were driving back to the house. “I saw my picture on the front, but it looked like it was a small feature.”
“Yeah. You’re shrinking a bit in the tabloids because the press doesn’t have any new gossip or photos to feed to your hungry public. That’s just what we wanted to do. We cut off their supply by making you disappear. I spoke with Charles yesterday, and he and Madeline are pleased with the way the mania is dying down. Madeline certainly would like the eye of the world turned away just a bit while she finishes up on the last touches of her case.”
“And McClarin?” Gia asked tensely. “Is there any news of him or his camp’s maneuvers?”
“Just the usual hogwash about how you’re an unstable, hysterical, attention-seeking movie star.”
“Someone tried to leak a fake story that I was a drug addict a while ago. I’m sure it was someone related to McClarin,” Gia stated flatly. “So does Madeline, because the rumor started flying around just before jury selection. After jury selection, the jurors are told to stay away from all media outlets, so there was a higher chance of it reaching potential jurors and alternates.”
“Yeah. It was definitely a purposefully leaked story. But they had no proof of those rumors about you. The story died out.”
“A bit of a slow death for my comfort,” Gia mumbled.
“Yeah, I know,” Seth commiserated, reaching across the console and squeezing her thigh. “All we have to do is keep quiet and wait. Once you get on that stand, McClarin is screwed and he knows it.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” she said, rubbing his hand with hers.
“Anytime.”
After they’d stored all the food at the house, Seth retouched her makeup and they headed back out again. In Prairie Lakes, they parked and walked. It was another pleasantly cool, crisp, brilliant fall day. Prairie Lakes was a picturesque small town, especially with all the trees dressed out in brilliant autumn regalia. It was no Vulture’s Canyon, but it was far from bustling. Walking from the car down Main Street, they passed all of four people.
They stopped in a pharmacy on Main Street to pick up some supplies, including some battery candles Seth wanted for Daisy’s jack-o’-lantern. Gia nudged Seth with an elbow to the ribs when she spotted the old-fashioned soda fountain on the far wall.
“Would it be too un-Jessie-like if we went for a sundae?” she asked under her breath.
“Yeah,” Seth murmured. She nodded in understanding.
“But it would also be Uncle Seth–like to ignore Jessie’s cocky attitude. Jessie really needs to work on that. So we’re going,” he said without a break in his stony expression. He handed her a pack of razors. She barely hid her grin as she examined the package with undue fascination and followed him out of the aisle.
* * *
They ate lunch at the nostalgic diner, where they were the only patrons. Even on weekends, traffic downtown was probably slow, but on a weekday afternoon with school in session, Main Street seemed cast under a sleepy spell. Afterward, they ordered coffees to go and wandered through a nearby wooded park. Spotting a bench near a burbling spring, they sat down, inhaling the crisp fall air. She noticed Seth unobtrusively scanning the entire area for possible observers. When he relaxed his militant tension ever so slightly and took a sip of his coffee, Gia assumed that he saw no potential threats to their privacy.
“Did you like being in military intelligence?” she asked him quietly.
“I would have liked it better if my skill for disguise and makeup was used one hundred percent of the time. Whenever the opportunity came up, I thrived on the challenge. That’s how I knew for a fact I wanted to work in special effects makeup full-time when I left the Army. But I do miss the . . . substance of the disguises I did while I was in the military.”
“Substance?”
“Yeah. Knowing that my makeups really meant something important—an individual’s safety, a successful mission, people’s lives.”
“Is that why you still do consulting work for people like Charles and Madeline when you get the chance?”
He nodded.
“Do you really think of film work as substanceless?” she asked hesitantly after a moment.
His gaze flickered over her. “I think it has substance. Entertainment is important. Creative expression is important. I’m just glad I had the opportunity to use my art to help people as well.”
Gia nodded. She understood what he was saying, but it unsettled her for some reason. What had she ever done to directly help people? She did some charity work but always felt on the fringes, distanced from the possibility of making a concrete, measurable difference in someone’s life.
“What you do is important, Gia,” Seth said forcefully under his breath. She blinked, realizing he’d noticed her bereft expression. “You shouldn’t listen to half the things I say about Hollywood. I’m old and I’m cynical.”
“You’re not old,” she chided.
“I see you don’t correct me about my cynicism though,” he added wryly, taking a sip of his coffee. “The truth is, someone like you influences tens of thousands of people every day. Maybe in subtle ways, maybe in not-so-subtle ways. Certainly in ways you’re likely never going to know about firsthand. I think movie stars have a huge potential for making a difference.”
“Really?” she asked, doubtful not for her own part, but as to whether or not he truly believed it.
He nodded soberly. “Look at the fact that you want to play Eleanor Roosevelt, for instance. Given your status with young people, you’ll expose a generation of females to an important, powerful woman. You’ll make someone who formerly seemed like a boring history lesson approachable and interesting by mixing some of your magic with hers. You could have just listened to the naysayers and your agent and dismissed the role as not commercially viable, but you didn’t.”
She made a face. “I didn’t insist on the part because I wanted to make a difference in young women’s lives though,” she admitted with a sinking feeling.
“Why did you then?”
Gia thought for a moment. “Because her story inspired me.”
He shrugged and leaned back on the bench. “Exactly. And your inspiration in combination with your talent will inspire others.”
“Do you really think that?”
“I do,” he replied simply.
“But you look down on actresses and actors so much,” she said.
“Not all of them. There are a few I respect.” She studied his stoic profile anxiously. He must have noticed because he turned and met her stare. “One actress in particular. More and more so every day.”
Even though he couldn’t touch her while they were out in public and the bright light of day, his words and small smile felt like the equivalent
of a caress.
Later, they walked down Main Street and wandered into a nearly empty antique store. Gia found herself resenting the disguise more and more as they perused the contents of the aisles. It was so nice to be out with him in public, idling away the afternoon. She very much wanted to touch him, and the prohibition not to do so only seemed to sharpen her desire. When they entered a particularly dark, dusty corner aisle of the store, she realized Seth must have felt the same way. He suddenly halted her by grabbing her hand. Then he was leaning over her and brushing his lips against hers. He was careful not to smudge her lip makeup, but he wasn’t so subtle with his touch. He didn’t bother caressing her torso, knowing the rigid shaper was beneath her shirt. Instead, he cupped her ass possessively and gave it a firm rub.
“I didn’t know it was going to be so hard not to touch you in public,” he said next to her lips.
“Me either,” she whispered, touching his hard abdomen greedily. She cupped his rib cage, a thrill going through her, and went up on her toes to nuzzle his chin with her nose. An aisle away, they heard a woman making a comment about an antique baby carriage and a man replying. Gia guiltily backed away from Seth, her heart racing from his touch and nearness. Her longing to touch him openly felt even sharper than before.
“Look what’s at the theater,” Seth said under his breath when they returned to the sleepy, sunny street.
She blinked in surprise when she read the marquis. “They must not get many first runs in Prairie Lakes. It’s been out for over a year.” She gave Seth a small smile. The film was Shadow Mistress, the first movie she’d done following the success of her Hollywood debut. Unlike Glory Girl, Shadow Mistress was a sexy, dark, very adult thriller. It had immediately smashed the stereotype of her created by her role in her debut young adult film. She’d been lucky that the thriller had been a success. Instead of alienating her youthful following, it had amplified it, plus added an older generation to her fan base.
“Do you want to go? There’s a three thirty matinee.” Seth checked his watch. “We’ll only miss the first few minutes.”
She did a surprised double take at his suggestion. “Really?”
He looked completely serious. “Yeah. We don’t have anything better to do until we’re due at Rill and Katie’s at six.” He gave her a dry glance. “And I doubt there’s another theater in town.”
She laughed dubiously and shrugged. “Okay, if you really want to.” His suggestion and the circumstances were unexpected. She wasn’t sure how she felt about sitting side by side with Seth—of all people—and watching herself on the big screen.
The theater was one of those old, large, ornate structures that were disappearing too fast from American cities in the modern age. The movie had already started by the time they bought their tickets and entered.
“We can have our pick of seats,” Seth muttered under his breath as they assessed the near-empty theater. There was a couple seated several rows back from the front and another couple in the middle-right.
“There goes my ego,” Gia said humorously. “I’m really roping them in around here.”
“Seriously? The whole town has probably seen this movie three times over by now. They can likely recite your lines better than you,” Seth said dryly. “Can we sit in the back?”
“Anywhere,” Gia agreed.
He waved her ahead and followed her into the very back row. They took their seats.
“This is weird,” she whispered once they sat and she trained her gaze on the screen. The scene depicted the tense discovery of a murder, and Gia was in it.
“Why?” Seth asked. “Because you’re watching one of your movies while you’re disguised as someone else?”
“No,” she fumbled. “Well, not just because of that. Because I’m watching it with you.” She felt him look at her in the darkness and sensed his question. “It’s . . . awkward.”
“You shouldn’t feel self-conscious,” he whispered, spreading his long legs slightly so that his knee bumped into hers. He opened his hand on her thigh. He must have noticed her arched brows. “No one can see us back here. And as for feeling awkward, don’t. I’ve heard this movie was great, and you’re a fantastic actress.”
“You haven’t seen it?” she hissed.
He merely shook his head, his attention on the screen.
For some reason, his admission made her feel even pricklier with awareness. As one scene ended, she started to realize why. The next part of the movie was one of two pretty intense love scenes. She swallowed uneasily and slunk down in her seat. The experience was a new one for her. She’d never been embarrassed watching one of her movies with company before, even with a few short-lived boyfriends. She hadn’t treasured the idea of her father or mother watching her love scenes, but they hadn’t made her cringe like she was at that moment. She and Seth had already discussed the fact that she used a body double for nudity though. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.
She held her breath as Scott Barrett, the male lead, leaned down to kiss her on the screen. Was it her imagination, or did Seth stiffen in the seat next to her? She glanced anxiously at his face in the darkness. No, it wasn’t her imagination. He peered at the screen with narrowed eyelids as Scott unbuttoned her blouse and the kiss turned torrid. The critics had labeled her and Scott’s chemistry electric. The tabloids had falsely reported a secret romance between them. Did Seth realize those reports were false? She and Scott had little in common, although she’d found him to be a nice enough coworker. The whys and why nots of onscreen chemistry remained a mystery to Gia, as they did to most actors.
Maybe Seth wouldn’t find that reassuring, though, given the heat escalating on the screen as Scott came down over her on the bed.
How does a person ever know what’s real and what’s not?
His voice replayed in her head, along with the vision of the tense frustration in his expression when he’d said it.
An eternal moment later, the camera angle tightened on Gia’s face as they enacted intercourse. It was unbearable. Seth prized her sexual honesty, just as she prized his. It was one of the magical things about their being together. Gia had never experienced true intimacy in her life until she’d been with Seth. She knew that now. It was ridiculous, but she felt guilty somehow, watching the scene. Not because she’d acted out intimacy with Scott Barrett, but because Seth stared at her giving away a tiny part of what she gave him when they made love.
He would always think he shared her with the world.
She opened her mouth to suggest leaving, but his hand tightened on her thigh. A knot had formed in her throat. She exhaled in relief when the scene came to an end. If she thought the charged atmosphere would ease when the scene ceased, she thought wrong. Heat emanated from Seth’s large hand onto her thigh. He squeezed the muscle and rubbed her. His hand slid higher. Arousal prickled through her, the unexpectedness of it in this situation taking her by surprise. She squirmed slightly in her seat to alleviate the pressure growing at her sex.
Suddenly his hand was gone and she felt his fingers near her ear.
“What are you doing?” she whispered.
“Exposing your ear,” he replied very quietly. He pushed the edge of the wig over the top of her ear.
“Why?”
“Because I’m going to talk dirty to you,” he said very quietly right next to her ear.
Excitement jolted through her, sending shivers of sensation rippling through her body.
He cupped her sex through her jeans. Gia went dry mouthed as she stared blindly at the screen, and he moved his hand in a subtle circular motion, stimulating her. Gia bit her lip. It felt very good.
“Unfasten your jeans,” he breathed out near her ear.
She glanced over at him. She could see the determined gleam of his eyes in the flickering shadow. “Are you sure it’s okay?”
“No one can see us. I want your pussy.
Now. You’ll have to keep very quiet.”
His incendiary words thundered in her consciousness.
Keep quiet? Given what Seth typically did to her? She hadn’t realized she could be so noisy in bed until Seth had made love to her.
He removed his warm hand from between her thighs. She missed his touch. She glanced aside anxiously to make sure no one had walked into the theater. The aisles on both sides were empty, the row of seats shadowed and dark, and the other movie watchers were far away. The risk was worth it . . . to her it was. But that didn’t mean her heartbeat didn’t start to slam in her ears.
She unfastened her button fly. Seth immediately sank his left hand into the opening and beneath her underwear. His gaze remained on the screen as he moved his fingertips deftly against her outer sex, parting her labia.
At first, it felt like he was tickling her eager, sensitive flesh. His touch was dead-on, but he kept it light, building the burn in her until she squirmed in her seat. She placed her hands on the chair arms and subtly bucked her hips against the pressure of his hand.
He lowered his mouth near her ear.
“Do you need it harder?”
“Yes,” she whispered emphatically. She turned to him, blindly seeking his mouth with her own.
He backed up slightly. “No. Don’t tempt me.”
Gia suppressed a sound of frustration. She understood. He would ruin her lip makeup if they started kissing. Besides, if someone looked back, they’d see them making out. They couldn’t see what Seth was doing to her below the seats. Lots of people made out in movie theaters, but Gia wasn’t so sure of how fond Prairie Lakes would be of two males doing it in the local theater.
“Slouch down in your seat some and spread your thighs,” he said into her ear. She did as he directed. There was a chase scene going on in the movie. Not that she cared. She lowered in the seat and opened her legs, giving Seth more access. He palmed her outer sex, his fingertips rubbing her entrance teasingly. He pressed the round stone of his ring between her labia and began to rub her clit in a subtle circular motion, occasionally pressing it like a little button. For the next several minutes, she just slouched there, tense as a coiled spring, staring straight ahead with glazed eyes as he played with her and whispered illicit things in her ear, and she burned.
