I thought maybe I’d never known anyone better.
Or maybe it was just that he knew me better than anyone.
I smiled back at him. Tender in a way I hadn’t given him before, no longer questioning his intentions.
I wanted this.
I was ready to let him in. Get over all that heartbreak that had held me back for so long.
He squeezed my knee under the table and then set a gentle kiss on my temple.
From across the table, my mother sighed. I wanted to roll my eyes at her, but with Kas Cowen?
God knew, I was swooning, too.
* * *
“Oh, my God, that is one gorgeous man, Elle Ward.” My mother grabbed me by the arm and hauled me into a dark corner in the hall. “Why in the world have you been keeping that a secret?”
I looked up at the smile on her face. The thing was? Her eyes were filled with worry.
A heavy gust of air blew from between my lips. “You know why.”
She frowned and touched the side of my face. “Is this because of that piece of crap who broke my baby’s heart?”
Wasn’t it always?
But I didn’t want that asshole to have control of me anymore, so I found myself nodding. “Yeah. I just . . .” I looked out into the darkened sitting room before I turned my attention back to her. “I just didn’t want to ever let that happen again.”
She ran her thumb along the hollow of my eye. “None of us want to be hurt, but being loved makes the risk worth it.”
“Is it?”
She angled her head. “Of course, it is. Love is scary, Elle. Terrifying, really. When I met your father, he had all these dreams, and I was scared he was going to put all of those in front of me to chase after them. I almost didn’t show up at our wedding because of it.”
Surprise had me jarring back. “What?”
“It’s the truth. I got cold feet. Of course, because it’s your father, he came running right after me and swept me from them . . . carried me right down to the altar. He told me none of his dreams were worth it if he wasn’t chasing after them with me.”
Affection pulsed and spun. “He loves you like crazy.”
Mom gently pushed her fingers through the lock of hair at the side of my face. “I’m thinking that man out there might just feel the same about you.”
Old hurt bottled up in my chest, full and tight, and God, I was so ready to let it go. “He wants to be an actor.”
She let loose a soft laugh. “I know.”
My brows lifted. “You do?”
“Um . . . hello . . . I live in Hollywood and I’m not blind. That man is plastered everywhere. Did you really think you could bring him here and I wouldn’t recognize that face? Or that body? Hello, abs. Goodness, Elle, I don’t know how you left the house,” she teased.
“Mom,” I rushed out in a hiss.
“What?” She shrugged as if it were completely normal for her to be talking about my sex life with my ridiculously hot boyfriend.
But I guessed if the rest of the world was going to do it, I was going to have to get used it.
Light laughter rippled from her chest. “Do you think I didn’t notice the way he was looking at you? The only thing I’m saying is I get why you’re willing to take the risk. For him. With him. Just . . . know this industry can be cruel.”
“I know that firsthand,” I told her.
Regret passed across her face. “I know you do, and I hate that I let that happen.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
She gave a slight nod. “I know . . . but that doesn’t mean our life didn’t set you up to be taken advantage of. Just be ready for what people will say. That there will be people who try to destroy you for no reason other than the chance to get to watch someone suffer. People can be cruel and horrible. Remember, they aren’t the ones who count. The main thing is knowing him. Making sure you can trust him, and when you do, trust him all the way. Don’t let people or this town get in the way of that.”
My eyes glanced out into the hall where I heard the rumble of my father’s deep laughter and the sexy roughness of Kas’s voice.
I looked back at my mother. “And do you think I can? Trust him?”
She brushed her thumb across my cheek. “That’s something you have to decide for yourself. But I think just the fact that you brought him here might give you the answer to that.”
Rustling echoed from out in the hall.
I stepped that direction to find Kas grinning at me. “Are you ready?”
“Yeah.”
We said our goodbyes, climbed into my car, and headed back down the drive. I was so happy I didn’t even care when a pap in a car on the other side of the street snapped a picture of us.
* * *
“Where are we going?”
So what if it was a squeal of excitement that came out behind it. I was excited. I was excited that I was here with Kas. This way. That he’d been looking at me the way he had the whole ride home from my parents’. That he’d jumped out the second I’d parked and ran around to my side, hand taking mine as if he were just as excited as I was.
“Don’t you trust me, Princess?” He sent me one of those smirks from over his shoulder as he hauled me across the basement parking garage. My pulse spiked when I realized where he was headed.
“On that? Um . . . no.” I glared at his motorcycle like the death trap it was. “There is no way I’m getting on that thing. Things didn’t turn out too great the last time I touched it.”
Okay, okay, backed into it.
Same thing.
Kas just grinned, but there was something different about it. Softer and sweeter. His big hand came out to brush along my jaw. “Oh, I’d say it turned out just fine, wouldn’t you?”
I trembled.
So maybe I really, really did love his bike.
But still . . .
I turned my attention to the massive hunk of gleaming metal and intimidating leather.
Did he really expect me to get on that?
“I haven’t gotten to give my baby any loving since she was so brutally mangled a few weeks ago.”
“But your ankle—”
“Is totally fine,” he cut in.
A sigh pushed from between my lips.
“Don’t break my heart, Princess. I want to show you something.” It was all tease and a lure.
How was I supposed to resist him? Apparently, that was impossible, because there I was, letting him place a helmet onto my head as if he’d been preparing for this moment all along. Then I was climbing onto the back of his bike and wrapping my arms around the most gorgeous man on Earth, my chest pushing back tight against all the strength of his back.
Uh.
Yeah.
I guessed I really did love his bike, after all.
Night pressed all around us, Kas took to the streets, though at a much slower pace than I’d expected him to. It felt as if he were being careful.
Careful with me.
Street lamps blinked down on all sides, and we rode up the winding road, hugging the curves as we climbed higher, the cool wind whipping on our faces and the darkness holding us like a blanket.
I was wrapped so tightly around his body that I didn’t know where I ended and he began, our hearts beating in time and our worlds coming together.
That was what it felt like.
As if we’d stepped into a new realm that was just our own.
Or maybe the reality was I’d just finally invited him into my life.
Showing him who I was and where I came from. No doubt, it was time to share all of it with him. Give him the reasons I’d treated him with suspicion from the get go.
Guilt climbed into my chest because I knew I’d treated him unfairly.
Judged him without giving him the chance.
What kind of person did that make me?
It felt as if no time had passed at all when he pulled off onto the shoulder, which extended all the way out to an overlook of the ra
mbling city below. Blinking lights going on forever. The city so alive beneath us where it felt as if we’d been elevated to watch over it all.
Kas unbuckled the loop on the helmet and gingerly pulled it off my head. The cool air blowing through my hair sent a shiver across my flesh.
Or maybe it was just the way he was looking at me, his face all lit up in the moonlight that poured down from above.
“You are so gorgeous, Elle Ward.”
I smirked at him, though, it was filled with affection. “I’m pretty sure we know who that title belongs to, Mr. Calvin Klein Model.”
He brushed his lips across mine. “Your Calvin Klein model.”
“Is that so?” I whispered at his soft lips.
“Mm-hmm,” he mumbled back, kissing me right there alongside the road. I shifted back when a car blew by, and Kas’s laughter rang through the open air.
He stepped back and wound my fingers through his. “This way.”
He started for a trail flanked by bushes.
“Where are we going?”
He quirked a brow at me. “I thought we established you could trust me?”
“Well, I guess you didn’t kill me on that thing.”
“That thing?” he said in feigned offense. “First rule of this relationship? You’re going to have to learn not to talk crap about my baby. You’ll hurt her feelings.”
“Is that so?”
“Yup. You already tried to take her clean out. You’re going to have to give her all kinds of love to make it up to her.”
“And how am I going to manage that?” Laughter filled my voice.
He gasped as if it should have been obvious. “Riding on the back of her for the rest of your life. That’s how.”
Love spread through my chest, taking up the guilt I was feeling before. “Why’s that sound like an invitation?”
“Because that’s what it is.”
Continuing to walk toward the edge of the cliff, he angled through the shrubs where bugs trilled in the branches, careful as he led me down the path.
I followed close behind, my sandals slipping in the loose dirt, Kas there to keep me balanced the entire way.
“Funny how roles change, isn’t it?” He grinned. “A few weeks ago, it was you who was helping me stand.”
It didn’t matter that there was nothing but cockiness in his words. There was no missing the undercurrent in them. Their meaning bigger. More powerful.
Old reservations churned, vying to make their way up into the broken pieces of my heart.
I pushed them back down.
I was just . . . going to go with it.
Full steam. All the way.
“That’s how relationships work, isn’t it?” I said. “Give and take. Take and give. It has to go both ways.
We cleared the line of bushes and came out on the other side where the view was one hundred percent unobscured, nothing but city lights spread out below us. The freeways seemed to go on forever, the buildings sprawling out farther and farther until they disappeared at the edge of the night sky.
Kas spun around.
God.
He stole my breath.
Standing there under the moon, his shoulders so wide, the tee stretched across his chest making my mouth water, so big where he stood in front of the city as if one day all of it might belong to him.
“Yeah, Princess. That’s exactly how it works.” He looked out over the view, his voice drifting far when he began to speak. “The first day I got to L.A., I came up here. I just . . . wanted to look out at what I was going to need to tackle. Put how big it really was into perspective.”
He looked back at me. “It’s funny how your rationale can tell you it’s impossible. There was a huge part of me that screamed to pack all my shit back up, tuck my tail, and head home. Then there was the other part of me that called out that this was where I belonged.”
His stare was back on me. Intense. Sincere. “Guess I shouldn’t be all that surprised since this is where you are.”
“Kas,” I whispered.
He cleared his throat. “Seems there are some things we need to talk about.” He tugged me down to the earth beside him.
Sucking in a stealing breath, I settled down right in front of him. “It seems there is.”
He sat with his knees bent, forearms on his knees. He reached down and pinched some dirt between his thumb and index finger. He rolled it around before he finally asked, “Roger Ward, huh?”
“Daddy to me.”
A light chuckle rumbled free. “And you didn’t want me to know.” It wasn’t a question, he just turned his penetrating gaze my direction. “Why do I get the feeling there’s a story behind this that I should know?”
My heart fluttered in my chest. “I met Christopher at a dinner party with some friends.” Finding courage, I pressed on, unwilling to stop once I was finally letting it out. “Attractive. Charming. His entire personality filled up the room.” I looked over at him. “Kind of like you.”
Anger darkened his eyes. “Now I’m getting the feeling that I’m not going to like this story.”
Humorless laughter rippled from me. “I don’t like it so much myself.”
I looked out over the endless expanse of lights that twinkled below. “He acted like I was the most interesting thing in the world. Like he couldn’t be without me. In the end, the only thing he wanted was a way to get close to my dad. To get noticed. He used me as a stepping stool to climb his way into fame. The second he landed an A-list role, he kicked me to the curb. I was nothing to him other than a rung to get closer to what he wanted.”
Kas’s hands twisted into fists. “Tell me we aren’t talking about Christopher Riley?”
The only thing I could manage was a tight nod.
“That piece of shit. I always knew he was a slimy bastard.”
I attempted a laugh. “I wish I would have known. It would have saved me a lot of heartache.”
Kas swiveled his gaze my way, his tone going deep. “And you were scared that I would do the same? Was that why you didn’t want to get close to me? Why you didn’t want me to know who your father is?”
Another nod. This one filled with guilt. My eyes pressed closed, and I whispered, “I’m sorry.”
A shock of energy blasted through me when I felt the hand come to my face, soft but sure. “Don’t apologize for that asshole. I’m just sorry anyone could treat you that way. And I want you to know that I never, ever would. Not ever.”
He looked back over the city. “This dream isn’t worth it if I’m not living it with you.”
“Kas.” It was a whimper. Everything pouring out. Gratitude and love and surprise. Because when I’d backed into him, I’d never, ever expected this.
He smiled, didn’t say anything when he helped me stand and led me back to the road and carefully put the helmet back onto my head. We rode back down the winding road, this time something different between us.
Or rather, something missing.
My walls gone.
Tumbled to the ground.
I no longer was afraid.
He drove the short distance back to my building, his actions slow and measured when he helped me from his bike and again removed the helmet, his fingers sliding into my hair to fix the mess, or maybe just to mess it up more, because he was tightening his hold and kissing me.
Pushing me against the brick wall.
Stealing my breath.
Two seconds later, we were in the elevator, and he was kissing me deeper.
Passion boiling free.
His mouth and lips and tongue so sweet.
Dizzying.
He swept me into his arms at my door, and a yelp of surprise blistered free. “Kas . . . your ankle.”
He shook his head. “This is what a relationship is, Elle, remember? Taking turns holding up the other when they need it. And right now, you need me to hold you. And God, maybe it’s me who just needs to hold you, too.”
He carried me into my condo, his s
teps strong, but a hint of his limp was still there, and I knew it was probably hurting him. He only held me tighter.
A giggle rippled free when he tossed me onto my bed, one of those smirks riding his mouth. “As much as I like you on the back of my bike, I’m pretty sure I like you sprawled out on this bed even more.”
Another giggle, and my hands were pressing to my belly where need was gathering fast. “I like being on the back of your bike.”
He set a knee onto the bed and ran his nose up the side of my neck, inhaling as he went. A shiver rolled. “I want you always riding with me. It’s going to be a wild one, Elle, this ride. Unforgettable. You and me.”
Emotion pulsed at my ribs, so heavy that it had me reaching for him, tugging him up over me, ripping his shirt over his head at the same time.
“Someone’s anxious.”
“I wanted you the second I saw you. Now I know that you’re exactly what I need.”
“I should have known I was looking at my future . . . at my life . . . when I opened my eyes and saw you staring down at me.”
Kas sat up on his knees, twisted out of his jeans, then leaned down to unbutton my blouse. He pushed it over my shoulders before he peeled off of my pants. I sank back against the bed, feeling exactly like I was a princess when he looked down at me. “You are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
I reached up, my fingers running across his chest and down his chiseled abs. They shook beneath my touch, his cock hard and big where it pressed from his underwear. “I’m looking at it right now.”
“It’s settled then,” he said. Then one of those smirks grew on his gorgeous face as he shoved down his underwear. My heart going haywire as he slipped mine down my legs, tossed the scrap of fabric onto the floor, and made a place for himself between my thighs.
“What’s that?” I whispered into the night.
The man all lit up in the lights that burned in from the city.
Already the brightest star.
“It’s just you and me, Elle. You and me. Forever. You’re my life now. Let me be yours. We’ll take it on together.”
One Wild Ride: A Hollywood Chronicles Novel Page 10
