I close my eyes. “What does Chad say?”
“I think this is a conversation you should be having with him, Mallory,” she says. “Chad loves you and wants to keep you safe. I think he would prefer to go public with your status, but he seems to be acquiescing to the higher powers that be. He still has a job to do. This is all part of it.”
My heart sinks into my stomach. Keeping me hidden is part of his job. Maybe Julian was right. “So, I’m the other woman?” I ask. “The slut who he’s cheating on Courtney with?”
“No. Of course not,” she says. “Our official statement will be that you’re a childhood friend and you’ve recently rekindled your friendship. End of story.”
“Oh, come on,” I scoff. “Did we look like friends in that picture?”
“I can’t tell you when or if that position will change, Mallory. We’ll deal with it as we have to, but for now, that’s what we’ll say.”
“And I’m to go along with it?” I ask in defiance.
She sighs into the phone. “I’m not going to tell you what to say, Mallory. But it would be best if you could put up a united front. Listen, aren’t you flying out in a few days? We can sit down and talk about it then. Maybe we’ll be lucky and your name won’t become public before you get here.”
The whole way home I wonder if it’s worth it. I love him, but am I willing to be labeled the friend, at best? At worst, the other woman? People will hate me. And it looks like Chad might just be okay with that.
Chapter Nineteen
Chad
The past few days have been horrible. Not just because I miss the hell out of Mal, but because our conversations seem strained. Ever since her picture came out in that tabloid magazine, she’s been standoffish. I’ve told her everything will be okay, that we’ll deal with it together. But all she says is we’ll talk about it when she gets here. It scares the shit out of me, quite frankly. I’ve been wondering if she’s going to break up with me but didn’t want to do it over the phone. Maybe it’s all too much for her to deal with.
I can’t even go into the airport to meet her. Neither can Cole. He’s become well known as my bodyguard now and the pap knows that where he is, I’m not far behind. It would cause too much of a stir if either of us showed up to collect her, so I sit here in the back of a limo, not knowing my fate, while Kendra goes inside to get her. I know Mal will think it’s pretentious, me getting a limousine. But I didn’t want our first meeting in three weeks to be witnessed by anyone else. Plus, if she is breaking up with me, I didn’t want anyone to see me get on my knees and beg.
The back door opens and Mallory gets inside. Our eyes lock. A million emotions pass between us. But thankfully, one trumps all the rest. The love I have for her grows stronger each time I see her. She becomes more beautiful every time we’re apart. Her eyes tear up and spill over. I reach out to her. “Mal, what’s wrong?”
She sniffs, wiping a tear with the back of her finger. “I . . . I was starting to think this was a bad idea,” she says, tucking her face into my shoulder. “But just now, with the way you looked at me, I can’t imagine being without you.”
I wrap her face in my hands, forcing her to look up at me. “Were you?” I ask, my heart hammering in my chest. “Imagining being without me?”
She nods reluctantly as I feel the car pull away from the curb. “I didn’t want to,” she says. “But with the photo and you not wanting to admit to our relationship. I wasn’t sure . . .”
“Not wanting to admit to it?” I say, incredulously. “Mal, I want to put up billboards announcing to everyone that I fucking love you. Don’t you know that? It’s Paul. The studio. They think it’s a bad idea. He’s my manager, baby. I have to trust he knows what’s best for my career. It doesn’t mean I don’t love you. I do. I love you so much. I’ve only ever loved you.”
“I know. I’m sorry,” she says. “I guess it just took me seeing you again to understand that.”
“Well then, there’s no way in hell I’m going three weeks without seeing you again. I don’t care if I have to fly to New York for two hours and fly back. I’m not giving you another chance at second thoughts.”
“You’d do that for me?”
“You have no idea the depths of what I’d do for you, Mallory Kate.”
“Right now, I’d just like you to kiss me,” she says with a sultry smile.
She doesn’t have to ask me twice. I shift her up onto my lap, pulling her head down until her lips meet mine. She tastes exactly like I remember. Strawberries and mint. I put my hand on her thigh, a low growl escaping me at the feel of her bare skin under her skirt. “I like this,” I murmur against her lips. “Easy access.”
“It was a little chilly in New York,” she says, allowing my lips to explore her neck. “But I was hoping it would be seasonable out here and I was right.”
“We should have great weather this week,” I say. “I’m going to be able to give you that beach vacation after all.” My fingers travel up to the apex of her thighs, being met with her damp panties. I push them aside and slip a finger inside her as she gasps. “Jesus, Mal. I’m not sure I can wait. Want to live dangerously?”
Her eyes widen as she looks at me in surprise. Then she looks at the closed partition separating us from Cole and Kendra. “Don’t worry,” I say. “I may have mentioned to them not to bother us unless the damn car was on fire.”
She looks back at me and smiles. Holy shit. I never really thought she’d agree. I waste no time at all shifting her on my lap so she’s straddling me. Then I push up her skirt and, taking care not to dig into her skin, I rip the panties right off her.
“Caveman much?” she asks, laughing.
I cup her breasts through her shirt, not wanting to expose her just in case there actually is a fire in the limo. She feels incredible under my hungry hands. She’s been with me all of five minutes, and already I’m rock hard beneath her. Hell, just the thought of her gets me hard. These past weeks, I’ve felt like a teenage boy again, needing to get my rocks off frequently or else walk around with a constant hard-on.
She untucks my shirt and puts her hands underneath it, exploring my chest as I continue to explore hers. She unbuttons my pants and I remove my hands from her just long enough to lower them to my thighs. She takes my hard length in her hand, watching herself give me long, slow strokes. She’s taking control and it’s hot as hell.
I feel the car slow and I know we’re getting off the highway, meaning we don’t have a whole lot of time. I’ll take my time with her later. Right now, I just need to be inside her. “I’m not going to last very long, Mal. And neither is this drive.” I push two fingers inside her, circling my thumb around her slick clit. She’s so ready. I reach underneath me to get a condom out of my wallet, putting it on in mere seconds. She lifts herself up and slowly sheaths me with her tight walls.
“Oh, God,” she sighs as I fill her.
Hearing what this does to her brings me right to the edge. I do everything I can to hold off. I want her there with me. I whisper things into her ear, hoping my words will heighten her arousal. “You’re so beautiful, Mallory. I dreamed about your perfect breasts. Your soft skin. About tasting you. You can’t imagine how much I want to taste you. And I will . . . later.” I put a hand between us and rub slow circles on her clit. “I want to make you come so hard you can’t see straight. The way you make me come. Even when you’re not with me, you make me come that hard. Only you, baby.”
Her breaths come in shorts spurts as she works herself up and down on me with increasing speed. I feel my muscles tighten. “That’s it,” I say. “Jesus, you feel so good. So tight. Come with me, Mal.”
“Uhhhh . . . Oh, Chad.” She bites down on my shoulder to keep herself from screaming. The sensual pain sends me right over the cliff with her and I grunt loudly, pumping myself inside her as her walls squeeze and pulsate against me.
The car comes to a stop and I hear voices. We must be at the gate to my neighborhood. I help Mallory situate
herself next to me and then I take off the condom, roll down the window and chuck it into the passing bushes.
Mallory giggles. “You can be fined up to a thousand dollars for littering, you know.”
“Worth every penny,” I tell her with a wink.
We pull up to my house and Cole opens the back door. Mallory gets out, embarrassed to even look at him as she says hello. She’s flushed. And I think I might have yelled. It’s more than obvious what we were doing back here. But Cole is a professional. However, not so much that he doesn’t fist-bump me behind Mal’s back.
Cole takes her bag and puts it inside the house before leaving to take Kendra back and return the limo. Mallory looks around at the houses surrounding mine before returning her gaze to my humble abode. The place I chose to live after rehab is not ostentatious or flashy. It’s a two-bedroom cottage on a half-acre lot, flanked by similar sized houses lining my street.
“Wow,” she says. “I’m impressed, Mr. Stone.”
“What’s to be impressed by?” I ask, looking around the middle-class neighborhood.
“Exactly. Is your house any bigger than the Presidential Suite?” she asks.
I laugh. “Barely.”
As we walk through the door, I lean down, annoyed as I pick up some cards left on my doorstep. It’s getting worse. Today it’s only letters, but sometimes they leave packages and stuffed animals. What do they think I’m going to do with all that shit? Fucking gate guard, the guy will let anyone with big tits in. I need to get Cole to have a talk with the head of security. Mallory may be here alone at times and I don’t want her exposed unnecessarily.
Mallory looks at the cards in my hands. “Love notes?” she jokes.
I shrug and then nod.
“Really?” she asks. “I was only teasing. I thought it was your mail.”
“Sadly, it’s not. That gets properly delivered to my box. The minimum-wage gate guard is not very vigilant about who he lets pass.” I open the waste basket to deposit the cards.
“Wait!” She stops me. “Don’t you at least want to read them?”
“They’re all the same,” I tell her. “‘I love you, Thad.’ ‘Marry me, Thad.’ ‘Have my baby, Thad.’ And those are the good ones.”
She nods to them. “May I?”
“Don’t you want a tour of the place?” I ask, slightly perturbed.
“I can pretty much see it all from here,” she jokes. “Come on. Let me see them. I mean, you get fan mail, Chad. Isn’t that unreal? People love you so much they take the time to tell you in writing.”
I guess I used to think it was cool. When it first started back when I was on Malibu. “Fine.” I hand her the half-dozen cards and watch over her shoulder as she opens them. They are pretty much what I told her. Marriage proposals. Invitations. Lewd propositions.
“Oh, my God.” She covers her mouth with her hand. “This one sent a picture of her naked chest. Do you keep these in a drawer somewhere, you know, in case you need ‘material’?” She giggles.
Man, I love the sound of her laugh. I could listen to it all day. “I don’t have a drawer, Mal. Who needs crappy visual stimulation when I have you?”
She opens the trash can and deposits the letters inside. “I think I’ll take that tour now. Why don’t we start with the bedroom?”
I pull her body against me and wrap my hands around her back. I remember that she’s without panties under her skirt and it has me getting hard again. “Have I told you how much I love you today?”
“Maybe,” she says, nibbling at my ear.
“Well, how about I show you? Only this time, I plan on taking my sweet time with you.” I grab her hand and lead her to my room.
~ ~ ~
“This is the life,” she says, floating on a mat in my pool.
She’s gorgeous in her tiny green shimmering bikini, making me glad there’s a privacy fence around my backyard. Not because someone might see us together, but because I don’t want anyone else seeing her like this. Lying back the way she is, her breasts all but spill out the sides of the small triangles trying to hold them in. And then there’s her creamy skin and wet hair. Shit—I just want to cancel all plans for the week and stay holed up with her. I’m growing hard in my board shorts as I sit and watch her from my lounge chair. I set down what I’m reading and dive into the pool, swimming up next to her.
“It is now that you’re here,” I tell her. “I rarely even use the pool.” I run my hand up the soft skin of her inner thigh. “But now I’m thinking of all kinds of ways we can use it.”
“You’re insatiable.” She giggles.
“Only for you,” I say, leaning over to place a kiss on her forehead.
“What were you reading over there?” she asks.
“Some scripts Paul sent over.”
Her eyebrows shoot up. “Scripts? As in more than one?”
I nod. “It seems I pretty much have my choice of gigs these days.”
“Do you mean you get to pick which parts you want? What about auditioning and stuff?”
“All those screaming fans; and the opening weekend numbers of Defcon One—those were pretty much my audition,” I tell her. “I haven’t had to screen test since I got the part in Blind Shot. Well, except when they want to see how I mesh with actors who are up for other parts.”
“Wow,” she says.
I huff through my nose. Sometimes I still can’t believe it myself. “Yeah.”
“So, what’s on the agenda for the week?” she asks. “We’re going to your parents, right?”
“I think they would kill me if I didn’t bring you around. I was thinking we’d go for a beach day early in the week and then stay for dinner. You’ll love it. Their house is right on the ocean and the beach goes on for miles.”
“Sounds heavenly,” she says.
“Ana Garner is having a party next week. I think you’ll get along great. Hayden will be there and I’d like you to meet him, too. He’s probably my closest friend here in L.A.”
She looks up at me, using her hand to shield her eyes from the sun. “So you aren’t going to keep me locked up here at your house?”
“Hardly,” I say.
“But what about—”
“I don’t give a shit about what people say or what they print in the tabloids, Mal. Paul will just have to deal with it. It’s not like I’m going to stick my tongue down your throat on Rodeo Drive or anything. But I’m sure as hell going to take my girlfriend out on the town.”
She smiles. “You’re taking me to Rodeo Drive?”
“Sure. If you want to,” I say. “I thought you could join me next Thursday when I go in town for a pre-production meeting. It’s a short one that day so we could do lunch and go shopping after.”
“I’d love that,” she says. “So what exactly happens at pre-production meetings?”
“A lot of things. I don’t have to be there for all of them, though, because the studio makes the decisions about shooting locations, scheduling, and costuming. But they need me for the casting of supporting roles, legal agreements, training, fittings. Did I tell you I have to learn to rock climb?”
“Really? That sounds exciting.”
“It is pretty fun, actually. I’ve only been training at inside facilities for now, but soon they’ll be taking me on real climbs.”
“Wait. Will you do your own stunts?” she asks, lines of concern etched into her forehead.
“Only the ones where there isn’t the potential for me to fall to my death,” I joke. “Maybe once I’m better at it, I can teach you how to do it.”
She laughs. “There aren’t many places to climb in New York City,” she says. “Not unless you want to scale the side of the Freedom Tower.”
“Well, maybe you’ll have to visit me on location then. We’ll be filming in Sedona, Arizona this summer.”
“Maybe,” she says, dipping her hand in the water and flicking it on me. “Will there be a private pool there?”
“There will be anything y
ou want there,” I say, reaching my arms under her and pulling her body off the floating mat. I cradle her in my arms and walk her to the side of the pool. “Let’s get you out of the sun before you burn.” I carry her up the steps of the pool and deposit her on a lounge chair, situating her under a large umbrella. “Can I get you a drink?”
“Water would be great.” She uses a towel to dry her hair as I head to the kitchen.
I check my phone along the way, quickly replying to some texts from Hayden, Kyle, and Megan. I feel guilty that I haven’t been to see Megan since I returned from my weekend in New York. Megan senses something, I can tell, and I don’t want to hurt her, but seeing her would feel like I’m betraying Mallory. I can’t tell Mal. Not yet. She wouldn’t understand my having a relationship with another woman. And she especially wouldn’t understand why.
I return with two bottles of water to find Mallory perusing some of the scripts I was reading. “This one sounds interesting,” she says. “Out of the Deep.”
“It’s pretty sci-fi,” I tell her. “Different from what I’m used to doing. Paul wants me to do it to show my range of acting ability.”
“I’d think that should be pretty clear after seeing Defcon One,” she says, with a prideful smile that makes my heart grow.
“Thanks, babe.” I pull my chair next to hers and watch her page through the other scripts.
Her entire body tenses when she picks up the third one in the pile. “They want you to do a Malibu 310 movie?” she asks, fear gripping the lovely features of her face.
“It’s a possibility,” I say. “But only if the entire original cast signs on.”
“That would mean you’d have to work with Heather Crawford again,” she says. “Do you really think that’s a good idea?”
I narrow my eyes at her.
“Kyle told me she’s the one who got you into drugs,” she says.
“Kyle said that?” I ask, angry that my little brother is telling her shit about me before I get the chance. “That little cock-sucker. What else did he say?”
The Stone Brothers: A Complete Romance Series (3-Book Box Set) Page 48
