A Woman Like You: Book Two (The Woman I Love Series 2)

by G S Binkley

  Devastated by Gage’s action, Lacy recoiled, fretting against boiling rage she felt inside threatening to overspill. But, Lacy was a true professional in every sense of the word. David had trained her to harness her emotions well. Many times in her life and career she would simply display a cool façade in the face of unsettling situations. But none held the magnitude this one did, so far-reaching in her life, threatening to collapse the newly built walls of their relationship.

  When Ryan called for them to set up again, Lacy, still stunned, could only react with numbness as Koda engaged in his character’s role. The amorous young man hoped the previous events would play to his favor. And, he was making headway until Lacy clenched her stomach and threw up.

  “That sure kills it for me.” The limp lusted Casanova retreated from the bed en route to his trailer.

  “Lacy? Are you all right?” Ryan asked.

  “Help me to …. my trailer.” Lacy begged.

  With Ryan’s personal assistant nowhere in sight, Michael Jessop called an early break for cast and crew. As a passing crewmember drifted by, Michael asked. “You’ve seen Griff?” A negative nod left the young man wondering what to do next so eventually he made his way to Lacy’s trailer where the director had escorted the star. There he waited.

  *************************

  Ryan dropped Lacy off at Mark Calico’s estate. Having listened to Lacy recount the events in her trailer between Gage and Griff, Ryan shook his head. “I can only say this. If Griff’s involved….Lacy, trust me, she’s not that innocent.”

  “You think she did it on purpose?”

  “What do you think? That’s what’s important.” Pulling his friend into a much-needed hug, Ryan finished. “What’s your heart telling you? Your instincts.”

  “That I can believe her.” Lacy drew in a shallow breath. “Though it doesn’t explain her not telling me about the book.”

  “Does it really matter, Lacy?”

  “What got me the most about it was…. that Griff knew… she practically threw it in my face and I… I should have known first?” Recalling her conversation with Griff at the party last week, Lacy said more to herself. “She knew then.” Lacy unlocked the door then Ryan stopped her.

  “Lacy, you should know Griff’s the boss’ daughter…. I can’t fire her.”

  Hatching a very devious scheme, Lacy agreed. “Oh, believe me, that’s the last thing I want you to do.” A brief kiss on the director’s cheek and Lacy was practically running down the walkway to the guesthouse praying that Gage was inside.

  The director sighed heavily. “I think I’ve got trouble brewing on the horizon.” Ryan mumbled as he sped away.

  ************************

  The evening slipped quietly by with both adults offering only laconic answers to mundane questions. Dani suspected something was brewing between her mother and Gage. Shrewdly recognizing humor would not foil the strained façade held by the couple, Dani did the next best thing. “Derek and I are going to bed early.” Screwing her face as if she was being put out, she concluded. “He wants me to read to him.”

  Happy with his sister’s announcement, the young boy parachuted down from Gage’s lap, grabbed his sister’s hand and led her to their bedroom. “Night…night.”

  “Hey, come back here. Don’t I get a kiss?” The mother hiked her eyebrows with a mock pout.

  Derek and Dani swirled around, kissing their mother first then Gage before bouncing down the hallway. “Huwwy… wead to me. Now.”

  With the disappearance of the two children, the distant couple let silence fill the room. Each at one time or another covertly shied a rushed look at the other. Finally, Gage stood. “Well, I guess…. I should get my things.”

  “What?” Lacy asked in total disbelief.

  Her back to Lacy, Gage explained. “I thought it would be easier for me to either sleep on the couch or Mark’s got plenty of room……” Gage summoned her courage to face Lacy. “Unless…. you’d rather….. leave.”

  “You want me to leave? I mean that little to you?” The unshed tears that filled her eyes threatened to spill out. When Gage didn’t speak, Lacy couldn’t keep the dam from bursting, her head falling into her hands.

  In a flash, Gage was on the ground kneeling before Lacy. She pulled the weeping woman into her arms as she felt Lacy’s whole body shudder. For Lacy, there was no holding back the tremors violently vibrating through her body, shaking her to the core. Nothing, no one, had ever caused this much devastation of emotions in the young woman. “God, baby, I’m so sorry. Griff set us up.” Gage wasn’t trying to justify her behavior, just offering her assessment of the situation. “And, I should have told you about my pseudonym, but, honestly, it was never my intent to keep it from you.”

  Lacy’s body continued to quake in her lover’s arms.

  “And, I know what I did on the set was….” Her eyelids cascaded shut as she sucked in a deep breath dreading to say the next words. “It was unforgivable.” God, I’ve lost her. “Please, stop crying.” The blonde begged even as tears filled her own eyes. Gage brushed back a lock of hair from Lacy’s tear stained face. Drowning in the misery from the harm she had inflicted on the woman she loved, Gage offered a heartfelt apologize. “Hurting you… breaks my heart for I never ever wanted to hurt you.” An indefensible sigh escaped before she sincerely offered. “If time heals all wounds then I wish for a thousand years before tomorrow brings a new day.”

  Something in those words penetrated through the hurt, the anger, and the rage arrowing straight through her heart to her soul. There those soothing, earnest words calmed Lacy, reassuring her and allowed peace and love to dissolve any remnants from the blistering feelings that held court before, reigning supreme. Gage’s words catapulted this new feeling, overthrowing the old one encasing her heart and soul as it crowned itself victor.

  Tilting Lacy’s face up with both hands, Gage sincerely proclaimed. “I love you.” And, for whatever time God gave them together she would restate that simple truth over and over again. “Please, will you forgive me…” Gage lowered her head slightly, begging. “Will you, please?”

  Lacy determined to allow nothing on heaven or earth to stand in her way of being with her partner, her lover, her best friend. Recalling the time when Lacy begged Gage’s forgiveness over her careless words regarding their relationship and her lover did just that so easily, she also remembered some other words she spoke. This is where I want to spend the rest of my life. “In your arms.”

  As Lacy’s collapsed into her lover’s arms again, the blonde didn’t understand the comment, but relished the fact that she had another chance. And this time I will not screw it up.

  ************************

  Lying in bed together, Gage turned on her side pulling Lacy up against her. “Why did you come back to the trailer anyway?”

  “Right before the…. scene.” Lacy skipped over the misunderstood word. “Michael told me there were sounds coming from my trailer like someone was crying. I knew you were there…. I didn’t really think it was you. Then Ryan called ‘action’ and, I don’t know, I had to see for myself… just in case.”

  “Why would he say that?” Perplexed about what his motivation would be. Gage reasoned that he liked her, but dutifully kept a professional distance after the party.

  “I’m guessing it was Griff…. like you did.” Her gut feeling told her it was Griff. “Anyway, that should easily be cleared up when I talk with Michael.”

  Kissing Lacy, the blonde said. “You’re too good for me you know that, don’t you?”

  “I think we’re just right for each other.” Smothering Gage’s lips before they could counter her statement.

  Dizzy from her lover’s kiss, Gage protested. “I wasn’t going to disagree. Lacy?” She captured concerned blue eyes. “I’ve never been that jealous. I didn’t even know I had that kind of… rage inside. It felt like my whole world ceased in that moment when I saw you….”

  “Same here when I saw yo
u…..” Lacy brushed warm lips against Gage’s cheek letting her tongue glide over to the blonde’s mouth cloaking it with her own. “You were kinda cute though.”

  “What do you mean?” This certainly caught Gage’s attention having felt like a total imbecile for her actions.

  “I can’t say I…. appreciate the way you handled it. But, sweetheart, it was sorta endearing to see someone….”

  “Make a fool of themselves?” Lacy turned away stifling a smile. Realizing that her lover was only kidding her, Gage asked in mock rage. “You making fun of me? Well, I outta….”

  “What… leave me?” Lacy taunted her lover with her teasing words. The reaction she received from the blonde shook her.

  Gage’s face turned stone cold. “I would.. never… leave you. Don’t even joke about it.”

  “Earlier you suggested that I would want to leave you.”

  “I thought you wouldn’t want me around anymore after…..” Gage admitted.

  “Never.”

  Gage leaned in brushing her lips against Lacy’s cheek. “You’re the only woman I love.” A lascivious smile rose on the blonde’s face as she rolled onto Lacy saddling herself between her lover’s legs. Pressing her naked body against Lacy, a thought grew in her mind same as the baby grew in Lacy’s stomach. “Oh, is this okay?”

  “Yes. You’re not going to hurt the baby. I like it when you’re on top.”

  A quirked eyebrow preceded the blonde’s next maneuver, flipping over carrying Lacy with her. “I like it when you’re on top.”

  “Then I’m going to take advantage of my position.” And she did. Lacy cuffed her lips to Gage brushing against them, sucking, lightly nipping and in total control as her willing victim allowed the woman she loved full access.

  Roaming hands found their way to Lacy’s hips then crossing the exposed backside of her lover, pulling her closer between her legs. Lacy shifted her leg up placing it exactly where Gage needed it the most. The blonde returned the favor causing a low sexual moan to flee from the raven-haired woman. Both women grinded against each other falling into a complimentary rhythm that escalated the lust-filled fire clamoring to the surface.

  Gage ran her hands up and down her lover’s smooth toned back sending shivers through Lacy. It only distracted her for a moment before Lacy placed a trail of hot kisses down her lover’s neck coming to rest just above an exposed and firm nipple. Lacy sucked the breast, wetting it then exhaled. That little action stoked the fire even hotter in the blonde as noticed by the obvious shiver pulsating though Gage.

  Suddenly, Lacy latched onto the breast suckling feverishly. Her right hand slid to the other breast, caressing it as her finger twirled around the nipple ascending it to its peak.

  A very audible appreciative moan surfaced from the woman benefiting from all the attention her lover gifted her with. She wanted to return the good deed so Gage slipped her hand between Lacy’s warm legs until she reached the intended soaked target.

  The star broke away from her feeding ground only long enough to announce her approval. “God, sweetheart, oh, God, yes.” Lacy smothered the waiting breast once again as she continued to grind into her lover harder and harder. Bringing her lover so close to the edge, Lacy temporarily suspended her actions.

  “Baby, please….don’t do this to me.” Gage wiggled against her lover, thrusting her hips, trying to re-ignite the simmering flames.

  Knowing she held the key to Gage’s complete and utter satisfaction and that she was the only one who ever would, the younger woman stoked the fire flaring feverishly, pushing her lover over the orgasmic precipice then Lacy joined her in sweet, heavenly bliss.

  Long moments later, Lacy still lay on top of her lover cooling from their lovemaking. The lathered moisture beading on both of them sensed the cool air caress their bodies as they fell to earth. “Gage?”

  “Mmmmmm.”

  “I want you to know I’m sorry, too. After the trailer incident….” Lacy wanted to come clean. “The scene with Koda, I… intentionally let it go too far.”

  “I know.” Brushing back clinging wet bangs from her lover’s temple. “You were hurting…. and I was the source of your pain.”

  “No. You’re the source of my happiness…. my reason for living. You and…”

  “I know… the kids.” Gage laughed then kissed her spent lover. “And, I wouldn’t have it any other way.” With that said, Lacy returned her head to Gage’s chest listening for the reassuring pounding of the heart she loved. “Me neither.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Dani and Derek sat quietly at the table watching their parents fix breakfast. Neither woman strayed far from the other as they remained in constant contact, touching and kissing while smiles bloomed like flowers in springtime. “Jeez, somebody’s happier this morning than they were last night.”

  As Lacy stood at the stove, Gage wrapped her arms around her partner laying her head on the younger woman’s shoulder. “I love you.”

  Dani conspiratorially leaned toward her brother. “I bet Gage said she was sorry first.”

  “Jage?”

  “Yessss?” Gage winked at him.

  “Mom? How come you’re not gone yet?” Dani asked. Her mother was usually up and out the door by five-thirty each morning.

  “I have a late call today. And, besides, this is Derek first visit to Dr. Charles. After we drop you off at school.” Lacy tapped her daughter’s nose then sat a plate full of food before her.

  “Where’s my usual Captain Crunch?” Dani asked.

  A well-sculptured arched eyebrow tossed the silent question to which Gage fumbled the response. “It’s been… hectic… in the mornings…..we don’t always have cereal.” Gage shot the little tattle tale a mock smirk. “Thanks a lot, Dani.”

  “Hectic?” Lacy asked.

  “You know, mom, some people just can’t get up in the morning.” Dani supplied the missing key.

  “Oh.” Studying her daughter, she then asked. “How’s your ears doing?”

  “Fine.” Dani spat out quickly, knowing her mother was concerned with the slight infection she had after getting her ears pierced. “Did you know I was the last of my friends to get my ears pierced? How embarrassing.” Her last words only housed a small trace of seriousness to them.

  “Saved the best for last, huh?” Gage offered off-handedly.

  “Gage, how come you always turn things around?” Dani asked seriously.

  “Huh?” Gage did a double take upon being asked that question. “Oh, I don’t know.” In a rare moment, Gage pensively revealed a well-concealed nugget of truth about her childhood years. “There was so many things that….happened. I just tried to get away and.. change it in my mind.” Shaking herself from that dark memory, Gage collected her emotions. “I made a game of it. If someone insisted it was dark out, I pretended it was light.”

  “You do live in your own world, don’t you?” Dani astutely recalled Gage’s wild imagination when it came to storytelling.

  Lacy stood when she heard the telephone ring. “Dani? Finish up.”

  Gage cleared the table then grabbed the small boy while Lacy talked on the telephone. When she sat Derek on the couch, Gage noted the disappointed expression Lacy wore. “What is it?”

  “Ryan. They’ve changed the schedule. He wants me in as soon as possible.” Lacy watched her daughter walk back in from her bedroom with books in hand. “Come on, honey.”

  Gage stopped Lacy at the door. “It’s okay.” Pulling her lover in for a reassuring hug. “Derek and I can go it alone this time. It’s only a consultation.”

  “I know.” She said sadly. “This is exactly why I wanted to take some time off. I’m tired of missing out on my children’s lives.” Glad to be able to share her burden, Lacy finally accepted the change of plans. “Maybe I’ll get out early today.”

  “Come on, mom. I get to try out for the swim team today.”

  Having Dani hurry him along the path to the car, he sidestepped his sister, dropping down
to his knees. Safely eluding Dani’s barricaded legs, Derek ran toward his mother. “Momma.”

  Whisking her son up in the air, Lacy pulled him in for a huge hug. “I love you.”

  Safely tucked in her arms, away from his demanding sister. Derek smiled shyly. “Love you, too, momma.”

  Opening the door to the jeep, Gage beckoned. “Everybody in.”

  *************************

  Just outside the studio door, Lacy leaned across the seat and kissed a very surprised blonde. “See you tonight. No, you’re coming back here after your visit with Dr. Charles, right?”

  Flabbergasted, Gage, like a mime, sat there unmoving.

  Tenderly brushing her fingers against Gage’s cheek, Lacy said. “Sweetheart, after yesterday, I think everyone knows.”

  “But, I thought…..” Gage was referring to the ‘no’ displays of public affection clause they both reluctantly agreed to.

  “It wasn’t going to work anyway. I don’t think I would have been able to keep my hands off you much longer.” Lacy resigned herself to the inevitable fact.

  “It hasn’t even been two weeks.” Astonished, but feeling the same way.

  “Are you protesting?” Artificial disappointment spilled out in Lacy’s voice.

  “No!” Then Gage asked weakly. “What about waiting till the divorce is final?”

  “Sweetheart, I don’t give a ….” Quickly shifting her eyes to her son strapped in his car seat, Lacy amended her original thought. “Besides, this way everyone will know who you belong to and…. vultures like Griff won’t think they have free rein.”

  “Your career?”

  “My…. career will….. que sera sera.” She kissed her partner soundly once more. “Whatever will be, will be, but there will always be us…. no matter what.”

  Happy to indulge in the luscious lips presented her and reaffirming words, Gage gently reminded her lover. “We were going to refrain from public displays of affection not for us so much or actually even for your career, it was in case of custody problems…. you know.”