Breathe Into Me

by Michelle Betham

  “I fucking love you naked,” he murmured, lifting her hips up slightly before lowering her back down onto him, sinking into her with the kind of relief that was almost overwhelming. “Promise me you’ll be naked more. At home. In private. You gonna do that for me, baby?”

  She kept her mouth against his as she laughed, the sound vibrating right through into him and he groaned quietly, pushing her down onto him as she rode him slowly, rotating her hips in a way that was making him crazy. Was this how she’d fucked Lukas, last night? Had he fucked her in a beautiful way, made her come with his tongue, brought her off with his fingers? Jesus! He had to stop this, had to quit with those thoughts and concentrate on the fact she was here, with him. She was naked, riding his cock; he was inside her.

  “Hey. You OK?”

  He took her hand and brought her fingers to his mouth, kissing them, smiling as the worried look on her face subsided. “I’m just fine, baby.”

  She returned his smile, running her thumb lightly over his lower lip as she resumed her grinding, moving a little faster now, and he felt that crazy ride begin, felt it rising from the very depths of his soul until the second she squeezed her inner muscles hard, and that’s when he exploded in a barrage of frustrated cries, and she gripped him tight and continued to grind against him as he came hard and fast, all that pain and frustration he’d felt last night spilling out of him. And he could feel her, touching herself, helping herself to her own climax, and he opened his eyes and watched her, her head thrown back, tiny moans of pleasure escaping as she found that perfect place, her body shaking and shuddering as her orgasm took hold. He liked to watch her come. He liked the way one hand worked on herself while the other touched her breasts, her fingers sliding over her nipples, and he ached to take over, but he liked to watch her play sometimes.

  “I think we needed that,” she breathed, kissing him slowly and he smiled, resting a hand on the small of her back, her skin warm and soft, and just touching her made him realize again how much he loved her; how terrified he’d really been at the prospect of her walking away from him. How determined he was to make sure she never did anything like that again.

  “You never did answer my question, Quinn.”

  “What question?” she asked, raising her hips slightly as he pulled out of her.

  “You were gonna make me a promise, remember?”

  She smiled again, leaning back slightly so she could look at him, her hands on his knees, and he almost groaned out loud again at the way that position pushed her tits right out, her still-hard nipples just begging him to suck on them. “Oh yeah? And what was that promise, exactly?”

  “You promised to be naked more, at home. In private. And not just when we’re in bed.”

  She leaned forward again, taking his face in her hands, kissing him deep and dirty, her tongue sliding into his mouth and he felt his cock reawaken, his hand dropping to touch her, and she was still wet, Jesus! He loved this woman, so fucking much. “I’ll think about it.”

  “All right. I’ll take that.”

  “I wish we could just go home, Aaron. Right now, I really want to go home.”

  He took her hand and kissed her gently. “Yeah. Yeah, me too. But I promise you, tonight, it’ll be just you and me and the take-out of your choice.”

  She laughed again, and it was a beautiful sound, and Aaron knew he was never going to wish a day away faster than this one.

  “Oh, for Christ’s sake. You two really should learn how to lock a door behind you.”

  Aaron looked over at Harry, who remained hovering in the trailer doorway. “And maybe you need to learn to knock first.”

  “You’re not still…?”

  “No. You’re safe, Harry. We’re done.” Quinn smiled and climbed off Aaron. But she was in no hurry to cover up, which amused Aaron because he knew she did it on purpose, sometimes, just to make Harry uncomfortable. Yeah, he was gay, so the sight of her incredible naked body didn’t really do anything for her agent, but it also wasn’t something he was particularly keen on looking at. Unlike Aaron. He could look at her naked for hours; play with that body for days. After ten years he still got a hard-on just thinking about her.

  “I can’t keep up with what the fuck’s going on around here,” Harry sighed. “They need you in wardrobe, Aaron. And I’m sure you’re supposed to be somewhere else, too, Quinn.”

  Aaron watched as Quinn picked out one of his shirts from the closet and slipped it on, along with a pair of jeans she pulled from her over-sized purse. She’d arrived on-set in a dress, but he knew she liked to chill out in more casual clothes as the day wore on so she nearly always carried a change of outfit in her purse.

  “I take it this means…?” Harry began, and Quinn looked at him as she dragged her hair back into a ponytail.

  “You know what it means.” She walked over to Aaron, who slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her to him, he wasn’t letting her go without one more kiss.

  “I’ll see you out there, beautiful.”

  “Later, handsome.”

  Aaron watched as she approached Harry, kissing him quickly on the cheek before she left the trailer, closing the door behind her.

  “Wardrobe wants me, huh?”

  “She talk to you?”

  “I don’t want to know, Harry.”

  “You don’t want to know?”

  Aaron turned to look at Quinn’s agent, a man who acted more like her father than the professional he was supposed to be, but given Quinn’s past it was purely understandable that he wanted to protect her. And Aaron also understood why Quinn always looked to Harry as a father-figure, she needed that bond. But sometimes it felt as though he was too involved, too much a part of her – of their life. “No, Harry, I don’t want to know that she slept with him, that he did to her what I’ve just done to her now, I don’t want to know. So we aren’t talking about it. OK?”

  “And you think that’ll fix everything, do you? You think that’ll help? Brushing it under the carpet like it never happened?”

  “Listening to details isn’t gonna help either.”

  “You’ve still got to work with the man. Both of you. How are you gonna feel when he kisses her on-screen? When those sex scenes are being filmed, because they’re coming. Soon. Those scenes are on the way. So, how are you gonna feel when he has to touch her, pretend to fuck her, and you know – you know they’ve done that, for real…”

  “Are you deliberately trying to wind me up? I know what she did, all right? I don’t need to hear the details, I don’t want those images in my head because the ones I’m living with anyway are hard enough to shift. I don’t want them replaced with any kind of reality. And I’ll cope, when he kisses her, because I’ll be there, watching it happen, and he doesn’t get to touch her in that way, out there. He doesn’t get to do that. He tried, and he lost. She faced him, faced up to whatever it was she had to deal with; she went to him, and she was emotional and tired and shit happens, when you’re worn down and vulnerable. Shit happens. But we’re OK now. And we’re only gonna get better. Stronger.”

  Harry said nothing for a second; he just looked at Aaron, holding his gaze. “And that’s exactly what I want for you both, Aaron. She needs you, more than she’ll ever realize. More than she’ll ever let you know, but she does, need you.”

  “I was terrified I was losing her, Harry.”

  “I know. But she’s not that naïve, obsessed girl anymore, OK? She can see past the power Lukas Drake had over her. She had to tell him, about Noah, she had to do that, but once that was dealt with…” Aaron watched as Harry bowed his head, sighing quietly, because even he knew that describing the death of Quinn and Lukas’s son away as something that had to be “dealt” with sounded harsher than Harry had meant it to, but Aaron also understood what he was trying to say. “Hopefully he’s out of her system now.”

  Aaron nodded, slipping his hands into his pockets as he made for the door. “I’d better go. They’ll be looking for me.”

&nb
sp; “Aaron?”

  He swung around to face Harry. “Yeah?”

  “She’s not just my client, OK? She’s my… she’s my girl. Quinn she… she’s like a daughter to me, and I love that kid to death.”

  “Yeah. Yeah, so do I, Harry. So do I.”

  ***

  Quinn was thankful that today’s shoot didn’t involve her having to exert too much energy because the heat outside was stifling. She was also thankful that, today, most of her scenes involved working alongside Aaron, which she couldn’t have been more grateful for.

  “There you go, babe.” Jodi smiled as she put the finishing touches to Quinn’s make-up. “All ready for wardrobe. I’m just gonna go grab a coffee. Do you want one?”

  “No, I’m fine. I’ll grab one mid-shoot. I’ll be out of here in a minute; I just want to make a couple of quick phone calls.”

  “OK. I’ll see you later, then.”

  “Thanks, Jodi.”

  “Oh, and Quinn…?”

  Quinn turned to look at her friend. “Yeah?”

  “You and Aaron…”

  “We’re fine. We’re good. All those rumors, you should know by now just to ignore them.”

  “I know, but… this is Lukas Drake we’re talking about here.”

  “I’m over him, Jodi. OK?”

  She hoped her expression got the message across, because she was tired of spending every day going over this, reassuring people that everything they read or heard wasn’t true. Even if, sometimes, she felt as though she were convincing herself more than anyone else.

  “OK. I’m sorry, I’m just concerned, y’know? You and Aaron, you’re so great together, but I know that you, and Lukas…”

  “There is no me and Lukas.”

  Jodi nodded, her own expression now telling Quinn that she got this now. She knew when to stop. “All right. I’ll see you later.”

  Quinn turned her attention to her phone, scrolling down the numbers until she found that of her publicist, and she was just about to press call when somebody coming back into the trailer interrupted her and she looked up, all ready to tell Jodi to leave this alone. But it wasn’t Jodi.

  “They said you were in here.”

  “I’m getting ready. We’re shooting a movie, remember?”

  “And I’m the director, so, I’m just making sure my cast and crew are all doing OK.” Lukas looked her up and down, reaching out to touch the shirt she was wearing. “You weren’t wearing this when you left this morning.”

  “I’m wearing it now.”

  “One of Aaron’s?”

  She stared up at him, trying hard to keep hold of the control she knew she had to grab onto now. “Do you want something, Lukas?”

  “How can you go from loving me like we’ve never been apart to this fucking ice queen…”

  “Because I have to.” Her eyes were blazing as she stared him down, her stomach back in that tangle of knots as he edged that little bit closer. But she was doing all right, she was OK. She had this.

  “You went straight to him, huh?”

  “He’s my husband.”

  “What was it, Quinn? Was it all, ‘hey, baby, I’m sorry’, then panties off and his cock inside you? Is that how it worked, huh?”

  The slap was an instant reflex action, her hand hitting his cheek so hard she felt her whole arm tingle. “He’s my husband, Lukas.”

  “You’re making this so fucking hard for me, Quinn.”

  “Then fire me. Say we just can’t get on, the past is too hard to forget, you can do that. You’re the director, it’s your movie. So get rid of the problem…”

  “That isn’t what I want. Jesus!” Lukas raised a hand to his cheek, wincing slightly, his skin warm where she’d hit him. “Come on, Quinn, you know what I want…”

  “It isn’t going to happen, Lukas. And if that means working with me – working with Aaron – if that’s too hard for you to deal with…”

  “We’re all adults here. I think we can work through this.”

  “Can we? You can do that, can you?”

  He moved closer still, and Quinn did nothing to stop him when he laid a hand gently on her hip, his eyes boring into hers with an almost hypnotic intensity, but she wasn’t letting him get to her now. She’d walked away, a second time, so she could do this.

  “I still get to touch you, out there, on-screen. I still get to touch you. So we aren’t over…”

  “Lukas…”

  “We aren’t over, Quinn. Now, I need you out there in half an hour, sweetheart, so you’d better get yourself to wardrobe as soon as, OK?”

  She waited until he was outside before she let loose a breath she hadn’t even realized she’d been holding in. And the only thing she wanted now was Aaron…

  ***

  “This gonna be difficult for you?”

  Lukas looked up as Aaron approached, dressed in a navy-blue suit, his dark-blonde hair swept back off his face, all ready to shoot the next scene. They were just waiting for Quinn to come out of wardrobe.

  “Is what going to be difficult for me?”

  “Working with me and Quinn, given what’s happened.”

  Lukas put the papers he was holding down on the table beside him and stood up, slipping his hands into his pockets, mirroring Aaron’s stance. “I think I can handle it. I mean, it’s only a matter of time before she’s back in my bed, because last night…” Lukas laughed quietly, shaking his head. “Man, do you know how long your wife can actually orgasm for? How beautiful she looks, when she comes?”

  Aaron’s face hardened, but he was good at maintaining control. He’d had enough practice. “Don’t push me, Lukas.”

  “She never forgot what we had, Aaron. Because we were connected, from the start. Her whole journey began with me, and yeah, our relationship was flawed…”

  Aaron’s laugh was loud and cynical and Lukas felt his hackles rise, an anger borne out of frustration and defeat bubbling away inside of him. “Flawed? That’s how you’d describe it, huh?”

  “What I did to her, I will spend the rest of my days making that up to her because she will come back to me. Last night told me that. Last night told me everything I needed to know. She didn’t fight me once, Aaron. And the things we did…”

  He was goading Aaron deliberately now, so it was no surprise when the taller, younger actor made a move that he more-than-likely would’ve regretted, had Harry not stepped in with immaculate timing.

  “Something going on here, guys?”

  Harry stood to the side of them, his presence enough to diffuse a situation that had been about to get out of hand.

  “Everything’s fine, Harry, thank you.”

  “It didn’t look fine to me, Lukas. And I think the pair of you need to understand the fucking tightrope we’re all walking here. One hint of any kind of friction between you two and the press’ll be on it like flies round shit. So whatever this is, sort it out. And start acting like adults. This isn’t Rydell fucking High.”

  Lukas fixed Aaron with a stare, and the smirk, he couldn’t help it. “You want a fight, Aaron, you got one.”

  “Lukas.”

  Harry’s tone was a warning, but Lukas didn’t care, he was way past that.

  “Can someone go see where Quinn is?”

  He was back to being the professional now. And maybe this was going to be a much bigger deal than he could ever have anticipated, but he was ready now. He was so fucking ready. Lukas Drake had had to fight to regain the respect of a town that had once deserted him. He’d had to fight to claw back a career he’d thrown away; fight to reinvent himself as one of Hollywood’s most respected actors and directors. Lukas Drake had had to fight, for everything. But the fight to win back the woman he’d lost – that was going to be the toughest fight of all.

  Eighteen

  “He’s doing it on fucking purpose, Harry. He’s abusing his own fucking position because that take looked fine to me. He’s being fucking unprofessional.”

  “Do you want to try ca
lming down?”

  “Not really, no. I’ve got to fight the bastard in a minute and this is getting me right in the mood… Jesus! Are you fucking kidding me? Is he calling for another take? Seriously? And I swear, if he puts his hand on her ass one more time… Does it say anywhere in that script that he has to put his hand on her ass?” Aaron threw himself back in his chair and took a swig of water, his eyes never leaving Lukas and Quinn as they shot a scene out on the street. “He’s doing it on fucking purpose.”

  Harry sighed, looked at his watch, and wished this day was over. He wished this shoot was over. It’d been like this for days now, ever since Quinn had slept with Lukas. And trying to stop the tension from becoming obvious to everyone else was nothing short of exhausting. Most of the time they – and by ‘they’ he meant Aaron and Lukas – acted like grown ups and behaved like the professionals they were, because even they were very much aware that it was only going to take one, tiny slip-up for this already unstable house of cards to come tumbling down around them all. But there were also times when this happened; when Aaron acted like a petulant teenager, and Harry had to deal with it before too many people noticed his mood.

  “Remember who she goes home with, Aaron.”

  “Yeah, I know, but he’s pissing me off with this crap, Harry. You heard what he said, you know he isn’t gonna give up.”

  “Then you’ve got to make sure you and Quinn stay strong. And acting like a twelve year old isn’t helping.”

  Aaron stood up and kicked his chair and Harry threw back his head and sighed.

  “And neither’s that. Get a fucking grip, Aaron. And quick. There’s enough crap flying around about what might or might not be going on around here, so let’s not give them anything concrete to go on, all right? Just, keep a lid on it. Do your job.”

  “You know what he’s capable of, Harry. Do you really think he could come between me and Quinn? I mean, he almost did it, didn’t he? He almost had her…”

  “Jesus, come on. This really isn’t doing you or Quinn any good. She loves you, OK?”

  “And there’s a part of her that still loves him. Come on, Harry, you know that as well as I do.”