by Joanne Rock
“Oh.” Apparently he’d had a plan all along. My heart pounded so fast that I felt a little lightheaded. I told myself to speak slowly. Really slowly. Because I was so far off-kilter I was sideways. “Why? That is, why is it important for me to be here?”
This was his chance to call me out on my double identity. He could end the tension right now and confront me on the duplicity. Part of me thought I’d feel better to just acknowledge it. I could always throw myself at his mercy and beg him not to tell my boss.
In fact, being at his mercy didn’t sound bad at all.
“I want to know more about you, Courtney Masterson.” His expression revealed nothing.
Still, my skin hummed everywhere as if he’d just touched me.
“On a personal level?” I wrapped my arms around myself despite the heat of the day because I’d developed goose bumps everywhere.
“I think you know the answer to that.” He pointed to the blanket. “Have a seat.”
I claimed a corner closest to the tree trunk and tried not to hyperventilate. For a few minutes, I watched him unpack the picnic satchel in silence. He pulled out a bottle of excellent champagne and two cut-crystal flutes. I was put in charge of pouring the champagne while he produced cheeses, fruits and a couple of mini baguettes. He had cold salmon on ice and a few chocolates in there, too.
While I fumbled with the foil wrapper and placed a linen napkin over the cork to extricate it, I watched Trey work on the meal presentation. I appreciated him letting me process the whole “I want to know you personally” news at my own speed.
“You’re putting Wolfgang Puck to shame,” I observed as he cut strawberry slices to fan around the center of the fruit plate.
“I figured I would pull out all the stops to seduce the senses.” He held out a strawberry slice toward me. “Would you like a bite?”
My heart stopped. I wondered vaguely how long I could still breathe without that vital organ in motion, but then it kicked into gear again. Now it hip-hopped at a pace that felt like triple-time. This was really happening. I could lose my job for this.
But I was very far from the office right now.
Self-consciously, I parted my lips and leaned forward. Trey’s eyes dipped toward my mouth as he fed me, his knuckle grazing my chin then falling away.
“Delicious.” He hadn’t even tried a berry. He simply focused on my lips.
I was completely flustered. Totally turned-on, but disconcerted too.
“You didn’t need t-to go to all this trouble,” I told him, unused to such intense male attention.
“Didn’t I?” He took the champagne bottle from my hands and finished the job I’d forgotten about. The cork made a light pop when it came free. “I think you’re wrong there. The last time I invited you out, I was stood up.”
He poured my champagne so calmly, no one watching us would have guessed he’d just lobbed a live grenade into my world.
6
TREY DIDN’T FEEL the slightest bit of guilt for shocking Courtney’s socks off.
She was pale and speechless as he handed her a champagne glass and picked up a flute for himself. He hadn’t planned on outing her over lunch, hadn’t even known for sure that she was the dancer he’d propositioned earlier in the week. But he’d had a strong hunch and it seemed like something that needed to be addressed before they moved any further.
Her reaction put his doubts to rest.
“How d-did you know?”
“I wasn’t sure until just now.” He shifted slightly closer to her on the blanket. “But it was bugging the hell out of me that I could be so damn attracted to that dancer and you at the same time. I’m a one-woman kind of guy.”
He tipped his glass lightly to hers, the clink making a soft chime in the quiet heat of midday.
“What did you think when you saw the feather?” she asked between small sips.
“I thought it was a coincidence...a cruel trick of the universe...to toss a white feather in my path the night after I let a feather-clad bombshell slip away.” He fixed her a plate and passed it to her since she seemed preoccupied and worried.
Not exactly the mood he’d been going for.
“But then, when you saw the photo of me at the dance studio, you knew?” Absently, she took a grape and he was relieved to see her relax just a little.
He’d bet Courtney needed a hell of a lot more relaxation in her life. And he had a good idea that she found it on stage. He was fascinated by how open she’d been when she was dancing. How confident.
“No. Like I said, I didn’t know for sure that it was you until just now. But when I saw that picture in your office, it made me want to know more about a place called Naughty by Night.”
“Oh, no.” She set down her plate. “You didn’t.”
“I called and asked to speak to Natalie.” He’d guessed the “Night” in the name of the studio was no accident. “They said she’d dislocated an ankle two nights ago and was recovering at home. By the time I did the math, I knew she couldn’t have been the one at Backstage.”
“My company will fire me.” Courtney shook her head, her long dark hair falling in her eyes but doing little to hide her distress. “If they find out—”
She made a helpless gesture and he caught her hand in his.
“They won’t find out from me.”
“Really?” Her narrowed gaze told him she didn’t count on it.
“It won’t do my reputation any favors to hang out with exotic dancers when I’m still representing a few underage clients.” Awkward, to say the least.
Moreover, he wouldn’t give his father the satisfaction of besting him in the credibility department. Not after all the questionable tricks his dad had used to cheat and manipulate his way through the industry.
“So you’ll keep this secret.” She seemed to weigh his sincerity, her gray eyes searching his.
There was something about her tentativeness that made her irresistible. Maybe it was because so many women he’d known were unflinchingly confident and bold in their decisions. They had to be to make it in the film business. Courtney, on the other hand, seemed to think things over carefully.
Yet he had the feeling that anyone who made it past her scrutiny would be a lucky, lucky man.
“I’d like to keep a whole lot of secrets for you.” He set aside his glass and slid their plates to the far side of the blanket.
She peered through her bangs at the nearest tree line and then turned to look back across the polo field toward the parking lot. He already knew it was empty.
“I’d like an example.” She hooked a finger in the long gold chain around her neck and slid a simple leaf charm back and forth.
“An example?” He’d be hypnotized if he kept watching the motion of that charm as it drew his attention from one shapely breast to the other beneath her plain white T-shirt.
“What kind of secret can you keep?” she prompted, unaware the blood flow had slowed to his brain.
He clasped her hand in one of his, halting her nervous jewelry play. Gray eyes widened at his touch. He breathed in the moment and the woman, inhaling the faintest scent of her light perfume.
“This kind.” He covered her lips before she could come up with any other delaying tactics.
He didn’t kiss her. Not yet. Right now, he simply brushed his mouth over hers. Softly. Beneath his hand, the pulse in her wrist went wild, and the knowledge that he’d excited her so easily pumped up his own heart rate.
Only then did he increase the pressure and take a measured taste. Her lips were plump and warm and mobile, parting lightly to accommodate him. Before he went further, he tugged the fullness of her lower lip between his teeth, sucking gently. She tasted like strawberries.
Even better, she purred with pleasure at that small contact, her whole body relaxing under his touch.
Heat blasted through him and it didn’t have a damn thing to do with the midday humidity. Courtney had a strong, distinct effect on him, like a thirty-year-old wh
iskey he’d never tried before. And a triple shot wouldn’t be enough.
He told himself to go slow. Seduction, right? That was his focus. Yet that soft, pitchy sigh she’d made had gotten right under his skin, and he found himself reaching for her, drawing her closer by the small of her back.
“Wait.” She laid a hand on his chest, her cool, slender fingers sliding over his T-shirt with the gentlest pressure. “What are we doing?”
Relaxing his hold on her, he flattened his hand against her spine but couldn’t quite let go.
“What I’ve wanted to do since I first saw you outside the conference room at Sphere.” He remembered the hair falling over her eyes, the long bangs hiding too much of her. “Taking a taste.”
“You’re a Fraser.” She frowned at this but—thankfully—did not pull away.
He could almost see her nimble mind working through the implications.
“Not a damn thing I can do about that.” He slowed down his breathing, kept his voice level. No easy feat.
Hell, the memory of her in sheer fabric and feathers, crawling toward him on all fours, seared through his brain like a laser. As much as he had revisited that moment in his fantasies at night, he was in no position to deal with it here. Now.
“Why w-would—” She stopped herself and he felt her tense. “You. Are. Famous.” Her words became clipped. Impatient, almost. “We move in very different circles.”
He was fascinated with her lips and the way she formed her words. Deliberate. Thoughtful. A far cry from the way most people in this town spoke. His father, for one, could spew one lie after another without a second thought.
“That doesn’t matter to me.” He took a page out of her book and revised that statement after giving his words some more thought. “No. That’s not true. I think it’s a bonus that you have no ties to the film industry. I’m so sick of the gossip and fishbowl existence.”
She nodded. “And you can keep secrets?”
“Like nobody’s business.”
He braced himself for more questions as a few storm clouds moved in overhead. Instead of quizzing him, however, she twisted her fingers in his T-shirt and drew him closer, arching toward him.
“In that case, how about another kiss?”
* * *
POSSIBLY I WAS channeling my inner dancing girl. Because I had entered another realm when Trey kissed me. Inhibitions fell. The insecurity I’d wrestled with my whole life was banished into the next century. I felt beautiful. Empowered.
And so very hot.
I burned from the inside out as Trey’s hand moved up my spine. My head spun like I’d had way more champagne than the three sips I took earlier. Thank heavens this was a public park. Even though it looked like No Man’s Land right now, a park ranger could come along anytime. That should help me keep my clothes on.
At least, I thought it would. There was no telling what spontaneous combustion might do.
I wished I could record this moment forever and replay it like a film. I’d break it down frame by frame and go over and over each one. Sometimes I’d focus on his touch and where his hands heated my body. Other times, I’d concentrate on his kiss and how the play of his lips felt on mine.
As it stood, I only had Right Now, and my senses were so overwhelmed I felt like one mass of tingling nerves. Even my hands buzzed with an almost electric charge. And yet it was only my mouth he focused on, treating it with the most exquisite care.
He kissed like a god. Not too hard. Not too soft. Just awesomely right. I sank backward from this kiss, melting down onto the blanket, boneless from this erotic tasting.
Gently, he cradled the back of my head before it hit the quilted cotton. Better yet, his body followed mine down, so that I had the subtle pressure of his chest against my breasts, the warm weight of one thigh pinning mine. A cooling breeze floated through the trees and rattled the leaves, the rest of the world silent except for a slow rumble of thunder in the distance and the rasp of our breathing. I would never forget this moment and the magic Trey wove for me. Had I said I wouldn’t be getting naked? I was already rethinking this as he bent one knee, his thigh falling deeper between my legs.
Yessss.
I hadn’t said the word aloud, but I was pretty sure I expressed it with my whole body. My legs inched wider. My arms crept around his neck.
Sex loomed in the air, and we hadn’t even taken any clothes off yet.
“Come home with me.” Trey’s words whispered in my ear, the idea implanting itself in my consciousness so subtly it was like I’d thought of it myself.
Go home with Trey.
The idea was insane, and yet the thought was captivating. If he could really keep this secret...would I take the risk? New risks had become more appealing ever since my dance at Backstage. What if I was on some kind of lucky streak where things worked out for me? Then again, maybe I would just lose my heart to him and end up hurt. The more I knew him, the more I liked him. And that made being with him a whole lot riskier than an anonymous sexual encounter, such as the one I might have had with him at Backstage that first night.
More thunder rumbled and the breeze turned suddenly cool as he rolled off me.
“We’d better pack up,” Trey said, glancing at the sky, which was growing darker by the second.
I grabbed the champagne and flutes just as the first fat raindrops hit. Squealing at how cold it felt, I helped him with the blanket and we took off running for the SUV while the skies opened up.
It turned into a deluge in seconds. Trey had the satchel with the food over one shoulder and held the quilt above our heads, but it was already too late. Our shirts were soaked. My hair was plastered to my head. I probably had mascara lines dripping down my cheeks like some kind of Goth clown.
When a loud thunderclap sounded, I almost jumped out of my shoes and grabbed his shoulder. Trey tucked me under his arm and tugged the blanket forward. I felt the heat of his chest right through his soaked shirt and wished I could stay out in the rain forever.
How did I get so lucky as to have this man notice me?
When he hit the remote button to unlock the SUV, I made up my mind. A chance like this might never come my way again and I would regret it forever if I didn’t savor the moment. I would worry about my heart later. And in the meantime, I’d just guard it extra carefully.
“Let’s go to your place,” I said while the blanket still covered us. Even with the noisy downpour above our heads, my softly spoken words bounced around the enclosed space.
No missing my request.
He paused outside his vehicle, standing silently beside me in the rain for a moment before he turned to look at me. His brown eyes were even darker than normal, a heated intensity shining there that I hadn’t seen before. Not even when I’d slid around the dance pole half naked for his entertainment.
“Thank you.” He kissed me—a quick, hard meeting of the mouths that seemed to seal the deal. “You won’t regret it.”
That last part was a whisper in my ear before he pulled away. Shivers chased up my spine and my nipples beaded beneath my shirt. And it had nothing to do with the rain.
Right now, I just wondered how fast his vehicle could go.
* * *
WE LAUGHED A LOT on the ride to Trey’s place. That was a fun surprise since I still felt a little jittery about going with him, but we finished our picnic in the SUV and I fed him while he drove. There were sexy moments when he nipped my finger or sucked on it a little longer than necessary. But I also enjoyed myself on a whole other, non-sexual level and wondered how that was even possible.
Somehow, Trey made me more comfortable than I’d ever been with a guy.
“You live in Brentwood?” I had suddenly noticed our whereabouts even though the rain limited visibility.
“In the Mandeville Canyon area.” He slowed down as we turned onto a residential street. “It’s not as elaborate as my dad’s spread, but I like it over here.”
I tucked the leftover food back into the sat
chel and double-checked the cork in the champagne bottle. Yes, technically we were carrying around an illegal open container. But it’d been closed since we returned to the vehicle and how could we toss expensive champagne after just a few sips? Maybe Trey could afford that kind of decadence, but I hated the thought of wasting.
“I’ve seen pictures of the house you grew up in.” There had been a feature on it in the office copy of Architectural Digest. I was struck anew by the vast differences in our backgrounds. Even our current lifestyles. “Out on Malibu Beach, right?”
“Yes.” Brow furrowed, he drummed the steering wheel and his shoulders tensed. His good mood seemed to disappear at the mention of his dad.
I promptly redirected the conversation.
“I’m in Mar Vista.” And lucky to be there, even if my place was ancient. “It’s my dad’s house, but I’m in the process of buying it from him at a ridiculously low price. I think he wants the house to make up for the fact that he checked out on my childhood.”
Leaving me alone with my hypercritical, perfectionist mom. I often wondered how he’d envisioned me dealing with her as a kid when he’d been scared of her as a grown man.
Trey slanted a sideways glance at me as he turned into the driveway of a private estate that sat far back from the road. Ivy covered the gray stone walls of a home that looked like something out of an English gardening book. Shrubs and landscaping partially hid a facade that was both romantic and charming, not at all what I’d expected from the hyper-masculine man in the driver’s seat.
“My mom did the same.” Trey hit a button on the dashboard and the polished wood garage door tilted upward. “I think she was so tired of battling with my old man about their marriage that she had no fight left in her when it came time to settle custody of the kids. So we got stuck with my dad.”
“She was young, right?” I remembered pictures of his mother, the actress his father allegedly seduced when she was still a teen. “Maybe she thought your dad would provide better for you.”
We pulled into the dark garage and the door lowered silently behind us. I suddenly became very aware of Trey and what I had signed on for by asking to go home with him. My heartbeat quickened.
