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 thr
oat 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 you 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?”
“Uh, that you liked to gamble and, um . . . that you stole money from your parents.” Her gaze fixates on the patio pavers. She’s disappointed in me. And she has every right to be. I fucked up so many times in so many ways.
I nod, taking responsibility for my sheer stupidity. “You must think I’m a terrible person. I guess I was afraid to tell you.”
“Don’t be,” she says, reaching over to put her hand on mine. “You can tell me anything, Chad. I know it’s all history, but I’d rather hear it from you than find out from anyone else. And I don’t think you are a terrible person. You’ve proven to be quite the opposite.”
Words collect on the tip of my tongue, begging to come out. She’s given me an opening. I should put it all out there once and for all. Rip off the Band-Aid. She’s here in L.A. in my house. She couldn’t exactly run away. Well, not easily. I should do it now. “Mal,” I thread my fingers through hers at the very second her phone starts ringing.
She glances at it and says, “Oh, shoot, I forgot to call my dad when I arrived last night. He’ll be livid. I’ll just be a sec.” She glides her finger across the phone. “Hi, Daddy.”
I point to the house and hold up my finger so she knows I’ll only be gone a minute. I want to give her privacy. I also want to kick myself for being a damn coward, because all I feel is relief that her phone call robbed me of the perfect chance to tell her the things I know I should.
Chapter Twenty
Mallory
I throw an arm over my head after I see the entertainment news on TMZ, frustrated over being tabloid fodder for the second time since I arrived three days ago. I hop off the bed, open the bathroom door and shout, “Chad, it happened again!”
“What is it now?” he asks, peeking around the side of the glass block shower.
Wow. My eyes quickly rake over his wet body, dripping with soapy suds. He looks good enough to eat. If I weren’t so upset about the story, I might jump in with him. But I am upset, and he’s got a meeting to get to, so I don’t.
“They stood outside the gates of my school until they found someone who would talk,” I tell him.
On Saturday, the story of the mystery woman broke and my name was plastered all over the tabloids and social media. I’m glad I was out here when it happened, cocooned away with Chad in our private little world.
“Is anyone even there? It’s spring break,” he says, his voice echoing off the shower walls.
“It was one of our janitors,” I say. “He told reporters that it was my second year teaching fourth grade. And . . .”
When my voice trails off, Chad sticks his head out of the shower again. “And what, Mal?”
“And he said he can’t understand why a celebrity like you would choose such a tawdry hometown girl like me.”
“Tawdry?” he scoffs. “Did he actually call you that?”
I nod.
“He’s an asshole, babe. You are the opposite of tawdry.”
“He asked me out once,” I tell him.
Chad turns off the shower and I hand him his towel. “The janitor asked you out? How old is he?”
“Not as old as you’d picture an elementary school janitor. I’d say he’s in his thirties. He thought I turned him down because he’s a janitor.”
“But you didn’t,” he says. “That’s not you. But why did you turn him down?”
I close the lid on the toilet and sit down. “Because he wasn’t you.”
Chad’s mouth opens and closes as he tries to form words. “But . . . you’ve dated plenty of guys,” he says, wrapping the towel around his waist before he leans against the vanity.
“Not in the last few years,” I tell him. “I tried to date. After Julian, and when I went to college. I dated several guys, but none of them ever felt right. I didn’t feel right dating them. So it just kind of got to the point where I swore off men.”
“Swore off men?” He smiles. Maybe a little too big. “You said it had been a long time since you slept with anyone. Exactly how long are we talking, Mal?”
I roll my eyes at him.
He takes two steps over and lifts my chin. “How long?”
“I don’t know. Close to three years maybe.” I see the joy behind his eyes, so I add, “You don’t have to look so darn happy about it.”
He pulls me up so I’m standing befor
e him. He cups my face in his hands. “Nobody else ever felt right for me either.”
He kisses me until I forget my own name. Then he teases me by removing his towel and hanging it up, freeing his burgeoning erection. My mouth actually waters as I watch him walk across the bedroom to his closet.
He glances back at me, chuckling at my reaction. After he dresses, he turns off the TV. “No more television for you.” He sits next to me on the bed. “I’m serious, Mal. You don’t need to be actively seeking that shit out. It’s out there now and we just have to let Kendra deal with it as she knows how.”
I nod thinking of the statement she issued the other day when my name went public. The statement that branded me as ‘a childhood friend and nothing more.’
“Sit by the pool. Work on your tan. I’ll be back by four o’clock and then I’ll join you.” He winks. “This time in full daylight,” he whispers in my ear, sending a shiver down my spine.
Oh! He wants a repeat of last night. When we were under the stars. In the pool. Naked.
He checks his phone. “Cole’s here.” He leans down to kiss me. “Don’t answer the door. Call me if you need me and if I can’t answer, Cole will.”
“Yes, Dad,” I tease.
“There is no way your dad would ever do to you the things I did to you last night.” He laughs.
“Gross,” I say, making a face.
“I’ll see you later,” he says. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” I say, almost like it’s an exchange we’ve shared for years. Maybe it has been. Maybe we just never said it out loud.
He stops in the doorway. “I think I like this,” he says looking around his bedroom before his eyes fall back on me. “I think I like this a lot.”
~ ~ ~
After floating around in the pool for an hour and then making a light lunch, I check my phone, replying to a dozen messages from friends asking if I’m Thad Stone’s girlfriend. Friends. I use the term loosely. Some of these people are mere acquaintances who came out of the woodwork when the story broke. I’m beginning to realize why Chad doesn’t have many true friends of his own. You just never know what some people’s intentions are.
Stone Promises (A Stone Brothers Novel) Page 19
