“Maybe,” she said and kept blowing until the pillow was big enough for her to lean down and pick up his head.
Their close quarters didn’t feel weird until he opened his eyes a fraction and she realized her chest was right there in his face. “Hello, ladies,” he said and blinked up at her with mischief in his eyes. “Motorboat?”
Pressing her hand over his eyes as she positioned the pillow behind his head, Lyla laughed because with her sweater over her body, there was nothing to see. As she sat back and picked up her magazine, she had to wriggle because she was uncomfortable. Trick’s hands shot out to clasp her, one hand on her abdomen, the other on the small of her back.
“I hurt you?” she asked.
He hissed in a breath that showed his teeth and she worried she’d done damage. “I spend a lot of time thinking about my mother when you’re sitting on me,” he grumbled in a whisper.
His lips curled, and he was certainly breathing funny.
She didn’t really get it. “Your belt is jagging me.”
“Then undo it,” he said, still in that pained husky voice.
“Really?” she asked, having not considered doing that.
It would make more sense for her just to move seats, except she’d been told the bus was going to be full. When she looked over the seats, there seemed to be two free seats together about halfway down the bus.
“On second thoughts,” he said and increased his grip to pick her up and lift her higher so she was sitting right on his chest.
Her whoop drew some attention, but as he smoothed the edge of her sweater from his face, he exhaled and smiled. “Can you breathe?” she asked.
“Easier,” he said. “Figured having you sitting on my dick was about as close to the edge of my control as I could get. If your dainty little fingers start undressing me, I’ll probably go off.”
Inhaling, Lyla knew better than to take him seriously and went back to reading her magazine.
They must have sat like that for another ten minutes, and she was sure Trick was asleep, but noise started to rumble up the bus. Usually that kind of susurration only accompanied Trick, but he was already here, she knew that for sure.
Something buzzed and she glanced down to see a light against the seat. Trick lifted his pelvis, which tipped her hip closer to his face. But he didn’t seem to notice as he settled back down, his broad shoulders squashed into this narrow space. It was a shame really that he had to shoehorn himself in here just for a few minutes of sleep. But as she ran her fingers into his hair, he turned his phone around to read something and his relaxed expression suddenly got tense.
“Damn,” he whispered.
“What?” she asked as he took her hand from his hair and kissed the back of her fingers. “What’s wrong?”
He brushed her fingers against his stubble and didn’t even try to smile when he said, “Kira.”
And at the same moment she realized what he was saying, the noise on the bus rose again and then there she was, Kira Levine, in the flesh. “She’s gorgeous,” Lyla murmured as she watched the woman float up the aisle of the bus on her own personal invisible cloud chariot.
Picking her up, Trick put Lyla back in a seat as he sat up at the window. “More beautiful outside than in,” he said and Kira spotted him.
The two of them held eye contact and Lyla looked between them, Kira seemed to be smirking, but why? Trick on the other hand, didn’t look like a man in love, he looked tense and angry. Was he worried about what was going to happen?
Kira slid into a seat and stayed perfectly poised. Trick didn’t flinch. Lyla picked up his hand. “Go to her,” she murmured and his attention snapped around to her, so she smiled. “It’s where you’re supposed to be, with her. You’re supposed to be with her.”
“But I—”
“No,” she said and shook her head. “Go be him, go do what you have to. Seduce her… you’ve earned it. We’ve been married nearly three weeks, have you had sex at all since?”
“No,” he snapped, so offended by the suggestion that she laughed.
“Then there’s your reward,” Lyla said, turning to look at the back of Kira’s perfect head. “Your prize is one of the most coveted women in the world.”
She didn’t expect to feel Trick’s lips on the side of her neck, but after the long press of his kiss, she turned to look him in the eye. “I’m not gonna touch her.”
“I understand,” Lyla said, nodding. “I’m not supposed to know. The affair is to be secret this week, remember? You’ll be able to sleep with her for at least two weeks before the show catches up to what we’re doing now.”
His eyes closed slowly as his face fell against her shoulder. “I’m worth more than what someone will pay for me,” he mumbled. “Isn’t that what you said?”
“Yes,” she said, turning her mouth into his hair as she stroked the back of his neck. “Sometimes it’s the risks we take that define us, isn’t that one of your mottos? Having an extramarital affair is a big risk, but the world will understand it. When you put Kira and me together, there’s really no contest.”
He lifted his head to look her in the eye again. But before he could say anything, the bus began to move and she slid out of her seat to pull him up. “Malloy—”
“Go say hello,” she said, slipping in to the window seat and picking up her magazine. “I’m being boring anyway. Go on.”
There was traffic that delayed them getting to the hotel, but she figured that kind of worked out because it gave Trick and Kira more time to reconnect. As soon as they stopped, there was a cheer and everyone seemed to stand in sync.
The nice guy from the row in front of her helped her pull her case down from the overhead and he introduced himself as Tony.
Tony was also the first person she saw at the welcome mixer that was taking place that night. Lyla didn’t know where Trick was, she hadn’t seen him at all since the melee of people getting off the bus kept them apart. But she didn’t expect to see much of him on this excursion; she’d guess that was the whole point of setting this up, to give Trick and Kira time to get it on.
“I just don’t see why anyone needs to get involved in anyone else’s business,” she said to Tony as they sat at the bar together.
There was a buffet against the far wall that was meant to serve as their dinner. Lyla and Tony had already made a trip over there, but were back on their stools at the bar, keeping to themselves rather than really mingling. But right now, most of the groups were keeping to those people they knew and given that she didn’t know anyone except the Cronies, Lyla was happy to stick with Tony.
He laughed. “Says the woman who’s the subject of her own show,” he said.
Smiling, she conceded a half-shrug. “It’s not my show, it’s Trick’s show,” she said. “And if anything, that gives me a better understanding and appreciation of what it involves.” Pushing her shoulders back, she showed the black stripe pinned to her neckline. “I live my entire life miked.”
“It must have been a difficult adjustment,” he said. “Going from anonymity to instant fame.”
“It wasn’t instant,” she said. “The cameras were following us for a couple of weeks before the show aired, that kind of gave me a chance to get used to the intrusion.”
“You don’t seem like the type of woman to flaunt herself, but everyone in the room, probably the city, has seen you in a bikini, doesn’t that make you feel violated?”
Tipping her smile toward him, she was done with the food, and instead picked at the edge of her straw as they made eye contact. “You writing a story?”
Again, he laughed. “I work for Prem, honey, you don’t have to worry about me keeping your secrets… I just… I think everyone was surprised by your decision to do it. Watching that first show was… painful.”
“Great television,” she muttered and picked up her glass to drink from her straw.
“Is that what they tell you?” he asked.
Why was his voice softening like that?
Did he really expect her to open her heart to him? Even if she was willing to spill all her secrets, she didn’t actually have any. “Trick takes care of me.”
Turning his body toward hers, Tony laid an arm across the back of her stool. “If that was true, he’d be here with you instead of over there with Kira Levine.”
Oh. Straightening, she didn’t even bother to look over her shoulder. If Tony said that Trick was here, then he was here. And just like she’d thought on the bus, it wouldn’t make any difference if she looked at him or not. If he wanted to come to her, he would, if not, he wouldn’t. With Kira around, he had no reason to come to her.
“They’re friends,” she said, drinking more. “They haven’t seen each other for a while, they’re just catching up.”
“They’ve been catching up all day. Seems fair that a man would come and check in with his wife when they’re at the same party.”
Everyone loved to tell her everything that was wrong with Trick and she was sure that everyone did the same with him, telling him how wrong they were for each other. It didn’t matter that it was true. Didn’t people think that they knew that?
Trying not to get annoyed, she was so disappointed when Tony’s hand slid onto her knee. Sheesh. Since the show had aired, male attention in her had sky rocketed. She didn’t know why. She’d have to probe Trick for his thoughts on male motivations. Was it because she was married? Because she was married to Trick, a popular, virile guy and these guys wanted to test their appeal? Or was it because of what Tony had already admitted to seeing? The bikini.
If she was obvious about picking his hand off her leg, someone would see and the cameras were in the room. Lyla didn’t know exactly where they were because she’d been trying to ignore them and not be obvious about seeking them out, but they were looming.
Her saving grace was Trick and Kira. With them at the party, it was unlikely that anyone was looking at her.
“Please don’t,” she murmured and tried to move her leg away.
“He’s not watching… he’s busy with her.”
Maybe it was fame people wanted and guys thought that if she started messing with them they’d get screen time with Trick.
“Please take your hand off my leg,” she said, so disappointed that a man who she’d thought was a genuine guy turned out to have an agenda.
“Someone should look after you,” he said. “Trick’s not going to do it.”
Why would she want this guy to do anything for her? “We just met,” she said, irritated by the movement of his fingers as they caressed her through her skirt. “Do you think I would cheat on my husband with a stranger because he says he’ll look after me?” she hissed and grabbed her purse. “What do you think I need from you that Trick doesn’t give me?”
“Attention for one thing.”
“Whoa, you read that one wrong, buddy,” she said, spinning away from him to leap off her stool. “My husband knows that the last thing I need is attention. I don’t need him to pander and he doesn’t expect me to simper.”
“Lyla,” he said and tried to reach for her, but she twisted away.
“Get over yourself, Tony. Stay away from me. And if you know what’s good for you you’ll stay away from my husband too. He doesn’t like men who put their hands on me.”
Where had that come from? Lyla asked herself the question as she turned to walk out of the bar and through the lobby to return to her room.
It was true, Trick had flipped out at Curtis for putting his hands on her, but that was for show because the cameras were there and it looked good for him to be possessive. Trick probably didn’t give two hoots about who was feeling her up, not really. So why the hell had she said it?
ELEVEN
It was close to an hour later, as she was rubbing moisturizing lotion into her arms, that she heard someone coming into their suite.
“Babe?”
Ah, it was Trick. “I’m in the bedroom,” she called out, putting more lotion on her hands as she sat on the edge of the bed and picked up the hem of her nightdress that hung to her ankles.
Trick appeared in the doorway. He tossed his key card to the dresser and began to take off his jacket. “What happened? You ran out of there early…”
Turning on the bed, she began to knead lotion into her calves. “Can you tell me something about men?” she asked, rubbing the lotion in to her shins and knees.
“I can try,” he said and pulled off his tee-shirt.
God, she hated it when he did that. The studio factored in gym time to his schedule and he went on his own time too, when he had it… not that he often did. The lines and angles of his torso had distracted her on their honeymoon and she’d thought their impact would lessen the longer they were together, so far, that hadn’t been her experience.
Concentrating on her lotion, Lyla picked her nightdress higher so she could squirt lotion onto her thighs. “Do they see a wedding ring as a challenge?”
“Damn! I knew that guy was sleazing on you,” he said, coming over to drop onto the bed facing her. “I was gonna come over, but Paul was buzzing around like a bad smell. I had to wait all this time to come upstairs because I wanted to be alone with you. I didn’t want them following me up. I waited until he disappeared to do interviews with the other participants before I could slip out without him knowing I was gone. And Kira—”
“She’s very beautiful,” Lyla said, smiling as she wiped the residual lotion from her hand onto his bare shoulder. As soon as her hand landed on the solid mass of his muscle, she stopped. Her mouth opened and her smile faded. Why the hell had she thought it was ok for her to touch him like this? “Sorry, I—”
“It’s ok,” he said, widening his own smile and he curled his fingers around her wrist to do the wiping for her. “I touch you every day, bout time you returned the insult.”
Typical that he should be sweet about reassuring her. “It’s not an insult when you touch me,” she said, drawing her hand away from his. Lying on the bed, she wondered what he was looking at, then remembered she hadn’t pushed her nightdress back down. “The lotion needs a minute to soak in.”
Self-conscious, she rubbed her legs together, but he rested a hand on her shin to grip her. “You’ve got gorgeous stems, Malloy,” he said, bowing to kiss her knee.
Laughing, she pushed his head up, but was surprised to see that he wasn’t smiling. In fact, he looked odd. His eyes were small, precision-focused, but she couldn’t figure out what was going on in his head. So she scooted over to the other side of the bed, putting some space between them.
“Do you want the bed tonight?” she asked and carried on before he could make a joke. “The cameras aren’t here, you don’t need to proposition me.”
His next inhale was long and tired. It had been a long few days for him, so she didn’t say anything when he turned around to lie on the bed beside her. He deserved a chance to chill. A minute of silence stretched. “Kira cheated on me.”
Oh…
Sliding down the bed, she rested her head on her hand as she lay on her side next to Trick who was staring up at the ceiling. “I didn’t know that,” she said.
“Not a lot of people do,” he said, taking another breath. “I know I’m a jerk most of the time, I know I do dumb shit, and I hurt a lot of women when I was a stupid kid playing to the cameras, but… When I’m in a relationship, I’m in. I’ve always been that way. I don’t make promises I don’t intend to keep. Don’t make commitments to…” He trailed off and picked up his hand to look at his wedding ring. “I guess that’s not true anymore.”
Reaching over him, Lyla pushed his hand down. “You didn’t make me any promises,” she said, laying her hand over his on his chest. “You just recited your lines at the wedding; that was it. It didn’t mean anything. It was a script.”
Looking at her, Trick was doing that peering thing that always unnerved her. “Why do you always put yourself down?” he asked. “You act like you don’t deserve respect… or love.”
; “We didn’t get married for love or respect,” she said. “So it doesn’t count… And Kira cheating on you must have been devastating; it’s obvious that you cared for her.”
“Why do you think that?” he asked.
“Two reasons,” she said. “First, you kept the secret. You found out about the indiscretion and ended your relationship, but you didn’t go selling the story or slandering her, so you must have cared about her enough not to want to embarrass her or damage her career.”
“And the second reason?”
Grinning, she got a fraction nearer to whisper. “You’re a good person Nairn Strickland, and you feel things more deeply than you want the world to know. You were with her for a while and like you just said, you wouldn’t have made promises to her if you didn’t intend to keep them… It must be weird that Bunyan’s asking you to sleep with her now… Did you forgive her after the affair?”
He shook his head. “It wasn’t like that. I found out she was screwing around, she said ‘so what’ and split… I didn’t see her again… Maybe we weren’t that into each other after all.”
“Sometimes it’s the people we care most about that we hurt the most,” she said.
He scooped a hand up under her jaw to angle her head up so he could peer in to her again. “Who was your guy?” he asked. “You said it had been five years, you didn’t tell me anything about him.”
“Declan Gordon,” she said, and didn’t really want to look at Trick when she mentioned her ex’s name. “It’s been six years since we broke up, I don’t talk about him much.”
“Why not? Still hung up on him?”
She shook her head and let him thread their fingers together as was his habit. “Declan was the one who taught me the real value of being alone,” she said. “I’d always been a loner at school. I met Declan in college and we were really inseparable. He’d been branded the odd-one-out in high school too. We kind of bonded over our mutual oddity.”
Getting Tricky Page 11
