by Jill Sanders
“Cut!”
She sighed and relaxed for just a moment.
“Perfect,” Marcus said, throwing a thick blanket over her shoulders. “Now, go home. Take a hot bath and drink a bottle of wine. You deserve it.” He leaned down and kissed her.
They both jumped when they heard someone clear their throat less than a foot away.
Looking over, she saw Tom standing there, frowning down at her.
“Tom ...” Her smile fell away quickly when his eyes narrowed on Marcus.
“Tom?” Marcus interrupted. “Tom, Tom?” He turned to Amber and she nodded, still unable to take her eyes from Tom’s face. They had missed one another the last time Tom had come down to watch her work.
“I’m Marcus, I’ve heard a lot about ...” He didn’t get a chance to finish, because Tom turned on his heels and started marching away.
Amber’s eyes flew to Marcus. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know ...”
“Honey, don’t waste your time on me. Go.” He pushed her lightly.
Throwing herself between him and the car, she leaned against the door and glared up at him.
“What was that all about?” She felt her blood flowing in her frozen limbs and almost cried out at the pins and needles poking her all over her chilled skin.
“You could have told me,” he growled.
“What?” She jumped in. “That I was filming?”
“That you and ...” He reached to jerked his door open, but she was still blocking him. Instead his eyes burned into hers as he handed her a stack of photos.
She laughed. Actually, laughed as she glanced through the stack quickly. “Marcus is ... the director. We had dinner the other night when I told you I was out with a friend ...”
His eyes narrowed. “That doesn’t look like just a friend.” He pointed to the next picture in which they were kissing.
The photo was taken the split second their lips had met in a very congenial, chaste kiss.
“Honestly, Marcus is just a friend.” She tossed the prints to the ground, then stepped closer to him, but he jerked back from her and turned away. When she reached for him, he side stepped her and yanked open his door before she could move. Her body seemed frozen in place as he slammed the car door behind him.
Hugging herself, she watched his car disappear down the road and felt utterly destroyed. Marcus was beside her, his arms wrapped around her. “Everything okay, honey?”
“N-no.” She burst into tears and wrapped her arms around her friend.
He held onto her for a moment, then stiffened and pulled away. “What’s this?” he asked, leaning down and picking up the discarded photos. His frown turned into pure anger. “Damn it,” he growled out. “Does he think—” She nodded and watched Marcus’s eyes turn soft. “I’m sorry.” He wrapped his arm around her again and started walking, tucking the photos into his back pocket. “This is all my fault.”
“N-no ...” She couldn’t stop her teeth from chattering anymore. Or her body from shaking with the cold. She was frozen. Through and through at this point and she didn’t care anymore.
“Honey, I’m taking you home myself and making sure you soak in a hot tub.” He pulled her close again.
“No, I can—” She stopped when his eyes narrowed. “Okay.” She held onto him and followed him like a blind woman. Soon she was sitting in his warm car, two blankets wrapped around her as he drove. She closed her eyes as he drove; when she woke, she was being carried upstairs by Gary. His huge arms wrapped around her gently.
“We’ve got you,” he said looking down at her. She closed her eyes again and let the man carry her up to her condo.
When she woke, Laura was standing over frowning down at her. “Here, drink this.” She held out a mug.
Amber sat up a little, feeling every muscle in her body scream at her. She downed the tea and swallowed the pills Laura handed her.
“I’m so glad you’re here.” She groaned and leaned back.
“I had a word or two with Marcus about keeping you out in the cold too long.” Laura sat next to her on the bed. Just the small move had her head spinning. “I’ll start a bath for you.” She got up.
Then Amber was shaken away a few minutes later.
“The bath is ready. Here, let me help you.” Amber let Laura help peel her clothes off, which happened to still be a little damp, and help her into the tub. The warm water caused goose bumps as she relaxed back.
“Here, try this.” Laura handed her another glass.
“What is it?”
“Whiskey.” Laura smiled. “Trust me, you’ll thank me later.”
Amber downed it in one quick swallow, then leaned back as the liquid heated her up from the inside.
“Marcus told me about your fight with Tom.” Laura sat on the countertop across the room from her, with her own glass of whiskey she sipped slowly.
“Someone sent him pictures.”
“Of?”
“Marcus and I.” When Laura was quiet, she glanced over at her. “We were just eating dinner. Nothing more.” Laura relaxed slightly. Still, Amber could see concern in her eyes.
“Maybe it’s for the best. What did the note say?”
“Note?” She shook her head. “There wasn’t a note. As far as I know.” She closed her eyes again and relaxed back.
“I’ll let you rest and go heat up some soup for you.”
“Thanks.” She didn’t even open her eyes as her friend left the room.
She stayed in the tub until the water cooled off, then decided to jump into the shower and boil her skin until finally she felt normal again. Tugging on the thickest pair of sweats and biggest sweatshirt she owned, she pulled on a pair of fluffy socks and made her way into the kitchen where the entire room smelled like Thanksgiving.
“Something smells wonderful.”
Laura glanced over her shoulder and smiled at her. “You can’t fight a cold with a can of soup. So, I’m making it from scratch. It’s almost ready.” She nodded to the bar. “Sit, I’ll get you some wine.”
Amber watched the woman work around her kitchen and realized she didn’t really know a lot about Laura. “Are you married?”
Laura glanced back at her and shook her head. “Tried it once”—she laughed— “marriage isn’t for me.”
“No kids?” she asked, sipping her wine.
“Nope, can’t stand the little creatures.” She chuckled and drank her own wine as she stirred the soup.
“Married to the job then?”
“Yes, have been since the moment I signed my first client.” Something close to sadness crossed her eyes. “Men will change you.” She sighed and turned towards her. “Don’t let them detour you from your dreams.” Laura’s eyes had grown darker.
Amber nodded slightly.
Once the soup was done, they moved into the living room in front of the fire and ate from the coffee table. By the time her glass of wine and soup were gone, her head was dull and she felt tired again.
“Go, rest. I’ll clean up,” Laura said, taking Amber’s bowl and glass.
“I’m so thankful that you’re here.” She hugged her quickly, then retreated into her room. Pulling out her cell phone, she thought about texting Tom. Closing her eyes, she felt the pain and hurt of his distrust.
She knew that Terra had cheated on him, but being grouped in with his ex hurt more than she’d imagined. They knew each other too well to fall for lies.
Punching her brother’s number, she typed, “Can you check with Tom? Make sure he’s okay.”
“Why?” came a few minutes later.
“Just do it. Please.”
A few more minutes later, her phone chimed. “What did you do?”
“Is it bad?” Amber asked.
“He’s pissed. Says he doesn’t want to talk to me about it like a bunch of girls.” Aiden typed.
She closed her eyes. “Someone sent him pictures.”
“Of?”
“Me having dinner with my director.”
&n
bsp; This time it took almost ten minutes before he responded. “Just got off the phone with him. He’s an idiot. But he’s still my friend.”
“Thanks! Love you!”
“Yeah, back at ya. TTYL”
She rested back, knowing that her brother had smoothed as much over as possible. That was one thing about Aiden—he always stuck up for family. No matter what.
Tom tossed his phone down and felt like punching something. Aiden had been right. Of course, he’d come to that same conclusion almost an hour ago, but was trying to figure out what to say to Amber. How did you apologize for being an idiot? Again.
Instead of hitting something, he climbed the stairs and changed into his sweats, and jumped onto the treadmill in his office. After five miles, he felt a little clearer headed.
He’d been a fool. Hadn’t Amber told him about how Marcus and she were friends? How a photographer had written stories about them?
Hell, hadn’t he been part of a story that had been mostly false? Why was this any different? So, there were pictures of her with the guy that could be seen as a romantic setting. But, thinking about it, it was just a restaurant with low lights, and Amber was ... well, Amber.
He sat behind his desk and pulled out the paper, and looked at the image of them on her parents’ back porch. Then he looked closer.
There, written plainly on their faces was the truth. Love. Why the hell hadn’t he seen that before?
He jumped into the shower and turned down the heat until the water left goose bumps on his skin, cooling off the rest of his anger.
Shit. He’d screwed up again.
Leaning his head against the tile, he closed his eyes and thought about all the different ways he could make it up to her.
Flowers didn’t quite cover the, I just accused you of cheating on me, scenario. Diamonds?
He thought about the bracelet he’d forgotten to give her the other day, when he’d shown up and her condo was full of women.
He’d screwed so much up. Hadn’t she asked him in which kind of relationship they were? Isn’t that woman code for, I want a commitment?
He banged his head against the tile and thought about getting dressed and driving across town to grovel and beg for forgiveness. But when he got out of the shower, he looked at the time and groaned.
Throwing on his shorts, he picked up his phone and grabbed a beer instead. There was so much he wanted to say, but he settled with simplicity.
He picked up his phone and wrote, “I’m sorry. I’m an ass.”
He waited almost fifteen minutes before she replied. “Yes, you are.”
“I wasn’t thinking.”
“That’s an understatement. But I understand. I hadn’t thought about what Terra did to you.”
Screw it, he thought as he punched her number and waited while the phone rang. “I’m sorry,” he said again when she answered.
“You said that already.” Her voice sounded far away. Almost like she was too tired to talk.
“Are you okay?” He lay back in the bed with his phone tucked next to his ear.
“Yes, just tired.” He heard her sigh. “There really isn’t anything between—”
“I know,” he interrupted, not wanting to go into it any further. “Are you free tomorrow night?”
He heard her chuckle, then clear her throat. “Yes, after filming. You can pick me up, if you want.”
“Sounds good.” He sighed and closed his eyes, dreaming of being in the same bed as her. “So, what are you wearing?”
He knew the moment she smiled. “Do you remember the little white thing I wore that one time?”
He almost sat up. “The blouse?” It had been his greatest fantasies. Images flashed through his mind.
“Is tucked away safely in my closet. I’m wearing a pair of your old sweats and a sweatshirt I stole from you, years ago when you lived with Aiden.”
His eyes narrowed and he leaned back again. “My Bronco’s ones?”
“Every time I wear them, I think about ... the night I stole them, when you did what you did to me in the hallway, after you’d come out of the shower.”
New images flashed through his mind—running through the memory again, he grew hard just thinking about it.
“Did you do that on purpose?” he asked.
“What do you think?”
He sighed and nodded, feeling the words clog in his throat.
“What would you have done, if my brother hadn’t walked in?” she asked, her voice a sexy whisper.
“I would have taken you. There, in the hallway, against the wall.” He almost growled it.
She sighed. “Is that why you moved out?” she asked after a moment.
“Yes.” He shifted, feeling uncomfortable.
“Good ...” she said, and he could tell that she’d fallen asleep.
He lay there with his phone against his ear and listened to her breathing softly until he too, joined her in sleep.
Chapter 13
Amber stood in the same spot the next night; this time, Kevin Day stood next to her as they ran over their lines. When they started the rain machines again, she instantly knew she wouldn’t be able to fight the cold any longer.
By the end of the first hour, she had taken a half-hour break to just warm up enough to try a few more takes. Another hour later, and she was finished.
Marcus called it, after she quietly asked him if they could stop for the day.
When she glanced over, she smiled as Tom approached and wrapped his arms around her.
Without thinking, she blurted out, “You’re the only man I’ve ever wanted.” Her arms wrapped around his shoulders. She felt him tense, but then his eyes met hers. “All my life I’ve wanted you. Only you.” The last came out as a whisper before she reached up on her toes and kissed him until she felt him relax against her.
He ran his hands up and down her arms to warm her. “You’re freezing.”
“I’ve been standing under fake rain for the past three hours. I’m in need of a bottle of wine. No, scratch that—champagne and a very hot bath.” She pulled him closer. “With a very hot man washing my back.”
He smiled for the first time. “I suppose that’s doable. What about your”—he cleared his throat— “roommate?”
Amber tilted her head. “Your place then.”
He nodded. Then walked over and helped her into his car. She stopped and made sure to wrap a dry blanket tighter around herself so she wouldn’t get his seats too wet.
When the car started to move, he punched a button and had her seat warmer heating up her backside. The quiet of the night soothed her as he drove, her hand in his.
She must have fallen asleep, because she jolted when he lifted her from the warm seat.
“Sorry,” he mumbled softly. “Go back to sleep. I’ve got you,” he said as she snuggled against his shoulder. “Looks like that champagne will have to wait.”
She kept her eyes closed as he opened the door to his townhouse. She’d been there more than a dozen times. It was an old charmer his father had purchased shortly before passing away. She and Aiden had helped him move his stuff from his small apartment into the place shortly after he’d inherited it.
It was an older building, but his father had remodeled it to a classic style. There were three bedrooms upstairs, with the master bedroom on the main level.
He set her down on his soft bed; then she heard him walk in and start a bath.
Closing her eyes, she drifted off again and woke when he started tugging off her shoes.
“You’re soaked,” he said, removing her wet socks.
“Yup, who says acting is all fun?” she said, sitting up and helping him pull off her wet jeans. It took almost ten minutes until she was finally freed from the material.
“That was a chore,” he grunted, then easily pulled her sweater over her head.
Her bra and panties were soaked and see-through, but instead of heat in his eyes, she only saw worry.
“You could catch
pneumonia like this. My god, it’s thirty degrees out and they had you standing under water,” he growled as he carried her into the bathroom, then set her down in the tub, still wearing her bra and panties.
Shimmying them off, she tossed the wet clothes onto the floor and relaxed back as the warmth seeped into her. “Ahh, this feels so good.” She dipped her hair under the water and held her breath as the warm water hit her face. She didn’t care if her makeup ran, or if she looked like a drowned rat once she surfaced again.
“Scoot up,” he said when she did surface again. He’d stripped completely and stood before her gloriously naked. She moved up until there was room enough for him to crawl in behind her in the large tub. When he settled in, she leaned against his chest and sighed once more.
“My god, you’re freezing.” He rubbed his hands over her exposed skin, warming her up even more.
She laughed. “This is nothing. You should have seen me after that shot in Anomalous. We filmed in Alberta in almost negative weather.”
She felt him tense. “Doesn’t that damn director know when to call it a night?”
“It wasn’t Marcus’s fault. We had one more shot and decided to take it.” She sighed, thinking over that last time. “Besides, I nailed it.” She glanced up at him. “Did you see?”
He nodded, still frowning. “Yes, you made me question ... things.”
She turned slightly, looking up at him. “Oh?”
He brushed his hand down her face, then cupped it and brought his lips to hers slowly. “Damn if I know if this’ll work, but it drove me nuts thinking that you and—”
“Marcus,” she supplied, feeling her heart kick in a few beats faster.
“You and he had gone behind my back.” He closed his eyes and rested his head back against the headrest. “I didn’t feel this way when I found out that Terra had cheated on me.”
She smiled, and even though her eyes were closed, she knew that he knew she was doing so.
“That means something”—he opened his eyes and he looked at her— “doesn’t it?”
She nodded, not trusting her voice. He brushed her hair away from her face again. “I trust you. I guess I was stupid and blinded by the asshole that dropped those photos in my lap.”
