Broken Shadows

by Kathleen Brooks

  Skye finally felt good talking about it, but she knew many would kill for what she had. She was proud of what she’d accomplished, but she’d started off on her own and somewhere along the way she’d gotten lost in the blinding bright lights.

  “What’s stopping you from taking back control?” Trent asked. It was a simple question, but the answer wasn’t so simple. Or was it?

  10

  Trent handed Skye the hot cider as he held on to her. She fit so perfectly in his arms that he never wanted to let her go. She’d been quiet since he’d asked about taking control over her life. She’d laid her head on his shoulder and he could practically hear the thoughts racing through her mind.

  He didn’t push her to talk. Trent knew she needed this time to think things through. Instead, he handed her the cider and let her sip it, holding her as he slowly ran his hand up and down her arm. Trent’s own thoughts turned to Skye’s situation. He had talked to Aunt Gemma numerous times and there were never any stories of paparazzi or scandal. Of course, Aunt Gemma was an author, not an actress, and Uncle Cy would kill anyone who dared look at his wife the wrong way.

  Trent’s mind kept going back to Lenny. He was the gatekeeper. He was the one who turned Trent away, the one who turned Mr. and Mrs. Jessamine away, and as Skye’s personal manager, he had his hand in every aspect of her life. Could it be as simple as firing Lenny?

  “Thank you, Trent,” Skye said as she sat up. She leaned back so she could look at him as she spoke. Trent’s eyes dipped to her lips and then made their way back to her eyes. She was hurting and he felt bad for even thinking about how kissable she was. Memories from their night together flooded him, but he pushed back against them to stem the tide. He needed to focus on her needs, not his wants.

  “For what?” Trent asked as he moved his arms around her waist and linked his fingers together.

  “For reminding me that the power is within my reach. I just have to take hold of it. I can still get great roles without whoring myself out to the likes of Tony Ketron. There are tons of A-list celebrities who maintain a private life. It’s time for me to stop sitting back and acting the part of a trained circus animal. I’m going to talk to Karri in the morning and start taking back my life.”

  Skye leaned forward and placed a lingering kiss on his cheek. He felt her warm lips and his whole body responded. Trent wondered if Skye felt that spark too when her hands came up to touch him. It was even better than their one night together. This connection they had ran deeper than he thought either of them could understand.

  Skye rested one hand on his chest and he knew she felt his heartbeat as her fingers splayed out and pressed into his muscles. Her other hand slid behind his neck as she absently ran her fingers through his hair. Then she looked up at him in such an intense way that Trent felt as if she were trying to read his soul.

  “I’m not running, Skye. Not ever again.”

  “Good. I’d hate to chase you down and club you over the head. You’d be heavy to drag back home.” Skye deadpanned as Trent’s lips tilted up into a grin.

  “You can drag me home any time you want. No concussion necessary.”

  Skye shimmied off his lap and stood up. Trent looked up at her and he knew his life was about to change. They’d moved fast last time, but not this time. If this feeling of forever was true, then Trent was going to take his time doing it right. He’d been given a second chance and he wasn’t going to ruin it.

  “Tired?” Trent asked as he picked up their now empty mugs.

  Skye yawned in response and slapped her hand over her mouth. “That wasn’t very romantic,” she laughed afterward.

  “Come on,” Trent said as he stood and took her hand in his. “Let’s get you to bed.”

  He knew it wasn’t the kind of bed Skye had intended when he took her to her guest room. Instead, he told her he’d be back after she got ready. Trent trotted down the stairs and got two glasses of water before heading back upstairs and into his bedroom. He stripped off his clothes and pulled on a pair of lounge pants that hung low on his hips before he brushed his teeth and washed his face.

  When Trent knocked on Skye’s door, he heard her call for him to enter. She was sitting on the edge of the bed in an old Syracuse lacrosse shirt that stopped at the top of her thighs. She was so beautiful it almost knocked him over. Beauty wasn’t red carpet fashion. Beauty was a freshly washed face in nothing but a T-shirt. Skye’s long hair hung loose and she had one leg tucked under the other. Her bare leg swung gently as she waited for him.

  Trent didn’t miss the way her eyes traveled over his bare chest and downward. Taking a deep breath, Trent did the hardest thing he’d ever done before. He walked over to Skye, leaned down, and placed a sweet kiss to her lips before pulling back the covers. Skye slid underneath them and silently watched him move around the room turning off the lights. Trent grabbed the blanket on the back of a chair and walked over to the bed.

  Skye rolled over onto her side and watched as he lay down on top of the comforter with the blanket. “I’m not that tired,” Skye said with a little laugh as Trent rolled onto his side to face her.

  He studied the way moonlight caressed her face and reached out for Skye. She immediately snuggled closer to him. Trent held her as she used his arm for a pillow. “Our relationship always seems rushed. I don’t want to rush. I want to savor. So, how badly are you missing your sushi?”

  He felt Skye laugh against him as they talked. As the hours went by, the moonlight traveled across her face, down her body, and when they finally fell asleep, dawn began to glow through the window.

  Skye stretched as she slowly cracked her eyes open. She immediately reached out for Trent and sat up quickly when she didn’t feel him next to her. They’d stayed up all night talking. Talking to Trent was almost as good as foreplay. Almost. He listened, he asked questions, and he laughed at all her silly little stories. She felt valued and that was beyond sexy.

  Skye looked around and slid from the bed. The air was a little chilly, but nothing the blanket Trent had slept under couldn’t help. She grabbed it and wrapped it around her shoulders like a shawl before heading downstairs. “Trent?”

  Skye paused and listened. In the distance she heard machinery and knew where he was. She didn’t bother with shoes as she hopped out the back door and walked over to his workshop.

  The door was cracked and she leaned forward to look inside without disturbing him. She saw him in his work clothes of jeans and flannel shirt. He had on goggles and gloves as he maneuvered a large saw. Skye was so engrossed in watching him work she didn’t hear the people approaching behind her.

  “I remember having a butt like that. I miss that butt.”

  Skye spun around to find Miss Ruby and Miss Winnie standing there holding two baskets of food.

  “You could get them butt implants,” Miss Ruby said to Miss Winnie.

  Miss Winnie’s face perked up as Skye tried to move the blanket to cover herself more. “I could get a personal trainer. You think your trainer would get my butt back?”

  Skye tried not to laugh since she couldn’t tell if Miss Winnie was joking or not. “I’ll fly him out here for you when this is all over.”

  “Aren’t you a doll?” Miss Winnie looked so excited that Skye found herself deciding she would actually do it for Miss Winnie. She wondered what Julio would think of training an eighty-year-old woman who strongly resembled a plucked chicken. “We brought you some food. Just ignore the pile of pies and cakes by the front door and start with ours. After all, we know we’ll win the bake-off.”

  Miss Ruby nodded and looked Skye over. “You could do with some meat on your bones.” Well, that was the first time since she went to Hollywood that she’d been told that. “We also know how Trent can get when he’s working and we didn’t want you to starve to death so we brought you more than just apple pie.”

  Skye reached out and took the baskets from the ladies. “Thank you. You both are so kind.”

  “Pish posh. We have
ulterior motives,” Miss Ruby told her.

  Miss Winnie bobbed her head. “We told Mitzy Coburn we could get you to come to knitting club tomorrow. She didn’t believe us, but my apple pie has been known to make people do all sorts of things.”

  “That’s right,” Miss Ruby said with certainty. “It’s been known to make people strip down naked and take selfie pictures with it. We figured it could get you to knitting club.”

  “Knitting club? I don’t know how to knit.”

  “Don’t worry about that,” Miss Winnie told her with a dismissive wave of her hand. “While we all knit, we also have some drinks and gossip. That’s the real point of knitting club. And it’s not all old ladies. Why, Edie Wecker will be there and I believe you’ve met her. She’s a friend of the Faulkners.”

  Skye tried to remember not only everyone she’d met, but also everyone Trent had talked about. “Is she the widow?”

  “Bless her heart, they were so in love and then her husband was murdered on a mission for the SEALS. She came back home and we take care of our own. We got her into the knitting club and she’s thriving. Hog-tied a man earlier this year and everything,” Miss Ruby explained. “Knitting club can be empowering.”

  “Well, maybe I can learn how to knit scarves for my parents,” Skye said, not really knowing how to address the hog-tying comment so she just let it slide.

  “Yes! We’d be happy to teach you and your friend Karri. Have Trent or Tinsley drop you off at five tomorrow night at the church,” Miss Ruby instructed.

  “I’ll see you then. Thank you for the food,” Skye told them as the duo waved their goodbyes.

  Skye looked into the shop. Trent was still working and looked as if he were in the zone. His gaze never wavered from his work as he slowly carved pieces of wood into the vision he had in his head.

  The aroma of apple pie was strong enough to distract her from Trent. Skye glanced down at the baskets and then checked her surroundings. No one would know. She hurried to the kitchen and opened up the baskets. She pulled out a casserole, some fried chicken, and homemade mac and cheese before she found what she was looking for—the apple pie.

  Skye placed it on the kitchen table reverently and went in search of a plate, knife, and fork. She hadn’t had dessert for breakfast since college. It had been too long since she’d indulged and, after all, Miss Ruby did say she needed meat on her bones.

  Skye cut a large slice and looked around as if she were breaking the law. When she saw Trent was still in his workshop, she dug in. Apples, sugar, and cinnamon exploded on her tongue and she moaned as if she were climaxing. Goodness, they weren’t lying about the powers of their apple pie.

  Skye was halfway through when she heard a gasp.

  “Do you know how much sugar that has in it?”

  Skye turned her head and took a deliberate bite as Karri stared in surprise. “I don’t care. If I never get another role in my life but have this apple pie, I can die happy.”

  “Oh, is that Miss Ruby’s or Miss Winnie’s?” Tinsley asked, stepping past Karri and cutting herself her own slice.

  “I don’t know and I don’t care so long as I get more.”

  Skye held out her fork to Karri who looked as if she’d just caught her lover cheating on her. She rolled her eyes and grabbed the fork. “It can’t be that special. An apple pie is an apple pie. I mean, I grew up in apple country.”

  Skye looked at Tinsley and they shared a grin. This was not some average apple pie. Karri looked annoyed at even having to take a bite. Then her eyes flew open in surprise before she closed them and moaned with pleasure. Her eyes popped back open as Skye and Tinsley giggled.

  “So, just a regular apple pie, right?” Skye teased.

  “I feel as if I just had a very intimate experience with that pie. I have to get the recipe. And you’re right. It’s worth every pound it puts on you.” Karri rushed forward and sliced a large piece for herself.

  Skye finished her last bite and looked at the pie. Would it really hurt to have another slice?

  “Is that apple pie?”

  Skye looked up as the back door opened. Trent and Ryker walked inside. She decided right then she wasn’t going to give up her second slice to Trent, no matter how much she was falling for him.

  Skye placed a second slice on her plate and grinned up at the men after claiming her pie. “Miss Ruby and Miss Winnie dropped it off.”

  Trent grabbed two more plates and cut slices for himself and Ryker. “What did you have to do for it?” Skye looked up as Trent sat next to her. “Unless you’re lucky, there’s usually something attached to it. They want to know your secrets? They want to be in your next movie? They want to know about our relationship?”

  Tinsley’s head snapped up from where she was licking the plate. “Relationship? I’d like to know the answer to that.”

  Skye turned to Trent and blinked innocently. “So would I.”

  “I like you enough to share my apple pie with you.” Trent grinned and held out his fork with a big hunk of pie on it.

  “Should we book the church?” Ryker asked so dryly that Skye couldn’t tell if he were joking or not. It was only Trent’s smirk at him that told her that Ryker had actually cracked a joke. “Want to give me your phone, purse, clothes, and shoes so I can get your GPS trackers on?”

  Skye ran upstairs and grabbed her bag. When she came back downstairs, she found Ryker threading a needle. “Are you seriously going to sew these yourself, hotshot?”

  Ryker just glanced up as he pulled the thread through the needle and held out his hand. Skye shrugged and handed over her bag. She was used to designers, stylists, and photographers handling not only her clothes, but also her body. Ryker pulling out her bra wasn’t embarrassing to her. Trent, on the other hand, looked as if he wanted to snatch the bra from his cousin’s hand.

  Tinsley cleared her throat and then looked over to Skye. “How are you handling work while you’re here? Or do you just have downtime between films. I don’t know how that works.”

  Karri groaned and pulled out her phone. “I guess I’d better check. I had rescheduled some meetings the other day. Then I’ve told others that Skye has laryngitis and needs to do all interviews via email. Usually she’s very busy with promotion, auditions, and meetings.”

  Tinsley looked to her with sympathy. “Are you missing many auditions?”

  “A few, but they weren’t for parts I wanted.” Skye didn’t feel guilty about it either. “My team wants me to be in every movie—even better if it’s a franchise. It doesn’t matter if I hate the role. I want to audition for your aunt’s movie. Gemma Davies’s newest book is being turned into a movie, but my team wants me in this Tony Ketron film instead. I’m going to reach out to the casting director and see if they’ll let me audition via video conference.”

  Karri cursed and everyone at the table stopped what they were doing, even Ryker. No one said anything as Karri read an email on her phone. Skye’s heart felt as if it were in a vise being squeezed tighter and tighter the more Karri frowned.

  “We have a problem,” Karri finally said, looking up at the table full of people.

  11

  Trent had lost all sense of time until Ryker had come to his barn. He’d spent half the night talking to Skye and the other half holding her in his arms. The emotions it triggered had him slipping from the bed early this morning and into his shop. One of his clients had wanted a romantic feel for their bedroom furniture. Trent woke up that morning knowing exactly what to make.

  Then he’d had an enjoyable time eating pie for breakfast and laughing with Skye, Karri, and his family. However, those four little words, “we have a problem,” stopped all the happiness he was feeling. His hand went straight to Skye’s as they looked at Karri with dreaded anticipation.

  She finally looked up from the phone. Her eyes that had always been a bright warm brown were now dark and cold. Anger radiated from every inch of her body. “It’s not just one thing. Every interview request has changed fro
m talking about your career to talking about the nude leaks. Apparently, Bernie isn’t even trying to get them taken down now. He says it’s out there and there’s nothing to be done. Lenny is pissed you’re not responding to him. Rebecca is following Bernie’s lead and spinning the PR to embrace the leaked photos as test shots for Tony’s movie.”

  Trent felt Skye go rigid under his hand. The slight tremor that ran through her body broke his heart. “Wait, are you saying your own lawyer won’t go after the places publishing the illegally obtained photos?”

  Karri and Skye nodded. Karri looked ready to kill someone, but Skye looked ready to crumble. Then she sucked in a deep breath and lifted her chin. When she looked around the table, her kind eyes had transformed. He almost didn’t recognize the resolute person next to him. “Does anyone know a good lawyer? I’m tired of not having control of my life. The first step is to get rid of Bernie and go after every website, magazine, and television station that put up my photo.”

  She might look cold and hard, but Trent had been wrong. It wasn’t coldness from shutting down. No, it was steely resolve. Skye was preparing to break free. Trent turned to Ryker as he put down one of Skye’s bras that now had a GPS unit in it. “What about Olivia?”

  “Who’s Olivia?” Skye asked immediately.

  “Olivia Townsend is one of my lawyers,” Ryker said, not looking up as he typed into his phone. “We’ll meet at Harper’s for lunch.”

  “I don’t need an elite corporate lawyer. I need a down and dirty ballbuster.” Skye’s body started to vibrate with anger under Trent’s hand. “No. Not just a ballbuster, but someone who will castrate everyone involved and shove their balls down their throats.”