Abby
I came back downstairs after I’d talked with my agent about the audition for my next potential role which he assured me I was a shoo-in for, and then my workout. I’d taken a shower to clean up, brushed my teeth, did my hair and makeup, and put on something that was casual enough to be believable that I wore it around the house, but slinky enough that I hoped it might entice my delicious bodyguard.
When I got downstairs, I found Kade just getting off the phone. Probably with Caleb. After all, he’d sworn that he’d call back. I was hoping that was the case, because if it was, it meant I’d dodged a second bullet.
Eventually, I would have to speak with my uncle and face the music, so to speak, but until then, I was going to dodge for as long as I could.
I came down the stairs quietly, considering my next move carefully. After my little announcement before I left, I was hoping that all sorts of raunchy things had been making their way through Kade’s head. I wanted him to want me and desire me until he was at the end of his rope so that the next phase of my great seduction would go through smoothly.
You shouldn’t be doing this, a very small voice in the back of my mind told me warningly. I wasn’t sure if it was some attempt at self-preservation or if it was something else, morality or personal boundaries or something, but it didn’t matter. I ignored it all the same.
“Kade?” I called, dragging his attention to me as I made my way down the last three steps.
Kade swiveled around to face me, apparently startled because he hadn’t heard my coming down. Which was, of course, the point. By the way his dark eyes dragged themselves over my body, I knew that I’d chosen correctly.
He definitely wants me.
“Are you busy?” I asked just as I stepped down off the last step. I was wearing flats because I didn’t want to risk falling down the stairs in five-inch heels just for the sake of being sexy. Besides, I figured he would notice something like that and probably resist me just because of it. Flats were casual and they went well with the pale pink sundress I was wearing. I didn’t think he was a pink kind of guy, but this was that peachy shade that made guys think of nipples and other things.
That was where I was hoping his mind was going right now as a matter of fact.
The dress was a bodice cut with a sweetheart neckline, which meant that it hugged my waist and flared out about halfway at my hips and the neck dipped low to accentuate my breasts.
And whether he was thinking of nipples and my soft, supple skin or not, he was definitely noticing my breasts and my legs slipping out from beneath the skirt of my dress.
“No,” he finally answered me, his voice coming out gruff. He seemed to be struggling with himself, maybe deciding where it was okay to look at me—there weren’t a lot of safe places, I was proud to say—or maybe trying not to jerk my body against his and do what I knew he wanted to do to me.
I didn’t want to ask about his previous phone call, though part of me was itching to do so. Deciding it would ruin everything I was working at right then, I just smiled and closed the gap between us.
“Good,” I told him. “Because I believe I made you a promise earlier.”
“What promise?” he asked, though I could tell by the way he swallowed heavily and his eyes darkened fractionally with what I was pretty sure was lust, that he already knew what I was about to say.
I smiled sweetly at him. “I said I still had to thank you for saving my life, remember?”
His body tensed and he said in a tone that was dark with emotion, “No, you don’t. It’s my job.”
But I shook my head, unwilling to let him so easily off the hook. “I insist. You deserve a reward.” My mind shot to the gutter as I considered all of the things that I could offer as a reward. I could slide my dress off right now and show him that I wasn’t wearing panties, or I could push him onto the couch and get down on my knees to undo his zipper. I could pull out his cock, which I had to believe was hard by now, and slip my mouth over the length of him.
I’ll bet he’d enjoy that, I thought to myself as my eyes darted down to his belt. He was wearing jeans so it was impossible to tell really if he was hard, but I thought they looked tighter than usual.
I could do other things, I thought. I could use my hands or my breasts—they were big enough to slide a cock between them—or anything he’d like.
And that was what I was going to do. Anything he’d like.
Swallowing as my heart beat rapidly with excitement, I said, “And my reward is this: today, we do whatever you want.”
Let him play with that idea! I thought giddily.
“Whatever I want?” he repeated back to me, his breathing coming a little more forcefully, his voice like gravel.
I smiled and nodded, stepping closer again until I was almost pressed up against him, until my chest was nearly flush with his. He stiffened and I was sure this time that he was hard, just by the way that his dark eyes looked down at me, devouring me whole as though I were something delicious to eat. I can be.
Instead, he swallowed and said, “I…I want to watch one of your movies.”
My eyes widened and I blinked up at him in surprise. “One of my movies?” It took me a moment, but then I laughed loudly at him, sure he was just kidding with me. No way that was going to be the one thing he asked for. Even if he didn’t want to do crazy, dirty things with me—or maybe felt wrong about asking for them—I couldn’t imagine that he honestly wanted to do that.
But when I stopped laughing, I saw that he was still looking down at me intently. I realized with a start that he was being serious. “You’re not kidding? I thought you said they sucked.”
He shrugged and looked away, looking almost sheepish as he ruffled his hair. “I actually haven’t seen any of them,” he admitted.
This, too, was a little funny to me as I realized he’d said that he thought I was a two-bit actress only to get under my skin, not because he honestly felt that way. It made me feel surprisingly better, which was the only reason that I wasn’t really disappointed with his request.
“Okay,” I finally acquiesced with a smile. “Any one in particular you’d like to see?”
He shrugged again. “Whatever one’s your favorite.”
I shook my head a little at him, then looped my arm through his. I felt him tense slightly, but took it as a good sign, that he was just warring with his own desire for me and nothing else. I pressed against him a little closer than was necessary, letting the side of my breast slip against his arm just for good measure.
Leading him downstairs to the basement, I revealed the huge entertainment center there. It wasn’t quite a theater, because it had couches and comfy chairs and a bar off to the side, but the screen was just as huge and it had one of those fancy projectors that played digital media.
I got us settled on the couch, which was plush with a bunch of extra soft pillows and a throw because it got cold in there pretty quickly. I picked out one of the lesser known movies I’d been in, but it was one of my favorites. It was from an indie film festival several years back and was one of the first parts I’d ever gotten. Although it hadn’t made it big, I’d enjoyed working with the director who was doing the whole thing out of pocket and by donation, and with the actors who were getting barely minimum wage—some were doing it for free.
By the end, we had all become friends. I hadn’t spent a lot of time with them afterward, but whenever my costars or the director was in town, I made a point of meeting with them even if it was only for coffee. The director, even had a few more movies after the fact, one or two making it pretty big.
I set up the projector and put in the movie for it to play.
“What’s this one about?” Kade asked, having chosen to sit a little farther away from me than I would have liked.
I shook my head. “You’ll just have to see.” I got up to grab us drinks—nonalcoholic after my fiasco last night—and when I came back, I made a point of sitting very close to him. Close enough that our legs touched as I tucked them up beneath me.
As the movie played, we were silent and Kade dutifully watched the screen, though I wondered if it had more to do with avoiding looking at me than it had with watching my movie. Either way, I wouldn’t let it detour me. Carefully, I let my hand slide onto his upper thigh, slipping it across the rough fabric of his jeans, close, but not close enough, to his package.
He stiffened instantly, and for once, I thought maybe it wasn’t in a good way.
Frowning slightly, I pulled my hand away and put my focus on the movie. I didn’t know what was wrong with him all of a sudden. It seemed to me that he’d been just as ready to jump my bones as I was his the previous night and I couldn’t figure out what it was that had changed.
Maybe he just doesn’t like me as a person, I thought, wishing I hadn’t just had a miserable thought.
It shouldn’t have mattered; I doubted we would last even if this turned into a relationship of some kind. But it did. I was hurt by the sudden distance, more so because I didn’t know why it was all of a sudden there. But I forced it aside and told myself that it didn’t matter anyway.
We watched the movie in silence until finally it was over. I got up and stretched out the kinks I’d gotten from sitting so long, then went and turned on the lights. I turned back to see that he’d been watching me, but he quickly looked away when I caught him looking.
I smiled a little. Maybe I was wrong. “So…was it really so terrible?” I asked him finally, coming to sit beside him again.
He frowned a little, thinking about my question, and I felt something deflate in my chest. He didn’t like it. But then he said, “Actually, you were amazing in it. I…it’s not the kind of movie I’d pick for myself, but there’s no denying who the star was in it.”
My face flushed at his compliment, somehow more genuine than every award I’d ever received. “Thank you.” I couldn’t help it as I leaned toward him, feeling the pull that baffled and thrilled me all at once. That compliment had set off a warm feeling that flooded and rushed me, making me want to curl up in his lap.
Before anything could happen, my phone rang. I might have ignored the call under normal circumstances, but I sensed who it was by the sudden chill that ran down my spine.
I hadn’t told him about the calls yet.
Pulling away quickly—just as I thought he might reach for me—I smiled and apologized. “It’s my agent. If I don’t answer it, he’ll go on and on and never let me hear the end of it. I’ll be right back.” I hurried out of the room with the phone, feeling Kade’s smoldering eyes on me as I did so.
I answered when I reached the kitchen, feeling that I was a safe enough distance away that there was no chance Kade would hear any of it. “Hello?” I said timidly, fear lacing my voice.
“Who’s the new guy, Abby?”
I hung up immediately. I was right, it was him. I knew deep down that I should tell Kade about the call, just like I should have told him about the letters—but I couldn’t. I couldn’t. It was all too much.
I called and had my phone number changed again right after I hung up. It hadn’t worked yet, but I did it anyway, because it at least delayed the next call. And at least I wouldn’t have to worry about Kade finding out who had really been calling.
I’d have to tell everyone my number had been leaked again and that was why I changed it—my go to excuse for the number of times it had shifted—but eventually I knew that I was just going to have to come clean about.
I should have already.