“Do you have something else in mind?”

“I’d love to spend time at the beach, but I’d rather it was more private.” I smile over at him and run my fingertips up and down his thigh.

“Hmm, private, huh?” He grins and slips his sunglasses on. “I know a spot.”

“Great.”

He guides the car onto the freeway, and less than twenty minutes later, we’re in his driveway.

“Well, this would be private,” I murmur and grin up at him as he helps me out of the car.

“As private as it gets around here.”

“Do you actually own a piece of the beach?” I ask, excited to get down to the water.

“Yeah, I could have bought a small third world country for what it cost me, but it’s pretty great.”

I start to walk around the house, but he stops me. “Let’s go through the house.”

“I want to go down to the water.”

“So impatient.” He smiles down at me and leads me inside. “We need a few things.”

“Such as?”

“A blanket.” He winks and my stomach clenches and the cute little pink thong I wore with these khakis is immediately soaked. One look from this man, and I’m a puddle.

God, I love it.

“Let’s go.” I’m practically jumping up and down with excitement.

“You don’t get to the beach often do you, sunshine?”

“It’s January, Leo. I believe it was forty degrees and raining when we left Seattle. It’s seventy-five and gorgeous here. Hell yes, I want to go walk on the beach.”

“You can leave your shoes up here. The sand is soft.” He takes my hand in his and leads me down a wooden staircase to the soft white sand below. The water here is so different from the north coast.

“You’d never imagine this is the same ocean,” I murmur and happily breathe in the ocean air.

“Pretty different.” He nods, watching the waves crash on the shore. It’s a picturesque day, sunny and warm, the water fairly calm. The beach is empty.

“Let’s go.”

Leo drops a thick blanket onto the sand and leads me down to the shoreline.

“It’s gonna be cold!” I squeal and step into the warm water. “Oh, it’s like bath water.”

I jog in place, enjoying the feel of the water on my feet, ankles and legs and kick and splash around, until I realize I’m frolicking like a loony toon all alone. I stop and look around and find Leo about twenty feet behind me, his arms crossed over his bare chest, sunglasses down over his eyes, and a wide smile across his face.

“Aren’t you coming in?” I ask.

“I don’t think you play very often,” he comments and joins me in the warm water.

“You do?” I ask with a raised eyebrow.

“Not as often as I should,” he agrees and pulls me to him. “I love watching you like this, happy and smiling.”

He lifts me into his arms, and he doesn’t just kiss me, he possesses me. Consumes me.

Finally he allows me to slide down his body, my feet splashing back in the water.

“Let’s walk.” I grab his hand and pull him down the shoreline, splashing my feet in the water as we walk.

“Talk to me about Parker.” His voice is quiet, but strong. He’s not going to allow me to evade or give him half-answers.

Hell, I wouldn’t either.

“He was in the Nightwalker movies with Luke. He played the older brother.” I begin and watch the white foam on the waves.

“Yes, I remember who he is. How did you become involved with him?” He asks.

“Are you going to get all jealous and stupid?” I ask him, only half joking.

“No, but I have a feeling this might explain quite a bit.”

It’ll explain some of my baggage, but not all of it. I’ll tell him this. I’m not ready for the rest yet.

“I went on location for about a week with Luke when they were filming. He was cute. I was stupid.” I shrug. “You know how it is.”

“And then?” He asks.

Damn him.

“And then we dated for a while. The movies were ridiculously popular. Well, you remember.” I roll my eyes at him. “Scott just loved the attention. He couldn’t be any more different from Luke if he tried. He also hated it that Luke was the one that got most of the attention because he was the lead, and the one all the stupid teeny boppers were hot after.”

I shake my head and hop over a piece of driftwood.

“Anyway, I knew relatively quickly that he and I weren’t going to last long. He’s way too egotistical for me, way too self-centered. But I was suddenly caught up in the whole media storm that came with those guys at the time. Poor Luke.” I stop and face the water, staring out at the sun beginning to sink into the horizon, the sky is turning pink and orange, but all I see is my poor young brother in my head.

“Women would chase him. Literally, chase him down the street. They’d find ways to sneak into his hotel rooms. Give blow jobs for phone numbers.”

“Sounds like groupies.” Leo smirks and I nod.

“Yeah, except these groupies were thirteen, fourteen years old.”

“Fuck,” Leo murmurs.

“Exactly.” I rub my face with my hands and push them through my hair. “Leo, I don’t know how many young girls claimed they were pregnant and that Luke was the father.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Nope.” I shake my head and laugh ruefully. “He, of course, never touched one of them, but that didn’t stop the accusations. Anyway, we were all chased all over the place during filming, and during the whole five years or so that the movies were popular. Well,” I amend and offer him a small smile. “Not me so much because after about six months, I broke it off with Scott and went home. But, in those six months, we were hounded every day. Paparazzi in our faces, whether we were out in public or not.”

I shrug and we start walking again.

“That’s not really what my life is like, Sam.” Leo’s voice is calm and his hands are in his pockets as he walks beside me.

“I know it’s not quite the same, but you’re still recognized all the time. We couldn’t even take a regular plane to get here.”

He frowns. “What are you saying?”

“I’m just telling the story. You asked,” I remind him and he nods. “Let’s turn back. So while we were still together, Scott and I were out for lunch one day, and the paparazzi found us, as usual. They wouldn’t stop asking questions, taking pictures, you know. And it pissed us both off, but Scott didn’t want to cause a scene and ruin his squeaky clean reputation. I didn’t give a fuck.”