Hidden Hollywood

He cocked his head like he was listening, but maybe wasn’t following. He’d seemed so sharp before, his speech so intelligent and articulate. Did he really not understand?

A tickling of mortification went through her, shoving bold proclamations of lust out the window. Maybe this was—

He grabbed her unexpectedly around the waist, lifting her so they were chest to chest, eye to eye. “What’s all this about desire and consent?” he asked in a very serious tone.

“For sex,” she whispered.

He grinned. “Can’t get more clear than that.” He gave her a smacking kiss on the lips. “Magic to my ears.”

She beamed. She’d got him. “Music.”

His dark brown eyes sparkled with good humor. “That too.”

“Can we go to your place? I have a roommate.”

“Let’s walk to town. There’s a few B&Bs there. Then we don’t have to worry about driving after all that wine.” A bed and breakfast! How quaint!

“Brilliant!” She floated in a haze back through the woods, Josh’s fingers entwined with hers. They kept bumping into each other, trying to walk so closely, or maybe that was her because she was a little tipsy. He stopped a bunch of times to kiss her again while she rubbed shamelessly against him.

He stowed the cooler in his car, and a short walk later, they crossed the pedestrian bridge over the river and onto the sidewalks of downtown Greenport. Josh assured her the B&B he had in mind was just a couple of blocks away. She waited outside a drugstore while he thoughtfully bought condoms, not wanting to be seen on any security cameras even in disguise.

He stepped out, bag in hand, gave her a quick kiss, and they continued on their journey to raw primal lust. A horrible thought occurred, one she couldn’t let slide. “Are you going to be a gentleman in the bedroom?”

He squeezed her hand gently. “Do you want me to be?”

“No!”

He chuckled. “I love how honest you are. You’re the real deal, Jenny.”

She swallowed. She wasn’t at all. He was the one who was the real deal—honest, down to earth, the kind of guy she would’ve been with back before she made it big.

But she could still be herself in the bedroom, she reasoned. As long as he didn’t know her real name. As long as it was dark. As long as he wasn’t a hair grabber. She couldn’t worry about that right now. This had to happen. It had been so long since she’d wanted anyone at all. She went up on tiptoe and whispered what she wanted to do to him. He grabbed her hand, practically running down the sidewalk, making her laugh.

He stopped, kissed her breathless, and then pulled her along to an adorable bed and breakfast. She wasn’t going to think about tomorrow or the next day. All she wanted was one raw passionate night.

Chapter Five

Josh was regretting this dinner date as his twin more and more. The restaurant was too posh. He had to wear a damn monkey suit and the portions were tiny. Not only that, Hailey, sitting across from him, looked like a perky princess of sunshine, and he couldn’t stop soaking her in. Dammit. The woman was glowing, animated and enthusiastic. She was never like that with him, only for billionaire Jake. With Josh, she was always huffy with her nose in the air.

He might’ve had a little something to do with that.

She was so easy to rile up, and he couldn’t seem to help himself. But tonight, he was being Jake, and she was all smiling enthusiasm to every boring fact he spit out about his fancy lifestyle. He did it just to see how much she was into the money thing and, boy, was she ever. He fought the urge to loosen his tie before he laid it on thick, bragging about his six-thousand-square-foot home with a pool and a view of the bay. How he’d hired the best architect, best interior designer, blah, blah, blah.

“That sounds wonderful,” Hailey enthused.

He was both miffed with her rapt attention to all this boring shit and in the throes of unwanted lust. Her white dress was ruffled on top and off-the-shoulder, exposing creamy shoulders that he wanted to sink his teeth into. He hadn’t missed the way the dress clung to her perfect body—full breasts, curvy hips and ass, shapely legs. He scowled and pulled out his cell phone. As usual, Hailey had him teetering between two extremes, an uncomfortable feeling for his purposefully laid-back life. “You’ll love this,” he told her, swiping through the photos until he got to the one of his brother on his huge yacht. He showed it to her.

“Wow! So cool!” she exclaimed. “I’ve always wanted to try sailing.”

Even he knew you didn’t sail on a yacht. “It’s more like boating. No sail, see?”