Dreaming With A Broken Heart (Hollywood Legends Book 1) (22 page)

Jade closed her eyes, savoring the feel of him rubbing a
day’s growth of stubble across her skin. It was a familiar feeling. Garrett
would do the same thing in that darkened motel room. She threaded her fingers
through his hair, pulling him away. She slowly opened her eyes.

“Thank you.” Garrett said the words against her
stomach, the brush of his lips making her shiver.

Jade watched as Garrett traced each scar, first with his
eyes, then his fingers. Finally with his mouth. Somehow, it was healing and
erotic at the same time.

“I wish I could take away the pain — erase it from your
memory.”

Garrett bathed the longest, deepest scar with his tongue.
Jade gasped. He seemed to have the power to give her so much pleasure, the pain
no longer mattered. When he unbuttoned her jeans, finding the very edges of the
indelible marks, she felt strength in her legs begin to falter. As though
sensing what she was feeling, Garrett rose to his feet, his hands lifting her
legs until they were wrapped firmly around his waist.

“I’ll never let you fall, Jade,” Garrett whispered
near her ear. He bit the lobe, somehow finding the perfect balance between pain
and pleasure. “Hold on. This is going to be fast and hard. Are you with
me?”

Always
. The word echoed in her head. All that came
out of her mouth was deep, gasping groan of pleasure.

Garrett reached between them, pulling her jeans lower, and
then fumbling to release himself. Jade felt the length of him, rubbing where
seconds earlier his mouth had been.

“Tell me you need this,” Garrett growled against
her lips. “Tell me you can’t live without it.”

“I need you.” Jade practically whimpered the
words, straining to bring her hips closer to his. “Now. Please.”

With one arm anchoring her to him, Garrett entered her, his
thrust hard. True. He muttered something about finding heaven before his mouth
crushed hers with a kiss filled with pent up passion and frustration. His
tongue swirled against hers, caressing the inside of her mouth. He didn’t take
the time to soothe or coax. This was raw. Primal. Up against the wall. No holds
barred. Exactly as she wanted it.

As Garrett’s thrusts became faster, his hand slid into
Jade’s hair. He slanted his mouth over hers. Neither needed a gasp of air. They
shared. Moan matched moan. Jade tightened her legs, grinding against Garrett,
her breasts flattened against his chest, her hard nipples practically branding
him. If she could make her mark on him, she would. Something permanent to
remind him he belonged to her.

“You’re mine, Jade. Say it.”

As much as she wanted to shout it to the world, Jade
couldn’t say the words. So she pulled his mouth back to hers.

“Damn it,” Garrett shouted as they both reached
their peak. “You! Are! Mine!”

As she crashed over into a pleasure like none she had ever
known, she cried out the words they both needed to hear.

“Yes! Yours. Only yours.”

Garrett’s harsh breath formed a light, damp, mist on her neck.
They spent several moments, locked together, their heartbeats synched in
pounding rhythm. Instead of letting Jade’s legs slide to the ground, he held
her tighter. Garrett made his way down the hall to the bedroom, turning at the
last second so that, as they fell onto the bed, he landed on the bottom.

Jade kissed Garrett’s shoulder before resting her head
against it. They were tangled together, clothing twisted, sweaty, sticky. It
felt amazing. She tried to tell herself this was wrong. Summoning up all the
reasons why this shouldn’t have happened was too difficult when she had
Garrett’s arms around her. She promised herself she would move away. Soon.
Tomorrow at the latest.

“Are you still angry?”

“Yes.” Garrett smoothed back her hair. “Less
angry. I’m still in recovery mode. After you tell me what all that crap was
about, I’ll probably scale back to mildly annoyed.”

Jade hesitated. Telling Garrett was the smart thing to do.
If he understood, he would stay away. The problem was she didn’t want him to.
After talking herself into believing she was doing the right thing when she cut
him out of her life, what did she do? She went to his parents’ house knowing he
would be there. Then, she didn’t simply welcome his lovemaking; she ripped off
her shirt. If that didn’t cry,
I’m ready and willing
, Jade didn’t know
what did.

Saying goodbye to Garrett was much easier when he was in
another country.

“Speak to me, Jade.”

Garrett pulled back until he could look her in the eye. What
he saw made him laugh. The two of them looked as though they had been through a
cyclone. Barely living to tell the tale.

“Hold that thought,” Garrett said, untangling
their legs. “Or maybe I should say, get your thoughts together. Once we
have cleaned up, I expect answers.”

Jade knew what needed to be said. Saying it to his face
would be the hard part.

“First things first.” Garrett kissed Jade.
Thoroughly. “Damn.” He kissed her again. “No more of that.
Thinking straight around you is hard enough without fogging my brain with
kisses.”

“You kissed me,” Jade reminded him.

“Details, details.”

Garrett scooted off the bed. He stood looking down at her
with admiration in his gaze.

“Looking at you seems to affect me the same as your
kisses.” He gave his head a quick shake. “I was going to undress you
myself. Bad idea.”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Jade tugged a little on the
waistband of the jeans that were already down below her butt. “A girl can
always use a helping hand.”

“No more sex until we’ve eaten,” Garrett declared.
“I don’t imagine that burger and fries are in the best of shape. I’ll
order us a couple of new ones while you start the shower.”

“I showered before you got here,” Jade told him.
She sniffed her arm. “I don’t want to wash you off my skin.”

“Oh, honey,” Garrett groaned. “If you keep
saying things like that, we’ll never get out of this bedroom.”

“Promise?”

Chuckling, Garrett lifted Jade into his arms.

“Incorrigible.” He took five steps, depositing her
at the walk-in door. “I like the idea of having your scent on me while we
eat. Find a shirt, though? Your breasts are too distracting.”

She watched as Garrett walked away, adjusting his clothes as
he went. Nice ass. Perfect for grabbing during sex. Jade grinned. She couldn’t
believe they had sex up against the wall. He still had on his shirt. His shoes
were still on his feet. Jade felt a shiver of excitement rush through her body.
Knowing she could make him want her that much was a heady thought. After a
brief consideration, she decided she liked having that power. It was only fair.
Garrett wielded the same over her.

Wearing a loose purple t-shirt, Jade joined Garrett in the
kitchen. She had changed out of her jeans into cotton shorts. They showed off
her long legs. She always considered them her best feature. Lately, they were
becoming nicely toned as well as shapely. Showing them off seemed only natural.

“Hey,” Jade cried when she saw him eating her
French fries. “I thought you called in another order.” Half the fries
were gone. “I guess they were still edible.”

Garrett shrugged, not the least bit chastised. “They’re
still in pretty good shape.” He dredged a fry in ketchup. “Want a
bite.”

“Gee, thanks.”

Sarcasm aside, the strip of potato looked good. She was
starving. Jade opened her mouth.

“Oops,” Garrett said. “There’s ketchup on
your chin.”

Chewing the warm fry, Jade reached for a napkin. As she
lifted it, Garrett snatched it out of her hand.

“Allow me.”

Eyes sparkling, he tossed the napkin onto the counter.

“Don’t you dare start something you aren’t going to finish,”
Jade warned when he pulled her close.

“I’ll finish.” He licked the red sauce from her
chin. Garrett leaned closer causing Jade to lift her lips in anticipation.
“Eventually.”

He pushed her away. Jade’s eyes narrowed.

“I cry foul. I want my kiss.”

“You can have as many as you want. After we talk.”

Garrett poured them each a glass of wine, handing one to
Jade. Then he took her free hand and led her to the sofa. Once they were
settled, he turned to her.

“Honey, as pissed off as that text made me, I knew
something had to have happened to make you send it.” He linked his fingers
with his. “When we said good night, you were happy. Hell, you were
glowing. I was under the impression we had a breakthrough. I was making plans
for the future.”

“You were?”

Hearing the surprise in her voice, Garrett laughed.

“Guys do that too.” He kissed the back of her
hand. “When it’s the right woman.”

“I let myself dream too,” Jade admitted.

“So tell me what happened. What changed in those few
hours?”

“My father.”

Garrett sighed. He felt a wave of anger he did his best to
tamp down. Why did every bad story Jade had to tell, begin with her bastard
father?

“What did he do?”

“He had me followed.”

Before she started, Jade thought her explanation would take
hours. In her head, it was an epic tale. Homeric. In reality, it took her
fifteen minutes — start to finish. She was so nervous by the end she wished she
had more to say.

For several moments, Garrett didn’t respond. His eyes,
though, were a stormy gray. That couldn’t be good.

“Why does he treat you like that?”

Looking around, Jade spied her purse on one of the
barstools. Without a word, she removed her wallet, taking out the picture of
her mother. She handed it to Garrett.

“The resemblance is amazing.” He looked from the
picture, to Jade, and then back. “This is no excuse, Jade. You aren’t your
mother.”

“No,” she agreed. “I’m not trying to make my
father out to be a sympathetic person. I’m simply sharing with you the only
clue I have. He doesn’t care about me, Garrett. I’m an annoyance. A daily
reminder of a woman who did the seemingly impossible. She walked away from
Anson Marlow. And now her daughter has done the same.”

“I might feel sympathy for your mother. Except she left
you alone with a man
she
couldn’t live with. Nothing justifies
that.”

Jade shrugged. “I can’t speak for her. She made her
choice. I
do
understand the need to get out from under my father’s
thumb.”

“Your father is the biggest son of a bitch ever
born.”

“Probably.”

“Probably?” Garrett exclaimed. “He wins the contest,
Jade. Hands down.”

“I don’t know any other sons of bitches.” Jade
shrugged. “I’ll defer to your vast knowledge.”

“Is that a joke? Because I don’t find any of this
funny.”

“No,” Jade conceded. “But at this point, it’s
either laugh or shoot him. I don’t want to go to jail.”

“Justifiable homicide. I know just the lawyer to get me
off.”

“You?” Jade frowned. “Why would you shoot
him?”

“Because you’re my woman. A real man steps in and does
what killing needs doing.” Garrett used his best Old West accent to
emphasize his point. “Now. Take a sip of your wine.”

Jade did what he asked.

“Good.” Garrett did the same. Taking hers, he set
their glasses on the coffee table. “Come here. I need to hold you.”

Gratefully, Jade wrapped her arms around Garrett’s waist, her
head resting on his shoulder.

“Am I?”

“Are you what?”

“Your woman.”

“From the moment you walked into that motel room.”
Garrett pulled her closer.

“You understand why this isn’t a good idea.” Jade
took a deep breath. She needed him to examine all the angles before he made his
decision. “Why
we
aren’t a good idea.”

“There isn’t anything that your father or the press can
throw at me that I haven’t seen before, Jade,” Garrett assured her.
“Let them rake their muck. It won’t last. Before you can blink, someone
else will capture the public’s attention.”

“My father can keep it alive as long as he wants.”
Jade burrowed closer, a chill passing over her. “I don’t know how he took
my leaving. I expected him to call. Or send one of his lackeys. Nothing.”

“Maybe he won’t do anything.” Garrett didn’t
believe his words any more than Jade did.

“His pride has been wounded. Or is it his ego?”
Jade sighed. “Whatever it is, he isn’t capable of letting it go, Garrett.
When he finds out you’re the man I was meeting, he will be livid. He hates
looking foolish. I shudder to think what kind of crap his people will start
throwing around.”

“I have excellent reflexes.”

“Some of it is bound to hit you,” Jade warned.
“I don’t want you or your family to suffer because of me.”

“None of this is your fault,” Garrett said with
absolute conviction. “As for my family. Our business is movies. That means
gossip. Ridiculous speculation. From my parents’ first date, they have been
tabloid fodder. I’ve lost track of how many times some rag has had them either
divorcing, separating, cheating. We’ve all developed rhinoceros skins when it
comes to such stories.”

“But…”

“I don’t care, Jade.” Garrett pulled her up until
they were face to face. “Understand? We’ll deal with it. If and when it
happens. No more hiding. And I’m sure as hell not walking away. Got it?”

Jade threw herself into Garrett’s arms.

“I know I should argue,” she whispered. “I
want this so much I can’t bring myself to.”

“This?” Garrett slid his hand under her shirt,
growling with satisfaction when he found her bare breast. “No bra and
those shorts? You wanted to drive me crazy.”

“You.” Jade gasped. One touch and her nipple was
hard. “I want you.”

“The food will be here soon.”

“Mmm.” Jade ran her fingers through his hair, tugging
gently until his mouth was close to hers. “Kiss me.”