For the Love of His Life (21 page)

“If I go start filling it now, it will take about ten minutes. Then we soak for about a half-hour, until the water starts to cool. I’d say that’s do-able.”

Fifteen minutes later Raul sighed with pleasure as Veronica changed sides and moved over to lean her back against him. He lowered both of them further into the water, his hands on her breasts, fingering the nipples. She twitched and squirmed and he leaned over to bite her earlobe and whisper into her ear.

“I love how responsive you are. How my every touch gives you pleasure and ramps up my own excitement. I’ve spend weeks wondering what it would be like to touch you…to smell your skin…to lick your body. The reality is so much better than I ever imagined.”

“You really know how to sweet-talk a girl,” she giggled as the bubbles in the water tickled her chin. “No wonder half of the women in the world are in love with you.”

He stopped fondling her, each large hand cupping an ample breast, as he asked softly, “Does that include you?”

“Does it matter, when you have so much adulation?”

“It didn’t used to. But yes, it does.
They
want to be with Raul Roderick, the movie star. But I get tired of having to be
him
all of the time. Drugs and alcohol in mass quantities helped me to ignore the voice in my head that was asking if anyone cared about the real me. But I’ve been straight for weeks and that voice has been getting louder all of the time. I used to wonder if there really was any substance to the real me. Now I feel reborn, and I want to know what you think of Raul Ricardo Rodriguez.”

Veronica turned round, one knee on either side of Raul’s thighs, her groin resting gently on his lap. She gazed into his eyes for a long moment before smiling and leaning forward to rub her nose against his. He reached both hands forward and wrapped his fingers in her hair, pulling her face closer for a passionate kiss.

“Well?” he asked in a low voice, trying not to sound as insecure as he felt.

Veronica sighed before smiling. “I’m glad all those other women are interested in Raul Roderick, because quite frankly, I don’t like him much. They can have him. But as for Raul Ricardo Rodriguez?” She sighed again. “I really hope he’s not acting when he’s with me, because I’ve fallen in love with him.”

Raul felt tears well up into his eyes and worried how Veronica would react if she noticed. She looked at him closely then leaned forward to kiss each eyelid. Her nose rubbed against his. She kissed him, gently at first, then with increasing passion as she pressed herself against him.

She giggled as Big Rod reared up against her.

“I thought you said you needed to eat first,” she teased.

“If we didn’t have to get dressed soon, I’d eat you first as my appetizer.”

“What time is it anyway?” She leaned over and reached out of the tub for her watch on the vanity. “Oh, crap! He’ll be here any minute! We need to get out, dry off and get dressed. If he notices the wet hair we can always tell him we were out swimming in the lake.”

“Okay, but after he leaves, no more clothing. I want to admire you in every kind of light, including moonlight.”

She smiled at him as they dried off. “Aren’t you afraid of dripping pizza sauce or cheese onto sensitive places?”

He shook his head. “No. Mostly because if we do, the other person can lick it off. Hey, that reminds me, if you have any chocolate syrup, I have a great idea for dessert…”

* * * *

Jake told his parents that when he got there with the pizza, Raul and Veronica were playing gin rummy, sitting on the couch in the living room. They invited him to stay for a while and have some pizza with them, but he declined because he had a date to get ready for. Raul paid him for the pizza and gave him an extra big tip, winking and saying that it was for him to spend on his girl.

* * * *

As they were drifting off to sleep much later that evening, Raul whispered into the darkness. “Are you asleep yet?”

“Almost,” Veronica answered sleepily. “Why?”

“Can I sleep here again tomorrow night?”

After a moment of silence, she answered, “I guess so.”

“How about the night after that? Then the next one?”

“Isn’t your trailer going to be there? You’ll have to move out of the cabin and into the trailer. Right?”

“Yeah. But I don’t want to sleep there. I want to sleep here.”

“That’s not
all
you want to do here.”

“True dat.”

“Why don’t we talk about it tomorrow? I’ve got to be up early to make the pies, then we’ll go for our run just like always. We can talk while we run.”

Raul rolled onto his side and moved himself a little closer to the soft, warm body next to him. Veronica wiggled her butt to fit it in closer to him and he wrapped an arm around her waist. Her hair was on the pillow next to him and he inhaled deeply.

“I love the way you smell,” he said softly. “I love the way you fit into my arms.”

“Um hmm,” Veronica replied.

He waited until he heard her regular breathing indicating she was asleep. He took a deep breath to give himself courage before he said even more quietly, “I love you, Nica.”

Her only response was a quiet snore. He smiled and allowed himself to drift off to sleep.

Chapter Sixteen

Almost a week later, Jared waved at him as Raul walked out of his trailer. Veronica had dropped him off before she went to make the pies, and he’d taken a shower and changed his clothes. They had decided he should spend a couple of nights in his trailer, so they wouldn’t have to keep getting up quite so early, and she would pick him up on Saturday morning so they could run together. He would spend the next couple of nights with her. They were playing it by ear since the filming hadn’t really gotten started yet. Raul still wanted to spend every night with her, but Veronica insisted he needed to be seen spending time living on the set.

It was still early and he walked out in search of breakfast. Jared was sitting in the dining tent drinking coffee.

Raul helped himself to a bagel, some fruit, and a cup of coffee, before heading over to where his director was pouring over parts of the script.

“I’m glad you’re up so early,” Jared began. “I wanted to go over some of this with you before we get started. I’ve been thinking about what scenes we want to shoot first. Obviously you’ll have to stop shaving for a while, to get the beard and mustache that old Hank had. We’ll save those scenes for when it’s grown in enough. So here’s where I thought we’d begin…”

Raul was pleased that even though he must have known where his star had been spending the night lately, Jared never mentioned it or acted as if it mattered to him.

If only the rest of her family would be so accepting!
Raul thought before he began to pay serious attention to the details his director was discussing with him.

Many hours later, after meeting with the make-up people, getting measured by the costume designers and walking through some of the preliminary scenes, Jared decided it was time for them to have some lunch. Raul noted there were the usual choices of sandwiches or wraps, but no soup. Since not all of the crews were on-site yet, Veronica hadn’t yet started delivering soup and pie.

As they ate, they kept talking about the plans for the scenes they were going to be shooting soon.

“But we’ll have to wait on that one until the leading lady gets here,” Raul pointed out.

Jared nodded, “Oh, didn’t I tell you? She got in late last night. She wanted to meet you, but I told her that you hadn’t finished moving into your trailer yet. She was all for me driving her out to see you last night, but I kept making up excuses. No need for her to know where you’ve really been spending your time.”

Raul studied Jared’s face. “You’re alright with that?”

Jared shrugged. “What choice do I have? Ronnie’s a grown-up and it’s really none of my business. My only problem will be if you hurt her and we’re still filming. They won’t have to put make-up on you for the after-fight scenes, since I’ll have to beat the shit out of you myself.”

Raul nodded. “Understood, boss.” He shifted around in his seat, painfully aware that every time he even thought about his Nica, or heard her name, he got hard.

“I’ve been trying to take it slow with her, but that’s proving to be impossible. I’m head-over-heels in love with your cousin. Since this is the first time in my life that’s ever happened, I have no intention of hurting her. If anything, I’m terrified that she’ll get bored with me and I’ll be the one in pain.”

Jared’s eyes narrowed. “That would be useful for the movie…”

Raul’s face reflected his self-doubt. “But horrible for my self-esteem…”

“Hank Maynard was not a cocky man,” Jared began.

Their discussion was interrupted by the arrival of some of the camera-crew who wanted to start blocking the scenes they were going to film first.

The rest of the afternoon flew by as they worked hard on the behind-the-scenes things that take up so much time when making a major film. They were interrupted midway through the afternoon by the sudden appearance of a beautiful, young blonde woman.

She strode over to them and cleared her throat impatiently, while staring at Raul directly. Jared noticed her and smiled as he held out a hand and she walked over to place her hand into his.

“Ah, here you are. Raul, this is Kelly Ann Sheridan, our female star. Kelly, this is Raul Roderick, your leading man. You two are going to have to work very closely together for the next few months, so I hope you are going to get along.”

Raul put out his hand to shake hers, but Kelly moved forward to pull his head down and kiss him on the lips. He was surprised, but kept his eyes open.

“I’m so excited to finally meet you, Raul,” she gushed in a high, girly voice. “I’ve been looking forward to this moment from the time Jared said I had the role!”

He smiled politely at her while taking a small step backwards.

“It’s good to meet you too, Kelly,” he said. “I’ve seen some of your work, but you are even more lovely in real-life than on-screen.”

She giggled. “Thanks. You’re hotter too.”

Jared took over the conversation, “Now that the niceties are over, how about we spend some time going over some things?”

They were so busy that no one got a chance to talk about anything that didn’t concern the movie they were making. They kept talking shop even through their dinner of hot-dogs and beans. At some point Kelly yawned and excused herself, saying that she was still jet-lagged and was heading to bed so she could get up early in the morning. The others continued to work.

It was after ten when Jared finally decided he was done for the day.

“Get some rest, everyone,” he said as he got up and stretched. “We’ll be getting an early start tomorrow.”

Raul walked next to Jared for a while, since their trailers were in the same general area. Jared glanced at Raul and asked, “So what’s up? Something’s been bugging you…out with it.”

Raul shrugged then blurted, “She’s so young! How am I supposed to make falling in love with her realistic, when she’s so much younger than me?”

“She’s not even ten years younger than you,” Jared observed. “She’s twenty-two.” He grinned at Raul’s rolled eyes. “Maybe the problem is that you’re getting too used to having an older woman.”

Raul’s eyebrows rose. “Older?”

“I thought you knew! Ronnie is thirty-three…she’ll be thirty-four in November. Thanksgiving has always been a big deal to her because it’s close to her birthday, and she loves the whole
eating-as-a-celebration-of-family-love
vibe.”

Jared chuckled at Raul’s obvious distress.

“Ah, you young people! You have no idea how old your beloved is? What on earth do you talk about while you are catching your breath?”

“Obviously not age,” Raul said grumpily, upset that he had been surprised by this revelation.

“But you knew that Ronnie and I are best buddies because we are close in age. I’m thirty-five. Or didn’t you know that either?”

“I guess I never gave it any thought at all. I don’t think about age much.”

“But you’re thinking about it now,” Jared teased. “I don’t know why. Half the men in America would kill for the chance to be naked in bed with Kelly, even if there were thirty-or-so fully dressed crew members watching.”

“I’ll feel like I’m cradle-robbing,” Raul groused.

Jared lightly punched his arm. “Better lose that feeling soon, dude. When we start filming love scenes, I expect you to act as if she’s the woman of your dreams.”

“The only similarity is that she is also a blonde.”

They had reached Jared’s trailer. “See you tomorrow morning, bright and early,” Jared said as he opened his door.

“Yeah, see you then.” Raul lit his last cigarette of the night as he walked slowly back to his trailer. He sat on the steps looking up at the stars for a moment, thinking about how much he missed Nica and wondering if he was going to have trouble sleeping without her in his arms.

Time to find out.