Hollywood Lies (13 page)

“Come back.”
 

She walks backward to the door. “Nope. You’re dangerous, and I’m hungry.”

“I’ll be good,” I say in a singsong voice in hopes of luring her back to me. I’m not innocent, but with her I might as well be a virgin.
 

Cole opens the door to the hallway. “Oh, I’m sure you will be, but for now, it’s time to eat.”

While we eat, we fall into comfortable conversation about everything under the sun. I’m amazed at how similar our tastes are. We like the same music, the same films, the same books, and the same places.

“You’ve never been outside of the country?”

I answer with a shake of my head.

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

Collette sucks sauce off her finger, and I’m transfixed. “Well, that’s another thing that’ll change. We’ll promote the hell out of this movie. You’re going be sick of traveling after they’re through with you.”

“Will you go on the promotional tour?”

“Some of it,” she replies.

“So we’ll be seeing a lot of each other?”

That sexy little smirk reappears. It’s the one she wears in a promotional still from her movie
Like Friends
. I used to jerk off to it constantly, so seeing it in real life makes me want to come in my pants.

“How much of me do you want to see?”

I don’t hesitate. “All of you.”

Cole laughs, and then goes back to her food.
 

After dinner, we go back to playing around on the guitars in the living room. She plays better than my friend, Cooper, better than anyone I know, so I push myself to keep up with her. I start playing and singing the song Coop and I wrote back in high school, and she pauses just to listen.

“You sing, too. Now you’ve
really
got me interested. Do you play the piano as well?”

I stop singing for a moment. “No. My parents tried to force me into it, thinking I’d be the next, well, you, but I never took to it. My fingers are a bit too stubby and there’s so much going on.”

“Too many keys?” Cole asks.

“Exactly.”

“But only three pedals.”

I give her an exaggerated nod. “True, but no, I’ve never really tried to do the music thing professionally. I thought about it, but then I got a decent acting job.”

“The TV show?”

I nod. I don’t really want to talk about what ended up being nothing but five minutes of air time, even though it led to a few more bit parts in films. “Maybe I should do more music.”

“You should. It’s a stress reliever for me.”

“Yeah, but I don’t have a cool name like Highland.”

She laughs, and I want to kiss her again, but I’m not sure how to make that happen now that the moment has passed, so I continue to sing. Collette starts playing the perfect accompaniment to the piece.
 

We play late into the night, pausing a few times to talk or laugh. Somehow our guitars are abandoned, and we lie spooning on her king sized bed. Her back is flush against my chest. We talk about how late it is and how bored she gets most nights. She tells me of her insomnia, and I tell her about my ability to sleep just about anywhere.

“Lucky,” she mumbles. For a while, Cole makes these slow movements, shifting, really. I don’t know if she does them purposefully or if they are normal relaxation movements for her, but either way, my dick is hard again. I think about getting laid. I think about what it would feel to be inside of her, and I think about how to make it happen.

My hand slides over her hip, but when my fingers brush against the fly of her jeans, I realize Cole has stopped moving. I prop myself up on my hand and look down at her. She is asleep. Right after she finished telling me how she barely sleeps. I don’t know what I did to make her feel comfortable enough to sleep, but here she is.

The idea that this beautiful and vulnerable insomniac, who trusts very few people, has fallen asleep with me is more exciting than a passing fantasy of having sex with her. And if what she said is true—if she truly is interested in me and things continue the way tonight has, the fantasy will become reality.
 

I don’t want to wake her, but I’m not sure she wants me to stay overnight. Although if she didn’t want me here, she wouldn’t have fallen asleep in the first place, so I carefully reach down and pull up the blanket at the foot of the bed and cover us. I drape my arm over her waist again and bury my face in her hair. Falling asleep with her is incredibly easy.

I am so lucky.

After what feels like only a short time, I’m awakened by soft knocking. A glance at the clock tells me it’s just after four in the morning. I stretch after extracting myself from Collette’s still sleeping body.
 

My heart races as I look down and remember the night before. The music, the laughing, the food, the fantastic make out session.
 

The knocking continues until I leave the bedroom and throw open the suite door. As I drag a hand down my tired face, I’m expecting one of her security guards, but it’s Julie in front of me.

Her eyes widen as they take in my disheveled appearance. “It’s time for Cole to go to the gym.” Julie is pissed. Her tense posture as she breezes into the suite and how she looks around gives her away.

“She’s sleeping.”

“What?”

I point to the bedroom, and Julie goes in. I watch as she studies Cole for a minute, then she turns back to me, with fire in her eyes and hands on her hips. “She usually doesn’t let her conquests spend the night.”

The reference is supposed to make me hurt in some way. As much as it’s probably supposed to be a secret, it’s not news Cole goes out with a lot of men. She gets photographed enough for the whole world to know which flavor is on her menu on any given night. If I had to guess, it’s her
actual
relationships she tries to hide, not the men Julie refers to as
conquests
.

But despite that knowledge, I don’t feel threatened or demeaned. We didn’t have sex, and something tells me that if I was just the man of the week, we would’ve fucked all night instead of slept.

“It’s not like that,” I say to Julie.

She folds her arms over her chest which pushes out her tits like they’re weapons. “No? It’s cool, Devon. I totally get it,” she says in a voice laced with acid. “Cole can get you power and fame, and I can only get you off. It’s—”

“It’s not like that,” I repeat. “Not that I owe you anything. You did that tattooed guy, and we were never a thing, remember?”

Her face hardens even more. “You should go. Cole has shit to do.”

“ ’m up,” Cole says from the bed. She sits up and rubs the sleep out of her eyes. “Hey,” she says to me, smile on her lips and in her voice.

“Good morning.”

“Sorry about the whole falling asleep thing.” She rises and gives Julie a smile that isn’t returned. “Time for the gym, I guess?”

Julie nods curtly, but Cole doesn’t look at her as she walks to me and kisses my cheek. “See you on set.”

Chapter 6

Cole

I feel a bit out of it. I usually don’t get so much sleep. I have no idea how or why I fell asleep with Devon, but there was something comforting about him. Turns out, he can make me feel good by just talking, sharing music, or holding me. I haven’t experienced that in a long time. It’s a little scary.
 

“What’s up with you today?” I ask.

Julie angrily tosses her cell down on the counter and comes back with another huff. “Nothing.”

She never tells me anything personal, and it’s not like people on set rush up to me with the latest gossip. I’m usually too busy and gossip has never been my thing, but right now I wish it was because then maybe I’d have a clue as to what’s wrong with her. I set my script down next to me and take a sip of my coffee. “I don’t think this trailer can hold all the negativity oozing off you.”

“Well, we can’t all be Zen yoga masters like you, now can we?”

“Why don’t you take the day off?”

This gets Julie to stop fuming and actually look at me. “What?”

“Go do something fun, or take care of whatever’s got you in a knot.”

Again, she huffs as she folds her arms over her chest. “I’m not in a knot.”

“Listen.” I set down my cup and trace my lips with my finger. The memory of Devon’s mouth against mine makes the flesh tingle as if we are still kissing. “You’re one of my very favorite people in the world, but you know how I feel about irrational anger and—”

“Oh, it’s rational. Believe me.”

“Okay, so what’s going on?”

“Nothing.”

I stand and grab my script and coffee. “That’s not a rational response, and you know it. I need positive people around me. We all have bad days.
 
I need you to take today off to deal with yours.”

“That’s so—”

I hold up my hand to stop her words. There is so much fire in those two words, there’s no reason to let her keep going. Julie’s eyes are icy, and it seems like her hate is pouring out directly at me. “You’re acting like I’m trying to take something from you. I’m giving you a paid day off. Most people would be happy about that.”

“Fine,” she says.

“What have I done to piss you off like this?”

Julie lets her arms drop to her sides, but turns away. “Nothing,” she says again. She grabs her cell then faces me. “Maybe I
will
take the day off. Do you need anything before I go?” Already at the door before the question is out, she leaves no time for me to answer.

I dig my fingers into my eyes for a moment and I feel the stress Julie has layered in the air. I stand up straight, roll my shoulders back, and take in a deep breath. I have to clear my mind of this crap before moving on. I glance at the clock. I have to be on set and ready in five minutes.

I bend over in a yoga pose and put my hands on the floor, then walk them forward and push my body back. Down Dog stretches me. As the blood flows through my warming muscles, I feel better. I bring my right leg forward and raise my body up, holding my arms out in Warrior II. I sink down lower in the pose, then repeat the short sequence on the other side.

When I step out of my trailer, my mind is free from the negativity and latches onto the sensations of last night.
 

It’s baffling how I fell asleep with Devon. Usually I’m up all night; only sleeping a few hours and usually not with someone else in the room. But what gets me is how hot that kiss was, or rather
those
kisses
were, yet, I didn’t press him for the instant gratification of sex.
 

He was hard beneath me; I was wet and ready, but something about him makes me want to take my time. Going directly into sex with him might throw off what I’m trying to accomplish, and I don’t want to scare him.

Which is what, exactly? A relationship?

I let out a chuckle.
 

Sure, a relationship. Because those always work out well for me, and who knows if he’s even being genuine?
My life is an open book, he could be just pretending to like what I like. It seems like everyone wants a little piece of me, but something tells me this guy is different. Sure, he might want a piece of me sexually, but there is something deeper; a connection I don’t find with just anyone.