Hollywood Lies (23 page)

When Collette releases me, I pump my finger into her and make sure I touch that sensitive spot inside each time. Her noises increase, as does the speed of the circle she makes with her hips. I want her coming against me. I want to taste the best part of her; the part I bring out.

I forget about my straining cock and how badly I want to sink it deep into her tight pussy. I forget about any other need beyond hers. She needs me to give her pleasure her until her muscles seize and she screams out, unable to keep her satisfaction inside.

I feel her moisture increase until it’s dripping off my chin. Her heels dig into the divots of my collarbone, and I hear her hands smacking down against the mattress. Her words are unintelligible, but I understand all I need to know.
 

Cole is coming. The gentle nudges of sensation have climbed the peak and now they’re rushing over her; her entire body and being floods with love, endorphins, and satisfaction.

I remove my mouth as she echoes through the orgasm because I know her clit will be sensitive now. I kiss the inside of her thigh, then her knee, then that hard calf muscle, then her ankle. After I place a kiss on the arch of her foot, I stand up, hover over her and kiss up her body. I trail her thigh, mound, navel, sternum, both breasts, hollow of her throat, behind her right ear, chin, nose, forehead, and then last of all, her mouth.

The kiss is lazy, the product of great fulfillment. I’ve given her all of the energy I can, and she has expended so much she can do nothing but lie there, blissful in contentment.

I pull away. “Dinner’s waiting.”
 

“What about you?” Cole pushes herself up and reaches for my groin again.

“I can wait.”

“But—”

“Pace yourself. I’m going to make love to you all night.”

“Jesus Christ, you weren’t kidding, were you?” Cole says later. She nods to the clock, and I laugh. It’s three in the morning, and finally I feel we’ve both had enough.

I roll onto my side and glide my fingers across her skin; it rises into gooseflesh, and she shivers. After I draw up the sheet and comforter, I ask, “Do you think you can sleep?”

Cole draws her hands up above her head, fingers dancing a little in the darkness, then lets her arms flop back down onto the bed. “You’re like a sedative.”

“So I’m boring? I put you to sleep?”

She smacks my arm, then presses in closer to me. Her head on my chest, I run my fingers through her fiery hair. “We should get a dog,” I say, expressing my thought as it occurs to me.

“A dog?”

“Yeah. I love dogs.”

“
We
should get a dog?”

I don’t know why she asks again, so with a grin, I repeat my answer. “Yeah.”

Cole rolls away, then scoots up the bed until she’s sitting with her back against the headboard. “The film’s wrapping in like a week, Devon.”

“I know.” I mirror her position.

“Things are going to change. You know that, right?”

“I get that. We’re not going to have the little safe bubble of the hotel and being removed from centers of celebrity like LA, but nothing else will change. I’ll still love you, and we’ll be filming together in New York soon.”

“I’ve told you, we have to be even more careful in New York. It’s not going to be—”

“Why do you always have to ruin things? Can’t we have just one night where you let me think we’re a normal couple?” Obviously, it’s the wrong thing to ask because I can see the anger etched on her face even through the darkness.
 

“
Ruin things
? I don’t
always
do anything. Our relationship is only a few months old; it’s a bit premature to say either of us are
always
doing anything.”

I touch her arm. “I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant.”

“What did you mean then?”

Digging my fingers into my eyes and rubbing briskly does not help me get on track. I’m always so confused with Cole. “You keep pointing out how things are going to be different; how there’s going to be all this pressure; how hard everything is going to be. I can never tell if you even want to be with me, or if those scare tactics are meant to drive me away.”

“What? Are you serious? The fact that I just spent hours fucking you doesn’t clue you into what I want?”

Nothing will be resolved tonight anyway, but as I swing my feet over the edge of the bed and bend down to retrieve my pants, I can’t help but say, “Even your words confuse me.
Spent hours fucking
? Because in my mind, we spent the night making love and—”

“We can call it whatever you like; it doesn’t change the—”

“Do you even want this with me? I mean, I know the kinds of guys you’ve gone for, and I’m not like Oliver Jonas or Quin Houston. I don’t have either of their power. I’m not charismatic like Oliver, and I’m not some raw, organic soothsayer like Quin.” As I stand, I pull up my pants, then scratch my head as I turn to look at her. “I mean, are you just fucking me, or are we actually doing this? Having an actual relationship? Because it seems like all we do is stay closed off from the world, screwing.”

Cole moves to my side of the bed on her knees, slides her arms around my waist, and presses her head to my chest. “Yes, we’re in a relationship. I’m sorry if I go overboard on precautions, but I’m not in the habit of leaving myself vulnerable, and I don’t want you to be either. I want us to be together, which is why I’m so adamant you know what you’re getting into.”

“Someday I’m going to take you out on a proper date. We are going to walk into a restaurant holding hands, smiling, laughing, shoulders pressing together because we can’t stand any amount of physical distance between our bodies. And we’re not going to give a shit about who takes a picture.” I feel her nod against my chest, and finally I bring my arms around to encompass her. “When we start filming in New York, there’s no reason not to come out as a couple.”

“There’s every reason not to, Dev.”

I clench my jaw again.

“I don’t want to fight with you. Lie back down with me. We’ll deal with this another day, but let it go for tonight.” She pulls away, but holds my hands and gives them a tug. “Please?”

She looks tired, and I feel tired. I take my hands back and cup her face, then let them run down the curve of her neck to her shoulders. I slide them down over her arms, then back up to her breasts. I don’t pinch or grope, just lightly touch, before I follow the lines of her sculpted stomach. With my hands still on her hips, I connect my eyes with hers.
 

“I love you, Cole. I know you have experiences I don’t. They have forced you to mask who you are or how you feel, but you don’t have to protect yourself against me.”

Cole lowers herself down onto the bed again, and I follow. Her body presses against mine, her leg hitches over mine as her head rests on my bicep. She falls asleep before I do because my mind is restless with the fear of everything that could go wrong with us and the hope that nothing will.

Finally, when my body can take being awake no longer, I drift off next to her.

A few weeks after I signed the contracts for the next few films, Cole won’t look up as she talks to Liliana and me. I get the feeling something is wrong. It reminds me of when my parents disapproved of something I did and had to tell me how disappointed they were.

“You’ve both signed for the next movies, and that’s great, but a PR person from the studio will be coming by to give you the rules of conduct.”

Before I could, Liliana asks, “Rules of what?”

“It seems you both agreed to the terms, and so you’ll have to behave a certain way until the promotion of the final film is complete. You’ve agreed to lead the media and the public into thinking that you both fell in love on set.”

I
did
fall in love on set, but if I’m hearing her right, I’m supposed to make everyone believe it’s Liliana I fell for. I want to protest, but I’m not sure if Cole will want me to be explicit with Lili in the room.

“But I have a boyfriend,” Liliana says.

Cole nods and still won’t look at me. “Well, you can keep him. They want it to all look deceptive, like the two of you are together, only hiding it.”

The irony is not lost on me. I need Cole to look at me, so I speak. “That’s not fair. We just want to be in the movie.” I feel childish and sound like it, too, now that I’ve said it.

Finally, she fixes those beautiful green eyes on me. It’s not anger or disappointment I see; it’s resolution and acceptance. “It doesn’t really matter if it’s fair. You signed the contract regarding promotion and marketing of the next two films. This is what they require. Acting doesn’t stop just because the cameras aren’t rolling, and if you don’t want a lawsuit for breach of contract, you’ll do it.”

Cole turns back to Liliana. “Clue your boyfriend in. He’ll have to play his part as well.”

“But—” I begin to say, but she cuts me off with her hands on her hips.

“Look, this isn’t anything new. Hollywood’s been fabricating relationships almost as long as it’s been putting out moving pictures, okay? And this isn’t even the biggest lie out there. Next time either of you sign contracts, I advise you to have a lawyer read it, or here’s a novel idea: Read it yourselves because it’s obvious neither of you did.”
 

Cole turns away, rolls her head from side to side like she tries to ease away the tension. I can hear her taking deep breathes. Maybe I should do the same, but the whole thing disgusts me, and I curl my hands into fists as they rest on top of my thighs.

I know Cole doesn’t want to go public with our relationship while still directing this movie and
Reflections
. We’re still new, and if we came out now, the rumors will start. I know she thinks that all of her relationships go sour once the public knows about them.

But I can’t help but think if she’d just let us come out to the world before, I wouldn’t be contractually obligated to pretend to love someone else.

Later, in her suite, Collette flops down onto the sofa and pinches the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger. She stays silent, but I can tell she has something dancing around that active brain of hers. “Say it.”

She hesitates and shakes her head, but then grips me in a weighty stare. “You should’ve let Anthony look at your contract.”

“I know that now.” I nearly drain my bottle of beer and then get another one. When I come back, Cole looks so sad. I sit down next to her and nudge her into a sitting position. “This doesn’t have to change anything. We’ll still be secretly together, but now we’ll just have the added fun of pretending I’m in love with Lili.”