Only for You (30 page)

“You shouldn’t feel self-conscious,” he whispered, spreading his long legs slightly so that his knee bumped into hers. He opened his hand on her thigh. He must have noticed her arched brows. “No one can see us back here. And as for feeling awkward, don’t. I’ve heard this movie was great, and you’re a fantastic actress.”

“You haven’t seen it?” she hissed.

He merely shook his head, his attention on the screen.

For some reason, his admission made her feel even pricklier with awareness. As one scene ended, she started to realize why. The next part of the movie was one of two pretty intense love scenes. She swallowed uneasily and slunk down in her seat. The experience was a new one for her. She’d never been embarrassed watching one of her movies with company before, even with a few short-lived boyfriends. She hadn’t treasured the idea of her father or mother watching her love scenes, but they hadn’t made her cringe like she was at that moment. She and Seth had already discussed the fact that she used a body double for nudity though. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

She held her breath as Scott Barrett, the male lead, leaned down to kiss her on the screen. Was it her imagination, or did Seth stiffen in the seat next to her? She glanced anxiously at his face in the darkness. No, it wasn’t her imagination. He peered at the screen with narrowed eyelids as Scott unbuttoned her blouse and the kiss turned torrid. The critics had labeled her and Scott’s chemistry electric. The tabloids had falsely reported a secret romance between them. Did Seth realize those reports were false? She and Scott had little in common, although she’d found him to be a nice enough coworker. The whys and why nots of onscreen chemistry remained a mystery to Gia, as they did to most actors.

Maybe Seth wouldn’t find that reassuring, though, given the heat escalating on the screen as Scott came down over her on the bed.

How does a person ever know what’s real and what’s not?

His voice replayed in her head, along with the vision of the tense frustration in his expression when he’d said it.

An eternal moment later, the camera angle tightened on Gia’s face as they enacted intercourse. It was unbearable. Seth prized her sexual honesty, just as she prized his. It was one of the magical things about their being together. Gia had never experienced true intimacy in her life until she’d been with Seth. She knew that now. It was ridiculous, but she felt guilty somehow, watching the scene. Not because she’d acted out intimacy with Scott Barrett, but because Seth stared at her giving away a tiny part of what she gave him when they made love.

He would always think he shared her with the world.

She opened her mouth to suggest leaving, but his hand tightened on her thigh. A knot had formed in her throat. She exhaled in relief when the scene came to an end. If she thought the charged atmosphere would ease when the scene ceased, she thought wrong. Heat emanated from Seth’s large hand onto her thigh. He squeezed the muscle and rubbed her. His hand slid higher. Arousal prickled through her, the unexpectedness of it in this situation taking her by surprise. She squirmed slightly in her seat to alleviate the pressure growing at her sex.

Suddenly his hand was gone and she felt his fingers near her ear.

“What are you doing?” she whispered.

“Exposing your ear,” he replied very quietly. He pushed the edge of the wig over the top of her ear.

“Why?”

“Because I’m going to talk dirty to you,” he said very quietly right next to her ear.

Excitement jolted through her, sending shivers of sensation rippling through her body.

He cupped her sex through her jeans. Gia went dry mouthed as she stared blindly at the screen, and he moved his hand in a subtle circular motion, stimulating her. Gia bit her lip. It felt
very
good.

“Unfasten your jeans,” he breathed out near her ear.

She glanced over at him. She could see the determined gleam of his eyes in the flickering shadow. “Are you sure it’s okay?”

“No one can see us. I want your pussy. Now. You’ll have to keep very quiet.”

His incendiary words thundered in her consciousness.

Keep
quiet? Given what Seth typically did to her? She hadn’t realized she could be so noisy in bed until Seth had made love to her.

He removed his warm hand from between her thighs. She missed his touch. She glanced aside anxiously to make sure no one had walked into the theater. The aisles on both sides were empty, the row of seats shadowed and dark, and the other movie watchers were far away. The risk was worth it . . . to her it was. But that didn’t mean her heartbeat didn’t start to slam in her ears.

She unfastened her button fly. Seth immediately sank his left hand into the opening and beneath her underwear. His gaze remained on the screen as he moved his fingertips deftly against her outer sex, parting her labia.

At first, it felt like he was tickling her eager, sensitive flesh. His touch was dead-on, but he kept it light, building the burn in her until she squirmed in her seat. She placed her hands on the chair arms and subtly bucked her hips against the pressure of his hand.

He lowered his mouth near her ear.

“Do you need it harder?”

“Yes,” she whispered emphatically. She turned to him, blindly seeking his mouth with her own.

He backed up slightly. “No. Don’t tempt me.”

Gia suppressed a sound of frustration. She understood. He would ruin her lip makeup if they started kissing. Besides, if someone looked back, they’d see them making out. They
couldn’t
see what Seth was doing to her below the seats. Lots of people made out in movie theaters, but Gia wasn’t so sure of how fond Prairie Lakes would be of two males doing it in the local theater.

“Slouch down in your seat some and spread your thighs,” he said into her ear. She did as he directed. There was a chase scene going on in the movie. Not that she cared. She lowered in the seat and opened her legs, giving Seth more access. He palmed her outer sex, his fingertips rubbing her entrance teasingly. He pressed the round stone of his ring between her labia and began to rub her clit in a subtle circular motion, occasionally pressing it like a little button. For the next several minutes, she just slouched there, tense as a coiled spring, staring straight ahead with glazed eyes as he played with her and whispered illicit things in her ear, and she burned.

“You’re so fucking creamy. Your pussy kills me,” he whispered hoarsely, his mouth caressing her ear as he spoke. Gia realized muzzily that he’d turned her ear into a sex organ, exposing it the way he had. He was a precise devil when it came to sex. He stirred his hand a little more forcefully and the sound of him moving in her wet flesh reached her ears, highly charged and erotic. “Do you hear that? You’re so warm and wet. I wish I could slid my cock into that tight little pussy.”

His dirty talk sent her over the edge.

“Seth—”

“Come against my hand,” he demanded, intuiting what she was about to say.

She bit her lip and began to climax. The need to be silent—the entire situation—seemed to make her orgasm all that much more tense and forbidden. Delicious.

“That’s right,” he hissed as she shuddered. He used his other hand to move her right knee toward him, parting her wider. He removed the hand with the ring and shoved his other hand down her pants. He thrust a finger into her slit. She didn’t succeed in silencing her cry entirely this time as her orgasm ratcheted up momentarily. Fortunately, her low bleat of excitement was lost in the swelling music on the screen. She was slouched very low in the seat now. The chair in front of her was obscuring half the screen. Instead of giving her a post-climactic break, Seth began to power his finger in and out of her, his actions deliberate and forceful. Again, the sounds of him moving in her wet pussy reached her ears, not loud enough to carry far, but electrical in their impact.

He dipped his head.

“I can smell you. You’re so sweet,” he grated out. He pushed another finger into her. Her face tightened in pleasure as he finger-fucked her, and his thumb began to rub her clit. Her body tensed. She shouldn’t be doing this. This was getting out of hand.

“Don’t fight it, Gia,” Seth whispered near into ear. He’d sensed her second-guessing herself. “If I can’t fuck your little pussy with my cock right now, I sure as hell will with my fingers. Give in to it.”

His entire arm moved tensely over her now. Gia grimaced as the friction took over and she felt herself rising again toward climax. She felt completely helpless, vulnerable and open to his insistence upon pleasuring her.

But it was Seth’s touch, and it was so good.

“I’m going to feel you tighten around me this time,” he said very quietly with his lips touching her ear. “You wouldn’t believe how good it feels when you squeeze my cock when you’re coming.”

She clutched onto his thrusting forearm as she came again.

“Yeah, I can feel your heat. Give me more of that.”

She lost herself for a moment, coming violently against his hand.

When she came back to herself, he’d removed his fingers from her and was spreading her abundant juices all over her labia, anointing her.

Making a point.

“That’s not something that can be faked,” he said darkly near her ear.

Gia wasn’t sure what to think about him saying that, fogged with lust as she was. He removed his hand from her pants and closed the button fly partially.

He took her hand in his and placed it on his crotch, and her thoughts about his tensely uttered words vanished. His cock rode horizontally along his pelvis and was pressed tightly against the fabric of his jeans, furiously erect. She tightened her fingers on the shaft. He moved his hand, forcing hers to move with it, grinding her hand against his cock and jerking it up and down several inches so that his cock rose and fell, his actions forceful and crude and exciting. Wordlessly, he let go and began to unbuckle his belt and unfasten his jeans.

A moment later, she held his naked cock in her hand. He felt warm and deliciously hard.

“Watch the movie, Gia,” he ordered near her ear. “Stare at the screen and jack me. I want you to remember this.”

“I’m not going to forget it,” she whispered shakily, training her gaze on the flickering screen. Her image was up there, huger than life, but it was the experience of pumping Seth’s cock, of holding his pulsing flesh in her very hand that was real. In her peripheral vision, she saw him cup his balls as her fist flew up and down his shaft. She looked into his lap, hungry for the familiar, yet always compelling, vision.

He lifted his hand and tilted her face gently back to the screen. “Faster,” he hissed into her ear. “I’m about to come, and you’re going to swallow what I give you. Aren’t you?”

“Yes,” she whispered, her mouth salivating at the thought.

Her arm muscles ached as she pumped him for all she was worth. He made a low, rough sound in his throat. Unable to keep her gaze locked on the screen, she looked into his lap again. His hand lifted his clean-shaven testicles, cradling and squeezing them while she furiously jacked the long, straight shaft.

“I’m about to come,” he said into her ear, his breathing rough. “Slide my cock into your mouth, but you don’t need to suck. Don’t ruin your makeup.”

She bent, fitting the fat, succulent head between her spread lips, her hand still jacking him. He jerked when she defied him, tightening around him and bobbing her head up and down just a few inches. She sucked, prodding him to give her what she wanted.

He complied silently, every muscle in his body drawn tight. His cock swelled huge. The musky taste of his come spread on her tongue. He clutched her head. She remained still while she pumped him and he ejaculated into her mouth.

It was dark in the theater, but the moment was lurid. Brilliant. Intense. Gia knew it would be indelibly pressed into her memory for as long as she lived.

They left the movie a little early and returned to the SUV, where Seth retouched her makeup. He seemed especially focused on his task, and Gia thought it was because he considered it a professional victory if he could fool Rill Pierce’s sharp director’s eye.

She was still a little dazed by what had happened in the movie theater, mostly because she wasn’t sure
what
had happened. She wasn’t sure if it was just an impulsive, incredibly charged erotic interlude—a product of their having to restrain themselves from touching each other—or if there was something more to Seth’s intensity.

Had she been right in thinking he’d been making some kind of point by making her surrender to him sexually in front of the big screen, that blatant symbol of her career and the life she’d chosen?

Had he been subtly insisting she give herself to him completely after watching her give a small part of herself to millions of people?

She’d participated eagerly. The sex had been charged and deeply erotic. But what had happened in the movie theater seemed somehow ominous, too, like a dark cloud had begun to cast a shadow on their idyllic time together. Maybe she’d been right in fearing that their intimacy would be ruptured if they left their private sanctuary in the woods.

She grew quiet on the way to Rill and Katie’s, thinking. If any aspect of her concerns were true, why did she love submitting to him so much? Shouldn’t she be worried she would sacrifice personal goals in order to be with him . . . especially given how hard she was falling for him?

That thought made anxiety flame higher.

Her sense of unrest didn’t really leave her, but she subdued it as they drove to Rill and Katie’s house. While they climbed a long road up a hill, Seth briefed her about why a top movie director–screenplay writer and a former tax lawyer from Hollywood lived a good part of the year in remote Vulture’s Canyon. It seemed Rill had gone through a particularly dark period after losing his first wife in a car accident and had ended up in Vulture’s Canyon, licking his wounds and sinking into a deep depression. Rill was Irish, but had come to UCLA for undergrad, where he’d become good friends with Everett Hughes and been adopted by the entire Hughes family. When Katie had come to Vulture’s Canyon to “save” Rill, at first he had strenuously resisted the overtures of his longtime friend. Katie refused to be scared away, however, goading Rill out of his funk with her stubbornness and determination. With her love. Finally, he’d wised up, realizing he wanted Katie even more as a partner than he had as a friend. They lived simply and happily up on top of the hill in the midst of the forest, where Rill could focus on his screenplay writing, Katie could work as a tax consultant for a local social service center, and they both could raise their little girl, Daisy, in peace.

The Pierces lived in a handsome, sprawling farmhouse. Through encroaching dusk, Gia saw the large front porch was decked out with pumpkins, corn sheaves, and purple and orange mums in pots.

“It’s already near sunset,” Seth said quietly as he parked the SUV in the driveway at the front of the house. “The shadows are in our favor as far as your makeup, and their interior lighting is soft.” He removed the keys and looked at her. “Are you ready to do this?”

Her excitement about meeting someone so respected in the film industry—not to mention the benefactor of her college education—had turned her anxiety in a new direction. “You’re really looking forward to this, aren’t you? Maybe we should make a bet on whether or not they figure it out to make things more interesting. I’ll take Rill figuring it out; you bet on your powers of deception,” she told him humorously, watching as he unwrapped the package on the battery-operated candles.

He shook his head. “Your acting is the key to it all. I don’t want to weigh the odds against a bad performance.” He squeezed her thigh warmly. “Break a leg,” he said amusedly before they got out of the car and retrieved the bag holding the pumpkin from the backseat.

Rill stepped onto the front porch to greet them. He was a big man with the shoulders of a linebacker. He bent slightly, holding the hand of an adorable toddler sporting two dark, curly pigtails behind her ears. Daisy watched their approach up the stairs with enormous eyes. Gia recognized the immediate challenge to enacting her role. Her heart melted at the sight of the little girl. Gia had been her neighborhood’s favorite babysitter. Maybe it was because she was an only child, but she’d always loved kids. She doubted Jessie would fawn over a two- or three-year-old though. She’d have to ignore her cute button being pushed.

Pushed ruthlessly.

Things only got worse when Seth climbed up the stairs before her. He laughed and greeted the little girl, who grinned up at him. He set down the bag he carried and swept her into his arms.

Oh no. Adorable emergency.

Seth was so big and masculine, and Daisy was so tiny and feminine. Something swelled tight in Gia’s chest, her unexpected reaction making her panic a little. Would she give herself away to Rill so early on?

“This is Daisy,” Seth told Gia. His usually impassive features cracked open into a wide grin that made Gia’s heartbeat quicken. “You’ve grown since I saw you two months ago,” he told Daisy. “How old are you now? Twenty-one?”

“She’s not allowed to ever turn twenty-one. We’ve already discussed it,” Rill said, his Irish accent perfectly suiting his brawny handsomeness. “Hi. I’m Rill Pierce,” he said, sticking out his hand.

“Sorry,” Seth said, pulling his gaze away from Daisy, who was soberly holding up two pudgy fingers to tell him her real age. She heard the screen door squeak open behind them. “This is my newfound nephew, Jessie Bauer.”

Rill gave her a hearty handshake, which she returned with boy gusto.

“I can’t wait to hear this story,” a woman said from behind Rill. Rill turned and Gia saw Katie Pierce. She thought she saw the resemblance between Katie and her celebrity brother, Everett Hughes. Katie was beautiful, with long, wavy blond hair that almost reached her waist and delicate features that her daughter had inherited. Something about her face suggested she loved to laugh. Seth bent down to give her a kiss on the cheek, still holding Daisy. Despite her mother’s arrival, Daisy seemed quite happy to stay in Seth’s arms.

“Uncle Seth,” Daisy interrupted as Seth made introductions.

Katie gave Gia a wink. “Her aunt Joy calls him Uncle Seth, so Daisy thinks it’s her right as well.” Katie blinked and her smile faded. “I’m having an awful hard time keeping the secret of Jessie under wraps from Joy,” she told Seth.

“I’d rather break the news to her in person,” Seth said evenly. “It’s not really the sort of news she should hear over the phone, do you think?”

Katie gave a concessionary nod, then seemed to realize something. She looked at Gia. “Oh my gosh, if you’re Joy’s half brother, then that means we’re family as well, right?” she asked Rill, her brow scrunched together.

“It’s a bit convoluted,” Rill said.

“Isn’t family always?” Katie replied with a grin at Gia.

Daisy patted Seth’s shoulder to get his attention. She pointed wordlessly at the large sack he’d set on the porch.

“You think that’s for you?” Seth asked Daisy teasingly. Daisy searched his face somberly and then nodded her head, her pigtails bobbing. Seth laughed and set her down on the porch. He reached into the bag, and Gia knew he was turning on the candles before he withdrew the jack-o’-lantern.

“Ohhh,”
Katie said in amazement when he withdrew the pumpkin. “It’s
you
, Daisy.”

“Would you look at that,” Rill said in quiet admiration.

Gia couldn’t help but grin at Daisy’s huge eyes and rapt expression as she stared at the glowing pumpkin with her face carved on the side. She hadn’t realized when he was doing it, but Seth had altered the thickness of how much he cut into the skin of the pumpkin. In some places, the candlelight barely showed through, but in others, the pumpkin was nearly transparent. It created a subtle shading to the carving. The only place where he’d cut all the way through was at the opening of Daisy’s mouth and two specks in her eyes, which gave the impression that the face was full of life and laughter. It was a skillfully done piece of art.

She met Seth’s stare. She shook her head slightly in amazement. He really was brilliant.

“It’s a Daisy pumpkin,” Seth told Daisy when she stepped toward the carving, her small hands outstretched eagerly. “A Daisy-kin.”

“Mine,” Daisy said.

“It is definitely yours, but it’s too big for you to hold. How about if we set it out here on the porch.”

But Daisy was having none of that. She kept trying to grab the large pumpkin until Katie laughingly took it from Seth, assuring Daisy they would take it inside and put it in a well-deserved place of honor.

*   *   *

A while later, the five of them sat around a large antique oak table in the dining room. Rill was at one end of the table, the Daisy-kin at the other. They’d all done some serious justice to the smoked chicken that Rill had cooked in his outdoor pit cooker, homemade macaroni and cheese, salad and baked apples. Without her sunglasses on, Gia felt very exposed in her Jessie disguise. Especially when she had to rein in her stare from sticking on Seth, who was sitting across the table from her, looking very appealing in the glowing, soft lighting of the dining room.

“That was really good,” Gia said in her boy voice, thinking that was probably high praise coming from Jessie.

“Thanks,” Katie replied.

“More,” Daisy insisted from the chair next to Gia, where she sat in a booster seat. Without thinking, Gia sat forward and filled a spoon with macaroni and cheese and plopped it on Daisy’s plate. The little girl gave her a dimpled smile before she dug in with her spoon.

“How did you know what she wanted more of?” Katie asked, laughing.

Gia shrugged. “It was her favorite. Mine too.”

“You must have little brothers or sisters at home,” Rill said. She and Seth—mostly Seth—had provided their cover story and brought it off without a hitch. Seth had already given Katie a brief overview on the phone, so it wasn’t as if they weren’t prepared. Apparently Rill and Katie had heard about her supposed father, Jake Hightower, both from Joy and Seth. They didn’t seem to find the idea that Jake had fathered a child and not known of his existence all that surprising.

“No. I was an only child,” Gia said.

“It’s a shame that Joy and Everett are in Mexico,” Katie said, sipping her remaining chardonnay. “Even though I know both of them have been working nonstop and deserved a vacation, Joy will be sorry she didn’t get to meet you right away. If you were to handpick a sister, you couldn’t pick a better one than Joy,” Katie told Gia. “Trust me, I know.”

Seth nodded soberly. “Too true,” Rill murmured. Rill set down his water goblet and leaned forward. “I hope you don’t mind me asking, Jessie. I don’t want to pry. But how’d you figure out Jake Hightower was your dad?”

Jessie hesitated for a split second. Rill must have sensed it because he rushed to explain.

“I’m only asking because . . . well, I never knew my biological father either. Or his identity. I’ve been doing my own search for him, using both government agencies and a private investigator,” Rill said. “I’m assuming my dad was Irish, although I’m not sure if that’s even true. It makes things a bit more complicated. I was just wondering about your search. I’ve never talked to anyone in person who’s gone through something similar.”

“Oh,” Gia said, relief sweeping through her. She had thought Rill’s sudden intensity related to suspicions about their cover story. She glanced at Seth furtively. He raised his eyebrows slightly, and she immediately knew he was asking if she wanted him to take over. “No . . . I didn’t have to do any searches like that. I mean . . . I
did
,” Gia stuttered. “But only after I found out my biological dad’s name. I did computer searches for him. That’s how I found out he still had family members living in Isleta Pueblo. His relatives told me about him living in Europe, and also about Uncle Seth. Since I’m from southern California, it was a lot easier to contact Seth than my dad. After we met, we decided to come here to get to know each other. I’m starting college in a few months, so it was now or never.” Gia noticed Rill’s pinched brows and realized she hadn’t really answered his question. “Oh, sorry—my mom told me his name when I turned eighteen.”

“Ah, well, that explains it,” Rill said, seeming to deflate a little. Gia noticed Katie’s worried glance at her husband. “When you don’t have a name, you’re sort of screwed.”

“Rill’s mother absolutely refuses to breathe a word about his father’s identity. So Rill decided a couple months ago to start seeing what he could find out on his own,” Katie explained quietly.

“And no luck so far?” Seth asked.

“I keep running into dead end after dead end,” Rill said, shrugging broad shoulders.

“You have your birth date and place of birth?” Gia asked, her heart going out to him. Something told her this was a very old, haunting question for Rill Pierce. Katie must have seen that look, too, because she reached over and covered Rill’s hand with hers. He glanced at her and gave her a small special smile before he took her proffered hand in his, squeezing it.