The Stone Brothers: A Complete Romance Series (3-Book Box Set)

by Samantha Christy

  “Yeah, she’s one of the good ones,” I say.

  I introduce Mallory to several people. She impresses me with her ability to tamp down her nerves despite the fact that some of those people make much bigger headlines than I do. Easy conversation flows out of her as we make our rounds. She’s no wallflower. Quite the opposite. And I somehow feel that having her by my side increases my worth—if that makes any sense at all.

  I find us a table so we can sit down. She won’t say it, but I can tell Mallory’s feet are hurting in her new shoes. I haven’t asked her yet, but I was hoping she might agree to keep them on later tonight. The little bows on the back, and the way they make her legs look—it’s damn sexy.

  “Thad, Mallory—good to see you,” Hayden says, bringing Noreen over to sit with us.

  “Hey, buddy, what’s up?” Hayden and I get into a conversation about rock climbing. He’s in training with me. He plays my arch enemy in the Defcon series and there’s a great scene where he will chase me through a series of ropes and rock mazes. We both secretly hope they will let us do most of the stunts on that one.

  I have one ear in the girls’ conversation. They are talking about recipes. It’s such a perfectly normal conversation that it makes me smile. I reach over and grab Mal’s hand to let her know I haven’t forgotten about her.

  Hayden stiffens in his chair. “Oh, hell no,” he says, looking behind me.

  I whip around to see Heather Crawford standing in the patio doorway. She’s wearing a fire-engine-red dress that leaves nothing to the imagination, especially about whether or not she’s wearing a bra. Her long brown hair sparkles with glitter and her fuck-me heels make her look a lot taller than she really is. She sees me and smiles, dropping the hand of her date as she makes a bee-line towards us.

  I glance at Mal, who looks about as green as her dress. Her desperate eyes meet mine and I feel helpless. I have no idea what’s about to happen, but knowing Heather, it won’t be anything good. All four of us stand up at the same time. Maybe we are all planning our escape.

  Heather walks right past me and straight up to Mallory. “And you must be the new flavor of the week,” she says, her eyes raking over Mal as if she’s a parasite. She turns to me. “Who’s your new toy, Thad?”

  I put my arm around Mallory’s waist, possessively pulling her against me. “Cut the shit, Heather. This is my girlfriend, Mallory.”

  “Your girlfriend?” she asks like it’s a bad word. “Isn’t she a waitress or something?”

  “School teacher actually,” Mallory says, extending her hand to Heather. “Isn’t it you who should be waitressing? I mean, isn’t that what all unemployed actors do?”

  Hayden spits his drink out, laughing. I look at Mallory in awe. I’ve never been more proud. I didn’t think she had it in her.

  Heather scoffs at Mallory’s hand, not bothering to shake it. “You don’t know anything about me, honey, so keep your snarky comments to yourself,” Heather spits.

  “That’s some good advice,” Mallory retorts. “Why don’t you take it?”

  Heather rolls her eyes, turning her attention to me. “Have you read the script yet? Isn’t it fabulous?”

  I don’t care to have this conversation here. I’ve all but decided not to do the movie. I know Paul will probably kill me, but after what happened earlier this week with Mal, I just don’t want to put myself in that kind of position. It was a bad time in my life. I’ve no desire to dredge all that shit up again. “Not yet,” I lie.

  “Oh, you have to read it, Thad. It will be so much fun getting everyone back together again. Don’t you think?”

  The girl obviously needs a paycheck. And for some reason, she thinks she needs me. It’s been over three years since I dumped her, along with every other bad habit in my life. “I’m not sure, Heather. We’ll see.”

  “What, you think you’re too good for us now? Lila, Caitlyn, and Joey have already agreed to do it. That just leaves you and Thomas—”

  “I really don’t want to talk about work tonight,” I interrupt. “In fact, you’ll have to excuse us, Mallory and I were just about to go grab a drink.”

  She leans into me. “I can get you something much better than a drink, Thad.”

  Jonah Bateman comes up behind Heather, wrapping his arms around her. “There you are. You disappeared on me.”

  She wriggles out of his arms. “Quit it, Jonah, you don’t own me. I was just talking with Thad and” —she turns to Mallory, smirking— “what was your name again? I already forgot it.”

  “It’s Mallory,” I say through gritted teeth.

  “Right. Mallory,” Heather says in her direction. “It sounds so . . . industrial. But at least you smell good. What perfume are you wearing?”

  Her unexpected compliment catches us both off guard. I put my nose in Mallory’s hair and take a whiff. “Mmmm,” I mumble. “It’s ‘Desire Me,’ if I recall, right, baby?”

  Mallory puts a possessive hand on my chest and smiles up at me. “That’s right.”

  “If you’ll excuse us now,” I say, turning Mal and me towards the bar, Hayden and Noreen just behind us.

  “Who let that bitch in?” Hayden asks.

  Hayden always has my back. He didn’t know Heather before, but he’s come to hate her after some long conversations we’ve had. And after Hayden and I became good friends last year, Heather tried to use him to get to me. Luckily, he sees through all her superficial bullshit as well as I do.

  “I didn’t even know she was dating Jonah,” Noreen says.

  “She’s probably not,” Hayden tells her. “I’m sure she used him to get into Ana’s party.”

  “Why would she do that?” Mallory asks.

  Hayden and I share a look. “Because she can’t seem to get it through her dense skull that I don’t want anything to do with her,” I say.

  Mallory gasps. “She’s still in love with you?”

  “God, no,” I say. “We were never in love.” The thought of it makes me ill. Love? No. I’m not even sure I liked her. We enabled each other. We allowed ourselves to be out of control with one another. We lived in our own train-wreck of a world.

  “It’s more like a psychopathic obsession,” Hayden jokes.

  I shoot him a traitorous stare.

  “She’s obsessed with you?” Mallory asks in abhorrence, tightening her grip on my hand as if to protect me. “Is she stalking you, Chad?”

  I stop walking and look down at her. “No. She’s not stalking me. Please don’t worry about her, Mal. She’s of no consequence to us. Don’t let her ruin our evening.”

  Ana comes over, looking apologetic. “Oh, my God. I’m so sorry, Thad. I had no idea Jonah was going to bring her here. Do you want me to ask them to leave?”

  “No,” Mallory says. “We don’t need to cause a scene. We’re all adults here.”

  Hayden snorts, looking over at Heather. “Well, most of us are anyway.”

  “Okay,” Ana says. “But if I see any drugs, she’s gone.” She turns to Mallory. “Find me later, I want to show you those samples from the new clothing line I told you about.”

  I smile at their exchange. I’m happy to see Mallory getting along so well with my friends. And I love how they seem to be protective of her.

  The rest of the night passes with only minor annoyances from Heather. She and Jonah end up leaving early. Probably because I failed to give her any attention. Why that girl keeps after me, I’ll never understand.

  Mallory leans her head on my shoulder in the car on the way home. “Ana says she wants to meet Julian,” she tells me.

  “Really?”

  She nods sleepily into me. “Yeah. She said if he’s anything like us, he’s someone she wants to know.”

  I shake my head at the notion. “Can you imagine Julian with Ana?”

  “I can, actually,” she says, stifling a yawn. “I think it’s a great idea.”

  “Well, she’ll be in New York with me in May for our Blind Shot junket. I guess they can m
eet then.”

  “Ummhmm,” she mumbles.

  I run my fingers through her hair, massaging her head as I think about the days to come. Mallory leaves on Sunday. In two short days. I want so badly to go back to New York with her, but I’ve got meetings all week. I’m sure as hell not waiting six weeks until the press junket in May to see her again.

  I worry about what she might be walking back into now that her name went public. I’ve made some arrangements that will hopefully make things easier. Still, it kills me to know I won’t be there to help her handle it. Julian—he’ll be there. Shit. I realize getting Ana out there might not be such a bad idea after all.

  I look down at Mallory, peaceful and sleeping on my shoulder. This week has been perfect—take away the Megan debacle. I think back to the day Mal arrived, when I thought she would break up with me. No way am I giving her time to think about doing that again.

  I pull out my new phone and text my travel agent. I tell her to book two tickets to JFK on Friday. And then I text Ana and ask her to clear her schedule.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Mallory

  I got recognized in JFK. Me. Just walking from the gate to the luggage carousel. I’m glad Julian was there to meet me. He said Chad called him and asked him to come get me just in case anything happened. Nothing did, other than my being spotted by a girl as I walked through the terminal, and then some guy took a few pictures when Julian and I got into the cab.

  Even though Chad’s people still claim we’re just friends, pictures of us kissing on the beach and holding hands in a restaurant went viral. One photo was a close-up and you could see the expression on Chad’s face as he looked at me. Anyone could see it wasn’t the way one friend looks at another. I took a picture of the photo and made it my phone background.

  On the way home, I tell Julian all about Ana. “I’m happy to meet her, Mallory, but I’m not sure I want to date a celebrity.”

  “She’s gorgeous,” I tell him. “And nice. Nothing like his other leading ladies.”

  “I’m sure she is, I just don’t want to have to deal with everything,” he says.

  We turn onto my street. “Deal with what?” I ask. As far as I know Ana doesn’t come with the baggage Chad does.

  We approach my house only to see several strange cars parked out front. When the cab pulls into my driveway, he can’t even get close to the house because one of them is parked right in front of my garage. “Isn’t it illegal for them to park in the driveway?” I ask Julian.

  Julian tells the cabbie to wait while he walks me to the door. I eye the sleek white Lexus SUV in the driveway. “Geez,” I say. “These guys must make a lot for their pictures.”

  “Mallory! Are you Thad’s girlfriend?” a stout little man asks me from the other side of the white picket fence.

  Another one asks, “Did you stay at his house in L.A.? Did you sleep in his bed?”

  When we’re almost at the door, the first guy shouts, “What about Courtney Benson? How do you feel about being the other woman? Do you really expect him to leave her for you?”

  I can’t help but turn around and spit fire at him with my eyes. Bad idea. I hear a hundred clicks of their cameras.

  “Ignore them, Mal. You know they only say shit like that to get a good picture, right?”

  I nod, putting my key in the front door. “I know. But he just said what everyone is thinking.”

  “Since when does Mallory Schaffer give a flying fuck what people think of her?”

  “Maybe since I have twenty-one nine-year-olds looking up to me,” I say, walking through the door. Julian puts my suitcase inside and gives me a hug as I thank him for bringing me home.

  “You know I’m always here for you,” he says.

  “It goes both ways, you know,” I tell him. “I’m here for you, too, Julian.”

  “See you Wednesday,” he says. “Melissa is bringing Steve, so we need reservations for four.”

  “Sounds good. See you then.” I close the door behind him and throw my purse on the coffee table, sinking into the couch where I can finally breathe. I can breathe again, but not easily. It’s hard when I left a big piece of me back in L.A. I haven’t seen him in seven hours and already it’s too long. I miss having him come home to me. I miss eating breakfast and dinner together every day. I miss waking up next to him. Nine days with him wasn’t nearly enough. How are we going to do this? I know I’ll see him again on Friday, but right now, Friday seems like an eternity away.

  There’s a big box on the coffee table. I sit up and read the card on top.

  Mallory,

  I miss you already and I’m writing this before you’re even gone. Please use everything in this box to keep the woman I love safe until I can be by her side—a place I will strive to be forever.

  All my love,

  Chad

  My eyes mist up as I open the box. I laugh as I pull out an assortment of hats, sunglasses and even wigs. There is a hoodie inside that mimics the thought I had a few minutes ago. It reads ‘I left my heart in L.A.’ I bring it up to my nose and smell it. God, it smells like him. Just like the pillow and blanket did for my movie night. I take off my coat and pull the hoodie over my head. There’s another small box at the bottom of the big one. When I open it, I almost pee my pants. It’s a key fob. And it reads: Lexus.

  I run to the front window and peek out to admire it. He bought me a whole car? There is still a paparazzi outside, so I can’t go out to see it. My emotions are at war with each other. I can’t decide if I should feel like a giddy little girl on Christmas morning, or if I should feel like a kept woman.

  I go back to the coffee table to find my phone when I see something else inside the key box. A sticker with numbers on it, but I don’t know what it is.

  I tap Chad’s gorgeous face on my favorites screen. It doesn’t even ring before he answers. “Did you make it home?”

  I laugh into the phone. “I did. And it appears Santa came very early this year. You know it’s too much, Chad.”

  “It’s not too much, Mal. I need you safe. I didn’t want you driving around in that little box of yours.”

  I contemplate arguing with him, but I know he’s right. My small car offers little protection from anyone who might want to see inside. “I know,” I say. “Thank you.”

  “Do you like it?”

  I get up and peek out the window again. The photographer is still hanging around. “I’m sure it’s wonderful, but I haven’t had a chance to really see it yet.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because there is a photographer standing in the road in front of my house,” I tell him.

  “Fuck,” he huffs into the phone. “Did he say anything to you?”

  “When I came home, there were two of them and they both asked me personal questions. I didn’t talk to them, but they might have gotten a picture of me.” Or a hundred.

  “Call the police when we hang up. Tell them you were harassed. They’ll make him leave.”

  “He isn’t trespassing,” I say. “He’s on the other side of the front gate.”

  “But he made you uncomfortable with his questions. That’s harassment, Mal.”

  “I don’t want to get anyone in trouble, Chad. He’s just doing his job.”

  He sighs into the phone. “My girlfriend. Always thinking of others,” he says. “Just please make sure to keep your doors locked. You still have an alarm system, right?”

  “Of course.”

  “Good. Use it. Have your dad move your old car out to the end of the driveway and put your new one in the garage so you don’t have to go outside.”

  “My old car is still here? I thought you would’ve traded it in.” Then I think about what I said and feel stupid for saying it. I doubt he would have gotten more than a few thousand for it. Not even enough to cover the sales tax on the Lexus.

  “It’s in your name, Mallory, I couldn’t have done that. You can sell it yourself. Or maybe donate it.”

  His suggesti
on brings another smile to my face. “Oh, yes. I’ll donate it to Hope. What a great idea. Thank you.” I walk back over and eye the smaller box again. “What’s the sticker with the numbers on it?”

  “I leased you a parking space in a Midtown garage. It’s only a few blocks from Melissa’s place since you seem to stay there a lot. And it’s close to many of the shops and clubs you like to go to. I don’t want you taking the train or subway anymore. It exposes you too much. Use the Lexus or take cabs from now on.”

  I’m still stuck on I leased you a parking space. “What? You might as well have leased me a whole apartment for what that parking space must have cost.”

  “I will if you want me to. Just say the word.”

  “Lord, no. You’ve done quite enough already. I hate that you’re spending so much money on me.” I look around my familiar living room. “Plus, I’m not sure I could leave my dad.”

  “Stop it, Mallory. The only reason I have to spend that kind of money is because of who I am. It goes with the territory.”

  I sit on the sofa, getting a whiff of Chad’s cologne every time I move around. “I love the car, but I think my favorite thing in the box was the hoodie. I’m wearing it now.”

  “You are?” I can hear the smile in his voice.

  “Want me to send you a picture?”

  “Hell, yes,” he says. “Wait, is your dad home?”

  “No. I don’t know where he is actually, which is strange now that I think about it.”

  “Take your phone into your bedroom and lock the door,” he says.

  “What? Why?”

  “Because I want to see you in the hoodie. And only the hoodie,” he says, with a low growl. “And then I want to make you come while you’re wearing it.”

  “Chad!” I squeal in surprise. I think my insides just melted, spreading warmth between my legs. Could I do such a thing knowing he could see me?

  “We’ll do it together,” he says, reading my mind. “I’ll be right there with you.”