by Amy Brent
I looked up into his eyes and suddenly realized how awkward this was. I’d just come from lying in bed, practically naked, with another man, and having to do a sex scene with a man I’d just spent the day with yesterday seemed weird.
“I think you being here is making it weird,” I admitted.
“Why?” he asked.
“I don’t know. It just makes it feel wrong. Like, I’m doing this scene with someone who’s not you, and you’re watching and I just feel like—”
“Like you’re cheating?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“Well, it’s just acting. I know you don’t mean it, and I know you guys aren’t actually having sex. You’re pretending. That’s what you do, Bridget. And now, thanks to that last scene, I know who you’re actually thinking about.”
“I’m not gonna live that down, am I?” I asked.
“Nope,” he said, leaning down into my ear. “But I bet I could make you say it louder.”
He pressed small, light kisses to my ear as the hair on the back of my neck began to stand on end. My nipples puckered as his lips trailed down my neck, and the nip he left on my collarbone made me spill into the sheer panties that were separating myself from my co-star.
“Just think of what I’m gonna do to you when I get you home,” he murmured. “Wrap this scene up, and let me take what’s mine.”
I cleared my throat before I headed back to set, and the scene went perfectly. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Thomas’s face planted between my legs. Every time I kissed my co-star, I felt Thomas’s lips instead of his. Every time my hips undulated into my coworker’s, thoughts of Thomas’s promise sank deep into me instead, and once the director called cut on the tenth take, I could hear the smile in his voice.
“Holy shit, finally, Bridget. Whatever the hell you just did, do it for every fucking scene, all right? We’re done, everyone! Go the hell home!”
“Really?” I asked. “That was good?”
“Honey, whatever the fuck your inspiration just was, bring it to set and use it every day. We’d be done weeks in advance if we could shoot every scene like that.”
And in the corner of the room, I could see the smirk on Thomas’s face.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said.
I got out of the bed and went back into the dressing room to get changed. I emerged fifteen minutes later with anticipation coursing through my veins. Thomas’s promise hung heavily on my head, and I could feel my puckered nipples brushing against my bra. A hand came down onto my arm and pulled me against the wall. The moment I hit the solid mass in front of me, I knew exactly who it was. My lips crashed into his neck, biting and nipping at his warm skin while his hands ran up my shirt and along my bare back. His hands slid down the back of my pants to cup my ass while my teeth moved to nip at his earlobe, causing a groan to ricochet up his throat and peel from his mouth.
“Let’s get you home,” he said.
The entire ride home was spent making out in the back of the car. My neck was peppered in red marks from his teeth, and his hands were palming my tits through my bra. I shoved his coat off his shoulders and worked his tie from around his neck, wanting to get to that broad chest so I could plant my hands on his taut muscles. His heat radiated against me as I felt his cock bulging against my leg, and the only thing I could think was how I wanted to sink to my knees in this car, pull his dick out, and suck him dry until nothing but my name slipped from his lips.
But we pulled up to the house before I could undo his belt buckle, so he simply pulled me from the car and urged me toward the house.
“The things I’m gonna fucking do to your body are ridiculous, Thomas.”
My eyes fell upon a note taped to my door, the same note Thomas’s eyes were fixated on. He ripped it down before I watched his eyes widen. Then I took it from between his fingers and read it myself.
I know who you are and I’m going to tell the world.
In that very instant, my entire life melted away. I lost the strength and security I had possessed mere seconds ago in the confines of my car. It unraveled and fluttered away in the wind, leaving my body cold and shaking on my porch. The sentence was scrawled in terrible handwriting, and the note wasn’t signed. My blood ran cold and chilled me to my bone as I read that sentence over and over and over again.
“Oh, my god,” I said breathlessly.
“Bridget. Let’s get you inside. It’s not safe.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I said.
“What?” he asked.
“Who the fuck did you tell?”
“Bridget, what are you talking about?”
“I asked you a question, Mr. Jeffries!”
My vision was trembling, and my head was pounding. My world was spinning, and my legs were shaking. I grabbed the doorknob and threw my door open, stumbling into my home as Thomas reached out to grab me.
But I shoved him away and backed straight into a wall.
“Who. The fuck. Did you tell?”
“Bridget, I didn’t tell anyone,” he said.
“You’re the only person who knows, other than my agent! And she’s kept that fucking secret for years. Hell, she’s the reason I have the fucking secret in the first place!”
“Bridget, I swear to you,” he said. “I told no one.”
“You’re the only other option,” I said breathlessly. My heart was pounding, taking my breath away with every searing beat it pumped against my rib cage. I could feel it rattling my bones, threatening to burst forth from my chest and lay in a shriveling mess on the ground.
“I trusted you,” I said.
“Bridget, listen to what I’m telling you.”
“I trusted you!” I roared. I lunged forward and pushed his chest, shoving him toward the door while he grabbed at my wrists.
“Bridget, just listen.”
“Get out,” I said.
“I’m not leaving you.”
“I said get out!”
I opened the front door and shoved him onto the porch before I slammed the door in his face. With one written sentence on a grimy piece of paper, my entire world had fallen apart. The man’s face that I’d used only an hour ago to nail an intimate sex scene between myself and my co-star, suddenly became the target of all the anger I’d held in my life toward this situation. I balled up the note and threw it into the corner.
“What the fuck is happening?” I shrieked.
I had to call my agent, and I had to do it now. We had to get out in front of this before someone really did go to the press and ruin my career.
And I didn’t need my bullshit bodyguard to do any of it.
Chapter 26
Thomas
I won’t need my backstabbing bodyguard today. Enjoy the day off, Mr. Jeffries.
The text message I woke up to from Bridget cut me like a knife. I hadn’t gotten any sleep last night after I told my mother I would pick Lacey up and take her to school from her place. I needed the night to think through things and process what had just happened, and I didn’t want my daughter to see me like that.
How the hell could she possibly think I would’ve told anyone? I brought her around my daughter, for fuck’s sake. That was a massive thing for me, especially with how Lacey took to her, and I would never do anything to jeopardize that. Lacey thought the world of Bridget, and it would be hard enough trying to explain to her why Bridget’s name wasn’t actually Bridget. Did she actually think I’d make things any more complicated for my daughter?
Or her?
I immediately called her phone after reading that message, and it sent me directly to her voicemail. I hung up and called again, only for it to ring once and shoot to the same voicemail I’d heard seconds ago. She wasn’t going to pick up the phone for me, and I couldn't approach her home without making her angrier. But at this point, she was leaving me no choice. If someone knew her secret and knew enough about her to know where she lived in order to leave that note, then she was in danger.
>
And everything inside of me screamed to keep her out of harm’s way.
I took a long shower and got dressed before I headed to get Lacey. She was tired from staying up late with Nannie and Papa last night, which meant I’d be in for an easy night with her. She probably wouldn’t get through dinner before she would be ready to crash, and with everything that was happening with Bridget and I right now, that was probably for the best.
After all, Lacey was growing into a very perceptive individual, and I didn’t need her worrying about some woman that had come into our lives. Not after the perfect day she had with her only a few days earlier.
“I love you, Daddy,” she said.
“I love you, too, sweetheart. Have a wonderful day at school, okay?”
“Okay. Tell Bridget I said ‘hi’!”
“I will, sweetheart. I promise.”
I gave her a huge hug before I sent her off to school, and the only thought running through my head was how in the world I was going to fulfill this promise I’d just made my daughter. A part of me wanted to use that as an excuse to see if I could track down Bridget, but a part of me knew I already had an excuse.
Someone out there was threatening her, and I was her bodyguard.
When Lacey gave me one last wave, I decided to go against her wishes. I waved at my daughter before her teacher took her hand and led her around the corner. Then I hopped into my car and peeled out of the school parking lot. I needed to get to Bridget and explain to her the type of trouble she was in, whether or not she believed I didn’t tell anyone.
Which I didn’t.
I raced to her house, but when I got there, no one was home. Bernie’s car wasn’t there, and all the lights were off, but I ran up and banged on the door anyway before using my key to get in. I cleared every single room and every single corner before I raced to the movie set. I skidded around corners and ran through yellow lights, rehearsing exactly what I would tell her whenever I got there. I’d have to say what I wanted to say in a short time, because if she was this angry, she would surely shut down on me and not listen to a word I had to say.
I pulled up to the studio, and the security guy at the front door let me in without a second thought. I raced down the hallways with my suit coat flaring at my sides, and when I rounded the corner, the scene they were shooting had just wrapped up. Bridget was immediately isolating herself from her coworkers, going off into the corner for a drink of water before rounding the wall of the set to get to hair and makeup. I knew she was doing that because she was scared.
She knew the threat she was under would hinder more than just her career. I stood at the edge of the wall until she finally saw me in the shadows.
“Go the fuck away, Thomas,” she said.
“No. Bridget, whether or not you believe me, you’re in danger. You’ve hired me to protect you, and you need it more than ever right now.”
“Oh, was that your plan when you told someone? To make me more dependent on you than I already was?”
“What?” I asked.
“Did you not already see how much I needed you by my side? How much I trusted you and respected you and wanted the best for us? Could you not see past my fame for one fucking second to process the fact that there wasn’t a night I laid down alone where I didn’t want to cry out for you to be there?”
“Bridget, I didn’t tell anyone,” I said. “I swear, I would never do that to you. You know this.”
“Do I? Do I, really? I talked to my agent last night about it, and she thinks I should fucking get rid of you. She thinks I should slap you with a nondisclosure agreement, then take your ass to court when this all erupts in my face.”
“Bridget,” I said.
I reached out for her hand, but she recoiled from me in disgust. My heart sank to my toes in that very moment when the look of adoration she had for me twenty-four hours ago had been replaced with a look of utter disdain. The fire behind her eyes was directed toward me, and people on set were beginning to stare, obviously wondering if they should intervene and whisk the beautiful woman in distress away from the big, bad man trying to keep her in the shadows.
“Bridget, you aren’t safe,” I said.
“Thanks to you!” she exclaimed. “It’s because of you that I’m not safe!”
“Is there a problem?” the security guard came up and asked.
“I don’t want anyone like you around me anymore, Thomas. Go the fuck home. I’ll figure out what to do about your job later.”
The guard from the door slipped his arm around her before he escorted her back to the hair and makeup room. I felt sick to my stomach, like someone had nailed me in my gut with a dart full of poison. People on set were staring at me as I watched Bridget round the corner with that man who had his arm around her, and everything inside of me bristled. How the fuck could she actually think I’d tell someone after everything we had been through? After baring our bodies to one another and her assimilating into my home life, how the hell could she think I’d jeopardize that?
Did she not understand how I felt about her?
When she didn’t return, I turned on my heels and left. With a woman like Bridget, whose mind was made up until someone convinced her otherwise, I knew the best course of action was to simply give her what she wanted. I’d go back to my home, do some things around the house, wait to pick up Lacey from school, and try to get my mind off things.
And, in the meantime, I’d try to figure out how the fuck I’d win her back. Not because my job was at stake and not because she was in trouble, but because I cared about her.
I cared about Bridget Meyers, and I wasn’t ready to let her go.
Chapter 27
Bridget
Another fucking sex scene for this pointless fucking horror flick, and of course, all I could think about was Thomas. I didn’t feel sexy, I didn’t feel beautiful, and I didn’t feel wanted. The director was pissed that I didn’t bring my muse with me, and all I wanted to do was kick him in his tiny little nutsack. I wanted to scream at him that I had been betrayed and that he could suck his sex scene’s cock in a seedy back room. I wanted to push my co-star off me and stomp back into the room and close myself off from the world before crying myself to sleep in a dark, dank corner.
But all I could do was muddle through the scene and force the director to settle.
He eventually had to alter the scene. Instead of a full-on sex scene, there would just be the heated making out before we sank to the floor, but I had to compromise and show my tits on screen. That was fine with me, because I knew my tits were wonderful, and they would distract anyone from the fact that I was not into this whatsoever. The director seemed astounded that the Bridget Meyers had actually agreed to show her tits for his low-budget movie, but honestly? I didn’t give a shit. Whatever got me off this set sooner was just fine with me.
The truth was, I couldn’t stop thinking about Thomas. Every time my co-star kissed me or pressed his hips into mine or caressed my skin with his fingertips, all I could do was compare him to Thomas. My heart was betrayed, but my body still sang out for him. It still reverberated a tune meant only for his body to harmonize with, but my heart was bleeding out on the floor, waiting for someone to stitch it back into my body so I could keep on limping through this world.
How could he do this to me?
I wanted to be with Thomas. Everything inside of me begged me to just go to his house, beg for his forgiveness, then fall into his bed. Everything about me needed him, especially during a time where I didn’t even feel safe in my own home. I’d woken up this morning, and my heart pounded with unrelenting fury when I didn’t see him at the kitchen table because it was a reminder of what he had done. But every time I passed by a window, I couldn’t help but drop to my knees and crawl because I was petrified.
It was open season on Bridget Meyer’s life, and I was running through the woods with an orange target painted on my back.
My only issue was trying to figure out why the fuck Thomas woul
d’ve done something like this. I mean, he brought me around his daughter, for shit’s sake! I’d gotten attached to her! She missed me! Why in the world would he do this to me, especially with his daughter in play? I saw the way he was around her and how that little girl was his entire world. Would he really jeopardize all that we were attempting to build and the way his daughter and I had connected just for a few bucks?
Had he really been that money-hungry to consider throwing fire onto the beautiful home we were trying to build?
Fine, we weren’t trying to actually build a fucking home, but it felt like it. It felt like he was slowly drawing me into his familial fold. It felt like he was test-driving me as Lacey’s new mom or some shit, and the issue was that there was none. I didn’t take issue with that at all, especially considering how wonderful Lacey was to begin with. I could’ve seen myself in that role for Lacey, had Thomas given us some time.
Had Thomas not betrayed me the way he had.
It just didn’t make sense, but it was the only logical conclusion. My agent had kept this secret for years, and Thomas had only known it a couple weeks. She had precedence for keeping my secret, and he didn’t.
That’s just how it was.
“Bridget!”
The director’s voice ripped me from my trance as I sat on the couch. Everyone was staring at me with a weird look on their face while my co-star was rubbing my back, and the only thing I could do was wipe the tears off my cheeks that were streaming down my face.