But his breathing became ragged and his rhythm picked up speed until he drove into her hard and bowed back, his eyes closed, his arms straight, and his mouth stretched open in a howl, as her name echoed off the ceiling. The pump of his climax triggered the explosion of her own. She locked her legs around his hips and pushed him even farther inside her, so they could both feel the clamp and release of her muscles around his cock.
As her orgasm faded to an occasional twitch of sensation, Hugh lowered himself so he was on his forearms again, his weight pinning her to the bed from the waist down, his cock softening inside her. Dropping his head facedown beside hers, he heaved out a long sigh. “This is a great bed.”
“You’re giving the bed all the credit?” She cuffed his shoulder with a gentle smack.
“Setting is important.” His voice was amused but turned serious. “You’re in every molecule of the air in this room. I feel as though I’m breathing you in with each inhale.”
“Wow, that’s pretty poetic.” For all her teasing, his words whispered inside her like a spring breeze, adding to her profound joy.
He lifted his head to stare down into her eyes, the angles of his face stark with solemnity. “This is your life, and I want to be part of it.”
“You are part of it,” she said, taking his head between her hands and locking her gaze on him. “You always will be.”
“No one can promise that,” he said, the set of his jaw going grim.
“If you walked out this door tomorrow and never returned, you would still be in my heart and in my mind. You would still have changed who I am in ways I won’t understand for a while. You will be part of me.”
He brought his face even closer to hers, and his voice held a note of vehemence. “When I walk out that door, I will always come back.”
“You can’t guarantee that, either.” She smiled as she smoothed his hair away from his forehead. “But I know you will do everything you can to make it happen.”
“Good.” He lowered his mouth to hers for a long, tender kiss. When he ended it, he said, “I love you, Jess. Even more than before.”
Happiness fizzed through her like champagne bubbles. “I love you right back. Even more than before.”
“We owe that stray dog you were chasing a lot of kibble.” He frowned. “Did you ever catch her?”
“No, but Diego, the kid who works as an intern at the clinic, did. She’s going to have her puppies soon in a safe, new home.”
He relaxed against her. “Maybe we could adopt one of the pups.”
“That’s the sweetest, most romantic thing I’ve ever heard.”
“I just told you that I love you, but it’s more romantic that I want to adopt a puppy? I should be insulted.”
“Just think how irresistible you will be to me when you’re holding a cute little puppy.”
“That was my ulterior motive, of course.”
Two hours later, Hugh lay beside Jessica, her delicious backside spooned against him. Instead of luxuriating in her declaration of love and his presence in her bed, he worried. When he’d brought up their television interview at dinner, she’d turned it aside with a joke about Aidan’s upcoming job interview. He was afraid she’d been so upset by her brush with television that she didn’t even want to discuss it. Which was very unlike Jess.
“I can feel you thinking.” Her voice was drowsy but contented.
He hated to ruin the mood. “Usually people claim to smell wood burning.”
“What’s wrong?”
He forced himself to ask, “Was the interview as terrible for you as Aidan says?”
He felt her body stiffen. “I’m not going to lie . . . I was nervous. I’ve never appeared on national TV before. But I told you all that.”
“He made it sound worse than nervous.”
“You know Aidan. He loves drama.” She blew out a breath. “Honestly, it was far stranger today having people give me curious looks and occasionally ask a question about you or what it’s like dating a movie star.”
“No paparazzi, though?” Hugh’s PR people said they’d taken care of that, but you never knew how desperate one photographer might get.
“None, although Carla got a few phone calls from the press. She handled them in her own unique way.” Her tone was amused.
“The excitement will die down, you know,” he said, hoping to God it was true. “Once they see that you don’t start wearing diamonds and furs to work, everyone will go back to thinking of you as just their beloved veterinarian.”
“Well, Carla made me promise to show her any designer gowns I get to wear on the red carpet.” But she sounded entertained, not upset.
“Jess, you have to tell me when you don’t want to do something like that interview. I don’t want to add more stress to your life.”
She turned in his arms so they were face-to-face. Even though it was dark in the room, he could sense her gaze on him. “I deal with stress all the time. It goes with what I do and where I work. The interview was a kind of stress I haven’t faced before. I just have to get used to this new element of being watched by a lot of people I don’t know.”
“I wish you didn’t have to.” He was afraid she would come to resent the lack of privacy.
“You’re worth it.” She found his lips with a heartfelt kiss. “Stop worrying about me and go to sleep. You have to get up earlier than I do.”
He couldn’t quell his uneasiness, though. He’d paid the price of fame knowingly. Jess still hadn’t experienced how bad it could get.
Chapter 21
I got the job!!!! Aidan’s jubilation came through the text message with its attached GIF of wildly dancing monkeys that pinged into Jessica’s phone right after lunchtime.
“Yes!” Jessica pumped her fist. She propped her hip on the edge of the temporarily vacant examining table and texted back: Huge congrats! Champagne and steak to celebrate tonight! She’d pick up provisions on her way home and hope Hugh would cook them. The thought of Hugh dancing around her kitchen made her grin.
“You look like you won the lottery,” Carla said, bustling in with a couple of patient files.
“Aidan got a job, a really good one.”
“Thank the Lord! The boy is now gainfully employed and can stop sponging off you.”
“Hey, he’s doing a great job of fixing up my living room walls. I don’t want him to leave too soon.”
Carla snorted. “From what you say, that hunky boyfriend of yours could do a better job.”
“Yes, but he has a full-time career of his own.”
When Jessica got home at six with her load of festive food and drink, Aidan was lounging on the couch, which he’d cleared of drop cloths, drinking a beer and watching a video on his tablet. He must have done some work on the walls after the interview, because the acrid smell of stripping solution was strong. The old Aidan would have taken the afternoon off after he got the job offer. She was liking the new one.
He jumped up to take the bags, and she gave him a hug. “Congratulations, little bro! When do you start?”
“Friday I go in to fill out the HR forms so Monday I can hit the ground running. They’ve got a project they desperately need me on right away.” He practically waltzed into the kitchen, his tousled curls bouncing along with his steps. She couldn’t help wondering how much Pete had to do with his speedy hiring.
“The living room is really coming along,” Jessica said, pulling the steak out of the butcher’s bag. “You got a lot done today.”
“Since I’m going to start work soon, I want to finish the project,” he said, then gave her a rueful grin. “It was also a good way to keep myself from worrying about getting the job.” He stowed the champagne in the fridge. “Is Hugh coming for dinner?”
Jessica glanced at the brass-rimmed wall clock. “He should be here any minute. Frankly, I’m counting on him to cook.”
She’d been thrilled when Hugh had moved his things from Gavin Miller’s to her bedroom. Seeing his T-shirts and jeans i
n her closet took her back to the early days of their relationship—before things got complicated. Of course, now things were ten times more complicated, but they could handle them better. She hoped.
She heard the front door open and called, “We’re in the kitchen,” walking out to meet him halfway. As he strode toward her through the ladders and buckets strewn around the living room, his long legs moved with the power of a big cat, his dark hair caught glints of golden lamplight, and the striking planes of his face were painted with light and shadow. But what made her breath catch was the look of joy that lit his intensely blue eyes when he saw her.
“Incoming!” she warned and hurled herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, knowing he would catch her. Laughing, he spun them both around before he lowered his mouth to take hers in a deep, possessive kiss.
“If that’s the greeting I get every time I walk in, I’ll keep working until I’m ninety,” he said, lowering her feet to the floor and giving her bottom a squeeze.
“I won’t be able to jump that high at ninety, but I’ll give it my all,” Jessica said. She hugged him again. “I just love seeing you in my house, even in this disaster of a living room.”
She thought a shadow crossed his face, but when he slung his arm around her shoulders and steered them toward the kitchen, she forgot about it.
“Congratulations on the new job, Aidan,” Hugh said, shaking her brother’s hand.
“How did you know?” Jessica asked.
“I texted him, too,” Aidan said, “since he knew about the interview.”
Jessica hadn’t thought she could be any happier, but seeing the growing friendship between the two most important men in her life lifted her joy to a whole new level. She was afraid she might explode into rainbows and sparkles at any moment.
“Jess is counting on you to cook the steaks she bought to celebrate,” Aidan added.
“Hey, I was going to be more subtle than that,” Jessica said. She turned to Hugh. “You’ll do such a wonderful job of making those steaks taste perfect.”
Hugh laughed. “Steak is my specialty.” He turned to Jessica and put a hot note in his voice. “Not to mention that you will owe me for this, and I intend to collect later tonight.”
“I’m willing to sacrifice my sister if it gets me a good steak,” Aidan said. “But keep it down tonight, would you?”
A blush climbed Jessica’s cheeks even as she said, “Your room is too far away to hear anything.”
“If he has a problem with our activities, he can take his new salary and move out,” Hugh shot back as he turned on the broiler. Then his face clouded over. “Actually, I have some bad news. It’s supposed to snow in DC day after tomorrow, so Bryan is moving the shoot there to catch the weather. That way they don’t have to make artificial snow and it saves a lot of money. I have to leave tomorrow night to be there in time for the first scene.”
Jessica’s fizz of happiness took a hit but rebounded. “Won’t you have to return to New York after that to finish up whatever you didn’t get done here?”
“Unfortunately, we can handle it all on a soundstage, so we’ll move on to Miami after DC. But I’ll get back here before we head to Florida.”
“I could use a few days in Miami,” Aidan said before he held up his hand to forestall any comments. “I know, I have a job, so I won’t be going there until my first vacation days kick in.”
Jessica was glad for Aidan’s interruption, because it gave her a moment to absorb the prospect of Hugh’s imminent absence. “Miami is only a three-hour flight away,” she said. “How long will you be there?”
“Miami is a short stint, only three days, weather cooperating, but I’ll work out a way to get back here when it ends.”
“Because then you go where?”
Hugh grimaced. “Prague.”
The fizz died. “Well, you’ll have to finish filming sometime.”
“It’s going to be another couple of months,” he said, running his palms up and down her arms as though she were chilled and he was warming her up. “I’ll fly back as often as I can.” His expression lightened. “There is one guaranteed trip home from Prague. Gavin’s getting a major writing award, and I’ve been tapped to present it to him. The studio’s PR people loved all the promo angles for that, so they insisted on a three-day hiatus in my shooting schedule, allowing me to fly back to New York for the ceremony. Will you come as my date?”
“Can I wear scrubs?” she ribbed him.
“And diamonds.” He smiled down at her with such tenderness that her heart flipped.
It occurred to her that he hadn’t suggested that she drop everything and join him on set. Some people might be upset by that, but she understood that he was being respectful of her own wall-to-wall commitments. “Maybe once Riya gets settled in, I can sneak away for a weekend or two myself. After all, I’ve never been to Prague.”
Hugh’s face lit up like a Broadway stage. “I’d like that very much.” He leaned down to give her a kiss filled with gratitude. “And now, allow the creative genius room to work.”
“Holy shit!” Aidan exclaimed, staring at his phone.
He was sitting at the kitchen table in plaster-dusted jeans and an Iowa State T-shirt, having just finished his wallpaper stripping for the day. Only one wall remained covered with old, awful paper. Aidan intended to finish it over the weekend, and he planned to help Jessica with refinishing the woodwork after that. In fact, her brother had reinspired her to work on her house.
At the moment, though, Jessica was putting together dinner for the two of them without enthusiasm. Hugh had been gone for less than twenty-four hours, but she felt hollowed out without his presence. Being in the kitchen made it worse, since she had such vivid memories of his sexy dance moves while he cooked.
“What is it?” she asked to be polite.
Aidan glanced up with an odd, dismayed expression on his face. “Sorry. Nothing important. Just a stupid video. I’m gonna go wash my face. I’ve got plaster dust in my eye or something.” He nearly bolted out of the kitchen.
Jessica went back to slicing mushrooms for the gravy to go with the chicken breasts baking in the oven. She hadn’t expected to miss Hugh this much. After all, she’d had a very full life before he came into the picture and it hadn’t eased up, despite the addition of Riya. Yet the hours plodded by, even when she was busy, because there was no hope of seeing Hugh at the end of the day. Texts and phone calls were no substitute for the intensity of his gaze, the heat and solidity of his body against hers, or the way the air seemed to scintillate with his unique charisma.
She drizzled olive oil in a pan and tossed the mushrooms in. As they began to soften and brown, Aidan walked slowly back into the kitchen, stopping right beside her with his phone held out. “Jess, you’re not going to like this, but I think you need to see it. Just remember it’s Meryl Langdon, not Hugh, saying this stuff.”
“What are you talking about?” She gave the mushrooms a stir with the spatula before taking the phone. It was paused on a video clip of a typical talk show set with a host and a female guest seated on high stools. The banner across the bottom of the screen read “Around DC with guest Meryl Langdon.”
She turned off the stove and hit the play button.
“So you’re filming the next Julian Best blockbuster in DC for the next few days,” the host said. “How does it feel to be the new love interest of the world’s hottest spy?”
Meryl tilted her head back, showing the perfect line of her throat as she gave a sexy laugh. “Fabulous, of course. Who wouldn’t want to do love scenes with Hugh Baker?”
“I hear the on-camera chemistry is scorching. How do you handle that off camera?”
“Hugh is the consummate professional,” Meryl said with a demure smile as she tossed a long, shining lock of auburn hair over her shoulder. “But you don’t get heat like that onscreen without a genuine spark. At the beginning of filming, there was definitely something . . . but . .
.” She shrugged.
Smelling blood, the host leaned forward. “But an old love has come back into his life, hasn’t she? How does that make you feel?”
“They share memories of a time when they were younger, less jaded, so it’s hard to compete.”
Jessica gasped. Meryl was trying to compete with her for Hugh? He’d never mentioned any romantic interest in or from his costar.
“But on-set romances are complicated,” Meryl continued. “You don’t know if it’s the intensity of playing the role of lovers that draws you together or if there’s something lasting between you. Although, with Hugh . . .” Her face took on a dreamy look.
“I can imagine,” the host said when it became clear Meryl wasn’t going to add to that. “I understand Mr. Baker’s girlfriend is a veterinarian in New York City, so she has a career of her own. Will she be joining him on location?”
“I can’t answer that question, but she is quite committed to her job.” Meryl made it sound as though she were privy to Hugh’s private life but couldn’t share the information. She then looked at the camera and gave a smile that said the girlfriend’s absence left an opportunity open for Meryl.
Jessica’s blood began to boil, even as she admired the actress’s ability to imply so much without uttering a word. “That b—witch!” She wasn’t going to insult her canine patients by calling the actress a bitch.
“It’s an interesting combination of careers,” the host prompted. “A veterinarian and a movie star.”
Meryl nodded, her expression pensive. “I think it’s a difficult one. People with rigid, scientific brains have a hard time understanding those of us with fluid, creative talent. Right brain, left brain, you know.”
“Rigid!” Jessica sputtered. “At least I have a brain.”
Second Act Page 26