“Hey.”
He raised his gaze and smiled at her. His beautiful wife. The woman he loved more than he’d ever thought possible. “Hey, baby.”
She edged closer to him and he snaked an arm around her waist, pulling her to him, he just wanted to feel her, against him. Where she belonged.
“You know what I feel like tonight?” she said, playing with the collar of his shirt. “I’d really love an early night.”
“You tired?”
She laughed quietly and reached out to touch his cheek, resting her fingers lightly against his slightly open mouth. “No. I’m definitely not tired… Well, maybe a little. It’s been a pretty crazy day, but…” She leaned in to kiss him gently, and he pulled her closer, wishing they were alone and she was naked, straddling his aching cock as she took him deep and fucked him hard, “I still want an early night.”
He grinned and pressed his hand hard onto the small of her back. “You do, huh?”
She smiled, and he kissed her, and she hooked her arms around his neck and pressed herself as close to him as she could get. “Yeah, I do.”
“You gonna get naked for me?”
“As the day I was born. Apart from those boots with the killer heels you like me to wear…” She moved her mouth up close to his ear, her voice lowering, “when you fuck me.”
“Jesus freakin’ Christ…”
“You in, baby?”
“I’m so fucking in, beautiful.”
“Good. Because I’ve got plans, handsome. And none of them include you with your clothes on.”
He lifted her up and swung her around, sitting her down on the table he’d been leaning back against, stepping between her legs as he kissed her again. And he didn’t care who was watching, in fact, he hoped Lukas Drake was taking in every fucking second because he wasn’t going to win this one. Did he think Aaron hadn’t seen what was going on there? That he couldn’t see the way things were going? Aaron had seen everything. He knew what Lukas wanted, because Quinn’s ex wasn’t exactly making a secret out of it. And he also knew that he wasn’t the only one who’d noticed. There were people here on-set who’d seen it too, and they’d make sure the press got to find out; they’d make sure social media was alight with more rumors than Hollywood knew what to do with before anyone here had even left this sound stage. That’s the way this shit worked now. So, yeah, Aaron knew exactly what Lukas wanted. But if he thought this fight was going to be an easy one, he was wrong.
Lukas Drake had destroyed Quinn once. Aaron was going to make sure he didn’t get the chance to do that again. If he wanted a fight, he’d just got himself one.
Game on.
Fourteen
Quinn clung onto Aaron’s hand as though the world would end if she let it go as all around them cameras went off and people shouted questions at them from every angle.
“Are any of the rumors true?”
“Is it hard, watching your wife kiss her ex?”
“What’s it like working with Lukas Drake and your husband together?”
Quinn, Aaron and Lukas had been told to say nothing, answer no questions. An appearance on a major late-night talk show, and an interview with one of Hollywood’s biggest movie magazines were currently being set up, and that was something all three of them would be doing, together – Aaron, Quinn, and Lukas. They’d face the cameras and the press together, and spiel the kind of shit everyone was probably expecting from them, none of which would stop anyone from continuing to dig for the real truth. No one was naïve enough to think that wouldn’t go on, of course it would. The media were being fed snippets every single day, and making of them what they wanted, be they true or not.
But here, at Quinn’s fortieth birthday party in one of L.A.’s most popular clubs, they’d been told to avoid any questions regarding the rumors that were circulating about Lukas Drake and the state of Aaron and Quinn’s marriage. There was nothing wrong with their marriage, if anything, this whole situation had only made it stronger.
“You look incredible,” Aaron whispered as they walked the short distance from the car to the club entrance.
Quinn turned her head to look at him, her mouth catching his in a kiss that every paparazzo in the vicinity jumped on. Of course, tomorrow they’d probably say that she and Aaron had staged all of this, all these public displays of affection, to disguise the fact she was growing closer to her ex while all the time forgetting that Aaron and Quinn had always been the kind of couple who were very open about showing their feelings in public.
“I feel old.” Quinn smiled, her whole body relaxing as Aaron’s fingers tightened around hers.
“You’re gonna be the most beautiful woman here tonight.” He slid an arm around her waist and pulled her against him, resting his mouth against hers as he spoke. “But then, you’re always the most beautiful woman anywhere, to me.”
“Oh, honey, you are so full of it.” She laid her hands against his chest, closing her eyes as he kissed her again, and she fell against him, letting the kiss go on as, once more, the cameras started clicking and yet more questions were thrown at them. But right now all Quinn cared about was Aaron, and the fact she was here, with him, showing everyone how strong they were. How in love they were. And none of that was an act.
“You’re my world, Aaron, you know that, don’t you?” She rested her forehead against his, running her fingers lightly over his bearded jaw line. She liked him with a beard, liked that this role called for him to grow one. “I want you, to know that.”
He squeezed her waist, lowering his mouth back down onto hers, and she slid her fingers into his hair and kissed him back. “Baby, I know that, of course I know that. And I love you, OK? I fucking love you.” He pulled back slightly, turning to face the crowd who’d gathered outside the club knowing that vast amounts of celebrities were going to show up for Quinn’s party tonight. “Did everyone get that? I love this woman!”
“Aaron…”
“No, Quinn, I want everyone to know. They need to know, how much I love you.” She closed her eyes and let him kiss her again, the lightest, most beautiful of kisses that barely grazed her lips yet still had the power to send a shiver coursing through her. “I love my wife. So fucking much.”
For the briefest of seconds all the crowd, all the cameras, all the noise and the attention, it just faded away; disappeared. For the briefest of seconds it was just her and Aaron – the man who’d given her back her life.
“I love you too, baby,” she whispered, and she did. She loved him just as much now as she had done back in those days when she couldn’t bear to be away from him; the days when they weren’t even supposed to be together. She loved him. But she was scared. Because, back then, Lukas Drake hadn’t been in their life. She’d shut him away, blocked him out. She’d forgotten about him. She couldn’t do that anymore. Not now, and that scared her.
“Come on, beautiful.” Aaron’s hand slipped back into hers, squeezing it tight. “Let’s get inside.”
For ten years Aaron Rogers had been enough. They were in love. They were solid – one of Hollywood’s power couples. For ten years this incredible man had been enough. But Lukas Drake was back in her life; their life. She’d let him in. And she still didn’t know why she’d done that.
Or maybe she did.
And she was scared…
***
Harry screwed the top back on the bottle and tossed the pills into his mouth, washing them down with a shot of Scotch. Not what his doctor would advise, but he was fucked if he was staying sober, not tonight. Not for the foreseeable future. Not until this movie had wrapped and Lukas Drake was out of Quinn’s life. Again. Oh, who the hell was he kidding? Lukas Drake wasn’t going to be out of her life once the movie wrapped, how could he be? There was all the publicity to get through, once a release date was set; the countless press and promo tours. The premieres. The only positive Harry could cling onto was that Aaron would be with her. They’d be doing all that shit, together. God fucking willing.
/> “You look like you don’t want to be here.”
Harry’s head shot up, and there was Lukas, standing right in front of him. “It’s Quinn’s birthday. Where else would I want to be?”
Lukas just raised an eyebrow. “I’m guessing you’d rather I wasn’t here though, huh?”
He’d got that right. “Would’ve looked odd if you weren’t, considering. The last thing we want to do is to fuel any more unnecessary rumors.” Harry’s eyes dropped to the drink Lukas was holding. “You still dry?”
Lukas raised his glass. “Club Soda.”
Harry kept his gaze fixed on Lukas, but if it was a reaction he was looking for, he wasn’t getting one. Lukas’s expression remained stoic. But Harry wasn’t stupid. He’d watched him and Quinn together, he’d seen the way they were around each other; the way Lukas would absent-mindedly lay a hand on Quinn’s hip when they were together on-set, as though he still had a right to be that intimate with her. He didn’t. But anything in front of the camera Harry had to put up with, and God knows that was hard enough to watch. But once those cameras stopped rolling Lukas needed to step back, leave her alone. He needed to let her live.
“She isn’t yours anymore, Lukas.”
Harry wasn’t sure he’d meant to say that out loud, but it was done now. And maybe it was good, that he’d put that out there; fuck it! He didn’t care. His sole purpose right now was to keep Quinn safe from this man; to stop her from – from, what? From falling back into his trap? From, albeit unwittingly, setting one of her own? From destroying her own future?
“She’s always been mine, Harry.”
“Don’t do this, Lukas. If you feel anything for her…”
“I’m still in love with her. I’ve always been in love with her, that never went away, those feelings never died. From the second I put myself inside her, there for all the fucking world to see, I’ve been in love with her.”
“Jesus… Lukas, come on…” Harry held his gaze, a sick feeling kicking up in the pit of his stomach.
“I’ve been too long without her, Harry. And if I’d known about our son, if I’d had any idea she was pregnant, believe me, I would have fought so fucking hard for her, you have no idea.”
“Would you? You remember the state you were in back then, do you?”
“I was in a bad place…”
Harry couldn’t stop the derisive laugh escaping. “And do you know where I was, huh? Do you? I was with Quinn. I was there, watching her fall apart, bit by bit, day by day, because she was so messed up, over you. I was there, when she couldn’t sleep because her heart was fucking breaking, over you. I was there, holding your wife when she pushed your dead son into this God-forsaken world because you couldn’t grow the fuck up. And you were in a bad place?”
Lukas took a step forward, his face contorted in a mask of barely concealed anger, but Harry wasn’t fazed. He didn’t care. He didn’t. This needed to be said, because he’d lived that crap with Quinn. He’d gone through it all, every step of the fucking way. He’d experienced all the shit Lukas Drake had thrown at her, and there was no way – no fucking way he was going to destroy her all over again. Harry wouldn’t let him. If it fucking killed him, he’d stop that from happening, with every breath in his body he’d stop it.
“You think I don’t regret everything I did to her? Everything I put her through?”
“Do you even remember what you put her through? I mean, you were so out of it half the time I’m surprised you even remembered who that girl was. What she’d once meant to you; been to you. You had this beautiful, vibrant woman by your side, in your fucking bed, and she loved you, she fucking worshipped you, and you…”
“I regret everything. She didn’t deserve any of that…”
“She didn’t deserve you. And yet, she loved you. So fucking much, too much. She loved you, too much, and you destroyed her. You killed her, you selfish fucking bastard…”
Lukas glared at Harry, his eyes blazing with a silent rage, before he broke the stare, slammed his empty glass down onto the table behind Harry, and walked away. And all Harry could do was hope he hadn’t just made everything a million times worse.
***
Lukas grabbed a fresh drink from the bar and downed it in one, craving the hit only alcohol could give but knowing he couldn’t go back there again. He wouldn’t let himself, no matter how shit he felt. He’d changed, and he needed to stay that changed man if he stood any chance at all of regaining Quinn’s trust.
His eyes darted around the room as he tried to find her, and there she was, down on the dance floor, in the arms of her husband, her head thrown back as she laughed at something Aaron had just whispered in her ear. She looked happy. She looked beautiful and happy and free of all the crap he’d lain on her. And it hurt, like fucking hell, it hurt. The pain, it was real and raw as it powered through him, filling every artery, burning his skin; penance for losing the only woman he was ever going to love? Payback for letting her go like she’d meant nothing to him? What kind of a fucking idiot had he been?
His fingers tightened around the back of a stool he hadn’t even realized he’d been holding onto as he continued to watch them together – Aaron Rogers and Quinn Baxter. One hell of a beautiful couple. One Hollywood mess waiting to happen. Because Harry was right, he was selfish, he was a bastard. And he wasn’t going to leave Quinn alone, he couldn’t do that. He loved her. And somewhere deep inside her bruised and battered heart she still loved him, too.
He’d seen it.
He’d felt it.
So, no, he wasn’t going to leave her alone. He wasn’t going to do that.
Because he loved her…
***
“We could skip this thing early, go home, have our own party. In private.”
Quinn looked at Aaron, throwing him a sideways smile as his hand dropped to her ass, squeezing it gently. “You want to go home? Already?”
“I do,” he murmured as he leaned in to her, nuzzling her neck, his teeth gently nipping her earlobe. “I want some alone time with the birthday girl.”
“We can’t skip our own party early. People’ll talk.”
“Yeah. That ‘wife skips party early to indulge in sordid sex with her husband’ shocker. That’ll set the gossip grapevine alight, that will.”
She moved her head slightly until his mouth caught hers, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and pushed herself against him as he kissed her, slowly, his lips barely touching hers but she loved it when he kissed her like this. His kisses had been one of the things she’d fallen in love with first. He had a way of almost not touching her, yet managing to strike at her very core, that one place that never failed to excite her; arouse her. And now was no exception. She could feel her stomach contracting in short, sharp waves; feel her head starting to spin and her thighs burn up.
“Fuck it! We don’t have to go home.”
“Aaron? What are you doing…?”
He took her hand and pulled her away from the busy V.I.P. area, down one of the corridors that led to the rest rooms, pushing her back against the wall, his mouth on hers before she had a chance to protest. Not that she was going to. This was her fortieth birthday party, and she was acting like a horny teenager on prom night, but she didn’t care. She was way past acting sensible; he’d pushed her too far. And as she hurriedly wriggled out of her panties, stuffing them into his shirt pocket, she closed her mind to anything else except her husband, and this moment.
“You are so bad sometimes,” she groaned as his lips brushed over her collarbone, leaving a trail of tiny, feather light kisses in their wake.
“I never promised you a good guy, darlin’.”
He lifted her up, his hands cupping her ass as he lowered her down onto him, and she couldn’t stop the long, but thankfully quiet moan from escaping as he pushed inside her. It was like the sweetest release, a warm shot of something familiar and beautiful and she needed it. She needed him, more than she ever had done. She needed him, now.
&nb
sp; “Happy Birthday, baby.”
She laughed quietly, taking his face in her hands and kissing him, tasting him, her tongue tracing the back of his teeth, the roof of his mouth as her legs wrapped tighter around him. This was her safe place, here, with him. This was where she knew Lukas couldn’t get to her, but the fact she’d even given Lukas a thought…
She closed her eyes and clung on to Aaron as his gentle thrusts built up pace and rhythm, burying her face in his hair as he came quickly and quietly, his hand dropping to touch her, to help her reach her own, almost calming climax, and he held her as she moaned low and deep; held her as her body bucked gently in his arms.
They were going to be OK, her and Aaron.
They were going to be OK…
***
Lukas leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, breathing in deep. But he felt no guilt, not a trace. He loved her, and yes, seeing her with another man – even if that man was her husband – it hurt in a way Lukas should have been used to by now, but he could deal with it. Because one day she’d be his again. They were always meant to be together, and OK, he’d fucked up, he’d lost her; pushed her away. But fate had brought them back together. When he’d been asked to direct this movie as well as star in it, he hadn’t even hesitated in giving his answer. To get that close to Quinn again? To work with her husband? Knowing that she’d surely show up at some point during filming, that was something that had ignited that hope he’d never let go of. But when the opportunity to have her work alongside him, too – when that came up, he’d had to make sure she came on board. And he’d made that happen. Fate. It existed, it was real. Fate had brought them back together. And he was going to ignore that?
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