That was all it took. He shoved the coffee table aside, urged her down to the braided rug and started wrenching away clothes, both his and hers. Wild cries on the video spurred him on. He had to have her now, this minute, or he would start babbling like a madman.
“Quick!” She was gasping, obviously as hot as he was.
“I’m trying!” He ripped her panties in the process of getting them off. He didn’t care. Then he somehow got his fly open and the condom in place, while his screen self and the screen Molly continued to groan and thrash about. As if that weren’t enough to send him over the edge, the real Molly began pleading with him in the most explicit language he’d ever heard from her, which inflamed him even more.
By the time he rose over her and plunged deep, he felt like a sex maniac. “Is this what you want?” he cried, stroking her hard.
“Yes! Like that! Oh, Alec, I’m coming! I’m coming.”
So was he, in a rush that made his ears buzz. This was living.
MOLLY FELT AS IF they were hosting an orgy. The tape continued to run while they recovered from their first frantic session. They took a long hot shower together, deliberately not making love because they both knew there was more video in store. By the time they were ready to start watching again, Molly in her satin bathrobe and Alec with a towel knotted around his waist, their on-screen counterparts were once again writhing on the bed.
Before long, Molly and Alec were making love on the sofa, accompanied by parallel groans and moans coming from the television set. “Stereo sex,” Alec murmured in her ear as he stroked slowly in and out.
“Are you watching?”
“No.” He lifted his head and gazed into her eyes. “I’d rather watch the real thing. But listening is kinda fun.”
She felt her orgasm hover nearer with each thrust. “So you don’t think…we should shut it…off?”
“Are you crazy?” He shifted his angle and found her G-spot. “Tell me you’re not turned on by hearing us at the same time we’re doing it.”
“I am.” She clutched his hips and lifted to give him deeper access. “I don’t know what kind of woman that makes me, but I am.”
“That makes you my kind of woman.” He looked into her eyes as he pumped faster. “I should take that back.” He gasped. “But I won’t.”
She had to give as good as she got. It was only fair. They couldn’t tell each other the truth, but they could edge close to it. “Then…let me say you’re my…kind of man.” Breathing hard, she kept her gaze locked with his.
His focus sharpened. “Molly, I—”
“Don’t say anything you can’t take back.” She stopped him before he could confess too much. It was still too soon for declarations of love.
Longing flashed in his eyes, then was gone. Pressing his lips together, he increased his speed. She closed her eyes and abandoned herself to pure sensation as he took them both over the edge and their cries of release blended with the ones recorded on the tape.
Holding him close, Molly trembled in the aftermath of her climax…and battled regret.
ALEC TRIED NOT TO LOVE sleeping next to Molly through the night. He tried to squelch the rush of joy he felt waking up in her bed and the contentment that poured over him as they shared bagels and coffee and the Sunday paper. She showed him her staged ending to the video, an ending they’d been too involved to see the night before. They replayed it about ten times, laughing like fools.
The clock marched on, but he did his best to ignore it. Time was his enemy today. After all, a guy couldn’t be blamed for wanting to linger in paradise.
He read her revised love scenes, which caused them to act out another one. Once again he had to swallow the words that came so naturally while he was deep inside her. Her revised scenes were damn good, and as he thought of that, he realized that he’d done his job. Theoretically, after today she might not need him anymore.
But he refused to believe she’d drop him that quickly. Maybe they were both skating on thin ice, trying to enjoy what they had without letting it become more, but he had to believe she wanted to continue as much as he did. She wasn’t faking happiness. After all these hours with her, he’d know.
Still, he stayed as long as he dared, afraid to break their magic connection again. Finally he had no choice but to put on his clothes in preparation for heading out the door.
“I have classes all day tomorrow,” he said. “I wish I could cut a few, but I’d better not.”
“I wouldn’t want you to.” She’d pulled on a T-shirt and a pair of short denim coveralls that transformed her into a sexy country bumpkin.
She looked so adorable that Alec had a tough time imagining he wouldn’t see her the next day. “Unfortunately I also have a driving assignment tomorrow night. I could come by afterward, though, because I’m free on Tuesday. Maybe we could have a picnic down on the beach. Maybe—”
“Alec, there’s something I need to tell you about Tuesday. I’ve put it off because…because I don’t like it any better than you will.”
His stomach twisted. Whatever was coming, he wasn’t going to be happy about it. “What’s that?”
“I have to go to L.A.”
The twisting in his stomach grew worse. “I didn’t see it on the Red Carpet schedule.” He had the irrational thought that if he hadn’t seen it there, it couldn’t be true.
“I know.” She rushed through the rest. “I forgot to call, which was stupid of me because by waiting until the last minute like this, I was taking a chance that you wouldn’t be available, and I don’t want anybody but you taking me to the airport.”
“I’ll take you to the airport.” He felt as if he’d eaten a serving of steel filings for breakfast, and he couldn’t seem to move, either, as if he’d become magnetized to the spot by all that metal. “How long will you be gone?”
“I…” She clenched her hands together in front of her and her eyes were filled with anxiety. “I don’t know. I’ll have to call for…for a pickup, but I’ll make sure it’s on a day you don’t have class.”
Her distress finally broke the spell her words had cast over him, and he moved forward to pull her into his arms. “Molly, tell me why you’re going to L.A.” He cradled her head against his chest and stroked her silky hair. “I can see you don’t want to. Maybe there’s something I can do about it.”
She hugged him fiercely and kept her face buried against his shirt. “There’s nothing you can do. And I can’t tell you why I’m going. I wish I could, but I can’t.”
“I hate this.”
“I know. Me, too.”
“Okay.” With a sigh he forced himself to let her go. “I can still come by on Monday night and then go back for the limo early Tuesday.”
She shook her head, her gaze sad. “I have things to do, Alec. I’ll need the time between now and then to get everything done.”
This just wasn’t getting any better, no matter how he tried. “Then I’ll see you Tuesday. What time?”
“Eight.”
He nodded. “You’d probably better call in, so Edgars doesn’t get suspicious. I probably shouldn’t tell him you made the reservation through me.”
“I’ll call right after you leave.”
He cupped her face in both hands and gave her a long, searching kiss. All he learned from it was that she wanted him as much as he wanted her. For whatever good that did. And then, finally, he had to go.
“See you Tuesday,” she called after him.
“Right.” He walked out the door. How quickly paradise could become hell.
14
MOLLY STOOD hugging herself, a lump in her throat and an ache in her heart as she listened to Alec drive away. Putting off telling Alec about the ghostwriting didn’t feel right. He thought she was deliberately shutting him out of a part of her life, and that had to feel really horrible to him. But she could see no other way to handle this. She couldn’t say anything until she’d talked with Dana in person. Considering that she’d never asked to reveal
the secret to someone, a phone call wasn’t enough.
In the meantime, she had plenty of writing to do if she expected to show Dana several chapters of the new mystery, a mystery in which the supposedly kindly old gardener was really the killer. And she had to pack, and call her parents, and generally get back to being Molly Drake, daughter of Owen and Cybil, ghostwriter for Dana Kyle. For a few sweet days she’d been someone else—Molly Drake, budding novelist and sexual adventurer—but her other life demanded her attention now.
First on the agenda was calling in her request for a chauffeur from Red Carpet Limousine. Hard to believe the last time she’d asked for Alec, he’d been scheduled to take her to the train station so that she could keep her appointment with Benjamin. It seemed weeks ago instead of days. Now everything had changed.
She was seriously considering a relationship with Alec. Maybe if she stayed in California until his finals were over, they could spend the summer together before he had to immerse himself in school again. Sure, he’d still be taking a chance dating her while he was working for Red Carpet, but she could solve that by buying a car and learning to drive. Alec would probably say she didn’t need to, but unless he would accept gas money, she wasn’t about to let him take her everywhere in his Blazer.
The prospect of a summer devoted to writing and Alec made her much more cheerful as she crossed to the telephone table, picked up the receiver and dialed the number she knew by heart. She’d never called Red Carpet on a Sunday before, and she wondered if they’d have the phones switched to voice mail. To her surprise a man answered, and a second later she realized why he sounded familiar.
“Josh?” she said. “This is Molly. I didn’t expect you to be answering the Red Carpet phone.”
“Something went haywire with our voice mail, so we’re rotating the phone detail. What can I do for you?”
Because Josh knew about her and Alec and probably didn’t approve, Molly stumbled with her request. “I would like—ah—I need a ride to JFK on Tuesday. Um, Tuesday morning at eight. Please.”
“Sure thing,” Josh said smoothly. “I guess you’re requesting Alec, as usual.” Keys clicked in the background as Josh accessed her file on the computer.
“Yes.”
“Does he already know about this?”
Molly hesitated, not sure what to say.
“It’s okay, Molly.” Josh sounded much kinder than he had the last time he’d talked to her. “I’m not going to turn in one of my best friends. And when I couldn’t get him all day yesterday or last night, I thought he was probably with you.”
Guilt washed over her. “Was it urgent? Because you could have called here, Josh. I wouldn’t have minded that.”
“Not earthshaking. I had a date Friday night with a girl from one of his classes and I wanted to check with him on a couple of things.”
“He worked really hard Thursday and Friday so he could take a little time off.” Molly heard the defensive tone in her voice and took a deep breath. Josh wasn’t Alec’s keeper, and she didn’t have to justify anything to him.
“I’m sure he did. And you probably think I should butt out of his business.”
“I don’t know if you should or not,” she said honestly, less confident than she’d like to be. “He tells me he has everything under control.”
“Let’s hope he does. Megan didn’t seem to think so. She said he was on thin ice to begin with because of all the hours he works. She said I should tell him to get his butt in gear because next week is critical. A paper’s due, plus they’ll be reviewing for the final. Now, we’re only talking about one class, here, but it’s an important class, one he needs to graduate.”
“I won’t be a distraction next week because I’ll be in California.” Molly decided to trust Josh. Alec obviously did. “In fact, I was thinking I might stay there until the end of the semester.”
There was a brief pause. “That would be a good idea, Molly.”
Josh sounded so parental that she felt compelled to defend Alec. “On the other hand, I’m sure he has the discipline to complete his class work, even if I’m here.”
There was an even longer silence this time. “You’ve known him six months, but I’ve known him eighteen years. Don’t get me wrong, I love the guy. But if he doesn’t figure out what to do with his life pretty soon…well, I hate to see someone with all that potential bouncing around the way he has. And I’m just a friend. His folks are ready to tear their hair out.”
Molly felt sick to her stomach. Everyone was worried about Alec’s future, and here she came, creating a distraction he obviously didn’t need right now. “Well, hasn’t he finally settled on being a lawyer?”
“That’s what he says, but I’ve seen this pattern before. He gets to a point when it looks as if he really might grab hold and make a career of something, and then he finds some reason not to give it his full attention. Usually it’s because he’s helping someone else.”
Like her, with her book. She closed her eyes in dismay.
“When he was in architecture,” Josh continued, “he got involved in helping a buddy build a cabin up in Maine. During the premed phase he was on some orientation tour at the hospital and met an old lady with terminal cancer and no relatives nearby. He took her on as a project, and let his studies slide.”
“I can picture him doing that.” Molly’s throat felt tight at the thought of Alec’s soft heart and innate goodness. But she wasn’t a dying old woman, and she couldn’t have him sacrificing that way for her.
“I’m not saying that wasn’t wonderful, what he did for that lady, but it’s almost as if he looks for these distractions. I thought he’d made it over the hump and was really focused on getting his law degree, but…”
“Now he’s helping me with my book.”
“Exactly. I understand there’s more to your relationship than that, but his behavior the past few days has been classic, and I hate to stand by and watch him throw another promising career down the drain.”
She fought against the inevitable conclusion. “He hasn’t done that yet. You might be worrying prematurely.”
“I might, but in the past, once he loses his enthusiasm, he never goes back to the original program. He shuts that door and looks around for another option.”
Well, there it was. She didn’t have much choice now. Bracing herself for what was to come, she took another deep breath. “I can promise you one thing, Josh. If he closes the door on his law career, it will have nothing to do with me.”
“I’m glad to hear that. Listen, the other line’s ringing, so I’d better answer it. Nice talking to you.”
“Same here,” she lied, and disconnected the phone. Nothing about the conversation had been nice. Josh had informed her that she was poison to Alec’s future, and from all the evidence, she was.
She’d foolishly imagined they could enjoy the summer together, but she’d been sadly mistaken. If Alec spent a summer critiquing her sex scenes and encouraging her writing, not to mention all the lovemaking they’d enjoy in between, what were the chances he’d want to dive back into his law studies?
Molly knew the answer to that question. In order to become a lawyer, Alec would have to force his way through some hard and maybe even boring months of school. She didn’t know if he’d do that or not, but she would keep her promise to Josh. If Alec dropped out of law school, it wouldn’t be her fault. She wouldn’t do that to the man she loved.
ALEC DIDN’T LIKE the idea of Molly going to L.A. Actually, he hated it. He’d always hated it, he realized, even before they’d become lovers, but now the separation would be almost impossible to bear.
But he would bear it, and he’d work like a demon in his classes while she was gone so they could have even more time together once she came back. He wished she’d set a time when she’d be home. Okay, maybe she considered L.A. home because her folks lived there, but he thought she belonged in Connecticut. With him.
This summer they’d work out all the kinks in their rel
ationship. After all, they’d only been dating for a few days. He couldn’t expect her to tell him everything she’d been keeping quiet about after only a few days. Over the summer she’d let him into her private world. He was sure of it.
So although he didn’t look forward to having her gone and didn’t want to drive her to JFK this morning, he’d look on it as a necessary step, a way to mark off some days before their long and very hot summer arrived. As he parked the Town Car in front of her cottage, even though the sky was overcast and rain threatened, he was almost cheerful.
Molly didn’t run out to meet him this time, but that was okay. She might still be packing. And he was determined not to ask her anything about the reason for this trip, either. No sense in pushing now when they’d have all summer together.
As he stepped up on the porch, she opened the door, and he caught his breath, stunned as always by how beautiful she was. She’d dressed for comfort in low-slung black slacks and a cropped black knit shirt that showed off her tiny waist and flat stomach. He envied every single person at JFK who would be treated to the sight of Molly Drake this morning.
“Come on in for a minute.” She stepped back from the door.
He laughed, more than happy to oblige. “Is that a good idea? You might miss your plane.”
She didn’t smile back. Instead, she wrapped her arms around him and gave him a long, soul-shattering kiss.
He moaned and pulled her closer, forgetting everything but the need to hold her, kiss her, make love to her, no matter what the consequences might be.
Apparently she wasn’t as swept away, though, because she wiggled out of his arms and backed away. “We…we have to go.”
He couldn’t help wishing that maybe she’d change her mind. Maybe she’d say to hell with the trip and spend the day here with him. “Are you sure? That kiss felt more like hello than goodbye.”
“I’m sorry.”
He took a closer look and realized her eyes glistened. She was close to tears. His heart constricted. She was leaving, honoring whatever obligation she had back in L.A., but she didn’t want to go.
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