Malibu Betrayals

by M. K. Meredith

  “I’m not going to see anyone else while we’re seeing each other, Sam.”

  “It’s not like I have any right to ask, but—”

  Pressing his lips into a thin line, he looked away and then back to her eyes. “You’re right, but I can offer it.”

  Her phone buzzed, and she peeked at it, distracted by the honest intensity in his eyes.

  What in the hell is wrong with you?! We want what’s ours.

  Her hands went numb, hurt pounding in her chest, and she pulled in a breath to try and ease the discomfort. It didn’t work. Tapping the screen, she closed the text and slid her phone into her pocket.

  “What’s wrong? Something happen?”

  The concern tugged at her. It wasn’t a common experience for her, from a man. Uncharted territory. She wished she’d met Gage years ago. She’d have written a different story for herself then, but then again he’d still be a celebrity.

  Sam shook her head and forced a smile on her lips. Standing, she said, “No, no. Everything’s fine. We need to get back to the set.”

  He nodded as he pushed up from his seat. “Fine, let’s finish this first.” He held out a morsel oozing with creamy peanut butter. She pushed the text and the magazine out of her mind, and held his eyes as she wrapped her lips around the sweet, sucking on his finger as he slid it from her mouth. His eyes dilated, and she grinned. Without warning, he snaked his arms around her waist and pulled her in tight. “You should really share.”

  As he moved his lips over hers, she closed her eyes with a sigh. She could get used to sharing if this was how it was done. Sliding her tongue against his, tension raced deep to her center, forming a tight ball of need. She pressed into him, closer, and ran her fingers up over his shoulders and into his hair, loving his groan as she tugged with a gentle grip.

  She’d have to stay on her toes. A physical relationship with Gage promised to be fun, and she counted on moving forward. But the man saw too much, already knew too much—and that could be dangerous.

  Maybe the new her liked a little danger. That would teach her to think light and easy would actually be easy.

  Chapter Seven

  The crew broke for the day with the plan to reconvene later that evening to shoot a night sequence. Sam and Gage had decided on working late and had dinner called to the set. She gazed out the front window, lost in thoughts of him as the landscape changed with the lowering sun in shadows of shifting colors and textures.

  Neither mentioned the tabloid, to Sam’s relief, but it still left an itch behind her shoulder blades. Being with Gage, even in a no strings, no commitment kind of way, wasn’t wise. She glanced at Gage through lowered lashes as he approached. But damn if she could help herself. He gave her something she needed—to be desired and to desire. It was heady, and she wanted more.

  “That was really sweet of you today, the way you helped Dani out.”

  He shot her a brief look, then focused his attention back to the script in his hand. “It’s what anyone would have done.”

  “No, it’s not. Especially not a celebrity. I’m just saying. It was sweet.”

  He grunted, a sound more noncommittal than saying nothing at all. The sun’s light, shining through the large picture window, washed through the profile of his eyes, and they glowed. His rugged features and a day’s growth on his jaw made her fingers itch to explore every angle. She wanted him, was drawn to him. A giddy excitement bubbled in her stomach, withering her appetite for food and wetting her appetite for a different kind of consumption altogether.

  Gage dropped to a chair at the table and crooked his finger at her.

  The small thrumming in her heart increased as she approached him. “What?”

  He took her hand and pulled her toward him, between his legs. Lifting the hem of her top, he leaned forward and ran his tongue along her skin just above her waistband, sending waves of goose bumps along her skin. She sucked in her breath.

  “I’ve been waiting forever to get my hands on you again.”

  She closed her eyes and then snapped them open as she fell to his lap. He gripped her head in his hands as he kissed her, and she wrapped her arms around his neck to get closer. The thrumming in her heart turned to full-on crescendo. She smiled against his mouth. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to that.”

  He laughed. “That’s a good thing.”

  “Like I said earlier, you’re sweet, but you need to be careful. One of these times you might help out the wrong person. What if Dani had been a crazy Gage Cutler fan? God knows there are plenty of those running around.”

  Gage grimaced. “Please.”

  When Gage didn’t answer, she looked up to find him staring at her with those eyes of his, more green than blue at the moment.

  She pressed a kiss to his mouth again. “I’m serious. Everyone wants a piece of Hollywood’s bad boy.” Sam wanted to yank back her words and shove them right back into her mouth.

  Holding her gaze, he dragged his thumb over her lower lip. “Are you jealous?”

  She tensed. “What? No.” The indignation in her voice was not helping her cause at all. She could see his ego growing with every word. Shit.

  “I haven’t been a bad boy for a long time. I’ve changed. Started changing years ago. Hollywood’s just slow on catching up. The dating, the drinking, reckless driving. I haven’t had a traffic violation in over two years. I drink socially, but I try not to use it when shit’s tough.”

  She nodded, warming that he’d share with her. He was changing, but the kind of change he talked about took time and constant effort. Being a celebrity made it ten times more difficult, because Hollywood didn’t like to say goodbye to its bad boys.

  Sliding his hands to her ass, he squeezed, and in a low, rough voice said, “You have no reason to be jealous. Besides, the one who needs to be careful is you. I’m hungry, and I feel like I haven’t eaten for days.”

  A knock at the door promised dinner and a way out of her screw-up. Jumping up from his lap, she laughed, then skirted around the film equipment to the front of the house. Thanking the security guard, she took the bags and made quick time of getting back to the dining room. As she slid into her seat, she studied Gage’s face and parceled out dinner.

  “Tell me more about your feelings toward these crazy Cutler fans.”

  Ignoring him, she looked him over from across the table, and purposely biting her lower lip, pushed her silverware around and then lined each piece up in straight lines once more. “Do you know your eyes are sometimes green and sometimes blue?”

  He cocked a brow. “Really? You want to talk about my eyes?”

  That showed what he knew; his eyes really were alluring. She raised her brows.

  Gage stared at her a moment and grinned, taking a long swallow from his glass. “Fine, last I checked my eyes were blue.”

  Adrenaline emboldened her as she held his gaze. “Not when you’re coming; then they’re green.”

  Gage choked.

  Sam’s heart lurched and her face flushed a few thousand degrees hotter. Flirting with him was its own kind of high, and she wanted more.

  A bark of laughter broke from his lips, and he tried to muffle it with his napkin, knowing security wasn’t too far off. Gage leaned in. “To be honest, I’ve never seen my eyes when I—”

  Sam threw her hand up. “No, God, don’t say it again.” She squirmed in her seat as heat flushed her skin. She wasn’t sure if it was from her embarrassment or his gaze.

  He slid those damned eyes up and down her body, at least what was visible above the table, and took bite of his scallops, chewing while he teased, “Are you kidding? I can totally get on board with this change in topic.”

  “I’m not changing the topic.” Her face warmed.

  He cocked his brow again. “I want to hear more about the color of my eyes, and anything to do with ‘coming.’”

  Well, she did start it. Sam snatched a piece of ice from her glass and sucked the end of it. Then, with slow purposefu
l movements, she ran the cube over her jaw and down the side of her neck. If they were going to keep this fun and playful, she needed to do her part. Besides, pushing the envelope was more fun than she’d ever imagined. She might just need to try it more often. Her voice low, forcing him to lean closer, she said, “Your eyes are blue when you’re calm, in control. But when you get hot, when your body tightens with wanting, they glow a light cyan. As you get closer—you know what I mean by closer.”

  Gage all but lay across the table, paying rapt attention to her every word. He nodded with the slightest of movement.

  “When your skin slides against my skin, my breasts pressed against your chest, your body so tight, so hot that it can’t handle even, one…more…stroke. Bam!” She slapped the table.

  Gage jumped, and she laughed. He grabbed his napkin to wipe his brow and downed the rest of his water in one long swallow.

  “Green.”

  “What?” Gage asked. She tried not to enjoy herself too much, but he deserved it. If he wasn’t going to let her off the hook, she’d put him on one.

  “Green; then your eyes are green. A bright, luminescent green. Your eyes are so light it seems like I can see through them.” She looked at him with an innocent smile and then took a bite of her salad.

  Gage held her gaze while she chewed. He watched her mouth, and she felt his gaze all the way to her toes, and that darned shiver returned. Without warning, he grabbed the bag and tossed in his utensils and napkin. “We need this packed up to go. Now.”

  “What?”

  Gage continued to sweep his eyes over all of her secret places. “You’re going to show me.”

  Gage placed the rest of the food into the to-go bag and stood.

  She put her hand out to stop him. “You can’t be serious.” Actually, this was exactly what she wanted. “On second thought…”

  He remained silent and offered her his hand, palm up. She took it with a giggle, and he pulled her to her feet. “Go, I’ll meet you,” he said.

  Sam made her way to her car, smiling as she watched Gage’s car lights disappear in the distance. Stepping through the driveway gate, she listened to the crickets chirp and looked over all the color the early evening painted on the canyon. Turning toward her car, she froze and stared in horror as Ethan Evans’ mother lifted her chin a notch higher. Dread spread throughout her limbs, heaviest at her heart, as she gripped her keys tighter in her hand. She couldn’t imagine how the woman found the set, much less knew Sam worked on it.

  Gage’s car approached and pulled to a stop behind Mrs. Evans’, and he got out.

  He jerked his chin toward the woman. “I saw the car and then remembered there shouldn’t be anyone here besides security.”

  “This is how you honor my son’s death? Cavorting with the man responsible? I knew you had no class, Samantha, but this takes you to a low I didn’t even see. Ethan was an artist.” Ethan’s mother waved her hand as if in disgust at Gage. “This man is nothing more than a common man-whore.”

  Sam sucked in a breath and took a step toward the woman. “How dare you? Gage isn’t responsible, and you know it.”

  Ethan’s mother continued, relentless. “On second thought, you two do deserve each other.”

  Gage moved in front of Sam, his hands fisted at his sides. She reached out to stop him, but he resisted her efforts. Once he stood nose to nose with the woman, he towered over her, breathing hard through clenched teeth. “Now I see where your misogynistic bully of a son got his manners. Stay away from Samantha.”

  Mrs. Evan’s jaw dropped open, and her eyes narrowed into slits. “Or what?”

  He stepped forward, and she almost fell trying to get away from him.

  Sam swept past the woman, grabbed her things from her own car, and then marched back to Gage’s, nodding at him to get in. They slammed the doors closed against her accusations, and Sam trembled, her chest both tight and heavy—and something else.

  “I’m so sorry you had to see that. I’m sorry she said—”

  “You aren’t responsible. You stood up for me, and I’ll always do the same for you. I watch out for my friends, Sam.”

  She shot him a look, his words warming her heart. The last thing she wanted was anyone else hurting him the way she had. “But you shouldn’t have to. That woman can turn a white dove into a creature of the night with her foul breath alone.”

  He chuckled and then shot her a hard look. “I’ll call my lawyer, and he’ll see to it that any comments from the Evanses will be silenced.”

  He was sweet to try, but Sam knew the power of gossip. It played a part in pushing Ethan to take his own life. Lucky for her and Gage, Mrs. Evans had no photos to go along with any of her dosed poison. In tabloids, words were water, but photos were wine.

  Once the woman’s headlights disappeared from sight, Gage asked, “Why were things so bad with Ethan? Is it why his family is treating you like this?”

  Settling deeper into the seat, Sam pulled at a string on her slacks. “He’d been the perfect boyfriend, painted a beautiful picture of our future together. Then once we were married it all changed. He was never home, but he also didn’t want me going out alone. Always so jealous. He hated that I had a career and that I was good at it. I finally realized he married me as a way to enhance a status that only he saw. Like being married to someone in the industry increased his chances of success, kind of like a politician. Show the happy couple, happy family. Now I know it was a means to gain the trust of young starlets.” She grimaced. “Turns my stomach.”

  Gage sighed. “And his family?”

  “He was their golden boy; he could do no wrong. I never measured up in their eyes, and they agreed I should be home waiting on him instead of carving out my own career. He’d wanted me to get pregnant, but by that time I knew ours wasn’t a family to bring a child into. Now that he’s gone, they’ve never forgiven me.”

  Leaning forward, Gage brushed his lips across her brow. “You’re more than a prop, Sam.”

  Sam grabbed his shoulders and pressed her mouth to his. He understood. She didn’t know how, but the man got her. She’d never been able to put her pain in words before, but he saw it right away. She’d been nothing more than a means to an end with Ethan. She wasn’t sure which was worse, feeling worthless or being seen as worthless.

  But not now, not anymore, and not ever again.

  Pulling back, she grabbed his hand, feeling lighter than she had in years. “Let’s go. I have something to show you.”

  …

  They rode in silence until Gage pulled into his garage. He grabbed their dinner, walked around the car, and opened the door for Sam. Anger and concern rolled in his gut. The nerve of that woman. How could the two women closest to Ethan Evans not have seen what a dick he was? He shook his head.

  Sam stepped out with a questioning look.

  “We still have to eat. And since my preferred menu is no longer on the table, this will have to do.”

  His humor pulled her lips into a smile, as he’d hoped. A wave of protectiveness washed over him, whether he had the right to feel it or not, and he reached for her hand. “Come on.”

  She slid her hand into his.

  He couldn’t believe how much she’d dealt with over the past year. Most people wouldn’t have handled it with her grace or courage. Shit, she still lived in the home where she’d found her husband dead.

  It was really no wonder any kind of relationship with celebrities terrified her. Hollywood hadn’t exactly been gentle and wouldn’t be in the future, either. Living in the spotlight wasn’t for sissies. That was for damn sure.

  They stepped onto the sun-warmed California beach sand behind his house and made their way down to the water’s edge. He spread a light blanket out on the ground.

  Sam raised her brows. “Aren’t we prepared.”

  He winked. “You’d have been disappointed if I wasn’t. I don’t want to tarnish the bad boy reputation you still think I have.” He tipped his chin, back in the directi
on they’d just come. “I keep it in my trunk with a few other odds and ends.”

  “Of course. By the way, you’ve earned the reputation. I haven’t given you anything.”

  “How about just an inch?”

  She laughed. “Okay, okay. I’m just teasing.”

  They kicked off their shoes and sank to the blanket. Gage emptied the bag, placing their meal in the center. “How long has that been going on?”

  She met his eyes, then looked at the waves rolling in and ending in a frothy layer of bubbles at their toes. “Since we said, ‘I do.’ His mother couldn’t stand me or the fact he’d married a writer when he was surrounded by beautiful Hollywood actresses.”

  “And here I thought she didn’t like actors.”

  “Not for me, no, but for her son. I’m sorry about that. You didn’t deserve her wrath. That was for me.”

  “Really? Because if I remember the tabloids correctly”—he curled his fingers into quotation marks—“Playboy hot rod Gage Cutler killed photo journalist superstar Ethan Evans.”

  She swallowed with a wince, then quickly took another bite.

  He didn’t need a confirmation of his sins. “Is that why you stayed away from me after he died?”

  Sam hesitated, her troubled brown eyes wavering. “Yes. I was wrong. I’m sorry, Gage.”

  The pain in his chest spread to his gut, and the few bites he’d taken sat like a stone in his stomach. Wiping his hands with a napkin, he nodded once, then looked on down the beach.

  He gritted his teeth. His career, his misdeeds, would always haunt him. They would always lead judge and jury to condemn. It didn’t matter what changes he’d made or would make. His mistakes were a brick wall, ten feet thick, and no one was willing to open a door and let him walk through, much less leave it behind. But Hollywood was a funny monster. He’d still get the best movies, still received the highest awards. The industry loved a screwed-up super star, but what he wanted was for them to love him.

  Continuing down this particular road could only hurt him more. He tried to swallow. “Why didn’t you tell me?”