The Roles We Play Read online

  “And if I don’t?”

  “Hollywood, I’m one of those women that doesn’t socialize at this hour. So don’t touch me with anything you want back. Got it?”

  “Yep, Mark was right. Evil.” He whispered that last word and she covered her giggle.

  * * * *

  Kelly snuggled into the pillows, reluctant to acknowledge the sunshine coming through her windows. The sweet heavenly smell of coffee tickled her nose. As she blinked open her eyes, she thought she must still be dreaming.

  Trevor stood, shirtless in flannel pants sipping coffee as he looked out the tall arched windows. She drank in the sight of him. The reality of his good looks and sculpted body were far better than any movie or picture she had ever seen.

  Had he actually slept in her bed last night? Shirtless? Holy crap. She had to be the stupidest woman on the planet to sleep through that.

  “Would it be weird for me to admit that I am totally crushing on you right now?” She smiled and hugged her pillow. His smile spread slowly across his face as he padded barefoot to her bed.

  “Would it be any weirder than admitting last night was the first time I have literally slept with a woman?”

  Oh, God. She could not allow herself to follow that train of thought. Time to derail. “Slept with a lot of men, though, huh?”

  Trevor choked on his coffee. “That’s not what I meant, smartass.”

  Kelly smiled until she remembered what Mark said about her ugly bed head. She ran her hands over her blonde hair in hopes it wasn’t too bad.

  “Coffee?” He handed her the mug and she inhaled the steamy warmth of it.

  “Thank you.” For a time, they sat and sipped in comfortable silence.

  Trevor slid up onto the bed and rested his back on the headboard, his posture mirroring hers.

  “Can I ask you something?” he asked softly.

  No. “Sure.”

  “Are you in love with Mark?”

  “Wow, you know how to start the morning off awkward, don’t ya?”

  “I’d like to know.”

  “No, I don’t love Mark in a romantic way. It wouldn’t work between us because of our history and his tendency to flee from commitment like it’s the plague.”

  “Because he was your brother-in-law?”

  Kelly swore under her breath and clenched her jaw. Damn Mark. “What did he tell you?”

  “Enough to know why you reacted so negatively to the screenplay.”

  “I told you, this isn’t about me. You have to do what’s best for your career.” Kelly needed room to think. She carefully scooted out of bed, but Trevor followed. “It’s none of my concern.”

  “What if I want it to be your concern?”

  She froze at his words and pivoted on one heel. “That’s ridiculous. You don’t know me. I don’t know you.”

  “You’ve got to give me something here, Kelly.” He sighed, his hands going to his trim hips and drawing her eyes to the light dusting of hair that disappeared under the flannel.

  “I might need more coffee because I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Kelly avoided looking at him by heading in the opposite direction. She knew damned well what he was talking about. She just didn’t want to talk about it.

  “Are you attracted to me at all?” Trevor asked with a laugh. “Because I can usually tell when a woman is and you haven’t given off any of the signs. I know there’s something there, yet we shared a bed for half the night and you didn’t so much as cuddle.”

  Kelly rounded on him and put her hands on her hips before she realized she wasn’t wearing a bra, then she crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re a famous movie star, Trevor. Half the world is attracted to you. So ask yourself honestly.” She shrugged and looked away again. “Does it actually matter if I am or not?”

  “Of course it does.” He threw up his hands.

  “It might now, Trevor. In this moment when you’re secluded from the world and your lifestyle and your day-to-day, it might matter. But I assure you, once you go…” She ran her hands through her hair. The very thought of him leaving hurt her heart and it was not a welcome feeling. “You’ll never think of me again.”

  “I highly doubt that.”

  Kelly needed to sit somewhere that didn’t have a bed. “I’ve seen the girls you date, Trevor. I don’t fit that mold.”

  “Those girls have the brain capacity of bowling pins. They’re props, Kelly.”

  “That makes it so much better, thanks for sharing.” Kelly rolled her eyes.

  “You have to understand what I mean. I didn’t want relationships with them.”

  “Only sex?”

  “No. God, no. I mean, I’m no virgin, but not all of them were worth the time.” He shook his head wildly at the idea and that made her feel a bit better. “First off, you shouldn’t believe what you read in the tabloids or what TMZ reports. Second, those women were simply seat fillers, women that look good on your arm as you walk down the red carpet.”

  “What am I? Another filler? A babysitter until you return to the Hollywood hills?”

  “Damn woman, your Pops was right. You have this unbreakable wall around you. Do you ever let anyone in?”

  Kelly’s eyes filled with moisture until she had to blink it away. “He said that?” she whispered.

  “Yeah. Mark too. At least he’s inside the wall looking out.” Trevor sat on the arm of a chair and ran his hands down his face.

  Kelly didn’t want to be the person he was talking about, even if she did have just cause. Knowing she had to give him something, any piece of herself before he turned away, she took a deep breath and exhaled through her mouth. Tears pricked her eyes.

  “I was married to Mark’s brother. That’s why he’s on the inside.”

  Trevor raised his head, his eyes fastened on hers.

  “It was the age old high school sweethearts crap. He was on the football team, I was a cheerleader, the whole cliché. We had been married about two years when he comes home from a night out with his buddies and says that we should spice up our love life. We were in a sexual rut, I’ll admit. The honeymoon was over and between his job and my college classes, we were growing distant. Not a good sign two years in.” Kelly traced the rim of her coffee cup. She would have given anything to never talk about this again. Trevor was worth the sacrifice.

  “He had a friend that tried some of that stuff with his wife. Role playing, light bondage. Nothing that anyone would ever call harmful, even me. Their marriage did well and they kept the focus on pleasing each other. I think when this kind of thing came about, that was the original intention.” She met his eyes. “But it doesn’t always turn out so well. He suggested we try it and at that point I was willing to do just about anything to make him happy. I loved him so much and I never thought twice.” Even now, remembering the good times of her marriage made her smile. Craig was a lot like Mark: funny, smart, handsome—so very handsome. Unfortunately, his smiles and charisma hid something ugly underneath.

  “We started out small, toys or gags, but after a while he got bored with that and he would come up with something more aggressive. It was kind of fun at first. It felt wrong enough to make it exciting, but not enough to bother me. It’s just…” Kelly bit her bottom lip to keep from crying. “…addictions like that have a tendency to snowball. Before you know it, you’re barreling downhill and you can’t stop the momentum. It happens so gradually that you never realize how far you’ve slipped until one day you don’t recognize your own reflection. That’s what happened to Craig. No one saw that side of him except me. No one else knew that our love life had become his sick game. I played because he was my husband, but never came out the winner.” A lump formed in her throat.

  Trevor hadn’t moved a muscle. He stared at her, his face etched in stone. There was no telling what he was thinking.

  “When I found out I was pregnant, I was so happy. The thought of being a mom was scary, but I wanted that baby from the moment I found out. I knew it was
what Craig and I needed. He wanted to get deeper into the sexual games, but I thought if he knew he was going to be a father, it might snap him out of it. Most men do that, right? They settle down after they become fathers.” Kelly’s body shook. She wrapped her arms around herself as if to keep her from physically falling apart.

  “You don’t have to do this,” Trevor whispered. “I can fill in the blanks.”

  There was no stopping a moving train. Now that she’d started, she couldn’t stop. Tears fell down her cheeks. “He thought I was lying. I planned this romantic evening and made his favorite dinner. I called him at work to let him know I had a special night planned. Craig assumed I was taking him up on his offer. He came home in such a good mood. We had dinner, we danced in the living room, he told me how much he loved me and that he was so glad we could live like this together. I was his dream girl. Those were his words.” She shook her head and wiped her eyes. “I had no idea. I had no idea that I could go from being his dream to being his nightmare so quickly. When I told him I was pregnant and we couldn’t do those things anymore, he said I was holding back on him. He couldn’t stand the thought of me being pregnant. How would I look beautiful if I was fat? How would he be able to get off if all he saw was my bloated belly and stretch marks?”

  “Stop.” Trevor stood up and pulled Kelly into his arms. “You don’t have to say anything else. You don’t have to relive this.” He held her so tight she could feel the way his heart pounded. His lips went to her ear. “I’m so sorry, Kelly. I’m sorry I dredged up such ugliness back into your life. I won’t do the film. I’ll call my agent.”

  * * * *

  She pulled back to look into his eyes. “You don’t have to do that for me.”

  “Of course I do. How could I ever look in the mirror if I did a movie that glorified this behavior knowing what I know now? You can’t possibly be the only woman out there that’s suffered.”

  She reached up and touched his cheek, her heart softening when he leaned in to her palm. “You have more influence than you know, Trevor. Do you comprehend what turning this role down might do to you? People are going to want to know why. I’m sure there’s a line of actors willing to play this part.”

  “Then let them.” His voice was stern, unwavering. He held her longer, tighter. Kelly cradled her head under his chin and inhaled his scent until she could open her eyes and not see Craig’s face.

  Trevor stroked her arms until she was ready to face him again. “I want to be the type of man women like you would be a fan of.”

  “Women like me?” Kelly arched a brow, nearly giddy at his words. When he smiled, all the final shadows of her past dissipated.

  He cupped her cheek. “Especially you. Only you.”

  As his face inched towards hers, Kelly’s heart nearly jumped out of her chest. He was going to kiss her. Oh God, he was going to kiss—her cheek? What the hell?

  “If I kiss you right now, when you’re crying and upset, you might look back and think I was taking advantage of the situation. That’s not the way I want this to be.” He pulled back and made sure he had her full attention.

  Uneasy with the serious connotation of his words, she couldn’t help but try to back the train up. “Does that mean we can’t have fun, meaningless sex? Because I was rather looking forward to that eventually.”

  “I have a feeling the sex will never be meaningless between us.”

  The way he stared made her temperature rise.

  “I’m sure that’s what you tell all the ladies,” Kelly teased as she unfolded from his grasp. She picked up her coffee cup. “I’ve seen those sex scenes in your movies. You can’t tell me there wasn’t some behind the scenes action going on.”

  The guilty look on his face was her answer and wasn’t that just the cool down she needed?

  Chapter Eight

  Trevor allowed her to change the subject. The progression of their relationship was going to scare her and he accepted that she would feel the need to build up her defenses again. He went along with her jokes, but deep down, he was still very much aware of the desire that simmered between them.

  “Only once,” he confessed. “You might not believe this, but I am a trained actor. So I can fake it.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind, but I still don’t believe it. There’s no way you can be as intimate as you were with that blonde chick in Kills for Thrills. That was one step away from being X-rated.”

  Boy, had she pegged it. He swallowed the tennis ball in his throat and scratched his neck, a nervous habit. “You’re way too perceptive at times, Kelly.”

  Her mouth fell open. “Her? She’s the one?”

  “We dated for a while, before and after that movie. Things were getting serious until she began shooting another film and it ended badly.”

  “I remember that. It was all over the rags. How she broke your heart and cheated several times.” She gave him the pouty puppy dog face. “How did you ever recover?”

  “I’m heartbroken to this day, can’t you tell?” He liked the way she teased him, liked the way she could take just as much as she gave.

  Kelly chuckled as she went to her computer and sat down. “Would you like to see the shots from yesterday?”

  Her photography talent intrigued him. These shots didn’t disappoint. The couple was going to flip when they saw how Kelly captured the dynamic of their interactions. The woman’s smiles, the guy’s adoring gaze. It gave him a prickling sensation in his chest. Would Kelly ever smile at him with that level of affection in her eyes?

  “Trevor?”

  “Huh?” He snapped back to attention.

  “I said, do you want to take a walk with me so I can get some nature shots?” She tilted her head at him. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m simply blown away by your skills. You have a gift.”

  A stage spotlight didn’t shine as bright as the grin she gave him. “Thanks.”

  One thing he really appreciated about Kelly was her ability to treat him as she would any other person in her life. He even liked it when she took a phone call and held up a finger to shush him. It struck him as insane. He always hated the way his entourage revolved around him. How many times had he wanted to stop and shout, “Go get your own damn lives!”?

  Yet, here was Kelly, biting her bottom lip. “Friday night? As in tomorrow night?” She glanced over at him. “I kind of have prior commitments, Stacy.”

  Trevor shook his head and waved a hand at her. He didn’t want her life to be placed on hold for him.

  “Let me see what I can do and then I’ll call you back, okay? Yeah, I know dancing sounds great and we haven’t done it in a while. God knows I could use a drink too.”

  He could hear the laughter and chatting from the woman on the other end. Judging by Kelly’s return giggles, they were close friends. She hung up and turned back to him. “Would that be really rude of me to go have drinks with my friends when you’re here?”

  “Not at all. You’re not supposed to babysit me, Kelly. Besides, maybe Pops would like to hang out. Does he watch any sports or just those westerns?”

  “Pops? You’re volunteering to spend an evening with my grandfather?” Skepticism colored her face.

  “You have a life, Kelly. Don’t worry about me. Besides, I really do like your grandfather.”

  A debate waged in her head. He could practically hear the wheels turning. Should she go? Should she stay?

  “I guess I’ll confirm with Stacy then. Too bad you couldn’t come along. I know my friends would peg you the moment they saw you.”

  “More adoring fans?” He popped his collar and tried to look smug.

  Kelly raised her camera and clicked a picture of him posing. “I’ll make sure to let them know you’re actually a pompous ass.” She slapped his arm as she went by.

  Man, she was getting to him good.

  They meandered through the woods for another hour. All the while, she snapped pictures. He even convinced her to take one of them together. She ma
de some excuse about evidence of his time there. He called her a chicken and that was all it took to change her stubborn mind. Evidence was exactly what he wanted and needed. It would always remind him of his time with her. He snapped a couple pictures of her alone before she reclaimed the camera.

  Kelly asked him questions about himself that made him think. Surprising, since he’d been interviewed more times that he’d care to recall. The thing was, she didn’t ask fan questions. What was his favorite movie, what was his favorite song, what did he prefer to eat, boxers or briefs? She had much deeper interests.

  How did he handle the fact that so many people wanted things from him? He tried to focus on the people he cared about and keeping the majority of his fans entertained. How did he ever know who was his true friend versus a fame hunter? That was easy. He could tell within the first meeting.

  “What did you think of me?” she asked.

  “I thought you were a pain in the ass cause you believed that whole drugs and hooker story.”

  Kelly laughed and stepped over a fallen tree. He watched the way her jeans stretched over her legs and backside. “No, that’s not entirely true. I thought you were a beautiful pain in the ass cause you believed that whole drugs and hooker story.”

  When she looked over her shoulder, her blonde hair caught a breeze and lifted. “Beautiful? At four in the morning? You’re full of crap.”

  “That was the other thing that made me trust you. You were a total brat where most women fawn or flirt or giggle like idiots.”

  He nearly lost his footing when she turned and gave him a look of pure seduction, her lips pouty and her eyes hooded. “What’s the matter, big boy?” She ran a hand over his chest and even though she was playing him, he so wanted to indulge in this game. “Didn’t get that big ego stroked?” Those lips were temptation.

  To shock the hell out of her, he bent down and took that pouty bottom lip between his teeth and kissed her. Her gasp was all the proof of success he needed. When he pulled back, she was wide-eyed and her mouth was a glistening pink color. “Be careful, Kelly, or I’ll have you stroking more than my ego.” He grinned and left her standing there. “Come on, like you didn’t see that coming,” he called over his shoulder.