“For love?” she asked softly, unable to believe he was telling her this. “Anonymity? Happiness?”
When they were kids, they would spend hours sharing their deepest thoughts and wishes, but their long conversations had taken place lifetimes ago. Eons ago. Never would she expect him to be so open now, with so much lost time between them.
He flushed. “Yeah. Maybe.”
“I get that. I’ve never thought of the other side of the business before.” She lifted her hands then dropped them back in her lap. “I mean … I’m sure women are always throwing themselves at you. It can’t be that lonely.”
“Oh, they do throw themselves at me. But not the right kind,’” he murmured, his eyes on her. “Not the right one.”
She nibbled on her lip and turned away. “It can’t be easy for a regular woman to attract your attention. I would imagine a normal woman would be scared you wouldn’t even see her mixed in with all of those actresses and models.”
“Well, then …” He stepped closer to her by an inch or so, yet she felt his heat urging her to lean in. To sway toward him. “She would be wrong. I’m not into actresses.”
He couldn’t possibly mean that she was the right type of person, or that she should let him know she wanted him. The champagne was messing with her head. And yet … right now, it looked as if he wanted her. Wanted to kiss her.
“I’m sure the right woman will come along someday,” she managed to say.
“What if she already came along?” He kneeled down at her feet. “Do you ever worry maybe the one you were meant to spend your life with is already gone? Like maybe you missed your chance because you weren’t ready then?”
“Sometimes, yes,” she admitted, picturing him laughing at her across the lunch table at school. She looked down at her lap, clasping her hands together. “But for now, I’m content as I am.”
“I want you to be happy, not to settle for some ass**le because he seems good enough. You deserve more.”
She would not swoon at his words, nor would she read more into them than she should. “What about you? Don’t you have some young, hot actress expecting your arm for the red carpet tomorrow night?”
“I do have an event, yes, but I’m kind of stuck here at the moment.”
There it was again. The painful reminder that he was only here because he needed a tow. “Right.”
He plucked her glass out of her hand. “Are you sure you’re not seeing anyone?”
She squared her jaw. “Are you?”
“No. It gets too messy, remember?”
He let go of her legs and tucked her hair behind her ear. The touch seemed more intimate than before, and her body begged for more with a steady tensing of her muscles. What was he doing? “Right.”
How many times in the past three minutes had she said right?
“Now answer my question.”
“I already did, you idiot.” She tilted her chin up, meeting his eyes defiantly. “No, I’m not seeing anyone.”
“Good. Because I’ve wanted to do this since you opened the door.”
He lowered his head and closed his mouth over hers. She gasped in shock, unable to believe the same man she had been half in love since senior year was kissing her. He took advantage of her open mouth, slipping his tongue in between her lips, and she forgot to think at all.
Chapter Three
Mark slid his tongue inside her sweet mouth, unable to resist the temptation of her lush lips any longer. He pulled her closer, but kept his touch on her arms light, in case she wished to pull away. When she snuggled closer and entwined her hands behind his neck, he groaned and deepened the kiss. Ever since he’d walked into this house, he’d wondered if she tasted as good as he’d dreamed she might, but she tasted a million times better.
He trailed his fingers down her bare arms, tracing the curve of her wrist lightly before gripping her hips and pulling her closer. He knew he should pull away and apologize for touching her, but he needed a few more minutes of heaven before he stopped. He lived halfway across the country, and she would never want to deal with the crazy lifestyle he was buried neck-deep in, so he knew this was a one-time thing. A mere taste of what could’ve been, if he hadn’t run to California all of those years ago.
If he hadn’t needed to make something of himself, away from here, away from her, maybe it could be more. But he knew otherwise. His feelings were such a turnaround of what they’d been the last time he’d seen her. He had known she had feelings for him, but also knew he didn’t want to be tied down to a college girl while he sought out his dream.
Back then, he’d been slightly curious if she would rock his world, and more than a little bit tempted to kiss her to find out, but he hadn’t touched her even once. To do so would be opening himself to her, and opening her heart to him when he had no right to do so. And yet when she’d moved to kiss him that night, he wondered how good she would feel—right until she threw up all over him.
He’d taken the vomiting as a sign. Fate had not meant for them to be together then, just as he shouldn’t be touching her now. Nothing had changed in all these years. Tomorrow he would be back in California, a crowd of admiring women around him. Even the most confident woman would be insecure when faced with having to be “the girlfriend” in such situations.
What would Gary say if he showed up to his film premiere with the girl next door? His publicist would spin it as “Mark Delaney takes his cousin to the red carpet event.” Or would she turn it into a Cinderella story where the Hollywood bachelor falls for the pretty schoolteacher?
But Lacey wouldn’t even want to go to those stupid parties or premieres. That wasn’t her style. No, she would stay here, maybe fall in love with some lucky bastard. Thoughts of Lacey kissing the faceless man sent rage pumping through his veins.
She needed to be here. Teaching. Having a normal life. He didn’t belong here with her, even if she felt way too good in his arms, fitting to the curves of his body with mind-numbing perfection as if she were made for his pleasure alone. He forced himself to let go of her, but couldn’t stop kissing her. Not yet.
He didn’t deserve her. He’d proven that when he’d left. Still, he knew she’d always be there for him, as she had when they were children. And after his Hollywood career faded, and he became a has-been, Lacey would stay by his side.
Unlike the other women he’d been involved with, she wasn’t kissing him because he was Mark Delaney—she kissed him in spite of it.