Текст книги "Before We Fall"

Автор книги: Courtney Cole

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Текущая страница: 11 (всего у книги 19 страниц)

Chapter Nineteen

Dominic

I find Jacey exactly where I figured she’d be. Soaking in the sun by the pool.

I stand in the doorway, watching her for a minute before I go out and wake her up. She’s got a magnificent body, stretched out like a cat, basking in the warmth. I have to smile about that, and as I do, she opens her eyes and looks at me.

“Hey,” she greets me sleepily. “How was your day? I didn’t figure you’d be home until late.”

I shrug. It fucking sucked. Amy Ashby was being her normal bitchy, entitled self, and I’d counted the minutes until the day was over. I went so far as to call Tally on the way home and tear him a new ass, telling him that I’d never work with Amy again. And he’d calmly reminded me that the public loves seeing us together… that it makes me money.

And it does, so I shut up and finished driving home in silence. But I did have a revelation.

As I crested the hill to my drive I realized that I’d been looking forward to seeing Jacey. That the anticipation of seeing her was the reason that my day dragged by so slowly.

It was a startling thought, but now that I’m here, staring down at her, it doesn’t seem so startling. Being with her feels right.

And that’s a startling thought.

“It was just a day,” I tell her. “How was yours?”

“Oh, it was good. I snooped through all your stuff and swam all day. So it was just a day, too.” She stares at me and there is something in her eyes, something I can’t name, but then it’s gone and she grins.

I shake my head.

“I don’t have much for you to snoop through,” I tell her, rolling my eyes. “I hate knickknack shit.”

“You’ve got that right,” she tells me with a yawn, sitting up to stretch. “This house seems almost like a hotel. There’s nothing interesting here, except for the art on the walls. But thank you for having lunch sent over to me.”

“No problem,” I answer, pulling her to her feet. Her hand is warm and moist in mine, her touch electric. I drop her fingers as soon as she’s standing. “I don’t want to hang around the house tonight. Are you up for a surprise?”

She nods immediately. “I love surprises. What should I wear?”

“Shorts and a T-shirt are fine,” I answer. “And comfortable shoes. We’re going to be gone for hours, so I hope you had a nice nap.” I smirk, but she doesn’t even flinch.

“Awesome.” She grins as she dashes inside. “I was bored.”

I sit down on the veranda, staring at the water, pleasantly surprised by her reaction. Most women would’ve wheedled and moaned, wanting to know where we were going. But not Jacey. She likes the thrill of a surprise, I guess. And she must trust me.

The idea of that slams into my gut and I push the guilty feelings away.

She doesn’t trust me with real-life stuff. She trusts me in a vague way, like she trusts that I’m not a psychopath who would take her somewhere and rape her or leave her for dead. That’s a big difference from trusting me in general.

That’s what I tell myself, anyway. But by the time the chartered helicopter lands on the front lawn and we board, Jacey’s eyes are excited and amused… and they tell me more about her than I really want to know. She does trust me… with more than I’m comfortable with.

I ignore it because that’s the only thing I can do. Instead, I focus on buckling up and signing the flight agreement for the pilot. When I turn back to Jacey, we’re taking off, and she is practically bouncing up and down like a child.

“I’ve never been in a helicopter before,” she tells me radiantly. “This is amazing. Where are we going?”

“You’ll have to wait and see,” I tell her with a grin. “You said you liked surprises.”

“And I do.” She nods.

The helicopter shudders a bit, then wobbles as the pilot gains control of the weight balance on board. Jacey’s eyes light up and she stares downward as we fly higher and higher, lifting up and away from Los Angeles.

She chats for a while, but I can barely hold my eyes open. I’m tired from getting up so early to be on set, and comfortable in the afternoon sun that’s shining in on my seat.

Before I know it, Jacey is shaking me and squealing like a kid.

“Oh my god. It’s the Grand Canyon. I can’t believe you brought me here.”

I open my eyes to find that I’ve been asleep for over two hours and that the Grand Canyon is spread beneath us, majestic and dry and red.

“Have you ever been here?” I ask Jacey as I stretch, but I already know the answer to that. She shakes her head.

“No. I actually haven’t been many places.”

“I thought the Grand Canyon was a staple on family vacation lists,” I mention as I stare out the window. Jacey sighs.

“Probably. But my family wasn’t normal. And I didn’t go on very many family vacations. I didn’t go on any after my parents got divorced.”

Fuck. Like the asshole I am, I’d forgotten about her shitty childhood.

“I’m sorry,” I tell her quickly. “I forgot about that. Well, I’m glad that I get to be the first to show you this place. I know I’m weird… it’s dry and desolate, but to me, it’s one of the most beautiful things in the world.”

Jacey presses her face to the glass, staring down as we fly across the cavernous gap of the canyon.

“Thank you for bringing me,” she tells me, and she sounds almost shy. “What the hell?” she exclaims as the helicopter starts its descent. “Are we landing in the canyon?”

I chuckle at the wonder in her voice. “I thought you might be hungry,” I explain. “The pilot is going to drop us off for a couple of hours so we can have a picnic and explore a bit, then he’ll be back to pick us up at sundown. Is that okay?”

“Holy shit.” Jacey shakes her head. “I didn’t even know that was possible. Of course it’s okay. It’s amazing.”

She reaches over and grabs my hand, holding it as the pilot settles the big bird on a flat plane of the canyon. I’m not sure if she’s nervous because of the landing, but just in case, I don’t pull away. It shudders, then comes to a stop. The pilot gets out, then helps us out, cautioning us to duck our heads. I let Jacey hold my hand until I have to shake the pilot’s.

“We’ll see you in a couple of hours,” I tell him. He nods, climbs back inside, and Jacey and I are alone with a picnic basket and a blanket.

As he flies away, the wind blows our hair away from our faces, stirring the dust around us. Jacey spins in a circle, trying to see everywhere at once.

“I can’t believe how gorgeous this place is,” she exclaims. “It’s so… desolate, like you said, but it’s so vibrant and beautiful. It’s like… it’s so tough, yet such beautiful things still grow from it. It’s like a metaphor for life. There’s beauty even in the roughest parts.”

“You think?” I raise an eyebrow as I set our stuff down, staring at the few dots of green that grace the red and dusty horizon. “Are you always so deep?”

Jacey looks at me, thoughtful and quiet, with a strange expression. “I don’t know. It’s just what this place brings to mind. It reminds me almost of the human spirit. We’re too tough to be kept down, no matter what.”

“Okay, now you’re scaring me,” I tell her, and I shoot her a dubious look. “You’re getting really deep.”

“No deeper than you were last night,” she tosses back as she spreads the blanket and opens the basket. “And this place sort of demands it, you know? It makes me feel so small.”

“We are small, in the scheme of things,” I answer as I settle next to her. She sifts through the basket, pulling out tiny sandwiches, gourmet olives, and wine, and then she looks up at me.

“Now this is a picnic,” she announces, pulling out the wine and glasses. “When you do something, you do it right, Dominic.”

That’s true. I do. But I don’t answer. Instead, I pop the cork on the wine, pouring us each a glass.

She hands me a turkey sandwich and takes a drink of wine.

“Why did you arrange this?” she asks curiously as she takes a bite. “It’s awesome, but it’s so out of the blue. What made you do it?”

I don’t fucking know.

I chew my sandwich, swallow, then take another bite.

“I don’t know,” I actually admit, surprising myself. “I thought you might like it. And we’re supposed to be hanging out. We didn’t say that all of our ‘hanging out’ had to be sexual. We just said we want to have fun. And this is fun for me.”

Jacey smiles, satisfied with my answer. “It’s fun for me, too.”

We finish our meal in silence, but words aren’t really necessary. We’re surrounded by one of the Seven Wonders of the World. A conversation would mar the experience.

As we’re putting our trash back into the basket, Jacey’s fingers brush mine and she turns to me.

“I see you, you know,” she says quietly. “I know you’re different than what you want people to think.”

I pause, staring into her dark eyes. “Oh, really? And you gathered that from a trip to the Grand Canyon?”

I try to sound sarcastic, to sound flippant, but the sharpness dies on my tongue, because there’s something in her eyes that tells me that she does see into me.

She shakes her head. “No. Not from this trip. But from a lot of little things that you don’t want me to see. You know what Jake told me before I left yesterday? That someone miraculously paid Joe’s back taxes. He has no idea who, but the amount was huge… thousands of dollars. And there’s only one person I know who has that kind of money and might help Joe out.”

I freeze, refusing to look away from her. “Oh, really? That was nice of someone.”

Jacey rolls her eyes. “Yeah, it was nice of someone. Why do you pretend to be such an asshole, Dominic? When I know that you aren’t, not really. You just like to pretend that you are. You’re good at pretending.”

I grab her hand, intent on squashing her delusion about me right now… and on getting that soft look out of her eyes once and for all. Every time I see it, every time I see how soft she gets when she thinks she sees something good in me, it twists my guts up and spits them out. Because she’s wrong.

“Jacey, I’m not good. I’m the opposite of good. Have you ever wondered if people are monsters inside, down where no one can see? Because I don’t have to wonder. I know that I am. Did I pay Joe’s taxes? Yeah, I did. I’ve already got a bunch of time invested in community service with him and I don’t want to have to go somewhere else. Period. I’m not a good guy, Jacey. I’m not the person that you’d like to believe. Please know that. Don’t make the mistake of romanticizing me.”

She looks at me doubtfully. “So you paid thousands of dollars of his taxes so that you wouldn’t have to get used to another supervisor? Whatever, Dominic. You can say what you want, but I don’t believe you. You helped him because you wanted to. Because you can see that he’s a decent person and you wanted to help him out. Why can’t you admit that? Why do insist on acting like such an ass?”

I shake my head. “Because I am an ass. You need to get used to the idea, Jacey. I’m not going to change.”

“Whatever,” she says dismissively, getting to her feet. “I don’t buy it. But I’m tired of talking about it.”

She stomps off and I sit for a second, trying to decide whether to go after her or not, when she comes stomping back.

“And another thing,” she says before she stops, her eyes widening. She freezes in place, staring at me.

“What?” I ask in confusion. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Don’t move,” she says quietly, looking at something past my shoulder as she takes a tentative step toward me. “Don’t move a muscle, Dom.”

That’s when I hear it. An unmistakable rustle of something big behind me. The hairs lift up on the back of my neck and I stare calmly at Jacey.

“What is it? Bear?”

She shakes her head and the color drains from her face. “Mountain lion. I think. It’s a huge tan cat with really big teeth. It’s just sitting there staring at me, about five feet behind you. What do we do?”

I try to think, while at the same time I mentally distance myself from the situation so that I can stay calm. “I don’t think we play dead. That’s for a bear. I’m pretty sure we’re supposed to act intimidating.”

“How the hell do we do that?” Jacey hisses, her eyes frozen on the animal behind me. “It’s pretty intimidating itself.”

“Well, first, we can’t run,” I tell her as I calmly pivot and slowly look behind me. But when I see the cat, the first thing I want to do is run.

To say it’s intimidating is the biggest understatement I’ve heard in a while.

The massive cat must weigh as much as I do, and its fangs glisten in the dying sunlight. It stares back at me with golden eyes and it looks almost bored. But then it growls, ever so slightly, enough to let me know that it’s far from bored, enough to send shivers down my spine. It’s very interested in us, even though it remains motionless.

“We can’t run, or it will think we’re prey,” I tell Jacey quietly. I take a slow step back, and it growls louder, its golden eyes watching my every movement, tracking me.

“Fuck,” I mutter under my breath. “Jacey, go. Walk away slowly and I’ll stay right here. I’ll figure something out.”

“Like hell,” Jacey answers snappishly. She waves her arms. “Get out of here, you fucking animal! Go!” Her shouts only seem to amuse the cat and it stares at her with even more interest, its long tail flicking in the air. It moves one large paw, planting it in the red dirt. I suck in a breath.

“Jacey, I don’t think that’s helping,” I point out. “It thinks you’re an appetizer.”

My heart is pounding by this point, because honestly, for the first time in as long as I remember, I don’t know what to do. All I know is I don’t want to meet my end at the end of those pointy teeth.

Jacey shouts louder, and the cat growls menacingly as she bends to pick up a large round rock, a foot in diameter. The cat opens its mouth and roars, a shrill and hoarse sound like a scream. Jacey freezes, and what happens next happens so fast that it’s a blur.

The cat roars again, standing up on its hind legs and batting at the air with its paw before it lunges toward me.

Jacey shrieks and jumps in front of me, hurling the rock at the giant animal, hitting it squarely in the face. But as she throws it, she trips and sprawls in the red dust directly in front of the giant cat.

She’s entirely at its mercy.

For a second, my heart stops. I move to shield Jacey from an attack, but the cat turns, shaking its head, as if to clear it from the impact of the rock. It stumbles for a second, then to my surprise, it spins around and retreats, loping off into the distance.

I’m frozen for a moment before I scramble to get to Jacey.

“What the hell?” I demand. “You could’ve been killed. You don’t go rushing at a wild animal like that!”

Jacey stares up at me, her eyes wide and filled with pain. “I didn’t mean to. I tripped. But either way, it worked. The fucking thing is gone, isn’t it?”

“What’s wrong?” I ask her quickly. Her eyes are watering and she’s gripping her ankle like she’s never letting go.

“My foot,” she says through gritted teeth. “I twisted it. How cliché is that?”

Adrenaline is coursing through me and I swallow the acidic taste.

“Jacey, you could’ve died. The chopper isn’t coming back for us for another hour. If that thing would’ve attacked you, we might not have made it to a hospital in time. Why the fuck did you do that?”

She opens her eyes and shrugs, determined to make it seem like a small deal. “Because it was going to jump on you. It was the only plan I could think of.”

“Your plan sucked,” I growl as I grab her up and haul her onto my lap, lifting her foot to examine it. As carefully as I can, I pull her sneaker off. Her foot is already swollen, and it’s turning purple fast.

“I don’t know if it’s broken,” I tell her quietly. “It might be. Or it could just be bruised. Either way, it’s going to hurt.”

“Going to?” she grimaces, gritting her teeth. “I don’t think I can walk on it.”

“I’m sure you can’t.” I eye it. “There’s no way. We’ll just stay right here until our ride comes back. You’ll have to see the Grand Canyon from here. I’m sorry.”

“I’m not worried about it,” she answers, nestling back into my arms, molding herself to my chest. “I just hope he doesn’t come back. Oh my god. He sounded like a woman screaming, didn’t he? Holy shit. I’ll never forget that sound.”

“Me either,” I admit, looking around. “I don’t see any more lurking around. You scared the shit out of that one. I doubt he’ll be back.” I glance down at her swollen foot and wince. “I wish I’d thought to bring some ibuprofen or something. I’m sorry. God. This is the second time you’ve been hurt because of me.”

Something akin to guilt wells up in me, but she shrugs, curling up on my lap. It’s been awhile since someone has lain there for a reason other than sucking my dick. I try not to think about that as I wrap my arms around her and keep her close.

She just risked her life for me.

I don’t know anyone, other than my parents or Sin or maybe Duncan, who would do that for me. It’s mind-blowing, actually.

When the helicopter arrives an hour later, I realize something else startling. I’ve been holding her hand this entire time and I didn’t even know it.

Chapter Twenty

Jacey

My foot throbs like bloody hell as I curl up once again on Dominic’s veranda and soak in the moonlight. Since I can’t move from my seat, I make sure to enjoy the scenery, which consists of Dominic’s perfect ass and chiseled abs. I’ve been staring at both things off and on for the last hour.

“Thank you for having a doctor come by,” I tell him once again. “I didn’t even know doctors made house calls anymore.”

“People will do anything if you pay them enough,” Dominic answers tiredly, bringing a tray of food through the glass doors. “He’s the doctor we use on set. I’m just glad your ankle isn’t broken.”

“Nope,” I reply as cheerfully as I can. “Just bruised. I’ll be good as new in a week or so.”

Dominic rolls his eyes. “Are you always this cheerful?”

I shake my head. “Hell no. Try waking me up before nine A.M. and you’ll see a whole new level of ugly.”

He chuckles, settling back into the cushions. “Do you want to go to bed? You must be tired.”

I shake my head. “The pain meds your guy gave me are making me a little sleepy, but I’m sort of too amped up to rest. Can we just talk for a while?”

Dominic looks pained. “Oh yeah. My favorite thing to do.”

The way he says it makes me laugh and Dominic smiles. “So glad to be a source of amusement to you.”

I smile again as the warm breeze lifts the hair away from my face. “Can you help me into the pool? It was so hot and dry out in the canyon that I’d like to get wet.”

I left myself wide open for a sexual jab by Dominic, but he ignores it.

“Are you sure?” He raises an eyebrow. “The doctor said you should rest your foot.”

I shake my head. “He also said it wasn’t broken. Trust me, I’ve got enough pain meds in me to put out a small horse. I’m feeling no pain.” To prove my point, I stand up awkwardly, swaying a bit before I catch my balance. I strip off my shirt, then sit back down to take off my shorts.

Dominic doesn’t say anything… he just sits back and watches me, his eyes darkening as I strip off my bra. There’s a million things hidden in his eyes right now, but he doesn’t voice any of them. Instead, he just stands up and gently grabs my arm.

“Ready?”

I nod, expecting him to help me hobble into the water, but that’s not what he does. Instead, he scoops me up and carries me directly into the pool, pausing only for a second to kick his shoes off at the edge.

Other than that, he’s fully clothed.

He carries me straight into the water, completely soaking his clothes. I stare at him in shock. “Why didn’t you undress?”

He stares down at me, his dark gaze meeting mine. “Jacey, you jumped in front of a cougar for me today. If you say you want to swim, I’m going to drop what I’m doing and carry you into the water.”

A weird feeling ripples through me, warm and tingly.

“Seriously? That’s all I had to do to impress you? I just had to jump in front of a hungry wild animal? Why didn’t you tell me? I would’ve done it a long time ago.”

He throws his head back and laughs, a genuine laugh and his teeth gleam in the dark. He tightens his grip on me for a second, then he lowers me carefully into the water, holding me up as I gingerly set my foot down, then pick it back up and tread water.

“Who says you impressed me?” he asks mockingly, treading water in front of me. “I’m only admitting that I owe you. I pay my debts.”

I roll my eyes now. “Whatever. I know you’re impressed. And what’s more, you like me. You just don’t want to admit it. You don’t want to admit that I’m a decent person… because you think that the world is only made up of assholes. To admit that I’m not horrible would mess up your deep-seated belief system. I wouldn’t want to do that.”

Dom cocks his head, studying me in the night. “I thought you said you weren’t decent?”

I shrug, my fingers slicing through the cool water. “I don’t think I am. But compared to your opinion of humanity, I think I do okay.”

“If you’re not decent, then who is?” Dominic demands, swimming toward me. “Because I’d like to meet that person.”

“My best friend Maddy,” I answer immediately. “She’s pretty amazing. But she moved to Connecticut, so you probably won’t ever meet her. That’s good though. She’s drop-dead gorgeous, and my brother would kick your ass if he caught you drooling over her, so it’s for the best.”

“Do you really think I would drool over her if you were in the room?” Dominic asks softly, treading water very close to me. The moonlight makes him look pensive, thoughtful. And I stare at him.

“Probably,” I answer finally. “Everyone does.”

“Not me,” Dominic replies firmly. “I wouldn’t have any need to.”

“Why are you being so nice to me today?” I demand quickly. “First a picnic in the Grand Canyon, then you ordered a private midnight snack on your veranda, and now you’re giving me compliments. You’re freaking me out, Dom. Knock it off.”

“I haven’t even begun to get nice yet,” he tells me, his voice growing as dark as his eyes. He pushes me through the water until we reach the side of the pool, where he rests his hands on either side of my hips. “Want me to start right now?”

He doesn’t give me a chance to reply. Instead, he kisses me, suddenly and thoroughly. His mouth covers mine, his lips cold and wet. I wrap my arms around his neck and hold on, melting into him, absorbing his heat, enjoying the way his wet body feels against mine.

“Why did you do it?” he whispers into my ear. “Why did you risk yourself like that for me?”

He nips at my ear and trails his lips down the length of my neck until he reaches my collarbone. “Tell me,” he demands. “I need to know. I don’t see what you gained from it.”

I force myself to pull away from him, just for a minute. “I didn’t gain anything from it,” I answer sharply. “Just the knowledge and satisfaction of knowing that you didn’t get eaten. That was enough.”

He pulls away too, just for a minute, and stares into my eyes. In the night, his eyes look almost black. Without saying another word, he kisses me again, and again, and again. Hard, soft, brutal, exquisite.

“Take off your clothes,” I urge him. “I want to feel your skin.”

To my surprise, he does. He peels off the wet clothes and flings them onto the stone deck, turning again to pull me to him. His chest is hard, his stomach flat, and his dick hard. Very hard. It wedges between my legs and I shiver a bit, at the mere thought that it’s all for me.

He’s hard for me.

He lifts me up and I wrap my legs around his waist, kissing him yet again. I decide that I could kiss him forever… he’s perfect at it. His tongue slides along my lip and he bites at it, just a little.

“Do you want more?” he whispers. “Yes or no?”

“We’re back to that?” I answer softly. “You can’t tell what I want?”

He looks at me. “I just like hearing the word yes.”

“I’d think you’d get tired of hearing it all the time,” I reply as he holds me up in the water.

“Not from you,” he answers. He kisses me again, his lips consuming me. And then he stops, looking at me seriously.

“I’m a very good actor,” he tells me matter-of-factly. “I’m good at pretending that I’m someone else. And tonight, I’m going to be someone else. Does that bother you?”

I’m surprised by his sudden turn and by the oh-so-serious expression on his face, but no, I’m not bothered. I tell him that and he smiles.

“But who do you want to be?” I add curiously. He shrugs.

“Anyone but me.”

He pushes me against the side of the pool, thrusting his hips against me, rubbing me. His weight is perfect, hard, rigid, amazing. I suck in a breath when he bends his head and nips at my breast, sucking my nipple into his mouth. I throw my head back as he sucks harder.

“But why?” I manage to persist, even though he’s trying his best to distract me. “You’re pretty amazing. Why would you want to be someone else? Are you sure that you just don’t want me to be someone else?”

Dominic stops what he’s doing and pulls away, looking at me with a hard expression. His green eyes have a dull light in them now, something that happens when he’s annoyed. I stare back, trying to be unabashed.

“What do you mean?” he asks slowly. “Why would I want you to be someone else?”

I shrug, trying to ignore my pounding heart. Why did I choose this moment to bring this up? Why? But I’m not one to back down, so I don’t.

“I don’t know. I just thought maybe you were pretending that I’m Emma.”

As soon as the name falls from my lips, I know it’s a mistake.

Dominic’s face immediately closes, his eyes turning into hardened marble. He releases me quickly as though touching me is burning his hands. And then he turns his back on me and walks out of the pool.

“What’s wrong with you?” I call after him as I follow. “It was just a question. I was just wondering. About her.”

Dominic turns, and for a minute his face is filled with pain, but then he conceals it, replacing it with a hardened mask. “You don’t have any right to be curious about her,” he answers starkly. “Please don’t bring her up again.”

“But—”

Dominic holds up his hand. “No buts. She isn’t significant to you. Just leave it alone. Good night.”

He actually turns around and stalks back into the house, leaving me to stand naked on his terrace alone.

What the hell was that about? He can’t even hear her name? I think I have every right to ask if he’s imagining that I’m her. But then again, he has no idea that I saw the letters… and her picture. He doesn’t know how much I know of her.

And how much it tells about him.

But as I think of it, I realize too that I don’t really know all that much at all. What I do know is that if we’re going to continue whatever it is that we are doing, I need to know.

I need to know about Emma. I need to know how she broke Dominic.