“Yes. Are you busy?”
She giggled, still sleepily. “Want me to keep this room on?”
“No. I have a house we can go to. I’ve not been there for a bit, and I’m going to be renting it out, so it will feel a bit empty, but it’s private.” There was always more of a chance of being recognised after a game. “I could meet you there about nine thirty, unless that’s too late.”
“That’s about the right time. I’ve got something on tomorrow evening as well, but it should be done for then. Text me the address.” Her lips pressed against my skin and I turned slightly to rearrange our weight.
She fell asleep before me, her breathing deep and steady, lulling me to sleep as well. I dreamed of the countryside, of fields and trees and houses that no one would discover by accident, and in all of the fields and next to all of the trees was a woman with long blonde hair.
CHAPTER6
Otter
“You have a glow about you today.”
Leoni, my make-up artist, was too polite to say I looked like I’d been banging all night, which was almost completely accurate. We’d slept, probably more because we both had things on today and needed to be semi-refreshed, but that hadn’t stopped us from sleepy sex in the early hours of the morning, when one of us had woken up. It was the sort of sex that you had in a state of semi-sleep, leaving you wondered whether it had been a wonderful dream, all the ghostlike touches that shivered across your skin like a thousand feathers, and whispered words which echoed with promises that were delivered through a blissful climax. He – Ryan – had slept spooning me. Maybe I’d awoken, my body recognising the swell of his erection pressing against my lower back and recognising it for the provider of recent pleasure. Or maybe it had been him, and I could only fantasize about what his thoughts had been.
Was it the sort of sex that two people who were barely more than strangers should have? I had no idea. I’d had a few one-night stands before. Some had been slightly less than meh, others had been worth the effort. None had been repeated to the extent where they couldn’t classify as a one-night stand anymore.
“So where’s that glow from? Or who’s that glow from?” Her tone grew slightly evil.
I smiled, shaking my head a tiny bit so I didn’t destroy the effect she was creating. “Just a friend with benefits.”
“A friend with a weapon he knows how to handle.”
That was a fairly accurate description. “Pretty much.”
“Tell me more.”
Leoni set to work on my eyes, the stroke of the brushes reminding me of when I was half-awake in the night with Ryan.
Ryan.
I still hadn’t gotten over knowing his name finally.
It wasn’t that I was averse to dating someone, it was just not practical. I could be in any number of places in just one week. My highest number of flights in a seven-day period had been twelve, which included three continents and about thirty-six hours of lost sleep. Leoni had been my make-up artist on the last shoot, one here in London, and ‘glowing’ hadn’t been a term used to describe me then. Dating right now wasn’t going to work. I couldn’t commit, and my personal life was managed, to an extent, by my agent and the agents of my co-stars. Rumours of on-set romances drew attention to whatever it was that we were promoting, and I was forever being linked to one actor or another. It was one reason actors dated other actors; we got it, until the egos got in the way.
“Nothing to tell. It’s not going anywhere; just a hot hook-up.” I smiled, keeping as still as I could. “Will this need topping up for this evening?”
“Nope. Should last you right through. Where are you at this evening?”
“A charity event at Blue – Simone Wood’s restaurant.” One of my favourite places to eat, and one of my favourite people. “It’s being organised by Beauty by Belle.” Which was a new beauty brand, mainly doing make-up, and I was one of their spokespeople.
“I’m glad you told me that because I’ve got one of their lipsticks to use on you, so at least you can go wearing one of their products. Are you seeing glow guy again?” There was a pull at an errant eyebrow. No flaw went unseen by Leoni.
“Later, yes.”
“Oooh, it’s serious!”
An eyeshadow brush almost poked my eye.
“It really isn’t.”
“Two nights on the run is serious.” That statement pretty much summed up Leoni.
I decided not to tell her that this was the third time we’d hooked up. I’d actually had sex with Ryan more times than my last ex-boyfriend, and I wasn’t sure who that said more about – me or him or Ryan. Leoni knew my last ex had been a bit – well – odd to say the least, and she became slightly obsessed with me finding a more improved model, so if I told her about Houston and Salford, her head would implode.
And she’d probably poke me in the eye again, which I wasn’t in favour of.
