of a caress.
Later, they walked down Main Street and wandered into a nearly empty antique store. Gia found herself resenting the disguise more and more as they perused the contents of the aisles. It was so nice to be out with him in public, idling away the afternoon. She very much wanted to touch him, and the prohibition not to do so only seemed to sharpen her desire. When they entered a particularly dark, dusty corner aisle of the store, she realized Seth must have felt the same way. He suddenly halted her by grabbing her hand. Then he was leaning over her and brushing his lips against hers. He was careful not to smudge her lip makeup, but he wasn’t so subtle with his touch. He didn’t bother caressing her torso, knowing the rigid shaper was beneath her shirt. Instead, he cupped her ass possessively and gave it a firm rub.
“I didn’t know it was going to be so hard not to touch you in public,” he said next to her lips.
“Me either,” she whispered, touching his hard abdomen greedily. She cupped his rib cage, a thrill going through her, and went up on her toes to nuzzle his chin with her nose. An aisle away, they heard a woman making a comment about an antique baby carriage and a man replying. Gia guiltily backed away from Seth, her heart racing from his touch and nearness. Her longing to touch him openly felt even sharper than before.
“Look what’s at the theater,” Seth said under his breath when they returned to the sleepy, sunny street.
She blinked in surprise when she read the marquis. “They must not get many first runs in Prairie Lakes. It’s been out for over a year.” She gave Seth a small smile. The film was Shadow Mistress, the first movie she’d done following the success of her Hollywood debut. Unlike Glory Girl, Shadow Mistress was a sexy, dark, very adult thriller. It had immediately smashed the stereotype of her created by her role in her debut young adult film. She’d been lucky that the thriller had been a success. Instead of alienating her youthful following, it had amplified it, plus added an older generation to her fan base.
“Do you want to go? There’s a three thirty matinee.” Seth checked his watch. “We’ll only miss the first few minutes.”
She did a surprised double take at his suggestion. “Really?”
He looked completely serious. “Yeah. We don’t have anything better to do until we’re due at Rill and Katie’s at six.” He gave her a dry glance. “And I doubt there’s another theater in town.”
She laughed dubiously and shrugged. “Okay, if you really want to.” His suggestion and the circumstances were unexpected. She wasn’t sure how she felt about sitting side by side with Seth—of all people—and watching herself on the big screen.
The theater was one of those old, large, ornate structures that were disappearing too fast from American cities in the modern age. The movie had already started by the time they bought their tickets and entered.
“We can have our pick of seats,” Seth muttered under his breath as they assessed the near-empty theater. There was a couple seated several rows back from the front and another couple in the middle-right.
“There goes my ego,” Gia said humorously. “I’m really roping them in around here.”
“Seriously? The whole town has probably seen this movie three times over by now. They can likely recite your lines better than you,” Seth said dryly. “Can we sit in the back?”
“Anywhere,” Gia agreed.
He waved her ahead and followed her into the very back row. They took their seats.
“This is weird,” she whispered once they sat and she trained her gaze on the screen. The scene depicted the tense discovery of a murder, and Gia was in it.
“Why?” Seth asked. “Because you’re watching one of your movies while you’re disguised as someone else?”
“No,” she fumbled. “Well, not just because of that. Because I’m watching it with you.” She felt him look at her in the darkness and sensed his question. “It’s . . . awkward.”
“You shouldn’t feel self-conscious,” he whispered, spreading his long legs slightly so that his knee bumped into hers. He opened his hand on her thigh. He must have noticed her arched brows. “No one can see us back here. And as for feeling awkward, don’t. I’ve heard this movie was great, and you’re a fantastic actress.”
“You haven’t seen it?” she hissed.
He merely shook his head, his attention on the screen.
For some reason, his admission made her feel even pricklier with awareness. As one scene ended, she started to realize why. The next part of the movie was one of two pretty intense love scenes. She swallowed uneasily and slunk down in her seat. The experience was a new one for her. She’d never been embarrassed watching one of her movies with company before, even with a few short-lived boyfriends. She hadn’t treasured the idea of her father or mother watching her love scenes, but they hadn’t made her cringe like she was at that moment. She and Seth had already discussed the fact that she used a body double for nudity though. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.
She held her breath as Scott Barrett, the male lead, leaned down to kiss her on the screen. Was it her imagination, or did Seth stiffen in the seat next to her? She glanced anxiously at his face in the darkness. No, it wasn’t her imagination. He peered at the screen with narrowed eyelids as Scott unbuttoned her blouse and the kiss turned torrid. The critics had labeled her and Scott’s chemistry electric. The tabloids had falsely reported a secret romance between them. Did Seth realize those reports were false? She and Scott had little in common, although she’d found him to be a nice enough coworker. The whys and why nots of onscreen chemistry remained a mystery to Gia, as they did to most actors.
Maybe Seth wouldn’t find that reassuring, though, given the heat escalating on the screen as Scott came down over her on the bed.
How does a person ever know what’s real and what’s not?
His voice replayed in her head, along with the vision of the tense frustration in his expression when he’d said it.
An eternal moment later, the camera angle tightened on Gia’s face as they enacted intercourse. It was unbearable. Seth prized her sexual honesty, just as she prized his. It was one of the magical things about their being together. Gia had never experienced true intimacy in her life until she’d been with Seth. She knew that now. It was ridiculous, but she felt guilty somehow, watching the scene. Not because she’d acted out intimacy with Scott Barrett, but because Seth stared at her giving away a tiny part of what she gave him when they made love.
He would always think he shared her with the world.
She opened her mouth to suggest leaving, but his hand tightened on her thigh. A knot had formed in her throat. She exhaled in relief when the scene came to an end. If she thought the charged atmosphere would ease when the scene ceased, she thought wrong. Heat emanated from Seth’s large hand onto her thigh. He squeezed the muscle and rubbed her. His hand slid higher. Arousal prickled through her, the unexpectedness of it in this situation taking her by surprise. She squirmed slightly in her seat to alleviate the pressure growing at her sex.