“I also found your Las Vegas showgirl ventriloquist’s dummy on the chair where you left her. She had plenty of insights about you,” he joked, “but mostly she was content to just sit there and listen.”
“She’s trashy.”
Rick choked on a laugh. “Great. She’ll be popular.”
“You like them that way,” she accused.
“I like you. The dummy is just the repository for the part of your personality that you’re afraid you might have inherited from your father.”
“Oh, joy.”
Rick suddenly sobered. “Your father has a gambling problem, and I understand addiction. Hal went back to drinking too much after Isabel’s antics sent him into a spiral.”
“You never mentioned there were consequences from Isabel’s media stunt.” She caught herself at Rick’s droll look at the mention of the word stunt. “Sorry, bad choice of words. I meant her diva moment for the press.”
Rick dropped his hands and shrugged. “Hal is sober these days after a stint in rehab. Or so I hear through the grapevine...since we don’t socialize anymore.”
Chiara was starting to understand more and more about Rick’s wariness regarding the limelight, actresses and fame in general. An aspiring actress had not only cost him a friendship but had crushed someone he knew.
“I’ll even offer my house for a meeting with your father,” Rick went on. “Odele can contact Michael Feran and figure out the details, including flying him to Los Angeles. I’ll pick up the tab.”
She sighed before asking wryly, “So all I have to do is show up?”
“Affirmative.”
“Your house isn’t even finished!”
“There’s landscaping and stuff still to be done, but it’s habitable. And more important, it’s neutral territory for a private meeting with your father.” He raised his eyebrows.
“Is there anything you haven’t thought of?” she demanded.
He gave her a lingering look. “There are still a few fantasies that I’m playing with...”
“You know, it’s astonishing you come from such a nice family considering—”
“I’m an ego-driven macho stuntman who doesn’t respect the rights of actresses to do their own daredevil acts and knows nothing about the uses of double-sided tape?”
“No, considering your dirty mind.”
One side of his mouth lifted in a smile. “Well, that, too. I know plenty of uses for tape and blindfolds and silk ties.”
Oh...wow.
Rick’s eyes crinkled. “Stunts call for diverse props.”
“I go propless.”
Rick stepped closer and murmured, “Interesting. No need of any assistance?”
She tossed her hair back as sexual energy emanated off him in luscious waves that wrapped themselves around her. “Yes, I go it alone.”
He reached out and took a strand of her hair in his fingers. “Might be more fun if it’s two.”
“Or three or more?” she queried. “What’s your limit? A menagerie?”
He gave a soft laugh. “A couple is good. The number of times, on the other hand...limitless, I’d say.”
Her breath started coming quick and shallow. Oh.