How much of this was acting?
When he touched me, when his long fingers trailed across my shoulder, tugging my shirt down, it didn’t feel like acting. It felt good. But that was wrong—I didn’t want it to feel this good with him. With the man I’d never wanted to meet. And now he was on top of me, undressing me with his eyes… and with his hands.
Aiden’s head dipped down, his teeth scraping across my bare shoulder. His other hand brushed over my stomach and moved up, cupping my breast through my shirt. My back arched and I moaned, unable to stop myself. He might be acting, but I wasn’t.
His talented lips skated up my neck, nibbling under my ear. I could hear him swallow hard. His warm breath danced across my skin. “Are you ready for this, princess?” That wasn’t a line from the script.
Before, when he called me that, I’d bristled. But now, for the first time, I wondered if perhaps he didn’t mean it as an insult anymore. It sounded almost like he cared. Then again, he was an actor, and he was damn good at what he did.
My nipples hardened under his touch, and then his hand slid down my body. He palmed my ass, and I couldn’t help wrapping my legs around him. His large hand gripped my thigh as he ground the heat between his legs against me. I moaned again, and he chuckled softly. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
The man was an actor, yes. But the way he was touching me? The way he used his mouth and his hands? That spoke of a man with experience. A man with knowledge. A man with skills he’d learned not on the stage—but in the bedroom.
Everything else faded away as I ran my fingers through his short hair. Our history. The lights. The others in the room. All of that disappeared as I pulled his head toward mine.
When our lips met, we were the only two people in the world. His mouth ravished mine and I didn’t want it to end. Ever.
21
Ford
The three of us stared in shock as Aiden kissed Ronnie on the bed. Tanner and I had forgotten to man our stations at the cameras, and Sierra had gone still in the middle of the room, her jaw open.
Aiden and Ronnie fought all the time. They didn’t even like each other. But they sure as hell looked like they did right now. I felt like I was intruding on a private moment.
I also felt like I wanted to join in.
But that wasn’t what we were here for. I moved to Sierra’s side. “Since you’re out of the scene, you can take a step back and look at the big picture. Pretend you’re the director—that’s what I do when I’m choreographing fight sequences.”
Sierra nodded, and she put her hands up in front of her, using her fingers and thumbs to frame the scene the way directors sometimes did. That seemed to remind Tanner that he was supposed to be standing by his camera, but I stayed with Sierra.
“What do you think they should do next?” I asked her as we both watched the passionate couple on the bed. “That is, if they ever stop kissing.” Which they didn’t seem very inclined to do.
“Um, guys?” Sierra began. “Maybe you could try…”
They paid her no attention. Jesus, were we going to have to get a fire hose? I clapped my hands together. “All right, I think Sierra’s seen how the kissing’s supposed to look.” Finally, Aiden lifted his head off of Ronnie’s. Her lips were swollen and she looked dazed, like she’d been hit by a truck. “Sierra’s got some ideas for what might come next.” I wasn’t a hundred percent sure she did, but we needed to get those two back on track.
“Yeah, I do.” Sierra stepped next to the bed with more confidence than I’d expected. Both Aiden and Ronnie looked up at her. “So, since Chase’s kiss kind of softened Ronnie’s feelings toward him, maybe next—I mean, not Ronnie, Lizzie.”
“How about you just use their real names so that it doesn’t get too confusing,” I suggested.
“Okay. So, maybe you could both take stock for a moment, but in a hot way.”
“Like how?” Aiden asked.
“Well, could you pin her hands against the mattress? Like put your hands on her forearms, and then you can stare at each other, like you’re wondering what the hell just happened but you want more.”
“That’s good,” Aiden admitted.
“It won’t hurt Ronnie, will it?” Sierra asked.
Ronnie said no at the same time Aiden said, “Not the way I do it.”
Aiden pinned Ronnie the way Sierra suggested, and it did look hot.
Sierra studied them. “Ronnie, could you like—make your chest heave, like you’re breathing hard? Or I’ll just do that when it’s my turn again.”