I let him flick one side of my slip off. I let him run his hand underneath the neckline of it.
“Oh, what it would be to lose myself in you,” he said. “To lie underneath you and watch you writhe on top of me.”
I almost did it. I almost ripped my own slip off and threw him onto the bed.
But then he said, “C’mon, baby, you know you want to.”
And it became perfectly clear just how many times Rex had tried this before with countless other women.
Never let anyone make you feel ordinary.
“Get out of here,” I said, though not unkindly.
“But—”
“No buts. Go on to bed.”
“Evelyn—”
“Rex, you’re drunk, and you’re confusing me for one of your many girls, but I’m your wife,” I said, with all obvious irony.
“Not even once?” he said. He seemed to sober up quickly, as if his hooded eyes had been part of the act. I was never really sure with him. You never knew exactly where you stood with Rex North.
“Don’t try it again, Rex. It’s not going to happen.”
He rolled his eyes and then kissed me on the cheek. “G’night, Evelyn,” he said, and then he slipped out my door just as smoothly as he’d come in.
* * *
THE NEXT DAY, I woke up to a ringing phone, deeply hungover and mildly confused about where I was.
“Hello?”
“Rise and shine, little bird.”
“Harry, what on earth?” The sun in my eyes felt like a burn.
“After you left the Fox party last night, I had a very interesting conversation with Sam Pool.”
“What was a Paramount exec doing at a Fox party?”
“Trying to find you and me,” Harry said. “Well, and Rex.”
“To do what?”
“To suggest that Paramount sign you and Rex to a three-picture deal.”
“What?”
“They want three movies, produced by us, starring you and Rex. Sam said to name a price.”
“Name a price?” Whenever I had too much to drink, I always woke up the next morning feeling as if I were underwater. Everything looked muted, sounded blurry. I needed to make sure I was following. “What do you mean, name a price?”
“Do you want a million bucks for a picture? I heard that’s what Don’s getting for The Time Before. We could get that for you, too.”
Did I want to make as much money as Don? Of course I did. I wanted to get the paycheck and mail a copy of it to him with a photo of my midd
le finger. But mostly I wanted the freedom to do whatever I wanted.