Ravish (4 page)

Thank God she didn’t have to go to work for a while,
because from the look on his face, he hadn’t any intention of
letting her go for a spell.

f

“Hi Melinda,” Brody said as he approached the woman
standing with the shopping cart before the next aisle.

She tossed her hair as she turned to look at him. The
warm expression on her face fell away to be replaced with a look
hot as the ice in Antarctica. “Brody.” One eyebrow rose. “Or do you
go by Alton now?”

“We grew up together; Brody is just fine.”

Her smile was pleasant, just like nails on a
chalkboard. “I hear you landed some big part and came back to give
all of us a head’s up.”

Unease churned in his gut. “Something like that.” He
shifted on his feet. “I wanted to deliver the news in person to my
parents. And Hermione.”

Her gaze grew diamond hard. “How kind of you. Have a
good day.” She pushed away for two steps before pausing, turning
around, and walking up to hug him. “I’ll kill you if you hurt my
friend again. She went through hell after you ditched her. I’ll not
let that happen again,” she whispered in his ear.

To the onlookers, it appeared as if she was welcoming
him home; he knew that. When, in truth, he got she didn’t give a
damn if he was there or not.

“I don’t want to hurt her.”

“I don’t care what
you
want. She’s not one of
your Hollywood floozies. She
was
your fiancée and
is
my best friend.” Melanie stepped back and pasted a smile on her
face, one he accepted was strictly for those looking at them. “I
don’t say what I did lightly. Good to see you again.” She pivoted
on her heels and walked away, leaving him in a cloud of
icicles.

He spoke to some of the locals, signed some
autographs, and finished his shopping. After he took the items home
for his mother and put them away, he checked his watch. Noting the
time, he went back out to his vehicle and climbed behind the
wheel.

His next stop was out to Vance’s. He knocked on the
door to his friend’s house and waited. Vance opened it, wearing
nothing but a pair of low-slung jeans.

“What’s up?”

“Hey, Vance. You said you had the ring; do you still
have it?”

He scratched at the scruff on his face and backed up.
“Sure, come on in.”

Brody followed him in and closed the door. He walked
with Vance into the living room and waited as his friend ambled
down the hall to his bedroom. A sound behind him had him turning to
face the kitchen. A woman stood there wearing simply a long shirt.
Her dark skin glowed and had evidence of recently having been
washed.

Her eyes grew wide, and she moved her mouth as if in
shock.

Brody smiled and stepped toward her. “Hi, sorry to
intrude on your morning. I’m—”

“Alton Rivers.” She slapped a hand over her mouth.
“Oh my God. I’m standing here talking to Alton Rivers, wearing
nothing but a shirt.”

His lips quirked. “Vance’s from the looks of it.”

“You know him?”

“We grew up together.”

“Mr. Rivers, I’m such a—”

“Let me interrupt you. No need for formality, and
please, call me Brody.”

“Brody?” She flashed her gaze from him to past
him.

“That’s what we call him. Before he moved away and
got all famous on us.” Vance’s voice came from behind him, full of
light-hearted teasing.

She walked to Vance after he stepped up beside Brody.
“Are you kidding me? You know Alton Rivers?” She seemed to be
having a hard time believing what was right before her.

“I hope so, or else he just broke into my house.”
Vance tossed him a small black box.

Brody opened it, and his heart skipped a few beats.
The ring hadn’t been anything extravagant but simple, perfect in
his mind at the time. A small diamond solitaire set in an
eighteen-karat clad band with flower designs along the gold. He
snapped it shut in time to catch the tail end of the woman’s
suggestion he have lunch with them.

“I don’t want to intrude.”

Vance shook his head. “You’re not getting out of this
one, man. I don’t want Kendria mad at me because you didn’t want to
eat with us.”

“Kendria,” he said with a smile. “Nice to meet
you.”

“Oh, God, I never even introduced myself.” She
offered her hand, after which she bolted, saying, “I’ll be right
back.”

Brody crossed his arms when they were alone. “She’s
cute; when’d you start dating her?”

Vance ran a hand over his head. “She’s the one who
Sarah called me about. She’s just sticking around a little bit
longer.”

“Man, you sure have changed. I’m not sure the Vance I
knew would have done such a thing.”

“I’d say we’ve both changed. There’s something about
her, Brod, I don’t know what it is. I want to protect her at the
same time I want to thrust her up against the nearest wall and fuck
her until she has no energy to move. Even knowing how much you’re
still in love with Hermione, I still want you to stay far away from
Kendria. There’s got to be something wrong with me.”

“If you have her in your house wearing nothing but a
shirt, I’m guessing that has happened.” He didn’t address the
statement Vance made about him being in love with Hermione. “I’m
not a threat to you. Aside from being impressed you know Alton
Rivers, she was all eyes for you.”

Vance grunted. “She’s running from someone, has a
fractured arm.”

He frowned. “Someone laid a hand on her?”

Vance shoved his hands in his pockets. “She says she
fell, but I don’t know.”

“Let me know if I can help,” he added, pitching his
voice lower when he spied Kendria approaching them again.

They sat down to lunch where he spent time asking
Kendria questions and answering hers in return. They spoke of his
earlier small parts and a bit more about what he was doing in the
new Hawk movie. After signing an autograph for her, he shook
Vance’s hand before giving her a hug and kiss on the cheek. Then,
he left them with a wave.

He pulled into Hermione’s driveway a short time
later. Her car was parked there, and he smiled as he climbed out
and made the short walk up to her front door. He pressed the
doorbell and rocked back on his heels as he waited for her to
answer. Glancing around, he waved at the people who went by and did
the same to him.

“You?”

He turned back to see her standing there with a frown
on her face. “Hermione.” Brody flashed the grin he used on camera,
only to lose it when her expression darkened further.

She crossed her arms under her breasts. Breasts he’d
enjoyed fully earlier this morning when they’d stripped away
everything but the passion between them. His cock stirred to life
again. She was his addiction, and having that taste of her
previously had demolished his resistance to her.

“What are you doing here?”

He stepped forward. “I needed to see you.” Seeing
what flowed between Vance and Kendria, Brody wanted to be with the
woman who did that for him.

Her jaw flexed. “Well, here I am.”

He lowered his head closer to hers. “You can be as
pissed as you want, Hermione. Hell, we both know I deserve it. But,
none of it negates the fact I can see your arousal.”

Diamond chips replaced her eyes. Frosted ones, at
that. “You came to my door. Who’s to say I don’t have someone in
here.”

His world went green with jealousy then fiery red
with anger. “Do you?” The words were forced from his throat and,
even so, were barely decipherable.

“Christ,” she muttered. “I can’t even have a fucking
day off to myself. I know you; you’re not going to leave me alone
until you look for yourself. Not that my life is any of your
business. Come in, check it out, so you can leave.”

He accepted her less than gracious invitation and
made short work of going through her small house. There was no one
else there.

“Satisfied?” she asked, still standing by the door.
While it was currently closed, he knew she was ready to toss him
out on his ear.

“Not hardly.” He raked his gaze over her once more.
Need that had been simmering in his blood boiled over. He smoothed
one hand over his facial hair and approached her. Not slowing until
she was in his arms and his lips covered hers once again. Her
whimper tore into him, and with a frustrated growl, he backed away.
“I have to tell you something.”

Trembling fingers touched her lips before she shored
up her defenses. “Fine, but you have to talk in the kitchen. I’m in
the middle of baking.” He waited for her to say something about him
kissing her, but she never mentioned it.

She strode by him, and he pivoted to track her with
his hungry gaze. With the way her sweats rode low on her hips and
the tank top with its crisscross back highlighted her figure, he
knew he was torturing himself. In school, she’d shown the promise
of the beauty she would become. Now, a decade later, she’d grown
into that woman with abundance. There wasn’t any denying that. She
was barefoot, and he’d caught a flash of electric blue on her nails
as she’d moved by him.

I deserve it. I should have left her alone.
He
hadn’t. Now, he was here. Staring at the one woman—aside from his
mother—he’d ever loved.
And the one I hurt.

Her kitchen wasn’t huge, but it was open like the
rest of her place. He leaned against the counter and watched her
working on something.

“What are you making?”

“Cookie pizzas and some fruit pizzas.”

“A fruit pizza?” He moved closer.

“Yep.” She rolled out the dough and placed it on the
sheet. “One, I’m doing with a sugar cookie crust in a large pizza
shape. It’s over there. This one is going to be individual
cookies.”

He washed his hands. “Okay, put me to work.” Her gaze
snapped up to his, and he held up his clean hands. “I’m serious. I
want to talk to you and I can help. I can follow some orders. So,
just tell me what to do.”

“I need that cream cheese mixture smoothed out over
the dough. Then, top it with the fruit. There are containers of it
in the fridge. Kiwi, mandarin oranges, strawberries, and
blueberries. Just pile it on, try to make it look nice. Once that’s
done, take the small green container in there and brush the
contents over the entire pizza with the pastry brush laid out
there. Then, the whole thing can go in the fridge.”

“Got it.”

He took out the items from the fridge and lined it
all up for himself, stealing occasional peeks at the woman working
in the room with him. Her hair had been piled up on her head, and
he recognized the clip holding it there. One he’d given her.

“Thought you had something to tell me,” she said
without looking at him.

He took a deep breath as he spread the white
concoction over the baked and cooled cookie. “I left because I
didn’t think I had anything to offer you.”

Silence met his claim, and he lifted his head to find
her staring at him. “Nothing to offer me?” She finally posed the
question.

“The closer we got to the date, I began thinking that
I wouldn’t be able to give you the life you deserved. That I
wouldn’t be able to provide for you or our children. Not in the way
I wanted to.”

“And, your response to that was running away without
a word to anyone.”

He licked the knife, enjoying the flavor, even as
shame put a sour ball in the pit of his stomach. “I was a kid.”

Her snort had no humor in it. “So was I. And, while
I’m not sure why I’m entertaining your need to clear your
conscience, what exactly did you think I needed? Or deserved?”

“Whatever it was, I didn’t feel up to the task.”

“I don’t know why you thought, after all those years,
that I would need something special. We’d known each other for
years. Or why you didn’t just come to me and talk about it. But,
I’ll tell you this, all I needed was a man named Brody Paget. The
man who would take early walks with me. Hold me out in the rain for
no other reason than I loved to be out in it. The man who could
make me smile merely by walking into a room. A man who never called
me crazy or insane when I began dancing, horribly I might add, to
music I played on my parents old forty-five. The man who made me
feel more cherished than a lot of the couples we saw around town,
this town that we had grown up in.” She held his gaze, unflinching.
“You took that man away from me and created someone called Alton
Rivers. I hope you’re happy as him.”

“I’m still Brody, Hermione.” Her words cut him deep,
and he clenched the edge of the counter as the pain in her words
continued to slice him to ribbons.

“Not as far as I’m concerned. You needed to leave and
search for something else, fine. Not blaming you for any of that.
Lots of us need to find our calling. But, you took it a step
further. You killed Brody, and the only—the
only
— reason you
came back is because you wanted to give us a head’s up about
reporters possibly coming back. Not because you wanted to check on
us or apologize for what you’d done ten years ago, but so we could
practice what we may have to say before a camera and potentially
ruin your image. That’s not the Brody I knew and loved. So, it must
be Alton Rivers.”

She finished loading cut cookies on the tray. “I
didn’t care we wouldn’t have much money, Brody. I have no problems
working outside the home. I’m not someone who wanted to be kept.
Never was, and you should have known that. But, you needed more. I
hope your fame and money keep you warm at night. Then again, with
that, you tend to get more women than you can use, so perhaps, it’s
not even an issue.”

Hermione lifted the tray, carried it to the oven, and
slid it inside. She set a timer then moved to his side and swiftly
finished putting the fruit down. He stopped staring at her when she
finished brushing the liquid from the green container over it. She
was efficient and, soon, had that in her fridge as she began
cleaning up.