Hands trembling, she dropped the documents to the bed and thrust her fingers through her hair. She wasn't a shrink either, but she could see what he was doing and it broke her heart. Rubbing the heel of her hand over the organ, she got off the bed and went to find him, eventually tracking him to the gym downstairs. He'd changed into cutoff sweatpants and was lying on the bench press, having just lifted what looked like a ridiculously heavy set of weights.
Not wanting to risk disturbing him mid-press, she waited until he'd successfully cradled the bar, then straddled his body. "Look at me," she said quietly and, when he went to lift the weights again instead, closed her hands over the bar. "I won't allow our pasts to mess us up either."
Expression grim, he said, "You read it?"
"I read it." Releasing the bar, she cupped his face in her hands, her throat thick and her anger at the hurt done him a feral wildness within. "You don't have to pay me to stay with you, Fox."
A shake of his head, his jaw clenched tight. "That's not what I'm doing."
"If I have to face up to my demons," she whispered, "so do you." Somewhere inside her gorgeous, strong, talented rock star was the boy who'd been abandoned by his mother, left to the care of strangers for whom it was a paid task.
The brutal rejection had scarred him in ways she was only now beginning to see--but Molly had no intention of permitting that hurt to fester inside him. "We do this together," she said. "Don't you make me walk alone."
Rising into a seated position, he ran his hands down her back. "That's the one thing you never have to worry about."
This time it was Molly who initiated the kiss, Molly who rubbed her body over his, and Molly who demanded. Her pretty blue sleeveless shirt was on the floor in seconds, her bra gone the next instant. It frustrated her that she had to get off him to rid herself of her jeans and panties, but that only took a few heartbeats, long enough for him to kick off his sweats.
Then she was straddling Fox again, reaching down to grip the silk and steel of him, position him at her entrance before he took over, his other hand on her nape.
"Don't make me wait," she whispered and, heart trembling, spoke words she hadn't said to a single person since well before the day her world imploded around her. "I need you."
"Molly." Fox pulled her down over his rigid erection, going so deep she felt branded, his fingers digging into the soft flesh of her backside.
Molly cried out, found herself kissed with a rough tenderness that devastated her.
"We'll do this." Fox's voice, deep and harsh against her lips. "We'll make it." One hand stroking her hair. "Together."
"Together."
Into this scary, wonderful journey that had destroyed so many others. Not us, she vowed as Fox's kiss drew her under. Not us. Fox was hers and she would fight for him.
They were lying on the bench press, Molly on top of Fox, his semi-hard cock still inside her and her breasts pressed against his chest when the woman in his arms stirred. "Beautiful and hot, and mine," he said, nipping at her jaw, fucking adoring her for claiming him with such sweet fierceness. "Not like property."
"Sorry." She shifted to rub her cheek against his, her movements making Fox groan as ripples of lazy pleasure rolled over his body. "I know you don't think of me that way--and I don't consider you a lapdog."
Taking a page out of her book, he ran his hand over her hair. "Sorry. You might have noticed I have a temper."
He felt her lips curve against his skin, and her response had him smiling even before she said, "I can handle it."
"I'll never say no to being handled by you, Miss Molly."
"How's this?" Rising to sit up on his body, she ran her nails over the flat disks of his nipples, a mischievous light in her eyes.
He arched into it. "More."
She gave him more, her expression telling him she was indulging herself as much as him. "Thank you," she said after he drew her down to demand a slow kiss that elicited a very female, very delicious sound from her throat.
He chuckled. "I'm that good?"
Sticking out her tongue at him, she tugged playfully at his lip ring. "You do have serious moves"--another tug when his grin deepened--"but I meant for the trust fund. I probably won't use it for my day-to-day life, but it means a lot to know it's there."
She pressed her fingers to his lips when he would've spoken, his scowl heavy. "I'll use it for things like dresses for going to industry shindigs with you, stuff I could never afford on my own and that I'll need as your date."
Fox wasn't happy, but he also knew his woman. "Yeah, okay, but you should know I plan to spoil you. Let me." He'd never had anyone to lavish with his attention, no one who was his.
Molly bit down on her lower lip. "I've never been spoiled before." A soft confession. "I'm willing to permit it on a trial basis."
He caught the hint of a smile, knew he was being teased. "Come here, Miss Smart-ass Molly."
Kissing and petting her when she laughed but obeyed, he knew that though they'd managed to survive this test, there'd be others that cut deeper, threatened to do more damage. The only thing that might take them through to the other side was the fact they were both proving to be stubborn as anything, willing to fight claw and tooth for what they wanted.
It was on the fourth day that Molly found herself on her own for the first time since her arrival in the country, Fox heading off to attend a meeting about the band's upcoming tour. "I'm picking up David along the way," he told her in the garage. "His place isn't too far from here--we'll walk over to it one of these days, force him to cook us a gourmet meal."
"Deal." Smiling, she fixed his baseball cap so it didn't shadow those incredible eyes. "Have fun and don't worry. I'll be fine."
"You have my number, and the numbers of the other guys?"
"Yes."
"Wait, I don't think I gave you Tawanna's." He took out his phone and sent her a message with the number. "She's my assistant." A grin. "My real one."
"Ha-ha." She kissed him simply because it made her happy to touch him, to taste his smile. "I'll probably stay in and go through my e-mails, work on the test pages for my first possible clients." They'd learned about her via the ads she'd taken out in a few places, then contacted her through the website Charlotte had helped her set up.
So now Anne Webster was (almost) no longer unemployed, Anne being her middle name. If Molly Webster did end up in the media, she didn't want people to start contacting her for prurient reasons. Anne would quietly go about her work while Molly lived in the spotlight with the sexiest man on the planet.
She kissed that man good-bye, then went up to the poolside patio and knuckled down to work--after first sending Charlotte an e-mail asking her best friend to message her when she was awake and free so they could catch up.
She was just finishing the second set of sample pages when the intercom chimed. Startled out of her thoughts, she walked over to the security panel after realizing someone had pressed the buzzer out by the gate. The chime came again before she'd figured out whether or not to answer. Noah, Abe, and David were all at the meeting with Fox, as was Thea, and Molly didn't know anyone else in the city.
"Hey, Fox!" came a husky female voice through the speakers. "It's Kit. I know you're back! Wake up!"
Molly's hand froze in front of the Answer button. Who was Kit?
"Hurry up! The damn paps are on my tail." An infuriated sound. "Dammit, now I'll have to find the remote you ga--Got it!"
Molly saw the security light turn green as the gate opened, a black sports car with its top down zipping up the drive to halt in front of the house a short time later. Whoever this woman was who had a remote to the gate, she was about to hit the front door--and she might well have a key for that, too.
Taking a deep breath and hoping against hope she wasn't about to surprise a former lover Fox hadn't yet told about his new relationship, Molly walked downstairs to open the door. The gorgeous woman on the other side, her skin a deep golden bronze, had a tumbling mass of midnig
ht hair and a flawless body encased in a sleek emerald sheath.
Pushing her Audrey Hepburn sunglasses to the top of her head to reveal striking amber eyes, she blinked. "You're not the cleaning service." Lines marring her forehead. "If you're a stalker, you're a very not-crazy-looking one." The statement was followed by the most miniscule pause. "Love the top." The other woman gestured at the peach top with a softly-tied bow at the throat that Molly had paired with white capris.
"Are you a stalker?" Molly managed to interject. "A very fashion-conscious one?" The words were meant to give her time to think--because there were few people who wouldn't recognize the woman on her doorstep.
"Fox wishes." A snort. "I'm Kathleen Devigny."
Molly smiled through the nerves going haywire inside her. "I know--I saw Last Flight." The low-budget adaptation of a heartbreaking novel set in the war-torn Congo had become a global blockbuster, catapulting the actress into Oscar contention. "I'm Molly."
Kathleen gave her a dazzling smile, perfect and false. "So, Fox isn't home?"
"No." Unsure what claim the A-list actress had on Fox, Molly felt acutely uncomfortable--but this was her home now and she had to claim it. "Would you like to come in?"
Kathleen's hesitation was slight. "Fox's science-fiction machine does make good coffee."
"You know how to use that thing?" Stepping back, Molly closed the door behind the other woman. "I haven't managed to turn it on yet."
Kathleen laughed, and it was a rich, warm sound, but instinct told Molly the actress was faking it. Not that Molly blamed her. If she and Fox-- Molly cut herself off before she could obsess too far in what might be the totally wrong direction, and showed her size-zero guest up the hanging spiral staircase to the second level, Kathleen's heels clicking on the honey-colored wood.
Since she'd set up her laptop and notes outside, there was nothing in the sprawling open-plan space that flowed from kitchen to dining to living areas to give Kathleen any clue as to Molly's purpose here. "So," she said, wondering if the other woman would ask, "shall we try this machine?"
Setting her small purse on the counter, Kathleen walked around to the gleaming steel coffeemaker. "Is that a New Zealand accent?"
"Yes." Molly watched the astonishingly beautiful actress use the coffee machine with the ease of someone who'd done the same thing multiple times. "I've only been in L.A. a few days."
"What are you into?" Expression polite but distant, Kathleen passed across the first cup of coffee, made another. "My side of the business, or music?"
"Neither," she said, beginning to believe Kathleen's standoffishness had nothing to do with seeing Fox in a romantic way. "Come on, I'll show you what I'm doing at the moment."
Leading the other woman to the wrought-iron table that sat in a shaded area by the crystalline blue waters of the pool, Molly waited for her to take a seat before angling the laptop so the other woman could see the screen. "Words"--she smiled--"that's what I'm into."
Kathleen took a sip of coffee. "What's your screenplay about?"
Still not fully certain about Kathleen's place in Fox's life, Molly thought about how to respond to that cool question, went for honesty. "Are you always this suspicious or only when it comes to people you care about?" When the actress's expression became even icier, Molly shook her head. "I have no desire to be in any way famous."
Putting down her coffee, Kathleen took her sunglasses off her head and slid them back over eyes critics were calling "breathtaking in their expressiveness." "Yet you're with one of the most famous men in the world."
"It's funny how life works out." That, Molly thought, had to be the understatement of the century.
Chapter 26
Kathleen left ten minutes later, and five minutes after that, Fox called. "Whatever you said to Kit," he drawled, "she's convinced you have evil intentions toward my millions."
Her entire body warmed at his tone. "She's very protective of you." Molly understood loyalty; it was why she'd online-researched the heck out of T-Rex behind Charlotte's back weeks ago.
"We've been friends a long time," Fox said. "I've invited her back for dinner tonight--you two will be best buds as soon as she realizes you break out in hives at the idea of my millions."
"Smart aleck." Any uncertainty about who Kathleen was to Fox erased by his easy words, she luxuriated in the pleasure of talking to her man. "How's the meeting?"
"No big stress." The sound of voices in the background. "Gotta go, baby. I'll see you this afternoon."
He brought the entire band home with him, the four of them setting up shop in the state-of-the-art and fully soundproofed basement studio. When Molly carried down snacks and cold drinks, she got two offers of marriage and a declaration that she was a goddess.
"Don't spoil the bastards." Fox scowled, grabbing one of the iced bottles of water. "They'll start following me home every day."
Hugging Fox from behind where he sat on a chair, guitar on his lap, she looked at David. "I hear you can cook."
The others hooted as David groaned. "Only for you, Molly."
Three hours later, the drummer took over the kitchen, with Molly acting as his assistant, while the other three men hung out around the big screen in the living area, talking and watching football. When Kathleen arrived, Fox threw her a beer and Abe asked her about a play in the game.
The actress disagreed vehemently with Abe's interpretation.
"Kathleen knows football," Molly said to David, popping some rolls in the oven to warm.
David stirred the pot of stew he had on the stove. "She used to be a cheerleader, but I think she would've rather played."
Hearing Kathleen roar at a touchdown, Molly agreed. "Written any new memos lately?"
A blush colored his cheekbones. "Your sister is determined to drive me insane."
Biting back her grin at how adorable he looked and sounded, she said, "You know you love it."
"Clearly, I'm a masochist." He added some pepper to the stew as Fox wrapped an arm around Kathleen's neck and dragged her into the kitchen area.
The other woman was dressed in skinny jeans and a plain white T-shirt, her hair scraped back into a ponytail and no makeup on her face, but she was no less stunning than she'd been earlier that day.
"Kit," Fox said, "you know Molly. Be nice to her. She's on the fence about dating a musician as it is."
Molly met the green of Fox's eyes, and suddenly it didn't matter that they were surrounded by others. Barely aware of Kathleen leaving his side, she placed her palms on his chest and, rising on tiptoe, kissed him soft and sweet and with all the scary, powerful emotions she felt for him. "I might be on the fence about this life," she whispered for his ears only, "but I'm not and will never be on the fence about you." He was it for her. Forever. "I will fight for you."
Fox's arms came around her, his head bent over hers. "You sure know how to pick your moments." One big hand against the side of her face, lips moving over her own as he spoke. "Should I kick everyone out? We'll keep David's masterpiece though."
"I think you'd have a mutiny on your hands." Stepping back with a silly, happy smile, she saw the drummer and Kathleen had moved to the other end of the kitchen to give them privacy.
Fox stroked his hand down her back with a deep, playful smile of his own. His dimple tempted her to steal another kiss--but the oven timer went off right then.
Leaning against the fridge, Fox watched her take the rolls out. "I'm starving." The ink on his arm was delineated exquisitely in the light as he caught the roll she threw him, tore off a piece to eat. "David--you letting your creation age or what?"
"I'm not the one who can't keep it in the bedroom," came the whiplash-fast retort. "Grab some bowls and tell the other wolves it's time to feed."
"I had fun," Molly said to Fox several hours later, her sleep T-shirt soft around her thighs as she finished rubbing moisturizer into her face in front of the bathroom mirror and considered whether or not to tackle her hair with a brush. "I think Kathleen is tha
wing."
Dressed only in a pair of sweatpants, Fox cupped her breasts from behind, nuzzling a kiss into her neck, his stubbled jaw a delicious abrasion. It made her shiver and lean back into him, her arms raised to wrap around his neck as he petted her, kissing her neck the entire time.
When he stroked his hands down her body to tug up her T-shirt, slide underneath, she sighed in anticipation. The callused heat of his touch on her bare breasts was a raw shock of sensation. Shuddering, she found her eyes drawn to the mirror and to the way Fox's hands moved under the T-shirt as he fondled her, but mostly, to Fox.
The look of him as he touched her, as he kissed her... it made her feel so beautiful, until she could see what he saw in her. A sensual woman with creamy skin and curves that were as soft as Fox's body was hard. She didn't resist when he pulled the T-shirt off over her head and continued to pet her as he'd been doing, his tanned hands cupping her breasts, his fingers tugging on her nipples, the sinew and muscle of him apparent beneath the tats.
"Push down your panties, baby." Whiskey and sin and pure hard rock.
Shivering, she rolled them down as far as she was able to in this position, the lace tangling low on her thighs. Fox slipped one hand between her legs from the front the next instant. The erotic shock of seeing him do that had her breathless, her hips moving restlessly against him as he caressed her to a deep, pulsing orgasm.
"I love watching you come." Hand still between her legs, he nuzzled her neck again, waiting until she'd gained control of her boneless body before saying, "Lean forward and brace your hands on the counter."
Molly had no desire to argue, but instead of the fast penetration she'd expected, he was slow and tender, kissing his way down her spine to nip playfully at her butt.
"Ouch," she said without heat, his chuckle making her thighs clench.
Tugging her panties fully off, he waited until she'd stepped out of them--keeping himself busy by kissing his way back up her spine--before kicking her feet apart. One hand gripping her hip, he cupped her again from the front, using his middle finger to stroke lightly over her damp flesh.
"Hurry," Molly said, pleasure, intoxicating and rich, shimmering to new life inside her.
"You want me in?" he asked, the blunt head of his cock pushing into her, slow but relentless.