Page 138 of Blood Stone

“Then there’s Calum Garrett. He’s a different class of sexy altogether. He’s world class money, wildly successful, has his own empire sexy.Plushe’s been utterly unavailable for years – the odd date, the occasional supermodel, nothing close to a passionate affair in over ten years.” Suzette spread her hands across the table again. “Honestly, how on earth did you trip them both up? Can you give me notes? These are two seriously charged men, Kate. And you have them both.”

Kate bit her lip. She wasn’t sure she had either of them. “You’re suggesting I let the press think we’re having a ménage?”

“No, I’m suggesting you let the media have its day. Youaresleeping with them both…and that’s not a bad thing. It’s not bad publicity, not for you or the movie. They’re both great guys and we can spin it that way. We’ll find every positive thing about them, and use it.”

“They both protected her when her ex turned up, remember,” Mary-Ann said.

Suzette’s eyes widened. “Yes, that’s perfect. That’s the sort of material we can use to steer this away from the ménage nonsense they’re speculating about.” Suzette threaded her fingers together. “Unless…it is a ménage?”

Kate could feel her entire face flush. It was beyond her control. Even her neck heated. “No,” she said. “No ménage.”

Suzette was watching her carefully. “I’m not judging, Kate. If they’re both in your bed together, let me know now and we can manage that message, too. God knows, with your looks and with men like that, it will be a cakewalk selling it.”

Kate managed to meet Suzette’s eyes. “You’re saying it would begood publicity?” Horror curled through her.

Suzette smiled gently. “There’s no such thing as bad publicity. I’m sure you’ve learned that by now. This is sexy and sex sells. Your men are hot, you’re gorgeous and this is a story with sex and romance in it, times three. All we have to do is hook it to your movie and your movie will open with a blaze of sensational publicity – and you won’t have to pay for most of it.”

Kate rubbed her temples. “This is mylife,” she muttered.

Suzette shrugged. “You know after ten years in this business that you don’t have a private life. It’s all up for grabs. You might have to explain it to Garrett and Adrian, though.” She pulled a card out of her pocket and placed it on the mirrored surface in front of Kate. “You don’t have to say it out loud or in front of Mary-Ann. Send me an email. Tell me what story we’re giving the media. I’ll wait to hear from you.”

* * * * *

Garrett slid his fingers along the shallow indentation of her spine, following the great curve. He loved this shape on women and Kate’s was particularly sexy, especially the sharp slope over her hips.

She shivered as he traced, but didn’t protest. They were both replete and this was too mellow a moment, snatched unexpectedly out of the day. It was lunchtime and as the assistant director had called the break, Kate’s eyes had caught Garrett’s. He had been almost able to read her thoughts. He had slid through the crowds, heading back around the set and through the discarded props back to his trailer, which was parked at the far end of the studio.

Kate had beat him there.

Their first orgasm had been mutual, up against the front room wall, with just enough clothes removed to be able to access the vital parts. Now he didn’t have to worry about hiding his strength, it had been easy to pin her in place and take her as hard as he needed to. Kate had come inside a minute.

Then he pulled all her clothes off, then his and taken her into the bedroom. This second coupling had been nearly as frantic, but there had been more control. More finesse.

As his climax neared, she cupped his face. “Bite me,” she whispered. “I know you want to. You’re nuzzling my neck.”

A thrill tore through him, along with fear.

“Do it,” she urged.

His teeth had already descended, roused by the idea. He couldn’t hold back. Both the urge to bite and his climax rushed at him. He turned her face, baring her nape and sank his teeth into the soft, delicious flesh. His climax hit and pleasure exploded through his body.

Kate screamed, her body arching under him. The aphrodisiac would hit her like the world’s most potent cocktail. Her muscles clenched around him, squeezing and convulsing as she climaxed. He felt the series of ripples and contractions that spoke of multiple climaxes as she stayed locked in that hard arch, trembling, her breath stilled.

Finally, she relaxed and fell back on the bed and her body loosened around him. “Oh my god,” she said weakly. “No wonder Mary wanted to boast about you.”

Garrett laughed. It felt good.

And now they were just relaxing. Kate said she wasn’t hungry. Not yet, anyway. For both of them, they suddenly found they had time to lay there and do nothing. Just for a few minutes. It was rare and it was glorious.

“It’s so quiet up at this end of the hangar,” Kate whispered. “There’s people talking, stuff happening all the time, at my end. Then there’s the media, every time I step out of the building.”

“They’re not nearly as civilized as the financial press,” Garrett observed. “How’s Roman handling it?”

It had been eight days, now. The furor over Kate’s double-dating didn’t seem to be dying down, especially as she hadn’t confirmed or denied if she was simply seeing two men at a time, or if it was a ménage. The press kept trotting out pictures of Garrett and Roman together. Talking, on the set, doing things … Garrett hadn’t been aware of just how many times the two of them had interacted in the short time they had been in the desert, but the media had noticed and were using every second they had captured as proof of a relationship that they were spinning up out of whole cloth to the delight of an ever expanding global readership.

After Garrett had first warned Roman of the three ring circus to come, Roman had cut off all communication with him. He had been pissed. Now he was sulking.

“Roman is trying to laugh about it,” Kate told him. “I mean, if you don’t laugh, you cry, right? You’ve been here before, Micheil, so you know how it goes. You just have to hold your breath and wait for it to pass, which it does eventually. And while you wait, you have to see the stupid side of it, or you go insane.”