Page 66 of Stone Promises

“He’s an asshole, babe. You are the opposite of tawdry.”

“He asked me out once,” I tell him.

Chad turns off the shower and I hand him his towel. “The janitor asked you out? How old is he?”

“Not as old as you’d picture an elementary school janitor. I’d say he’s in his thirties. He thought I turned him down because he’s a janitor.”

“But you didn’t,” he says. “That’s not you. But whydidyou turn him down?”

I close the lid on the toilet and sit down. “Because he wasn’t you.”

Chad’s mouth opens and closes as he tries to form words. “But . . . you’ve dated plenty of guys,” he says, wrapping the towel around his waist before he leans against the vanity.

“Not in the last few years,” I tell him. “I tried to date. After Julian, and when I went to college. I dated several guys, but none of them ever felt right.Ididn’t feel right dating them. So it just kind of got to the point where I swore off men.”

“Swore off men?” He smiles. Maybe a little too big. “You said it had been a long time since you slept with anyone. Exactly how long are we talking, Mal?”

I roll my eyes at him.

He takes two steps over and lifts my chin. “How long?”

“I don’t know. Close to three years maybe.” I see the joy behind his eyes, so I add, “You don’t have to look so darn happy about it.”

He pulls me up so I’m standing before him. He cups my face in his hands. “Nobody else ever felt right for me either.”

He kisses me until I forget my own name. Then he teases me by removing his towel and hanging it up, freeing his burgeoning erection. My mouth actually waters as I watch him walk across the bedroom to his closet.

He glances back at me, chuckling at my reaction. After he dresses, he turns off the TV. “No more television for you.” He sits next to me on the bed. “I’m serious, Mal. You don’t need to be actively seeking that shit out. It’s out there now and we just have to let Kendra deal with it as she knows how.”

I nod thinking of the statement she issued the other day when my name went public. The statement that branded me as ‘a childhood friend and nothing more.’

“Sit by the pool. Work on your tan. I’ll be back by four o’clock and then I’ll join you.” He winks. “This time in full daylight,” he whispers in my ear, sending a shiver down my spine.

Oh!He wants a repeat of last night. When we were under the stars. In the pool. Naked.

He checks his phone. “Cole’s here.” He leans down to kiss me. “Don’t answer the door. Call me if you need me and if I can’t answer, Cole will.”

“Yes, Dad,” I tease.

“There is no way your dad would ever do to you the things I did to you last night.” He laughs.

“Gross,” I say, making a face.

“I’ll see you later,” he says. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I say, almost like it’s an exchange we’ve shared for years. Maybe it has been. Maybe we just never said it out loud.

He stops in the doorway. “I think I like this,” he says looking around his bedroom before his eyes fall back on me. “I think I like this a lot.”

~ ~ ~

After floating around in the pool for an hour and then making a light lunch, I check my phone, replying to a dozen messages from friends asking if I’m Thad Stone’s girlfriend.Friends. I use the term loosely. Some of these people are mere acquaintances who came out of the woodwork when the story broke. I’m beginning to realize why Chad doesn’t have many true friends of his own. You just never know what some people’s intentions are.

Other than his family, Hayden Keys and Ana Garner seem to be the only real friends he has here. We went out to lunch with them on Sunday. Ana is his co-star fromBlind Shotand Hayden fromDefcon One. But I guess they know each other because they travel in the same circles. Hayden brought Noreen Watkins, who played Chad’s sister in his latest movie. She and Hayden are dating now.

Ana is having a party on Friday, but Chad wanted me to meet them beforehand. We hit it off. Ana is a relative newcomer to show business. Maybe that’s why she seems like just a regular girl. She’s someone I could see Mel and me hanging out with. I even had a thought that Julian might like her. Chad was all over that idea, even going so far as to show Ana a picture of Julian. All in all, it felt like a normal lunch with the exception of the fifteen paparazzi camped outside the restaurant. It’s no surprise how the lunch spurred rumors of Chad dating either or both Ana and me, jilting Courtney once again.

My phone rings and I smile when I see it’s Chad’s mother. “Hi, Jackie,” I answer, still a little uncomfortable using her first name. But she insisted on it when we were there for dinner Monday night.

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