Page 88 of Stone Promises

“Listen, I’m on set,” he lies. “There’s nothing we can do about it anyway. It’s out there. It’s done. Now let me go do my job so you can continue earning your inflated fucking paycheck.” I can hear Paul say something else when Chad pulls the phone away from his ear and hangs up on him.

“Sorry,” he says.

“It’s fine.” I’m not letting Paul ruin what was not only a fun night out with friends, but quite possibly the only intimate moment that will ever be recorded between Chad and me. Unlike the dozens of intimate moments he gets to record with beautiful actresses.

I frown, once again thinking about what will happen on set today.

“Hey,” Chad says, putting his hand under my chin and forcing me to look over at him. “Don’t let Paul get to you, Mal. Everyone else has accepted this. He’s a selfish prick; a whiny little kid throwing a tantrum because he didn’t get his way.”

I shake my head. “I know. It’s not that.” I look down at my lap.

He nods in understanding. “You’re worried about today.”

“I’m sorry,” I say. “I’m trying not to be a stick in the mud, but it’s hard knowing your boyfriend will be making love to another woman.”

“I’ll hardly be making love to her, Mal.”

“I sawDefcon One, Chad. You did it then. With Courtney—who you actuallyhavemade love to.” I can’t even help the tear that escapes my eye and rolls down the side of my face.

“Stop the car, Cole. We need a minute, please,” Chad says.

Cole pulls over to the side of the road and gets out of the car, giving us our privacy.

Chad removes our seatbelts and positions us so we’re facing each other. “You are the only woman I’ve ever made love to, Mallory Kate. I promise you that with all my heart.” He takes my hands and rubs his thumbs across my knuckles as he tries to put me at ease. “Let me tell you exactly what will happen today. And it’s not what you might think. First of all, acting is hard. We get nervous before every take. All we’re thinking about is how we can deliver our lines to make everyone believe we are who we’re pretending to be. And most of us are terrified over doing sex scenes. Don’t think men aren’t afraid of having their naked bodies displayed for all to see. I mean, what if I have a zit on my ass today?”

I laugh half-heartedly. “You don’t,” I say. “I checked thoroughly in the shower earlier.”

My joke makes him smile. “Let’s just say I did have a zit on my ass. I’d be in makeup for an hour just so they could cover it up. Actually, I’ll be in makeup anyway just so they can put goo on my ass to make it look perfect. And then they’ll have me put on a cock sock.”

My eyes widen. “A what?”

“A cock sock. It’s a flesh-colored bag that holds all my junk. And Courtney will wear a similarly colored G-string. But it’s not what you think. It’s not as if we’ll be spending hours naked and smashing our bodies together. Most of our shots will be done with our pants on. There will only be a few takes when we have to strip down and, um . . . grind into each other.”

I cringe when he says that. I close my eyes and wonder why I even decided to come on set today. I should have stayed at home, drinking heavily. “I shouldn’t be here,” I tell him. “Maybe it would be easier if—”

“If you were at home imagining the worst?” he asks. “Fuck that, Mallory. I need to have you here. You need to see for yourself there is nothing sexual about a sex scene.”

“But what if you . . .” I nod to his lap and sigh. Of course he’ll get an erection. Not only will he be kissing and touching a beautiful woman, but one he’s been with before. Will he remember what it’s like to be with her? Before she turned to drugs? His body may respond to hers even if he doesn’t want it to.

“It’s not going to happen, baby,” he says, tightening his grip on me. “It didn’t even happen when Courtney and I were dating. You’ll see how it is. There will be people around, telling us what to do and how to do it. Where to put a hand or mouth. We’ll have to do the same thing over and over until we are so bored with it we could scream. And when it comes to actually stripping down, they will have two cameras filming everything so we don’t have to do a lot of takes.”

I nod. I know he’s trying to make me feel better. But I still can’t get it out of my head that he’ll be touching her. And for a minute, I hate myself for wishing Courtney were still using. If she were still doing drugs, she wouldn’t be this perky, nice, uber-friendly woman. The kind of woman Chad is drawn to.

I know it’s his job. And I know this won’t be the last time he has to make love to someone on set. But it doesn’t make what’s about to happen any easier. “Still,” I say. “You’ll be touching her boobs. And she has pretty nice ones.”

He laughs. “Not really,” he says. “I’ll be touching silicone.” He draws me onto his lap and takes my face into his hands. “I don’t have any feelings for Courtney. Iwon’thave any feelings for her. I loveyou, Mallory.”

He kisses me so softly and tenderly, how could I be anything but putty in his hands? When he pulls away, I beg him, “Please don’t kiss her like you just kissed me.”

“Kissing her will never be like kissing you,” he says. He traces my lips with his finger. “This mouth; these lips. I dream about them. They belong to me. And I promise you, mine belong to you. For as long as you want them.”

“I’ll never stop wanting them,” I tell him.

He smiles proudly. “I’m glad to hear you say that.” He motions for Cole to get back in the car. “Now, come on, we have a big day ahead. Both of us.”

I’m not sure what he means by that. Usually, big days are reserved for big things. Good things. There’s nothing about today that is good. I’d just as soon go to sleep and wake up in tomorrow.

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