Page 30 of Broken Rules

Everything had changed.For me, anyway.I couldn’t speak for him, though he did seem sweeter somehow.Kinder.Or was that my warped, hormonal perception screwing with my head?Who could blame me for not being able to think straight after all those orgasms?

How was I supposed to make a movie when I couldn’t stop wandering around like a teenager with a crush on the cutest boy in school?Nobody should know, which only made it worse.

And more exciting.I could admit that to myself if to nobody else.

“Do you have a few minutes before you go to set?”All it took was the sound of Lex’s voice out in the hallway to make my heart jump.The man only had to exist, and suddenly, everything around me faded into the background.It wasn’t fair for one person to be so damnhot, like hot enough to kill my brain cells, because I was smarter than this.Wasn’t I?

I sat up straighter at my desk and folded my hands like I was still anywhere close to being a decent professional.If he could keep up the charade, so could I.It wasn’t like I had a choice.“So long as it’s not too many minutes.”Was there anyone out there to overhear me?Was I playing to an empty house?

“That’s right,” he said as he entered the room.“You have guests coming to visit the set today, right?”He didn’t close the door, though he was thinking about it, his hand on the knob, his brows lifting.

“They should get here any minute.”Now that we were filming exclusively indoor scenes, we could stay here at the studio and work on the sets for Danica’s character’s apartment and the garage where she and her friends fixed up their cars.Lex couldn’t stop talking about what a relief it was, knowing I’d always be at the studio instead of risking my life out on a racetrack.

He wasn’t completely wrong about that.It was a stupid move, even if I would’ve bitten off my own tongue before admitting it out loud.I wasn’t thinking, totally wrapped up in the moment, obsessed with getting the shot I wanted.The ten days between then and now had changed my perception.

And not only when it came to almost getting myself killed, though getting caught with Lex would be another kind of death.The professional kind, the kind I’d have to suffer again and again as I got rejected by one producer after another.Either that, or they’d all want to work with me, figuring I’d fuck them the way I fucked Lex.

Was fucking Lex.Present tense.There was no sense anymore in pretending it wouldn’t happen again.We had spent the weekend following my sprain at his house.Then there were the four additional nights I had found an excuse to work late.Not that I needed to lie to Claudia now that she knew the whole story, but still.It didn’t feel right to come out and announce I was sneaking off to the boss’ house for a little fun when I had been against the idea for so long.

“Just checking in to make sure everything’s all right.”He rounded my desk but kept a respectable distance for the sake of anyone passing by.“I emailed you a copy of the latest promotional materials.”

Right now, all I cared about was the way his cologne made my toes curl.Note to self.Find out what he uses.I wanted to buy a little bottle of it to revisit whenever I needed a pick-me-up.

“What are your thoughts about them?”I asked, pulling up the email on my computer.My hands were trembling, not because I was nervous about Mom and Dad visiting, though I was plenty nervous about that, and he knew it, which was probably why he stopped by my office when he had.

That was something I sure as hell hadn’t predicted.How understanding he would be once I confessed my nerves about this visit.“It’s always been that way,” I’d told him while staring out his bedroom window, my half-naked body draped over his.His bare chest rose and fell under my ear, his heart beating in a steady rhythm.

“Nothing else matters but the art.Meanwhile, my sisters and I wore clothes that were so worn out, they were ready to fall off us.I’ll never forget the first day of kindergarten when I showed up thinking everybody lived the way I did.I doubt they even wanted to send me to a regular, traditional school.They were probably forced into it.”

“What is it your parents do?”

“Mom’s a sculptress, though she’s dabbled in painting.Dad has an art history degree, and life got better and more normal once he sold out and took a teaching job at UCLA.”

“That hardly sounds like selling out,”he mused, stroking my back.Every brush of his fingers loosened me up a little more until it felt completely natural to open up and share everything.

“Tell him that,”I’d retorted, snickering.“But unless he’s making a living selling his mixed media pieces, he’s not a real artist.I know, it’s completely screwed up,”I added when he chuckled.

“I’m not laughing at you,” he said with a little squeeze.“I’m understanding you better.Now I get why you’re so damn hell-bent on things always being a certain way.How can you help it?They’ve hammered that shit into your brain your whole life.”

“Mom seems enthusiastic enough,” I admitted.“But I don’t quite believe her.And I know Dad flat-out doesn’t approve of me working in Hollywood.”

“Your dad doesn’t know what he’s talking about, then,” he decided.“And it’s asinine to expect you to limit yourself for some bullshit idea of artistic purity.You can’t live up to your potential if you don’t have the resources to make the kind of movies you want to make.And you’re sure as hell not coasting by.I’ve never met anybody who works as hard as you do.”

“I get the feeling you’re only saying that because we’re naked in your bed right now.”

“It doesn’t hurt.”He was laughing as he gathered me in his arms while I pretended to fight him for being a smartass.

Two orgasms later, I had to get dressed and leave or else never get any sleep.If there was one thing I needed before an exhausting day with my well-meaning but exhausting parents, it was sleep.

Twelve hours later, here we were, pretending he hadn’t spent half of last night with his face between my thighs.It was getting trickier, separating work from my personal life.I wasn’t making it any easier on myself by flirting with him in the middle of the day.The problem was I didn’t know how to stop.And I didn’t want to.

“I’m going to need a little one-on-one time very soon.”Glancing toward the open doorway, he leaned in like he was pointing at something on my screen.“What a shame we’re going to have all these long days and late nights coming up with nobody around to make me behave myself.”

I pretended not to notice the goose bumps that raced down my arms when his breath touched my ear.My nipples went tight, and my pussy moistened.He had basically turned me into Pavlov’s dog.

“Keeping both our reputations safe isn’t enough to make you behave yourself?”I whispered, frozen still because I didn’t trust myself to move.It was too tempting, the idea of leaning in, touching my nose to his neck to inhale his spicy cologne.It took three washings to get the scent out of my hair last night, not that I wanted to.I would’ve liked to smell it all day.A reminder.

He brushed his fingers over mine, resting on the desk, making a shiver run through me and settle in my core.“I think we’re getting pretty good at this sneaking around shit,” he whispered, caressing the inside of my wrist because he knew it drove me crazy.I squirmed a little and squeezed my thighs together, but it was pointless trying to ease the ache he started up.

---