Page 126 of Blood Stone
Jerry’s gaze caught his in the mirror. “Right, sir.”
Garrett let himself smile at Jerry. It was obvious that both of them were thinking he wouldn’t need the cab. “Have a good evening.”
“You, too, sir.”
Garrett got out and pressed the wrought iron gate intercom panel for attention. “Kate?”
It took a few seconds for a response to come back. “Come in, Garrett.” The gate opened a few inches and he stepped through. The grounds beyond were small but beautifully maintained, just like the house. It looked old, like it had been here for decades. Maybe since the first big Hollywood Hills settlement in the thirties.
Kate was waiting at the front door when he rounded the curved path and climbed the tiled steps to the porch. She was wearing jeans as usual, but tonight she wore some sort of long sleeved top that was made of the same sort of material as tee-shirts, but much finer and delicate and seemed to cling to everything. It had a sheen to it that said it was expensive. It fit better and made much more of her figure and the apricot colour made her blonde hair glow.
She smiled at Garrett. “I thought you’d be here about now. How did the downtown meeting go?”
“I was bored out of my brain,” Garrett confessed honestly. “How was filming today?”
“Rocky. You weren’t there.” She said it with a perfectly straight face, then beckoned him into the house, leaving Garrett standing flat footed on the doorstep, scrambling to pull his brain out of shock.
He stepped inside and shut the door, then hurried after her into a casual living room that made him pause. It was full of comfort and Kate’s personality – trinkets from her research trips to far-flung places around the globe, framed posters of her movies. The furniture, he suspected, came from her movies, too.
Kate was standing at the opposite end, where a sideboard was set up as a mini bar. She was sipping at a long glass of something. He could smell the alcohol from where he stood. It wasn’t a strong drink.
“Would you like something?” she asked.
He shook his head. “They put on a big lunch. If I have a drink on top of that, I’ll be asleep in an hour. It’s been a long day. But thanks.”
“Uh-huh.”
There was a sound of light steps coming down stairs. “Kate, I heard—” Roman walked into the room, turning his head to locate her.
He spotted Garrett and halted next to him. “What’s he doing here?” His features tightened up with anger.
“I invited him,” Kate said. “I’m glad you’re here, though. It saves me from calling you.”
“Why would you invite him here?” Roman demanded. “Jesus, Kate. The set is bad enough. If the press–”
“Adrian, just shut up for a moment,” she told him.
Roman shut his mouth. He glanced at Garrett, his glare full of fury and a promise for future retribution.
Kate put the drink down and moved to where Roman stood, his hands curled up very close to fists. She looked up at him and for one electrifying moment, Garrett thought she was going to kiss him. She was standing very close to him. Her slender hand pushed into Roman’s pocket.
“What–” Roman began.
“Thanks,” she overrode him. Then shedidkiss him. Garrett watched, his breath stilling as she lifted herself up, stretching to press her lips to Roman’s.
Garrett’s body tightened. There was no chance to look away or even consider that what he was doing was voyeuristic. Kate kissed Roman and Garrett was abruptly involved, a participating member of the kiss.
He swallowed, trying to shut down his responses, but his mind was supplying damning sense-memories – the recalled sensation of kissingbothof them. He knew what Garrett was experiencing right now…and Kate. His body swirled with competing tides of need that yanked his mind into a rip tide of confusion. All in the space of the three seconds it took for Kate to sway up against Roman and press her lips against his.
While he was unscrambling his brain—again—Kate turned to him. “Hi,” she said, with a sweet little smile. She placed her hand on his chest, inside his jacket.
He felt, more than saw, Roman’s thunderous expression.
Kate’s other hand came up in an underhand swing, hard and fast, and slammed into his stomach. Then he felt the pain and the cold steel…insidehim.
The shock to his vampire physiology was similar to what it would be to a human’s. There was a delay before the healing could compensate such a massive trauma. Then there was the psychological shock, too.
And Kate was staring at him, deep into his eyes, watching his every reaction. He had seen her concentrating like that before. When her lead actors were in close up shots, she would sit hunched over the monitor screen, scrutinizing every millimetre of film passing through the gates for nuance, meaning, expression.
