Page 121 of Heavy Shot

He laughed and kissed the back of her head.

“You can keep apologizing, too.”

“Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea culpa.”

They lay quietly then she said, “Jill said her attitude was that she couldn’t control what was printed, so whatever came out, she just lived her life around it. She said the media makes its own character of her, and at some point, you can’t control the narrative. All you can do is make an audience laugh or cry with you, and when you do that, you’ve won. She said people believe what they want, whether it’s the kids in school passing rumors, or the gossip columns. She said if you know the person, the print shouldn’t matter.”

“I suppose.”

“Thad told me about your ex.”

“I guess I didn’t know that person well enough to read between the lines of the print.”

“It happens.” She turned in his arms to face him.

“I think I’ve gotten to know you pretty well.”

“I hope so.” Rhiannon grinned. “You should see if Thad is willing to do a PR showmance to overshadow all the issues we’ve been having. Get the crew’s mind off the ‘curse’ and onto something else.”

He laughed. “And see if I can sell some nudes of him? Can you sneak into his room with a camera?”

“Why me? I don’t want to see that!”

“Me either. I guess I’ll have to think of something else.”

Rhiannon woke to the sound of Rick's voice, soft and deep from the next room. She rolled over and snuggled into her pillow, taking a deep breath of the scent of him and sighing contentedly. She stretched, her body feeling comfortably achy after the evening's ministrations. He had proven an amazing lover, both passionate and thorough,alternately insistent and tender.

She couldn't remember when she'd experienced such deliberate attention or felt such a strong emotional response to the simple proximity of his body to hers. It had all been unexpectedly delightful and she was glad that they waited until the attraction was something more than physical before sharing that closeness. She finally felt as though she was getting it right.

She smiled and sat up, stretching again before slipping from the bed to wrap a robe around her and pad into the living room where Rick stood near the windows, pacing a slow space between them with the phone pressed to his ear. "Yes, Kyle. Just check your email. It might take a while to load. I really need you to make sure this is managed. We're already too far behind," he said,looking up and smiling at Rhiannon when she appeared. He held a hand up to indicate that he'd only be five more minutes. He mouthed, “I need to tell you something.”

She nodded, knowing full well that five minutes never meant only that,especially when he was talking to his assistants, and she had other plans than talking. There were always fires to put out, and from the things he was saying,she gathered that Kyle was in a panic. She watched him for a few moments more, admiring the muscles of his back as he moved. He was wearing only his trousers from the night before and she felt her stomach do a tiny flip as she remembered what he looked like without them.

With a sly smile,she crossed the room to stand in front of him and when he gave her an apologetic look, she raised an eyebrow and sank to her knees, leaning forward to graze the muscles of his stomach with her lips as she moved steadily lower.

"I-uh-know, Kyle," he said, his breath catching slightly as her fingers slipped beneath the waistband of his pants and began to tug them down. She was planting small kisses and licks along his abdomen when he covered the phone and whispered, "Rhi, baby, what are you doing?"

"Nothing," she said, looking up at him from beneath her lashes with a bitten-lip smile.

"Heh," he managed as watched her move lower, then he uncovered the phone, "Kyle? Kyle. Listen to me. Things are--" He gasped a breath, one hand immediately reaching down to tangle in her hair when he felt the moist heat of her mouth surrounding him. "Great. Things are fine. I-I have to go. I'll check in later. Bye." He pressed the button on the phone as a moan escaped him, then threw it at the couch, for the moment completely unconcerned if it hit the floor and shattered into a million pieces.

Jill Parker

Jill stood on her patio, drinking coffee, looking out over the palm trees and rooftops that made up her view. They had a day off, and now that the sex scenes were behind them and they were into the meat of the dialog and action, she was a very different kind of tired. That tired was exacerbated by the turmoil she felt personally. Like some kind of masochist, she’d kept replaying the voice mail Thad had left for her while she’d been snorkeling in the Maldives. She hadn’t heard it until the middle of the next week, given the cell phone service, but in a way, she was glad for that. If she’d gotten it before, she wouldn’t have been able to enjoy a moment of the trip. She’d had trouble relaxing at it was, worried about not hearing from him.

After Thad’s last voice message, she was a different kind of disheartened. “Hey, it's me," he said, sounding sloshed. "Listen. I think while I'm away, we should just cool it. Less than no strings.Just over. You’re a great girl. I’m really glad we connected. You've got to go do your thing with Kline, so I'll just be here doing my thing with... whoever. But that's that.So that's that. Yeah. Um... Good luck. Right.That's that. Bye." Then, before he hung up, she could hear him calling out to someone, “Oh, hey, Beauty. Want to dance with a movie star?”

She’d just been able to pick up her messages once they were in the airport, waiting in the VIP lounge to go home, and it was all she could do not to cry when Roland, white-faced, had pulled her aside with Kline and presented a People magazine. “I didn’t do this,” he said. “This wasn’t my plant. I’ll get this sorted out as soon as we land, and I swear to God I’m never leaving the country for a wireless vacation again.”

She, Kline, Roland and his new wife Shanna, Jack, Kim and Delia had come back to the States to a media frenzy that was just dying down as city offices and official documents were coming to light to lend a new narrative to the photos that were splashed across every tabloid.

Jill had thumbed through the pages of several magazines on their flight home and felt her heart sinking further with every caption that mistook her for a bride, wearing a light blue slip dress and carrying a bouquet that she’d caught when Shanna threw it backwards with glee. Even photos of Kline and her signing Roland and Shanna’s wedding license as witnesses had been reported as the two of them making their own relationship legal.

The two of them had gone on a morning show to laugh about the debacle and also celebrate Kline’s record-breaking box office, with Lone Star still playing hot in multiplexes across the country.

“I’m not saying it will never happen,” Kline had beamed for the camera, taking Jill’s hand and raising it to his lips. “But is this the kind of girl you take to Vegas for a quickie wedding?”

“Roland’s going to murder you for that line,” Jill teased when they were leaving.

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