HH01 - A Humble Heart (29 page)

crying by the time she tucked him into bed that he was asleep before his head hit the pillow. Edward had to promise him damn

near a hundred times at least that he wasn’t leaving him.

Dana walked past him to their room. He followed her. “Edward, I would appreciate it if you saved the lecture for later. I

know I should have told you I was going. I’m sorry it was stupid of me to think a simple walk to get our son was okay. I just

want to soak in a hot tub and have a good cry before we have this talk.”

He nodded and backed off, allowing her to do what she needed. He was pissed, but he wasn’t a jerk. He could tell she

was pretty shaken up from the experience and he wasn’t going to push it. He watched her grab a silk teddy and a pair of lacey

panties and head out of the room. “I thought you were taking a bath?” he asked.

“I am,” she said. He followed her curiously as she went into her office and grabbed a copy of the script for their new

movie. Then she went to the far wall of the room and pushed a piece of wall paneling aside, revealing a small electronic key

pad.

Dana pressed the code in and waited for the hidden door to slide open. She always felt 007 when she did this. This room

was the main reason she purchased the house. Not that she would tell anyone. She had no idea it was here until the homeowner

took her aside and asked her if she liked baths.

At first she thought the man was coming on to her, but he was very serious. Turns out the man absolutely adored baths. He

was an investment banker and had a great deal of stress so he liked to sit in a hot bath an hour each day. With a wife and four

daughters he never got the chance to have a relaxing bath so he had this huge bathroom built. He decided to guard it like a

treasured secret. He wanted one room that was totally for him and a huge bathtub he didn’t have to worry about hair clogging it.

If anyone asked Dana, she would tell them she bought the house because it had more rooms than she or her children could

ever use, that part was true and as well as the brand new roof, the pool was well cared for as was the lawn, the windows were

double insulated to keep in cool air, all the appliances were brand new and energy savers, and the neighborhood was one of

the safest in California. But the truth was she bought the house because of this room.

As an avid bather she fell in love with the room instantly. She actually hugged the guy when he showed it to her. To the

left of the room was the largest Jacuzzi tub she had ever seen. She liked to call it her "little pool". There was a toilet and sink

to the far right, black to match the Jacuzzi. A huge flat screen was on wall above the tub’s faucet. It had a killer sound system,

which she used often to relax and listen to music. A double mini fridge was custom made and adjacent to the tub, which she

filled with juices, waters and most importantly pints of Ben and Jerry ice cream. She had framed posters of all her favorite

movies hung on the walls. It was the ultimate relaxation room, well, in her opinion it was.

Edward stepped into the room. His mouth was open and his eyes were bugging out. The room was beyond cool, for a

bathroom that is, ah hell, for any room. He checked out the room and bent down to check out the mini fridge. Everything was

impressive. His eyes were drawn to the posters that lined the wall.

“The posters?” he asked while he checked out each one.

“They’re from some of my favorite movies,” she said.

There was one from her movie of him and Jennifer. He wasn’t surprised about that, she was proud of the book and had

every right to be. The movie was still number one at the box office. What did surprise him was a poster of him from an earlier

movie. It was the movie that gave him his real start, made him famous.

She followed his gaze and shrugged indifferently. “It was a good movie.”

Dana turned her back on him, allowing him to take in the room as she filled up the tub. She picked up the stereo’s remote

and pressed play. Alternative rock came on. She pulled off her clothes and turned around expecting to see Edward leaving.

Instead he was already naked.

Her eyebrows came together.

“What? You’re not the only one that could use a good bath,” he teased. “Why didn’t you tell me about this room before?”

“It’s my secret room, duh,” she said with an exaggerated eye roll that earned a chuckle.

Dana grabbed a juice and stepped into the tub. Edward stepped in cautiously. He sat down and leaned back. The tub edges

had the perfect incline. Yeah, the guy who built this room was a genius. They sat at opposite ends relaxing. She sipped her

juice and read the script.

She giggled at something funny.

“What?”

“Nothing, I really like this script. I think it will be fun.”

“It has some pretty steamy sex scenes,” he said casually.

“Where?"

“Page fifty-seven,” he said, watching her.

She quickly flipped through the script and read. He watched her cheeks flush. “According to Amy that’s the first scene

we’re doing. They want to do all the love scenes before you start showing. There are a few scenes where you’re stomach will

show those will be done soon too.”

“Oh. Interesting,” she said nervously.

He moved through the water to her. “Hey, it will be okay. You’ve done it before and it came out great.”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t turned on doing it. I didn’t embarrass myself.”

He smiled hugely. “You’re afraid you’ll be so turned on with me that you’ll scream my name at the top of your lungs?”

“You think you’re being cute, but yes,” she said, feeling mortified.

“It will be okay. I’ll make sure we have fun. I won’t let you take it too seriously,” he said, settling next to her so he could

put an arm around her.

They sat in silence for a minute. A question was playing at the front of his mind and for the life of him he couldn’t let go.

“I do have a question. Don’t get mad, but I’m just curious. When you were doing the scenes with Lucas…umm, you didn’t get-”

“Wet? No!”

“Good,” he said, sounding satisfied.

“However, Lucas had a problem not getting excited. I teased him relentlessly for two weeks about it.” She laughed at the

memory. No one on set but Lucas and she knew he was too excited. She helped him hide it. He was beyond embarrassed about

it. She wasn’t a guy, but she could understand how he felt. He looked really upset when it happened.

Poor guy had to tell the director he had a cramp and couldn’t move off her. They shared a look. He silently pleaded with

her not to say anything and she hadn't. She laid there picking on him instead. He stayed half on top of her for five minutes until

Mr. Happy went to sleep.

“Lucas got hard with you?” Edward asked, sounding completely amused.

“Yes, just keep your mouth shut. He was embarrassed about it.”

“Amateur,” Edward said mockingly.

She looked at him sideways. “You’re going to tell me that with all the beautiful women you kissed on screen and had sex

scenes with you never once got too excited?”

He shook his head. “Nope, not once.”

“Hmmm.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I take that as a personal challenge.”

“Do whatever you want, sweetheart. I have more self-control than that. There is nothing you could do on a set filled with

twenty people that will cause me to get a hard on.”

“Oh, how are you going to stop it from happening?” She was curious now.

He bit his lip. “I’ll take care of it before I go on set. It’s an old trade secret.” He laughed. “Someone should have told

Lucas about it.”

“He did. He told me when he apologized to me. He said he took care of it before so it wouldn’t happen.”

Edward’s face dropped. “He jerked off before the scene and he still got hard?”

It was her turn to shrug now.

“Damn, I still won’t lose control.”

“Do you want to make a little bet?” she asked.

“Bet whatever you want, sweetheart, just be prepared to lose,” he said cockily.

“Oh, and what great secret do you have up your sleeve to guarantee this?” she asked.

“Amy," he said simply. "There is no way I’m getting hard with her on set. If I feel I’m getting too excited I’ll look at her.”

“What if she’s not there?”

“Oh, she will be. I already asked her to come. I’m not a stupid man. I don’t need some lackey seeing how big I am and

leaking my size to the paparazzi.”

She hadn’t thought about that. That could explain part of the reason Lucas was upset. He didn’t care that everyone saw him

when he was limp. There was no way to tell a man’s actual size that way. She also didn’t want the world to know that about

Edward. “I won’t do anything, I’ll behave this week. I promise.”

He looked at her doubtingly.

“I swear!”

“Okay. I believe you. When are you going to give me the code for this room?”

“It’s a four digit code. It’s the day Elizabeth and Cole were born on.”

“So, its 1726,” he said nodding.

She looked at him shocked. Even Jeff didn’t know their birthdays. “Yes.”

“Smart,” he said, laying his head back.

Dana was about to say something when she saw what time it was. “Damn,” she sighed.

“What?” he asked, sitting up.

“It’s after twelve.”

“Do you need to get to bed?” he asked.

She shook her head, getting to her knees and leaned over him to reach the phone on the wall. She stayed leaning over him,

resting her elbows on the side of the tub and hit speed dial number seven.

“Cosmo Pizza, is this pick up or delivery?” a man asked.

“Delivery.”

“Dana?” the man asked.

“Hey, Tom, how are you?”

“Good, what can I get for you? The usual?”

“Hmm, a salad sounds good, but I don’t need the usual since the kids are in bed. I’ll take a large garden salad”

“With extra carrot peelings and French dressing,” Tom guessed.

“You’re the best, Tom. Can I get a large extra cheese pizza?”

Tom chuckled. “I see the cravings are starting already. I’m guessing that I’ll be hearing from you a lot more over the next

what is it, six months?”

“Yes, Diane told you?” she asked, thinking her friend told her brother.

“No, I read about it. Congratulations. Do you want any dessert? Perhaps a piece of cake or a large fudge brownie?” he

asked teasingly, knowing she never made a habit of pigging out.

“You’re the devil, Tom Rice,” she said, laughing. “I’ll take a brownie.”

“I’ll send my son out with this so it gets to you nice and hot.”

“Tom, do you know how much I love you?” she asked.

He laughed. “Yes, what would you like, my little brownnoser?”

She laughed softly “If you could add some cold pineapple in a little container you would be my hero.”

He laughed harder. “You’re craving pineapple? I will definitely do it then.”

“You’re the best, Tom.”

“I know,” he said, still chuckling. “Expect it in twenty.”

“Bye Tom, give my love to Sue and the kids.”

“Will do.” He hung up laughing.

Edward watched Dana with great interest, mostly because she was leaning over him. The conversation had been an

interesting one. It always surprised him how many people she knew and was close to. He hadn’t been able to do that under the

same circumstances. Dana didn’t let her situation stop her. She was kind to everyone and made friends easily and they all

treated her like a dear friend not some celebrity.

It made him smile when he thought about all the execs he knew that liked to brag about their connections. How wrong they

were. Dana had the real connections. She had friends everywhere it seemed. People fell over themselves to help her out not

because of her status, but because she treated them like friends, hell, like family. She wasn’t a phony, not in the least. She

genuinely cared about people.

“Is this your way of telling me I have to get out and dressed to get your pizza?” he asked, leaning forward to press a kiss

to her back.

She sat back on her legs. “Please.”

He watched her for a moment. “You didn’t eat today, did you?”

“I didn’t get a chance.”

“Ah, that’s my fault I should have brought you out before the movie attempt. I’m sorry, sweetheart, I wasn’t thinking.”

“It’s not your fault, Edward. I’m a grown woman. I should have made it a point to eat.”

He moved to get out, but stopped and groaned when the muscles in his back tensed. His shoulders were sore from being

grabbed and pulled on by all those insane girls. He reached back and tried to massage the pain away.

“Here,” Dana said, pulling him gently back until he was sitting between her legs with his back to her. “We have a few

minutes, why don’t you let me give you a back rub?”

“Okay,” he said, trying to sound casual. A smile tugged at his lips. No woman had ever rubbed his back. They wanted
him

to do things for them, take them out, buy them things, help them when they needed it, and sleep with them when they wanted

something. Dana was something else. Not only did she do things for him, but she did them without wanting something in return.

He closed his eyes and hunched over while she worked the tension out of his neck, shoulders and back muscles. She

worked every muscle in his back until he was completely relaxed.

A buzzing sound made them both jump. “Ooops, I guess the pizza’s here.”Edward pulled himself out of the tub and

grabbed his pants pulling them up his wet legs. “Meet me at the table,” he said as he made his way out of the bathroom.