Only for You (37 page)

“I think it would be best, Gia, and only fair to Madeline. Most of all for Jeannie,” he said, referring to McClarin’s victim. “We all want to put McClarin away, right? But there is good news.”

“What?”

“They agreed to give us until tomorrow morning together. No interruptions. So we have
more
than a few hours of privacy.”

Her heart leapt with excitement, but a thought occurred. “What about my mom?”

“Don’t worry. I spoke to Joshua. Turns out United Studios owns several units in this building for business visitors. There was an empty one on this very floor. Your mom is staying there tonight. She seemed very glad to accommodate us.”

“I can’t believe you planned all this,” Gia said.

“We’ve been at it almost nonstop since I saw that damn story on TV yesterday. My disguise must have been the worst of my planning. I fooled Charles and Madeline, but you recognized me right away.”

She smiled full-out for the first time in nearly a week, going up on her tiptoes to kiss him hungrily. “I recognized you because it’s
you
. The disguise is brilliant, as usual. Now get the hell out of it,” she insisted as she jerked his suit jacket off his shoulders.

*   *   *

Seth laughingly restrained her from ripping the disguise off him, explaining he needed to be careful about the prosthetic removal because he had to don it again to leave in the morning. He’d gone to the living room, where he retrieved a soft leather briefcase. He’d retreated to the bathroom to become Seth again.

Now Gia waited for him in the empty living room, her anxiety mounting by the second. She tried to drink her coffee, but it cooled as she obsessed over everything he’d said since he had arrived. He’d said that he was here because of that malicious story. He’d known she’d be worried . . . frantic. It had become his mission to convince Charles and Madeline to let him see her, and they’d allowed it, because they thought her anxiety over Seth might preoccupy her to the point that her testimony was affected.

But Charles, and Madeline, and that damned trial aside, what did his being here
really
mean for Seth and Gia?

She was startled from her ruminations when she heard the bathroom door open in the distance. She stood shakily from where she sat on the couch, her anticipation razor sharp. He came down the hallway and into the living room.

Christ, he was beautiful
. He might be the expert on transforming other people, but it was a sin, as far as she was concerned, for Seth ever to be the one disguised. He wore jeans and a simple dark red T-shirt that highlighted his lean, muscular torso and the rich color of his skin. His hair was still slightly damp from his shower. He was barefoot, she realized breathlessly. As if he didn’t want to be bothered with putting on socks and shoes when he’d be removing them again so quickly?

“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked quietly as he approached her.

“You look so beautiful.”

One eyebrow went up in a wry expression. He came to a halt with the coffee table between them. His gaze lowered over her. A rush of warmth followed.

“I’m not the one who is beautiful around here.” He twitched his hand. “Come here.”

She walked around the coffee table, holding her breath the whole time. He put his arms around her waist and pulled her against him. She pressed her cheek to his solid chest, exhaling and then inhaling again choppily. The smell of soap and Seth’s clean skin filled her nose. Delicious. She felt his fingers beneath her chin, urging her to look up at him. Emotion flooded her at the vision of his unshielded amber eyes.

“I hated those contacts,” she said through a constricted throat.

His gaze narrowed on her mouth, and she knew what he was about to do. She wanted it too. Almost as much as her next breath.

But . . .

“Seth?” she asked, stopping him as he started to lean down, clearly about to devour her.

“What?” he asked.

“Is that . . . is that the only reason you’re here? Because of the news story? Because you realized I’d be worried and that it might affect my testimony?”

Her shaky questions echoed in her ears. She saw his face go hard.
Shit.
Why hadn’t she waited until later to ask him those volatile questions?

“I was on my way to see you even before the story hit. I needed to talk to you. In person.”

Her skin roughened. “You were coming to see me?” she whispered.

He nodded. He pulled her closer against him ever so slightly. His body stirred, and hers flickered with pleasure in answer.

“What . . . what were you going to say?”

“I hadn’t really decided exactly,” he said. “I was supposed to have the drive across the country to come up with something.”

She placed both her hands palm down on his powerful chest.

“I never got a chance to tell you I’m sorry for leaving the way I did, aside from the fact that I ended up breaching security by calling Jim.” She swallowed thickly to clear her congested throat. “I couldn’t face the idea of telling you good-bye in an airport. It sounded cliché and just . . . too painful.”

He opened his hand along her cheek and jaw. She leaned into him instinctively.

“After you left, it gave me time to think,” he said gruffly. “Then my niece, Joy, and Everett Hughes showed up.” He saw her surprised glance. “Katie told them I was in dire straits, apparently. Long story. Point is, once Joy got there, she made me realize something. You were right. It’s not enough just to fall in love with someone in order for you to reevaluate your beliefs.”

Tears flooded her eyes.

“No, Gia, you don’t understand,” he said, touching his forehead to hers. “Sometimes, in extremely rare cases, you compromise and you take risks and you make it work all
because
of one person.”

“What?” she asked tremulously.

“You’re the exception to my rule,” he said quietly. “Once you were gone from that house in the woods, I realized I was willing to bend any number of rules to be with you. Every single one, if need be.”

She stared up at him, amazed. It was surreal. She couldn’t believe this was happening.

“I’ll bend, when necessary. I want to accommodate you into my life. I want to fit into your world. I want to do that for
you
. I’m willing to try, if you are.”

“Oh God, I am,” she said fervently. “When we were in Illinois, I made it sound like I wouldn’t budge about anything in my career or my ambitions, but I get now that it’s not a black-or-white situation. I can bend too. I can make exceptions and everyday choices that take into account what’s important to me. If I sacrifice some things in my career, it’ll be because I want to, not because I feel like I have to because you want it. I want to be who I am . . . not just be some opposite caricature of my mother.”

“I don’t have all the answers right this second,” Seth said. “But I love you. And I’m willing to work things out one day at a time. One hour at a time, if need be. One minute.”

A smile flickered across his hard, handsome mouth. His hands moved to her bent arms. His smile faded. “Jesus. You’re shaking,” he said, eyebrows slanting. “Are you okay?”

She nodded, laughing. “I’ve never been better. Trust me. I’m shaking in relief. And happiness. I didn’t want to
lose
you,” she said desperately.

“You’re
not
going to lose me.” She squeaked in surprise when he put his hands on her waist and pulled her higher against him, her feet leaving the floor. He lifted her until their faces aligned, and then he pressed her to him even tighter. “You’re not going to be able to get rid of me,” he growled before his mouth covered hers.

His kiss was everything she remembered. More. It was fierce, possessive, demanding. Sweet.

So sweet.

She was drowning in the feeling of his penetrating heat. It took her a moment to realize he’d set her feet down on the floor again and was undressing her. His actions were forceful and hasty. He unbuttoned the sheer blouse she wore and peeled it off her shoulders without breaking their kiss. Gia lifted his T-shirt, running her hands over his taut, rigid belly, absorbing the heat from his skin. She ran a nail over one of his ribs and he groaned deep in her mouth, breaking their kiss roughly.

“This is going to have to be a fast and furious one,” he said through a clenched jaw as he whipped her tank top over her head. “I’ll make it up to you later.”

“Fast and furious sounds perfect,” she said breathlessly, helping him push his shirt over his head. It sounded
necessary
, she added to herself before she planted her face against his hard, warm chest, her mouth avid for his texture and taste.

A frantic moment later, he sat on the couch naked, his cock rigid between his thighs. He pulled her down onto his lap, holding it up for her.

“I don’t want to be in you any way but raw right now,” he said tensely as he guided her onto his cock.

“Yes,” Gia agreed, wholeheartedly. She didn’t want anything separating them right now either, not even that small barrier.

They stared at each other as she slowly sank onto him. A convulsion went through his rigid face. He held her bottom in both his hands and pushed. She moaned shakily as she sat in his lap, his cock pulsing high inside her.

“This is the way you first made love to me,” she said in a tight voice near his ear, her arms surrounding his head so that she felt his ragged breath against her neck. Her fingers delved into his thick, silky hair. “I remember thinking you overwhelmed me. I loved it.”

“I want to make this work, Gia.”

She leaned back and looked into his rigid, determined features. “We will make it work,” she assured. “For each other. Only for each other.”

He tightened his hold on her ass and began to move her over him. Her head fell back and she gasped, overwhelmed by Seth all over again.

SIX MONTHS LATER

Joy and Seth were the only ones left with Gia in Daphne DeGarro’s gaudy, mirror-filled dressing room. Both Seth and his niece were staring at her fixedly.

“Well?” Gia asked anxiously. “How is it?”

“Eerie,” Joy whispered in awe. “I feel like I’m staring at Eleanor Roosevelt when she was twenty years old.” She glanced at Seth, who still was peering at Gia with his typical razorlike focus when he was in work mode. “Seth, you’re a genius.”

“Oh, I can’t stand it anymore,” Gia said, springing up from the chair. “I need a mirror!”

“You have your pick,” Seth said dryly, setting down the makeup brush he held in his hand.

Gia flew over to a nearby gilded mirror. Shivers prickled up and down her limbs at the vision she saw in it. After a few seconds of staring in incredulous excitement, she spun around and smiled at Seth, the sensation strange with the custom-fitted mouth insert she wore.

“She’s right. My husband-to-be is a bona fide genius. I can’t wait for everyone at the benefit ball to know it tonight. Not that they don’t know already,” Gia added wryly.

It had been three years since Seth and she first laid eyes on each other in this very room. They’d come back for the Cancer Benefit Ball tonight, Seth’s staff working feverishly to do makeups and costumes for over two hundred and fifty benefactors of the cause. Gia had just recently finished filming on
Interlude
. Once the McClarin affair had come to a satisfactory conclusion after a hectic, frenzied trial and McClarin’s conviction, they’d gone full steam ahead on filming.

The media flashfire regarding her involvement with Seth, Seth’s supposed harassment of Tomoriv and the vague connection between Tomoriv and McClarin, had been just that: a high, sensationalistic inferno that quickly died out when there were no solid facts to fuel it. Seth had calmly but forcefully made a public statement, stating the facts about his brief, one-time meeting with Tomoriv. Tomoriv quickly went into hiding when questioned about his lack of proof of Seth’s harassment or any solid connection between Tomoriv’s organization and McClarin’s. No tangible ties of causality could be made
period
between Seth, Dharma Jana, Tomoriv and McClarin. The lies evaporated beneath Madeline’s fierce, relentless challenge for proof from any naysayers and her ruthless determination for justice in the courtroom.

Knowing for certain that Seth was solidly behind her had steadied Gia. She’d taken the stand and told her story with a calm confidence that McClarin’s defense attorneys couldn’t dent, no matter how hard they tried.

She and Seth had gone
more
than full steam ahead in their relationship once the legal proceedings had concluded. It’d been so hard, to have only a few furtive meetings during the agonizing monthlong trial.

It had been nirvana, after the conviction of Sterling McClarin, both of them defying the tabloids and appearing in public whenever they chose . . . making a point of assuring each other that their reality was the
only
one they’d abide by. It had been a challenging few months of dating, but rewarding too. They’d made mistakes and faltered a few times. Both of them had to make their share of compromises. Neither of them had ever given up, and the lessons they’d learned had only firmed their resolve to make the relationship work.

Last month, Seth had asked her to marry him during one of their many compromises—this one about a vacation destination. He’d proposed to her beneath a midnight dome of stars during a luxury glamping trip near the Sierra Aguilada Mountains in New Mexico. She’d agreed ecstatically. It had been the happiest night of her life. Gia had been walking on air ever since Seth had shown up in the disguise during the trial.

These days, she was soaring in the stratosphere.

The producer who wanted to make the Eleanor movie had decided to proceed. In a move that both shocked and pleased Gia to no end, he’d asked Rill Pierce to be the director, and Rill had agreed. Gia had insisted upon having Seth do her makeup exclusively for the film. Tonight they were trying out the new makeup for the first time at the Cancer Benefit Ball.

Joy hid a smile and replaced several hairbrushes and a container of hairpins into a bag. “Things certainly do change. I can’t believe my big, bad uncle is volunteering to wear a tux and escort you to a glitzy Hollywood ball,” Joy said. She caught Gia’s eye and the two women shared a grin. Gia had found Joy Hightower to be a delight and very easy to get along with. They both loved Seth, and that commonality had been enough to quickly cement a relationship between them.

“He’s escorted me a lot of times to big events,” Gia said lightly. “He’s really starting to love them, I think.” Joy and Gia both laughed at Seth’s “you’ve got to be kidding me” look. “Okay, so he’s extremely forbearing and patient and can’t wait until it’s all over, but at least he’s getting used to it. And I try my best to keep it at a minimum, right?”

Seth grunted an assent.

Joy wished them a nice time at the ball and said her good-byes. After she’d left and closed the door behind her, Seth gestured for Gia to come over to him.

He dabbed a little extra lip color on her mouth and opened his large hand loosely over her lower face, his fingers on her jaw. She looked up into his golden brown eyes, knowing what was coming next. He rubbed the smooth stone over her lips. Her body tingled with awareness.

“I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned this, but I really wish you wouldn’t do that to other women.”

“Do what?” he asked, blinking in surprise.

“Use that stone. On other women. When you’re doing makeups.”

He opened his hand and stared blankly at the onyx stone. He looked at her face, and she knew he was thinking of all the times he’d made her shake in pleasure with that stone.

“I’d never use it for
that
, with other women,” he said dryly. He grew thoughtful and set down the jar of lip color he’d been holding. “Come to think of it, I don’t use it much to blend makeup anymore, either.” He nodded once. “Okay, I won’t use it at all.”

“Thank you,” she said, beaming. “Another compromise made. I won’t forget it.”

He walked closer to her, looking somber and handsome as the devil in his tux. Gia had requested that if he did escort her to the ball, he wouldn’t wear a makeup. There had been something elementally wrong about Seth being hidden behind a façade that one time. He was the master of disguise, not the wearer. Besides, she liked the idea of him being her cornerstone of reality in this crazy business.

He grabbed her hand and lifted it. His mouth felt warm and firm against the back of her hand. She wondered if the shivers she got from his touch would ever fade.

“It’s well worth it, to see you so happy,” he said quietly. “Don’t forget that we have a private appointment in here after this damn ball. I’m going to peel off this makeup and have you all the ways I did on that first night here, and a few more ways besides.” He gave her a sharp, pointed glance that sent a spike of excitement through her. He brushed his fingers over a curl in the wig she wore, and false hair or not, her skull prickled with pleasure.

“I’m glad Joy was here to say the makeup was good because I’m beginning to think I’ll never be able to make you up with any objectivity,” he said thoughtfully. “I always just see you, whether you’re a boy or the first lady.”

“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

He examined her closely. “No,” he said finally with an air of finality. There was something else in his expression. He was pleased. “It’s better than good. I was
so wrong to ever doubt you. I used to feel so alone in this make-believe world. I loved it, but I was an outsider. I protected myself against it, like I thought it’d make me unreal somehow if I gave in to it. Now I’m not alone.” He pulled her closer against him, his strength and heat resonating into her.

“You’re my rock,” she told him feelingly. “I want you to know that.”

His slow smile made something flicker at her core.

“We may exist in a world of smoke and shadows,” he told her, leaning down to touch her lips ever so fleetingly with his own. “But there’s
nothing
realer in my world than you, Gia.”