Typecast (24 page)

“Ivy?” He combed his fingers through her hair.

“We are a couple.” She hooked her leg over his and yawned.

“But . . .” He let his voice trail off. They could do a whole report on what he told her. Nothing he said matched the media.

“You know, I think the fake story about drunken fights and threats and you asking for more money to support your habit is much more exciting, but I’m glad I’m one of the only ones who knows the truth.” She grabbed his hand.

The truth was a relative term. While he didn’t lie, he didn’t exactly tell the truth. Maybe one day he could tell her, maybe. “We are a couple.”

“I’m thinking that next time we take an overnight trip, we maybe should pack some things.” Logan ran his hand through his hair, gave a halfhearted attempt to smooth out his shirt, and leaned over. “Are you wearing underwear?”

“To be honest, I never put panties on to begin with. I only wore the fishnets.” Ivy glanced down at her wrinkled and ripped ensemble. “I didn’t want panty lines.”

He rubbed his hand over her bottom. “Nice.” With a low chuckle, he sidestepped behind her, took her by the waist, lowered his face to the crook of her neck, and kissed her.

Shivers ran through her. “Logan.”

He moved his hands up and cupped her breasts. “I see we found our bra. Too bad.”

“Logan.” Though she really didn’t want to tell him to stop, at the moment they had no choice.

“Oh my God, I just realized something horrible.” He moved them over to the mirror and put his hands over her boobs.

“What would that be?” Yes, they were having a conversation looking at one another in the mirror.

“I’m hungry and horny, and I’m not sure the male body was meant to be both at the same time.” He moaned. “Also, I can’t be horny, because we used the last of the condoms. Once we get rations, I can be horny again.”

“Let’s go.” Truth be told, while also hungry, she would rather be in bed with him as well, but in the course of the afternoon and evening, they had made a complete mess of each other.

“All right.” He took her hand. “Off to market we go.”

With one shoe dangling on her fingers, she let him lead her the three steps to the door and stopped to reconsider the normally innocuous errand of going to the market with the other half of her couple. In her case, one Logan Alexander, bad boy celebrity at large.

“What’s wrong?” He turned back to her.

While the man could never possibly appear anything other than gorgeous, like her, he appeared as if he had spent the last several hours having sex, because he had. Running through a grocery store in Los Angeles was one thing, but a small town in Big Bear was completely different. “I’ll go into the store. You can wait in the car.”

“That’s a good one. I’m not allowing you to walk through anything in the middle of the night without me. Just to cover our bases, I’m not leaving you in the car and I’m not leaving you here, so it’s both of us or none of us.” He gave her a light tug, and they walked through the cabin. “Plus, Ryder’s here, and I would never leave you alone with him.”

From the couch in the main room, Ryder saluted them using her missing shoe.

They both skidded to a halt, and she made a halfhearted effort to hide the rip in her skirt. If he were here for any length of time, he heard them.

“What are you doing here?” Logan’s voice rumbled through her.

“Well, since it’s my cabin, I think the answer is obvious. The sound effects in here were extremely entertaining.” Ryder let out a laugh, his overall demeanor much more jolly than Logan.

Fine, he had heard. At least they tackled the embarrassment head-on. Still, her cheeks heated as she wondered what all he had heard.

“I figured eventually you’d emerge, so I waited. Your cars are still at the set. I’m starving, and if nothing else, you owe me food.”

“You waited here all this time for a meal?” Logan growled.

“Aww, we barely spend any time together anymore, and I really want to get to know Ivy now that she’s part of the Stardust family.” He stood.

Her heart warmed at being called one of the family.

“I don’t do granola and organic, Mr. Scott.” Logan tapped his foot.

“Well, I can cheat for your patented pancakes.” Ryder approached them. “Miss Ivy, I bet someone would like to know that when we used to go on location, we used to have the grips go get us ingredients, and your man would make everyone pancakes and bacon. I swear I’ve never had better.”

She smiled at the image.

Ryder looked her up and down. “Rather than a reporter, you should’ve been an opera singer. Those were some amazing notes you hit.”

Instead of cowering, she stared him straight in the eye. “What? You’ve never made a woman hit a high note before?” Something told her she needed to give him exactly what he doled out. “You better step up your game.”

Logan put his arm around her shoulders and nodded.

Ryder’s leading man smile lit up the room, and he didn’t need a spotlight. “You’re a cool cat.” He raised his palm to her.

Yes, she high-fived him. Why not? In her surreal life, she should talk about her sex noises with Ryder Scott after having sex with Logan Alexander.

Logan cleared his throat. “In addition to this interesting, yet inappropriate, conversation, you want me and Ivy to traipse around a grocery store with you and then you want me to come back here and make you pancakes?”

“That pretty much sums it up.” Ryder handed Logan her missing shoe.

Logan glanced down at her.

“Pancakes sound amazing.” Though not starving before, a homemade pancake made by her boyfriend definitely whetted her appetite.

“Fine.” He bent down and helped her with her shoes. “At least we don’t have to get you grocery store shoes.”

“Let’s go.” Ryder motioned for them to leave.

She put her foot down and pain shot through her. “Oh.”

“What’s wrong?” Logan held her at arm’s length.

“This morning these shoes seemed like a good idea.” She hobbled a few steps. Somehow the footwear seemed to have shrunk.

“Well, they are lovely.” He supported her as they followed Ryder.

The mountain air chilled her the moment they stepped outside.

“Well, now we could use my trench coat.” Logan rubbed her shoulder.

“No one in this decade should use that trench coat unless they’re planning on getting arrested for showing off their nether regions to unsuspecting folks.” Ryder unlocked the door of a vintage, yet pristine, pickup truck. “Girls in the middle.”

She bit the inside of her mouth to not state the obvious. While Logan still owned the BMW used in the movie, Ryder’s truck was similar to the one used in the scene after the BMW breaks down and the guys jump-start a truck to get Roxy to the hospital after being stung by a wasp, except this one was perfect. She guessed all of them had different ways of holding on to the movie.

“Nice.” Logan held the door, helped her inside, and took his spot next to her. “When did this replace the Ferrari?”

Ryder got in on the driver’s side and started the car. “Not a replacement, an addition. Ferrari is all cozy in the Bu, compliments of my most recent benefactor.”

She peeked over at Logan for a translation.

“The car is in a garage in Malibu thanks to the latest woman who has succumbed to his charms.” He wrinkled his nose.

“Oh, I see.” Sort of. She wasn’t sure. The vintage truck rumbled along, and the comforting aroma of old car filled the air.

“It’s been quite a while since we had a girl between us in a truck.” Ryder gave her a light elbow.

She smiled at the movie reference.

“Well, at least this girl made her choice in men early on and stuck with it. May I also add, that was the perfect decision?” Logan nodded.

Along with smiling, she swooned.

“What are you talking about? Roxy clearly chose William.” Ryder slowed down for a stoplight and strummed his fingers on the steering wheel.

Again, she found herself holding back her words. She had to know what Logan would counter.

“That’s absolutely inaccurate. Though she’s with William at the end, she most definitely opens her eyes and watches Steven’s car drive away, thus showing her indecision.”

She took hold of Logan’s hand. He nailed it, and whenever he wanted, he could nail her too.

Ryder pulled into the parking lot of a twenty-four-hour market. “Well, whatever interpretation you want to use, at least we’re not driving Ivy to the hospital with a bee sting.”

“Wasp.” Both her and Logan blurted out the word at the same time.

She turned to him.

“I’m also a quick study.” His smile boasted a bit of arrogance.

“You are.” She had no choice but to lean in and kiss him.

He wrapped his arms around her and opened his mouth.

“Pancakes!” Ryder got out of the truck and slammed the door.

“I’m never on the receiving end of PDA.” He gave her one last peck, tangled their fingers together, and helped her out of the car.

Late in the night, the store stood empty except for a few employees. Nonetheless, the moment one of the workers spotted Logan and Ryder, the points and whispers started.

“Ryder gets to push the basket.” Logan motioned to Ryder and pulled her toward him.

She twisted around to find two box boys leaning over.

“Pretend they’re the sun and don’t look directly at them. It won’t get too bad here. They know me.” On her other side, Ryder waved. “We’ll just be a few minutes.”

The two men made it down one of the aisles while she limped. As Logan chose his ingredients, she dared to peek around. It seemed as if the onlookers took Ryder’s hint and left them alone.

“Ry, go get some milk and a dozen eggs while Ivy and I get a couple of things we need.” Without waiting for a response from Ryder, Logan continued past him and led her through the store. “They’re after Ryder, not me.”

Rather than watching where he took her, she glanced at him, unsure if she sensed a bit of regret behind his voice. While he was pegged the villain, the public had loved him until the scandal. What was it like to have the world turn on him in an instant?

“Do you have a preference?”

Logan’s question cut through her thoughts, and she turned finding herself face-to-face with a display of condoms. “What?” She could go for that trench coat right about now—or not.

“I just want to make sure there’s nothing you request in this arena.” He swiped his hand in front of them.

“What’s your preference?” In her whole life, she never bothered to talk about condoms once she started using them. Before that, she didn’t really know what she was talking about.

“I don’t know. I’ve always bought these.” He pointed to one of the familiar boxes. “Wilson handed them to me the first day on set and said never be caught without one. The strategy worked, and I never questioned it.”

“Pick whatever you want.” She shrugged. Maybe they shouldn’t be having an entire conversation in a public place about their condom usage, especially with these shoes on her feet. The act of stopping to put a condom on and having to deal with the thing after was a bit of a buzzkill, especially with Logan who tended to want to hold her. “The whole thing is just a necessary evil when you’re dating.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, we’re not dating anymore.” He squeezed her hand. “We are a couple.”

“We didn’t date that long.” Actually, they didn’t really date at all.

“We didn’t need to.”

They looked at each other.

“Since we are only with each other, did you want to use a different method?” He lifted his eyebrows.

“I’m on the pill.” She wrinkled her nose at telling him such a detail, but she supposed he had the right to know.

For the first time in their relationship, Mr. Alexander did not have a quippy comeback or a command. He simply continued to gaze at her.

Her core heated, radiating out through her body.

He leaned down to her ear. “Before you, it was quite a while since I was with anyone, and I’ve always listened to my brother.”

“What would he say if you didn’t listen to him now?” She swore she might have to tackle him right here in the aisle with condoms on one side and feminine protection on the other, but she didn’t want to use a condom.

“I’m pretty sure he would say it’s the natural order of things when you’re in a relationship.” He kissed her ear.

“All right, guy and gal, I am ready for my pancakes!” Ryder rushed down the aisle and stopped, taking his time to look at the more than obvious display. “Here is your brand, buddy. Stock up so you can work on composing more of your operas.”

“We’re good, thank you.” With her hand firmly in his, Logan walked toward the front of the store.

“What does that mean?” Ryder rushed after them.

Logan held his head up high but didn’t answer.

“If you’re embarrassed to buy them, I’ll do the deed for you.” Ryder continued to prod.

“Never be embarrassed to buy condoms. Everyone should be jealous.” Logan chuckled.

“Are you saying you don’t need them because you remembered a secret stash or did you just decide you didn’t need them?” Ryder came up beside her.

“Let’s check out.” Logan pointed ahead.

In an attempt to alleviate the strangling shoes, she tiptoed to the checkout stand and supported herself on the counter.