Winter's Heart (19 page)

“Grab a floater and come on in, Flynn,” Melissa called out, a brilliant smile on her face. “The water is absolutely perfect. It’s like floating on a bed of clouds.”

Cocking her head to the side, Flynn wondered if it was truly like floating on clouds, since they were both made up of water particles. Except pool water was contained in a pool and clouds had no such enclosure and she was certain there would be freefalling back to earth. Grabbing the pad and shaking her head free of the random thoughts, she took the steps this time and walked into the water’s embrace.

Melissa was right; it
was
like floating on clouds, or wading through clouds since she wasn’t floating yet. “It’s wonderful.”

Standing on the steps, she awkwardly maneuvered her body onto a second pad and lay down. If it was up to her, she would have swam a few laps and then lay out beneath the sun to dry off. But she wasn’t going to offend her hostess by being herself.

“Winter likes a little color on his women,” Melissa said randomly, startling Flynn. She was lucky she didn’t fall off the pad and into the water, though she wouldn’t have minded. “But with you, I don’t think he’ll care too much one way or the other.”

What did she say to that? Forcing a smile, she simply nodded her head and murmured something non-committal. Even though she knew that Winter and Melissa weren’t
together
-together, it was still weird talking about him to the woman she had believed to be his fiancée until recently. It was even weirder because she had had sex with the man in that house behind her just a few days ago. When did her life become so messy?

Around the time she became a party planner and met Winter Mitchell.

Melissa heaved a huge, weary sigh and Flynn braced herself for a scolding. Instead, the beautiful actress heaved another sigh and stated, “I hate men.”

Flynn had to blink a few times because that was not at all what she expected to hear. “Pardon?”

“I hate men,” Melissa repeated, assuring Flynn that she wasn’t losing her hearing. “Well, I hate most men. Winter just has this endearing quality that makes you want to be a better person, to be the person he sees, you know?”

Melissa paused, as if waiting for a response but Flynn didn’t know what to say. She agreed with Melissa’s assessment of Winter but she didn’t think that was what the actress wanted to discuss, not entirely. She finally blurted the first question that came to mind, “Do you, um, prefer women?”

“Not really. I mean, I was in a relationship with a woman before Winter but we ended things…
I
ended things when I realized I don’t much care for women, either,” Melissa drawled, as if they were having a conversation about the weather. Turning her head, Melissa stared right at her and Flynn froze. “But you thought I was coming on to you the last time we were in the pool, didn’t you?”

“Maybe?” At the time she may have felt a little uncomfortable but she had put the whole thing out of her mind and hadn’t really thought about it since.

Melissa laughed, a light, tinkling sound, “I was just honing my craft. I was pretty convincing, wasn’t I?”

“Yes?” Why did all of her answers have to sound like questions?

“I have to make my co-stars believe that I am madly in love with them,” she explained, oblivious to the fact that Flynn was far more uncomfortable with this conversation than she had ever been when she might have thought Melissa was hitting on her. “And I am very good at what I do.”

“Yes you are.” That was something Flynn could easily agree with, since she had seen a lot of movies with Melissa Irish in them and the woman definitely knew how to draw the audience in.

Melissa sighed heavily again, “But it doesn’t change the fact that I hate most people. Well, it’s mostly in the abstract because as much as I hate other people, I am terribly fascinated by them at the same time.”

“I see,” Flynn murmured because Melissa paused and did that whole waiting for a response thing again.

“I thought having a child would make it better so I found a stunning woman and the perfect man and created a baby.” Melissa scowled up at the heavens, as if blaming God for whatever the fuck was wrong with her. “It didn’t work, even though it led to a friendship of sorts with my dear boy.”

“Winter.” The name slipped past her lips before she could stop it.

“If I could have, I would have fucked that man silly,” Melissa grinned, plunging a green blade of jealousy into Flynn’s stomach. Unaware of the gaping hole her words caused, Melissa continued, “But I got to watch and that was enough for me. He has a very… interesting technique, don’t you think?”

Flynn sucked in a frozen breath at the thought of Winter with another woman, of Melissa watching. She pictured Melissa in a severe leather outfit standing over Winter as she analyzed his thrusts, instructing him where to put his hand, his mouth, and being glared at as Winter roared, ‘
I know what the fuck I’m doing. Back the fuck off!
’ “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”

“He tried so hard to be the man he thought I wanted him to be. He’s a very good man, you know?” Melissa’s tinkling laughter grated on Flynn’s nerves and she had to fight the urge to vomit. “Did you know he lost his virginity to Gina St. John, his
Midnight Kiss
co-star? That little girl really did a number on him. He was young and didn’t know the game and he thought it was love. She just wanted his nice, big dick, you know?”

Flynn hadn’t known but it explained a lot, even if Melissa was rambling and it wasn't easy to understand the woman's reasons for saying anything that had been said so far. “Why are you telling me any of this?”

“I trust you,” Melissa said casually, shrugging her slender shoulders but not meeting Flynn’s eyes. “And if you’re going to get involved with him, you need to know how he became the amazing man he is today.”

“But don’t you think he should be the one telling me this?” she asked softly.

“Does any of this sound like something he’d tell you?”

“I don't know,” Flynn answered slowly as she considered her words. “But either way, it’s not your place.”

“Probably,” Melissa laughed, continuing on as if Flynn hadn’t protested. “After he learned the power of sex, he became a master of it, indulging with a select few and creating the legend that he is today.”

“How do you know any of this?” Flynn asked in a scandalized whisper, knowing that Winter wouldn’t expose any of this to anyone, and that included her.

“I simply do,” the woman said in a voice laden with dark intelligence. When Flynn looked at her, Melissa was the same, bubbly actress that she always had been, which was scary. “Now, be quiet so I can finish my story.”

Mutely, Flynn nodded.

“Anyway,” Melissa continued as if she hadn’t been interrupted. “He was trying to be the man he thought I wanted, which meant he didn’t sleep with anyone once he moved in with me. But he is such a sexual man so I procured a girl for him.” At Flynn’s shocked gasp, Melissa scowled, “Not a whore, just an actress who wasn’t very good but was eager to please. She never knew who it was that gave her the best orgasms of her life and he simply knew her as Ginger but her real name is Addison Holmes.”

Flynn’s eyes widened in disbelief; Addison Holmes was an up-and-coming starlet famous for playing hard-to-get virgins. The twenty-four year old actress had just been given her own series about a girl learning to navigate the treacherous waters of a prestigious high school.

Melissa sighed in fond remembrance, “He hated himself for fucking her but he did it for me. And as a reward, I gave her her career, not that she had any complaints. She cried like a baby when he ended things last year.”

“Your world is seriously fucked up,” Flynn growled, sick to her stomach about what had been done to Winter.

“And yet you still love him.”

“What’s not to love?” she shot back, twisting off the pad and falling into the water. Coming up sputtering, she continued, “He’s been fed to the wolves and instead of becoming a useless shell of his former self, he’s become… God, he’s become Winter. He’s been forged in the pits of hell and I will love him until the day I die.”

A small, utterly pert smile curled Melissa’s lips. “We'll see.”

“You’re seriously fucked up,” Flynn growled one last time before splashing out of the pool. She had to get out of there before her head exploded. Melissa’s laughter followed her into the guest house, where she angrily tore off the wet suit and got dressed. She would rather be at the office where her workers were open in their hatred of her and didn’t play any weird mind games.

By the time Flynn was dressed, Melissa was leaning against the door to the patio leading back into the main house, her slender body displayed in its most fetching position. “I don’t think we’ll work well together so you’ll be working exclusively with Winter for his son’s birthday party, Flynn.”

“Fine,” she bit out, desperate to get the hell out of there.

“It will also give you the opportunity for some one-on-one time,” Melissa said, hinting at what Flynn and Winter could do together without coming right out and saying it.

“Thank you,” she bit out, her body stiff because if she moved a muscle, she’d scream.

“Relax, Flynn, I have no desire to kill you… although if I did, I would probably get away with it.” Melissa spoke the words in such a calm manner, Flynn just about peed her pants in holy terror. But then Melissa’s face broke into a wide grin and she laughed, “You’re so gullible, Flynn.”

“You’re terrifying,” she managed to say, though her heart was in her throat.

“I’m an actress,” Melissa said, as if that made up for the crazy. She pulled the door open and let Flynn pass. “My whole life is a play.”

“That’s really sad.”

“Perhaps,” Melissa agreed, walking closely behind Flynn and getting droplets of water all over her expensive floor. “I will say one last thing, though. If you hurt Winter, I really will have you killed.”

Flynn gulped, believing the woman. But then, that smile peeked out and Melissa said, “Rather, I’ll have you destroyed. Death is too easy. Now, enjoy the rest of your day and when you talk to Winter give him my regards.”

♥~♥~♥

“She’s seriously fucked up,” Flynn hissed into the phone that night when she was talking to Winter.

“We’re all fucked up,” he offered.

“Not to that extent.” Flynn was pacing back and forth in her bedroom, still agitated from her meeting with Crazy. “She kept telling me things I didn’t want to know and I didn’t know how to make her stop. And I’m not sure if she was warning me or taunting me.”

She heard him swallow and in a rough voice, he asked, “Things about me?”

“Yes!” she cried, furious on his behalf. “She had no right to tell me your secrets, Winter. What the hell was she thinking? That I would love you any less because you’ve had a slightly more colorful life than anyone could have imagined? Well, she’s a fool.”

He was silent for a long moment and when he spoke, his voice was hushed in disbelief, “Do you mean it?”

Oh, crap, what did she say? “Do I mean what?”

“You love me.”

Shit. Did she say that? “Um, yes?”

His warm chuckle washed through her and she wished he was in the room with her so she could hug him. “You don’t sound too sure.”

“I am sure I just wasn’t sure if you wanted to hear it.”

“I’d love to hear it.”

The butterflies were at her throat and she was going to be sick and she didn’t want to do this over the phone but after everything she learned she had to tell him. “I love you, Winter Mitchell, you
doofus.”

His laughter calmed the butterflies until they settled in her belly but he never returned the words, not that she expected him to. Eager to move on to other topics that didn’t have her laying bare her heart, she asked, “So, what did you get up to today?”

“I went to the grocery store with my mom so we could stock up on healthy food,” he said, easily falling into the new topic. “She’s on this huge health kick now since dad had his heart attack.”

“I can’t really blame her.”

“No, I can’t either,” he admitted. He exhaled loudly and then said, “I ran into two of the girls from high school today.”

“I imagine that was pretty awkward.”

“Considering I was with my mom, yeah,” he huffed a laugh. “Simone and Bianca were both eager to pick up where things left off, even though my mom later told me they are both in serious relationships.”

“Gross,” she managed, picturing two perky cheerleaders pawing her Winter, though she knew they wouldn’t be in cheerleading outfits because they were in their late twenties. But they could still be beautiful and tempting and the green-eyed monster reared its ugly head. “Please tell me that they haven’t aged well, that they peaked in high school and they’re withered and desperate now.”

“I wish I could but they’re not that old,” he told her instead. His words were calm but there was something tight in his voice, something that worried her because it sounded as if Winter was upset.

“You sound tense.”

He heaved a sigh, “How do you know me so well?”

“Tell me what’s wrong.”