With Brave Wings (25 page)

"Tennyson changed the script. You didn’t know?" Brooklyn waved it off. "Moving on—we have to celebrate! How your man can even hold a grudge is beyond me. He must be ecstatic."

"He doesn’t know yet, so keep your trap shut." Sophie made eye contact with both ladies. "I was going to tell him everything today, but then this shit happened."

"So tell him anyway." Brooklyn raised a brow. "He won't be able to stay mad."

"That’s why I'm not doing it. I don't want him to forgive me because I happen to be pregnant. No way."

"Well, if you're gonna be all mature about it…" Brooklyn huffed and got started with testing all the products to make sure they fit Sophie's skin tone. "You know, now I'm curious. Why exactly
is
he mad? Is it because you didn’t tell him or because you were with Josh in the first place? 'Cause…he doesn’t really have a right to be angry about the latter. You were single."

Sophie looked down at her lap and twisted her fingers together. "I'm not really sure why he's mad—maybe a little bit of both? I don’t know." She exhaled heavily. "I don’t think I can go on technicalities here, though." She met Brooklyn's gaze in the mirror. "If Tennyson had met someone before we got together, I would've been jealous. And hearing about it from someone else? I don’t blame him for being upset."

"I get it." Brooklyn nodded. "But you have no feelings for Josh now, right?"

"I never had
feelings
for him," Sophie chuckled bitterly. "He was nice and attractive, and I had no idea Tennyson wanted me anymore. I figured it couldn’t hurt to open my eyes to others. Only, it didn’t work for shit. Kissing was fine, I guess, but you should've seen how I froze up when Josh mentioned sex. It made my skin crawl, and I sort of panicked."

Brooklyn opened her mouth to speak, but there was a knock on the door.

It was already partially open, but it opened farther, and Tennyson was standing there.

All the color drained from Sophie's face, and she wondered how much he'd heard. Judging by the tightness in his features, he'd definitely heard
something
.

"I forgot to give you the key card to our suite," he muttered. He set it down on a counter and then backed away. "Angela texted me. Kayden's sleeping in her room, but I'll pick him up once I'm done today."

"Okay. I have dinner with Judah…"

"I know." He nodded with a dip of his chin before he left.

Brooklyn let out a whistle and raised her eyebrows.

Sophie swallowed hard. "Yeah. It's bad, I guess."

"You'll work it out, hon." Brooklyn seemed confident. "You two are meant to be together."

Wanting to change the subject, Sophie waved that off and asked about Brooklyn and Asher instead. It had to be progressing well if Maliah was staying with Asher while Brooklyn was overseas, right?

"I love that bastard," Brooklyn confessed with a soft laugh. "Took me a month, then I was done for." Sophie aww'd at that. "He can be kinda awkward with Maliah, but as soon as boys are involved?
Girl
, Daddy comes out to play."

Sophie could definitely see that, and it made her wonder if Tennyson would be any different if they had a girl.

It made her yearn, and she hoped they could recover from this—soon.

Chapter 22

"Daddy…?"

Tennyson woke up the next morning to little fingers scratching his beard.

"I'm up, I'm up." He stretched out and rolled onto his back, placing an arm behind his head. Kayden took that as an invitation to straddle his chest. "Mornin', bug." Rubbing his eyes, he tried to shake the sleep that clouded his brain.

After work yesterday, he'd picked Kayden up from his nanny, and they'd watched
Despicable Me
together before Tennyson had given him a bath and gotten him ready for bed. And considering the shit going on with Sophie, he had crashed in the second bedroom with their son.

He assumed Sophie was sleeping on the other side of the wall. He hadn't been awake to hear her get back from dinner, and he wouldn’t be surprised if she never wanted to share a bed with him again.

"I'm hungwy." Kayden poked Tennyson's stomach. "Wheu Mommy?"

"I don’t know. Let's find out." He sat up and threw a squealing kiddo over his shoulder. Then he headed straight for the bathroom to take a leak and change Kayden's diaper.

Afterward, they headed to the living room area and noticed Sophie right away. She was on the phone, and Kayden barreled into her to hug her legs. Meanwhile, Tennyson struggled to stay away.

Her newly darkened hair hung in loose waves, still damp after her shower, and her robe wasn’t the big, fluffy kind they had in hotels. It was too short, showing off her lean, perfectly toned legs. She was barefoot, her gorgeous face free of makeup, and she wore a sweet smile for Kayden.

Tennyson shook his head grimly and sat down on the couch. His head was completely fucked. He was miserable, angry, confused, and torn.

"That's fine," Sophie said on the phone, combing her fingers through Kayden's hair. "No, I'm meeting the rest of the cast today, and I thought I'd take them all to lunch. I'm sorta the newcomer, you know? Just showing up in the middle of filming." She laughed softly. "Exactly."

She was so fucking
sweet
. Everyone loved her, and she wasn’t putting on a show, either. She genuinely cared. She absolutely hated hurting people, and it made all this a hundred times more difficult.

Tennyson had overheard her with Brooklyn yesterday. He'd approached the trailer while Brooklyn was stating that he had no right to be mad at Sophie for meeting someone new while she'd been single.

He'd listened in long enough to find out that Sophie hadn't actually slept with Josh—nor dated him. She'd panicked after kissing, but even so…
Fuck
. He wished he'd known sooner.

By finding out about Josh and Sophie now—when she and Tennyson were together—felt like an intrusion. Like Josh had broken in to what was only Tennyson's and Sophie's. Something that was fucking sacred.

But what could he do? He knew her. He'd seen the sheer grief and dejection in her yesterday. He'd heard enough while the girls had been talking in the makeup trailer. She was the best part of Tennyson. She didn’t have a malicious bone in her.

There was nothing to forgive. He only needed time to get over this goddamn jealousy. It churned like acid in his gut, and if he didn’t want to pass a fist through a wall—or Josh's face—he wanted to throw Sophie down and fuck her until the only name she knew was his.

"Okay, that’s great. I'll talk to you soon." She ended the call and picked up Kayden, nuzzling his cheek. "Good morning, baby. Did you have a sleepover with Daddy?"

Kayden giggled and offered a curious smile as he touched her hair. "Funny Mommy."

"Do I look funny?" She pretended to be scandalized. "Sounds to me like you wanna meet the tickle monster."

"No!" He covered his tummy with his hands and widened his eyes.

Tennyson couldn’t help but grin.

"Oh, I think so." Sophie walked closer to the couch. "The tickle monster's gonna get'cha!" She dropped Kayden on Tennyson's lap, and he pulled up Kayden's pajama shirt and tickled him until his laughter became breathless.

"Nooo!" Kayden wheezed through giggles.

Tennyson chuckled and stopped the assault.

"I'm gonna go get dressed," Sophie said with a hesitant smile. "I ordered breakfast for you guys, so I'll get out of your hair."

"Sophie…" The humor dropped like a brick. Possibly over Tennyson's head. 'Cause, damn, that packed a punch. "This is your suite, too."

This was his fault. If his jealousy hadn't caused him to be such a prick, she wouldn't be walking on eggshells right now, which was clearly what she was doing.

"I didn’t mean to push you away," he told her quietly, standing up. "I just can't stand the thought of you with someone else."

"I'm sorry." She stared at her feet. "You have no idea how sorry I am."

"Don’t do that." Infuriated with himself and the goddamn situation, he took a step toward her and lifted her chin. "Don't apologize. I acted out of jealousy and anger, and I believe you. You wouldn’t hurt me, I know that. But I have to clear my head, all right? I need distance so I can get over this anger, because I don't want to take it out on you."

"No," she replied forcefully. "You don’t get to do that anymore. I'd rather get caught in the crossfire and solve everything than…than this. You pulling away, you pushing shit down. I'm not looking for a damn gentleman. I just want
you
. So if you've got a problem, speak the fuck up."

He was impressed and stunned to silence. Would she ever cease to amaze him?

"I'm gonna leave," she said, rubbing her temple. "I've already used my quota of curse words in front of our son, and I have scenes to work on. But…
please
don’t shut me out. I can't handle it, Tennyson. I was a wreck last night when I came back and saw you with Kayden. You couldn’t even sleep in the same bed as me? That hurts."

He waited until she had closed the door to their bedroom before he slumped down on the couch and groaned into his hands.

Kayden scooted close and touched Tennyson's cheek. "Daddy?"

"Daddy's a moron, bug." The sound of his voice was muffled by his hands. "It's quite possible your mother's more mature than I am."

Hindsight, eh?

He needed to open his fucking mouth and talk to her.

*

Unfortunately, work took time away from them. Tennyson was on set for twenty-four hours straight, and then he had four hours of sleep before it was time for Sophie's first scene.

It wouldn’t be the first scene of her in the film, but the first one before her character realized her brother had tracked her down in London where she lived with her British husband.

Tired and jittery from all the coffee he'd consumed, Tennyson went through the angles of the upcoming takes while the crew got everything ready for the funeral scene.

One of the rewrites he'd gotten approved by the studio was that he wanted Sophie's character to be pregnant. It would bring Judah's performance—or rather, his heinous acts—to a whole other level of terrifying.

Now Tennyson got to see her with a rounded belly again, fake as it was, and it only fueled his possessive need to behave like a dog and mark his territory.

Standing by the monitor and waiting for Noah's reports, he watched Sophie and Judah being complete goofs. Someone had cranked up the volume of whatever radio station was playing in the makeup trailer, resulting in some slow-motion dance moves from Tennyson's two leads.

He guessed their dinner had gone well the other night.

"Should we remind them that this is a real cemetery?" the script supervisor asked with a wry smirk.

"Nah." He smiled faintly, admiring Sophie behind his shades. Since she'd arrived the day before yesterday, the atmosphere had lifted on the set. "I haven't seen Judah this comfortable. Have you?"

It was all Sophie.

"Okay, we're ready, boss." Noah jogged over. "Oh, and the dude documenting for the behind-the-scenes material wonders if he can interview you later."

"Sure." Tennyson got ready and turned his focus to the film crew while his second AD got the extras on their marks outside the small church.

Sophie retied her snug, black trench coat and bent over to brush off some dust from her high heels. "Oh, that didn’t work." Her fake baby bump evidently made it difficult.

Tennyson glanced over at the tree line where Judah would be spying on his sister. "Can someone run over and tell Judah to remove his sunglasses? The sun will give off a glare."

"I'll do it." An assistant scurried away.

In the meantime, Tennyson walked over to Sophie and the bit player who would be portraying her husband.

"Gill," he addressed the man, "remember my changes from rehearsals. Be concerned but don't feed her paranoia. Your focus is on the baby."

"Paranoia." Sophie sniffed. "My psycho brother is killing all my friends. I believe my paranoia is justified."

He winked at her.

Gill nodded. "Got it."

Tennyson jogged back to the monitor as the set finally cleared, and Noah yelled for the cameras to roll.

"Action!" Tennyson eyed the screen, and Sophie and Gill strolled slowly away from the church, Sophie visibly upset.

Extras walked the same route but stayed in the background.

"I know what you're thinking, love," Gill murmured. "All this worrying isn't good for our son."

"Can you blame me, though?" She looked up at Gill, pleading with him to understand her fears. "I left New York for a reason, and this is the fourth death. You know what he did back home."

"So you automatically suspect your brother?" Gill asked skeptically. "I thought he was receiving treatment in a facility he could not leave."

Sophie released a breath and looked away, and Tennyson nodded at the camera assistant. The screen was divided, so he saw one of the two cameras zoom in on Judah by the trees.

"Fuck." Sophie's curse made Tennyson look up, and he called cut. "Sorry," she apologized. "I forgot my next line."

"It's all right." He jerked his chin at the script supervisor, who delivered the line to Sophie. Tennyson took the opportunity to chug some lukewarm coffee. "From the top, people!" He leaned close and spoke to Noah, since the script supervisor was busy. "Make a note at the sixteen-second mark. Her anxiousness when she looked away was perfect."

"Agreed." Noah gave the go-ahead to the cameramen as Sophie and Gill returned to their mark. "Cameras rolling!"

The take, scene, and production were announced, and then Tennyson yelled for action.

*

When Tennyson got off work that day, he was only supposed to nap on the couch for a few hours so he could share a late dinner with Sophie. Instead, he slept through most of the night, and it was almost four in the morning when he dragged his exhausted ass into the bedroom.

Seeing her sleeping in the large bed, hugging a pillow, drained the last of his energy. Given the few nights they'd actually had together since they became official, it was absurd how much he physically ached unless he could have her next to him.

He stripped down to boxer briefs and slipped under the covers, quick to replace her pillow with himself. There was a small light still on on the nightstand, but he couldn’t be bothered to switch it off.

He let out a long breath and hugged her to him.

When had Sophie turned into his home?

"Wha…" she mumbled something and then lifted her head from his chest, blinking drowsily. "Tennyson, what—um." She blinked again. "You're here."

"Where I'm supposed to be." He dropped a few sleepy kisses along her hairline. "Sleep, baby. I'll take the morning off—we can talk then."

"Promise?"

"I promise." He kissed her nose and slid a hand down her back, not stopping until he cupped a soft, toned ass cheek in his hand.
Squeeze.
"Mine." At first, it had been an attempt to keep it light. But now… He kissed her one more time, telling himself it was the last one. Then he'd let her sleep. Yet, one more turned into two, and he couldn’t stop his hands from wandering.

"Kinda hard to sleep when you're groping me." She giggled, and the relief in her eyes nearly did him in. She'd really been worried, and it was his fucking fault. But his anger wouldn’t leave him.

"I hate that you were with Josh," he whispered.

Her face fell. "I'm so, so sorry. I swear, I never slept with him, and—"

"I know." He buried his face in the crook of her neck and admitted he'd listened in on her conversation with Brooklyn. He told her the truth, how much he'd heard, all while struggling to keep his body under control.

He had questions any sensible woman would slap him for asking, though that didn’t stop him.

"Did you think about fucking him?" He rolled on top of her and palmed one of her breasts roughly through her flimsy top. "Did you want him inside you?"

Sophie shook her head and stared at him. Maybe she knew what he needed, maybe she was figuring it out, maybe she was confused as fuck. "I couldn’t," she said softly.

"Why?" His teeth grazed her nipple before he sucked it into his mouth—hard—leaving a wet spot on the fabric.