HOT SET: Playing with Fidelity (A romantic suspense novel) (11 page)

She nodded while delicately forking another piece of pasta in
. She’d be running an extra mile tomorrow for all the carbs going in. “Do you get along with them?”

“
Most of the time. We had some good spats as kids of course but now we get along fine. I’m really lucky to have them; they keep me grounded.”

“
Sure. You contact them much?”

“
Yeah, all via a few emails a week. Plus Mira regularly reports to Mum. She doesn’t think I know but I do.” He chuckled.

“
You don’t care?”

“
Nah, why should I?”

“
She’s keeping tabs on you like you’re a child.”

He seemed
bemused this was a problem. “It’s either her or the press. I’d prefer Mum hears it from a trusted source or she’d think I was heading to gaol every second week.”

“
Sure, makes sense.” She smiled a winning smile at him.
“I’m full. How’re you doing?”

“
Plenty of room yet. Have you got any bread?”

“
No.”

“
I like bread after a meal. It’s a good filler.”

“
Okay then. I’ll remember that for next time.”

“
Thanks Amy.”

She got up and started clearing the plates
. He got up to help and started putting the dishes into the dishwasher without rinsing them.

“
So… when are you leaving for Australia again?”

“
In three days.”

“
Three days?” Plates clattered onto the bench. Only three days, what was she going to do?

“
I’ve known for a while now. I wanted to get everything confirmed before announcing it to the world.” He was dropping the utensils into the basket, eating-end down.

“
Well, you should have told me earlier. I’m not the world, Rhys. I’m your girlfriend.”

“
Are you?” The words were out before he could stop them.

Shit.

She stopped collecting the utensils and stared hard at him with her cool, blue eyes.

“
I don’t know Rhys. Am I?”

Oh-oh
. It was one of those moments he knew was coming but had avoided.

Rhys
analysed her feelings for her. He was fond of her and the sex was great. She didn’t demand much more than his time occasionally, which suited him. She was gorgeous and taking her to events was an ego boost. He hadn’t had a serious relationship in Hollywood and to be honest, Amelia wouldn’t have been his first choice. But perhaps feelings for her could grow? He knew there was more to her than the ice façade.

There was just... something missing.

Amelia was biting her lip in the silence while he absentmindedly pushed a fork around the counter with his finger and contemplated their future. This was murder. Only a few heavy moments had passed but it felt like hours. Tears pricked the back of her eyes and her heart was squeezed tighter with each passing second. She shouldn’t have said anything, should have just shut up and let it go as it had been. Having only part of him was substantially better than none. Her throat started to burn with the effort of holding back tears and she kept her head bent over the sink. She was milliseconds from leaving the room before he could see her cry when he spoke.

“
I guess you are.”

She snapped her head up and her jaw fell open
. Her heart erupted in her chest and a rush of happiness surged through her, feeling happiness for the first time in years.

She honestly didn’t know what to say
. He’d openly professed a proper relationship. She wanted to do cartwheels around the lounge room.

Her face lit up in a huge smile she couldn’t have contained if she’d tried
. He walked over and wrapped his arms around her and she lay her face in his shirt, breathing him in, her entire body zinging with elation. He was hers! He was hers!

She pulled him into a huge kiss and moments later she fumbled at his buttons while slanting her mouth over his
. Rhys eagerly joined in and she jumped onto the bench and spread her legs, pulling his crotch up against her. She went straight for his zipper.

The
words “I love you” flew up her throat as he pumped into her and it was only the tiniest shred of reality left in her that stopped them at her lips. Rhys held her while she orgasmed and then dropped her down onto the carpet and after a moment more of thrusting, felt the lightening shoot down his body and he came.

The two lay on the carpet, bodies still locked, sweaty and heated while their pulses raced
.

Those magic
words “I guess you are” crowded through her euphoria and she smiled and snuggled into him. This was it, she’d achieved her aim. She wanted to laugh in triumph.

A
minute later, they moved apart and it was then she remembered he was going to Australia in three days.

Crap a duck.

“
You what!”

“
I got the part!”

“
No… WAY!” Patricia’s high-pitched squeal could be heard across the Tasman without the telephone. Kate could imagine Patty’s husband, Ben Ryall, whimpering in the background.

Kate
comfortably settled into Mark’s office chair in the study ready for a good gossip and a bit of a boast. A warm, late afternoon sun, filtered by the silver birch tree that dominated the small back yard, lay pricks of light in a leopard skin pattern on the two big drawing boards in front of her. She lazily played join-the-dots with her finger while the other hand cradled the silver cordless phone against her wobbly hair bun. Her loose, olive green ‘home’ pants allowed her to tuck her feet under her bottom; her favourite way to sit.

“
And Rhys Bradford! Do you get to kiss him?”

“
Ah-huh.”

“
Ahhhhh!” Kate involuntarily lifted the phone away from her ear. “Oh my God, OH MY GOD!”

“
Patty, that hurts!” she laughed.

“
But I can’t help it; I’m so excited and jealous! I can’t believe you get to kiss Rhys Bradford. My sister! I have to tell mumma… Wait! What does Mark think?”

“
Well...” Kate hesitated, not wanting to openly speak badly of her husband. “He’s not fond of me kissing co-stars and I understand that. Because it’s opposite a big star, he’s hinting I shouldn’t take it.”

Patty’s rude snort made
Kate laugh. “When you’re old like me with kids and looking back on a fulfilled life…”

“
Yeah, like 30 is so old!”

“
…the knowledge that you kissed a superstar is something you dream of – or better yet, that gets you randy for Mark. So, with that in mind, you’ll be doing him a favour really. And as a final warning, if you don’t take this role, I’m going to come over there and impersonate you so I get to pash him!”

“
Oi!” Ben’s disembodied voice yelled in the background.

Kate
said, “see, even Ben’s on my side. This movie will be great for my career anyway. It’s an awesome script and I get to get out of the city for a while. I’ve always wanted to explore Central Australia.” She was practicing her sell-speech to Mark. He will give in, he always did. And coincidently, she heard Mark’s key turn in the front door.

“
Patty, I’ve got to go, Mark’s home. Give my love to Ben, Tim and Georgie.”

“
Will do. Good luck!”

Kate
knew she’d probably need the luck. Mark enjoyed the arts as a patron but for some reason, had never fully accepted her career as an actor. He said it was too unreliable and brutal, which it was, but he’d never really explained why he didn’t like it so she was only guessing his reasons. When Kate had won the lead in this movie, Mark had looked at her with his mouth agape, as though he couldn’t believe she could really act, let alone make a decent career out of it. As happy as she was married to Mark, this continuing dismissal of her career really hurt.

And now
that she was co-starring with a superstar and had to kiss him; Mark had been in a foul mood for 24-hours.

His face appeared around the corner of the doorway and he smiled disarmingly
. Kate let out a guilty, long breath of relief for doubting him.

“
Hi honey! I was just on the phone to Patty. They’re looking at building a few more rooms onto the motel and wanted to know if you’d put in a design proposal.”

“
Sounds good. I’ll give Ben a call later and get some more information.”

Kate
stook up as Mark came into the room. He slid his arms around her waist and gave her a long, sweet kiss. She melted into his arms and kissed him back before laying her head on his shoulder. His long-sleeved, light blue business shirt smelt musty and familiar after a day in the office.

He spoke over her
head, “Honey, I’m sorry I got so mad yesterday. I had a think about it today and it’s really a great opportunity for you. I will admit I’m not one hundred per cent comfortable with the Bradford thing, but I trust you and know you’ll be great. I think you should do the movie.”

Kate
tipped her head back to watch him, excitement putting a big smile on her face.

“
Besides, I think I like the idea of having a famous wife. I can be escorted to movie premiers, five-star accommodation, first-class flights…”

She
laughed, “hot, stinky campervans, forty degree days covered in stage make-up and dust, excruciatingly long waits between takes.”

“
Red carpets, expensive clothes, hobnobbing with the gentry.”

“
Tabloid photographers following your every move.”

“
Sounds like you’re talking yourself out of it?”

“
No. I want you to be my assistant and rub my feet at the end of a long day’s filming… wearing nothing but a toga.”

He raised an
eyebrow, “toga?”

“
Yes. Because you’d look cute and it is my fantasy.”

“
Sassy wench!” He started to nuzzle her neck and ran his tongue along her bare shoulder to the strap of her black singlet top. Kate tipped her head and growled in delight as his hands went around her waist and leveraged her hard against him. “Have you started dinner yet?” he muffled into the sensitive spot behind her ear.

“
Hmmm, no.”

“
What a shame.”

He then kissed her hard, opening their mouths wide, tongues slipping together
. Kate pressed herself hard against him, stood on her bare toes and hung onto his shoulders, feeling his tell-tale excitement through his navy dress pants. Mark lifted her up onto his desk and licked a wet trail down her collarbone to her breasts just visible over the top of her singlet. He then shoved his hand under her top and into her lacy bra cup, coming back up to slant a kiss over her mouth once more while massaging her bare breast. Kate dropped her arms behind her and lent back on her hands while Mark sucked on her lower lip, both moaning. She opened her eyes momentarily to see their misshapen silhouettes shadowed on the drawing board next to her, framed by the scattered pinpricks of light, moving strangely in an unrecognisable dance. Then, she closed her eyes again, blocking the alien image from sight as Mark moved quickly down to pay homage to her breasts.

He spent a long time lapping and teasing her taunt nipples, his other hand brushing softly across the other breast and pinching gently
. He yanked her bra and top down to her belly, the straps locking around Kate’s elbows.

Mark gave a groan of
arousal, “I can’t wait, I have to have you”.

He kissed her again, whilst
Kate lifted herself of the bench slightly, he reached down to her cotton pants and tugged those and her black briefs off in one sweep. She felt vulnerable and exposed lying back on the bench tangled in her single top in the bright afternoon sun and she secretly urged him on. As though reading her mind, Mark undid the zipper and moving between her legs, with one movement he pushed up into her, his groan of pleasure rumbling from his chest as she tightened around him and held him fast. With his pants and boxers bunched around his ankles, Mark moved out slightly and pushed in again to drive fully into her, and then again and again, all the while his face buried into her neck as his hair pricked against Kate’s cheek.

Mark pulled her to the edge of the
desk and lifted her hips. She pulled her arms out of the restraining straps and hung on to his neck, wrapping her legs around his waist and pulled him in closer with her heels. He held her bottom and slammed into her faster and faster, making them both breathe heavily, sweat beading across both of their faces and bodies. He plunged his tongue into her mouth and held the kiss at the same time as thrusting.

Abruptly, Mark’s breath changed, he grunted and shoving hard into her, held the position as he came in solid bursts, grunting into her sweaty neck, jerking as the orgasm coiled around his body
. Then, he relaxed and slumped heavily forward, Kate only just supporting his weight.

They stayed together only for a moment, breathing heavily, him firmly inside of her when Mark kissed her once and withdrew
. He pulled her up against him in a tight hug before pulling up his pants and kissing her once more and he left the room.

Kate
stayed still on the desk, watching him turn the corner, hurt that he’d been so inconsiderate by just leaving.

Two days later, on a Friday night, Kate was in the city seeing a show with her friend. Natalie had been one of her bridesmaids and they’d been friends since their first year at NIDA. They were heading towards the underground train station four blocks away, chatting madly about the performance. It was 10:50pm, and the city was lit brightly and buzzing with milling people. The two women wove their way along the sidewalks, enjoying the late-night bustle.

One block from the theatre
, they approached two elderly women sitting on a step, heavily rugged up in mismatched clothing. Their dark skin looked haggard and time-worn, their stringy, grey hair dank, their large, dark eyes lowered to the pavement as they chatted quietly in low, guttural tones. At their feet was a plastic take-away container with a few measly coins in it.

At the approach of Kate and Natalie, the women stopped talking and
raising their eyes up, staring directly, pointedly at Kate. Kate immediately felt unnerved and dropped her eyes to the concrete. As they drew level with the women on the step, Kate glanced their way and noticed they hadn’t taken their eyes off her. They wore curious expressions of amazement and one bumped the other with her elbow. Kate did get a flutter of attention occasionally as people recognised her from
Pacific Beach
, but this was different. It was like these women were looking at something otherworldly and it was very unsettling.

Kate
stopped and reached into her shoulder bag, pulling out her wallet. Natalie had walked on a few steps, not wanting to spend any more time near the rough women. Kate dropped a fifty-dollar note in the container and Natalie’s eyebrows hit her fringe. One of the women nodded once which Kate returned and she left, walking away, not looking back. Natalie fell into step beside her and they continued onto the station.

“
That was a lot of money.”

“
Not really; not to them or me.”

“
But they’re only going to spend it on alcohol.”

“
If that makes it easier to live with poverty, then so be it.”

“
They live in poverty because they drink all the thousands thrown at them by the government.”

“
Living your life as an oppressed minority doesn’t always make one rational and I hope I never have to figure out how I’d behave if faced with it. And Aboriginals don’t like being called ‘they’.”

“
Okay.” Nat wasn’t bothered by Kate’s gentle reprimand. “Still, why so much?”

“
I guess I can relate in only a tiny way to the Indigenous people here.” They were walking slowly, enjoying the chill of the evening air. “Even though I was born and raised in New Zealand, my parents are of different cultures. It wasn’t every day, but I’d still get people happy to remind me I didn’t belong in either one. I even had a man tell me once to go back home to India. Pretty dumb, that one.”

“I thought you were from India when I first met you.”

“Many do. Anyway, you just brush it off, but it does hurt that little bit more every time a shoulder turns away or someone’s tone changes when they see what you look like.”

Natalie grunted in
disgust at her friend’s tale as she brushed her light brown hair behind her shoulder. As a white, Australian-born person, she’d been fortunate to never experience direct racism so could never really understand. But she knew when her friend was hurting about something and she felt for her.

Kate
continued, “It’s similar with many of the Indigenous Australians. The people were born here, raised here and have been for countless generations longer than the Europeans but have always been treated as pests, outcasts. No amount of money thrown at you makes up for years of people telling you they know better. Compassion, equal treatment and respect does.”

“
Hmmm, true.”

“
Weird thing is me, a foreigner, has been accepted by this country more readily than most Indigenous people.”

They both sobered for a moment.

“Anyway, when do you start filming?”

“
Four weeks!”

“
Oh, God. That’s so exciting!”

“
I know! I can’t wait.”