Red Carpet Romance (17 page)

She skimmed her hands down over his
taut abs and lower until she had him in her grip. Lowering her mouth, she took
him in, making him gasp. He thrust his fingers in her hair and groaned loudly.
After a few minutes, he pulled back. “Stop…I’m gonna come. Besides, one good
turn…” he said, parting her legs with his hands. He knelt on the floor next to
the sofa where she lay and pulled her around to face him before he buried his
head between her legs.

Susanna thrust her head back and
moaned. The ministrations of his tongue made her almost dizzy with desire.
Tension coiled inside her, tightening like the turning of a screw, winding her
body up.

“Quinn!” She yelled, but it was too
late. Release flooded through her veins, but he kept going. As she relaxed, he
withdrew, pulling her legs around him. He placed his palms under her butt,
pulling her up and entering her as he eased her forward. He thrust in hard,
holding her hips. She sat up and kissed him. He took her mouth with his tongue
as he took her body with his shaft.

Her bones turned to jelly as she
undulated in sync with his every move. She became completely pliable in his hands
as he took over, pumping her to his rhythm, her movements resembling her floppy
old rag doll from childhood. She smiled at the mental comparison for a second.
Quinn was in charge, and he moved her to his whim.

Color crept up his chest into his
neck as his breathing became ragged. Susanna steadied herself by resting her
hands on his shoulders. He increased the pace, thrusting into her harder and
harder, faster and faster. Suddenly the passion spiraling up again in her body
peaked, then snapped, and orgasmic pleasure flowed through her. She moaned
loudly, grabbing his attention.

A lusty grin spread over his face as
he recognized her second orgasm. Susanna joined her ankles behind his hips, and
they rocked together until he yelled “Hot Damn, Susie!” He gave a few more
thrusts before he lowered his head, allowing sweat to drip off his forehead
onto her neck. He closed his arms around her in a vise-like grip.

The lovers clung together, panting,
waiting for their pulses to slow. Susanna closed her lips on his shoulder for a
wet kiss while her hand rubbed his back through a sheen of sweat. He combed the
back of her hair with his fingers.

“That was…” she began.

“Awesome, amazing…” he said.

“Earth-shattering…” she replied.

“Explosive…” he said, wiggling his
eyebrows.

“Beyond belief…”she giggled.

“Fantastic…”

“Wonderful…” she sighed.

“Special…”

“Special?” She sat back and gazed at
him. “That’s the best you can do?”

“Let the blood go back to my brain
first.” He chuckled.

She laughed.

“Susie, you’re special. Very special.
I mean that.” He looked into her eyes.

“So are you.”

“Because I’m a movie star?”

“Because you’re my sexy friend and
lover.”

A cock-eyed grin claimed his face.

She pushed back from him. “Okay, now where’s that
movie?”

“Coach’s Daughter Gone Wild?” He snickered, ducking from the swat of her
hand.

Chapter Ten

The next morning at eight o’clock
there was a rap on the door. It was Stokes with three newspapers. Quinn took
them and tipped the doorman. Susanna was on the floor, playing with Junior.
Quinn joined them, opening the papers, flipping through the pages until he
found what he was looking for.

“Uh oh. Damn. I knew it was too good
to be true.”

Susanna peeked over then dropped the
toy she was holding for Junior. There on the two facing pages were pictures of
her and Junior. One headline read, “Quinn Roberts’ Love Child?” and on the
other page, “Roberts Scores with Coach’s Daughter.” Her mouth hung open. She
grabbed the paper and pushed to her feet. Pacing up and down the living room,
she read the story aloud. It implied that she and Quinn had a “love child” and
they had been living in sin for a while.

Resentment bubbled up inside her
then turned to tears. “I’m ruined. I’ll never get a job at a museum with all
this…these lies.”

“Not all of it is a lie.”

She turned to him, anger flushing
her cheeks. “What do you mean? This is not my love child with you…he’s your
love child with someone else!”

“Not that. No, of course. But you
are living in sin with me now.”

“Living in sin? I’m the nanny…”

“Not anymore. Not after the last two
nights…unless you intend to move out of my bedroom.”

“I…last night…the night before
was…I…don’t. Damn.” She stammered, sinking down to the floor.

“But we don’t have to tell them, do
we?”

She shook her head. “It’s nobody’s
business but ours.”

“Right. You’re not going to stop
sleeping with me because of this, are you?” Quinn’s face clouded with worry.

Susanna stared into his eyes.
“Couldn’t, even if I wanted to, which I don’t.” She fell into his arms.

“Thank God,” he muttered. “I guess this
makes you my girlfriend.” He grinned.

“You guess?”

“I’m honored.” He kissed her
tenderly.

“I’m glad you’re honored. I’m
ruined.” She hung her head. “Dad would be so ashamed. He always kept me away
from the team. They knew if they took one step toward me, they’d get benched,
or worse. He said messing with basketball stars would only bring me heartache.”
She put her hand over her eyes to hide her tears, but Quinn pulled it away.

“Come on, don’t be sad. You’re
upsetting Junior.” She glanced at the baby, who seemed to have picked up on her
emotional vibe. His chin quivered, and his eyes seemed even bigger and rounder
than usual. “You don’t want to make him cry, do you?”

She smiled and picked him up.
Rubbing her face in his belly made him giggle and shriek with laughter. His
infectious glee made them grin.

“I’ve got an idea.” Quinn pushed to
his feet and reached for her hand. “Let them make fools of themselves.”

“What do you mean?”

“Let’s go out. Every day. For a walk
at least. Let them take our pictures and write whatever they want, but we won’t
answer any questions. Won’t confirm or deny anything.” He paced.

“Yeah, so? We end up top scandal of
the week, the month.”

“Right. Until Junior’s mom shows up
to take him home.”

“Oh, I see! So then, they’ll look
like fools, right? Writing all this stuff, creating a scandal that doesn’t
exist.” Her face brightened.

“Right!”

“But they’ll see us together and
that will confirm the part about us…living together.”

“So what? I don’t care. I love you
Susie Q. And I don’t care who knows it.” He snaked his arms around her back,
easing her up against his chest. “Would that bother you?”

“I guess if I told Annie about it…I
mean, my parents are gone. Who’s there to care?”
 
She chewed a fingernail.

“Hey, I mean you. Would you mind
being linked with me like that?”

“I wouldn’t love being sexually
linked, publicly, with any man. I’m a private person. Who I choose to sleep
with is my business and mine alone. But does that mean they’re gonna chase me
away? Don’t think so. I make up my own mind who I see.”

“And you want to be with me?”

“You have to ask?” She cocked an
eyebrow at him.

“With women, it’s best to ask. I get
in trouble when I take things for granted.”

“Wise words.” She shot him a
mischievous grin.

“Let’s come out of hiding.” He grinned.

“Okay. If you don’t think it will
hurt your career?” Her brow furrowed.

“Hell, no. The studio will love all
the free press.”

“That’s not why…”

“Shh. Stop. Of course not. I’m doing
it because I don’t want us to feel trapped like rats in a cage, afraid to leave
the apartment, afraid to be seen together.”

“Okay, then. Let’s go!”

After she changed Junior, Quinn and
Susanna took him in the stroller outside, where there were reporters waiting.
They crossed the street, followed closely. After a few blocks of not answering
their questions, the nosy men became bored and peeled off one at a time.
Finally, it was only Quinn and Susanna. They found a nearby playground, and
Quinn pushed Junior in a baby swing while Susanna made faces at the infant. He
laughed with glee.

Days passed peacefully—walks in the
park, ignoring reporters, afternoons spent rehearsing for Quinn’s next movie,
and playing with Junior. Nights were spent in passionate lovemaking. Until the
phone call one morning at ten.

* * * *

“Quinn Roberts?”

“Yes?” He picked up his mug and
walked out to the terrace.

“Tiffany Cowles, here. Editor of
the—”

“I know who you are. Editor of
Celebs R Us.”

“That’s right.”

“What do you want, Ms. Cowles?”

“Tiffany, please,” she cooed.

“Is it something my PR person—?”

“Don’t try to foist me off on
someone else, Roberts. You’ll be sorry.” Her pleasant veneer peeled away
quickly, revealing the viper underneath.

“I’m listening.” He sank down into a
chair.

“I want to know why you refuse to
talk to my reporters.”

“I don’t have anything to say.”

“Yeah? I think you do. I think
there’s a lot more to this story than just you knockin’ up Coach Joe’s
daughter. You know that, Mr. Roberts?”

Quinn began to sweat. “What do you
mean?”

“I think we’re barking up the wrong
tree. You’re too public. Never known you to flaunt a girlfriend to the press,
Quinn. My nose tells me something else is going on here. And I want to know
what it is.”

“I haven’t made statements to the
press…nothing for me to confirm or deny.” He took a deep breath, trying to
sound calm.

“Oh? Your sudden appearance with a
baby carriage and this chickie in L.A.
and
New York aren’t news? I disagree.”

“Disagree all you want. Nothing
about this situation is newsworthy.”

She started to laugh. “Who’s the
newsman here, you or me? I’ll decide what’s newsworthy. I smell a rat.
Something isn’t right, and I intend to get to the bottom of this.”

“Sniff all you want, I’ve nothing to
say, Tiffany.” His palms were wet, so he wiped them on his jeans.

“Maybe you won’t talk, but I bet
that pretty little chickie of yours will. If we apply enough pressure. She must
have something she doesn’t want the world to know, besides the fact she’s had
your illegitimate baby. I’ll get pictures of the two of you, naked, in bed,
Quinn. Trust me.”

“And you’ll get sued…”

“No one sues me and wins. Believe me
when I say I’ll keep the pressure on until she cracks. And it won’t be pretty.
Or you can tell me right now and save us all a lot of trouble.”

There was silence on both ends of
the line. Panic made his breathing erratic and kicked up his pulse.
Susanna!

“Quinn? You still there? Don’t mess
with me. You’ll regret it.”

“Go to Hell!” He hung up on her. His
whole body was sweating. He paced on the terrace then dialed the phone.

“Maggie? I need your help, and I need
it now.” When he hung up, he heaved a sigh of relief. Susanna joined him,
toting Junior on her hip.

“What was that about?”

“Pack a bag for you and Junior. Be
ready to go any time after eleven tomorrow morning.”

“What’s going on?”

“Trust me. It’s for your safety.”

“My safety? Is someone threatening
me?”

“Sort of. I can’t say any more. Just
be ready.”

“You can’t tell me?”

“Do you trust me?” He stood in front
of her, his hand on her arm.

“Of course.”

“Then it’ll be okay.” Quinn walked
away from her to send a text.

Come back asap. Things
heating up.

That night in bed, Quinn drew the
drapes closed and shut the windows. He doused the lights.

“It’s like a coffin in here. Why is
everything shut up? No one can see in, we’re all the way across the park.”
Susanna pulled off her top then unbuttoned her jeans. Quinn put a hand out to
stop her.

“Do you have a nightgown?” She shook
her head. “Here take this.” He tossed one of his T-shirts at her. “Wear it to
bed tonight.”

“Why?”

“Don’t ask why, just do it, please?”

“If it means that much to you.” She
unhooked her bra, slid it down onto the chair, and donned the T-shirt.

“High powered cameras…” he muttered.
  

The sound of rotors drew Quinn to
the window. He opened the curtain a pinch and peeked out. Above Central Park, halfway
between Fifth Avenue and Central Park West, a helicopter hovered for a few
moments before rising and moving off.
It
couldn’t be. She wouldn’t.

But he believed his eyes. Stepping
back, he replaced the curtain so there was no chink and undressed down to his
boxers. They got into bed, and he tucked her into his shoulder before turning
out the light. She cuddled up to him, resting her face on his bare chest. Quinn
was too keyed up to sleep. He lay tense in the dark until he could swear he
heard the rotors again.

He leaped out of bed and was at the
window in a flash. He turned to Susanna. “Don’t move!” She lay still. He
cracked the drapes open again, but this time the ’copter was closer.

“Does this have something to do with
why Junior and I are leaving tomorrow?”

He nodded. “I promise I’ll tell you
all about it when we’re relocated.” He returned to bed.

“It’s like one of your movies. All
this clandestine stuff. Like secret agents.”

“I’m doing this to protect you,
baby. “ He palmed her cheek and kissed her. “Let’s get some sleep.” They
scrunched down under the covers, huddled together. Quinn kept his arm around
her all night as if he was afraid someone would snatch her from his bed.