Page 19 of Kiss and Tell
“Yeah, this place is awesome. Hey, do you think it has a hidden passage or secret room like in all those old movies? Aren’t they usually in the library or something?”
“Oh gosh, I don’t know.” I can’t help but laugh since I was thinking the same thing last night when Sarah mentioned the library. “Want to start pulling random books out and see if we can find it?”
“Hell yes!” He goes to the opposite side of the bookshelf. “We’ll meet in the middle?”
“Sounds good to me.” We start pulling books out and searching the room, the entire time laughing about how silly we are being. We’ve almost tried every book when a shadow falls over the doorway. We both turn to find out who it is. My eyes meet cool blue flames that watch both me and Aaron.
The look on his face clearly says he didn’t have a good night or something. Maybe…maybe he was hoping he could do the whole skinny-dipping thing with Rachel and found out she has a thing for Cord. Although how she could turn down a chance to be with Banner I could never understand. Or maybe he just hated his room. Maybe his bed sucked, or he has the same problem I do when I sleep in strange places. Either way, he is shooting me and Aaron some not-happy looks.
“Oh hey, Banner. Want to come help me and Wisteria look for secret passages?”
He comes all the way into the room but doesn’t answer Aaron at first. “I’ll have to take a rain-check and so will Wisteria, I’m afraid. Dane says he wants to take some shots of us down in the wine cellar because they will look cool.”
“Oh, um, okay.” I turn to Aaron and give him a little wave, “Bye, I guess. Let me know if you find anything.”
Banner stays quiet the entire trip downstairs and for the life of me, I can’t figure out which Banner I am going to get from one day to the next. Is this normal? Is it because he’s a talented actor who is always playing a role? Who the hell is the real Banner?
Will I ever figure it out? Will I ever figure him out? Or is this just the way he acts to keep people at arm’s length? And what does it mean that he wants to keep me at a distance? Are we back to him not wanting me around him?
I thought we were doing pretty well after the kiss. But what the hell do I know? It could have been the kiss that has him so upset for some reason.
An awful thought takes form in my mind, what if he just did the whole kiss thing out on the lake so he could make Rachel jealous and it didn’t work, or worse - it backfired, and she didn’t want anything to do with him afterward because of me. It sucks on more than a few levels and the thought has me almost as grim as Banner was when he came into the library.
As soon as we are down in the cellar, I say hello to Dane and try to remind myself that I am a professional. I am bigger than this stupid crush, bigger than the irritation that sets heavy in my chest at the thought of Banner using me to be with someone else. I just have to remain professional.
“Oh, hello my lovely. Today I want to do castle vogue, film noir in stone, sexy cellar shots.”
I give him a slow nod, not at all sure if I can do any of that. But I am a professional and I will at least try to do it for Dane. His assistant, who I didn’t even realize had come with him, comes over and holds up a slinky dress in a soft dove grey. “Put this on and come on out.”
“Don’t I need makeup or something? And my hair?’
“Just throw on some lips stick. Dane wants to try to keep things as casual looking as possible.”
Casual looking? There is nothing casual about the dress I have to wiggle into. It’s so slinky. The first time, I tried to wear underwear under it but there is simply no way to do it and not show lines. I’m going to have to go bare if I want the damned dress to look right. Bare really isn’t a condition I want to be in around Banner. Not after this morning. Not after that horrible suspicion that has taken root in my mind.
Chapter Eighteen
Banner
“Okay, for this one I’m seeing a real Bogart and Becall vibe.”
I look over at where Wisteria is standing in the slinky dress. It might fall all the way down to the floor but there’s a slit in it up to her hip and the front of it comes down into a deep vee. Not to mention the damned thing clings to her like a second skin. There is no way she has underwear on under it. No fucking way.
It just infuriates me even more.
When I came into the library and saw her and Aaron laughing about something, my temper got away from me. I wanted to take Wisteria down to the floor and show Aaron just who she belongs to, while at the same time hitting him right in his face. I was trying to figure out how to do both at the same time when she gave him that smile.
“So, I am thinking, Banner, you can be the big strong man and maybe pull her into a dip, oh yeah, just like that.”
I reach for her and pull her into my arms, at first just dipping her like I would if we were dancing. The dress slides across my arms as smooth as her skin would after we make love. The cool material warms under my touch making me think of her bare skin and how it does the same.
I don’t like the way she is holding herself back. It’s nothing she’s actually doing; I just feel like she is putting up walls to keep me out and I don’t like it. I don’t like the fact that I’m fucking jealous because of Aaron. I don’t like knowing I might not get what I want in the end this time.
“Now ramp up that old detective thing. Put your hands in her…yeah, just like that.”
I sink my fingers in her hair so I can maneuver her head easier and look into the melted caramel chocolate eyes that stare up at me. If I could only see behind those endless pools, would I be able to figure her out? Would I be able to figure out what it would take to make her see me as more than just the man standing in front of her that she’s seen in all the movies?
“Oh yeah! That is great guys!” I blink and remember that we aren’t down here because we just happened to be in the same place at the same time. This is work. “Now kiss her.”