Nacho Figueras Presents (21 page)

T
hey lay on the floor, Kat's head cradled on Sebastian's shoulder, happily stunned.

“What is this we are we lying on?” Sebastian finally asked.

Kat smiled. “Mexican tile. Very cold. Very hard.”

“I am guessing, perhaps, there are more comfortable places in your home?”

“It's not my fault we didn't make it past the entryway.”

He pulled her toward him with a growl, kissing her. “
Estoy feliz
,” he said, looking into her eyes. “Are you happy?”

A warm thrill shot through her. She closed her eyes and nodded, her cheek pressed against his. “Very,” she whispered.

“I'm also hungry.”

She laughed. “Me, too.”

They got up off the floor and padded naked into Kat's kitchen. Kat looked in the refrigerator while Seb examined her kitchen, picking up her things and then putting them down.

“I'll cook,” said Kat, “but first I'm going to put on a robe.”

Sebastian pulled her toward him, grabbing her behind with his hands. “Why would you do that?”

She laughed and gave him a quick kiss before pulling away. “Because it's never a good idea to cook naked.”

He followed her into her bedroom, retrieving his jeans on the way. She sighed as she looked at him. One of her favorite sights—Sebastian shirtless in jeans.

She slipped on a black silk robe. Sebastian looked curiously around her room. “So this is where you sleep?”

She laughed. “When I can.”

He prowled the room, looking at the art on the walls, opening her jewelry boxes, running his hand over the quilt on her bed.

She sat down on the bed and watched him. “What are you doing?” she asked.

“Getting to know your home. Everything in this house is you.”

Kat smiled.

“What's this?” he asked, picking up a small crude wooden statue of an elephant.

She laughed. Of all the things he could choose. “It was a prize I won in grade school for best essay.”

“What was the essay about?”

“Um, the ancient aqueducts of Rome. Extremely scintillating stuff.”

“Why an elephant?”

She laughed. “Why the third degree?”

He put the elephant down, smiling at her, and came to sit on the bed next to her. “There are so many things to know about you,” he said, taking her hand and kissing it. “And I want to learn them all.” He leaned his forehead against hers. “I want to know about the Roman aqueducts, and why you chose this color green for your walls, and why you have so many pictures and photos of women with cats but no actual cat. You don't have a cat, do you?”

She shook her head. “I always meant to get one.”

He nodded. “Good. I like cats.”

“A black cat,” she said. “They have the hardest time finding homes.”

He chuckled. “See, yet another thing I didn't know.”

He lay back on her bed, testing it out. “
Cómoda
” he said. “Very comfortable.” He ran his hand along the carving on the headboard. “And very pretty.”

She looked at him a moment, flashing on all the long, sunny afternoons they had spent alone together in their little bubble of her girlhood room. The way she would sit at her desk and work while he lounged on her bed. The contentment she'd feel every time she turned around to see him there, beautiful and serene, happy just to be with her.

She leaned down and kissed him. “Thank you,” she whispered.

He smiled. “For what?”

“For
Twenty-five Roses
. I couldn't have written it without you.”

He cocked his head. “Because she is my grandmother?”

“Well, yes, of course. You brought me Victoria. But I meant…” She looked away, suddenly losing her nerve. “I—I just couldn't have done any of this without you.”

He smiled and pulled her down next to him. “My pleasure,
linda
.”

They drank red wine and ate pasta carbonara on her patio, gazing out over the lights of the city. Afterward, they stripped off their clothes and dived into the pool together, splashing and playing like children, until Sebastian caught Kat up in his arms with a gasp, and they twined together, treading water, and kissing under the moonlit sky.

Kat led him out of the pool and into a lounge chair, where she straddled Sebastian and slowly took possession of him. He watched her move over him, her eyes closed, her breath thick with pleasure, the water from the pool still streaming down her body in silvery rivulets, her dark hair clinging to her neck and shoulders in thick, serpentine coils…He wondered what he had done to deserve this moment, to deserve this woman.

They showered together in her blue and green tiled bathroom, rinsing off the chlorine and sweat, and then toweled off and climbed into the soft, warm bed that smelled of her bittersweet scent, and he wrapped her hair around his hands and pressed her to his chest. He fell asleep with the delicate caress of her breath at his neck and the steady pulse of her heart beating against his.

T
hey overslept the next morning and hurried to get to the set on time. They took their separate cars, and Kat waited for Sebastian to go in first before she entered. Liberty was already there, getting her makeup done. Kat watched her track Sebastian with her big violet eyes as he crossed the stage.

“Where have you been, Sebastian?” Liberty called sweetly. “I stopped by for a ride this morning, and you were already gone.”

Sebastian blinked. “Ah,
lo siento
. I was out last night.”

“I guess you were.” She sounded nonchalant, but Kat thought she detected a certain strain in her smile.

First up on the shot list was a short scene between Liberty and Charlie. Kat sat down next to her to talk her through it.

“So, in this scene—” she began.

“I'm thinking about a different costume,” interrupted Liberty, running her hands down the navy blue watered silk gown she was wearing. “This just doesn't feel like Victoria, you know?”

Kat cocked her head. “Um, how so?”

“I don't know. Would she really wear this color?”

“Well, you picked that color out yourself, as I recall.”

“Did I?” Liberty blinked her eyes innocently. “I don't know what I was thinking. I'm pretty sure we need something warmer. A pink or a red maybe?”

Kat tried to contain her impatience. “But that color looks beautiful on you, Libby.”

Liberty wrinkled her nose. “We can do better.”

If she changed the gown, she'd need a redo on her hair and makeup, too. Kat took a deep breath and tried to keep calm. “Libby, we're running a little late this morning, so maybe—”

“Oh, well,” said Liberty, and her voice suddenly lost its friendly tone, “if we're running late, it's only because you and Sebastian decided to roll in at eight thirty.”

Kat bit the inside of her cheek, doing her best not to crack. “Okay. If you really want the change…”

“I do,” said Liberty and turned back to the mirror.

They were still waiting to start the scene two hours later. Liberty had retreated to her trailer with a dozen different options that wardrobe pulled for her, but according to her, none of them would do.

“I'm just not feeling anything yet,” she said to Kat through her closed trailer door. “Do we have anything in a dark green?”

“I thought you wanted a warmer color.”

“I do, but you know, just in case.”

Kat sighed and silently sent up a little prayer for patience. “I'll have them look for green.”

“Or what about orange?” Liberty called out.

Kat rolled her eyes and decided she needed a cup of coffee before she tracked down the costume designer. Sebastian met her at the craft services table.

“What's going on?” he said. “Where's Liberty?”

Kat shook her head. “She just asked me to find her an orange dress. As if Liberty Smith would be caught dead in orange. I think she suspects something.”

“About what?”

Kat shot him an exasperated look. “Us, of course.”

Sebastian looked puzzled. “Why would she care about that?”

“Um, aside from her very obvious crush on you?”

Sebastian made a face. “What? No. She is like that with everyone.”

Kat laughed. “She's certainly not like that with me.”

“No, really, trust me. She is not interested in me that way at all. She just likes attention.”

Kat took a cookie from the table. “Whatever you say.”

Sebastian frowned. “Do you think I should talk to her?”

“I don't know. Maybe. I'm not getting anywhere with her, and we've already lost the whole morning. I'm not sure how much longer she's going to keep this up.”

“On the other hand,” said Sebastian, and he took a step closer to Kat, “I think I saw an empty supply closet with enough room for two.” He took the cookie from her hand and bit into it. “Perhaps we ought to take advantage of the downtime.”

She smiled and swiped the cookie back. “Get your own cookie.”

“That is exactly what I am trying to do,” he said, laying a hand on her hip.

Someone cleared their throat. “Uh, guys?”

Liberty's pretty young assistant, Nancy, was standing behind them. Sebastian dropped his hand, and Kat jumped back a step.

Nancy looked nervous. “Um, Liberty wanted me to tell you that she's not feeling well and wants to go back to the hotel.”

Kat groaned. “Well, there goes the rest of the day.”

“And, uh,” added Nancy, “she told me to say that she wants Mr. Del Campo to drive her.”

Kat shot an
I-told-you-so
look at Sebastian, who shook his head helplessly.

“Just go,” said Kat. “I'll do some contingency scenes with Charlie.”

L
iberty seemed perfectly healthy and cheerful as Sebastian idled in the creeping freeway traffic. She fiddled with the radio, squealing when she found a song she liked, loudly singing along without any concern as to the actual notes.

“Liberty,” said Sebastian. He turned down the music. “
Liberty.
”

She looked at him, a bright smile on her face. “What?”

“So what type of sick are you? Head? Stomach? Throat?”

Liberty rolled her eyes. “Oh God, come on. I never get sick. I just needed a little holiday.” She rolled the car window down and stuck her head out. “Call it an actor's holiday,” she said.

She waved at the man in the car next to them, who did a double take. Sebastian saw him mouth, “Oh my God! Liberty Smith!” as the man's window started to roll down.

Sebastian pressed the button to roll the passenger window back up, forcing Liberty's head back into the car, and then hit the child lock.

“Hey!” said Liberty.

“Let's not cause yet another riot,” said Sebastian as he nudged his car into the next lane for good measure. “You know, as your producer, I have to point out that it costs a lot of money to lose an entire day of shooting,” he said.

Liberty made an unimpressed noise. “I'm a producer, too, you know.”

“Then I would think you'd care more.”

“Stop being such a spoilsport, Sebastian. I made sure you got a little vacation, too, didn't I?” She grabbed his knee suddenly. “You know what I think we should do? Go to the beach! Let's just stop at the hotel and get our suits and then we can go to Malibu.”

Sebastian imagined the havoc that Liberty Smith would cause in one of her tiny bikinis on a public beach. “Are you trying to put me back into
el hospital
?” he muttered.

“What?”

“No, we are not going to the beach. I am taking you to the hotel, and then I am turning right around and going back to set.”

“
Gaaah
,” groaned Liberty, flopping back in her seat, “you're so boring!”

Sebastian inched forward into the traffic, which had basically come to a total standstill. “I am doing my job,” he said.

“I know,” said Liberty, shaking her head, “and your job is frigging lame.”

Kat watched as Charlie paced the soundstage, finishing up his monologue. She sighed. They'd already filmed the scene three times. There was really no good reason to film it again.

“Okay, cut!” she shouted. “Set up for the next shot. Everyone else take thirty. Nice work, Charlie,” she said as the actor came offstage.

He saluted her. “Anything for you, boss,” he said as he headed off toward his trailer.

Kat checked her watch. Sebastian had left two hours before. He should have been back long ago.

As she walked back to her trailer, unbidden images tumbled into her brain and made her catch her breath. Sebastian holding her against the door. The way he looked into her eyes as she moved over him in the moonlight, his wide, chiseled chest naked and still wet from the pool. His head between her legs as he crushed her to his mouth and made her writhe in the most delicious agony…

But then, just as suddenly, the image was replaced with Liberty being held against the door, Liberty hovering over Sebastian in the night, Liberty watching Sebastian with her sleepy violet eyes as he moved his mouth between her legs…

Kat shook it off, chiding herself. It had been less than twenty-four hours since Sebastian had held her in his arms and told her that he loved her, when he had tangled himself around her, keeping her close as she slept through the night. The first thing she'd seen after she'd awoken this morning was his sea green eyes, watching her with a look that she could only be described as grateful amazement.

“
Mi corazón
,” he had called her, smoothing back her hair and placing a fervent kiss on her forehead.

My heart.

But still, Kat thought, as she paced her trailer, ignoring the stack of props that she was supposed to be sorting through, she had seen the way Liberty looked at Sebastian. The way her eyes lit up with interest whenever he walked into the room. The way she clung to his arm every day when they headed home for their hotel. The way they had stood together after Liberty fell from the horse…

She heard Honey's voice echoing in her head.
Liberty Del Campo has an awfully nice ring to it, right?

Stop. Stop. Stop,
Kat commanded herself. God. She had never been this jealous before. But then again, she'd never been in direct competition with Liberty flipping Smith, the most beautiful woman in the world.

Perhaps Liberty was difficult and complicated, but that didn't make her any less attractive. She was like Sebastian, really. So exceptional in her beauty and talent that she almost seemed like she was of another species entirely—some higher life form that only the lucky few could claim kin to. They were made for each other in a way. Two creatures extraordinarily beautiful in their form and absolutely singular in their gifts.

If Liberty wanted him, what heterosexual man in the world could possibly turn her away? Hell, if Liberty wanted
anything
, she generally got it. Movie stars were the closest thing this world had to gods walking upon the earth, and Liberty was a queen among those goddesses. What hope did any mortal woman have against her?

Still, Sebastian had never given Kat any reason not to trust him. And last night—what had happened between them last night was the kind of thing that people waited a lifetime to feel. There was something so right about being in Sebastian's arms. As if she had been born to take her place there.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, willing her doubts away. Then she sat down at the table and started to sort through the vintage hair combs that wardrobe had sent over for her to approve. Combs with peacock feathers, combs with garnets and diamonds, combs with amethysts the exact color of Liberty's legendary eyes…

She checked her watch. Two and a half hours since he'd walked away…