Page 21 of Kiss and Tell

“I know, Winnie. You don’t have to tell me.” I open lust-drenched eyes to meet his burning blue ones. His hand encircles my neck and I am highly aware that the side of my dress is still pulled over so half of my breast is freed. “I’ve known for a while, sweetheart.”

His gaze flickers over me like a flame, taking in everything, my kiss-swollen lips, my love-marked neck, my bare, exposed breast. The look in his eyes has a shiver working through me and down my body. I curl my lips inward and try to focus on what he is saying, what he is telling me.

“I’ve known you're innocent from the moment I took that kiss from you during the photo shoot.”

I crumble as what he is saying finally sinks in. He holds me up and keeps me from sliding down the wall.

“I… was it very noticeable? Is it going to be alright?” Shit. Not the way I am supposed to be acting. “I mean it will be alright. I won’t let it mess with the production or anything. I will be very convincing. I promise.”

“It’s one of the reasons I called in an intimacy coordinator. I wanted you to feel safe when you pretended.” He leans in and kisses me. “And the reason I want to do the scenes Aaron was supposed to do.”

He kisses me again and this time it’s a little more forceful.

“I want to be the only one you do scenes like that with. I thought it would be easier that way. Less stressful. Easier.”

“Makes sense.” I'm not sure if it does or not. I just know I’m awfully glad I only have to get close like this to Banner and no one else.

He kisses me and plays with the end of my hair which is very close to my bare breast, “So, you… are okay with it just being me? Not having to do anything with Aaron?”

“Of course. Why would you ask?”

“I saw the two of you in the library this morning. It looked like the two of you were hitting it off pretty well.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…,” He pauses for a long time before continuing, “I think it would be better if you just hit it off with me that well.”

I frown at his words now that the drugging quality of his kisses isn’t fogging my brain quite so much.

“I…,” am an idiot. I finish the thought in my head. I push against him and he backs up immediately. “You think…I’m trying to flirt with Aaron.”

He doesn’t answer right away - which is answer enough.

“You… did all of this… so the movie would be better?”

“What?” He frowns and his eyes start to go from clear blue to a stormy gray. I move out from between him and the wall so I can put space between the two of us, fixing my dress as I go.

“All the kisses… that was just so we could be more convincing, wasn’t it?” I take another step back. “You wanted us to get close so we could do the movie convincingly?”

Oh God! And I thought… I was right. I’m an idiot.

“What?” He says it but not very convincingly. “What are you even talking about? I just didn’t want you to think just because you were getting close to Aaron that I would give him back his scene with you.”

It’s all about the job for him. He’s so worried about doing the movie justice that he doesn’t care who he hurts - what he does - to make it perfect. Including using me. It always has been, even knowing what he did about me. None of that stopped him for a second.

Right from the start he didn’t like me, but he changed how he felt so we could do the movie. He made sure there was an intimacy coordinator not because it would put my mind at ease - that was just a byproduct that would make him look good to everyone on set.

I take another step back and spin around so I can run out of the cellar like Satan is on my ass. Banner just might be Satan since he is lust personified with me falling right in his hands. I run. I don’t think about who is standing close by, I don’t think about changing out of the clothes I’m in. The only concession I give myself is that I hold the front of the dress, so it doesn’t fall the hell off me while I run.

I should have listened to myself. I should have trusted what I knew to be true. Banner doesn’t like me, he never did. He will do whatever it takes to make the movie more realistic. It makes him one hell of an actor but a real dick personally. And I’m the idiot who bought into every lie, every movie image, every hero he ever played. I was a fool.

Chapter Twenty

Banner

I try to figure out what made Wisteria run. What was going through her head to make her take off? Was it because I told her I wasn’t going to let Aaron do any of the scenes with her? Is it because she has gotten close to him?

No. I don’t think that is why she ran from me. I don’t know a lot about Wisteria, but I am fairly certain she wouldn’t have kissed me the way she did, she wouldn’t have let me touch her the way I did if she were thinking about someone else. So why? Why did she run, damn it?

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