She sighed and put the glass down on the table next to her. “They’re not my secrets to tell. If it has to do with my life, I’m an open book. Ask any question and I’ll answer you. But as far as Colt’s life . . .”
“I understand. I’m sorry I hurt you. I’m sorry I even intimated for a minute that I didn’t trust you.” He laid his forehead on her knee. “I’m an ass**le sometimes, and I wish there was someone else to blame for that, but there isn’t. This is all on me.”
“You did hurt me. You’ve known from the beginning that I’m going to be honest with you, Logan. But as far as this? There are just things I can’t tell you. Because when a friend needs you to be there for them, sometimes you have to hold their secrets.”
He lifted his head to look at her, and he could see she was torn. “I’m sorry I made you feel as if you had to be in the middle between me and Colt. You don’t have to be.”
“He’s like a brother to me, and I know that sounds icky since we do love scenes together. But we are really good friends. We’re family. I love him, but not in the way—”
She stopped, and he held his breath. She stared at him for a few seconds, and he didn’t know what to think.
“Not in a sexual way. Like with you. Our sex scenes are the real deal.” Her lips curved.
And not at all what he thought she was going to say. “Right. So am I forgiven? Again?”
“Yes.”
He rose up and brushed his lips across hers, then pulled her into his arms, dragging her on top of him onto the floor. The sweet forgiveness in her kiss was soon replaced by passion. Clothes were shed, Des grabbed a condom, and then she was on top of him, riding him to a hard and fast orgasm that left them both shattered, breathless, and perspiring.
They lay there naked, Des sprawled on top of him while he stroked her back.
“This floor sucks,” he said.
Des laughed and climbed off him. They went into the bathroom to clean up and got dressed while Des fixed him a drink.
He pulled up a spot next to her on the sofa while she grabbed her wine.
“An open book, huh?” he asked as he took a sip of the pop she’d given him.
She frowned. “What?”
“You said earlier you were an open book. That I could just ask you any question and you’d answer it.”
“Oh, right. That’s true. So what do you want to know?”
“We’ve talked a lot about my family. Tell me about yours.”
Des blew out a breath. “Oh. My family. Well, not much to tell, really. My dad is career army. My mom has been a stay-at-home mom her whole life in support of my dad’s military endeavors. I have one older brother and one older sister. My brother went ROTC, then West Point, following in my father’s footsteps. My sister is a biologist.”
“So you’re the odd duck.”
She laughed. “Yes.”
“Is your dad still in the military?”
“Yes. Currently stationed at Fort Benning in Georgia. He’s a one-star general, with hopes to continue to move up the ladder.”
“And what does your mom do?”
“All that stuff military wives do. I don’t really know. She stays busy with all her social engagements. She’s very dedicated to my father’s military career. And my brother’s now, too.”
“How did your parents feel about you becoming an actress?”
She remembered the day she told them she wanted to be an actress, the horror on both their faces. “Both were dead set against it. My father wanted me to go to school to become a doctor.”
“Had you expressed interest in being a doctor?”
“Never. I actually laughed when he said it. You do not laugh at my father. Our discussion didn’t go well.”
“But if it wasn’t what you wanted to do, why would he be upset?”
“You don’t understand. You just don’t disagree with General Delbert Jenkins.”
He smoothed his hand over her legs. “It wasn’t General Jenkins talking to you, then, though. It was your dad.”
“Yeah, well, tell him that. Anyway, I was terrible at both math and science, but he said there was nothing a Jenkins couldn’t do and that I simply wasn’t applying myself hard enough. That’s when I told him I wanted to be an actress. He really exploded then. He told me that was the worst career choice I could ever make.”
“Obviously, it wasn’t.”
“In hindsight, no. But at the time, it broke my heart. I had just gotten the lead in the school play and I was so thrilled. I wanted them to share my joy.”
“And your mom? What did she say?”
“Nothing. She sat silently next to my dad. She was always on his side, agreeing with whatever he said.”
“I’m sorry.”
She met his gaze. “For what?”
“I know what it’s like to not have parents on your side. Though at least I had my dad. It sounds to me like you were swimming upstream.”
She shrugged. “I got used to it. He’d yell and insist, and I’d ignore him. I didn’t even apply to any colleges, despite my father’s vehement, very loud, very often orders that I do so. When I graduated from high school, I packed a bag and took a bus out to Hollywood. My parents never forgave me for that.”
“You talk to them now, don’t you?”
“They’re happy for my success, but let’s just say our relationship is . . . strained.”
“Yeah, I know how that is.” He leaned his head against his hand and played with a strand of her hair. “How about your brother and sister?”
“Teddy toes the army line, so I don’t talk to him much. He’s moving up the military ladder fast. Penelope and I touch base every now and then. She’s as busy as I am, and she’s deeply involved in biological research. But we do Skype, and she’ll come out to L.A. and visit when she has a break. I’ll visit her, and my parents, whenever I’m on a break from a movie.”
“It doesn’t sound like you’re really all that close with any of your family members, Des.”
She shrugged. “It is what it is. Probably out of all of them, I’m closest with Penny. But like I said, she’s really busy doing research.”
“Maybe you should talk to her about taking a vacation, too.”