Chapter Nineteen
The next morning Bethany woke up and saw indecision in Aidan’s expression. As with all other mornings, he had awakened wanting to make love, but after the previous night, he seemed unsure of her reaction.
Bethany lifted her head and kissed him. “Good morning, Aidan,” she said as she wrapped her leg around his hip, his arousal pressed exactly where she wanted it.
“Good morning,” he responded gruffly—it was almost as if he were trying to suppress a powerful emotion too close to the surface. He lifted her nightgown up and placed his hand on the warm wet part of her. She moaned, and he smiled. “I love your little cow nightie, but could we get this off so I can get to your breasts?”
Bethany yanked at the nightgown that featured a whimsical print of cows dancing over the moon. It was her favorite. She didn’t go for frilly, sexy nightgowns—cotton was more her style. She hadn’t used it since arriving in Los Angeles, but last night she had needed the comfort of the cotton, and the smell of home to soothe her to sleep. Right now, however, all she wanted to do was rip it off.
Aidan laughed. “Don’t tear it, now.”
As Bethany struggled with the gown, Aidan ducked inside and captured a peaking nipple. He gently bit the tip, causing a loud moan to pervade the room. He tried to get as much of her breast in his mouth as possible, sucking and licking, and growling his pleasure.
Aidan worked his way down her body, pressing kisses to her stomach and blowing lightly on her very center. “Come on, and get your legs up here.”
Bethany quivered in excitement as she quickly draped her legs over his shoulders.
Against her nest of curls, Aidan whispered, “Good girl.”
Then he licked at her opening, used his thumbs to open her up, and bent down to suckle and tease her.
“Oh…my…God!” Bethany screamed as she came so strongly she was close to fainting.
“Hey, there,” a voice seemed to say from far away. Bethany pried open one eye.
Aidan smiled as he entered her with one smooth stroke. “I like my women awake when I make love to them.”
Bethany whimpered, unsure if she could handle any more pleasure, her nerve endings still tingling.
“You can handle it,” Aidan murmured and began to thrust heavily into her. His arms pressed at both sides of her head as he gazed into her eyes with lust and affection.
Apparently, she was so overwhelmed with satisfaction that she was broadcasting her inner monolog, not a good thing.
“Jesus, Bethany, will you shut up? I’m doing some of my best work here!”
When she finally came down from heaven, she smiled at Aidan. “That was a nice way to start the day.”
Aidan gave her a bawdy leer. “Damn right.” He got out of bed and walked over to the table where a tray of food sat. Next to the tray was a vase full of pink roses. “I’m so sorry, Beth.”
Tears filled her eyes. No one had ever brought her flowers before.
“Thank you, you’re forgiven. I thought that was clear after what we just did,” she said huskily, stretching her arms out for the flowers. When he brought them to her, she inhaled the fragrance deeply. “They’re perfect.”
Later that afternoon, Bethany and Aidan, in disguise, set out for a walk around the streets of their hotel.
“Geez, people are loaded here. Did you see the price of those shoes?”
Aidan smiled. “I used to say the same thing. And those are Jimmy Choo shoes.”
“Okay,” Bethany said, trying to appear knowledgeable. She had a secret she kept from her acquaintances. She didn’t care a whit about shoes. As long as they could be worn with skirts and pants, and were low-heeled, she thought very little of them. Why spend money on shoes when you could buy a book?
Aidan hugged her. “You don’t know what I’m talking about, do you?”
Bethany hung her head down and then peeked at him. “Not really. Is he a big deal?”
“Bethany, my sweet, to the ladies who live in this area, Jimmy Choo is akin to God.”
“Oh. Well, all right. But I would never spend that kind of money on shoes.”
“What would you spend that kind of money on?”
Bethany considered the question. “Well, probably a trip to Ireland, for one. I’ve always wanted to go there.”
Aidan glanced at her in surprise. “Really? You never mentioned that before.”
Bethany eyed him, an impish grin on her face. “You never asked that question before.”
Aidan was incredulous. “I live there, Beth. You’d think I would have heard of this deep longing to see Ireland before now.”
“Well, I didn’t want you to think I was hinting.”
Aidan laughed and hugged her close. “Look, my mother taught me one thing, luv, and it was never to trust a woman. I’ve trusted two women in my life, my grandmother and my best friend, Maeve. You make the third. I know you wouldn’t lie or try to manipulate me.”
Bethany smiled. The two of them swung their hands as they walked companionably along. Aidan’s mother was obviously not a prize. “Will you tell me about your mother, Aidan?”
Aidan looked searchingly at her as if he somehow had gleaned all of her secrets by telepathy. He pulled her close and Bethany was given the sweetest kiss she had ever received. It seemed like a kiss of love. Bethany cupped his handsome face and stared at him with love and understanding. This would be another memory for her mental scrapbook when he left her for Hollywood and the next lover.
Aidan, unaware of her melancholy, had a gleam in his eyes. “I will tell you about mother dear if you tell me about Alice.”
Bethany froze. It was the only thing that could turn this day dark, and he’d said her name. “There is nothing much to tell, really. She was my sister and now she is dead.”
****
Aidan walked steadily with Bethany wrapped gently in his secure arm, as they made their way back to their hotel room. “Would you like some tea?” he asked as he ushered her toward the plush couch in their suite. When she nodded, he kissed her softly and walked over to the phone to order room service.
When he returned, he kneeled in front of her and tenderly cupped her face. “Tell me all about her,” he murmured. It occurred to him in a flash, like a movie montage, that the photographs in her condo told the story. The home was filled with photos of her family, all taken years ago. One photo was of a beautiful blonde girl of four or five with missing front teeth, forever captured in a moment.
In another photo, a younger Bethany stood smiling with the same young girl. Bethany stood with her arm wrapped casually around the younger girl’s shoulder. Alice. There weren’t any pictures of that young girl growing awkward and gangly like all young adults. She was forever young. Why hadn’t he noticed that before?
The pictures of the rest of her family were all the same, too, all dated, and all from a different time.
“Bethany, is your whole family gone?” He prayed he had misunderstood.
Bethany made a sound like a ghost of a whimper.
“My family was coming to see me graduate from Mary Washington. They were so excited, and I was so excited to see them. I hadn’t seen them since Christmas and Alice had grown up so much in that time. The plane, it… When it took off… It…”
Aidan groaned. “That’s enough unless you want to tell me more. I get it, I understand.” He sat on the couch and placed her on his lap. She was alone, which was why no one had ever visited her and stayed in her guest room. He remembered her saying she did not want to talk about her past. He had shrugged it off, never thinking about the loss that this woman had gone through. He was a real bastard.
That was why she stayed in Virginia instead of moving back to Wisconsin. Why bother? She was alone like he was alone since the death of his beloved grandmother. But his heart was protected by a suit of armor, sheltering himself from feeling pain. Bethany, on the other hand, made a life for herself never forgetting the love she had for her family. She surrounded herself with happy photos, keeping the memories alive yet living in the present. Damn, she was strong.
Holding her close, Aidan started speaking. Unlike the tale of magical fairy Bethany, where his voice held the magic of a kingdom, he spoke in a flat, emotionless tone. “Margaret Shannon wanted to be an actress all her life. And wouldn’t you know it? She got pregnant, and the poor thing thought her chances of finding fame were over. She was young, and unmarried, with her whole life ahead of her.”
Beth’s beautiful eyes darkened with sadness for him. How unbelievably strong she was. “Fortunately, Margaret had a wonderful mother, Erina, who took the baby in and cared for him while Margaret left to pursue a career in acting.”
Bethany looked up at him. “Did she make it?”
Aidan’s eyes darkened, and a small satisfied smile touched his face. “No, but I did.”
“Ahh.”
“Oh yes, I am one for the books. I went into acting for all the wrong reasons. I was going to be brilliant, the best damn actor the world had ever seen, but more importantly, I was going to be a success. I was making my first movie when Margaret died.” Aidan touched a finger gently to her lips. “You know, I thought it would make me feel avenged somehow. I succeeded where she had failed.”
“It didn’t?”
“No, I mean, yeah, at first, you know? When I was making the movie, I was very smug, but when she died I sort of lost all that.”
“How did she die?”
“Oh, well that. She was an alcoholic; she drank herself to death. I guess because she never made it as an actor. I don’t really know. I never knew her, she didn’t come around much.” Aidan kissed her forehead. “I love acting now. I have the fever just like my ma, but the difference is that I will never let it consume me as she did. That is why I live in Ireland. It would be too easy in Los Angeles to become obsessed.”
“You miss your grandmother, don’t you?”
Aidan sighed and hugged her close. “Every day.”
“I’m sorry, Aidan.”
“Ah, luv, not half as sorry as I am for you.”
Bethany sat up and scooted over to the other side of the couch. “I have friends, I have a good job. It doesn’t make up for my family, but it does help.”
Aidan placed his feet on her lap, smiling. “I know all that, sweetheart. That’s what makes you special. I’m so glad we met and that we had this time. “
Bethany’s eyes saddened.
Aidan sighed as she began to rub his feet. “We will always be friends, no matter what occurs in our lives. You are one hell of a friend, Bethany.”
The word friend seemed to bring even more sadness to her eyes, and he didn’t know what to do except distract her. “Tell me something funny about Alice,” he said as he sat closer to her on the sofa.
Aidan wrapped his arm loosely around her shoulder, almost protective in nature, while he listened to her tell stories of her family.
“You had quite a boisterous family, didn’t you?” Aidan said, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.
“Yes, and Alice was a little demon, for sure. But so smart and so funny.”
Bethany smiled, lost in memories. “Yeah, they were all special—each memory now is perfectly preserved in my mind. I’ve kind of archived them so I can always visit them when I’m sad or lonely.”
Aidan’s heart broke for his little pixie—all alone in the world. But she brightened all of a sudden, ready to tell another good story.
“Alice woke up one Christmas morning before all of us and opened every single one of her presents from Santa. When we all woke up hours later, it was obvious that the presents had been tampered with. Clearly a five-year-old does not have the patience to rewrap presents, and it showed. When Mom asked Alice about it, she said, ‘Santa left it that way.’ When Mom said ‘I don’t think so, little girl,’ Alice said, ‘Well, how would you know? You weren’t there!’ What were we to do? We had to go along with it or tell her the truth.”
Aidan laughed again. “Were you that bad?”
“Oh, she wasn’t bad—”
Aidan touched his finger to her mouth. “Did you cause that much trouble?”
“In my own way, of course, I did.”
It was so comfortable sitting with her, sipping tea, just relaxing.
Bethany frowned, lost in thought.
“What is it?” Aidan asked, willing to give anything to know what she was thinking.
“Nothing.”
“Right,” Aidan said. “Spill it.”
Bethany bit her lip, a clear indication that she was unsure of his response. Aidan scooted closer, kissed her, and murmured, “Tell me, Bethany.”
“Will we be able to sit like this when we’re just friends?”
Aidan looked at her worried eyes. Good question. This relationship, which was supposed to be just a fling while he made a movie, was becoming much more. Something special. He looked at Bethany and knew he had to tell the truth. “I don’t know, sweetheart. I suppose if you meet a man, he won’t want us to sit together like this. He might become jealous.”
“What if I don’t meet a man?”
“You will, who wouldn’t want you?” Aidan smiled as he traced a finger down her beautiful face.
“But what if—”
Aidan stopped her question with a soft kiss. “Then we would sit like this, and I would be very happy.”
A knock on the door interrupted their conversation. With a gentle finger, he traced her cheek and rose to answer the door. Aidan sighed in relief; their connection was getting too strong. As he walked toward the door, his mind was crowded with thoughts of another man in Bethany’s life. He could picture her heavy with child, laughing with children, as clearly as he could remember the look of ecstasy on her face when he made love to her. But no matter how hard he wished it, he could not be that permanent man in her life.
When he answered the door, Maeve O’Donnell was standing in the hallway, a grin on her face. “Hey, Aidan, where is she?”
Aidan hugged her tightly, kissed her on her pretty lips and whispered, “Be gentle. We’re having a weird moment.”
“Really,” she whispered back. “You caused it, I bet?”
“Shut up, Mo, I mean it,” Aidan muttered and then escorted her to Bethany. “Sweetheart, this is Maeve O’Donnell. Do you remember her in Fly Me to the Moon? She played Laura.”
Bethany’s eyes brightened. “Oh yes, the best friend! And of course, now you are so very famous. I saw you in that Western last year. Wait,” she said and extended her hand for patience. “Give me a minute…Time for Guns, right?”
“That’s right, Bethany! You’re good.” Maeve smiled.
“That was a very good movie, I’m sorry that it wasn’t a big hit but…geez, sorry, that is probably a sore subject.”
Aidan kissed Bethany on the forehead. “Don’t worry, we all suffer from box office rejection. It hurts, but we just keep trying, right, Mo?”
“Of course, what else can we do?” Maeve winked at Aidan. “So, what are we doing for dinner?”
“Well, I guess we had better eat here since we are supposed to have rekindled our affair. It would be awkward with another woman along.”
Bethany smiled. She knew they were doing this pretense of a relationship to save her from the possibility of facing the press. “Why don’t you guys go out? I’ll be fine here. I have a book and room service. What else could a girl need?”
Aidan frowned and asked, “Me?”
Bethany blushed. “Well, yes, of course, you, but I’m just saying…that most of the time, for me that is if I have a good book and food I generally—”
“I think it’s best if you don’t talk right now.” Aidan crossed his arms and glared at Bethany.
Maeve rolled her eyes. “Men and their sensitive egos.”
Bethany looked at Aidan with shock. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”
Maeve stared at Bethany. “Oh please, he’s fine.”
“Shut up, Maeve,” Aidan said as he crossed over to Bethany. “You are forgiven, I guess I’m feeling a little rough right now.”
“That’s okay,” Bethany said.
Maeve began to laugh. “She hurt your feelings? What happened to my friend Aidan?”
Aidan glared at her, which caused Maeve to laugh harder.
“Jesus, Maeve, you’re not helping me at all!”
Bethany started to laugh and then covered her mouth to hide her giggles.
“And what, if you don’t mind my asking, has you all a-twitter?” Aidan asked with a grin. He couldn’t help it. When Beth laughed, he laughed too; he had no other choice.
Bethany looked at Maeve, her face blushing, and in a fake Irish accent said, “They’re always after my lucky charms!”
Maeve burst into laughter. “Oh my God! I forgot about that commercial! You’re right, he sounds just like him right now. Scary!”
Aidan smiled at his two favorite girls laughing together, their bodies shaking with mirth. He scooped them both up in his arms and whispered the classic phrase from another commercial. “Irish Spring, the deodorant soap with the clean smell of Ireland.”
The ladies truly lost it that time, both of them falling out of his arms in a fit of giggles. Watching them with a smile, he smacked them both on their posteriors and said, “Time for a beer?” When he received more laughter as his answer, he walked over to call room service. It was clearly time to order cocktails.