Tia’s heart began to pound the second she saw the man blocking Maxi’s driveway. He was wearing a fedora and sheltering his camera inside a heavy trench coat as he got out into the rain. “Oh no,” she said, almost involuntarily.
Seth’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t worry. I’ll get rid of him.” After putting the car in Park, he climbed out and slammed the door.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she heard him say, his voice dim but audible. “You can’t block the driveway.”
Kouretas said something in return. Tia couldn’t make it out, but it must not have been nice, because Seth exploded, “Get the hell off the property!”
“I’m not on anyone’s property,” Kouretas argued, words Tia could hear because he was now raising his voice, too. “I can be here. Anyone can be here. This is a public easement.”
Tia didn’t want Seth to have to deal with this. Kouretas was her problem. Her hand lifted to the door latch, but other members of the paparazzi had harassed her so much at her condo that the prospect of confronting this guy made her sick inside. Even when she was ready to bear the shame and humiliation of allowing her new face to grace magazines everywhere, she hoped she wouldn’t have to do it with this guy. That he would threaten her sanctuary when she needed it most angered her too much.
Seth pointed at Kouretas’s car and stalked menacingly toward him. But, surprisingly, Kouretas didn’t back off. He stood his ground and started gesticulating while shouting that he wasn’t doing anything wrong and there wasn’t anything Seth could do about him being where he was, regardless.
It got so bad that Tia felt she had no choice except to get out. It wasn’t fair to make Seth deal with the situation. What if the two men got into a fight? Seth hadn’t signed up for anything like this.
After making sure her face was covered, she opened the door. “Go,” she yelled at Kouretas before it could get any worse, but the bottom of the scarf got caught by the door as she came around it, yanking it down for a moment, and she could tell he caught a glimpse of her cheek because his eyes went wide.
“Holy shit!” he said. “Your face is fucked up.”
The anger that welled up nearly brought her to tears. There was no escape from what she was going through—no way out and no way to counter the threat he and others posed. She’d grown up a nobody from a Mennonite family that was more devout and superstitious than educated, yet she’d never felt more impotent. “You have no right to be here,” she said.
“I have every right to be here,” he argued. “We all gotta eat. What difference does it make to you, anyway? Someone’s gonna get a picture of the mess that accident made of your face. Might as well be me.”
Seth wheeled around to confront her. “Get back in the car. Now.” Although he spoke much more gently to her, there was no mistaking the authority in his voice. “I can handle this,” he said, but that short change in Seth’s focus was all Kouretas needed to pull out his camera.
He started snapping pictures immediately. Tia could hear the click of the shutter again and again—until Seth ripped it out of his hands and smashed it on the pavement.
“What’d you do?” Kouretas gasped, incredulous. “How dare you! That was a two-thousand-dollar camera!”
“Move your car,” Seth ground out. “Or that camera’s not the only thing I’ll break.”
Kouretas’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head. “Now you’re threatening me?”
Seth stepped forward while hitching a thumb in her direction. “You don’t think she finds what you’re doing threatening? Give her a break, for god’s sake. She’s been through enough.”
Kouretas gaped at the pieces of his camera. “I’m going to the police!”
“Be my guest,” Seth responded. “Just don’t ever come back here. Do you understand?”
“You’ll be spending the night in jail!” Kouretas said as he scrambled back into his car.
“It won’t be the first time.”
Seth had spoken that last bit under his breath, but Tia heard him.
Kouretas fired up his engine, giving it more gas than necessary. The sound alone was enough to frighten Tia, but Seth merely propped his hands on his hips and glared at the paparazzo, which was probably why Kouretas swerved toward him, nearly hitting him before skidding onto the road.
Seth kicked the back end of his car as he tore off, but fortunately, the ugly encounter ended there.
“Oh, my gosh!” Tia pressed a shaking hand to her chest. “I can’t believe that just happened.”
“I had it handled,” Seth said. “You should’ve stayed in the car.”
He obviously wasn’t pleased with her attempt to help him. “I didn’t want you to get into a fight on my account,” she said.
“He deserved what he got.”
“I’m afraid the police won’t agree. Now what do we do?”
“Nothing.”
She bent to gather the pieces of the camera. “He’s going to report this.”
“Let him.”
“What if they arrest you?”
“They won’t. They’ll make sure there wasn’t anything worse going on. Then they’ll tell him to sue me for the camera.”
“And if he does?”
“I’ll get him a new one.”
“I’ll buy him a new one,” she said. “He wouldn’t have been here if not for me.”
Seth waved her off. “You weren’t the one who broke it.”
“But you broke it because of me.”
“I’m responsible for my own decisions.”
She remembered saying something similar to him last night—although in a very different context—and wondered if he was referring to that. She wasn’t going to ask, though. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” They’d been out in the rain long enough that their hair was getting wet, causing his to curl at the ears and the nape of his neck. “That dude is a douchebag.”
“That’s the way most of them are,” she grumbled as they got back into the car. “It’s sort of a prerequisite of the job.”
A muscle moved in Seth’s cheek as he pulled up to the keypad, punched in the code and drove through the gate and down the winding drive to the cluster of buildings where they were staying.
“I’m sorry,” she said again as they got out. It wasn’t a very good ending to their brunch at his mother’s house, but the accident and its aftermath was part of her reality these days, and there was nothing she could do to change that.
He stopped her before she could hurry over to the guesthouse. “You know he’ll just come back, don’t you?”
She sighed. “He’ll try.”
“That was a bold move. Who knows what he’ll resort to next.”
She nibbled on her bottom lip as she imagined Kouretas lurking around, trying to catch her out and about. She wouldn’t be getting in the hot tub again, she knew that much. The backyard was too exposed. “He might flirt with the law, but I doubt he’ll break it outright.” She said that with more conviction than she felt. Even if he didn’t come onto the property—although she wouldn’t put it past him—he could use a telephoto lens to get the shot he wanted, which made her feel cornered. She was just weighing how far he might go when Seth shook his head.
“I wouldn’t take anything for granted. Especially now that he’s found you, and you’re mostly alone. Why don’t you get your things and move into the main house with me?”
Surprised, Tia sheltered her face from the rain. “What?”
“I won’t be able to protect you over there. You need to move into the main house so that you’re closer, and he has to deal with me if he wants to get to you.”
Taking care of an injured and paparazzi-harassed movie star was probably the last thing he’d expected he’d be doing when he’d arranged to stay at Maxi’s. She didn’t want to put him in that position. “It’ll be fine,” she said. “I’ll be careful.”
“You can’t stay in all the time, Tia. It’s not healthy, and you know it. Even if you try, you have to come out once a day to take care of Kiki. What if, next time, he’s waiting outside your door, and I’m inside the main house sleeping or painting or whatever?”
The possibility did make her uneasy.
“There are plenty of bedrooms in Maxi’s house,” he continued. “With Kouretas around, why do you have to stay in the guesthouse?”
“I don’t,” she said. “I only moved over there because it’s smaller and more comfortable.”
“Trust me, the main house is comfortable, too.”
Thinking of the beautiful blonde in the wedding picture she’d seen at Aiyana’s, Tia swallowed hard. If she moved to the main house, it would be far more difficult not to wind up back in Seth’s bed. While she’d told herself she understood his limitations, it wasn’t fun to realize that he’d probably been thinking of Shiloh the whole time—that she’d just served as a stand-in.
“It makes perfect sense,” he insisted.
“I guess it does,” she admitted. “But—”
“What?”
“I don’t want to invade your privacy or...or get in your way.”
“The house is fourteen thousand square feet, Tia—the size of a small office building. I think there’s plenty of room for both of us.”
It was the biggest house she’d ever seen, but it had only one kitchen and living room. The rest of the house was made up of bedroom suites, a movie theater, a wine cellar, a huge pantry, a music room, a library and the giant office that also served as a showroom for Maxi’s incredible art. She and Seth were bound to run into each other again and again, even if they were trying to avoid it. “I know that.”
“So you’ll move over?”
Unable to come up with a good reason not to, she nodded as though it wasn’t a big thing. But after last night, she was almost more afraid of Seth—and what he made her feel—than of Kouretas.
If she wasn’t careful, he could hurt her much worse.
Seth offered to help move her things, but Tia had brought only one suitcase, and she hadn’t put a lot in it. When she’d been getting ready to leave LA, she couldn’t think of anything except escaping her condo and the dogged attention she was receiving. She’d had the presence of mind to grab the basics, her swimsuit and a few pairs of sweats, yoga pants and T-shirts. But that was about it. She hadn’t been able to imagine having the need for much else, not when she was supposed to be staying alone on such a large, fenced property and taking care of a parrot.
She still couldn’t believe that Maxi had invited Seth to stay with her. But he had the right. And she could understand his perspective. His home was available. Why not help both friends?
After she gathered her clothes and folded them neatly inside her suitcase—far more neatly than when she’d packed at her condo—she spent some time cleaning. Until today, she hadn’t cared enough to even pick up her trash, so she considered having the ability to perform this simple task a sign of improvement.
While she worked, she checked her phone several times, wondering if she should call or text her family. She’d ignored almost all of their attempts to reach her since the accident—had received several texts just today that’d gone unanswered.
From her sister: Really? You’re not talking to us? Do you think God is pleased with who you’ve become?
From her mother: I understand that you’re upset, Tia, but I don’t understand why you won’t come home. You need to do what’s right before you lose God’s favor entirely.
She considered all the things she had to say but knew she couldn’t distill it down into a text, and there was no way she wanted to talk on the phone. She wasn’t strong enough yet. She needed to continue to heal and get back on her feet before she tried to navigate those complicated relationships.
When she let herself into the main house, the security system announced her presence, but most of the rooms were dark now that the sun was setting, and she couldn’t hear or see Seth.
Where was he? She stood in the entryway with one hand on her roller suitcase, wondering if she’d made the wrong decision in allowing him to talk her into this.
But then he appeared at the top of one side of the curved staircase.
“Do you care which room I pick?” she asked when she saw him.
“Not at all,” he replied. “Would you prefer to be on the main floor or upstairs?”
It wasn’t difficult to make that decision. “I’ll go with the second story. That way I won’t ever have to feel as though someone might be trying to peek in the window.”
“Understandable.”
He jogged down and took her suitcase. “You pack light, for an actress,” he said jokingly as she followed him back up.
“I admit I wasn’t myself when I left LA.”
He strode down the wing opposite the office, which eventually dead-ended at the massive master suite. “You’ve been up here before, right? Which room suits you best?”
“I guess any of those that overlook the pool.”
He stopped at the first door. “This one fits that description.”
“Perfect.”
As he put her suitcase inside, she thought about the reason she’d decided not to stay in the main house in the first place. She was afraid she’d feel too lost wandering through its many rooms. And as much as she was growing to like Kiki, living with a parrot had seemed a little off-putting. She’d been afraid that hearing the bird speak in the middle of the night might freak her out.
But now that Seth was in the house, that had changed. This was suddenly where she felt the most secure—when it came to breaches of her privacy, anyway. She figured she was more at risk in other ways, which meant she’d have to be careful.
“You’re not upset by what happened with Kouretas, are you?” he asked.
“I’m not happy that he found me, but I’m okay. I’m more worried about what it might mean for you. I’m afraid the police will be knocking on the door any minute.”
“If they do, I’ll take care of it.” He gestured toward the office. “Well, if I’m ever going to finish the piece I’m working on, I’d better get back to it. Make yourself comfortable.”
“Thanks. I’m going to water the plants, then feed and play with Kiki.”
“Sounds good.” He started to walk away but turned back. “I hope you feel okay about staying here. After last night, I don’t want you to think I’m trying to take advantage of the situation.”
“Not at all. I know we both understand that last night was just a...a time out from our regular lives, a moment when we both needed a little comfort.” She felt her face heat as she thought that they’d received quite a bit more than comfort. There’d been a lot of pleasure, too—so much that it was going to be difficult for her not to sleep with him every night for the rest of their stay. “An anomaly,” she reiterated.
“Right.” She got the impression he had more to say, and she was curious to hear what was on his mind, but he didn’t come out with it. After hesitating for another moment, he gave her a nod and left.
Once he was gone, Tia sank onto the bed. She couldn’t feel safe in the guesthouse. Not with Kouretas proving to be such a determined adversary. But was she any safer here?
She supposed that depended on her definition of safe.
Seth knew Tia probably assumed he was working on the commissioned piece for San Francisco he’d mentioned to her before. But he couldn’t quit thinking about last night and the way she’d tasted and smelled and felt against him. Now that he’d made love to her, he had to change the painting—to add more depth and texture—or it wouldn’t feel right to him anymore. As obsessive as he could be about his art, he knew he wouldn’t be able to focus on anything else until he fixed it and hoped that channeling his emotions—the regret and the guilt he felt along with everything else—onto canvas might dispel some of the tension inside him.
As he worked, he became aware of the fact that his painting was becoming decidedly more erotic, which surprised him. He hadn’t painted a naked woman in years. His usual passion—for anything—had been so muted since Shiloh died. He’d felt as though he was living in a bubble, so insulated from the rest of the world that nothing seemed particularly sharp or in focus, except for the pain of losing the love of his life. He’d been living a gray, lonely existence since she died, but he had to admit part of that was his fault. He’d purposely isolated himself so that he wouldn’t have to deal with anyone else’s questions or concern.
But his libido had come roaring back. To cope with the sudden surge of testosterone, he had to create something that would help him remember every detail of last night, down to the satiny feel of Tia’s skin, so that he wouldn’t continue to obsess about it. After having no interest in any woman for three years, he suddenly seemed to have focused all of his latent desire on Tia.
Using her wasn’t the answer, however.
The buzzer signifying someone was at the gate went off an hour later.
After setting aside his brush, he jogged downstairs so that Tia wouldn’t feel as though she had to answer it. But he could tell she’d heard it, too. She came out of the aviary and stood nervously in the entryway.
“Do you think it’s the police?” she asked.
“Probably,” he replied.
“I admit I was holding out hope Kouretas wouldn’t really go through with filing a report. The paparazzi typically don’t like the police. They’re rarely on the same side.”
Seth pressed the intercom button. “Can I help you?”
“It’s me.”
“Kouretas?” he said in surprise.
“I came back to make you an offer.”
“I’m not interested.”
Kouretas ignored that response. “I won’t go to the police if you’ll let me get a couple of pictures. I can use my cell phone, be done in seconds. Then, you won’t get in trouble, we’ll forget about the camera, and I can get out of here.”
“No,” Seth said, unequivocally.
“Seth—” Tia started, concerned that she was again putting him in the middle, but he immediately waved her to silence.
“Come on, man,” Kouretas said. “You don’t want to me to go to the police, do you? That was an expensive camera.”
“I understand that, and I’m happy to pay for it. I’ve got your business card. I’ll send you a check.”
“I’d rather have the picture.”
“You’re not going to get it, so you might as well accept that and leave.”
“Okay, then. I guess I’ll just have to do what I have to do.”
“As long as you stay away from Tia, you can do whatever you want,” Seth said.
There was silence after that. As Seth let go of the intercom button, Tia said, “I don’t want to cause you all this trouble. Should I just give him the picture?”
“No. He has his answer. He needs to accept it.”
The intercom buzzed again. Irritated to think that Kouretas would be so persistent, Seth pressed the button. “You’d better leave us the hell alone!” he snapped.
“Excuse me?” The voice at the other end of the intercom wasn’t that of Kouretas. It was a female voice, one he easily recognized because it was Lois, Shiloh’s mother.
Seth’s heart hit his chest once, then twice, hard, before he could summon a response. “I’m sorry. I thought you were someone else.”
“The guy who was just here?”
“You met him?”
“I pulled up as he was storming off. He asked me if I could get him in the gate.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. Is he still there?”
There was a moment of silence. Then she said, “Yes, actually. He’s sort of watching me.”
“He’s not coming in. Make sure he knows that.”
“He says you have a woman in there with you—a movie star. Is that true?”
Seth dropped his head in his hands. He wanted to be done with Shiloh’s parents. They’d caused enough pain—and yet he felt silly even thinking such a thing. Why did he care?
He wasn’t sure why. He just did, and he always had, which had given them way too much power.
“Seth? Are you still there?” Lois prompted when he didn’t respond.
Although Tia didn’t speak, he could feel her watching him. “I’m here.”
“Can I come in?”
“You can’t let that guy or anyone else come through with you.”
“I won’t.” She spoke with enough conviction to convince him.
“Okay,” he said. “I’ll come out and get you.”