of the way?”
“I knew if we didn’t, I’d be thinking about it all night. And since we have to do it in front of the camera tomorrow, I thought we might want to get the…bugs out.”
“So that was just practice?” Kelly asked, trying to catch her breath.
“Maybe,” he said. “And little bit of curiosity. Should we try again? Practice makes perfect.”
She didn’t object and he took that as an invitation. He kissed her again, this time lingering over her mouth until she opened beneath him. The kiss was deep and stirring and Kelly felt a delicious warmth course through her body. What harm could it possibly do to kiss Zach Haas? It certainly was one of the more pleasant experiences of her life. And an actress had to prepare for these things. Besides, she needed something to take her mind off the disaster that had made up the day’s events. Now, at least she had a bright spot to look back on.
“Maybe we should rehearse tonight,” Kelly suggested.
A wide grin broke over Zach’s face. “I think that would be a very good idea. I want to make sure we get it right. It needs to be believable.” He slowly backed toward the door, keeping his eyes fixed on her face. “I’ll call you when I get done at the station.”
“Yes, call me,” she said. “I’m staying at the Sheraton.”
“I know,” he murmured. “Everyone from the show stays there. I’ll see you later, then.”
“See you,” Kelly said, giving him a little wave.
When the door closed behind him, she drew a deep breath and groaned. Oh, God, what was she doing? Every instinct told her to keep her relationship with Zach strictly professional. And every impulse told her to do the opposite. He was just so…hot! And it had been a long time since she’d indulged in the pleasures that a man’s body offered.
There had been boyfriends over the years, but Hollywood romances were always rather shallow and short-lived. And Kelly had a unique talent for picking men who were emotionally unavailable. Whenever things came close to getting serious, they usually headed for the door. She once visited a therapist to try to sort it all out and the woman had claimed it was Kelly who was deliberately choosing men who wouldn’t stay because she was the one afraid of commitment, afraid of anything coming between her and her career. But who cared about commitment? All she wanted was a chance to kiss Zach Haas again.
Kelly reached up and touched her lips, still damp from his tongue. Her heart was still pounding at a rapid rate and she could barely draw a breath without growing dizzy. She felt silly and nervous and overwhelmed. What difference did age really make anyway? Hell, any man who kissed as well as he did was no novice to seduction. They were two consenting adults who were attracted to each other, so there was nothing standing in the way.
She was just a little bit more adult than he was.
2
KELLY RELAXED in the backseat of the Town Car as it sat stalled in rush-hour traffic. She pulled out her day planner and wrote down her call time for the next day, then flipped through the pages, searching for the number of her yoga instructor. She traded acting lessons for private yoga instruction and she’d made plans to meet with Katie tomorrow morning. Plans that would have to be cancelled. “McCready,” she murmured.
As she was looking through her planner, she passed a familiar name. Angie McMahon. Sweet Nothings. Atlanta, Georgia. She and Angie had been roommates—and best friends—seven years ago, until Angie gave up acting to marry a businessman from Atlanta. They hadn’t spoken in almost two years, but still exchanged long letters with each Christmas and birthday card they sent.
“Are we near Buckhead?” Kelly asked the driver.
“About five minutes away,” he said. “But your hotel isn’t in Buckhead.”
“I’m not going to the hotel. I want to go somewhere else if that’s all right.”
“Wherever you want to go, miss,” he said. “You just have to be there by six. I’ve got to make a run out to the airport for a pickup.”
“I can grab a cab back to the hotel,” she said. “The shop is called Sweet Nothings.” Kelly read off the address and the driver nodded, then made a lane change when they reached the next intersection and turned right. Within minutes, they were moving more quickly.
She and Angie had shared a tiny two-bedroom apartment in West Hollywood for almost three years, while they were both trying to break in to television work. One night, they’d gone out clubbing and Angie had met Joe Sheppard, a devastatingly charming thirty-five-year-old in town on business. After a long-distance romance, they’d fallen in love and married in a lavish ceremony in Santa Barbara. Now, Angie had a four-year-old daughter and owned a lingerie store.
The driver found the location in a matter of minutes and dropped her and her overnight bag at the curb. Kelly walked up to the door and saw by the sign that the shop was open until six on Tuesday evenings. How would it be to see Angie again? They barely had anything in common anymore, beyond the friendship they’d once shared. And at times, Kelly had envied Angie’s happy marriage and her new family. Her friend had given up her dreams of stardom and simply exchanged them for a better dream.
Kelly opened the door, then set her bag just inside and strode up to the counter. “I think my boyfriend is stealing my underwear,” she said in desperate tone, recalling an old joke between them. “And he likes to wear it. Do you think we should break up?”
Angie glanced up and a wide smile broke across her face. “Kelly Castelle! What are you doing here?” She hurried around the end of the counter and threw her arms around Kelly’s neck, hugging her tight. “I can’t believe it’s you. Gosh, look at you. You haven’t changed a bit.”
“I’m here for a job. I’m doing a segment for Just Between Us.”
Angie stepped back. “The talk show? Really? How long are you going to stay?”
“Tonight and tomorrow night.”
“Oh, that’s so great! We can have dinner tonight. Joe is out of town on business and Caroline is at Joe’s sister’s place for a birthday sleepover. I’m a single woman. At least for one night.”
Kelly thought about the offer for a long moment. She didn’t really have firm plans with Zach, just plans to make plans. And she had enough trouble controlling herself in his presence. It wouldn’t do to tempt the attraction she felt toward him with an evening of kissing rehearsal. “All right. We’ll have dinner.”
“Oh, drinks first and then dinner. God, I can’t believe you’re here. It seems like ages ago that we lived together. I miss having a roommate. It’s so hard to talk to Joe about that time in my life. He just doesn’t get it.”
“It does seem like it was ages ago.” Back then, they were both twenty-seven or twenty-eight and still full of hope about their future. They’d tell each other nearly every day that their big breaks were just around the corner.
“You haven’t changed,” Angie said. “I think you might have even gotten more beautiful. I’ve been watching for you on television and checking your page on IMD.”
“My career has slowed down a little. Ever since I got written off on the
