Chapter Nine

West was happy they were heading back to the condo because he knew the route so well. He was pretty sure he wouldn’t have been able to navigate a new route because his brain was buzzing.

Something had gone horribly wrong in that private talk with the director, but he couldn’t get her to talk about it. Despite the argument the cast had gotten into, Ally hadn’t been upset that afternoon. Getting Channing on her side seemed to have energized her, and she’d wanted to spend the time they had making out in her dressing room. She’d walked into the meeting with Jay relaxed and ready to talk about work and come out strained and quiet.

It had taken every bit of restraint he had to not knock down the door and demand to know what Jay had said to her.

But then being Ally Pearson’s boyfriend was a constant lesson in restraint. He couldn’t beat the shit out of all the people who hurt her. He had to have skin as thick as hers and understand that behaving the way he wanted to would only cause more trouble for her.

He was getting there, but then he had a day like today and he couldn’t stand the thought that he hadn’t been in there, in that room with her to deflect all the crap the director had likely told her.

He pulled into the parking lot, and sure enough, he had to move through three photographers shoving their cameras at the car.

Ally flipped them the bird.

That was the first time in weeks she’d been so openly bratty. She’d been either ignoring them or smiling and giving them a great pic before moving on.

Oh, she was a roiling ball of emotions, and he had to figure out how to get her to let them out or she would boil over, and that fire would burn them all.

Calm. He had to be an ocean of calm even when he was anxious himself. When Ally was upset, she could say things she didn’t mean.

West parked the car. They were past the gate, and management had let the photographers know they would enforce trespassing rules.

“Ally, do you want to take a walk? Or go to the gym?” Sometimes she got rid of her nervous energy that way. He wanted to offer to take her to bed, but she hadn’t reached for him when she’d walked out. There had been no hand in his, no hug or tilt of her head to ask for a kiss.

This was about him, and he was suddenly worried this might be a fight he couldn’t win.

“I need to work on my lines.”

She didn’t. She knew that script back and forth.

“Okay.” He didn’t open the car door. “I wish you would talk to me.”

“About what, West? About how the director thinks I’m wasting a great opportunity because I’m too focused on my boyfriend to do my job? That?”

Ah. He was right. This was absolutely about him. “Yes, I definitely think we should talk about that.”

She threw the passenger side door open. “I told you I have to work.”

He followed her, locking the car and heading into the building. Ally blew past the doorman, who frowned since he was used to her stopping to chat and ask him about his wife and kids.

She was throwing those walls up as fast as she could.

West nodded his way. “Sorry, Frank. Bad day.”

He hustled to catch up with her. This was going to get bad if she was behaving like she’d been given villain duties on this particular episode of life. She didn’t even hold the door to the elevator for him. He had to jog or she would have gone up without him.

Was she trying to piss him off? “I get that you’ve had a bad day, but you don’t have to take it out on me.”

She pushed in the code that would take them to their floor. “Don’t you know that’s what I do? See, if you’d ever watched the show, you would know that I’m a mean brat who takes her problems out on everyone around her.”

He kind of understood how that show had worked. There wasn’t a whole lot of reality to a reality show. “I’m sure you were used to create a whole lot of drama, but I do know who you are, and this temper tantrum is not you.”

Her eyes widened, and he realized he’d made a mistake. “Temper tantrum? Are you kidding me?”

She wanted to fight.

West took a deep breath, his brain working. He needed to keep calm and understand that whatever was going through her head, she didn’t want to hurt him. She was stressed and anxious, and he was the only safe target.

“I’m sorry, baby. That was a poor choice of words. Could you please tell me what upset you? Or if you don’t want to talk to me about it, please call your sister. You need to talk to someone.”

Her jaw went tight, and she stared straight ahead. “Maybe what I need is to get my life back to normal. I want to move back to the hotel. Nothing’s happened in weeks, and I’m tired of playing out this stupid suburban fantasy. Jay is right. This is why I’m fucking up.”

That man had gotten into her head. Maybe he was the one who needed to call her sister. He’d learned rapidly that Brynn was the one who saw the world outside of work. He worried if Ally talked to her mom, she would agree with the director.

Or maybe he needed to give her what she asked for. “I’ll make the arrangements. I’ll try to find a place close to the studio. Do you want me to call Tessa?”

The elevator doors opened, but she stood there, staring ahead like she wasn’t sure of what she wanted.

He pushed the button to keep them open. “Ally, if you honestly believe being involved with me is going to cost you your career, I’ll step back because you’ve become the most important thing in the world to me.”

Tears shimmered in her eyes. “I think this role is getting to me.”

If he could bust down that wall, he might be able to save this because no matter what he was saying in the moment, he had no intention of leaving her. Not for any real amount of time. It might be different if he genuinely believed he wasn’t good for her, but he was, damn it. They fit together in a way he’d never imagined he could.

Big Tag had told him to find his passion. Well, his passion might be the woman in front of him, and he couldn’t lose her now.

“Okay. So how about I let Tessa take you to the studio. She can be at work with you, and I’ll watch you when you’re not working.” It might take the pressure off her.

She sniffled and then her shoulders fell back, and that gorgeous stubborn expression made another appearance. “What’s the point, West?”

She stalked off and strode toward the condo door.

He followed. “The point to what?”

“To any of this? What are we doing? It’s not like it’s going to work between us. Channing is right. You’re a pretty guy I use for stress relief, and in a couple of months, I’ll find another one who looks just like you.”

His heart hurt. This was all bravado. She had a decision to make and she couldn’t, so she was pushing him to make it for her.

That wasn’t going to happen.

“I need to tell you a story.” He opened the door and was happy that it looked like they had the condo all to themselves.

Her eyes rolled as she slung her bag on the sofa. “And if I don’t want to listen?”

“Then I guess you can plug your ears or something, but I’m going to tell you a story, and you’re going to realize that what you’re doing right now isn’t going to work.”

“What I’m doing?”

“You are trying to push me away so I’ll leave at the precise moment you need me the most. You think it will happen eventually, so you want to take the pain now and it won’t be so bad. Everyone treats you like the annoyance they have to deal with. You know that speech you have about the rest of the cast using you to hide behind? Well, your family did some of that, too. When they needed drama for the show, they didn’t look to Brynn. They didn’t ask Gavin to act like a douchebag. It was you.”

She shook her head. “I agreed to it.”

“And now we deal with what that means. Baby, I don’t care if the rest of the world thinks you’re a selfish brat. I know the truth. I know who you are deep down, and I love you.”

“Don’t you fucking say that.” She’d flushed a nice shade of pink, and he knew he had her.

This was the corner he’d needed to put her in to see if she would fight her way out or if she could accept that all she had to do was hold his hand and they could get through anything.

“I’ll say it because it’s true, and now I’m going to tell you my story. Not mine, really. It’s my brother Wade’s. You’ve met his wife.”

They’d had dinner at Wade and Genny’s a week before and spent the night talking on the back porch.

“Yes,” she agreed.

“They were high school sweethearts. You’ve got to understand that at the time, my father had recently died, and my mother was in a terrible position financially. Wade was going into the Army, and Genny was going to join him after basic training. Then one day she called him and told him she was marrying another man.”

“She didn’t,” Ally said, obviously surprised.

“She did. She was marrying a friend of hers. He was rich and came from a powerful family. My brother decided she’d found a better bet, and he didn’t see her again for fifteen years.”

Ally shook her head. “What did the other guy do? Who did he threaten to get her to marry him? Why the hell didn’t Wade show up at the wedding and stop it?”

“Because he was young and had his pride hurt,” he admitted. “It’s so much worse. What Wade didn’t know was that Genny’s first husband had bought the mortgage to our ranch. I was a kid at the time, so I didn’t know this until long after Wade did. My mother and oldest brother showed up and begged Genny to save the ranch, and she loved my brother so much she put up with an abusive asshole for as long as she could. She also kept the secret of why she did it. My brother was awful to her. Hell, I was awful to her because I bought the lie that she dumped my brother for cash. Allyson, I will not leave you. I will not put pride or some fucking ranch in front of you. But, baby, you have to meet me halfway. You have your ranch. It’s your career. You’re willing to sacrifice everything for it. Does that include me?”

The tears were pouring down her cheeks now. “That’s not fair.”

“Not a lot about your life is fair. I’ll step back if you need me to, but I won’t stay away forever. You need me. You need me to balance out your life. You need me because I will put you first, because you will always be my priority. I love you, Allyson.”

She stood up and shook her head. “I don’t want to feel like this. I was untouchable before I fucking met you.”

“No, you weren’t,” he argued. “You just didn’t have anyone to share the burden with. You’re used to people using you, and you have to wonder if I’m going to do the same. I won’t, but you have to trust that I won’t, and that’s hard for you.”

“God, West, please fight with me.”

He moved in, brushing back her hair. “No. There’s no fight between us. It’s all inside you, and I’ll be here to help you, but you have to make the choice. Something that asshole said to you made you think you have to choose between me and your career. That’s bullshit, but it’s something you have to deal with. Do you want me to get a whiteboard out? I’m pretty sure Rand has one around here. We could make a pros and cons list.”

Her jaw had actually dropped. “What is wrong with you?”

And then she smiled and shook her head and dropped back down to the couch, her head in her hands.

“The only thing that’s wrong with me is my girlfriend is hurting and I feel helpless.”

“I told you you’re just a walking vibrator to me and you say you love me. Who does that?” she asked.

“A man who loves you, Ally. What would you say if I told you I want to be an actor and I’ve been using you all along to get access to your contacts?”

She looked up, and even with watery eyes she could roll them. “I would say that’s ridiculous.”

The tension in the room seemed to ratchet down, and he knew he’d navigated his way through the worst of the storm. “You are doing a fabulous job, and I think that Jay is a massive ass who thought he would have more control over you. You are not missing focus.”

She sniffled and then reached for his hand. “He doesn’t like how I’m handling this one scene. He says I’m not intense enough, but I don’t want the audience to think Delia is some raving madwoman.”

He sat down beside her, and she immediately crawled onto his lap, arms winding around him. “So you have a difference of opinion, and he tried to manipulate you into thinking it’s not about your instincts as an actress. It’s about your boyfriend.”

She gasped. “He negged me.”

“Baby, I don’t know what that means.” One day he would catch up on trendy lingo.

“It’s like when a guy gives a girl a compliment but it’s really cutting her down so he has more power in the relationship,” she explained. “Like you would be so pretty if you lost a little weight.”

“Someone said that to you?”

“Hello, have you met the press? But yes, some guys swear by it. I do not date those guys. I apparently only date ones who magically know how to deal with me. West, I was going to cut you out of my life. You were right. The whole way over, I was thinking about the fact that you would get sick of dealing with my damage someday, and at least if I took that pain now, I would still have a career.”

Jay was pretty good at creating chaos himself. “You will still have a career. How many projects do you have lined up?”

“Three, and two specials for the reality show.”

“Do you want to do those?”

She seemed to think about it for a moment. “Maybe, but in a different way. I think I want to be more of me. I think that was scary before because if I’m me, then what they say about me hits differently. But I want to leave this persona behind, West. I want to be the person I think I’m becoming with you.”

“I’m very proud of you.”

“And I lied.” She wiped at her eyes. “I like the suburban stuff. I like sitting down to dinner every night and it’s not a damn protein shake. I like hanging out with your family. But West, I really will have to leave. I understand that my life can’t revolve solely around my career, but I have to work, and you’re going to be here.”

She was a woman who needed stable ground. “Or I could be with you.”

She stilled, sniffling again. “You would come back to LA with me?”

He’d been thinking about this for days. He knew it was probably too soon to upend his whole life for a woman, but sometimes a man had to follow his instincts. Every single one told him she was the right choice, the right challenge, the one who would fascinate him for the rest of his life. “The boss told me it was time to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life. What if I worked on film sets for a while? I bet my girlfriend’s mom has connections that could get me on whatever sets she’s working on. I could try some things out, learn from people who know what they’re doing. I could figure out what I want to specialize in. I’m going to be honest, I love working with the lighting units.”

Her lips curled up. “So you are with me for my connections.”

He held her close. “I’m with you. I’ll be with you for however long you’ll let me.”

Her arms tightened. “I’m afraid that might be forever.”

“That is perfectly fine with me.” He lowered his lips to hers. They’d made it through, and he was the one who needed some reassurance now. “But I need to know I’m more than a damn stallion you like to ride.”

Her hands found his hair, running her fingers through it. She looked at him like he was precious. “You are so much more to me. I wonder if I can think of a way to show you.” She brushed her lips over his, and the mood shifted immediately. Her body relaxed, and she kissed along his jaw. “You do such a good job of showing me how you feel. I knew, you know.”

“Knew?”

“That you loved me,” she whispered. “I knew because of how you take care of me. Do you know, West?”

She took care of him, too. She made his lunch when she made hers. She made sure he took his vitamins, and despite the fact that he knew she didn’t care about sports, she sat with him while he watched games. She was knitting him a sweater. He wasn’t sure when he would wear it in LA, but he would love it. “I know, Ally. But I’d like to hear it.”

“I love you. I’ve never loved anyone else.” She slid off his lap and to her knees. “I’m going to tell Jay tomorrow that he can find someone else if he thinks I’m not giving him what he needs. I’m not going to let him have control over my personal life. I never had a personal life before, so I’m going to have to get used to this balance thing.”

“I’ll help you with that.” His cock was stirring to life now that he had what he really wanted—her admitting she loved him. He knew. It was good that she’d figured it out, too. “Now why don’t you come up here and show me how nicely you can ride this old cowboy.”

Her head shook, and she bit her bottom lip. “Not yet. I want to play first.”

Her fingers went to the fly of his jeans, and he groaned as she opened them and eased the zipper down. His cock went rock hard, desperate for the touch of her hands…and that mouth. That mouth drove him crazy.

He let his hands find her hair as she licked the tip of his dick.

Heat poured through him.

“You’re pretty everywhere, West Rycroft,” she said before taking another swipe with her tongue. She traced the ridge around his cockhead. “I need you to remember that you’re all mine when the Channing Lloyds of the world decide they want a taste.”

He was going to tell her how little a temptation that was to him, but she chose that moment to suck him into her mouth, and all that came out was a low groan.

She was soft and sweet around him.

Her tongue whirled and stroked him, and he watched as her head moved up and down, working to take him deeper and deeper.

If he didn’t stop her, he wouldn’t get inside her, and he really wanted to get inside her. He needed to be inside her.

“Come up here, baby. Please.” He tugged lightly on her hair. “I want to see you. I want you with me.”

Always.

She got to her feet and kicked off her shoes. She let that gorgeous hair of hers out of the bun she normally wore, the tresses flowing around her shoulders. She pulled her shirt off and then slipped out of her jeans.

There was a reason she was considered one of the most beautiful women in the world, but for him, her loveliness went so much deeper than what showed up on a picture. Ally was perfect for him because she was a mystery. She showed the world one thing, but the truth was for him.

He was a man who had a twin brother, who had been one of what seemed like endless sons who gave their all to the ranch. She saw him. Only him.

“West, are we in a committed relationship and can we both say neither of us has anything we could pass on to the other?”

“I don’t have an STI. I actually hadn’t had sex for a couple of months before you.” He wasn’t a player. Almost all the sex he’d ever had had occurred in relationships. This was the last relationship of his life. But he knew where she was going, and he knew she was on birth control. “Come here, baby. We don’t need to dig for a condom if you’re comfortable.”

Big Tag would yell at him, but he was willing to trust her. And he was also willing to take whatever came their way. He rather thought he would be a pretty good stay-at-home dad. Or follow-his-wife-around-while-she-chased-her-dreams dad.

That didn’t sound like such a bad thing. And he knew a good thing when she was standing in front of him completely, beautifully naked.

“I’m comfortable.” She climbed on him, straddling his hips. “With any outcome as long as we’re together. I’m not going anywhere, Rycroft.” She rubbed her pussy right along his dick. “I mean that figuratively, of course. We’re going to go to LA.”

Fuck, that felt like heaven.

“I’ll go wherever as long as you keep doing that to me.” He thrust up, filling her pussy with his hard length.

The pure pleasure damn near made his eyes roll to the back of his head.

She leaned back, changing the angle and working his cock. “That feels so good.”

She was a freaking goddess riding him, moving her hips and encasing him in her heat. She rode him until she shuddered and moaned out his name. He let himself go, let the orgasm rush through his system. His balls drew up and shot off, a crazy blast of pleasure as he filled her.

“I love you, West Rycroft,” she said, lowering her lips to his.

“Oh, god. West, what the hell? You’re supposed to leave like a sock on the door,” a familiar voice said.

They hadn’t noticed the door had come open.

Ally yelped and tried to grab a pillow to cover herself.

“I should never have to see that,” Rand complained as he raced around them to get to his bedroom.

“I thought it was beautiful,” Marty said with a smile. “You two keep going. Make some pretty babies for Uncle Marty to love.”

“We have to move,” Ally said, and then she broke into laughter.

“The straights are not all right,” Rand shouted.

He rather thought the straights were doing just fine. But they were definitely going to have to move.