Damien’s reaction was instant. “What do you mean?” he asked, eyes flashing. “What have you said?”
Feeling stupid and out of my depth and close to tears I looked down at the floor and murmured, “I told my father I loved you.”
I thought Damien would explode with anger, but all he did instead was let his shoulders sag and shake his head.
He looked at me. “You love me?” he said quietly.
Held by Damien’s gaze I nodded. “I think so.” Blinking away the pinprick of tears that threatened to well from my eyes I added, “I don’t want to be with Rafe, Damien. I want to be with you. But you were so nasty to me last night. How could you threaten to ruin Rafe’s career? What kind of bullshit is that? And how could you say things about me belonging to you sexually? You said you wouldn’t use me Damien. Remember? You said that you wouldn’t.”
He dropped the coffee cup and, heedless to the liquid that had splashed up the leg of his pants came to me with his arms outstretched.
“I’m sorry, Kylie. Fuck, I’m such a wanker. I didn’t mean what I said about the contract, not exactly. I was angry and upset because that bloke called you. I wanted to smash his face in, Kylie, that’s why I was horrible to you. I took it out on you because he dared to call you up.” Damien’s fingers gripped the tops of my arms as he stared into my face. “You know what happened with my ex-wife. I have trouble trusting women and the sincerity of my relationships. When I saw Rafe’s name on your phone I went into a spin.”
“You’re jealous of him?” I asked.
“Fuck it,” Damien spat. “Yes, Kylie, yes I’m fucking jealous.”
I asked the obvious question. “Why?”
Damien paused, mouth open as he analyzed his response. “Because I care about you, Kylie,” he said as though only he’d only just realized the implication of those words. “I care about you a lot.” He let go of my arms and ran his fingers over his short hair. “I think I care about you as much as you do about me,” he said, apparently awed by that admission. He didn’t come right out and say he loved me, though. Damien put his hand on my shoulders, slowly rubbing them. “I knew you were special, Kylie, and I know that sounds like some kind of cheesy line but it’s true.”
“I should have known it would be something like that, Damien. Your past I mean. But I meant what I said, I don’t want Rafe. What I want is to be with you.”
“Kylie,” Damien sighed.
“I want to be with you even without the contract, Damien. I don’t want another man. All I need is you.” I grinned and looked quickly around the set. We were still alone so I pressed the palm of my hand against the front of Damien’s pants. I could feel him there, all densely packed into his underwear. “What you did to me last night in the men’s room,” I gasped, suddenly aroused. “That was the sexiest thing ever. If someone had come in …”
Damien spoke, his voice gruff with his own desire. “I was so pissed off about that call that I wanted to teach you a lesson. I wanted to prove that I can make you feel like no other man ever could. You came so hard,” he said, almost moaning. “You were sat up there with your pussy all hot. You looked fucking fabulous in that dress and those shoes, your legs wide open while your face was all screwed up like you were in pain.”
“Do you want to try again Damien?” I asked. “Shall we put last night behind us?”
He nodded quickly. “And I want to meet your father. Now that Jenny knows there’s no telling what she’ll do next. I want to do this properly by meeting your dad and telling him face-to-face just how much you mean to me in case Jenny gets some kind of twisted version to him first. We’re lucky we’ve almost finished the Paris scenes so we can fly back at the end of the week.”
Oh my God! Did I just hear that? He wants to meet my father? “Are you sure you want to meet him?” I asked. “We haven’t exactly got off to a great start. Don’t you want to take it slow?”
“Fuck going slow,” Damien said, a grin splitting his handsome face.
“But what about the spider scene? Shooting that will put us back by at least half a day.”
“I cut it,” Damien replied. “It caused you too much pain and I don’t want to put you through that again.”
I was astounded by that. Damien is notoriously stubborn when it comes to changing scripts, and since he’d already agreed to Alexandra’s suggestion to shoot the spider scene it must have taken a lot for him to turn around like that. “Wow,” I said, returning his grin. You must really mean it about liking me.” I reached out to touch his fingers. “Thank you,” I added seriously. “I’m touched that you’d do that for me.”