For the Love of His Life (22 page)

He ground out the butt and used his key to open his door. He fumbled around for the light switch, then jumped when the small reading light over his bed was switched on at the opposite end of the trailer.

“Hey honey, I’ve been waiting for you. Don’t you think it’s time for you to get to know your wife a little bit better?”

Kelly threw back the sheet she’d draped over her and Raul almost swallowed his tongue as he realized she was naked in his bed. She began to tweak her own nipples, giving him a come-hither look, licking her lips and moaning slightly.

“Uh…what are you doing here?” He had to force words out of his mouth, when his body was torn between sending blood downwards into his pants, or responding to the part of his brain that was determined to be monogamous. Since this wasn’t a usual reaction for him, he felt like parts of his body were misfiring all over and all he could do was stand still in stunned silence.

Kelly continued to try to seduce him from his own bed.

“I talked to some of your former leading ladies,” she explained, still stimulating herself and smiling at him. “All of them said that the best way to get you to be able to play love scenes was to have an affair with you off-screen. Since you are known to have a huge…uh…appetite.” she giggled, staring at his crotch. “I was told that all I had to do was to let you know I’m willing. And boy, am I ever! You are the sexiest man I’ve ever had the good fortune to be cast with and I’m not about to do only a so-so job. I’m ready to meet Big Rod and get to be his best friend.” She licked her lips, bobbing her head.

¡Dios mio! Holy mother-fucking shit! What do I do now? I gotta get her out of here…and without anyone noticing! Jared will tell Nica and she’ll never believe that this wasn’t my idea! Fuck!

Raul cleared his throat loudly, “Uh…I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but I’m not interested.”

At her instantaneous look of disappointment and confusion, he tried to explain quickly.

“I’m…uh…involved with someone. She’s very important to me…”

“So? I won’t tell her anything. No one else has to know…although having some pictures taken of the two of us in public together
is
kind of inevitable. We’ll be acting in some hot love scenes, and photographers love to get the kinds of pictures that make it look like the lead stars are not just acting like they are an item. And that wouldn’t hurt my career, I’m just saying…”

Thank God she’s stopped rubbing herself! Big Rod isn’t fully hard, but he’s not listening to me either! I’ve got to try to make this right!

Raul moved slightly forward and pulled a chair over from under the small kitchen table. He sat on it and crossed his legs, trying to will his dick under control. Kelly had ceased all movement and was watching him intently.

I’ll try honesty
, he thought.
I’ve never been honest with women before. Maybe it will work. I need to salvage her pride and our working relationship.

“See, I’m really in love with this woman. I know it sounds weird, but I’ve never been in love before. Sure, I’ve fucked my way through life like a crazed horn-dog. But I’ve never had any feelings other than wanting to get my rocks off. I’ve never even thought about what the women might be thinking. Most of the time I’ve never even bothered to learn their names. They’re just females who want to brag about fucking Raul Roderick. And up to now I’ve been happy to oblige. But things have changed for me.”

Kelly pushed herself up to sit cross-legged on the bed, facing him, studying his face intently.

“It’s not that you’re not sexy, because lord only knows you are. I’m having to fight my own dick to stay in this chair, because it’s not as sure as I am that choosing to be only with one woman is the right thing to do. But I’m trying to exercise self-control. If you had met me any other time, we’d already be tossing the first condom aside and getting ready for round two. So please, don’t take this the wrong way, but it would do wonders for my peace of mind if you could pull that sheet up over yourself…or even better, get some clothes on.”

To his amazement, Kelly began to laugh. “That’s it? The great Casanova of our time has finally been brought to his knees by a woman? Just my luck, huh?”

“You’re not mad?”

Kelly shook her head, still chuckling. “Nah. I’m not really that much into sex for the sake of sex. But everyone I talked to said it was the only way to get you to be able to act as if we were in love. I was willing to
take one for the team
, as it were, because my agent told me this was my biggest chance to really make a name for myself. No one else thinks I can really act…they think I’m just another pretty face with nice tits. I’m okay with not fucking you, as long as you are going to be able to act as if we are…”

Raul shrugged and smiled. “That’s something we’ll both find out, when those scenes are being shot. Those others you talked to are right. I’ve always fucked my leading ladies, along with most of the other women on the set. I have no idea if I have the ability to act as if we are in love. But then, as I told you, I’ve never been in love before. Maybe that’s why I had to be poking my co-stars to even appear to be interested in them. Maybe I’ll be able to think about the woman I really love when the cameras are rolling, and my actual feelings for her will make it seem like it’s you I’m in love with?”

Kelly nodded thoughtfully. “Maybe. Guess I should get dressed, huh?”

She got up unselfconsciously and began to find her clothing.

“I threw it all around because it was dark and I was afraid to turn on a light. I didn’t want anyone else to know that I was in your trailer.”

Raul watched her pull her jeans on, all the while thinking to himself how thin and gaunt she looked, with her ribs clearly visible and her hip bones poking through her skin. He compared that with his memories of the voluptuous woman he was involved with, and found that Big Rod reared in excitement just thinking of Nica and her generous curves. He smiled.

“How did you get in?”

Kelly shrugged. “I picked the lock. I dated a boy in high school who kept getting sent to
juvie
for stealing cars. He taught me how to open any lock with a bobby-pin or a piece of wire. A life-long, useful skill, I might add.” She grinned as she pulled on her tee shirt, then sat back on the bed.

“One thing, though,” Raul said thoughtfully. “You’re going to have to get make-up to cover up that tattoo on your hip. Women back in the turn of the last century didn’t get tattoos even if they were hookers, which Hank Maynard’s lady-love most certainly was not.”

“Oh, yeah. That. I’ve had to cover it up for a couple of my movies. It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“It’s a unicorn, right?”

“Yes. Legends say it’s supposed to be good luck for young females to catch one. I figured that having it on my hip might help me have good luck with men.”

“Has it worked?”

“So far, no. But I’m hopeful.”

“As long as you are here, do you want to do any rehearsing?”

Kelly pushed herself up off the bed, shaking her head.

“Nah. I really am still jet-lagged. I think I’ll head back to my trailer and get some sleep. Jared said we have an early call, and I don’t want to be too tired to give my all to this role. I’m hoping this will be my big breakthrough movie, so I don’t have to keep acting in low budget shit because that’s all I’m being offered.”

Raul nodded. “I’m with you, babe. If I get offered one more crappy action flick that has my shirt off half the time, or another rom-com with full frontal nudity, I just may decide I’m in the wrong field and get a truck-driving license or something.”

Kelly smiled as she crossed the room to stand in front of Raul. She was so short that she looked him right in the eye as he sat there.

“Pinkie-swear that we will both do our best to make this work out?”

Despite himself, he smiled back at her, nodding. He crooked his little finger together with hers and they shook on it.

“You know, Raul, I think we’re going to be best friends by the time this movie wraps. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have many real friends in this business. I’m tired of having to fight guys off, or put out, just to get an acting gig. If we can make the picture that Jared has in his mind, I think we can help each others’ careers as well as our own.”

She walked towards the door, stopping when her hand was on the doorknob.

“Good-night, you sexy man. And I never asked you who you’re in love with, because I think I know who it is. Time will tell if I’m right or not. But she’s one lucky woman, to have the famous Latin Lover Raul Roderick so pussy-whipped that you are turning over a new leaf.”

He could hear her giggle as the door closed behind her.

Pinkie-swear?
Raul sighed with relief now that the danger had passed and he had managed to turn her down but keep their relationship friendly.
Pinkie-swear? And Jared said she’s not that young! Holy crap!

He took a long shower, concentrating on Nica’s curves as he rubbed soap all over his body. He pleasured himself, giving Big Rod the relief that he hadn’t allowed him to get a few minutes earlier in the kind of anonymous, emotionless sex that had been his trademark in the past. And when he got into bed, he felt immense relief that he had faced this ordeal and remained true to the woman he loved. It was such a joyous feeling that he drifted off with a smile on his face, and her name on his lips.

Chapter Seventeen

Things began to get really busy on the set after that. A routine was established by Jared, who liked to keep things running smoothly. Five days a week they shot new scenes. Anything that was questionable was taken care of on Saturday. Everyone had the day off on Sunday. And filming went on no matter what the weather was like. Rainy scenes were shot on rainy days, which fortunately there weren’t many of. Bit by bit, slowly, the story of Hank Maynard’s life began to come alive on film.

Raul and Veronica developed a routine. Veronica brought soup and pie to the set on Friday. She would spend the afternoon watching them film, then she and Raul would either go out to eat dinner, or back to her place. Saturday morning they would head to the resort and Raul would work-out while the pies got made, after which they would run their usual long route, followed by a swim. If Jared needed him back at the set, there would be a message left with Marie. If not, Veronica and Raul would either enjoy the outdoors in the resort’s lake, or go back to her house and fish from there.

Saturday nights were spent making love until all hours of the night, and Sunday was their late morning. They would wake up late and Veronica would create some kind of breakfast. Sometimes it was a coffee cake that she had pre-made and would bake while they made love on the balcony, watching the sun reflect off the lake waves. Other times she would make pancakes or eggs and they would enjoy each other after breakfast, taking their coffee and the Sunday paper back to bed with them. Sundays were for relaxing, then Sunday night was for making love again enough times to
hold them over
until the following Friday night.

Kelly had introduced herself to Veronica the first time she brought lunch to the set. Later during a break in filming, she confided to Raul that it was as she had suspected: he had fallen for his director’s cousin, the one who had been entrusted with keeping the volatile actor out of trouble and out of jail. She said that since Veronica seemed so nice, she was glad that he hadn’t taken her up on her initial offer, which might have made for awkwardness between them on the set. Her conscience was clear and she was really enjoying doing the hard work Jared expected them to do, to make his vision come to life. No other director had ever made her search within herself so deeply for emotions that he wanted to see on film. And she was even more hopeful that this would be a breakthrough moment for her career.

It was with great trepidation that Raul got ready to perform when Jared told them it was time to film the love scenes that today’s audiences expected to see in even historical sagas.

I’ve never made love on camera to an actress I haven’t banged! What if Big Rod misunderstands and I get hard anyway? I’ll be naked, so it’ll be obvious to everyone…and really embarrassing! It’s weird, but I’ve never felt so awkward before. And what about Kelly? She might feel weird since she hasn’t seen me nude. We’re going to be next to each other in a small bed, under light covers
.
The only good thing is this isn’t a Friday, and I don’t have to worry about Nica being on the set! That would be awful!

He was surprised how much he was agonizing over the need to be naked in front of a fully-dressed crew, since he had done so many love and sex scenes in his previous movies.

But everything is different now because I’m different now! I’m in love and I won’t cheat on my woman! Fuck!

When the moment came and he had to walk naked over to the bed, he tried not to meet Kelly’s eyes. She coughed slightly and he glanced up to see her smiling encouragingly at him, with a sparkle in her eyes.

“Come on in, big guy! The water’s great!” She giggled as some of the crew members smiled, the tension of the moment apparently existing mostly in Raul’s mind only.