Carly felt everything in her go slack as Janie moved about, tidying the rehearsal space. Productive or not, the day had taken a lot out of her. There had to be a glass of champagne and a cool mask for her eyes waiting back at her apartment, which luckily had a concierge for hire downstairs.
“I feel really good about what we did this afternoon,” she told Lauren as they packed up. “We really got into it.” She shook her head, still amazed at the attention to detail that went into each scene. So different from the rehearsal process for screen, which was fast and furious.
“No kissing scenes today,” Lauren said, as she changed from her rehearsal shoes into her street shoes. She said it as if it was the most casual thing in the world.
Carly swallowed, as a shot of longing she hadn’t been expecting rippled through her. “Nope.”
Lauren straightened and slung her bag over her shoulder. “A shame. See you tomorrow, Carly.” She squeezed Carly’s shoulder as she passed, leaving Carly’s mouth dry and her focus squarely on the spot on her arm Lauren had just touched. Yes, they’d had physical contact all day, but as Ashley and Mandy. This was Lauren’s touch and it felt…purposeful.
She turned to see Trip looking on with an amused smirk. With Ethan across the room out of earshot, she stole this opportunity. Hooking a thumb behind her to the door, she asked Trip a question that she was pretty sure she already knew the answer to. “Does Lauren…flirt very often?”
Trip didn’t hesitate. “I’ve never seen it once.” A pause, as his grin widened. “Until now.”
Carly, by most people’s standards, wanted for very little. She was lucky in that sense. She had money, the adoration of millions of fans, and a job that she enjoyed. But that little bit of attention from Lauren made her feel like the sun was shining on her face for the first time. She stared at the door and placed a hand over her heart, wondering how it had been so boldly stolen.
Chapter Seven
Lauren was on fire, and the throbbing between her legs had her breathing labored. She stared into Carly’s eyes, aching to be touched. Alone in the rehearsal room, they only had a few minutes before the rest of the company would return from lunch, but it wouldn’t take half that long to send her tumbling over the edge. She could already tell. She rocked against Carly, lost in the sea of the blue of her eyes.
“Please,” Lauren whispered. She’d never been so turned on. Kissing Carly throughout the morning rehearsal session had done that. She loved the feel of their lips coming together, again and again. Sinking into the warmth of Carly’s mouth and exploring every inch of it with her tongue left Lauren in a dizzy haze. With her jeans lying on the floor next to where she stood, Carly moved the square of fabric between her legs to the side as Lauren hitched in a breath.
She blinked, and looked around. But it wasn’t the rehearsal studio at all. She found herself in the center of her own dim bedroom, just touched by morning light. She blinked again, realizing she lay in her own bed. The throbbing remained, but her surroundings had shifted drastically. “Wait. It was a dream,” she murmured. Disappointment settled. Her libido didn’t.
She took a shower, and as the hot water caressed her sensitive skin, she closed her eyes and relived that very vivid exchange. The circumstances might have been left to her imagination, but the way it felt when Carly touched her skin, kissed her lips was something she could rely on her memory to supply. That part was entirely accurate.
Lauren’s love life hadn’t been entirely barren. She’d had girlfriends here and there. She thought she’d been in love once with the owner of a small coffee shop in Ithaca, where she’d gone to school. Brenda had been five years older and highly influential in the awakening of Lauren’s sexuality. She once imagined they’d get a cute little place and start a life together. Lauren would become a working actress, and Brenda would run her café. They’d meet back home for wine and dinner and curl up in bed. None of that happened, because she’d been naïve. The relationship eventually fizzled when it became apparent they didn’t truly like each other outside of the bedroom. Since then, there’d been a couple of casual relationships, but