Beneath Your Beauty Page 10

  Could she be everything I need?

  Could she be everything I want?

  I’m hoping like fuckin’ hell that this trip will give me the answers I need.

  Kayden

  Once we emerged from the passageway and into the airport, the first thing I noticed was how glamorous everyone looked. There were very few people dressed in what I was used to as everyday clothes. This caused me to panic. I should have packed better and not listened to Steele. Of course, being a woman and wanting to fit in, the first thing I wanted to do was find the nearest mall and purchase a completely new wardrobe. Or I could hide in a restroom until our flight home. I was going with the latter as the best idea.

  When I heard Steele’s name being bellowed a few times, I turned to see flashing cameras. Questions about who I was were being thrown out. I was not prepared for this, and it pissed me off that Steele had not informed me about it, but I kept a slight grin on my face the whole time because I didn’t want my picture in some tabloid or magazine with a nasty scowl on my face.

  Steele’s hand laced firmly with mine, I double-stepped to match his single steps as we hurriedly walked through the airport. He didn’t mutter a word the entire time.

  The thought that I should have Googled Steele when I had the chance taunted me now. I hadn’t known he was this popular. I had assumed that porn stars weren’t followed or that people didn’t give a crap about what they were doing. With this new knowledge of his popularity floundering around in my head, my next move was to find a computer.

  Of course, that would take place after I had stopped by the mall for my new wardrobe.

  Once outside, the sun-drenched sky caused me to squint. Steele halted, scanned the area, and found what he was looking for. Then, we were on the move again. We stopped at the side of an SUV. He opened the back door for me to get in. I didn’t question it. I just got in.

  I stared through the thick tinted windows and watched Steele stand guard. Just as I was about to open the door and ask what was going on, a husky black man about two inches shorter than Steele appeared with our bags. The striking man had a shaved head and mirrored sunglasses resting on his nose. By the style of his clothing, I didn’t think he was some kind of chauffeur. Once he and Steele placed the bags in the back, they turned to each other and gave a handshake along with a one-armed guy hug.

  Hmm…

  As soon as their asses hit the front seats, we pulled out into the bustling traffic of LAX.

  “So…” the striking black man drawled. “You must be Kayden?”

  Steele was apparently too wrapped up in other things as he was silent and tapping rapidly on his phone.

  “Yes, I am. And you are?” I sat a little straighter in my seat.

  The man’s eyes met mine in the rearview mirror, and he smiled, but I did not. Although he had a great smile, I was not going to play the poor little small-town girl—at least, I wasn’t going to show it even though it was tormenting me on the inside.

  “I’m Rocco, Steele’s roommate.”

  Roommate?

  Steele never revealed that he had a roommate. The last I’d heard, Steele was selling his house.

  How could he if he has a roommate? Better yet, does the roommate know?

  “Oh…”

  “I take it, he never mentioned me?” Rocco said while weaving in and out of traffic like a maniac.

  I cringed when we came so close to the car next to us that I could probably tell what color the woman’s underwear was. She seemed sophisticated, so I was going with beige.

  “No,” I replied.

  Steele finally decided to put his phone down and join what I was finding to be an awkward conversation.

  Thank God.

  “Kayden, this is my roommate, Rocco. Rocco, this is my girl, Kayden,” Steele said casually.

  “Thanks, Einstein, but we kinda covered that,” I bit back.

  Rocco snickered. “I like her.”

  Steele couldn’t blame me for being snippy. I didn’t know him very well. Okay, maybe I could be blamed for that. Still, he’d just upped and taken me away from my comfort zone, which I happened to like very much, and he’d thrown me into an anxiety attack by making me fly. Furthermore, he’d gone and drugged me, which was nice in a way because I hadn’t had any problems on the flight. Then hauled me through the airport like a lunatic and into an unknown vehicle with a driver that I did not know. In addition, he’d had the balls to ignore me and play with his goddamn phone. Okay, maybe I could be blamed for all of it. I should have held my ground and stayed home.

  Anyway…

  “Princess…”

  Oh no, he isn’t going to play this bullshit.

  “Oh, don’t Princess me,” I said irritably.

  Rocco chimed in with humor in his voice, “Does she have a sister?”

  “Fuck off,” Steele tossed back at him before answering his ringing phone.

  Yes, I had a sister, and if it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be in this freaking mess right now.

  The rest of the ride was rather quiet, except for Steele explaining to someone on the phone that he was dating me. From the gist of the conversation, the person on the other end was not happy about it.

  All I wanted was a shower and a nap. From the traveling and the drug hangover, I was exhausted.

  We pulled into the driveway of a medium-sized modern ranch home. White with black trim and a few hedges lining the front of the house, it screamed, Men live here. My head swiveled to the street, which was lined with cars.

  “I told everyone you were coming back for a few days, and we decided to surprise you with a party,” Rocco informed Steele.

  Steele grunted, and not his I-just-came-happy sexual grunt. No, it was an outright irritated grunt. “You’re shittin’ me.”

  “Nope,” Rocco replied, throwing the car in park.

  That was when I noticed two girls running out of the house with barely there bikinis that looked more like pasties and an eye patch. Both were screeching Steele’s name.

  “Um…” Rocco stumbled. “I forgot to tell them about Kayden,” he finished sheepishly.

  Steele muttered, “Fuck.”

  I just stared in disbelief while thinking that I needed more motion-sickness pills and a shot or two.

  Kayden

  The bouncing bikini girls were, Cora and Addie, or as I like to refer to them- the pasties. I had to admit that they were very nice—a little clingy for my liking but nice. After Steele had explained who I was and the initial shock had worn off their faces, they’d stayed glued to my side.

  After I’d met Cora and Addie in the front yard, Steele had brought me inside for a quick tour. His house was small, not what I had expected, and it was very white. When I said white, I meant, stark white—as in everything. The only color in the house was the furniture. Even at that, it was black leather couches and black lacquer tables. I hadn’t even known they still made lacquer furniture anymore.

  He had brought me from room to room, and I wasn’t expecting what I was seeing. The walls were bare. There were no picture frames and no knickknacks. There was nothing. I didn’t know why, but each room he had shown me, the gloomier I’d gotten. Steele’s bedroom only contained a platform bed dressed in dark gray, one dresser where a medium-sized flat screen TV sat, and one nightstand in dark wood. That was it.

  The house screamed emptiness, which was weird because two men lived here. I’d had expected beer bottles, empty pizza boxes, and sex paraphernalia to be littered everywhere, but it looked as if the house hadn’t even been lived in. I would have felt worse if he lived here alone. However, it also told me that I had no idea who Steele Kincaid was. Steele Waters—yes, he was a porn star, and something told me that he would have a freaking awesome house. Therefore, this house was all Steele Kincaid, and it made me sad.

  I’d forged on with a forced smile on my face as we continued the tour.

  We’d then moved on to the two-car garage, which held his dusky-blue Ford F-150 and a sleek-loo
king all-black motorcycle. The motorcycle was something Hunter would refer to as a crotch rocket. I noticed that when Steele was giving me the tour that it felt exactly like…a tour. He’d pointed out things like a tour guide would, but he’d shown no emotion whatsoever.

  He’d brought me out back where about fifteen people had been mingling around. Again, the area was nothing spectacular with only plain iron patio furniture scattered about and a huge grill at the corner of the concrete patio. At this moment, I had seen why he’d enjoyed my back patio so much.

  As people had stopped what they were doing and stared, Steele had turned to me and told me to go freshen up in his bathroom. I hadn’t argued with his demanding tone. I’d needed a minute or…years to pull myself together. I’d felt like I was in another world—a plain and white sad world.

  The minute I’d shut the bathroom door, I had taken a deep breath. I’d slouched against the door, trying to wrap my head around my surroundings. I had thought coming to Steele’s home would shine a little light as to who he is, and now, I was even more puzzled at who he was. Except for the fact he had lived in a gloomy home.

  I had begun to freshen up, knowing Steele would come looking for me if I took too long. I had typed out a quick text to Hunter, telling him that we had arrived and all was well. After I changed from my jeans into khaki shorts, I had thrown on a light-pink sweatshirt over my faded gray Murrays T-shirt before slipping my feet into pink flip-flops. The weather had been beautiful, but I’d had this agonizing chill in my spine. I hadn’t known if it was because I wasn’t used to the weather or the melancholy hanging over my head.

  My guess had been the melancholy.

  As soon as I’d emerged outside, Steele had introduced me to the crowd. That had been a bit unnerving because I didn’t like to be on display. The way everyone had acted seemed robotic to me. It had taken me a while to pull this together in my head. I had predicted that he’d had a talk with all of them while I was inside, which I hadn’t liked, because I felt like he was hiding something. Out of all the people who were there, none worked in the same business as Steele. That had been slightly calming. Although, from the way the pasties had come flying out the door earlier, I had wondered if Steele had slept with them. I’d told myself that he did. Otherwise, I would just be blinding myself to reality.

  Besides the pasties, the only other person who had given any interest in me was Kemen, Steele’s good friend and owner of Burn. I’d met Jim and Sophie, the owners of Lift Me, the gym that Steele belonged to, and Patty, who worked for Sophie and Jim. I loved Sophie and Patty. They were so down to earth, and they had shown that they genuinely cared about Steele.

  There had been an uncomfortable moment when Patty had said with a mother’s stunned contentment, I’ve never seen Steele this happy before.

  And Sophie had agreed with an, I know.

  This had caught me off guard because I hadn’t thought he appeared to be all that happy. Steele had seemed happy during the last few days at my house, but this Steele had seemed to be shielding himself with a painted smile on his face.

  As if he’d heard Patty and Sophie, his head had twisted in our direction. Our eyes had met, and he’d grinned, which had made me return the smile back. When he’d winked, a nice, cozy feeling had drifted through me.

  Patty and Sophie had hummed, Mmhmm.

  I had just disregarded them.

  After half a day of traveling, filling my stomach with a burger and some salads, and sitting for hours talking. Steele had caught me yawning, and he’d kicked everyone out. We had gone to bed, and I’d crashed.

  I stretched my legs, reeling in the texture of the black satin sheets on my bare legs. With the warm hard body pressed against my back, I could have stayed there for hours. However, I didn’t have hours to lounge around.

  Steele nuzzled his face in my hair. “Good morning, beautiful.”

  “Good morning,” I said, my voice strained, as I stretched again.

  His hand ventured up my tank top and cupped my breast.

  “Steele…”

  He kissed the back of my neck. “Quiet, Kay.”

  I disregarded the warm sensation flowing through my girlie parts and stilled his hand with mine. “I don’t have time, I have to get ready. Cora and Addie are going to pick me up in an hour.”

  Steele groaned, grinding his erection into my ass. “There’s always time for sex.”

  I wiggled free, giggling. “Is that some kind of porn-star motto?” I questioned, putting one foot on the floor.

  A strong tatted arm seized me around my waist and hauled me back into bed. Lying flat on my back, Steele hovered over me and kissed me deep.

  He broke the kiss. “No, smart-ass. Come on, I’ll shower with you,” he said against my lips.

  “No.”

  He questioned with a raised brow, “No?”

  I pushed at his shoulders, but didn’t succeed as he hadn’t moved an inch. “No, because I need to take a quick shower and get ready, and I have a feeling that will not happen with you in there.”

  Steele gave me his sexy pantie-melting grin. “I can be quick.”

  Between his smiles and his erection rubbing against my girlie parts, I gave up. “Fine,” I huffed.

  He smiled.

  Steele was not quick in the shower, but I wasn’t going to complain. Shower wall sex was a new adventure for me, and I was hoping to enjoy that adventure again soon. Afterward, I ran around the room, getting myself together. I tossed on faded blue jeans, a deep-red fitted tank top, large silver hoop earrings, a wide brown belt with little red, pink, and yellow flowers painted on it, and a pair of black Chucks. I threw my hair up into a ponytail and put on some mascara and lip gloss, and then I was ready to go. We were only going to the mall.

  How dressed up did I need to be?

  When I was in the kitchen, sipping coffee, the pasties walked in. Apparently, I needed to be dressed up for a mall trip, because they were head-to-toe glamorous.

  Shit.

  “You look”—Cora’s eyes roamed down my body—“cute.”

  “Maybe I should change,” I said, undecided.

  Steele came to stand in front of me, and kissed my forehead. “No, you look fine.”

  “No, no, no…”Addie chanted. “We have to get going. After we find the perfect dresses, it’s going to take at least two to three hours to prep for the party,” she said while typing on her phone.

  Two to three hours for prep? Holy shit.

  I’d thought it would be an hour at the most. Even though they were not in the business, they knew many people who were, and I was grateful they would be at the wrap party tonight. It would be comforting to know two other people there.

  I fought with Steele about me taking his credit card, and I lost. I figured I would buy the dress with his card and use mine for accessories. He gave me a mind-blowing kiss and informed me that he was going to get some shit done today, so I should text him when I was on my way back to the house. Then, I was off to the mall with the pasties.

  “She would look great in red,” Addie said to Cora.

  Cora came back with, “Oh no, green, like an emerald green.”

  Addie twisted from the front seat of the car and looked intently at me sitting in the back. I wanted to sink into the white leather seat, but melting into leather was impossible, so I smiled.

  When she twisted back around, she breathed to Cora, “Yeah.”

  Cora made a call on her Bluetooth while she drove, and Addie went back to tapping away on her phone. I figured this was what people did in California, so I took my phone out, turned the volume off, and played Doodle Jump. Just as my little green man and I were going to break our record, my phone vibrated, and I opened a text from Steele.

  Don’t let the girls get to you. Try to have fun, beautiful. Miss you already.

  I grinned. Even a few miles away, he could read my mind.

  Thanks. I will. XO

  Once I hit Send, I regretted putting the hugs and kisses, but what was
done was done. He could make me feel as if I were a schoolgirl at times, and this was one of those times.

  I received a quick text back from him with a little yellow face winking at me.

  To my amazement, dress shopping went quickly and was very productive.

  I had picked a dress I wouldn’t normally buy. Any other time, I would have wished that I had somewhere to wear it, but this time, I did. When I had come out of the dressing room, the pasties gasped, so I had known then that this was the dress.

  I chose a metallic lace sheath dress. It had a deep V with cap sleeves and a pale pink ribbon that wrapped around the waist three times. It fit me like a glove, so much so that I had done the dress test that my Aunt Sally had once taught me. I’d bent over while in it, jiggling and making sure nothing would fall out, and nothing had. Then, I’d sat in it and twisted and turned to make sure it wouldn’t pull or stretch to the point of something ripping, and nothing had ripped. After passing Aunt Sally’s dress test, I’d bought it. Well, Steele had bought it.

  I paired it with pale pink strappy sandals with a heel that I hoped I could walk in, and then I ventured into one of those cheap costume jewelry places. Cora and Addie would not go in with me, saying they wouldn’t be caught dead in there.

  I found some soft gold bangles, a pair of matching hoop earrings, and a kick-ass large pink stone ring. They might be able to afford the real thing, but I couldn’t. Then again, they probably didn’t have a drug dealer demanding a hundred grand either.

  After the shopping had been done, we set out to grab a bit to eat.

  “Isn’t Steele amazing in the sack?” Cora had asked.

  I had choked on my sip of iced tea. As I coughed like a hacking cow, Addie had patted my back, “Cora, you probably shouldn’t have said anything.”

  As soon as my coughing fit had ended and I had regained my composure, I’d stupidly said, “It’s okay. I know I’m not the only girl he’s been with.” I had taken another sip of my drink, hoping I could wash away the pain of the words I’d just said, but then I’d felt the frog coming back. “I mean, he is a porn star.” I had forced a laugh.