"Solley Rayner."

"Hah!" Marsha's expanded emotional vocabulary bit the dust. "I knew you two were getting it on."

Gin shook her head. "No, we're not getting anything on.

She'd like to, but it's just s.e.x to her. A fl ing to ease her through a tough patch."

"And that's a problem because...?"

"Aren't the complications obvious?" Gin couldn't explain that somehow Solley had jump-started her heart. That she'd delivered a kick up the a.s.s that made her terribly aware of her stunted life and frozen emotions. "The partner is a problem."

"That's history." Marsha gave a dismissive snort. "Dan was never cut out for family life, anyway. Solley's the one who holds it all together."

"Because her children come fi rst. That's another issue,"

Gin said seriously. "I look at them and I'm fi lled with laughter and joy, no tightness, no pain, no guilt. I'm light. And when I'm with her, and with them, I'm happy. I can't explain it, but everything is vibrant and new." Mystifi ed at the clarity of emotion in her own words, she said, "I want it to stay that way.

I don't want to mess things up."

"Things are already messed up. Sleeping with her isn't going to change the situation or ruin your connection with the kids."

Gin shook her head. "You know that's bulls.h.i.t. s.e.x changes everything."

Marsha shrugged. "Then I guess you just have to ask a 78 a yourself what kind of risks you're willing to take. It's funny, I've never seen you back off like this when you want something."

"Maybe if all I cared about was a quick fl ing, this would be easy. But you know what you were saying about falling into someone and losing yourself? I guess I'm afraid I'd...fall into her. In fact, I know I would. I can feel myself going there already. And what if I did, and then it all went bad? I really don't think I could handle that, not on top of losing Miki."

Marsha studied the surf far below them. "Gin, I know there's no time limit on grief, after a loss like that, but it's been four years. I haven't seen you this animated, or interested in anyone, since it happened. That means something, don't you think?"

They sat on in silence until Gin felt she could continue.

"We quarreled."

"Sounds like a good start."

"Her relationship isn't the only problem. You know what it's like in our business. The gossip." Gin rolled her eyes.

"It's not like you give them anything. But that's the problem with don't-ask-don't-tell, they make up whatever stories they want. If you don't have a man on your arm they a.s.sume you have a woman on every fi nger."

"They can say what they like about me, but Solley has kids."

Gin could imagine the gossip if they were seen together looking like more than friends. She wasn't out, publicly, but her closest friends knew she was a lesbian. She knew a lot of gay people, supported LGBT causes, and had a big gay fan base. The tabloids loved to drop hints about her "close friendship" with any female star who spoke to her. It was ironic. She was virtually celibate, taking time to herself while she tried to restore her emotional balance.

"Solley's been hiding behind those kids for too long,"

a 79 a Marsha huffed. "For crying out loud, don't you start using them as an excuse, too. You have to take a chance, Gin." She stated the no-frills obvious with an honest heart. "You can't keep living like this. It's time."

Gin shifted uneasily beneath her speculative blue gaze.

"But it's not the right time for Solley. She can't take a chance.

At least, she can't take a chance on me."

a 80 a

CHAPTER SEVEN.

Kelly Rose arrived at the trailer camp two days later in a black stretch limo, with an entourage of press and studio reps.

"This is the side of Marsha's business I just can't stomach,"

Janie sermonized. "That someone gets paid such an obscene amount of money for looking good and acting stupid. At least Marsha truly earns every bruised and bloodied cent they pay her."

She had already said she wasn't going to hang around for the schmoozing once the presentation was over. She didn't lower herself to such "bulls.h.i.t" and was going to head into town for a protest shop at her favorite boutiques.

Solley had no such compunctions. She wanted to drool over her favorite overpaid, good-looking, stupid-acting screen idol up close. It also seemed appropriate to be present, since Gin was going to receive an award.

"What's it for, exactly?" she asked Janie as they gravitated toward the makeshift stage, along with crew members and fans who'd heard the star was coming by.

"It's the Indie Pendant Film Award for best stunt director.

Gin's won it for Russian Rebels. Since she can't make it to the award ceremony, Kelly Rose is presenting it now and they're a 81 a fi lming the thank-you speech for the show. I hope it cheers her up some. She's been moping like a rain cloud for days."

"Great."

Solley was pleased about the award, but ecstatic that Gin's frame of mind was as gloomy as her own.

She'd often watched the awards event live on TV. It felt strange to think that to the rest of the world, not just her children, Gin Ito was an impressive person. In getting to know her-if ripping off someone's shirt and sticking her tongue in their mouth was knowing-Solley had forgotten she was pretty G.o.dd.a.m.n famous.

In front of rolling cameras and a barrage of fl ashing press photographers, Kelly Rose sashayed up to the stage. A skintight sundress advertised all her charms, as well as the skills of her cosmetic surgeon. Batting impossibly long eyelashes, she posed for her audience, swamping them all in a smile as bleached as her hair. She was, Solley decided, living proof that the cloning crossover between human DNA and Barbie doll plastic was indeed possible.

An elbow nudged her ribs. "Guess who's going to meet your favorite heroine?"

"My heroine?" A series of fl ashbacks and fantasies fl ew through Solley's mind. Gin plunging into the sea from a helicopter. Gin diving into the water from a moving speedboat.

Gin abseiling freeform down a cliff face. Gin's lithe, naked body spread out across the sand dunes. The two of them, kissing...

"Kelly Rose, dufus." Marsha squinted at Solley as though trying to make sense of her distracted response. "She wants to talk to the stunt crew personally. The team works on most of Kelly's fi lms, and she likes to keep things sweet. It's just a PR exercise, but I thought you and the kids might get a kick out of meeting her."

a 82 a Solley brightened. The day was getting better and better.

First, Gin was miserable, and Solley didn't care if her kitten had been run over, as long as she felt like c.r.a.p, too. Second, Solley's favorite actress was here and maybe she would meet her. She watched Kelly Rose present Gin with a trophy shaped like a silver pendant fl ag. She wasn't close enough to hear the speeches the smiling pair made to the cameras, but she was uncomfortably aware of the body language between them.

Kelly Rose clung to Gin's arm like Glad Wrap, the side swell of her impressive bosom crushed against Gin's tight bicep.

She fl ashed a humongous amount of dental porcelain in Gin's face.

Yes, they were just a little bit too close for comfort. Their physical messaging spoke louder than words, the decent words found in a dictionary, that was. Watching them gaze at each other like meerkats in heat, Solley closed her fi sts. Her temper sparked, fueled by the gasoline vapor of jealousy. She knew she was glaring with narrowed eyes and that her feelings were probably obvious to all around her, but she couldn't hide behind a smile.

As the crowd began to drift off, she fell in with them automatically. Any desire to move forward with Marsha and the kids to meet that fl oozy hanging off Gin's arm had completely disappeared. Plus, the temptation to thrash Gin with a camera cable was too strong to keep in check. Deep in murderous thought, she found she'd fallen in behind a couple of familiar-looking young women, the two she'd overheard b.i.t.c.hing about Gin the previous week. Sure enough, parts of their gossipy conversation fl oated back to her.

"They've been an item for years, right back to Princess of the Pacifi c. Gin did all the pearl-diving stunts for her, if you know what I mean." One sn.i.g.g.e.red to the other.

Oh, my G.o.d, don't they have anything better to do? It's a 83 a disgraceful. Solley maneuvered herself closer so she could hear better.

"Well, I heard she does more than her fair share of sucking up to Ito."

"You mean she likes to eat o' Ito."

They both giggled over the terrible pun.

"You need to suck up real good if you want Gin to dive for you. She's not cheap."

"I'd let Gin dive on me anytime. h.e.l.l, she could plunge on me from that helicopter of hers."

Oh, for G.o.d's sake, she couldn't plunge your kitchen sink.

"It must be a hard life when you've got Kelly Rose constantly kissing your a.s.s."

"Maybe not a hard life, but a hard something." More sn.i.g.g.e.rs.

"Did you see Kelly rubbing her t.i.ts all over her arm back there?"

"Talk about marking your territory. Why not just pee on her?"

Solley had heard enough to make her mood even darker.

I knew it. That h.o.r.n.y, fake b.i.t.c.h is panting after Gin. Not that I give a rat's a.s.s.

She swung away through the dunes, her huffy steps kicking up sand. She didn't see the woman lying belly-down in the dune gra.s.s until she nearly fell over her.

"Hey, watch it!" the stranger objected. "What's with the sand-kicking? I've got valuable equipment here, not to mention my eyesight."

"Sorry, I didn't see you. Talk about camoufl age." Solley took in the lean young woman sprawled in the sand. Sawn-off surfer-dude pants and an Army tank top showed off a tanned, muscular physique. Her mid-brown, blunt-cut hair framed a a 84 a cute face complete with baby dimples and expressive gray eyes. She had an expensive-looking camera and telephoto lens pressed against her shoulder like a weapon.

"Why don't you just stick a big fat marker in the sand so everyone knows where I'm at?" the attractive stranger complained. "Get down, woman."

Well, I never thought I'd hear those words this week.

Solley complied, feeling rather silly to be p.r.o.ne in the sand next to someone she'd never met. "I take it you didn't get a general press invitation?"

"Oh, the invitations I get usually involve the use of forceps just to extract my camera."

"Paparazzi?"

The young woman offered her hand. "They call me Sniper, but you can call me anytime," she said with easy confi dence.

Solley shook hands with her. "Solley Rayner, and maybe I'll just call you fresh. So, Sniper, why are we crawling around out here in the sand?"

"Right now I can only think of one good reason and at least forty positions." Sniper's gray eyes twinkled mischievously.

Solley decided to ignore the outrageous fl irting. "What I mean is, half the world is going to see the presentation tomorrow night on TV. Hardly groundbreaking news, is it?"

"Ah, that orchestrated love fest down there doesn't interest me. I've got bigger and better prey in my sights." Sniper gently tapped the lens.

"Like what?"

"That would be telling. And who exactly would I be telling it to, Ms. Solley Rayner? What's your role in Red Revenge 2?"

"None at all. I'm just a gawping bystander. I'm vacationing here. Thought I'd drop by to see the ill.u.s.trious Kelly Rose in the fl esh."

a 85 a "Well, watch the daily papers this week and you might see just that. I'm targeting that trailer there." She indicated Gin's trailer. "A little birdie told me Ms. Rose will be ain the fl esh'

sometime soon, along with her intense little body double.

No one's caught them in the act, so far, but I intend to hit the headlines. This will be so hot off the press the paper will combust."

"And how did you come by this hot tip?"

"Let's just say I have a reliable source." She shrugged casually. "Besides, everyone in the biz knows what's going on behind closed doors. It's hard to prove, but maybe this time I'll score, so to speak." She turned her smoky gray eyes on Solley, and a thoroughly charming grin lit up her face.

Seems everybody's scoring this week, except me. Solley smiled ruefully at the young woman and her suggestive eyes.

"Well, I'll wait with bated breath for the press release. I'd better be getting along."

"Hey, maybe we'll see each other again."

"If we do, you're obviously doing something wrong, G.I Joe," Solley fl ung over her shoulder. She crawled away on hands and knees, unwittingly giving Sniper a delectable view of her swaying rear.

"Seriously, where are you staying? Maybe we could meet up for drinks...or something?"

Solley delivered a barefaced lie. "I don't drink."

"Well, what about the asomething'?"

Solley just laughed. "I don't think so. See ya, Sniper."

There was no way she going to play with this dangerous young charmer. She was h.o.r.n.y, not stupid.

Later that afternoon Solley sat on the veranda swing with her second spiced rum and c.o.ke, replaying the conversations a 86 a from earlier in the day. Something didn't add up. Gin's big spiel was that she was protecting, not rejecting Solley, but the whole world seemed to think she and Ms. Silicone Valley were an item. Why couldn't Gin just say she already had a lover?