Acting Lessons (Off Guard) Read online

  “Of course.”

  They all started for the stairs except for Danny and Julia. Barb stopped abruptly in the doorway.

  “Danny?” There was a warning note in her voice that he must have heard, since he immediately headed her way.

  “Good night, Jules!” Topher called over her shoulder. “Tell Leigh that dinner was the most wonderful thing I’ve ever put in my mouth, and I’ve put a lot of things in my mouth before. And please tell her that I would love to eat her food all the time, even if I would gain five hundred pounds and only manage to get character roles, like the angry fat neighbor or the funny fat friend or the... I’m coming, Jamie-Bear, so you can stop growling.” She giggled as he firmly escorted her out of the dining room. “Growling, get it? Like a bear? Because you’re my Jamie-Bear? ’Night, Jules!”

  Julia’s answering “good night” sounded a little strangled.

  * * *

  In James’s bathroom, which was about the size of Topher’s entire apartment, she stared at her pajamas and sighed.

  “Stupid immersion acting.” She reluctantly reached for the baby-doll nightie. During her Danny-funded shopping spree, she’d decided to get sleepwear that fit with the Tophie role, and now she was regretting it. Severely.

  Her robe was worse than useless. It was sheer, barely longer than the frilly piece of fluff it covered, and, worst of all, was trimmed in lavender feathers. Her matching high-heeled mules completed the wonderfully tacky and Tophie-appropriate outfit, but she felt naked as she prepared to walk back into the bedroom where James was waiting.

  She bit her lip as just the thought of him made her flush with heat. It baffled her how much she enjoyed playing Tophie around him and how much stern James excited her when he was feeding her cake and ordering her around and threatening to spank her... Swallowing a moan, she pressed her thighs together.

  “Stop it.” After a few deep breaths, she shoved down all thoughts of sexy James and felt somewhat composed. With a final long exhale, she opened the door to the bedroom.

  He wasn’t there. Her shoulders, which Topher had braced in expectation of James seeing her in her barely there, feather-adorned ensemble, drooped a little in relief and...was that disappointment? She shook her head, brushing away her confusing emotions.

  “I’m tired.” She walked to the bed in her ridiculous mules that made her feel like Ginger from Gilligan’s Island. Although she refused to admit it, a tiny part of her thought they were all kinds of awesome. “It’s been a long day, and my brain is misfiring. That’s why I’m thinking...weird things.” Like how incredibly hot it would be to be spanked by James. “Stop.”

  Topher smoothed a hand over the silky duvet cover, marveling again at how enormous the bed was. It was so neatly made that it made her want to rumple it—kind of like James himself. Glancing around the empty bedroom and then back at the bed, she grinned and kicked off her mules.

  Scrambling onto the bed, she started to jump. The naughtiness and sheer fun of bouncing on a bed made her giggle uncontrollably. Her nightie and feather-trimmed robe floated up as she came down each time, the air brushing her body.

  The sound of someone clearing his throat made her startle. Her feet tangled as she landed, and her bottom hit the bed as she saw James watching her with an unreadable expression.

  As her cheeks, flushed from exertion and laughter, heated even more, she sent him a grin. “Hi.”

  When he didn’t respond but kept eyeing her, instead, she turned up the wattage of her smile.

  “I like your bed. It’s very bouncy. I’m glad it’s not a memory foam mattress. Those aren’t any fun at all to jump on.” There was still no response. “Um...did you not want me to sleep in your bed tonight? I could stay on the couch, if you like. I just thought that since your bed is huge enough to be, like, an entire planet, there’d be room for me, unless you sleep like this?” She flopped onto her back and stretched her arms to the sides, but they still didn’t reach the edges. It was seriously a huge-ass bed. Twisting around, she lay crossways. “Or like this?” In that position, she couldn’t see James, so she wiggled toward the side until her head tipped over the side and she could see him—although she had an upside-down view. “Where’ve you been, anyway?”

  “Taking care of the horses, since the barn staff is snowed out.” He looked a little flushed. “What are you wearing?”

  Too late, she realized that moving around on the bed had hiked up her nightie and robe to the point that her panties had to be showing. As casually as she could, she shifted so she was sitting on her knees with her legs tucked under her.

  “My lavender jams,” she belatedly answered, petting the feather trim. “Aren’t they fabulous?”

  James’s gaze followed the motion of her stroking hand. “Right.”

  A knock on the door made them both turn.

  “I’ll get it!” Scooting off the bed, Topher shoved her feet into her mules, a little relieved at the addition of a third person. Being alone with James in his bedroom while he ran his gaze up and down her scantily clad self was causing all sorts of rioting emotions. He caught her around the waist and halted her dash for the door.

  “It’s not locked,” he told her, dropping his arm. When Danny slipped into the room, closing the door behind him, Topher blinked at him. James’s touch had made her forget that someone had knocked.

  “Dan.” James used his stern voice, the one that gave Topher the good shivers, even though he wasn’t speaking to her. “What do you need?”

  “I think Barb suspects something.”

  Topher couldn’t hold back an eye roll. She leaned back against James, because he was right there and so temptingly solid, plus Danny’s theatrics were making her tired. “Dan-Dan, you’re such a drama llama. Jamie-Bear and I were super-awesome at acting like a couple—he, like, fed me cake and everything—and you pretended that you didn’t even like me that much, so why would the ginger bitch think anything was wrong? Unless you were being all weird. Were you being all weird?”

  “No! Of course I wasn’t being weird. It was the two of you. Don’t you think you kind of overplayed the whole lovey-dovey thing? And—hang on. What the hell are you wearing, Topher?”

  Sending Danny a quick warning look for breaking character, Topher moved away from James and did a twirl.

  “Why does everyone keep asking me that?” She ended her model-spin with a pose. “Obviously, they’re my cute-cute-cute lavender jams. Don’t you love the feathers?” Once she’d sufficiently modeled her outfit, she stepped close to James again, feeling a little chilly away from his body heat.

  Ignoring her question about the trim on her robe, Danny scowled at them. “What’s going on? Why are you acting like this when Barb and her parents aren’t around?”

  “Like what, Dan-Dan?” She gave him her best confused look as she turned into James’s side so she could pet the front of his shirt. It was hard not to snicker when Danny’s face turned red. He opened his mouth to say something, but James cut him off.

  “Daniel. What did Barb say exactly?”

  With a final dark look at Topher’s hand on James’s chest, Danny said, “She was just asking a lot of questions about Topher—how much money did her family have, if I thought the two of you were serious, things like that. Barb’s acting jealous.”

  “But why would the carroty stick be jealous of Jamie-Bear’s girlfriend?” Topher asked sweetly, playing with one of James’s shirt buttons.

  “She wouldn’t, unless she thought I had a thing for you. That’s why I think she’s suspicious—would you quit touching Uncle James?”

  “Dan-Dan,” Topher said firmly. “It’s only fair that I get to pet Jamie-Bear if you’re going to be screwing the carrot for two weeks. I was very, very nice at dinner and didn’t stick my stiletto heel into the orange twig’s judge-y eyeball when she called me a fat slut, so the leas
t you can do is let me snuggle with your very sweet, very strong, very hot uncle without you whining about it.”

  James cleared his throat as Danny opened and closed his mouth like a fish.

  “Don’t you think the mobster’s spawn is getting suspicious of your extended absence?” James asked.

  “Fine,” Danny snapped before giving Topher a meaningful look she met with a blank smile. “We’ll discuss this later.”

  “’Night, Dan-Dan!” she called sweetly as he stormed out of the room. James moved to the door, locking it behind his nephew. Turning, he eyed her thoughtfully. She braced herself for his questions, knowing that she’d given too much away. If only Danny hadn’t been so annoyingly possessive.

  “You’re surprisingly calm about your boyfriend sleeping with his ex.”

  Her initial instinct was to deny it, but she hesitated. There was something about James that made her want to be honest with him—or at least as honest as she could be. “We were never serious. Now with the whole crabby-carrot thing, we’re so totally over. Dan-Dan’s fun, but he’s not exactly Captain Hottie Pants. In fact, we’ve never even had sex.”

  “You haven’t?”

  Topher braced her fists on her hips but found the gesture lost some of its impact when she had to shake the feather trim around her wrists out of the way first. “Why is that hard to believe? It’s the Jell-O shot thing, isn’t it?”

  “No.” He was watching her closely, but she couldn’t read his expression. “You’re just very...affectionate.”

  She squinted at him, trying to see if he was insulting her—well, Tophie—in a twisty way, but he looked completely sincere. “Only when I like people. If they’re nice, I pet them.”

  His laugh was sudden, and he looked surprised by it. “Right. So, you think I’m nice?”

  Again, she hesitated, although for a different reason that time. Was it wise to admit how very nice—and hot and doable—she thought he was? “Yes.”

  “Am I a—” his mouth quirked up on the undamaged side even as his eye went hot “—Captain Hot Pants?”

  “The term is Captain Hottie Pants, and you are most absolutely a Captain. You might even be a General Hottie Pants.”

  “Good to know. Ready for bed?”

  She blinked at him, not expecting the interrogation to end so abruptly. Relief trickled through her, brightening her already beaming smile. “Sure!” She hurried over to the bed and slipped off her mules.

  “Topher.” His firm tone made her pause and look over her shoulder at him. “No more jumping on the bed.”

  The always-present heat flared again as she stared at him. “Or...you’ll spank me?” Her voice was husky and foreign to her own ears.

  He grinned, looking wolfish and edible at the same time. “You don’t sound too opposed to that.”

  “Uh...maybe?” Her stammered answer made her flush. “I’ve never...” Dropping her gaze along with the end of her sentence, she peeked up at him through her eyelashes.

  In three strides, he was close enough to her that she could feel his body heat down the length of her back. When he tipped his head so his lips brushed her ear, Topher stopped breathing.

  “Good night, Tophie. Just for the record, I think you’re a Captain Hottie Pants, too.”

  She stood frozen until the click of the bathroom door broke her paralysis.

  “Jeez Louise.” With a shaky exhale, she toppled face-first onto the mattress.

  As soon as her brain stopped spinning, she scrambled to get under the covers before James reemerged. It wasn’t until she had the duvet pulled up to her chin that she realized that she still had on her robe. As poor an excuse of a robe as it was, she still didn’t want to sleep in it, so she hurried to sit up, shuck her outer layer and burrow beneath the covers again.

  Even beneath the blankets, she felt naked in her short filmy nightie. Turning onto her side and curling into a ball, she cursed her decision to not pack an ankle-length flannel gown—not that she owned one, but she could’ve picked it up during her shopping spree. Or she could’ve bought a red Union suit. The mental image made her giggle, until she remembered the drop seat, which made her think of James’s hand connecting with her bare bottom, which made her flush with embarrassment and an unfamiliar longing.

  Since when have I been into pain? She frowned. That wasn’t right. Her anticipation wasn’t about pain. There was something about James’s sternness and his size that made her feel small in the very best way. That was why playing Tophie was so much fun with James. She could act silly and young, and he’d keep her safe, cuddle her when she was good and correct her when she was naughty.

  Her insides were melting again. Turning her face into the pillow, she let a low groan escape. How’d she end up in this situation? She’d come to do a job—a very well-paying job—and ended up in Danny’s uncle’s bed—all in one day.

  The bathroom door opened, cutting her off mid-moan. She lay very still, like a bunny hiding from a wolf, as James moved quietly around the room. He shut off the lights, and the bluish-white glow from the snowy night filtered through the windows. It was strange to city-dwelling Topher not to have to close the blinds at night, but she supposed that no one was around to peek into windows, since they were in the middle of nowhere. Still, the uncovered windows made her feel exposed, and she clutched the covers even more tightly around her.

  When James slid into bed, she stopped breathing again. He wasn’t even within touching range, but it felt like he’d taken over the entire space. Her lungs started to protest the lack of oxygen, and she tried to quiet her first desperate gasp for air. After that, she concentrated on breathing steadily, in and out. By the time her heartbeat had calmed enough to hear something besides the drumming in her ears, it sounded like James had fallen asleep.

  Turning onto her side so she was facing him, Topher listened to his steady, barely audible inhales and exhales, relaxing into the mattress as her breathing matched his. Sleep eluded her, though. Despite the multiple layers of bedding, she was cold, especially her feet.

  She stared at the mountainous shape of James’s sleeping body. The solution to her chilliness was right there—she just had to build up her nerve to approach him. Inch by inch, she shifted toward the warm heap of man lying next to her. When she was close enough to feel the heat radiating off of him, the temptation increased exponentially.

  With a final wiggle, she plastered her body against his side, tucking her toes beneath his calf and resting her cheek on his shoulder. James gave a drowsy grumble but slid an arm around her and pulled her tighter against him. Engulfed in blessed warmth, Topher finally fell asleep.

  Chapter Six

  Her heater was trying to escape. That was not going to happen. Without opening her eyes, Topher wrapped her arms and legs around the delightfully toasty form trying to slide out of bed. A male chuckle should have woken her completely, but the short night and cozy bed made her cling to the last traces of sleep.

  “Tophie.”

  James’s husky voice succeeded in opening her eyes. She froze, still holding on to the man like an insane monkey, at the realization that it was James she was clutching like he actually was a real-life teddy bear and not just the uncle of her pretend boyfriend.

  “Tophie.” His lips brushed the top of one ear. If she hadn’t been speechless before, then that tiny touch would’ve done the trick. “Let go, baby girl. I need to feed the horses, or they’ll be kicking down our door, demanding to know what the delay is.”

  The mental image made her give a sleepy smile and loosen her grip. When the chilly morning air slipped between them, though, her arms and legs tightened again.

  With another low laugh, James climbed out of bed with Topher still attached like a baby koala.

  “If you don’t let go, I’ll have to bring you out to the barn with me.”

 
; When Topher opened her mouth to answer, a yawn escaped first. “Okay.” His shoulder was a perfect resting place for her head, and she took advantage of that fact. “Horses are pretty.” It was easy to play Tophie when she was half-asleep. In fact, it hardly felt like she was acting at all.

  James’s chest shook with his chuckle. He definitely seemed to be in a good mood in the mornings. It would be annoying if he wasn’t so warm and cuddly. Carrying her into the bathroom, he set her on the counter next to one of the sinks. The light was obnoxiously bright, so much so that she groaned and pressed her face tighter against his shielding body.

  He moved against her, but she didn’t want to risk getting hit by the glare if she raised her head, so she couldn’t see what he was doing. Her first hint came when the stiff bristles of her hairbrush scratched pleasantly against her scalp. Topher was startled enough that she braved the light and pulled away from his chest.

  “Why are you—” she paused to yawn again “—brushing my hair?”

  “Because if I left it up to you, we’d be up here until noon.” Although his words were cranky, the way he ran the brush through her hair was tender. The rhythm of the strokes lulled her, making her close her eyes again and just enjoy. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had brushed her hair, except for stylists. No one had ever done it just to care for her, and the sensation was surprisingly addictive.

  When he stopped, she couldn’t help but pout a little.

  Since he wasn’t looking at her, the effect of her protruding lower lip was lost. It was probably a good thing, though, since he’d threatened to spank her the last time she’d pouted at him. James didn’t seem like the type of guy to make idle threats.

  “Open.”

  While she’d been distracted, he’d found her toothbrush where she’d left it next to one of the sinks, and he’d added some toothpaste.