Lisa raised her eyes to mine, and I hated the sadness I saw there, as well as the wary expression on her face. “You’ll get through it,” she rasped. “Sex scandals are nothing to famous, sexy male celebrities. Then there’s me.” She cringed. “I’ll be the desperate chick who lured you into bed and arranged for someone to film us to trap you into a relationship. I’ll be labeled a whore, and my damaged reputation could cost me my career with the NYCB.”
It was my turn to wince. Everyone knew that the NYCB had strict rules about the reputations of their members. They didn’t like scandal and wanted everyone to be above reproach.
“Baby, no one is going to think anything of the sort. They’ll see this for what it was. Two people who are crazy about each other, having a private moment violated for the entertainment of depraved people. I adore you and want the world to know it. And just in case you are considering making a break for it, I’m not letting you go. So don’t try anything, or you'll find yourself tied to my bed until I convince you to stay.”
When I finished my little speech, Lisa was staring at me with a look of wonder, which sent a surge of relief through me. “I really underestimated you, Hale. I’m sorry.”
“You had every reason. Especially considering it was my fault this happened. My only excuse is that I was so caught up in you—”
She put a finger over my lips to stop my flow of words. “I’m just as much to blame for not noticing the open curtains. Let’s not ruin the weekend with this garbage. We don’t even know that it’s out there. We may be worrying over nothing.”
I wanted to say something else, but she wiggled on my lap and gave me a wicked smile. “I’m still hungry.” Then she leaned in to whisper in my ear. “But not for food…”
That was probably the moment I should have brought up the fact that we’d never used a condom, but Lisa practically attacked my cock when we reached the bedroom, and after coming down her throat, I lost my mind and fucked her hard and fast, then made love to her before we showered. Where she rode me reverse cowgirl on the bench until her screams echoed off the walls.
We spent the weekend working hard on our next dance and fucking even harder every chance we got. Nothing popped up in the media about a tape of us, so we breathed a little easier when we headed to the show’s studio on Monday morning. I thought perhaps the press hadn’t been as interested in our romance as I’d expected.
I should have known better.
6
Lisa
The past month had been more incredible than I ever thought possible. Hale and I were dancing our butts off, in and out of bed. We had won more than our fair share of episodes and were fan favorites, which meant the producers gave us plenty of airtime. I would have thought that all the attention would bother me, but being with Hale made my discomfort more than worth it. If being in the public eye was the price of having a relationship with him, then I was willing to pay it.
Luckily, the sex tape never popped up online or in the press, so I was finally convinced the paparazzi who had taken the video never got the chance to send it anywhere before he got caught. The possibility that there was a sex tape out there with me starring in it had messed with my head for a little while, but Hale had been incredibly sensitive to my needs and helped me move past my sense of violation.
He did a walk around the guesthouse every time I came over—which was pretty much every night since his place was much nicer than mine and had security—and again before we went to bed to make sure nobody was around. He also installed blackout shades on the windows of the bedroom and insisted on pulling them down anytime I so much as stepped foot into the room. And we only had sex in the bathroom the first couple of times after the incident. When I realized what he was doing, I put a stop to that by riding him hard on the couch…after making sure the blinds were closed, of course.
At that moment, I realized I wasn’t going to let fear ruin the most incredible thing in my life. From there, I threw myself into my relationship with Hale with everything I had. And boy had he made it more than worth the effort.
“You definitely weren’t exaggerating about how good your French toast is.” I dipped my finger into the small pool of syrup on my plate and let out a little moan of pleasure when I licked it off my digit. “I swear I could eat this every morning for the rest of my life.”