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care how good you become at self-defense. Unless you get a good kick to the balls in, you’re not going to be able to protect yourself against him.” He pushed her back by her shoulders, looking into her eyes again. “Finish the story.”
    “The first time he hit me was the day I auditioned for Jo. He was with me, as he always was. Do you remember in the first season when the producers made the rule that no one could be on set during filming? I asked them to.” She shook her head. “Anyway, he watched our audition. He watched us act together, and then they made us kiss, remember?” The kiss hadn’t been part of the scene, but they’d needed to see if the two of them had chemistry before they were cast.
    How could he forget? It was the first time he’d kissed her, and he’d known then he’d never want another woman for as long as he lived. “I do remember.”
    “He said that everyone could see the passion between us. That after we kissed, you walked away with—” She blushed and looked at the wall behind him.
    “He said I walked away with an erection?” At her nod, he continued. “He was right. Any other woman could dance naked for me, and I wouldn’t be as turned on as I get every time I kiss you. I don’t care if it’s a passionate kiss or just a simple one. I kiss you, and my body is on fire. Hell, I don’t even have to kiss you. All I have to do is be in the same room with you, and I’m ready to throw you on the nearest hard surface and make love with you.”
    “I—I don’t know what to say to that.” Except that he made her feel the same way. She’d left that audition with an unfamiliar tightness in her nipples. She’d been truly aroused for the first time in her life.
    “He hit you because you turned me on?” Jesse asked, wanting to hunt the other man down and kill him on the spot.
    She shook her head. “No, he hit me because you turned me on. I was wearing a thin top, and he could see that my nipples were erect. No matter how many times we’d kissed over the years, that had never happened with him. I never lost my breath when I kissed him. I just look at you, and my breathing becomes labored. He hated me for that.”
    “You couldn’t help your reaction to me anymore than you could fake a reaction to him.”
    She shrugged. “I told him I only reacted that way because I was acting. That I was good.” She laughed. “He didn’t buy it for even a second. He said no one is that good.”
    “Why did you stay with him after he hit you?”
    “I didn’t know how to get away. I thought about getting a restraining order, but I knew he’d still hurt me. He knows my family. What if he hurts my mom? Or my sister?”
    Jesse closed his eyes. “Have you phoned your mom and told her what happened?” He was just starting to realize that it wasn’t simply the two of them who needed to be protected.
    She shook her head. “It just occurred to me. I’ve been so wrapped up thinking about you and this new marriage of ours. I should have called her last night. What is wrong with me?”
    “Valerie, it’s not your job to protect the world. I do think you should call her, though.” He reached over and took her phone from the end table, putting it in her hand. “Call her.”
    When she went to get off his lap, he put his hands on her thighs, keeping her in place. “No, I like having you there.”
    She blushed. “I like it too. Too much, I’m afraid.” She quickly tapped her mother’s name on her phone and put it to her ear. “Hey, Mom.”
    “Hi, Valerie! How’s Texas?”
    “Well, actually I’m not in Texas right now. I’m in Vegas.”
    “What are you doing in Vegas? You should have let me know. Rikki and I would have met you there.” Rikki was Valerie’s younger sister. Their dad had left when they were young, and her mother had raised them on her own.
    Valerie smiled at that. “I don’t think that would have worked out, Mom. Most people don’t take their families on their