Blasphemous (Torn #3)(54)

Thank goodness, I had Shiva and the pole classes to keep me in shape.

I was actually out in Palm Desert for two weeks of filming and had barely just gotten back two days ago. It was a short, small part, but I had fun anyways; so it was definitely worth it.

“Home, sweet home,” I said, gathering my purse and locking my car before letting myself inside.

What greeted me was a huge, shocking surprise. Lindsey, Amber and Trista were glued to their seats in the living room, watching a recorded interview of Bass. I was a few feet away, facing their backs, so they didn’t know I was here.

Bass was dressed in black jeans and a black, long-sleeve shirt with the sleeves pushed back, making his arms look even more noticeable. He looked so good… and happy. My insides ached when he smiled at the audience while the camera zoomed in, capturing it superbly.

“So, you and Nikki, huh? How’s that going?” The comedian host grinned at him.

Bass made a secretive smile before answering her. “Good. It’s good. Nikki’s an amazing woman. She’s—”

“Talented?”

Everyone laughed in the studio. “Yeah, she certainly is a talented actress.”

“Yeah?” she pressed on.

“Yep.” Bass wasn’t giving any bits away, so she went to another subject.

“One of your anticipated movies, Blasphemous, is coming out early this summer. I heard that the studio is going to make an announcement to warn the audience to bring an extra pair of underwear.”

Bass laughed, whilst running his fingers over his hair. “No, I didn’t know about that.”

“They sure will.” She cleared her throat before looking serious this time. “America is curious and we want to talk more about Emma Anderson. I think everyone saw that GQ spread, right? Whooof!” She started fanning her face. “She’s hot. I want to talk more about that hotness. Is she really that gorgeous in person or is it all airbrush and Photoshop?”

Oh, f*uk! I thought with dreadful panic as I watched Bass tense a bit when my name was mentioned. “Nah, it’s all real. She’s naturally beautiful.”

The host grinned and nodded in agreement. “Yeah? Well there were rumors about you guys dating and a couple of grainy pictures with you two together. Is there any truth to that?”

Bass gave a sexy smile, shaking his head while scratching the side of his jaw. “We were close at one point.” He then added, “She’s a great woman.”

The host nodded as if calling his bullshit. “I see. I see. Moving on, the question the audience wants to ask you today is, are you single or will you be spending this Valentine’s Day with someone special? Saaay a particular Russian babe?”

He gave a careless shrug. “I have a very hectic schedule and going on romantic dates isn’t on my agenda at the moment, but I might drop by and hang out with friends.”

“Soooo, you’re saying that you’re not a romantic kind of guy?”

Bass gave a deep chuckle, making me nostalgic. He laughed so hard that he was starting to blush. “I, uh… I could be I guess. I have no idea.”

She tsked him. “You’re not? Awe, I don’t believe it. You’ve got to be a romantic guy, Bass. You’re too dreamy not to be! Okay, okay. How about you tell us the most romantic thing you’ve ever done for a woman?”

“Does buying tampons count?” Bass was almost red with embarrassment.

“It sure does! What a lucky tampon lady, but we want to know more. Give us another one, then we’ll stop nagging you.”

“This woman I dated loved her ice cream. So, I hired a chef to make twenty-eight new flavors of gelato and I had named them each to describe her.”

“Is he talking about Emma? Or someone else?” Amber glanced at Trista.

“Emma never said anything like this… so I don’t know. Maybe.” She shrugged and went back to the screen.

Lindsey interjected with a snort. “Of course, it’s Emma. Bass only fell once and he did it with our girl. Emma’s not going to dish out every single thing that happened between them. Duh!”

It was a week after we got together and we were inseparable. After each time we made love at night, I always wanted ice cream. His surprise made me so happy that we ended up trying all the flavors on each other. The kitchen was a melted, sticky mess, but we still made love, not caring about anything else.

“Twenty-eight?” the host double-checked.

What came next left all the air in me. “It was the day I realized that I was falling for her.”

What twenty-eight? It didn’t make sense because he got me the ice creams in the beginning of the month… that meant that he was in love with me before we even got to Greece? Twenty-eight… It had to be that first month we met… that night when I had dinner with him and Martin. Wow. He never told me any of this.

Wow. I f*uked up really bad.

The audience simply gushed in the background. “You did this all for the same woman?”

“Yep, I did.” Bass laughed it off, shifting in his seat. “I’m not normally all gushy and mushy.”

The host looked dreamily at him. “But you so are!” she gushed, fanning herself. “Is the woman by any chance, Nikki?”

“No, definitely not Nikki. Well, that chapter is closed. We make new memories, I guess.”