CHAPTER 18
~Danny~
CLAUDIA IS ON a mission to self-destruct with a shot of tequila in one hand and Vinnie eating out of the other as she tells him fables of her model’s life. I’m done drinking for the night. I don’t want to feel like shit tomorrow and want to savor tonight. “You ready?” I ask Reese.
“I am,” she says, and gives her farewells. I set the keys in front of Vinnie and whisper, “The hotel is only a few blocks away. We’ll walk. Don’t let Claudia drive back. Okay?”
“Okay. Goodnight, Model Danny.”
I nod toward the exit and we go. The six or so blocks back don’t feel like enough time alone with Reese, but I’ll take what I can get. The fresh air will also do us both some good.
Not wanting to waste a second, I ask, “Who was your rebound?”
Bumping into me, she says, “You might be.” When her laughter rings out, including a snort, I know I should have stopped her from having that last shot. But I’m too blindsided by what she actually said to worry about her snorting or how much she drank. Instead the words “you might be” are ping-ponging around my brain and I’m tempted to get her more truth serum, aka tequila.
We can’t.
I know this, I remind myself.
We know this.
She’s a damn flirt. A damn, temptingly gorgeous flirt.
It’s in the new Illustrious handbook and stated clearly in the last contract. But when she twirls, all her worries gone from her body, I’m close to breaking that contract and every promise I made Mark.
I catch up to her and we cross the street together. “You shouldn’t drink. You’re gonna get yourself in trouble.”
She looks hopeful. “Would that trouble include you? Because I’m all for getting into trouble with you.”
I think I’ve opened Pandora’s box, or maybe revealed Victoria’s secret. Sexy girl. “You say that as if you’d follow through when we both know you won’t.”
She moves in front of me, making me stop. With her hands on my stomach, small little movements tell me she’s taking advantage of the situation and enjoying the feel of my eight-pack. “Is that a challenge, Danny boy?”
Sighing, she’s exasperated in the most adorable way. She’s trying so hard to get me to play along, and I’m tempted. I can play with the best of them. Just not with her. This time it’s too close to my heart. She’s too close to my heart and a huge part of my history. I take hold of her wrists and drag them down until she’s about to touch me where I really want her hands, then stop and remove them altogether. “I’ll lose to you, Reese. Every time—whether intentional or not. So this isn’t me challenging you. This is me recognizing the situation for what it is.”
With a flourish, she turns and starts walking again. I stay behind her, thinking she might need the time to think like I do.
Or not…
“Remember that time we almost got arrested for having sex in the car?” she asks, her smile back in place.
“I do. I remember being handcuffed while wearing only my boxers.”
“You looked hot if that makes a difference.”
Chuckling, I say, “Sure, that makes all the difference.”
“Well, I did talk him into freeing you and you never did pay me back.”
“I remember very distinctly paying you back about four times over that night.” As if cued to do so, I wink.
“No, not that. Although that was a very fun night.”
She’s light on her feet, her happiness abounding with each step. So much like the girl I once knew. The girl I fell head over heels for. An ache grows in my chest. Along with the good memories, others take away from the happiness we once shared together. I don’t say anything. I’m not in the mood to relive them tonight or to argue. I just want to enjoy this star-filled night in the middle of nowhere and this moment in time with a woman I’ve fallen for all over again. But we can’t go there. Yet.
I indulge her this time. “I pay all my debts. What did I promise you?”
“You promised to recreate the first night we met.”
It’s the poorest of excuses, but I voice it anyway, “Life got in the way.”
“A lot got in the way.” She’s much more reflective this time, the bounce gone from her step.
We walk the next block in silence. The hotel is up ahead and I find my pace slowing. I’m not ready for tonight to end. I’m not wanting for it to end like this either. I grab her, surprising her, and duck into an abandoned storefront, an alcove housing a locked glass front door and no witnesses around. “Reese.”
She smiles, knocking me a little off balance by its sincerity, the trust seen so clearly with the street lights sparkling in her eyes. “Yes?”
Her lips are left parted and I find them distracting, everything I planned to say to her now gone, completely vanished from my mind. “Don’t look at me like that, okay?”
“Like what?” she asks, her smile growing, a giggle punctuating it.
“Like I’m a good guy.”
“Ooh, are we quoting movies? I love this game. Um, let me think. I’ve got the next line. You’re not a bad guy.”
“I don’t even know what you’re talking abou—”
“Wait, that’s not how the movie goes.”
“I’m not quoting a movie.”
“Oh! I thought you were quoting Twilight.”
“I’ve never seen Twilight.”
“It’s a really good movie. You should watch it.”
“Huh?” I shake my head, wondering where I went wrong with this conversation. I wave my hands as if I can erase all of this and start over. “Listen to me. I’m no good for you. It didn’t work when we were young. Why would it work now? It won’t. But I’m so damn attracted to you—I have all these feelings—new and old. Seeing you smile and laugh, being with you…” I look away, but like every other time, I can’t stay away for long. “I’m going to kiss you. Again.”
“Okay,” she says, the smile gone, the sincerity remaining.
Her back presses against the window as she’s bracing herself, and I lean in. This time I look at her lips, so pink, her breath coming out harsher than seconds before. So ready for me. Her eyes drop closed and mine follow as our lips touch. Gentle pressure becoming firmer. I rest one hand on the glass above her head and with the other I touch her cheek. A small moan is shared when our tongues touch.
I need to stop, so I back away. “I can’t do this. I can’t stop with you if this goes any further.”
“Danny,” she says, tentatively stepping closer to me, “I know we have reasons enough to not do this, but being here with you, dancing back there, kissing you earlier… I have no willpower when it comes to you. I never did.”
“You did once. When it mattered the most, you found the willpower.” I spent years mourning the loss of us.
Watching her, she gazes down to the ground between us. She looks hurt. “There’s so much to still discuss, all the reasons we didn’t work back then. I have questions just like you do, but not tonight. Tonight, can we leave that in the past and forget about everyone else?”
“If you could, what would you do?”
She moves against me, chest to chest, her hand sliding to the back of my neck. “I’d kiss you and more.” Kissing me, I hold her just where she is.
It’s where I like her most, right up against me. When we stop, I say, “I’d like more with you.”
“I would too. Just tonight. Nothing else matters.” She takes my hand and says, “It’s my turn to lead.”
While walking back to the hotel, she asks, “What turns you on?”
I like when she’s forward. I reply, “When the camera is turned off.”
Her quick glance makes me feel exposed, but it’s good to feel this way because I feel like the walls between us are coming down.
With a flash of a smirk of her own, she says, “I’ll keep that in mind.”
By the time we reach the hotel, the sexual tension between us heightens, the possibility of what’s about to happen turning me on. She holds my hand the rest of the way, her fingers tightly woven with mine. Stopping twice to kiss, we come close to “almost” getting arrested again, so we hurry through the courtyard, and straight through the lobby.
We make it to the top of the stairs, right outside my hotel room before we break down and give in to temptation.
I kiss her—hard. I kiss her so she knows there’s no one else I’d rather kiss. When our bodies come together, I feel the nudge between my knees, her softness wedging against my hardness. My back is against the wall, the plaster shaking when I slam against it.
Meandering hands roll over the muscles of my shoulders and into the hair at the top of my neck. I take the time to appreciate the ebb and flow of the curve of her waist. Our tongues frenzy and I spin, trapping her between the door and me.
Tongues delve deeper, fueling desire. My mouth goes to her ear and I lick the outer shell, then whisper, “I want you, Reese.”
“I want you, so much.”
She closes her eyes and softens against me. I kiss her neck and work my way to the side causing her to moan. The warm kisses are replaced by cool air and goose bumps cover her arms. As a shiver runs the course of her body, she squirms, and lifts just enough to capture my lips with hers.
In one swift move, she’s lifted, her legs wrapping around my middle. Our kisses deepen as I walk in and to the side of the bed while she tugs my shirt off. Setting her down, I stand there a moment, watching her as she scoots to the middle. When she looks back at me, she asks, “Are you joining me?”
It’s the best invitation I’ve had in years. It’s also the only one I’ve wanted even longer. “Absolutely.”
She eyes me and says, “You’re known for your six pack, but clearly I see eight. Good Lord, that’s hot. Come here and let me lick you.”
I laugh as I toe my shoes off in a hurry. She slips her shirt over her head and tosses it carelessly to the end of the bed. I take down my pants and slip off my socks. She’s seen me a million times in my underwear at this stage, so we forgo the foreplay of undressing and just get naked.
“Good gracious,” she exclaims, looking at what I’m packing. “My memory failed me in this area.”
My cock definitely likes the attention, and I harden even more. “Mine didn’t, but you’ve gotten even sexier if that’s possible.” Her nipples—pink and pert for me.
Just as I’m about to climb onto the bed, she asks, “Do you have protection?”
I nod, a little too eagerly, so I try to seem less like a geek getting laid for the first time and more like the magazine referred to me—Sexiest Man Alive. I shrug for added good measure. “I’ve got two condoms.”
“Only two?”
Now that makes me smirk. I give her the full thing, no holds barred. She sighs happily and lies back. I grab the condoms and get on the bed. We were frenzied before, but now, now I want to take my time with her, getting reacquainted with her fully.
I lean down and kiss her stomach while kneading her breasts. Lifting, I move up her body and kiss her breasts, appreciating each one with my tongue. Her fingers weave into my hair and she tightens, the hair tugging on my scalp, and urging me on. I look up and she says, “Up here.”
“As you command.” I make sure to slide my body against her as I move up until I’m positioned above her. “God, you’re beautiful.”
Her eyes close, the compliment seeming too much as I grind between her legs. My erection is slick and I’m so close to thrusting into her that I struggle to stop, but I do. Lowering, I kiss her quickly and roll to the side to put a condom on before returning to the same position. This time I press against where I really want to be. She takes my face between her hands, and says, “I’ve missed you.”
That does me in completely. This is how I want those three words uttered, her gorgeous eyes on me, looking into mine. I close my eyes and push all the way in. I stop, my breath caught somewhere in my heart.
Seconds tick, as we lie bonded together once again. Her hands are on my face, cradled in her warmth. When I open my eyes, she reminds me to, “Breathe.” She always took my breath away and with the reminder I push in, her breath pushed out in the sexiest fucking chant that was ever uttered, “Danny. Danny. Danny.”
I kiss her because I can’t resist her dark pink lips, and when her mouth opens, the gesture makes me crave more. So I pull out and push in. “This. Feels so good.”
“So good.”
Resting on my forearms, I kiss her again, and again. I kiss her until my kisses are the only ones she’ll remember. We make love and when she pushes against me, I roll onto my back and let her take charge. With her hands pressed against my chest, her body rocking on top of me, and her hair loose, I try to memorize everything—every feeling, every sensation and breath that escapes her. “I’ve missed you, Reese,” I say, touching her body freely, something I’ve wanted to do since we reunited.
Her nails start to dig in, her head falling back, but her fingers lift suddenly and she grabs my wrists for something to hold on to as she falls into bliss. Her body hugging mine, heat flooding around me, and the sound of her falling apart drags my own orgasm out of me. I grab her hips, keeping her in place as we ride them out.
She lies down next to me, facing me, staring into my eyes as I do the same to her. It hits me. These are the eyes I should have been staring into for the last ten years. Although I’m sure she’s just tired, when she looks down, my heart begins to ache. “Reese.”
She looks back up and I see passion and desire, but I also see warmth and comfort. I see the home I should have had. I look away briefly, her loving gaze making me want to tell her all the things I’m feeling. I get up and dispose of the condom.
She speaks just as I come out of the bathroom, “We can’t tell anyone.”
“For now.”
“Maybe forever.” She rolls to her back and stares at the ceiling and I don’t like the loss. “This was a one-time thing. It would cause a lot of problems and I would lose my job.”
I climb in bed and face her again. “Look at me.”
She glances.
“No, Reese. Look. At me.”
When she rolls back to face me, she does as I asked.
“We can pretend this never happened. We can pretend we’re strangers with no past. We can pretend we don’t mean anything to each other to the rest of the world. But when we’re alone, I’m not going to pretend I don’t care about you. I can’t pretend I don’t have feelings for you, or have real feelings based on a history that was never resolved. I won’t.” I can’t.
Her eyes fall closed and she moves closer, then rolls over so I can hold her. I do. I always will. I pull her snug against me and close my eyes too, liking the time we do have, and not wanting to worry about what we don’t.
She whispers, “Okay. I won’t.”
I smile but it’s hidden in the back of her hair. We have tonight, and for now, that’s enough. I’m content to find a lustful escape into a peaceful slumber as a warm, pliable body molds to mine and the hour closes in on one a.m.