The dressing room was large.
There was a big desk with a mirror over it against the wall. Although there was a laptop on the desk, it was also covered with a bunch of other stuff, gifts and letters mostly, and food, all kinds of food.
The door to the full-bathroom was located on that same wall and the bulk of the room was setup like a big living room. But there was a step up to a separate space in the corner that had a curtain open over it. The curtain was tied back against the wall when they arrived in the room, but Trick told her it could be closed.
She didn’t get why she would want to close the curtain over a couch until he went over and opened it into a bed. Ah, it was a pull out couch! Above was a cabinet and he’d pulled out pillows and a blanket to spread on the bed. When it was made, Trick had sat down and patted the space beside him and she knew exactly what he had on his mind.
He had a bed in the building!
It felt so good to take advantage of the space when, for once, no one knew where they were or what they were doing. There was no pressure to be “on” they could just be them. Themselves, together, alone, no expectations.
Sex without any chance of being interrupted made for an intense experience. Both of them could relax and explore each other, and they had, for she had no idea how long.
After, they’d laid together for a while, but he’d got up to use the bathroom and left her alone to reflect on how her life had changed, and how his had now that he was a married man.
“How many other women have you had sex with in this bed?” Lyla asked, spreading her legs to let one curl around the blanket that was strewn over her body.
Trick had just come out of the bathroom and was over at the desk, picking through a fruit basket, in full naked glory. “Uh…” He turned around, his mouth full of grapes, and elevated his eyes to the ceiling to begin counting off on his fingers, seeming to go through a mental list.
One finger, two, three, four. He moved onto the second hand and then back to the first. Still counting. Swallowing, she slowly sat up wishing she hadn’t asked and was about to say that when he set her in his sights.
“Yeah… none.”
He returned to his fruit. “Really?” she asked, pulling her knee higher.
“I know the man whore thing is a great joke,” he said, pulling a bunch of grapes off the main stalk. Bringing them back to the bed, he sat down beside her and pulled one off to pop it into her mouth. “But Kira’s the only woman I’ve been with in like three years.” Her chewing slowed until her jaw stopped altogether. “Well, Kira and you.”
Uh huh, her… Sitting straighter, Lyla leaned over to put a hand on his chest. “Two women? In three years?”
He nodded and tossed a grape into the air to catch it in his mouth. “Everyone forgets, I got my first show when I was eighteen. They painted me as the bad boy and back then, I was happy to play to it. No problem. I bounced around networks for a while, each played on the same kind of theme. I was… twenty-three when I first appeared with Green and Tate. Twenty-three, Ly, yeah, I was an idiot, I won’t deny it. We went to the opening of an envelope if there was an open bar and I fucked anything with a pulse. We had cash and we were adored. Anytime we walked in anywhere there was this cheer like the party had arrived, and we played to that. We all did… Everything was free, we ate for free, drank for free, got season tickets to every stadium, people threw stuff at us and the networks went wild trying to get us signed up for shows, so we cashed in, and that meant partying hard.”
At twenty-three she was working her first job out of college, still getting over Declan, and thinking about getting a cat. Trick was living it large, sleeping around, drinking heavily, and living a life most people would envy at that age.
“But that changed when you met Kira?” she asked.
He held up the bunch of grapes to pick off a good one for her. “I was about… twenty-eight when things started to change. Josie was mugged about a block from where I was partying… I was too drunk to take the call.”
“Josie? Your sister, Josie?” she asked.
That must have been an awful thing to wake up to hear. His need to follow her after their argument made more sense now. Trick wouldn’t leave her vulnerable in the street because he probably still lived with the guilt over his sister’s mugging, he wouldn’t want more if anything happened to his wife.
“She was ok, just shaken up, the guy didn’t hurt her. Thank God she just handed over her purse. But my dad called me the next day and ripped into me, I didn’t even remember what had happened. I was in bed with… someone. I didn’t even know where I was or what had happened. I felt like crap, but I thought if I partied harder I’d forget how much of a dick I was…. Then a few months later, I met Tanya…” He circled his lips in an oh; like just the memory of her got him hot.
“You fell in love with her?”
He shook his head. “Not love, lust. I was infatuated with her, chased her all over the world. She went to Australia, so did I. She went to Japan, I was right there too. Almost lost everything for her. The guys tried to cover for me, but I was missing deadlines, skipping filming, really falling apart. Looking back, it was all an excuse; I just needed to get away from everything. I was done with the bullshit, shallow stuff and she made me think for a minute that maybe my life had some kind of meaning.”
Learning about Trick was fascinating and his trust was humbling. “So where is she now? What happened?”
“Kira happened,” he said. “Tanya was a model too, they moved in kinda the same circles. I only met Kira because of Tan. We all partied together… spent the night… together.”
“Together? But… oh…” He spent the night with both of them. “A threesome?”
He nodded. “We were a threesome for a while, everybody knew it. I thought I was it, you know? I mean, come on, I didn’t just have one model, I had two!”
Sure, that was every guy’s ultimate fantasy. “So, what happened?”
“Tanya left,” he said. “I was devastated. I’d only got with Kira because Tanya said she wanted it, least that’s what I said… but what guy would say no? Not a dumb idiot like me anyway. I followed Tan to Milan, told her she was it, told her we’d ditch Kira… I almost asked her to marry me… Almost, but I didn’t.”
“Why not?”
Inhaling, Trick tossed the grapes to the nightstand and turned around to lie on his back and lock his fingers behind his head as he focused on the ceiling. “She laughed at me. Told me I was a joke. I’d been dropped from every show, I was writing a column back then and that was my only source of income, my travels with my models across the world; that was all I had… The sad part? I didn’t even write most of it, I got one of the girls to do it for me. Tanya told it to me straight, I’d lost everything, ruined everything. I was sad, pathetic, washed up… And damnit… she was right.”
“I’m sorry, honey,” Lyla said, spreading her hand on his stomach.
He picked it up and when he pulled it to his mouth, she was forced to lie against him. But she didn’t mind giving him comfort if he needed it. With her breasts crushed against him, she kissed his chest and stroked her free hand up and down his torso.
“No, she did me a favor. I came back home and buckled down. Made it up to the guys, begged the networks to take me back, and picked up the radio show. It was gradual, but I got it all back. It could’ve been worse, I’d been off the reservation for about a year, but I had to really prove my dedication to everyone, I had to work harder, and I did. I knew I couldn’t mess it up.”
“And Kira?”
“Showed up on my doorstep a while after I was home,” he said. “We talked, agreed to give it a shot.” And that lasted a couple of years before he found out she was cheating on him. “Since Milan, I’ve… I’ve just been going through the motions, I guess. I know what people expect, and I do it… But think about it, how many women have you seen me hit on…? Other than you?”
None. Now that she thought about it. No, he didn’t make moves on women. Yes, he could make a correlation between any subject and sex. He said outrageous things and had no shame when it came to using sexual language and innuendo, but he didn’t sleaze on strangers.
“Other than the kissing on our wedding night, I—” He exhaled a short, disgusted laugh and she brought her eyes to him to see he was glaring straight up at the ceiling. “Trick?”
His eyes dropped to hers. “You didn’t think it was weird that they showed a montage? They didn’t show me moving in on any of those girls.”
“They set the girls up?” she asked, but he shook his head as he smiled.
“It was all old footage,” he said, “stuff from through the years or tabloid shots. If I’d been making out with women, I wouldn’t have waited for the camera to line up the perfectly angled shot, would I? Most clubs aren’t lit for picking up shots like that in the corners or in booths. It wasn’t tough for them to set it up. All they needed to do was make sure I was wearing the right kind of shirt in the footage, or no shirt, that my hair style wasn’t obviously different. They’ve got whole libraries of me and the guys doing stupid things.”
“Oh my God,” she said, sitting up to gape down at him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“We did go to the club, for about an hour; some of the partying footage was real.”
“But most of it…?”
Shaking his head, he reached for her hand, but she took it away and moved off the end of the bed to crouch and pick up her panties. “Babe?” he asked, sitting up. “What’s wrong? I knew if I stayed at the reception, if I stayed with you, that they’d expect us to, you know… be together on our wedding night. We were strangers, I didn’t want to put you in that kind of position. I sure didn’t want to force myself on you. I didn’t know anything about you or if you’d have the confidence to say no even if you were against the idea of us sleeping together. Going to the club was a way of getting us both out of that situation. Baby? I didn’t kiss those women. I didn’t kiss anyone that night. The only person I’ve kissed since our wedding day, since we met, is you… Shouldn’t you be pleased?”
“I am,” she said, but the burn of tears was making her sinuses sting. Her bra was down the stair, so she crawled forward and picked it up to pull it on. But her hands were shaking and tears were blurring her vision. Oh, she had to get out of here, fast. Where was her dress? And her stupid hair, why did it keep getting in her face? Why the hell had she worn it down? Sniffing, Lyla managed to hook her bra, but as soon as she let go of the strap, she knew that it was twisted. “Damnit.”
Trick crouched beside her and when he tried to hook her hair away from her face, she curved away from him. “Baby?”
“I’m fine,” she said, and unhooked her bra. Her fingers wouldn’t work and she couldn’t get the stupid thing untwisted. His fingers covered hers and she let her hands drop when he took over the task. Trick untwisted it and hooked the clasp again. “Thank you.” Her quiet words were almost a whisper.
“Look at me, Malloy,” he murmured, his fingers combing through her hair, he tried to be subtler about turning her head.
His touch was so soothing that she let her legs curl out from under her so she could sit on the stair. Lifting her head, her wet eyes rose to his. “Nairn,” she whispered.
His expression became so pained that she lost her fight to contain the tears. “Oh, baby,” he said and put his arms around her to pull her to his chest.
Her tears fell for more than a minute before she pushed back. Being in his arms felt so good that she could’ve stayed there all day, but the last thing he wanted was a crazy emotional person sitting on the floor of his dressing room.
“I’m sorry,” she said and tried to brush the dampness from her face.
“It’s ok,” he said, cupping her jaw to rub his thumbs back and forth on her cheeks. “I’m sorry I made you cry, baby. God, I’m a fucking idiot.”
Gritting his teeth, he swore at himself with such hatred that she was infused with a need to console him. “No,” she said, moving up onto her knees. “It’s not…” Her chin wobbled and he exhaled another pant of pain. “I don’t know how you do it… How you let them do it to you… You’re just so… You’re this amazing guy, but you let the world think you’re this selfish, cocky, player, and you’re just not like that…”
It took a minute, but his brows came slowly down over his eyes. “You’re… you’re crying for me? For me?”
Pulling away, she began to stand up. “I’m stupid, I—”
He yanked her so hard that she fell against his body, but he caught her in his arms. “I love you, Lyla Strickland,” he murmured and drove his hand into her hair behind her ear to pull her mouth to his.
Every kiss they’d ever shared was intense, but this was something else. This was like an exchange of souls. He kissed her so deeply as he lay down on the floor, taking her down on top of him before turning her onto her back where he continued his worship of her mouth.
When her body was pulsing with the strength of her need and her tears were long forgotten, she let her head relax on the floor and spoke before he could kiss her again. “We’re out of condoms.”
Grinning, he kissed her fast and hard before he leapt into a crouch and darted over to the desk to pick up a large tin. He brought it over and tossed it onto the bed before bending to scoop her up. He laid her on the bed so gently and kissed her again before reaching over her for the tin and popping open the lid.
Inside there had to be five hundred condoms, and she gasped.
Trick stayed on his side, his arm crooked over her shoulder to support his head, while she was on her back beneath him. “They’re something people like to send me,” he said, raking through the hoard. “We have just about every brand known to man in here, ribbed for your pleasure.” Picking up one, he put it on her stomach and then went back to the box to pull out another. “Glow in the dark.” He put that one beside the other and she laughed. “Blueberry flavor.” He picked that one out, scowled at it, and tossed it away over his shoulder. “Won’t ever need that one.”
“Why would they need flavors?” she asked, putting her hand in the tin to rummage around.
“Well,” he said and cleared his throat. “Sometimes a girl might like to—”
“Oral,” she said and turned her head to smile at him. Lyla was surprised to see how heavy and happy his eyes were. Taking her hand from the tin, she touched his chest. “Would you like me to…”
“Blow me?” he asked and she was sure her cheeks reddened as she rolled toward him to bury her face against him for a brief second.
But she inhaled and relaxed to her back again. This was her man, and he didn’t have an ounce of shame… and she loved it. “I was never any good at… that.”
“Who says?” he asked, dropping his fist from his temple to rub his thumb on her forehead. “I think if you so much as breathed on my dick I’d go off.”
If she didn’t laugh, she’d probably scream. “Trick!”
“What?” he asked, shrugging and returning his fist to the side of his head. “I’ve had crazy fantasies about that mouth.”
He exhaled and his eyes sank to her mouth as if he was languishing in memories of those fantasies.
Tilting her head, she wondered, “Have you ever thought about me? Like that… if you…”
“Jerk off?” he asked and seemed to enjoy her smile so much that he had to kiss her. “To be honest, since we got married, I haven’t really.”
“Of course not,” she said, scowling at herself and shaking her head.
He curled a finger under her chin. “Not because of why you’re thinking,” he said. “Because of the cameras. There are cameras in the shower, in my bedroom, everywhere I might think of having some quality time with myself… I did on honeymoon after I saw you in that bikini. But I don’t guess there were a lot of guys who didn’t after they saw that.”
Skimming his hand down over her belly, he bowed over her to kiss the swell of her breast. “It was just a bathing suit,” she said. “I like swimming and it’s functional. It wasn’t sexual.”
“Oh, it was,” he murmured, opening his hand to squeeze it between her back and the bed. When she realized what he was doing, she lifted to let his hand in. Unclasping her bra with one hand, Trick proved his skills, and she helped him pull the straps down her arms to cast it aside. “These are beautiful.”
Watching his hand as it ran across her breasts, he squeezed each one, then bowed to kiss her nipple before he breathed it into his mouth. His mouth was incredible, he sucked hard and gentle, teasing her into a whimper, and a moan. One of his hands slithered down her body and down the front of her panties.
Opening her legs for him, she lifted her hips when he slid a finger into her. “Oh, God, Trick,” she exhaled. Her heart was going so hard that she lost her breath. “Stop… please, stop.”
Taking his mouth off her breast, he took a minute to focus on her eyes because there seemed to be a glaze over his. His hand stopped moving, but he didn’t take his finger out of her. “How can I make you feel good, love?”
It was almost laughable that he was asking her for suggestions when he was the professional and she was the novice. “It does feel good,” she said, curling her body toward his. “I just… I need a minute.”
Putting his arm around her, he pulled her to him and sank onto his back to hold her. After she let her eyes open, the first thing she saw was the proud protrusion of his penis sticking up toward her. His need was obvious, but he’d wanted to take care of hers first and even now, he was happy to just hold her when she said she wasn’t ready to be overwhelmed by him again.
Reaching for him, curiosity made Lyla curl her fingers around him. This had been inside her. She’d gotten intimate with a part of his body that she’d never spent any time getting to know. Drawing a fingertip from the tip of him to his base, she let it move back and forth. He was long, but what did she know about how long penises should be? Thinking about doing research on the subject, Lyla decided it didn’t matter if he was bigger or smaller than what was average because what he had was perfect for her.
His hand skimmed down her arm toward her hip and he began to lever her weight back, but she didn’t want him taking over, so she moved his hand back to her upper arm and then returned hers to his dick.
Opening her hand, she spread the span of it flat on him then pushed down to gently rub his testicles beneath.
“Damn,” he hissed.
Instantly, her hand leapt away and she coiled her fingers into her palm. “Sorry,” she said.
But he grabbed her wrist and pushed her hand back down. “No, baby, that feels good. That was good cursing.”
Good cursing, ok.
Encouraged, she slid away from his curled arm and moved her face onto his abdomen so she was literally face to face with the head of his penis. She didn’t even realize her hand had moved to his upper thigh until he rested a hand on her head and began to comb his finger through her hair to spread it across his upper torso.
“What do you think it’s going to do?” he asked with a smile in his voice.
“Am I making you uncomfortable?” she asked, aware of the weight of her head on his abdomen.
But when she started to rise, he dropped his palm to her temple and pushed her back down. “Actually, can’t think of anywhere else on earth I’d rather be right now,” he said.
Smiling, she was so flattered by how genuine he sounded that she turned her face and kissed his abs. Her cheek grazed the tip of his penis and she felt a shiver go through him. Wrapping her fingers around his shaft again, she edged forward, extending her tongue.
At the first flicker of contact, he tensed and his fingers twined in her hair. “Don’t let me hurt you,” she said as she lifted a little to move lower.
“Mm hmm,” he growled, the strained sound coming from the back of his throat. “Malloy, you don’t have to—”
“I want to try,” she said, keeping her focus on his dick as she slid her fist up and down his shaft.
She was never going to be a pro, and he’d probably had enough oral sex to last him a lifetime… or two. But she was curious and the best research was hands on.
Kissing his head, she opened her lips and dipped to take him into her mouth. The mass of him was difficult to accommodate. Sucking him as far in as she could, she forgot to breathe and pulled back fast.
Hmm, this wasn’t like she remembered it.
Declan was the only man she’d tried oral with and he hadn’t been impressed by her efforts, so she had just assumed it wasn’t one of her strengths.
But, for some reason, Lyla felt a real urge to do this. It had been Declan’s suggestion when they were together, but this was her choice. She wanted to do this for Trick; she had to at least give it a good try.
“Come on, Lyla,” she muttered to herself and rose to her knees as she gathered her hair in her hands and held it in one hand at the back of her head.
This was a challenge and she wasn’t giving up without a fight.
Holding him tight, she bent over and kissed him again. Instead of going straight for the hard suck, she circled his head a few times. Sliding her tongue around the smooth crown, she dipped it lower over the ridge to his shaft. He’d said it felt good when she stroked his balls, so she slipped her hand from his shaft down over them, but that took him from her lips.
Twisting to seek him out, Lyla was surprised to find that Trick was watching her. His head was propped on a pillow, his eyes were little more than slits, but he was definitely looking at her.
“Will you hold my hair, please?” she asked because she didn’t have any ties on her. Scooping his hand up the back of her neck, he curled his fingers around hers to take over management of her hair. She smiled. “Thank you.”
He kept his fingers tight around her hair, but managed not to restrict her movement as she went back to licking and tasting him. It helped her to have both hands freed up because she could explore and support him as much as she wanted to and while her mouth opened around him again, she sucked hard and squeezed her fingers around his base. Trick groaned and his hips rose, which pushed him deeper into her mouth.
Drawing in a breath through her nose, Lyla tried her best to go with it. “Damn,” Trick moaned. “I’m sorry, baby.”
But she’d got this far, and she was doing it. So she smiled and twisted to blink at him as she pulled back and went down to suck him deeper again. He bared his teeth and hissed. Yes, this was it, breathe, suck, it was all about the rhythm. Taking her time, she didn’t push too far and let him move in her one increment at a time.
Her confidence grew and she kept going, letting her hand spread on his belly as the other fondled him, she twisted her head on the next descent and he swore.
“Baby, I’m gonna come. You need to move.”
Tugging her hair, he began to pull her up. But she whimpered and grabbed for his hand, frowning as she shook her head and sucked him again. Pulling his hand from her hair, she tossed it backward and saw his smile just a fraction of a second before her hair cascaded down over her face.
Lyla gasped when he smacked her ass and gave her a squeeze, but her concentration was absolute. Making him come was her ultimate goal and if she could do it on her first try—
“Damn,” he said and clenched as the warm, thick milk from his body burst into her mouth.
Rising some, she kept her mouth around him, but didn’t want to choke, so she swallowed over and over, keeping the seal of her mouth around him until she was sure he was done.
When Lyla rolled to her side, her head flopped back to the spot it had started on and she exhaled. “How was that?” she asked, pressing her hand to her hammering heart.
“How was…?” Trick didn’t finish his sentence, he just took a breath and then laughed out loud.
Hmm, maybe not the response she wanted. When she flipped her head over, he probably didn’t have time to read her frown before he grabbed her arms and hauled her up the bed to put her on her back.
Pushing her hair up out of her face, she took a second to catch her breath. “Some women aren’t as naturally talented at this stuff,” she said. “I’m trying, Trick. I don’t think it’s right for you to laugh at me when—”
“Laugh at you? Baby, I’m in love. How was that? It was incredible! And you swallowed, you didn’t have to do that, love.”
“I wanted to,” she said, “was that wrong?”
Shaking his head, he dipped to kiss her jaw then her neck. “No, baby, it was incredible. You’re incredible. You get top marks, extra credit, and a gold star… If I had the world, I’d give it to you right now. Geez, Malloy, what are you doing with a schmuck like me?” Tracing a fingertip up and down his chest, she was pleased that he was so happy, but suddenly felt a web of anxiety closing around her, which Trick must have sensed. “Baby, talk to me. You never have to do that again if you didn’t enjoy it. Never, Ly. I don’t need that—”
“No,” she said, her eyes bouncing to his. “It’s not that, I was just thinking… I’ve… I’ve never felt like this before, Nairn.”
“Good,” he said, curving a hand around the side of her neck when her eyes dropped to her finger again. “It’s selfish of me, and arrogant, but I want to be the only guy you ever feel this way for.”
“We’re married.”
“Yeah.”
“We’re part of this show.”
“Yeah.”
“What if it’s all fake?”
He drew back an inch. “You think I’m messing with you? That I’m lying about how I feel?”
“No,” she said, grabbing his shoulder before he could pull away. “I mean, what if the show and them forcing us together, what if it’s making us feel this way? Intensifying things, you know? Like with Tanya, you said you were infatuated, what if that’s what it is? What if we’re just infatuated because we’ve been forced to be together?”
“I know the difference between infatuation and love,” he said. “I’ve experienced both… have you?”
Had she? Maybe… But didn’t they say if you weren’t sure, then you hadn’t? “I guess I just wonder… how will this work when the show is done? When the cameras are switched off and the lights go down? What happens next?”
He exhaled. “Malloy, I love you, I know that for sure. This is real for me. All the way… But if you don’t feel that way…”
Lyla had switched off her emotions plenty of times over the years. It was the best way to avoid getting hurt. She’d said that she was going to let herself love Trick, but every second she spent with him was intensifying the emotion that she wasn’t sure she was equipped to handle.
His phone rang. When he rolled away, straight off the other side of the bed, she couldn’t stop him from going. Staying on her back, Lyla focused on the ceiling, something she’d seen Trick do plenty of times.
“Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, gimme five.” Something landed on the end of the bed. “Ly, I’ve got to get in the shower.”
He was working tonight, or maybe he was meant to be working now, she didn’t even know what time it was. “Right,” she said and forced herself to get up, wrapping the blanket around her body as she scooted to the edge of the bed.
“You don’t have to get up if you don’t want to,” he said.
“Don’t you have to put the bed away?”
He shook his head. “Not if you’re using it.”
“Won’t you get in trouble if you leave me here? If I’m in here without you?”
“You’re my wife, Ly,” he muttered.
Oh no, he wouldn’t look at her. She’d seen this guy before. Pissed off, dejected, grumpy, she’d broken him… again. “Can I use your shower when you’re done?”
His attention rose to hers. “When I’m done?”
“You’re pissed at me,” she said. “You don’t want me in there with you when you’re pissed off… do you?”
“Malloy,” he exhaled and smiled as he shook his head and ran a hand into his hair. “Baby, I’m not pissed at you.”
Going over, she squeezed herself in close to him, still clutching the blanket at her chest in both hands. “But you’re doing your grumpy face thing and I said a stupid thing. I upset you and I—”
“You didn’t say a stupid thing,” he said, holding her face. “You were honest and I want you to tell me what you’re thinking. Always. Okay?” She nodded. “Promise me, baby?”
“I promise,” she said and then squirmed. “So why are you doing your grumpy face?”
“Because I’m thinking that karma is a bitch,” he said, peeling each of her fingers away from the blanket, forcing it to fall to the floor. Resting his hands around her narrow waist, he stepped back to admire her body. “I think that with all the crap I’ve done in my life, it would be the perfect punishment if the woman I love more than I’ve loved any other couldn’t love me back.” Her mouth fell open, but he used a single finger beneath her chin to close it before she could speak. Smiling, he bowed to rub his face in her hair. “I don’t want you to ever lie to me, ok? And never feel guilty if this isn’t enough for you… I’m going to do what I can to be everything you ever need. But if there comes a point I’m not satisfying you, cut me off. If you get a better offer from a better guy, take it. Don’t hesitate. Don’t think about it. You just do it, because you deserve the world, Lyla Malloy. Understand?” Again, she nodded and after a second, he kissed her forehead then smiled at her. “Now, who said something about sharing the shower?”