I know what bad form it is to ghost a party honoring my director, and I fully expect that someone will bring this up tomorrow when we all finally roll in at the thankfully late call time. As long as Angela doesn’t get anything out of it.

Shit. Angela.

There’s no way in hell she won’t be sniffing around over this.

But I couldn’t stay there any longer. When my thoughts get this twisted up, I’m not fit company. Just look at me now, curled into one side of the limo, the side of my head leaning against the cool glass of the tinted window, pretending to answer emails on my phone instead of talking to the very person that probably deserves the conversation most.

I could slap myself for getting so jealous over Tanner’s five-second conversation with Amber. I have no right to be jealous. We are not a couple.

I realize there’s a little something else under my feelings of envy for Amber. Because while I’m sitting here staring blankly down into my little glowing screen, it’s not her face I keep seeing over and over again in my mind.

It’s Tanner’s yelling at that innocent intern to stop taking our picture.

That hurt.

He doesn’t even want pictures of us together. I want to believe it’s just about being safe with the media. That was my idea at first, too. But why was he so insistent and mean with the poor PA? He must really want to make sure there’s no trace of us even looking like we might be together hitting the press.

It’s the reminder I needed. We are not going to work – not now or ever. This party may have come at the perfect time. I should thank Amber and that snap happy PA. Because if I’m being honest, I was starting to fall hard for Tanner all over again. And that was the one thing I promised myself I wouldn’t do.

My lips curl up sardonically. What would Walter say? I don’t even know if I should bother telling him how close I came to screwing up the shoot-long booty call by having Feelings. He already saw it coming.

“Good email?” Tanner asks, seeing my expression, and I glance over at him. I don’t have to force my return smile, damn it. His huge grin, those friendly eyes… he’s just charming. And now that I’ve had the reminder that I needed that he isn’t a prince, I suppose there’s no reason to stay upset. He’s just obeying my rules, after all.

That sinking feeling can be dealt with later on. I’ll buy a new pair of Manolo Blanhnik’s and all will be good. Probably. Maybe.

Right now, the mess in my head can only be unraveled by losing my mind completely, preferably while impaled on his massive dick.

Apparently Tanner hasn’t learned the healing magic of designer shoes and hot sex because ten minutes later, he’s sitting on the couch insisting that talking is the way to make things better.

“I don’t believe that you’re not jealous.”

I roll my eyes. “Don’t flatter yourself.”

But he ignores my dismissive attitude. “Tell me the truth, Jenna. This isn’t going to work if we lie to each other.”

“This is not going to work because we’re not in a relationship, remember? And I’m not jealous because there is nothing to be jealous over.”

“Fine. Prove it.” His voice is thick and his eyes dark.

And then I get it.

This is a game. He wants to think of me as jealous because it’s sexy.

Something about that challenge lights a fire inside. If he wants to get dirty, that’s just fine with me. I can inflate his ego and his dick at the same time.

I walk to the minibar, grab a couple bottles, and pour them into glass tumblers. Handing him one, I sit down next to him and toss my hair.

Exactly like Amber did.

“Whatcha doing?” he asks playfully.

“Showing you how very little I have to be jealous of.” I hadn’t smoothed down my dress before sitting, and it’s riding up my thighs.

Tanner doesn’t even try not to look, but I’m not ready for him to touch yet. I clink my glass to his in a parody of his toast with Amber that I watched from the bar earlier.

Then I toss my hair again. “So what were you two talking about, anyway?”

“Not much,” he gulps, and I wonder if there actually is something to be jealous of. After all, he fooled around on me once before.

Tanner’s hand snakes out to grab my leg, but I stop him with a wagging finger.

“We’re just having a nice conversation,” I say, impertinently. “Talking about nothing much. Alone together while everyone else is inside.”

“If you’re being Amber in this scenario, there’s nothing nice about her,” Tanner says.

A thrill goes through me. Either he really isn’t interested in her, or he likes a little bad in his girls these days.

I like to think I’m qualifying.

I spread my legs just a little, and he swallows again.

“Um, we talked about Kentucky a little.” His eyes are glued to the tiny triangle of fabric he can see between my legs.

“Oh, Kentucky, huh? I’ve had their fried chicken.” My voice is purposefully breathey, kitten-ish. “I like the breasts a lot.” I run my fingers lightly over mine, bringing my nipples to stiff peaks.

“And the thighs, of course.” My fingertips continue winding a sinuous course down my body, lightly brushing forward and back over the tops of my legs as I let my head fall back in appreciation of my own touch.

Tanner’s breath hitches.

“Do you think it’s true what they say?” I ask, drawing my hand up and under, sliding behind the elastic of my panties. “Is it finger-licking good?”

I draw my finger back out and hold it up, admiring the glistening of my own wetness. He tries to move his mouth over to find out, but I wag it again at him. I let him watch as I take a single, long lick, then run my tongue around my lips.

“Mmmm,” I say. “I think it is.”

While he’s still entranced by my lips, I dip my finger back down to gather more, and then use it to stir his drink.

“Your ice is melting.” I smile at his dropped jaw. A downward glance tells me that any thoughts of Amber that had been in his head are all gone now. That hard-on is all for me. As he sips his freshly stirred drink, eyes on me, I toss my hair again, to guarantee that the next time he sees another girl do it, I’ll be the one he’s picturing.

“Gosh,” I continue in feigned distress. “That was so forward of me. Maybe you’d better teach me a lesson… since I wasn’t very nice.”

I set my untouched drink on an end table and ease my way across him, my stomach pressed against his muscular thighs. He catches on quickly, with a low growl of excitement. His glass follows mine onto the table, and there’s still icy condensation on his big, rough palm as he slides it up my ass, pushing my dress out of way.

He hooks a finger through the waistband of my panties and pulls them down, making a pleased sound when the little peek of my pussy under my cheeks is revealed.

I wait for a long moment as he lets the tension build before smacking my ass. Even though I was expecting it—asked for it, even—I still jump a little in his lap. He gives it a little caress before a second crack follows, this one a little harder. I can feel the blood rushing to the site of the sting, and I imagine how it must look to him, flushed pink in the shape of his hand.

Branded.

“I’m such a bad girl, Mr. James,” I whimper. That earns me another couple spanks before his hand stills and his fingers delve downward where they discover just how bad I really am, drenched from the combination of spanking and excitement at playing another role I’m discovering I’m very good at.

He explores me gently with his fingers as I writhe, feeling empty and hoping if I can just wiggle back in the right way, he’ll slide a couple inside. Instead, he moves away entirely, now running his hand up my side and around to the front, where he gives my nipple a hard pinch. I cry out, surprised at the way the sharp sting followed by soft pleasure echoes the sensations of the spanking.

“I think you’ve learned your lesson,” he tells me with a wicked smile in his voice.

“Oh, I very much doubt it,” I say, standing and pulling my dress off as I runway-walk back to the bedroom, knowing he’ll follow without ever having to glance back. “I’m a very bad girl.”

When he comes to his senses and gets into the room, he finds me on the bed, twirling a curl around my finger same as Amber did as I was walking toward them. But she wasn’t brazen enough to be doing it naked and on her knees, with her other finger in her mouth.

“No,” Tanner’s voice rasps as he roughly flips and bends me so that my freshly spanked ass is in the air facing him. “You’re a fucking perfect girl.”

In a flash, he thrusts inside me, one fierce drive to punctuate his sentence. I didn’t even hear him unzip his pants. I see stars as I scream out at the sudden intrusion. Tanner puts one hand on the small of my back, pinning me in place, then moves in and out of me. I jerk back and forth with the strength of his body. This must look amazingly sexy—me completely nude and getting pounded hard by this fully clothed Hollywood star.

Just imagining it makes me come. The sudden spasms around his cock earn me a gasp.

I pushed him as far as I could with my teasing, and now with my pussy clenching around him, he’s lost any semblance of control. Tanner is fucking me like a man possessed, and this is exactly what I want—no, need—to drive all those other thoughts from my mind. Amber’s flirtation, Richard Thurgood’s proposal, the complete unfairness of Tanner’s refusal to be photographed with me while still using my old nickname in the bedroom…

That last one sticks just a bit. The ache of it blending with the pleasure/pain of Tanner’s sharp, jabbing thrusts, fading into the steady rhythm and blinding ecstasy I feel as both of our bodies tremble and quake until finally he stills and throbs inside me. I follow him off the cliff, both of us crying out our climax. The bliss rolls over and over both of our bodies until we’re completely spent.

       Moments later as I lie in a heap on the bed, panting, my mind remains blessedly blank, but that ache—that ache is still there. Still raw and sharp. The room is quiet except for our ragged breathing and the buzz of the air conditioner.

Finally, Tanner speaks. “So, you were totally jealous, right?”

It’s a good thing he’s still dressed, because it only takes a second to kick him out, leaving him completely shocked as I close the door on his handsome face for the first time since we started this affair.

Of course I was fucking jealous.