CHAPTER 17
Lance
I looked at Leila as she curled her legs underneath her, staring at the food on her plate. I didn’t expect us to end up in bed so quickly, nor did I think that I’d be able to pull it off. It only proved to me that Leila meant a lot to me.
“So, you need to finish the work you’ve already lined up?” Leila asked as she glanced at me. I could see that she’d been crying most of the day now that I was looking closely at her.
“Yes. I am obligated to do that, but I can consider leaving the business after that.” I didn’t see that point of being anything other than honest with her. “Will you stay with me until then?”
Leila gave me a long look before she took a bite of her noodles. She grabbed the bottle and washed it down with some wine before she closed her eyes. “I don’t know if I can stand the idea of it.” She sighed. “I also don’t know if I can stand the idea of being away from you.”
“I feel the same way about you,” I told her as our eyes locked for a moment. “I promise you that it means nothing to me, Leila. It was a choice I made when I was younger and now that I’m older and met you, I am reconsidering all of that. On the other hand, I’ve made great money and I have everything that I need as well as the money to give you everything. I can’t regret my life because I can’t change anything now, just what I do once I can change things.”
“I lost the last guy that meant something to me to another woman, Lance. I don’t know what to think about you with anyone else.” Leila took another bite of her food and I watched as her shoulders slumped forward. “I don’t know how I’m even going to meet with Lynn tomorrow. I can’t get the image of you and her out of my head.”
I didn’t know what to say and I focused on eating for a moment as she seemed to consider things. It was a lot to ask for her to be with me in this situation, but I wanted it more than anything. Some of my colleagues had spouses and they worked out just fine with a little trust and strength. I wanted us to do the same. I wanted forever with this woman and the thought scared me as much as it excited me.
There was a part of me that wanted to go back in time and change everything I did upon arrival to LA. I couldn’t though, just like I told Leila. I made a good life for myself and for her as well now and that was the only way that I could look at it. She’d have to accept that to accept me.
Leila finished her plate and set it on the table before she snuggled against me. I felt my heart burst with relief as I pulled her against me and kissed her hair. “I can try. I am going to have a hard time with it, Lance. I will be cranky sometimes.” I closed my eyes. “I just can’t imagine life without you right now.”
“Nor can I. The work and the women don’t mean a thing to me. I swear to you,” I whispered to her as I pushed my plate onto the table along with hers. I pulled her closer and she let out a whimper as she turned in my arms. Warmth filled my chest unlike anything that I’d ever felt before and I found her lips with mine urgently, needing the connection. Leila returned the kiss eagerly and I pushed her down to the couch, wondering where all this want was coming from. I should be exhausted physically and mentally but I never felt better.
We ended back in the bedroom, but it moved slower this time. There was an intimacy to us that I’d never experienced, and I pulled her against me before rolling us over with her above me. Leila kissed me hard and I reached down for the shirt, needing to touch her bare skin. When we’d made love, and were laying together in a drowsy silence when I thought of something and pulled her against me. “Do you have to work with Terra?”
“Who is that?” Leila asked me as I tried to think of her real name. I didn’t know any of the other actors by anything other than their film names and sought the information from the few times that she’d dropped them. “Do you mean Lynn? You don’t even know her real name and you’ve had sex with her?” I could hear the hurt in her voice and breathed in a few times as I stroked her to calm her down, feeling helpless.
“It’s just like Hollywood. I know the names that they use in film and nothing more.” I explained slowly as she sighed.
“I need to get used to this,” Leila grumbled as I assured her that I would give her all the time in the world. “I am going to continue working with her, but I won’t mention any of this. She’s a nice person, even with what I know, and I am going to plow through it and try not to let the relationship become personal. I am going to try and not be jealous. It isn’t like this. I’ll just keep repeating that.”
I hated that this is where we were at and kissed her hair gently. “Good night. I know you can do this.” I was just relieved that she was letting me spend the night and I watched her sleep until I went to clean up the living room and kitchen. I got the food in the fridge and returned to bed, slipping under the covers beside Leila as I watched her some more. There had to be a way to get out of my contracts. I had plenty of money to live the rest of my life now and a woman that I was falling for. I felt sleep taking over as I closed my eyes, vowing to speak to my agent in the morning.
The alarm went off and I invited Leila on a run with me as she blinked at me. “You mean jogging?” Her voice was thick with sleep and I nodded as I glanced at the blinds with the sun bright behind them.
“I do. When does your day start?” I asked as she yawned and stretched, making my body react painfully. I switched my thought to another form of exercise before I moved my mouth to her neck.
“I am meeting my client at ten,” Leila replied as I wondered quickly if it was Terra. “I always try to get up early and hit my yoga class in the morning.”
“That explains your delicious body,” I complimented her as Leila giggled and dropped her head back. “I’ll do yoga with you if we can make it the naked form.”
“I should not want you as much as I do. It’s disgusting,” Leila teased me as I moved her arms to her sides, locking them to the mattress so I could have my way with her. I kissed down her body, loving her moans as I nipped and sucked at her skin. Her nipples were crying out for me to love them and I licked them both thoroughly before taking one into my mouth and drawing it into my mouth. “Lance,” Leila cried out as I drew her between my teeth, sliding in between her legs. My cock was pressed against her stomach as I continued to tease her, feeling the heat coming from her pussy as I slid down. A part of me wanted to slide inside of her and just feel her with my bare dick for a moment and I groaned as she slipped her hands into my hair.
Leila rocked against me as I kept kissing her body, and we ended up pressed together against the mattress as she gasped. She was soaking wet for me and I rubbed up and down with my cock as I lifted my face to stare into her eyes. “You get tested?” Her voice was a whisper and I nodded with a serious expression.
“Always. I’m clean, baby. I never do this without a condom and I have some in my wallet, but this feels so good,” I assured her, seeing the willpower fading from her face.
“I’m on the pill. I have been for a few years,” Leila told me as my eyes widened. “I want you, Lance.”
I eased back slowly before I reached down to guide myself inside of her. “You’re sure about this?” I asked her as she nodded, tense as she waited for me to move. I inched forward, groaning as she raised her hips and dragged her nails down my skin. It wouldn’t leave a mark, but I wanted it to as she wrapped tightly around me. “You feel so good, Leila.” She was tight, wet, and perfect as I continued to move inside of her, needing more. Her arms slipped around my back and pulled me closer as she moved with me. I never wanted to wear a condom with her ever again, pill or not. I’d knock her up a hundred times over just to feel this close to Leila. That thought brought me back to reality and I stilled for a moment as I looked at her. Leila smiled at me before I moved down to kiss her, making love to her eagerly as we edged towards a release together. I came inside of her with a jerk as she moaned my name, tightening and washing over with me with her heat.
I breathed in deeply, feeling a sense of contentment that I’d never reached before. I memorized every feeling of her as I relaxed without dropping completely over her. Once I couldn’t hold my body up anymore, I rolled to my back and let out a moan. “What the fuck have you done to me?” I asked her in a hoarse voice as she let out a slow chuckle.
“I could as you the same thing.” I moved slowly to walk into the bathroom and took care of business before wetting a cloth with warm water to clean her up. “Is this normal? I have never seen a man do this for a woman before.”
“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never wanted to do this for anyone before. Never found a reason to. I want to with you,” I assured her as I dropped the cloth to the floor and looked up at her. “I want to try everything with you.”