Chapter 11
The only reason Luke jerked himself off was to alleviate the pressure building. He’d never been so turned on, and had Mona not banged on the door, he would have had Leona against the door, on the bed, on the floor, in the shower, and any other surface he could find that she didn’t protest against.
That mouth of hers was delicious, even without the minty freshness. And he could have had her for breakfast and been totally fine.
Mona, damn it, why’d she have to interrupt?
Leona had been ready. She made no protest other than time and that fell away as soon as he made the next move. He placed one hand against the wall with his forehead and came against the shower wall.
What he wouldn’t give to be inside her. Later, hopefully after breakfast.
He bit his lip to keep quiet. Last thing he wanted to do was put too many ideas into Mona’s head.
He rinsed off, scrubbed down, and rinsed again before hurrying into the jeans and T-shirt he brought in with him. No need to keep them waiting.
In the main room, he found Leona curled up on the love seat and moved in beside her.
Mona grinned. “So, yesterday, you went on a yacht all day?”
An idea formed. “We did, and had I known you would be interested, we could have brought you along. Ryan’s brother is single.”
Mona’s brow arched. “Brother? Not Ryan?”
He lifted a shoulder. “Ryan keeps to himself more often than not.”
“Interesting. Though I don’t suppose you’ll tell me why.”
He shook his head. “You could try asking, though I doubt he’ll answer. He’s a friend, though, so as long as you aren’t a jerk about it, no harm in asking.”
Her head tipped as she looked at Leona.
Leona laughed softly. “He was cool, but we didn’t talk about that. It was nice to get away and not think about writing, or anything for most of the day.”
“Or movies,” Luke added.
Leona lifted her gaze to his. Her eyes sparkled. Beautiful. He wanted to coax one of those low, seductive giggles out of her, the ones he heard most of the day before.
Blushing, she nodded at Mona. “What did you wind up doing yesterday?”
“Attempted to hang out with Roach. The bouncer’s name is Roach. That tell you anything?”
Luke spoke up, “Come on, Roach is a nickname. His name is Princeton, which he hates with a passion.”
Mona’s eyes widened. “How do you know Roach?”
“Went to school with him, before landing on that show. Good guy, a little crazy at times, but not in a dangerous way.”
Mona licked her bottom lip. “You’re friends with Roach?”
“Yup, and the reason for the nickname was he used to crush the opposing team like roaches. And Roach goes over better than Roach Killer. He was the cornerback and had a scholarship for it, but he hated school. And he gets nervous around beautiful women. He starts out strong, but his confidence starts falling after a while.”
Mona’s expression softened, then she sighed. “Okay, so I should let him take me out again?”
“Well, how bad did you crush him?” Luke asked.
She smiled and glanced away. “I didn’t crush him. I took him to breakfast around noon, then went back to the hotel. And sure, I haven’t called, but I did text back and forth a bit, in case we wound up back at the club.”
“You’re leading him on?” Luke asked, his brow drawn down.
She shook her head and shrugged. “I kept my options open.”
“Fair enough. And if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t, but he’s a good guy. He starts off confident, but sometimes gets shy.”
“I’ll call him after I leave you for the day,” Mona answered. “Just tell me he’ll open up.”
“Yeah, he will. Give him a chance,” Luke offered.
Then someone knocked.
Leona hopped up and went to the door. She sent the bellhop away and brought the food in herself, biting her lip.
“You could have let them bring it in,” Luke said.
“There was someone in the hall with a camera. Figured it was better to keep them far away by doing this myself.”
Would that scare her off? He really hoped not, especially considering that once the movie was made, people would want to know who she was. “We are in Hollywood, in a hotel. It could have been a tourist waiting on someone to leave.”
“Either way, I didn’t want to give them a reason to wonder what’s going on in here.”
“You know that at some point, you’re going to have to deal with cameras and people following you around.”
She nodded, looking at the food. “Yeah, maybe after the movie is made, and I’ll deal with it then. But this was something I could avoid, and it’s early. Mona is in here. Didn’t really want to give anyone the chance to say you’re having a wild threesome in here.”
He smirked. “You’re protecting my virtue?”
“And mine.”
He took her hand and tugged her down beside him. “Sorry. And there aren’t many times they’ll go that route.”
“You can’t know that for sure.”
“No, but you can’t worry about it either. The more you focus on it, the worse they treat you. At least in my experience. It’s better to ignore them.”
“I’m sure you’re right. Not sure I can, but I’ll do my best to do that. And this time, I simply offered to deal with the food, without paying much attention to the camera.”
“True, you were at the door for only a few seconds.” He hopped up and opened the lids. “Which is yours?”
“The Salmon Benedict,” Leona answered.
“That sounds good.” He passed her the plate and handed the breakfast burrito to Mona before taking his plate and sitting.
“I have an idea. Why don’t I call Roach and set up our day?”
Mona fidgeted with the fork. “What do you have in mind?”
Luke grinned. “My secret, just make sure you’re dressed for the water.”
“Water?” Mona asked.
“We’ll leave in an hour,” Luke answered. “That give you enough time?”
“Uh, sure.” Mona’s brow turned down.
“As long as he doesn’t work tonight, we’ll be fine.” Luke turned to Leona. “You don’t have any plans, right?”
“None,” Leona offered before taking a bite of salmon.
“You want to go on a mystery day?” Mona asked.
Nodding, Leona smiled. “Sure, why not.”
“All right,” Mona answered. “Comfortable, right?”
“Right.” Luke nodded
“Now you have me curious,” Mona answered.
* * * *
As soon as Mona left, Leona went to her room to change. Luke was on the phone with Roach. She was ready for an adventure, and she had to believe he would try to keep the media from them.
Now she had to wonder about the woman with the camera, and if she were parked out in the hall.
She pulled on a pair of shorts and a tank top. As soon as she fastened the button, hands went around her waist, his mouth on her neck.
“Tell me what you need.” His breath was a whisper in her ear.
“You.”
“Need relief?” he purred.
“Desperately.”
“Don’t have time to have you, but I can help you.”
A whimper escaped. “You don’t want me?”
“Oh, I do, but I didn’t think it was fair to keep you away from your friend the whole trip. Figured it was better to include Mona. Let me get you off, since I did that in the shower.”
She pressed her ass back and found his hard length. “You have time.”
“I don’t want fast. I want long and slow.”
Her head dropped back to his shoulder. “Slow can be later.”
“It will be. Right now, let me do this.”
His hand slid under her waist band and down to cup her mound. The chuckle teased her as much as his touch. “Already damp.”
Wouldn’t take much to make her come. She was desperate for it. He started to pull his hand out, then dove under her panties, his fingers splitting her and finding her clit.
“Oh God.” She gasped.
He caught her earlobe between his teeth. “That’s not my name.
Oh fuck. “Luke, oh, Luke,” she panted.
He sucked her lobe and dipped his finger into her, rubbing her clit with the rhythm.
His other hand skated up her abs, under her shirt to cover her breast.
“I want to sink deep inside you.” Another finger pushed into her.
“Want you there,” she moaned.
“Not yet.” He rubbed just right, curling his finger, and she came, a cry escaping her lips. “So damn sexy,” he murmured, pulling his hands from her.
She turned as he put those same fingers into his mouth.
Her phone buzzed and she sat on the bed to grab it. Her knees might have given out otherwise.
“How long?” Mona asked.
She looked up at Luke, blinking her eyes. “She wants to know how long.”
“Sooner the better. We’ll be making a drive.”
“As soon as you’re ready,” Leona said, still breathless. She wanted more, and was a little disappointed he wanted to go right now.
She hung up and looked up at Luke, who watched her with the sexiest damned smirk. “Is this some kind of revenge for ditching you our first meeting? Didn’t you get that when you walked out of this room without having me last night?”
He took her hands and pulled her to her feet. “The only reason I held back was you and wanting a real chance. And as much as I’d love to ditch your BFF and keep you to myself, that’s hardly fair. I imagine she’s going back home before long.”
She licked her lips and bit down on the bottom one. “I’m going to have to go back soon, too.”
Moving closer, he nodded. “But not yet.”
She couldn’t find the words to argue. Whatever this was, it couldn’t last, but she didn’t have a good enough reason to end it now. Not when she craved him so damned bad. Sooner or later, he’d be filming again and whatever this was would end.
How bad would she miss him?
Didn’t matter. She needed to live a little. The only way to do that was to try new things. So that was what she was doing.
Shaking her head, she pushed him toward the door. If they weren’t going to get naked, she needed him out of the bedroom before she took it there herself. And the last time she tried that, he tucked her in instead of making love to her. Smart or not, she didn’t want a repeat.
“I know you want me,” he murmured.
“Yeah, but you keep playing the good guy, and I’m starting to see the appeal of bad boys.”
And Mona knocked. She went to the door and lifted a brow at her.
She grinned. “Coast is clear.” She looked past Leona at Luke. “Sure you don’t want to ditch Roach and me?”
Luke shook his head. “Don’t worry about that. I’m sure you two will find your own thing to do where we’re going.”
“How can you be so sure?” Leona asked.
“You’ll see. Come on.” He stepped out into the hall with his overnight bag and glanced back at Leona. “What are you driving while here?”
“A Jeep. That work for today?”
He nodded. “If you don’t mind following the navigation I plug in without asking too many questions.”
“You got it.” She winked at Mona. “Don’t know about you, but this sounds like fun.”
Mona winked at Leona before following Luke to the elevator.