Page 43 of Broken Rules

“You can.”I was getting harder by the second.I pictured her like that, wearing a scrap of see-through fabric.“Just as pink as your pussy?Is that what you were going to say?”

“Yes,“ she purred.“Now, do you want to hear what I’m really wearing?”

“No, let’s talk more about that nightgown.”I reached into my shorts, and my dick jumped at the brush of my fingers.I would’ve much rather had her touching me, caressing, wrapping her tapered fingers around my aching shaft.

“Are you touching yourself right now?”she asked.“I can hear the way you’re breathing.The way it’s getting faster.”

“I’m holding onto my cock right now, baby.”It twitched and jumped in my hand as I closed my eyes and settled back, focusing on the mental image of Summer on her hands and knees, crawling up the bed, the sheer nightgown she described sliding over her skin.

“Is it me you’re thinking about?”she whispered.

The fucking tease.

“Just you.”Precum dribbled from my tip, and I swiped a thumb across it, using it to lube me, moving faster.“What about you?Are you touching your pussy now, thinking about me?”

“Yes…” she moaned, “… oh God, yes.I’m playing with my clit like it’s your tongue licking me.”

Fuck.Images of her legs spread wide, giving me a look at those glistening, pink folds passed in a blur, and I could almost taste her as I fucked my fist, listening as her soft whimpers got quicker, more urgent.

“Shi-it, Lex, yes…” she panted, “… mmm, yeah, that’s good… faster… just like that…”

My fist was a blur, tightening the way her pussy would.“Would you like that?My tongue slipping through your folds, flicking your clit… ” I whispered, groaning when she did.My balls lifted in time with her high-pitched whine, and I let go, coming until my ears rang while she whimpered and moaned.

“Oh God.”She sighed, still breathless.“That was not where I saw this conversation going.”

“You should know by now there’s always a chance of the conversation going that way when it’s me you’re talking to…” I paused to catch my breath, listening as she caught hers.“So, what were you really wearing?”

“No, let’s not destroy the fantasy,” she decided.A fantasy.That was all this was, really.When I looked at the other pillow on my bed, it was empty.Her head wasn’t on it.It wouldn’t be until the movie premiered.She wanted to play it cool after that brief flare-up with Danica, and I understood why.

She was right too.There was always someone watching, waiting for somebody to fuck up so they could profit from it.I could withstand that kind of a mistake, but she couldn’t.

18

SUMMER

This was it.This was what it had all boiled down to.The endless hours, the nights spent sleeping on the tiny sofa in my office—when I slept at all, which wasn’t always guaranteed.

An enormous bouquet of white roses arranged in a crystal vase waited on my desk when I reached my office the morning we were scheduled to screen my movie in full for the first time.My heart skipped a beat before I crossed the room and found the card tucked among the blooms.

Knock them dead today.- L

The nerves I had wrestled with all morning and most of last night eased a little.My chest loosened.I could breathe… sort of.

Alexander Landry would be there, along with the film’s principal investors and other studio executives.The idea made cold sweat bead on the back of my neck, but I shook it off, determined not to let it get to me.They had to love it.I hadn’t spent days on end sitting with the editors, tweaking every last detail and polishing it until it shone for this to flop.I had never been so sure of anything as I was of this movie.

My only hope was they felt the same way.The thing about art was its subjectiveness.The viewer always brought with them their own perceptions and expectations.

Please let them put all of that aside for today.

Claudia was in bed with a nasty summer cold, and I had promised to call her as soon as it was over.“You’ve got this,” she’d reminded me as I left the apartment this morning.“Knock ’em dead.”

I planned to.

Everything I knew to be true ran through my head all at once as I crossed the lot on my way to the screening room.I knew what I was doing.I was damn good at it.I had Lex to back me up all the way.We had worked hard, doing great things.

And this was just the first of many victories.Like he said while he was inside me on that hotel roof—I was going to own this town.I was never so sure of it as when I stepped into the room where numerous men in suits waited.

One of them was Lex, who offered a secretive little smile when our eyes met.My body ached for him—his arms around me, most of all.I needed his strength and confidence when mine was in short supply.

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