Page 25 of Off Camera
“Are you listening to me?” I ask, a hand on my hips.
“No,” he admits. “You’re hot and distracting. I’m sorry.”
“You could come over here and apologize,” I suggest. “On your knees, if you want. Since this is a competition and all.”
“I’d certainly hate to lose.” Reid stalks my way and shoves the pen and notepad off the desk. His cell phone ends up on the floor. The screen almost cracks, but he doesn’t seem to care. He backs me up until my ass hits the edge of the wood, and he smiles when I sit and spread my legs. “And I’d love to repent for my sins.”
My mind goes blank as he gives me a third orgasm and half of a fourth, only letting me finish when I fumble with the phone and call down an order to room service.
He’s leading our game, but I’m still a winner.
I get to be here with him.
NINE
REID
“These fries are delicious,”Avery says. She licks a clump of salt off her fingers, and it’s downright indecent. “I could eat eight servings.”
“Seriously.” I pop one in my mouth. “Who knew the steak tartare and roasted chicken breast at the reception weren’t going to be filling? I guess it goes to show you money doesn’t buy happiness.”
“I’m going to do a taco bar at my wedding. A buffet line of everyone’s favorite toppings, and they can have as much as they want. They’ll be so full, they’ll have to be rolled out.”
“Planning on getting married sometime soon?”
“Is that not what’s happening here?” she jokes, and I laugh.
“I could get behind a taco bar.”
“Speaking of weddings, do you mind if I ask you a question?”
“Go ahead,” I say.
“You mentioned you were engaged before.”
“I was.”
“What happened?”
“Ah.” I wipe my hands and lean back on the pillows behind me. My skin is prickly, not because I don’t want to tell her, butbecause her opinion of me might change when I do. “Do you want the long story or the short one?”
Avery fixes the collar of the shirt I gave her and shrugs. She crosses her legs and drops her elbows to her knees. “Whichever one you want to tell me.”
“Short story: I work too much. Long story: I missed an important event because I was at the office too late, and it wasn’t the first time it happened. It was my fault, and I didn’t listen to her when she told me what she needed from me in our relationship. I’ve learned to put some boundaries up in my professional life since then. I shut my phone off before the ceremony, and I’m not turning it on again until tomorrow because this is what’s important right now. That’s a big step for me.”
“It’s not easy to admit when you’re wrong, and self-awareness shows maturity.”
“It sucks to think you’re going to spend forever with someone, only for that to change. Things happen for a reason, though. Glass-half-full optimistic bullshit, according to my therapist. What about you? Ever been engaged?”
“That’s something I’ve never been asked by a one-night stand before.” She cocks a brow before continuing. “I haven’t been engaged. At one point, I thought I might be. But it’s like you said: everything happens for a reason.”
“What if I don’t want this to be a one-night stand? What if I want to see you again?” I ask.
Avery smiles and crawls across the mattress. She slings one leg on either side of my hips. I rest my hands on her bare legs and stroke my thumbs up her thighs.
“I’d like that,” she says. “You mentioned something about dinner.”
“My place on Tuesday?”
