Page 65 of Doc Showmance
I ran a finger along his lips. “I’m not playing. But I want to… Do we have to go to your parents’ place? Can’t we get a hotel or something?” I touched along his collarbones. “Love to have a hot tub and time without a camera in our face.”
“I don’t have a bathing suit with me.”
“Neither do I.” I traced a finger along the depression between his collarbones. “You better get me out of here unless you want to put on more of a show for the camera.”
He snatched his phone off the table, eliciting a few groans of complaint to lose one of the three viewing screens of the game and helped me to my feet. He typed into his phone. “Let’s see if we can escape without the cameraman. I know a secret way out of this house.”
* * *
In the backof the car going who knows where, but at least it was away from the party without being filmed, he didn’t ask if he could kiss me. He just did, bending to test the texture of my lips with a swipe of his tongue. Then another. He probed, seeking what I wanted to give. I opened and took him completely in, tasting the last glass of wine he must’ve had.
God,him.
My hands roamed his shoulders and his thick hair while I gave him as much access as I could with my mouth. The kiss was the sound of our muted breaths and sighs. It tasted of hunger and desperation. Of years of longing on my part. With bites and growls and soothing whimpers, the kiss served hefty portions of sweet and scorching.
I shifted to ride his thighs, and before I realized it, my hips took up a rhythm of their own. He held my head still to try to get control, not that he won. He cupped one of my breasts, teasing the tip through the thin fabric of the dress. I broke the kiss to cry out, my back arching to give him better access. I rubbed against him over and over, seeking the abrasion of his pants against my panties.
“Shit, Amber.” He rested his forehead against mine. “Let’s try to wait until we get to the house.”
I didn’t realize it’d be like this with him. A frantic push and pull between the blinding haze of want and the fear of it crashing into destruction in the end. Fear of humiliation strangled me. Would he use me and dump me? Would he take us to the edge and then not go the full mile? Was this even real?
I panted into the side of his neck, hiding my face, which I’m sure was flushed and abraded by his scruff. His broad shoulders heaved with the force of his breath. I gave him one last kiss before disentangling myself and settling into my side of the back seat.
His face was shadowed by the darkness outside, occasionally lit by passing streetlights.
“This is…unexpected. So fast.” I stared at my hands, which I had clasped in my lap.
“Yes.” His hands were back on me, one cupping my face and one on my waist. “I’m sorry that it was a lot.”
For a moment I couldn’t figure out what was “a lot.” Did it refer to the event or to what happened only now? Thinking he meant the latter. “I wanted to… I want it. I’m just not sure we should.”
He leaned in and kissed me again, this time without the madness. Simply a soft brush of his lips before pulling away to peer down at me. “I’m glad we stopped.”
“You are?”
“I want us both clear-headed and alert if this happens. I won’t pretend I don’t want you.”
“We’re only faking this, right?”
“Are we, Amber? That felt pretty real to me. This thing between us, which has always been there, doesn’t feel forced.”
“I don’t know anymore.” I stared out the window. “You know ditching Martin will only stop him for maybe an hour.”
“A lot can happen in an hour.”
* * *
A butlerwho Ian knew by first name greeted us upon arrival at what had to be his parents’ house. He confirmed Ian had his “regular” room, then showed me to mine at the extreme opposite end of the mansion. It took a solid couple of minutes to walk from one end of the place to the other. The house was situated across the bridge into Sausalito with a direct view of the ocean. Guessing based on the acreage of wooded area, this place listed at the highest end on a sale list.
Ian had walked with me to my room, where I found my suitcase waiting. He stood at the door while I explored the suite.
“There’s a huge sunken tub in here. I’ve only seen something like that in movies.” I moved in close to him and slid my hand around his waist to his back. “Want to come in?”
“It’s a bad idea.”
“In the long list of bad ideas we’re living, how is us potentially having fun any worse?”
His head dropped forward. “Amber…this is complicated. We both drank a lot.”
