Page 77 of Wrapped with a Beau

“Like parting your soft thighs, crawling between them, and making you orgasm over and over until you couldn’t take it anymore. Like what you taste like when you come undone. Just a flick of my tongue to make you tremble and quake all over again. Folds slick and dripping as I lap at you. Your sweetness glistening all over my face. What a pretty mess you’d make.”

Elisha visibly swallows, brown eyes almost black with desire. He hears her breath hitch as she says, “I can’t believe you said that to me right when I have to get ready for dinner with Damian.”

Ves grins. “It’ll give you something to look forward to.”

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Ves

Right on time!” cries Damian when the pair arrive at Fireside at eight on the dot. He’s got a Pierce Brosnan look going on, all tan and gray and svelte. He gets up to shake both their hands, and if he notices their lips are both a little swollen, he has the grace to ignore what they were doing mere minutes before their dinner reservation. His eyes catch on Elisha’s neck for a moment before quickly sliding away.

Ves’s chest tightens. It wasn’t a lustful look or anything, but he wonders whether Damian thinks Elisha is available. Maybe he does this with all his movies, used to his star power getting him what he wants, even when he’s three times a woman’s age.

“It’s surprisingly empty,” says Elisha, glancing around almost as if she expects other customers to pop out from under the table.

“My doing, I’m afraid,” says Damian. “I wanted to make sure we were alone tonight.”

“Oh, I see.” Elisha smiles at Ves. “Damian Rhys, this is—”

“Ves Hollins,” the older man cuts in smoothly. “I read it on the location release agreement.”

“It’s good to meet you, Damian,” says Ves, placing his hand very deliberately on the small of Elisha’s back. “Let me take your jacket, love.”

She lets him take it. With so many free pegs tonight, there’s no reason for them to share one, so with some reluctance, Ves uses two.

A waitress comes out with a bottle of chilled champagne and a basket of bread rolls. If she finds the cleared-out restaurant strange and the presence of a Hollywood director surreal, she doesn’t show it.

“So, Ves, you have the same last name as Maeve Hollins?” Damian asks the moment they’re alone again. “I admit, part of asking you both to dinner is because I was... curious... about your relation to her.”

“I’m her great-nephew.”

Damian’s voice sharpens. “Karl’s son?”

Ves’s lips part. “Y-yes. How did you—”

Damian interrupts with an abrupt “Is she here? Does she live with you?”

“Who, Maeve?” Ves is having trouble keeping up. How does Damian know who he is and not that the woman he’s asking about is dead?

“I swung by the Christmas House earlier but no one answered.” Damian rakes his hand through his hair, appearing to be in some agitation. His eyes flick to Elisha. “I’d like to see her before I leave.”

She places her hand on Ves’s thigh. It instantly reassures him. “Damian,” she says, “I’m so sorry if I’m misunderstanding, but exactly how well did you know Maeve?”

At once, Ves can see the qualities that make her a good film liaison. Cool head in a crisis. Concise questions that get right to the heart of things. Professional demeanor that puts people at their ease.

“Well, yes.” Damian picks at the collar of his white dress shirt like he’d rather rip it off, be anywhere other than here, having this conversation. Ves can relate. “Since we did the original movie together all those years ago, I thought it would be nice to bring this full circle. Christmastime, the house, the town...” He frowns. “She’s not still mad at me, is she?”

“You knew her from Sleighbells?” Ves blurts out.

“I was one of the producer’s assistants,” Damian says tersely. “And the only one who knew how much she did for the movie.”

Elisha leans in, the V-neck of her red dress dipping dangerously into cleavage. This time, Damian doesn’t even seem to notice. “What do you mean?” she asks, catching Ves’s eye long enough to exchange a WTF? look.

Damian makes an impatient sound, affection and frustration battling in his voice. “Maeve became close with all of the cast and crew, but especially with Heather and as time went on... Nathan, too, who was a known flirt. There was a lot of gossip on set at the time, everyone assuming Maeve and Nathan were an item. But it wasn’t true. They encouraged the gossip and played their close friendship up only to hide the real story—the fact that both the leads were having an affair, Heather gifted the necklace to Maeve in thanks.”

Elisha gasps. “Wait, Nathan and Heather?”

“Back then, Heather was still married. Maeve believed in true love but she also knew that in those days, a scandal that huge would have ruined everyone’s reputation and maybe even torpedoed the movie. The studio ran a tight ship and no one wanted Hollywood’s golden girl accused of adultery, even if nobody liked that lout of a husband of hers. So my Maeve stepped in to help. She cared more about Heather’s career than the bad publicity. Of course, the multiple affairs and drinking eventually did that anyway.” Damian shakes his head. “What a waste.”

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