Authors: Amanda Heath
“Good. That dog is more trouble than he’s worth.” I can’t tell you how many shoes I’ve found chewed up and that dog has only been here for a couple of days. “If he chews up one more shoe I’m gonna lose it.”
Talia gets wide eyed and runs over to me, wrapping her muddy arms around me. Luckily, I’m not wearing my dress for tonight, but still, now my favorite robe is all muddy. “You can’t get rid of him! Momma, he’s the best dog ever. He licks my face and he keeps me warm at night. He’s the bestest friend I ever had!”
I just shake my head at her. “I’m not gonna get rid of him. I swear. I’m just fussing.”
“Good. But you need to stop fussing or you’ll get into trouble.” And with that she stalks out of the room like the Queen of England.
“That girl has sass,” Ryan says from the bathroom doorway where he’s naked from the waist up. “She told me I couldn’t kiss you when I was dirty because she didn’t want me messing up her momma’s pretty skin.”
This makes me snort. “I don’t know what I’m gonna do with her.”
“Sit back and enjoy the ride. I doubt that girl is going to let us control anything.” He comes closer, reaching his arm out but I smack it away.
“No, I just got my hair finished and I need to get dressed. You aren’t distracting me,” I tell him, stepping back when he goes to reach for me again.
“But I love you,” he says with a pout. For some reason he seems to think saying those words will make me do anything he wants.
I smile and keep backing up because he’s still advancing towards me. “I love you too, but I said no.”
His hand snakes out right for my hip but I smack it away. He grins at me, and before I know it I’m backed into the wall. He pins me in by putting his hands next to my head. I’m not wearing heels at the moment so I’m quite a bit shorter than him. He gives me an intense look with those sweet kiss of cold blue eyes. “I want to kiss you. I want to touch you. Yet you run away. That’s not cool, Green Eyes.”
This time I pout. “That’s not fair at all. We have to get ready, we don’t have the time to have sex right now.”
“Who said anything about sex?”
“No one did, but kissing you always leads to sex, especially if we’re alone, much like we are now.” I reach up and wrap my hands around his forearms. Damn the man and his muscles.
“I’ll just take a kiss and then I’ll be done, I promise.” I narrow my eyes at him but I still stand on my tippee toes and touch my lips to his. Before I know it his hands are touching my head and he’s moving me to where he wants me.
When his tongue goes into my mouth I bite it gently. He growls at me before untying the knot of my robe. I push him back with that. “Ryan Carter Danse, you promised.”
“I was crossing my toes, so it doesn’t count.” Then he winks at me.
“You can’t cross your toes. That’s just silly.” I walk past him, heading to the bathroom to see how much he messed up my hair.
He follows me, much like I expected. “Your daughter seems to think so. She told me I could lie about whatever I wanted as long as I had my fingers or toes crossed.”
I turn around to face him. “Please tell me you told her not to lie.”
He laughs, coming into the bathroom and pulling down his track pants. “Of course I told her she couldn’t lie. What do you think I am? An idiot?”
“No, the moron in this family is Jason and he’s probably the one who told her she could lie while crossing her fingers and toes. The big fucking doofus,” I mutter, getting a little peeved at my brother.
Ryan shakes his head. “She said she learned it from some kid at preschool. I checked her fingers and toes when she told me that.”
I try to listen to what he’s saying but he got naked so I’m a little distracted. I mean, his lips are moving but the words don’t make any sense. The damn man shouldn’t get naked around me. I lose my damn mind every time. It’s like hot man crack, you just can’t get enough.
“Alexis, what are you doing?” he asks me, confusion marring his face.
I get down onto my knees and reach up with my hand, wrapping it around his cock. I send my tongue out, licking up the underside. His skin is smooth with a few ridges. He groans above me but I can’t be bothered by what he’s doing. I take my blowjobs very seriously.
When I feel his hand clutch into my hair I jerk back and glare up at him. “You are not allowed to touch my hair, I just got done with it.”
“Alexis,” he whines, but you’ll note that he took his hand away from my hair.
“You’ll live, baby, I promise.” I bring my mouth back to his cock and suck just the tip. His hips flex with my ministrations. I pull him all the way into my mouth and hollow out my cheeks, using my tongue to massage the underside. Then I pull his cock back out and lick the upper side, followed by the underside. I suck one ball then the other into my mouth before taking a few nibbles against his cock.
“Alexis,” he groans, his hips moving back and forth. I look up at him to find his face flushed and pointed down so he can watch. I lick the tip with a cocky look on my face, my eyes staring into his. “You’re such a god damn tease,” he moans.
Then the asshole grabs my hair and pulls my mouth until his cock fills it. I’m pissed he touched my hair but I shouldn’t have started this if I wanted to keep my hair perfectly like it was.
The next thing I know I’m being pulled to my feet where he turns me to face the shower door. He slams me against it while pulling my robe up. “Are you wet? Did sucking my cock make your pussy drip?” he asks me softly in my ear. His words have my butt moving closer to his exposed cock. I just kind of want to rub all over him.
He pulls my hips out more and then reaches down to slowly thread his cock into me. I sigh once he hits rock bottom and before I know it, he’s pounding into me, the shower door rattling while he fucks the shit out of me.
It’s so good I don’t even need his fingers on my clit to get me to the finish line. I see stars and all the universes that I didn’t know existed. Sweat runs down my neck and I go to wipe it away, my fingers coming away dirty. “I swear to God, Ryan, now I have to take another shower.”
He kisses the back of my neck and the animal licks it. “That’s okay, you can just take one with me. Saving water and all that shit.”
I shove my elbow into his rock hard stomach. “You did that on purpose.”
He chuckles and moves me out of the way so he can reach inside and turn the shower on. “You’re the one who got on her knees and started sucking my cock.”
“You were the one who was waving it around in my face. You know I can’t help myself,” I tell him, completely serious. When you’re with someone who you can’t get enough of, well, something awakens that sexual spark; it doesn’t take much for me to get into the mood.
He leans into me and kisses me gently. “I love that we’re fighting over who got the other turned on.”
“What else would we fight about? I love you too much to be mad at you,” I tell him, snuggling into him.
He uses his hands to push my robe off my shoulders and then I’m as naked as he is. “I like that about you. Hopefully it’ll be that way for a long-ass time. Though it wouldn’t hurt if you acted like a bitch every once in a while.”
“You need help,” I tell him, laughing against his neck. “Hello, my name is Ryan and I like bitches,” I say in a really bad fake Australian accent.
“You’re a little shit.”
Ryan
I never thought I’d be here again. A beaut like Alexis on my arm, cameras flashing, reporters shouting questions at us and everyone wondering when in the hell we became a couple. It’s amazing to me how much they don’t see even when it’s right in front of their faces. We look like we’re in love, what with the way we can’t stop touching each other. I hope that that never goes away.
“Ryan, are you and Alexis a couple?” one reporter asks, shoving a mic in my face.
I give a smile and nod, moving on down the red carpet. We aren’t under any contracts to talk to anyone since our movie doesn’t come out for another couple of months.
“What about Cassandra Freemont?” another reporter shouts.
I stop at that one. I guess I should have assumed they’d ask about her. It was only a few months in-between my break up with her and this new relationship with Alexis. I was too preoccupied with my new girl than to bother with my old one.
“We parted amicably, so I’m not sure what you want me to say. We haven’t talked since the split, but I hope she’s doing good in her life.” I nod at him and move on down the carpet, Alexis keeping her hand at the crook of my elbow.
“Alexis, how is your brother doing after his car accident?” one shouts right by my ear.
She smiles at him, the one I hate because it’s fake. I love that I haven’t been a recipient of that in a long time. “He’s doing very good. He made a full recovery with rest and taking things slow.”
We move on down until someone asks a question I wasn’t prepared for. “Alexis, is Ryan the father of your child?”
We look at each other and start laughing. We don’t even give that guy the time of day. I don’t know why they won’t just leave her alone about Talia’s father. She hasn’t announced it yet and I doubt she will ever announce it. I hope one day she tells Talia, because she has the right to know, but I know that day isn’t anywhere close. And Aaron’s a fucking moron if he thinks he’s taking Talia away from her mother. Over my dead body.
Once we get to the building, we’re asked if we can be interviewed by the E! Network. Alexis agrees but I don’t want to. I think she has a grudge after the whole “Jason was the father of her baby” story hit the air. She’ll probably go up there and give that reporter hell. I feel sorry for the person asking her questions. I kiss her on the cheek and move into the building.
I’m stopped right at the entrance by a hand with perfectly manicured nails. The color blood red. I look up into a pair of brown eyes, eyes I never thought I’d see looking at me again. “Ryan,” Cassie says all sugary sweet.
I raise both of my brows completely floored that she would choose this setting to finally talk to me again. I remember calling her a few times after she left, but she never answered or returned them. I remember feeling left behind and out of sorts because I wasn’t sure how I’d move on without her. She’d been there since the beginning. I thought we’d make it last.
I should have realized that I wasn’t in love with her anymore. I mean, I never asked her to marry me. I never really even thought about getting married to her. You’d think something like that would cross your mind during a six-year relationship.
“Cassandra,” I say with surprise still in my voice.
“I was hoping to see you here. I’ve missed you,” she announces, placing her hand in the crook of my arm. I don’t know whether to push her away gently or harshly.
I decide to do it discreetly. I pick her hand up and move it away from me, patting it softly. “It’s nice to see you. I hope you’re well.”
She nods, her smile falling a bit with my rejection. “You didn’t bring a date? I was sure you’d have someone on your arm. I’m happy to be your arm candy, you know, just like old times.”
I give her a polite smile. “Actually, I brought my girlfriend, Alexis. She got waylaid by some reporters. But Ta.”
Her smile falls completely and I’m left with a frowning face full of age lines she shouldn’t have. “I’m sorry. I never meant for things to get so out of control.”
“That’s what happens when you cheat and don’t expect to get caught.” I wince, hating that I just said that. “I’m sorry, that was uncalled for.”
She just shakes her head, her brown hair moving softly against her shoulders. “No, I’m glad to hear you say it. You just never got mad about it. I thought it would cause some kind of emotion in you. But you just let me leave. I truly am sorry. I should have talked to you so many times but I never did. I just let the rift between us grow until it was just a big hole.”
“That’s just as much my fault as it is yours,” I tell her, realizing that she’s right. We let life get in the way and before long everything was too ruined to fix. It’s nice to hear her tell me her side. I didn’t realize I needed this closure.
She reaches up and kisses my cheek. “You have a great life, Ryan. You deserve it.”
I return the kiss on her cheek. “You deserve the same. No matter what’s happened in the past, you deserve a great future.”
I watch her walk away from me for the last time with a smile on my face. That could have gone so differently. I turn towards the front door, wondering what’s keeping Alexis, when I see her just standing there staring at me.
Freaked out, I move swiftly through the crowd to get to her. “What’s wrong?” I ask, hoping she didn’t see Aaron or his wife somewhere. I’ve been trying to keep an eye out because there is no way Alexis is getting anywhere close to that guy, ever again.
“Was that Cassandra?” she questions, putting her hands on my chest.
I wrap my hands around hers and nod.
“She’s fucking beautiful,” she murmurs, her eyes on something behind my back.
“So? She’s my past and you’re my future. And all those other cheesy sayings,” I tell her, reaching up to push a lock of hair behind her ear.
Her green eyes, the ones I love so much, look up at me and she gives me the most heart-wrenching smile I’ve ever seen. She’s so beautiful I can hardly look at her, constantly afraid she might burn my eyeballs out with it. “Why do you always have the right things to say? I mean, I find you talking to your ex-girlfriend and kissing her on the cheek and I’m not even mad at you anymore.”
I look down at my shoes before I look back into her eyes. “She came up to me. I guess she thought I didn’t have a date, but I told her pretty quickly that I did. And then she told me her side of things and she walked away. I promise I didn’t make plans to meet her later.”
She takes a hand off my chest and places it against my cheek. “I know you didn’t. I know you better than that. It’s hard to think of you straying when you never notice the other women in the room staring you down with their lustful eyes.”
“I don’t care about them. I only care who you’re looking at.” Which is always me. We seem to have that in common. I can’t look away, she can’t look away. We’re a couple of love stuck idiots trying to make it in life without falling on our faces. At least we’re in the same boat. Periodically you find someone who only wants you for something, whether it be sex, money, drugs, hell, even rock n roll. I know Jason’s had his fair share of women because they wanted to be a part of his music.
“We’re a bunch of dorks standing here having this conversation for anyone to hear,” she mutters, her eyes finally noticing all the gawking going on around us. I swear these people have nothing better to do than find the chink in our armor and tear us down.
I take her hand and put it at my elbow, guiding her along towards the room where we’ll take our seats. “What did E! Network have to say?”
She gives me a bright smile. “I didn’t get an apology because, apparently, I should have just announced my personal business for the whole entire world to hear. They didn’t say that to me exactly that way but I got the gist of what they meant.”
“What did you say to that?” I pull the chair out at our table so she can take a seat. Her dark green dress puffing out when she sits down. From this angle I can see down her dress a little and I want to slap myself on the back of my head for looking.
She turns to me when I take my seat next to her. “I told them that if they were going to make assumptions again I’ll sue them until I own the entire network. Then I’ll sell all the shares at a really low price until most of America has a say about what gets said.”
“You got a little blood thirsty didn’t you?” I grab her hand under the table and place it on my knee.
She nods while picking her other hand up to wave at someone across the way. “Jordan Bates is such a douchebag. I can’t believe he’s won, like, five Golden Globes. He must be sleeping with someone important.”
“That’s not a very nice thing to say, Green Eyes.” I pat her hand under the table, keeping my laughter back by only a thread.
She turns her head to look at me with a crazy little grin. “What? Have you ever had to work with him? Insufferable douchebag. And that’s being nice! I once saw him throw a mocha latte in an assistant’s face because it was lukewarm. Like, get off your lazy ass and get your own latte. I hope she sued the fuck out of him.”
Yeah, that doesn’t sound like a guy I would like to meet. “Do you have anything nice to say about anyone here?”
She looks around and her eyes land on an older gentleman making his way over to our table. “Henry Masters is the most amazing older man alive. No doubt about that. You know he accidently hit me in a scene once and he started crying. He sent me flowers every day for, like, two months. I finally had to tell him it happens and I had no hard feelings.”
That must be the man she worked with on the movie she won the Oscar for. He makes it to our table, leaning over to kiss Alexis’s cheek. “My dear, Lex, you are looking beautiful tonight. I told my wife I might steal you away.”
She laughs, placing her hand on his arm. “You’ll have to fight my boyfriend first. I don’t think he’ll give me up that easily.”
He sticks his hand out to me and I shake it. “Henry Masters.”
“Ryan Danse,” I say.
“Oh, I love that accent! It’s much more pleasant than those stuffy English ones. I swear I want to deck every one of those little peckerheads.” I feel my mouth drop open as I laugh really hard.
Alexis leans over and whispers in my ear, “He’s my favorite person ever.”
I can see why.
“Are you happy?” Jason asks me, standing on the back balcony of the house I share with Alexis.
One side of my mouth curls up. “I’m so happy I could fucking fly, mate.”
Jason nods, bringing his amber fluid up to his lips and taking a huge swallow. “I want to be happy like that.”
I lift my arm to pat him on the back a little harder than I should but he can take it. “You’ll find a woman one day, one just as great as mine.”
He leans his forearms on the railing, staring out over the valley at all the twinkling lights. “All this business with Alexis has made me think about the past a lot. There’s someone I should find. Maybe make her mine.”
“Carter,” I say, because I know exactly the person he’s talking about.
“Carter,” he repeats after me. He takes another swallow, his Adam’s apple bobbing.
“Do you even know where she is now?” When Jason’s drunk, and I mean really shit-faced drunk, he’ll get emotional. He’ll walk around telling everyone how much he loves them and passing out free hugs that you really don’t want because most of the time you end up just holding him upright. He also talks about a girl he once knew. A girl that made his blood boil in the kind of way a man has to explore. Frequently, he gets kind of graphic about what happened between them. Like how they would have screaming fits and he’d have to have her against any available surface just to shut her up. Or so he says, like I believe everything he tells me about her. The way he talks, the woman ran around screaming constantly and I don’t see Jason putting up with that for long.
He shrugs, looking behind him, probably for his sister because she can’t stand it when any of us shrug. Especially Talia. “Last I heard, she’s living on the East Coast and is a best-selling author. The pictures I saw on her website though,” he moves closer and whispers, “she looks like a fucking prude.”
I gasp in mock outrage. “Oh no, a fucking prude.”
He just glares at me.
“Okay, I’ll bite. How does she look like a fucking prude?”
He sighs. “She was wearing a suit and her hair was up in a bun and she had these glasses on her face, like those big hipster ones, and they just don’t flatter her at all.” He takes a drink from his bottle and turns around until he’s facing the house. I’ve yet to move any muscles while I’m sitting in my comfortable patio chair. “When I knew her, all her clothes were extremely tight and she’d have never worn her hair in a bun. The woman has a full sleeve of tattoos on her right arm for crying out loud. I know she wore contacts but I never would have picked those glasses for her.” He gets a whimsical look on his face, like he’s remembering a particularly amazing moment. “She was the hottest piece of ass I’ve ever had and I can’t believe she turned into that. She used to rock out so hard. The entire crowd would be jumping up and down screaming out the lyrics to her band’s songs. And she was in an all-girl emo punk band.”