Get a Grip (Hollywood Nights) (14 page)

             
“Slacks.” He slid his hand over hers and tugged it away from the towel. “I think you should wear the black dress. No, I’m positive. Wear the black one with the silk top.”

             
Her flesh prickled with renewed excitement and she teased, “What if I want to wear something else?”

             
“Something else, huh?” He let go of her hand and grabbed the neck of her robe. He pulled the material until it was barely on the edge of her shoulders. Her entire front was exposed to him. He leaned in and she lifted up to kiss him. He didn’t kiss her on the lips. He kissed her neck, licked. She was ready to explode, but he simply pulled back, looked her over with lascivious intent, and then repositioned the robe. “Wear the black one.”

             
She nodded. It was all she could do. She wanted to attack him. She found her voice and asked, “Is this some sort of game? I’d like to know.”

             
He seemed a bit shocked by the question. “I don’t understand.”

             
“This,” she said as she motioned between them. “Kissing me, then not kissing me. Telling me to wear the dress and then…well you know.”

             
“I know we have an hour before we are meeting Jed and Shay for dinner. This is her only chance to go out, remember? You keep teasing me. I’m just returning the favor, sweetheart.”

“Teasing you?”

“Yeah. Little touches, that look, but you never initiate anything more so…” He grabbed the towel and then pulled it free. He was fully bared to her. She realized he was just as turned on. “Make no mistake about it, Ivy. I want you. I always want you.”

             
She started to take a step forward and he let a deep rumble of his humor escape in a light laugh. “But we have to get ready to go.”

             
“We can be quick.”

             
“It’s been a week. There is no quick in what I want to do to you tonight.” He reached out and stroked the side of her face with his hand. His thumb slid across her lips. She could feel everything inside and out of her pull tight. He let his hand drop and he moved towards the closet. “This just might feel like the longest dinner in history.”

***

Dinner…

             
The waiter was at their table taking drink orders in no time. Bo was able to navigate the menu and remain allergy free for the evening. She tried to focus on the conversation as it progressed from one topic to the next. Bo made it difficult. He took every single opportunity possible to torture her.

             
His foot accidentally bumped into her. His knee touched her knee. Sure the seating was cramped for the ladies, they shared the table with two large men, and the touches were more like bumps that were followed by quiet apologies.

             
Ivy excused herself to the ladies room and Shay tagged along in traditional female fashion. “Thanks for the yoga advice. It has helped.”

             
“I’m nervous.” Shay blurted out.

             
Ivy looked at the supremely confident woman, the one she never knew to have a moment of fear or anxiety and wondered, “Really?”

             
“I’m scared to death. I mean there are no do-overs. I can’t take any mistakes back.” Shay explained.

             
“Hey,” Ivy looked at the woman. Shay was one of the most beautiful women Ivy had ever seen in person. She was shorter than Ivy, built like a goddess, and had the most startling green eyes. “You are going to do just fine.”

             
Shay nodded. “And if not, I still have Jed. He doesn’t care if I’m successful as an actress. I mean he does, but he doesn’t. He’s more excited about the clothing design. I think that’s because I don’t have to kiss anyone else when I’m making clothes. He’s so possessive.”

“And you like that?” Ivy was surprised. Shay was a force to be reckoned with. The thought of her deferring control to Jed was just…intriguing.

“Yeah,” she admitted. “I never in my life thought I would let a guy lead me, but he just…gets me, Ivy. He understands me like no one else in my life ever has.” Shay was so sincere about Ivy knew they were both feeling a bit emotional.

“Was it scary?” Ivy gulped. Shay wasn’t her sister. She wasn’t encouraging her to tame the dragon. She was talking about the deeper level. The one Ivy was trying to figure out if she was really on. The scary place where love meant love and the potential to be heartbroken loomed on the other side of that admission.

“Hell yes!” Shay laughed. “I wouldn’t even let him say nice things to me. He used to tell me I looked hideous because I would freak out if he called me beautiful. He still does in the morning, but I know better because he always punctuates it with a kiss.”

Ivy was feeling such relief from this conversation.
“How did you know when to…?”

“I love him. At some point it just felt right to let him…
I don’t know I guess to let him be a man, take control, you know, to overwhelm me. Size be damned, Ivy. I know he looks like a hulk, but I have dated men is size before. I swear I have never felt as safe or as whole as I feel when I am right there in his arms.”

             
Ivy didn’t know what to say. She was still trying to figure her feelings out. She knew she cared about Bo an awful lot. She was still afraid to admit she loved him. She just wasn’t sure that what she felt was love. She needed something to really help her figure it out. She just didn’t know what it would be or how it would happen.

             
Once they were finished with the ladies room and seated at the table Ivy watched Shay and Jed a little closer. She enjoyed their intimacy. If they had bumped into one another on that side of the table, it was done so quietly, discretely. She noticed the moment his hand slipped below the table, the quick smile on her face, and then his hand was back. They did have the same space problem, it was just handled differently.

             
Shay must have noticed her noticing and she admitted, “This place is so cramped up. I keep kicking him. They want to squeeze in the max capacity.”

             
“It’s the best Italian food in the neighborhood.” Jed defended his choice in restaurant. Then he looked at Shay and said, “It also has a nice, private view from the top of the building.”

             
She blushed. Ivy had no idea what they were talking about, but she had a feeling this would be the perfect time for her and Bo to leave. “Well, this has been great. I know you have a busy day ahead of you, Shay.”

             
Shay wasn’t even looking at them anymore. She looked at Jed and said, “I do have a long day tomorrow.”

             
“You guys are coming to dinner after the show tomorrow, right?” Jed asked without looking at them either. They were lost in one another. Ivy sighed. She looked at Bo. He smiled at them, and then looked at her.

             
“We’ll see you then.” Bo stood up, offered her is hand and reminded her, “We have to be somewhere in a few or we might miss that thing you were looking for, sweetheart.”

             
She remembered the plot to see if her agent was leaking information to keep her in the press. It was a dirty tactic. She didn’t know if it was to see if Bo could take it, or if it was meant to force Ivy back to work. Either way those were the type of career manipulations she was no longer accepting. Bo might have been a multi-millionaire, but he was publicly nobody until they got hitched and their blurry picture was posted everywhere. Now, clear pictures were circulating. Ivy didn’t miss the fact that he got more compliments than not.

             
Ivy responded immediately to the feel of his hand pressing against the small of her back as they made their way out of the restaurant. Once they stepped out into the crisp breeze of the New York evening she suddenly had a thought, “Did we just stick them with the check?”

             
Bo laughed. “No, we were both ready to go so we settled up before you ladies returned.”

             
She enjoyed the paparazzi free exit. They caught a cab and drove by the place she said they were going to be. It was staked out. She knew there was new business to tend to. He slid his hand to her back and said, “I’m sorry. Even though I knew it was, I was still hoping it wasn’t her.”

             
“I’ll take care of it when we get back.” Ivy sighed and leaned into him.

             
The comfort of his arms wasn’t sexual. It was better than that. He was in fact her safety, her peace.

***

              Ivy heard the hotel door click as it closed. She turned towards him. He didn’t waste any time. He pulled her close to him and attached them at the lips, belly, hips, knees, and anything else that seemed to bump together in the process of getting as close as possible.

             
His kisses trailed down her neck and across her shoulder where he was pulling off the strap of the dress. She reminded him, “Zipper. Zipper.”

             
His hands grabbed the tab and unzipped the back. Her hands pulled at the tails of his shirt until they were out and she was able to unbutton it. She pushed it off of his shoulders and he let her go long enough to shrug out of it. She quickly grabbed the t-shirt and pulled at it too. He was shirtless. Her hands gravitated to his chest.

             
“I really like touching you.” She leaned in and kissed his neck.

             
He practically growled as he moved his head to kiss her. Their lips clashed. He stepped her backwards until she could go no more. Then they were moving into a horizontal position on the couch closest to the door. It was butter smooth leather and made for a soft landing place. He overwhelmed her quickly, easily. He said, “Relax.”

             
She exhaled. Her entire nervous system was on full alert and he wanted her to relax. She let go of him and let her hands fall closer to her head. He ran his hand up her thigh to her hip. Lips, tongue, fingers explored, mapped, and made her wet, warm, desperate. “God, Bo. You feel good.”

             
“You taste amazing,” he whispered against her ear and then shifted down to her breasts.

             
“Touch me.”

             
“I am touching you.” He nipped the bud of her nipple as if to prove it.

             
“I want you inside of me.” She clarified with what breath she could spend on words.

             
He slid his hand between her thighs and pressed against the silk fabric of her panties. “You’re wet.”

             
“It’s become a habit.” She tried for sass but groaned as he slid his fingers underneath the panties and into her. “That’s so good.”

             
“You have no idea.” He moved farther down and tasted her.

             
Ivy was glad she had never gone any farther than a little dry humping in her days before Bo. Had she known this was what sex felt like, she would have been worse than her sister about boys, she was sure of it. How could anyone not want to do this all the time?

             
He moved over her again and then pulled his fingers slowly, reluctantly from her flesh. She lifted her hips to try to prevent withdraw as best she could. He liked that response so she asked, “Will you do that again?”

             
“Open,” he said as he brought his fingers up towards her mouth. She wasn’t sure what he had in mind but she trusted him. Then she tasted herself. “Fuck.”

             
He was cursing. A rare event for Bo Bliss, the consummate gentleman. It urged her on. She wanted him to come unhinged. She wanted him to share the things he hadn’t been sharing with her. She moved a hand to grab his wrist and he was surprised. She held his fingers close and then licked, sucked… His mouth met hers and she let him pull the fingers out. His hips shifted and she could feel the heat from his groin through their clothes.

             
He pulled back and slid down her body again. This time he removed the panties and replaced them with his mouth. His fingers pressed into her and she moaned. Her body arched. He knew by now exactly how to touch her. The built up tension from a week of celibacy combined with the extended foreplay since they had arrived in New York had her slipping easily down that slope of passion, of orgasmic bliss.

             
“Don’t stop,” she called out in a voice foreign to her own ears. “Please, don’t stop.”

             
Her body tensed. Heat swept through her. The steady climb broke at the peak and rushed through her and over her causing her body to jerk and tremble. The next thing she knew the broad head of his cock was pressing at her entrance, pushing into the swollen heat, making her cry out again. “Yes, Bo. So good.”