Gravity Happens (Forcing Gravity) (20 page)

I leaned my forehead against hers. “Babe, I want you really bad, but not while you’re drunk and I’m drunk. Let me take you on a date first. I want to do this right, okay?”

“But why?” she asked, her voice sounding strained.

“Because I like you a lot. You’re cool and sexy and fun and smart and you make me smile.
This is more for me than just sex.”

She smiled at my words. “It’s more than just sex for me too, but I also want to be enough for you
.”

I smiled. “
Sweetheart, you’re more than enough for me.” I pulled back and stroked her hair. “Now let’s get in bed, because I want to hold you and fall asleep with you in my arms, okay?”

Definitely a first for me.

She nodded and looked up at me with those wide green eyes that were like pools of mesmerizing light that just sucked me right in.

“I’d like that.”

I leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Good. Me too.”

* * *

I woke up disoriented the next morning until I remembered the night before and felt Nora’s body pressed against my back, her arm draped over my stomach. I smiled. I liked that – a lot.

I laid there for a few minutes, not moving until I felt her stir behind me. Then her lips pressed against my
bare back in three spots.

“Good morning,” I said, startling her as I rolled over so I was facing her.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t think you were up.”

I smiled a small smile. “I was just enjoying what you were doing there.”

She returned my smile. “Sorry about last night. I’m not a big drinker, and I sort of lost my mind, I think.”

I shook my head and reached for her hand under the covers, linking our fingers together when I found them. “It’s fine. You were actually quite adorable.”

She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I was a hot mess. I’m so embarrassed.” She tried to pull her hand from mine, but I wouldn’t let her.

“Don’t be embarrassed,” I said as I leaned forward to kiss her.

She hesitated at first before finally opening her mouth to me. And when I pulled back, she smiled at me from where her head rested on her pillow. I brushed her hair off of her face.

“You’re sweet, Ethan Lewis, and I wasn’t expecting that.”

Yeah, me neither.
Normally it was only Logan who saw this side of me. For some reason, Nora was bringing it out in me.

“I’m a nice guy. I told you that
,” I said, fudging the truth just a little because it wasn’t like I was going to turn around and start treating her like shit. I liked and respected her too much for that.

“Well, nice guy, w
ould you like to buy me breakfast?”

I smirked at her suggestion that our time together continue. “Sure, I’d like that.”

“Great, give me five minutes to get dressed,” she said, and I became well aware that she was still wearing just her bra and panties. As she hopped out of bed, giving me a prime shot of her perfect ass, she turned around and looked over her shoulder. “Try not to look, okay?”

But I knew she was just teasing me, so I kept my gaze on her the entire time I watched her slide on a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt. When she was fully clothed and the temptation was minimized, I slipped out of bed
. I had on only my boxers. My clothes were draped over her desk chair, and I took notice of the fact that she drank me in as I crossed the room and got dressed.

I wondered how long we’d be able to hold off having sex since even in the light of morning and sober, we were having trouble not jumping each other. But I was standing firm in my rule that I wanted to take her on a date first before we slept together.

I could tell she was thinking the same thing, but she wasn’t going to broach the subject. Then her stomach grumbled and broke the sexual tension that was engulfing both of us.

“I guess I should feed you,” I said.

She smiled. “I should warn you I’m like a little kid. If I don’t eat on a schedule, I get very cranky.”

“Well, we can’t have that happening,” I teased
, as I took her hand and led her out of the room.

Because we were both starving, we settled on a diner that was around the corner from her apartment where we both ordered coffee and pancakes, and I held her hand across the table.

“We have so much in common,” I said, as I flirted my fingers against her palm. “We both like pancakes.”

I was teasing, but she
smiled, not taking it as a joke. “We do. I like that.”

“I like
you
.”

She blushed and looked down. “Ethan,” she said, shaking her head in embarrassment.

“What? I do. Is that such a bad thing?”

She looked up and met my gaze, then shook her head. “No, it’s not. It’s a really good thing.”

“Good,” I said, grinning at her. “Then I want to spend the day with you. You said you don’t have to work, are you free?”

She nodded and smiled. “I am.”

“Good, then you’re mine.”

Her smile got even wider. “I like the sound of that.”

Yeah, I did too – probably more than I should have.

Chapter Thirteen

Logan

The first pictures of Jase and Chloe surfaced almost a week after I got back from New Orleans. I was
at my internship, doing one of the things I was responsible for each week which was reviewing competitor marketing like a college student would, i.e., surfing certain websites and recording what ads popped up, what types of social media was being used, and then writing down my thoughts.

It was mindless work, and I’d wanted something a little more challenging, but at least it beat what I did almost all day on Tuesday which was organizing two large filing cabinets and boxing up anything that was more than two years old to send to an offsite
storage facility. Talk about boring. At least I got to listen to my iPod while I worked.

I was suddenly stopped short when I logged on to the
Internet and one of the headlines that greeted me was ‘Jason and Chloe: Are They Back On?’

I guess it was my fault since I had my default home page set to an entertainment news site, but it was like a car crash. I couldn’t look away. I clicked on the story and was greeted with a picture of Jase and Chloe sitting very close together in a darkened restaurant. Hi
s head was ducked against hers.

He was smiling and
looking like he didn’t want to be anywhere else in the world. It was an old picture, I knew that because Jase looked younger, but the image of them still squeezed my heart and enflamed my insecurities.

The article went on to say that they had been spotted together at several New Orleans hot spots in the past few days and went on to list things
that insiders had shared about Jase’s initial reluctance to let Chloe back into his life, but after a disappointing visit from his on-again/off-again girlfriend, Logan Kessler, he was starting to look at Chloe differently, and they were talking about rekindling their relationship.

On-again/off-again? What the hell was that?!

I should have stopped reading, but I couldn’t. The whole thing just pissed me off, but it was like I had to digest all of it before I could stop. I read every last word. Then I immediately picked up my phone to call Jase.

“Hey baby,” he said, his voice warm and buttery.

I would see him the next day since he was flying home for twenty-four hours for the Oscars, but I couldn’t wait to talk to him. I had to hear it from him that the rumors weren’t true. I hated that I was even doubting him, but I couldn’t help it. My mind was racing with a million possibilities that all made me want to vomit.

“Hi,” I said, my voice losing confidence with him on the other end of the line.

“What’s up?”

“Nothing. What are you doing?”

He sighed. “Just practicing. My scenes tomorrow are of me playing, so I wanted to make sure I don’t screw them up.”

I softened immediately. He was working so hard. There was no way he had time for anything with Chloe. I just needed to trust him. I didn’t need to b
urden him with Internet rumors that were just that – rumors. I knew my relationship better than anyone, and I had to go with that.

“What are you practicing?”
I asked, instead of picking a fight.

He hesitated before saying, “I’m working a new song.”

I could hear the apprehension in his voice. I knew that in addition to learning what he had to for the film, he was also trying to really learn to play the guitar. He’d been impressed by my dad’s skills when we’d been home, and I think he was hoping to emulate his talents. I knew he was partially doing it to impress my dad, but the other part of me knew it was also to impress me.

“Oh yeah, which one?”

When we were home, he and my dad had played some of the easier songs that Jase knew, and my dad had started to teach him some more complicated songs over the week he’d stayed with us. Jase had been practicing those songs, and when he felt like he’d mastered them, he’d play them for me.

“Um, it’s actually for you,” he said softly, not telling me the name of the song.
I was pretty sure it wasn’t one my dad had given him.

“Really?”

I glanced around to see if anyone was watching me. I wasn’t sure if my employer would be cool if I was on the phone with my boyfriend while I was supposed to be working, but to my credit, I continued to search the web while I talked to Jase, so I was still technically working. And really, a monkey could do this job.

“Yeah, I wanted to play it for you when I saw you this weekend.”

Okay, now I was really going to keep my mouth shut about the Chloe bullshit.

“A
ww, Jase, that is so sweet. Which song?”

He hesitated before saying,
“
Hear With Me,
by The Killers. I thought it was sort of appropriate.”

My jaw felt like it had dropped to the floor. No one had ever done something that
thoughtful and so personal for me before, especially since Jase knew how much I liked the soft ballad. He’d heard my dad play it at Christmas.

“Jase,” I gasped, because I wasn’t sure what else there was to say.
I was touched.

“I don’t know,” he said, sounding frustrated. “
I’ll probably mess up the chord changes, and it won’t sound good, but I wanted to do something to show you how much I miss you.”

I felt my e
yes suddenly fill with tears that blurred my computer screen. The song was
so
appropriate for our situation. I knew in that moment that I shouldn’t worry about what the Internet said. Jase loved me, and he would be faithful. I had no doubts about that.

“It’ll be perfect, babe,” I told him, not caring in the slightest if it sounded like crap. I’d love it no matter what. “
I’m going to call you later when I get off of work and have you play it for me, so practice hard, okay?”

He laughed. “I’m not sure that’ll do much, but I’ll work on it all afternoon.”

“I love you,” I told him softly, just in case anyone was nearby and could hear me.

“Love you too,” he echoed and we hung up.

I went back to my research but was interrupted a few minutes later.

“Logan?”

I turned around to see Elyce, my supervisor for all intents and purposes, standing behind me. She was only a few years out of college, and I was the first person she’d ever managed, so it was an interesting dynamic. I wasn’t sure if she knew what to do with me most of the time. But I was a fairly independent thinker and a self-starter, so what I didn’t get from her, I figured out on my own. And I only worked on Tuesday afternoons and Friday mornings, so it wasn’t like she had to babysit me constantly.

“Hey Elyce,” I said cheerfully. “I’m just working through this research.”

I didn’t want her to think I was slacking or anything, and I hoped she hadn’t hear my conversation with Jase. Ever since the shoot the week before, Gretchen had been telling everyone who I was. Some people already knew, but now it was well-known around the office that I was Jason Brady’s girlfriend. The good thing was that most people didn’t really care. Most of them had met their share of celebrities at different events, so it didn’t faze them. But I also didn’t want anyone to think I deserved preferential treatment because of who my boyfriend was. I would work hard because it was who
I
was.

“Great,” she said brightly.
I think she was relieved she didn’t have to assign me something to do. “Gretchen and Suzanne want to see you in the conference room in ten minutes? Cool?”

I smiled brightly at the same time I was hoping I hadn
’t majorly screwed up anything.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll be there.”

“Great thanks! Do you, um, have any questions about what you’re doing there?” she asked then, probably feeling like she had to ask.