The Director (Hollywood Nights) (4 page)

           
She passed him on the stairs and he
followed her eagerly to the bedroom.

           
Maybe he did know the right thing to
say sometimes. After all, he got to see her slip out of his shirt, pull the
pins and then ties out of the bun on her head and watch as the long hair fell
past her shoulders and land at the bottom of her shoulder blades. Shay was all
kinds of fine, fit, womanly wonder. He was glad she met him today. A year ago
he was pretty soft in the midsection. After embedding with the military
infantry, he had spent time training and getting into prime physical condition.
When they had to run, he had to run.

           
Knowing how close to death he had
been, what he had witnessed, those that were lost, he considered it a privilege
to be this close to a woman when he knew so many of them would never get a
chance again.

           
“I’m sorry,” he whispered against
her temple as they stood under the spray of the shower. The warm water flowed
smoothly from the oversized shower heads.

           
“Me too.” She turned to face him.
She stroked his beard and the water droplets that had gathered there. Shay
didn’t seem to mind the beard. Some women outright refused to get near him
because of it. He knew that was part of the reason he kept it. He had cleaned
it up for the wedding, but it was still full. “How long have you had this
thing?”

           
He laughed. “Longer than I’ve owned
cars.”

           
“I like it,” she said and it
surprised him. “I guess you’ve been committed to it for a while now.”

           
He hadn’t really thought of it that
way.

           
“I mean I cut my hair, let it grow.
Color it, change it back.” She let her hand slide down and over his throat and
onto his chest. “But all those changes were just ways for me to keep hiding
from myself.”

           
“You’re not hiding now?”

           
“No.” She slid her hands lower and
bent over to meet the grip she had on his dick with her lips.

           
He really wanted to know more about
her. He hadn’t intended to be interested beyond her body, but he was.
Unfortunately, with her lips around his dick, there was no way he could think
of anything but the feel of her warm mouth and soft tongue as she teased the
underside of the head on his penis.

           
“Wow, I forgot what that was
like.”
 
He pulled her long brown hair
with honey highlights in it up and out of her way. “Oh my, oh, that’s it. Your
mouth is amazing. Damn!”
     

           
She had her way with him and all too
easily he was ready to spend. She must have realized because she let him go,
took a step back and said, “What do you want me to do?”

           
He blinked several times as his
brain tried to register clear thoughts much less form words.

           
She smiled. Her green eyes were
brilliant and full of mischief. She leaned back over and finished the job. He
was coming within moments. She didn’t shy away from the ejaculate. Instead, she
made him tremble and then stole his move. She stood, looked at him, and wiped
her mouth with the back of her hand.

           
He stood there trying to regain his
breath, the strength of his legs, and the ability to form words again.

           
“Jed.” She tilted her head and a
sincere expression made her look innocent, soft, and vulnerable. The shower was
the last place he thought he would be having such a deep conversation, but he
expression was sincere and thoughtful as she said, “I just want to say thank
you for tonight. I mean, I don’t want to forget to say I had a great time”

           
She stepped out of the shower and
closed the door. He gathered his wits and finally turned off the water, opened
the door, grabbed a towel, and watched her as she was brushing her hair with
his hairbrush.

           
“I hope you don’t mind.”

           
“Not at all.” It was just a
hairbrush, but the sight of her using it, standing in the bathroom with him, sharing
something this intimate stole his breath. He watched her braid the long locks
and secure them with one of the ties that had been holding it up earlier. She
tossed the braid over her shoulder and looked at him.

           
“You’re tired.” She adjusted the
towel she had wrapped around her. “Me too.”

           
He cleared his throat and tried to
break free of her spell. “Do you want a t-shirt or something?”

           
“Yeah. That would be great.” She
seemed a bit trepid.

           
He nodded. When he asked her to come
with him he had hoped for sex. He got it. Now he wanted more of it. He also
wanted more of her. How much more, he couldn’t quite put his finger on. He just
knew he hadn’t felt like this in forever if he ever felt like this at all.

           
“Do you want me to sleep in the
guest room?” she asked as she pulled his t-shirt over her head. The question
explained her anxiety. She wasn’t sure where this was going or what to do. He
wondered if they had more in common in this arena than he thought they might.

           
“No,” he admitted. It was a
reasonable question. They were just fucking. It was supposed to just happen and
then go away. It wasn’t quite working that way. “Unless you want to.”

           
She shook her head no.

           
It was probably the most awkward
bedtime ritual he had ever been through.

           
He found an extra toothbrush in the
bathroom cabinet with the extra toiletries the maid kept stocked in there.
 
He was lying in bed when she returned to the
room. Only the light located on the night stand at her side of the bed was on.
He tried not to look too longingly at her as she climbed into the bed next to
him.

He hadn’t fallen asleep with a
woman in so long he couldn’t remember who it was or when it happened. Sex was
something he had when there was an opportunity and no expectations afterwards.
Usually with women he met through work that lived in other states or countries
needing to scratch the same itch. In a male dominated field, it wasn’t
something that happened often.

She turned off the light and they
lay there in the darkness. The sound of the ocean lapping at the shore beyond
the bedroom window and the house settling in that familiar way were the only
noises to be heard.

           
The silence stretched on until he
could hear his heart thumping. He slid his hand over to her hand. She turned
towards him. He slid his hand up her arm and then around her back. He pulled
her closer until her front was lined up with his. Her head tucked under his
chin and her warm arm wrapped around him.

Chapter
3

           
Shay waited until his breathing
signaled sleep. She rolled away from him and faced the bathroom. She was
entirely too comfortable lying beside him that way. It unnerved her. She had to
protect herself. She should have gone to the guest room. She should have called
a cab. Instead, she was fighting sleep and losing the battle.

           
How long she had slept, she didn’t
know. A loud voice startled her awake.

           
“Wilson!” he yelled it again.

           
Shay turned on the light and looked
over to Jed. With the light on, he woke up. He sat straight up in the bed with
a horrified expression on his face. She could feel her heart thumping hard in
her chest and fear was a real emotion threatening to take over her reactions. Once
she realized he wasn’t looking at someone ready to murder them in the bedroom,
she took a deep breath and asked, “Are you okay?”

           
He sniffed, groaned, pinched the
bridge of his nose with his hand and then let the fingers slide to discreetly
wipe what she suspected were tears away. He took a ragged breath and said,
“I...uh…guess I had a nightmare.”

           
Not knowing exactly what to do or
say she placed a hand gently on his sweat soaked back and said, “I sometimes
have nightmares about that volleyball, too. That movie has ruined my life.”

           
He made a light grunt, then another,
until he sighed and looked at her with a smile. “Thank you.”

           
“Do you want to…tell me?” she asked
as she moved to get behind him. She placed her hands on his shoulders and began
massaging.

           
“I spent the last two years with the
military. I spent these past twelve months embedded with an infantry unit,” he said
and then let out a breath. “Wilson…was just a kid. Nineteen years old. He
couldn’t buy a beer at a bar, but he was old enough to fight for his country,
and he died from enemy fire. I was there. I saw it. I filmed it.”

           
Shay was pretty sure when it came to
the emotions department he was a mess. It made her feel a little better about
her own psychiatric issues. Shay moved her hand and pushed her elbow into the
muscle at his shoulder. It was immoveable. “You need therapy.”

           
He snorted. “Is that your advice?”

           
“Yeah,” she said as she pressed the
elbow in and it barely moved. “Your muscles are ridiculous. You need to see a
masseuse. I can’t get this knot to break and I am using everything I got.”

           
He snickered. “I need massage
therapy. I tell you I’m having dreams about a dead guy and you think I need a
masseuse.”

           
“Yes,” she emphasized with her elbow
in the other shoulder where the muscles did move. He winced. “See? I think you
need a professional to work out your neck and back. I can’t do that. I would
think you needed a shrink if you
didn’t
have nightmares. I had nightmares for a week about a squirrel I hit on the
road. I’m sure you’ll need longer than a week to process everything you’ve seen
over there.”

           
“I just don’t want to think about it
anymore,” he said with a heavy sigh.

           
Shay slid her arms around him and said,
“Well, I could help you not think about it right now.”

           
Her fingers slid over his chest and
around as they circled his nipples. She liked the feel of him. He leaned his
head back on her shoulder and then turned it towards her so his forehead
touched her cheek. “Can you?”

           
“Yes,” she whispered. She knew this
wouldn’t last long. Whatever they were experiencing physically was special. She
wanted to enjoy as much of his body as she could before the adventure ended.
She wanted to remain on the physical level because she found herself caring
about his disturbing dreams and his tense muscles. She didn’t want to concern
herself with him at all.
 

           
Shay kissed his forehead and then
slid her body around to where she was kneeling at the headboard and leaning
towards his cock. She slid her hand under the sheet and found him half-hard and
growing. She pushed the sheet back as she leaned over and licked the tip,
teased, and then sucked him into her mouth.

           
He surprised her by pulling her leg
until she lifted it and he arranged himself under her in a sixty-nine position.
It was his worst mistake. Jed had a beautiful mouth, a skilled tongue, and if
pussy eating was an art, he would have been labeled a master. For all of her
intentions, she could barely remain focused on pleasing him since he was
distracting her in the most delightful way.
 

           
He tormented her and she did her
best to give as good as she was getting, but knew there was no way what she did
was comparing to what he was doing. He slid his hand up the shirt and pinched
her nipple. She let go of his cock and just breathed for a moment. He must have
been satisfied with the reaction because he let go of the nipple and pushed his
fingers into her. She cried out, rocked against him, and then latched back onto
his cock.

           
Eventually, she could not
concentrate on him anymore. He was too good, too efficient, and she was coming
undone for the second time in that position. He pushed at the cheeks of her ass
until she crawled lazily forward towards his feet. He halted her at his waist
as she suspected he would. She heard the slide of the drawer next to the bed
and then the tear of a wrapper. She didn’t look back at him. She took the time
to collect her senses and to catch her breath.

           
“Sit up,” he said and guided her
onto his cock as she did. She was riding him, backwards, and enjoying the
abandon of being able to watch without having to look at him. She could
appreciate the sight of his cock as it disappeared into her, the way his balls
had grown tighter with need of release, the way his toes spread wide as his
groans grew louder and more frequent. “Fuck, that’s it.”

           
She slid her hand down to cup his
balls and he said, “Gently, gently pull them. I can get another minute if…too
late.”

           
Apparently the caress was gentler
than he needed. He pressed down on her hips as he came in long shuddering
bursts. She smiled. She would officially miss Jed Gunner. No man had proven her
equal in bed before. He was a master of pussy and she would bow before him if
it wasn’t against every fiber of her being to do so.