by Lisa Daniels
Graciela laughed aloud.
“Are you kidding? I wanted to be a doctor.”
“Really?” Cypress found himself impressed. “Why didn’t you?”
“Money. My family was poor and my grades were decent but certainly not good enough to warrant a full scholarship.”
“The education system is a travesty in this country. How can a nation so rife with resources be so backward?” Cypress muttered.
“Please, don’t get me started,” she groaned. “My head is still swimming from the day and I can’t afford any more of a headache.”
Cypress leaned across the table to reach for her hands. She paused before allowing him to take them.
“Right here,” he said, pressing the pressure point between her thumb and wrist. “When you get a headache or just overwhelmed.”
He watched as her eyes widened, a combination of pleasure and awe forming in her eyes as he massaged the meaty part of her hand.
“God, that feels good,” she muttered, her shoulders sagging slightly and Cypress felt himself relaxing also.
“It’s not too late to become a doctor,” he told her and she giggled.
“What? And give up all the threats and babysitting? How could I even entertain such an idea?”
“I’m not kidding. You could go back to school.”
“Clearly you don’t understand what goes into being a director of television,” Graciela laughed. “There is no time to go back to school. There’s barely time to breathe.”
“You could quit your job.”
Her face tightened slightly and she stared at him, a slight suspicion overshadowing her eyes.
“You’re making a lot of assumptions for a first date,” she challenged him.
“Am I?” Their eyes met but Cypress didn’t slow his nimble fingers, feeling the tension in her hands slipping away. “Then why do you look like you’re entertaining the idea?”
“You don’t know me,” Graciela protested. “Maybe I’m perfectly content with my life.”
“Are you?”
She sighed and went to pull her hands away as if trying to guard herself from showing too much, but he didn’t let her slip from his grasp.
“You’re getting too heavy,” she told him firmly and Cypress nodded.
“All right,” he agreed. “I’ll back off.”
A look of contrition passed over her face and she exhaled.
“Sorry. Looks like I’m the cranky one tonight.”
“Because of Rowan?” Cypress guessed and Graciela’s eyes widened.
“How did you know?”
He had no answer for that except that the more time he spent with the brunette, the more he felt that his gut had been right—that she was his mate.
“I feel like I know you,” he answered simply. “Weird as that might seem to you.”
The answer seemed to embarrass her but the waitress reappeared before they could get any further.
“Have you had a chance to decide?” she chirped and Graciela looked at him helplessly.
“Not really,” she confessed. “But I’ll bow to his expertise in the matter.”
A frisson of pleasure shot through Cypress as he nodded.
“Fine,” he agreed without releasing her hands. “I’ll have my usual and so will she.”
“Good stuff, Cy,” the young girl said, turning away.
“She knows your name and she hasn’t figured out who you are yet?” Graciela demanded in disbelief. “What is wrong with kids today?”
“Kids today!” he chortled. “You’re barely older than anyone in here.”
“You know what I mean. You’re Cypress flipping Landry. How are you not being bombarded with attention?”
Her dubiousness was almost palpable.
“I’m not as big as I was, I guess.” Saying the words was both humbling and humiliating, something that Graciela picked up on almost instantly.
“That’s just not true!” she denied hotly. “You’re the only draw on Dance Divas. I already told you that.”
“Flattery will get you everywhere,” Cypress commented dryly, but he was pleased by her insistence. She wasn’t trying to butter him up—she genuinely meant what she was saying.
Maybe I’ve been selling myself short. Maybe I’m not as far gone as I think.
At least it was comforting to know that someone had faith in him.
Graciela leaned across the table and curled her fingers around his, causing him to stop with his massage.
Their eyes met and again, Cypress was overcome with a wave of kinetic energy flowing between them.
“Will flattery get us out of here?” she asked in a low voice, her meaning unmistakable.
Cypress nodded slowly and pulled her arms closer to him.
“Yes,” he murmured. “Let’s take our order to go.”
They were silent until the server came back with their meal and Cypress asked for the bill and take-out containers right away without ever looking away from Graciela.
The tension between them was building second by second and Cypress wondered if they would make it back to his condo before stealing the kiss Graciela’s lips seemed to be begging for.
When the server returned, she paused, her eyes narrowing before gasping loudly and shattering the spell between the entranced couple.
“You’re Cypress Landry!” she choked. “The Cypress Landry!”
Cypress eyed her, amusement coloring his face.
“Yes,” he drawled slowly. “The very same one who has been coming in here since you started, Amanda.”
“B-but you’re him!” she muttered. “How did I not know that before?”
Through his peripheral vision, he saw a wide grin form on Graciela’s lips.
“Can… can I have your autograph, Cy—uh, Mr. Landry?” Amanda begged, eyeing Graciela apologetically. “I’m sorry, ma’am.”
Graciela snorted, presumably at being called “ma’am”, but shook her head magnanimously.
“I have no problem with it,” she replied as Cypress cast her an exasperated look.
“Can I take a selfie with you, Mr. Landry?” Amanda gushed, looking around as if she hoped everyone was watching them.
“Really, Amanda? You’ve served me fifty times over the past year. I’m still the same guy who loves the Jack Daniel’s burger,” Cypress groaned, but he obliged her request. Amanda almost ran back toward the kitchen to share her new find with her coworkers.
“So much for anonymity,” he sighed.
“I knew you didn’t go anywhere unnoticed,” Graciela told him with a certain smugness. “How could you?”
“This is the first time I’ve ever been called out here!” he protested.
“Are you blaming me?” Graciela teased. “Because I call BS.”
He smiled and shook his head.
“I only blame you for one thing,” he replied gruffly, adjusting his wide torso to lean across the table.
“Oh, yeah? What’s that?”
“The twenty-degree temperature rise in my body. Let’s get out of here.”
Chapter Six
Starstruck
Somehow, they managed to keep their hands off one another until Cypress escorted Graciela into his sprawling penthouse overlooking Central Park.
If she had not been so entranced by the actor, Graciela would have enjoyed the tasteful décor of the apartment, but her mind was on anything but the artwork and tapestries.
She didn’t know what had become of their food, her appetite for nourishment replaced by a yearning for something much more.
I don’t do this, she thought to herself. I don’t go home with celebrities. I don’t have one-night stands. I don’t leave meals uneaten.
Yet there was no reasoning with her brain. The second the door closed, Graciela was entangled in Cypress’ arms and their lips were pressed to one another. The electricity that had flowed between them became an instant flame of passion, their tongues jutting out to explore the grooves and crevices of the other
’s mouth.
Yet Graciela felt as though she had been there before despite knowing that every touch, every sensation was brand new.
When Cypress swept her up in his muscled arms, there was no resistance left inside her and Graciela knew she wanted nothing more than to be claimed over and over by this man.
His lips trailed across the soft skin of her cheek, his breath causing ruffles of goosebumps to flow freely over her body.
“Where did you come from?” Cypress breathed in her ear, echoing Graciela’s very thoughts. “How could I have missed you for so long?”
She didn’t know what the words meant, but each syllable he uttered made her feel headier, as though she were floating far above them both, watching Cypress’ strong hands roam against her body.
Her body arched upward, permitting her new lover to remove her clothes effortlessly, and in minutes, they were pressed skin to skin in a wave of lust that seemed to rise higher with each passing second.
Graciela moaned when Cypress’ hot lips closed around the taut skin of her breasts, his tongue lashing out to tease and mold her flesh. Sweat formed on them both, their bodies combining to blend as one until Graciela no longer knew which one of them was which.
Her long legs draped over his strong shoulders, yanking him closer to feel him intensely as he continued his exploration of her lean frame.
Moans gave way to kitten cries of sheer pleasure, the arch of her body freezing as Cypress brought her to climax after climax with the mere flick of his tongue.
Her body trembled, every inch of her sensitive to the touch but she did not want it to end.
“Take me,” she begged him, her voice barely a rasp as he snaked back up her flat stomach to sample the turns along the way. He paused at her face, his surreal eyes glowing almost supernaturally as they bored into her.
“We belong together,” he told her with a conviction that made her believe. She didn’t claim to understand it, but somehow, she knew it was true, that they had been brought together by some unseen force.
“I know,” she murmured, curling her hands against his buttocks to guide him inside her. She gasped at the sheer size of him, her body spasming with the full force of his manhood inside her.
“Oh God!” she wailed, nails digging into his skin with so much force, she was sure she had drawn blood. But that didn’t slow Cypress’ rhythm against her. Again she was caught up in a whirlwind of foreign emotions, the desire to release intoxicating to the point of dizziness. She could not hold back even though she knew Cypress was just getting started with her.
With a low groan which seemed to reverberate through the penthouse, Graciela fell back against the armrest of the suede couch, ready for anything else Cypress might throw at her. She knew then that she belonged to him, entirely, that he could do precisely as he wanted to her body and that she would never balk.
How can this be? I barely know this man!
But that didn’t matter. Whatever their connection, it overshot reason or logic. It was stronger than anything that Graciela could identify. And she didn’t care because it meant that Cypress was with her.
His mouth suctioned against the skin of her neck and a guttural sound escaped his lips, warning Graciela of what was to come, even if he did not say the words aloud.
Her knees locked around his waist and she drew him tightly against her, relishing his hardness at its peak until a hard shudder rocked his rippling muscles.
“Gods, Graciela,” he choked. “Oh damn…”
And then he was still, his slick, sweating form pinning her to the sofa as they lay in each other’s arms.
Cypress chuckled.
“What’s so funny?” she breathed, hoping that he wouldn’t move far. The weight of his body seemed to keep her from floating away.
“I was just thinking that if I win Dance Divas, you’ll be accused of favoritism.”
She heard the jest in his voice but she couldn’t help but grow defensive.
“I have no say in the outcome!” she protested and he laughed again.
“Try telling that to the others.”
Graciela was quiet for a moment.
“Are we telling the others about this?” she asked, a slight nervousness overcoming her. Cypress raised his head to peer at her.
“That depends on you,” he replied quietly.
“On me?” she replied dubiously. “I would think you’ve got more at stake here than me.”
His eyebrows raised.
“Are you seriously being kind or do you not realize how much my popularity has fallen over the past few years?”
Graciela was stunned by the question.
“Your popularity hasn’t fallen at all!” she replied indignantly. “Sure, maybe you didn’t opt into the best roles these past couple films, but let’s face it, Cypress, the fans would watch you dress up in a dog suit and play ‘Snoopy’ if you chose to do that.”
He laughed.
“I can’t say I’ve ever had the opportunity to read that script.” But his eyes took on a more serious veil.
“I don’t understand why you’d say something like that,” she continued.
“Being on ‘Dance Divas’ isn’t exactly a testament to my popularity,” Cypress replied dryly and Graciela was even more confused.
“I told you—you’re the draw. If you weren’t on the show, no one would watch it. You think that it’s a step down?”
“No offense,” Cypress said quickly. “But it’s not ‘Lord of the Rings’.”
Slowly, Graciela sat up, her brow knitting.
“You took this job thinking that it was a step down?”
“Again, this is not a dig at you at all,” Cypress said quickly, seeming embarrassed that he’d brought it up. “But if I’d had something else lined up, I wouldn’t have auditioned. And the fact that I had to audition at all, well, you get the picture. I’m clearly not what I used to be.”
“You have one of the top agents in Hollywood, Cypress. Are you suggesting that you’re not getting first dibs on big-budget movies?”
“Not really,” Cypress replied, seeming sheepish as he sat at her side on the sofa. “Listen to me, complaining that I’m not making enough millions. Poor me.”
He waved around the penthouse.
“I’m obviously suffering greatly,” he added with sarcasm. “Forget about my whining.”
But that wasn’t what Graciela heard at all.
“That doesn’t sound right,” she murmured. “Something’s off.”
“No one can stay in the spotlight forever,” Cypress reminded her. “I’m not Dustin Hoffman.”
“I liken you to Marlon Brando,” Graciela quipped and Cypress grimaced.
“Early Marlon, I hope. He did not age well.”
She giggled and kissed his lips softly but her mind was still very much on the conversation they’d just had.
There is no reason that Cypress Landry shouldn’t be the most sought-after actor in Hollywood right now.
It was almost as if he’d been blackballed without his knowledge.
And if that was the case, Graciela intended to find out why it had happened.
~ ~ ~
They spent the rest of the night in each other’s arms, talking and laughing as they regaled one another with stories about their past. Sometimes when Cypress spoke, she felt like he was much older than he actually could be.
They fell asleep almost simultaneously after making love for the third time and Graciela had never felt so safe in her life.
The heat of his body stayed with her and she dreamt of fire that night, although beyond that, she couldn’t remember what else. Still, when she woke before dawn, she was well rested and at a greater peace than she’d ever known.
“Do we have to go in today?” Cypress muttered, reading her mind. “I have a much better idea.”
“Do not tempt me,” Graciela sighed, snuggling back against his chest. The combination of his intoxicating masculinity and the ridiculously comfortable Califor
nia king bed made the mere idea of moving disturbing.
“You never did answer me last night,” Cypress sighed, kissing the top of her tangled head of hair.
“I must have forgotten the question. Remind me.”
He smiled.
“Are we going in together?” he asked gently. Graciela felt her stomach flip slightly.
He’s not looking at this as a one-off. He actually sees a future with us.
She didn’t know why she was surprised. It wasn’t like she had imagined the connection between them, but Graciela couldn’t forget that Cypress Landry was a movie star and she was…
What am I? A television executive. A glorified babysitter.
“I understand,” Cypress said quietly, taking her silence for reluctance but for the wrong reasons.
“You need to stop assuming facts not in evidence,” she said and Cypress gaped at her before barking out a laugh of surprise.
“Wow. That was very… lawyer-esque of you.”
Graciela blushed and tittered.
“We film ‘Justice For All’ at the studios,” she confessed. “I guess the terrible scriptwriting sticks in my head.”
“Well, Your Honor, I was not assuming anything. I just don’t want you to feel pressured into anything you’re not ready for. If you want to go in separately, you can take my car and I’ll call a car service. Or vice versa. I guess you wouldn’t want anyone to see you driving my car or that would defeat the purpose of going separately.”
He was speaking too quickly, nervously, and Graciela pressed a finger to his lips to slow him down.
“First of all, I’m not taking your Porsche in New York rush hour. My road rage will get it shot at,” she snickered. “Secondly, I didn’t say no about going in together.”
“You didn’t say yes either,” he pointed out.
“I’m saying yes now,” she replied and his eyes brightened.
“You sure?”
“I’m sure if you’re sure. Why does this feel so…”
“High schoolish?” he supplied and not for the first time, she wondered if he could read her mind.
He doesn’t need to—he feels the same way as I do.
“What about Rowan?” Graciela asked.
Cypress’ jaw tightened. “What about her?”
