by Adele Buck
As Alicia laughed, Colin sank down, nuzzled her neck again and slid his hands behind her back. “Mmmm. Your skin is so silky.
“Tickling isn’t fair, Mr. St. Cyr,” she whispered, her lips touching his ear, sending electrical shivers across his skin.
“No. But you already have an advantage over me,” he responded, punctuating his statement with a nip at her earlobe.
“And what’s that?” She shivered as she undid the top button of his shirt.
“I find you so mind-blowingly sexy that my brain turns to mush.” His lips skimmed her jawline. “I need to regain all the advantage I can.”
“Hm.” She undid another button, and he raised himself on his elbows again, looking down at her.
“Is there such a thing as a mutual disadvantage, or do those things just cancel each other out?” she said.
“What exactly are you saying, Ms. Johnson?”
Her fingers moved more rapidly down the row of buttons, releasing the rest of them as she said, “What, my open admiration of your body and the fact that I can’t keep my hands out of your hair aren’t enough? I need to tell you that your face is gorgeous too?” She raised an eyebrow, opening his shirt and smoothing her hands across his chest, fingers toying with his nipples.
Colin closed his eyes and pressed his hips to hers, his desire for her all too evident. Her hands slid across his shoulders, and he shrugged out of his shirt, standing and letting it fall to the floor. She reached for the waistband of his shorts, and he covered her hands with his.
“Slowly,” he said, bending to kiss her, teasing at the hem of her shirt with his fingers, gathering the fabric into his hands. “I thought you wanted to go slowly.”
“That was a few minutes ago. An age. A lifetime.” She smiled as he began to draw the soft, thin cotton upward.
“Fickle,” he murmured as he pulled the shirt over her head and dropped it on top of his.
She tossed her head to the side, her eyes twinkling mischievously. Her bra was a white, lacy confection that she knew managed to look innocent and sinful at the same time. He groaned.
“What’s the matter?” she said, rising to her knees on the bed and placing her palms on his cheeks.
“Abso-fucking-lutely nothing,” he said, sliding his hands to her ass and pulling her against him.
“You Brits and your proper language.” Alicia laughed with delight as Colin removed her bra and tossed it to join their other clothing. She reached for the button of his shorts again at the same moment he reached for hers and they grinned at each other as they shucked the rest of their clothing, Alicia stepping off the bed to let her shorts and underwear slide off.
Colin spun her as she stepped out of her clothes and she gasped as he pulled her to him, sliding one hand up to cup a breast and the other down to dip between her legs. His erection was hard and hot against her back and she moaned as his fingers plunged inside her and his teeth scraped across her neck.
“So hot. So wet,” he murmured into her neck. She ground into his hand as his fingers pulsed inside her, his other hand teasing at her nipple, pinching almost to the point of pain, the sensations shooting through her and making her shudder.
“Inside me. Now.” With an effort, Alicia pulled away from Colin, coming to her hands and knees on the bed and looking back over her shoulder at him.
He looked almost dazed, his eyes traveling across her body, then bending to pull his wallet from the pocket of his shorts and extracting a condom. Alicia smiled as he ripped it open and rolled it on, stepping forward and grasping her hip with one hand and positioning his erection to enter her with the other. Her eyes closed in rapture as he pushed home, and she arched her back, tilting her hips to take him deep inside her.
A groan rolled out of him, and his fingers found her clit, rubbing in time with his thrusts. Alicia dropped her head, her eyes closing as she coalesced into one bright, ecstatic point that suddenly exploded outward, ripping a shuddering cry from her throat. She braced herself, falling to her elbows and pushing back against Colin as his hips flexed, finally stuttering to push inside her ever more deeply as he shouted his release.
Alicia gulped air, trying to recover herself as Colin’s warm hands roamed over her back. All too soon, he withdrew, stepping to the bathroom without a word.
A little bereft at his abrupt exit, Alicia slid under the covers. She heard the toilet flush and the water run. When the bathroom door opened again, she scanned Colin’s face, but couldn’t read his expression.
“Scoot over,” he said. Alicia wriggled away from the edge of the bed, and Colin slid in behind her, his knees fitting behind hers, his arm drawing her snug against his chest.
“Now…we cuddle?” Alicia resisted the urge to giggle.
Colin’s deep voice rumbled against her back, and his lips brushed the nape of her neck. “Now we cuddle.”
Chapter 15
Colin stroked Alicia’s hip, smiling sleepily as she hummed with pleasure. “You absolutely unstitch me.”
“Likewise.” She captured his hand in her own and tucked it under her chin. “You had me just a little worried there for a minute, though.”
Propping himself on his elbow, he looked down at her. “How so?”
She turned toward him, twisting slightly within the arm that still wrapped around her. “You just…took off for the bathroom so fast. I half expected you to come out, put on your clothes and leave without a word.”
He huffed a brief, surprised laugh. “Hell no. It’s…let’s just say that disposing of a condom is not the most dignified thing a man can do. I find it embarrassing.”
Laughter bubbled up in her chest, and she released his hand, reaching up to stroke his cheek. “Poor guy. What’s an honorable, dignified Englishman to do? Have to be safe, have to preserve your dignity.”
He turned his head, pressing his lips to her palm. Her fingers curled inward as if she could capture the kiss. “It’s good that you understand me so well,” he said with a severity that was belied by the twinkle in his eyes.
“I think you’re right: we may be more similar than I had originally thought,” she said as he settled his head on the pillow behind hers again.
His hand resumed its lazy exploration of her body, sweeping up her belly, tracing the underside of her breasts, trailing sizzling paths of sensation over her skin. He took a deep breath. “So. How long do you intend to stay?”
“Here in bed? Or here in D.C.?” she asked, wriggling and turning to face him.
“Both. But for now, how long to you plan to stay here in D.C.?”
“Not sure,” she said. “I’m here for at least another four months filming the cable drama. If it goes well, they may write the character into more episodes.”
“And if they don’t?”
“I don’t know. I have to go where the work is.” She took a deep breath, trying to gather courage. “But I’ve been thinking that I like it here.”
“You do, do you?” Colin’s eyes scanned hers, his expression earnest.
“Yeah, I do.” Her eyes flicked up to his face and then down again, a finger reaching out to explore the hollow of his throat.
“Can I try and make a case for you to stay? Regardless of what happens?”
“Are you lawyering me?”
“How so?”
“Making a case.”
“Well, I do admit I want to be persuasive. If ‘lawyering’ helps, I’ll use it. Any advantage.”
She bit her lower lip and blinked slowly. “Colin, are you asking me to go steady?”
“And if I was?” he asked.
Alicia’s breath hitched. “What…does that mean to you?” She almost flinched at the wobble in her own voice.
“Are you asking a lawyer to define his terms?” His voice was gentle, and his fingers encouraged her chin up. Looking at him, she felt like she could fall into the depths of his dark brown eyes.
“Maybe?”
His fingers moved from her chin, stroking down her neck, shoulder, an
d arm until he clasped her hand. Bringing it to his lips, he said, “Well, as I see it, I would like to get the opportunity for us to continue to grow closer. See how we do as a couple. Exclusively.”
Panic welled in Alicia. Her heartbeat sped, and she fought to keep her breathing even. She slid her eyes away. “What does that mean? To you?”
“Other than not dating other people?”
“Um. Yeah.”
“Nothing.”
The feeling of being asked to agree to something nameless and unknown and letting it control her receded a bit. “Okay. And if we’re doing really well and I have to go back to New York for a job or get a national tour?”
He shrugged, but his face tightened. “I guess we see what happens.”
“Colin, I don’t want to hurt you.”
He looked at her, his expression hardening. “What about hurting you?”
She swallowed, eyes sliding to the side. “I don’t want that either.”
His fingers tightened on hers. “Alicia, has anyone ever taken care of you?”
She tried to laugh. “Um. I suppose someone must have taken care of me when I was a baby. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here.”
“I don’t mean when you were a child. And I think you know that.”
Feeling ambushed by the wave of emotion that threatened to swamp her, Alicia blinked and swallowed. “I guess…no. I’ve always known that if I wanted to survive, I would have to take care of that myself. God, that sounded melodramatic.”
“If it were anyone else saying that, I would agree. I’m starting to believe it may be something of an understatement with you, though.”
Don’t be so sympathetic. Alicia fought twin urges to cry and to bolt for the privacy of the bathroom. Swallowing hard, she focused on Colin’s fingers gripping hers. “Are you saying you want to take care of me?”
“I’m saying I think we could take care of each other.”
Colin watched as Alicia visibly reined in her emotions. It was a master class in control, and he recalled his early suspicions about the probity of actresses. But how much of emotional control was dishonesty and how much was simple self-preservation?
“You don’t have to do that, you know,” he said.
Her eyes narrowed as she frowned. “Do what?”
“Set such rigid control over yourself. I’m not going to be scared off by emotion.”
Alicia snorted and withdrew her hand from his. “Okay, first of all, yeah. Maybe I do need to have some control over my reactions. Second of all, maybe my reactions aren’t for or about you. Third of all, I get to choose. I don’t need your permission to feel what I feel.”
Colin’s head jerked back as if she had slapped him. Hot anger started to flood through him, and he replayed her words in his mind. The anger that had coursed through him so fast emptied out of him just as quickly, and he felt his cheeks heat with shame instead.
“God,” he said, rubbing his hand across his eyes. “What a condescending, awful thing to say.”
“You’re a quick study, I’ll tell you that for free.” Pulling his hand away from his face, he saw a reluctant smile quirking her mouth to one side.
“I wish I could stop putting my foot in it with you. I’d rather say the right thing instead of offering you endless, tedious apologies.”
She considered him thoughtfully and finally spoke, her words slow and almost reluctant. “Maybe we’ll get there. Someday.”
“Are you saying you’re giving me a chance?”
She spread her fingers over the hand she had so recently pulled away from. “Yeah. I guess that’s what I’m saying.”
“I’m glad.”
“Yeah, well. We might piss each other off, but it seems like we’re also capable of learning. Besides,” she said, shooting him a sly smile, “you’re hot. I like having you in my bed.”
Colin threaded his fingers through hers and leaned forward to kiss her. “That’s two of us, then. Now. What can we eat? I’m starving.”
Alicia reflected that if she was going to have a man looking grumpy and judgmental in the face of her nearly empty refrigerator, it was at least nice that he was shirtless. His shorts hung low on his hips, and Alicia’s fingertips itched to retrace the lines of muscle in his abdomen and chest.
Turning to her and pointing at the interior of the fridge, he asked, “What do you subsist on?”
Alicia shrugged, suppressing a smile. “Take-out? Delivery? These amazing inventions called restaurants?”
His eyes widened in disbelief. “You don’t cook?”
“Does that lower me in your eyes? A woman who doesn’t cook?” she said.
“It’s not that,” he said, glancing again at the fridge as if it would have magically filled while he wasn’t looking. “I mean, I cook. If I thought it was something only women did, that would be pretty odd of me.”
“Well great, then. You cook. I had to cook for a family of thirteen back in the day. Now? It’s kind of my one indulgence, not having to do it.”
He sighed as he closed the refrigerator door. “Well, if I’m not going to starve to death, we have two choices. I can take you out, or I can take you back to my home and make you a meal.”
Alicia was surprised at how appealing the idea of him cooking for her was. “Well, you said we could take care of each other. That sounds pretty good, you cooking.”
He gave her a heated look. “Okay. And how are you going to take care of me?”
“Oh, I think I’ll be able to come up with something,” she said, sliding her hands around his waist.
Unlocking the front door of his house, Colin ushered Alicia in before him and then escorted her back to the kitchen, pulling out a barstool for her to sit on at the island. Opening a high cabinet, he fetched down two glasses and pulled a bottle of wine out of the refrigerator. Pouring for each of them, he smiled at her.
“So. Anything you’re allergic to or don’t eat?”
Alicia shook her head as she lifted her wine glass. “Nope. When I was young I couldn’t afford to be picky. Now I just like to try stuff.”
“Adventurous. I like it.”
“Mmm. Yeah, you do.” She shot such a smugly challenging look his way, he nearly ended up with wine coming out his nose.
“Not fair using your feminine wiles on me when I’m trying to feed you,” he said, pulling several potatoes out of a basket on his counter and washing them in the sink.
“Fine.” She placed her glass down and smiled at him.
“You’re just going to stop talking entirely now?” he asked, drying the potatoes on a dish towel and pulling out a knife and cutting board.
“I’ve talked enough. You talk to me now.”
“What do you want me to talk about?” he asked, starting to cut the potatoes into bite-sized chunks.
“Well, I’ve talked about my job. Tell me more about yours. What does being an education lobbyist entail?”
He paused in his cutting to look at her. “You really want to know?”
“Sure. For instance, why STEM?”
Putting a handful of cut potatoes into a bowl of water, he thought for a moment. “Well, my firm represents a lot of technology companies on a variety of matters. They have a vested interest in making sure we have a well-educated pipeline of people who can become their employees.”
“Wow. That’s thinking ahead,” Alicia said.
Colin shrugged. “It’s necessary, sadly.”
“And what about the arts?”
Colin glanced cautiously at Alicia. She was looking at him calmly, but he knew her a little too well now and sensed hidden dangers under that serene façade. Sorting through several possible responses, he finally said, “Explain?”
“Explain the arts?” Alicia said, incredulous.
“No, explain the connection. What do the arts have to do with science?”
Alicia blinked. It seemed so obvious to her. “You think scientific discovery just comes out of equations and formulas?”
Colin looked
at her, his eyes narrow. “Go on.”
Twisting the stem of the wine glass in her fingers, Alicia paused to choose her words. “Inspiration. It’s not so different. No matter what you’re being inspired by, it’s the same impulse.”
Slicing an onion, Colin said, “Interesting. Any data to back this theory up?”
“Yeah, actually. I’ve read that people who have arts education have better outcomes in regular academics. One theory is that arts training makes people more open to creative impulses. Creativity is creativity, no matter if it’s about music or math. And actually, music is basically math you can hear.”
“I’m a lawyer. I’m going to want articles, facts and figures, you know. Evidence.” He smiled at her, though, and her heart thudded. The fact that he trusted her about this, was willing to meet her on equal intellectual footing, seemed to mark something new.
“And then there’s telling people about what you’ve discovered. Like at the gala.”
Colin put the onion slices into a bowl and retrieved a head of cauliflower from the refrigerator. “You mean the kids? What about them?”
Alicia sipped her wine, considering. “All of those kids were obviously really smart. But they weren’t all very good at explaining what they were smart about. Most of them got too complicated or too tongue-tied or even robotic. That can’t be good for their careers down the road.”
“True. Presentation skills are also often a huge problem with our new associates at the firm. What would you do about that?”
“Me?”
“Yes, you.” Colin began dissecting the head of cauliflower. “You’ve made showing audiences things, making them pay attention to you, your life’s work. What would you do to help those kids?”
“Um.” Alicia blinked. “I’m no expert on this. I mean, I know a choreographer who worked on a thing called ‘Dance Your Ph.D.’ But I don’t know much about it.”
Colin nodded at his laptop. “Look it up. Let’s see what they did and how it helped.”
