by Selena Kitt
“You can’t save everyone,” Sarah said, pouring herself more water. Sarah didn’t drink alcohol. She wouldn’t even take cough syrup. It had been her drug of choice, unlike Rob, who had gotten hooked on the incredible speedy high of cocaine and had spent a year trying to get off that roller coaster. But that was all before I’d met them.
“Neither can you.” He raised his eyebrows at her over the rim of his wine glass. Rob drank wine with dinner and had an occasional beer, but that was about it.
“Well, at least it’s in my job description.” She stuck her tongue out at him.
“Not yet,” he reminded her with the rise of an eyebrow.
“Almost.”
“Over-achiever.” He snorted. I knew he was kidding and so did Sarah, by the way she smiled at him. “Shouldn’t you have a whole other year left to go?”
“I did summer semesters too, remember?”
“Well, there’s no need for you to go anywhere.” Rob sounded sad at the thought of her leaving, and I didn’t blame him. Our little “family” was quickly leaving the nest. “You have a home here. You know that.”
“I know. But Rob… we can’t all live here forever,” she said softly. Then she looked over at me and smiled, eyes bright. “Besides, I’m sure Sabrina will be glad to have you all to herself.”
“Oh, don’t get me in the middle.” I shook my head, cutting up my chicken breast into little pieces. It made me feel like there was more of it. “Besides, this place is already like living in some gothic castle. I don’t think I’ve even seen all the rooms yet. It’s going to be empty without you.”
“You’re not helping.” Sarah gave me a quelling look.
I smiled. “Was I supposed to be helping?”
The house was beyond huge. My parents had exclaimed over its size when they visited, after we’d lost the baby. I had sent them home with the mastiff puppy Rob had intended for me—I just couldn’t bear the memories that came with her—and a lot of Daisy’s homemade food.
“I’m going home, guys.” Celeste poked her head into the kitchen through the swinging door.
“You sure you don’t want some dinner?” Rob offered, nodding at the table. “Daisy’s outdone herself, as usual. There’s plenty. Tyler and Katie are house-hunting.”
He couldn’t seem to say that without scowling.
“Can’t.” Celeste shook her head, smiling. “I’ve got a date.”
“Ohhhh a date!” Sarah perked up.
“Goodnight, Celeste.” I waggled my fingers at her, hoping it would keep Sarah from starting an inquisition about Celeste’s love life.
“Sabrina?” Celeste stepped fully into the room, the door swinging closed behind her. “Oh my God, Sabrina! Look at you!”
“We could be twins, right?” I laughed, looking down at my Versace dress, and then at hers. It was Dolce & Gabanna, something I previously wouldn’t have known. “Except for the teeth. He wants me to go to the dentist for whitening or something. Because apparently everyone in Hollywood has to have perfect teeth.”
“These cost me a mint.” Celeste flashed a smile. “But it’s worth it!”
“Damn, girl.” Jesse, Rob’s driver, peeked into the kitchen too, giving a long, low whistle, making me blush. “You sure clean up good!”
“Okay, enough!” I rolled my eyes. “I’m going to go scrub off this make-up and change into jeans and a t-shirt.”
“Not yet you’re not.” Rob’s voice sent a shiver through me and I felt his hand move over my knee under the table.
“Oh, Rob, before I forget.” Celeste pulled something out of her little briefcase, handing an envelope over to him.
“Thanks.” He slid it under his plate. I raised my eyebrows at him, but he didn’t acknowledge it. “So, who’s the lucky guy?”
“Oh… uh…” Celeste hesitated, glancing at me, then at Jesse, still standing in the doorway.
It took me a moment to put two and two together.
“Jesse?” I looked up at him, surprised, but no one looked more surprised than Rob.
“Guilty as charged!” Jesse grinned, sliding an arm around Celeste’s waist as she approached. “She finally said yes.”
“Close your mouth, Rob.” I laughed, leaning over to nudge his chin.
“Wait… what…?” Rob blinked at me, glancing over at Celeste and Jesse like he couldn’t quite make sense of it.
“Have fun, you two.” I stood, shooing them out of the kitchen. “And Jesse, go ahead and take the Rolls.”
“Really?” He grinned over his shoulder. “You mean it?”
“Celeste deserves to go out in style!”
“Did you just tell him he could use my Rolls-Royce.” Rob gaped at me, still sitting stunned at the kitchen table.
“Our Rolls Royce,” I bent to whisper into his ear, hoping to distract him. “Ready to go upstairs.”
It worked. He looked up at me like a starving man, even though he’d just eaten a full meal. He pulled me to his lap and kissed me until I was dizzy.
“Well, I know when I’m not wanted.” Sarah put her napkin on the table and slid out of her chair, smirking at us as our kiss ended. “Goodnight, you two.”
“I’m going to finish cleaning up.” Daisy started to clear the dishes from the table. I looked longingly at the rest of the roasted chicken, but I let it go. “Then I’m heading home.”
“Thanks, Daisy,” I managed to murmur, feeling the insistent throb of Rob’s erection against my hip.
“What are you up to tonight?” Rob asked Sarah as she headed toward the door.
“I have a date with the second season of Orange is the New Black on Netflix,” she replied over her shoulder.
“Goodnight, Sarah,” I called.
“Told you!” she mouthed before going through the door and letting it swing shut behind her.
“Go on,” Daisy prompted, smiling at the way Rob looked at me. “Off with you.”
We didn’t exactly race to our bedroom upstairs, but we didn’t meander either. Rob had me go first up the stairs and when I looked back, I saw him staring up at my legs in high heels like he’d never seen anything quite so enticing in his entire life.
“Christ, Sabrina, it’s like you’re you… but not you,” he said, sitting on the edge of our bed as I closed the bedroom door. “I feel like I’m cheating on the other you.”
“I’m still me,” I replied, walking slowly toward him. But I knew what he meant. It was strange, wearing new clothes, this entirely fresh look. It made me feel different too. “Your wife.”
“My wife.”
I still loved hearing him say it. Walking in heels made my hips move differently, with a new, sexy sort of shift that seemed to hypnotize my husband with their gentle sway.
“My fucking gorgeous wife,” he murmured as I approached, unbuttoning my blouse. Rob licked his lips, watching me reveal my cleavage in the Victoria’s Secret bra I was wearing as I slipped my arms out of the dress.
“The dietician said I needed to lose twenty pounds,” I told him, reaching back and working the zipper down my hips.
“He made you see a dietician?” Rob scowled, his gaze following the pale-yellow silk dress as I eased it over my hips. “The bastard.”
“What do you think?” I asked, stepping out of the eight-hundred-dollar dress, leaving it on the floor. “Should I lose weight?”
“You’re perfect.” Rob put both hands at my waist, sliding them down over my hips. “I need two hands around these curves, baby. You’re stunning.”
“Are you sure?” I cocked my head at him.
“If you lose an ounce, I’ll personally go into Arnie’s office and punch him in the face,” he informed me with another dark look.
“But you like the make-over?”
“I like you.” He kissed my navel, flicking it lightly with his tongue, making me shiver. “In Versace or Levi’s and t-shirts.’
“Or in nothing?” I reached around and unhooked my bra, watching his face as I let it fall to the floor,
too.
“Especially in nothing.” He gave a long, low whistle. “How did I get so lucky?”
“I’m the lucky one.”
He pulled me into his lap wearing only my panties and heels, and the latter clattered to the floor as we kissed, Rob’s tongue slipping between my lips, his hands lost in my newly cut, dyed and highlighted tresses.
“God, this hair…” he breathed as we parted, fisting it and pulling my head back so he could kiss his way down my neck. “You smell so good…”
“Come on.” I snorted, rolling my eyes. “Did I look and smell like a monkey before or something?”
“Yes, yes you did.” He laughed, wrapping his arms around my hips as he grinned at me. “A giant orangutan. I told Celeste, if you don’t get that woman to clean up her act, I’m going to have to sell her to the zoo…”
I tackled him, and he rolled me under him on the bed, still laughing, pinning me. I let him, arms over my head, the bite of his zipper against my belly as he kissed me, both of us turning serious, mouths melding, the soft press of his tongue slowly easing its way in. I welcomed him, his weight, his heat, the familiar scent of him filling my head. Our sweet exploration took a sharp, quick turn, heading toward the depths at our core. I couldn’t get him undressed fast enough, and he was so hungry for me, his mouth and hands all over, hips thrusting involuntarily as I shoved his jeans down.
He wanted inside me, and I wanted him there, more than I wanted anything. It was as if we weren’t complete until we were joined like this, rocking together, both of us naked on the bed, the evening air blowing in off the ocean, cooling and drying the sweat beading on our skin as fast as our bodies could make it. As hungry as we were for each other, we went as slow as we could manage. I wrapped myself around him, clinging, limbs entwined as we moved together, the sweet slide of him inside of me, the delicious friction building up, higher and higher.
“I want to look at you,” he whispered, rolling me on top of him, his gaze sweeping up from that place where we were joined, trailing up my breasts, his eyes finally meeting mine. “So beautiful, baby. God, you make me want to come right now.”
“Now?” I teased, squeezing my muscles, feeling him deep inside me. He moaned and gripped my hips, fingers digging in, making me gasp. “Feel good?”
“So fucking good.” His eyes closed, face pained for a moment, and I knew he was holding back. My sex throbbed, thick and swollen around his length, my clit aching to be touched, but I knew if I did, I would come too, and I didn’t want to, not yet. I didn’t want this to ever end. We were good like this, so very good. I could have rocked on top of him forever. It was my favorite ride in the world.
“Oh Rob,” I murmured, shivering when he ran both hands up my hips to cup my breasts, thumbing my nipples, watching my reaction. He seemed to like the way it made me moan and roll my hips, grinding against him. I felt the head of his cock, buried deep, but it wasn’t enough, never enough. I wanted more, more.
I leaned over to kiss him, capturing his mouth, sucking at his tongue. That made him thrust up, meeting me, hands moving back to my hips again for leverage, holding me just where he wanted me. The feel of him, thick and hard and driving up into me, was more than enough to send me over that delicious precipice, but it was his mouth, trailing across my cheek, teeth nipping at my earlobe, and his words, that finally pushed me over.
“Oh God, Sabrina,” he groaned, fucking me hard and fast now, our bodies slapping together, the sweetest music in the world. “You’re so fucking beautiful, I can’t stand it. I… oh God… my beautiful wife… mmm… ahhhh… you’re mine. Do you hear me? Mine!”
“Yes!” I gasped, grinding back against him, our movements completely synced, feeling that sweet, final release just beginning and working for it.
“Mine!” He growled and shoved up hard, looking down to see himself buried deep inside of me, and then glancing up to meet my gaze. Our eyes locked and the dark heat of his eyes filled me with fire. My whole body burned. “Mine! Fucking mine! Mine! Mine!”
Each “mine” was followed by a hard, deep thrust, and each thrust sent a shuddering spasm through me as my climax overtook me. I cried out, head going back, giving into it, riding the sensation. Rob watched me through half-closed eyes, watching me orgasm on top of him, my sex clenching his hard length again and again, and then he gave one final, strangled cry, hips pushing me up toward the ceiling, holding me fastened to his pelvis as he came.
I felt each hot, pulse of him, never ending, more and more, my sex still squeezing him as if it could milk him completely dry. Rob thrashed on the bed, back arched, giving me every single bit of him he possibly could in that moment, and the sweetness of it brought tears to my eyes as I collapsed on top of him.
“Oh baby.” He stroked my hair, so soft against my cheeks after my day in the salon, so strange and different. Rob said it felt like cheating, and I understood. I didn’t quite feel like myself. “I love you. Love you, love you, love you.”
He kissed me with each declaration and I melted against him, our bodies slick with sweat. I loved this room, our big canopy bed, the French doors that opened onto the patio, the way the breeze brought in a hint of the ocean. We could walk down the stairs any time we wanted and swim in our infinity pool—and we often did. It was like living in heaven.
“So, Celeste and Jesse…” I brought it up, glancing at him, seeing the shake of his head.
“Yeah, what the hell? I didn’t see that coming at all. They’ve worked for me… damn, I don’t even know. Four, five years? A long time.”
“I think it’s sweet.” I smiled, resting my cheek against his chest and closing my eyes. “They make a cute couple.”
He snorted like he didn’t quite agree with me but didn’t say anything because his phone buzzed with a text message. Rob groped around on the bed, finding his pants, and dug his phone out of the pocket.
“Who is it?” I asked, not opening my eyes. “Let me guess—Katie and Tyler found a house.”
I said it, but I knew I’d probably get a text about that before he would.
“Sarah.” Rob frowned, squinting at his phone as he nudged me off him, onto the bed. “I’ll be right back.”
“Everything okay?” I asked, up on my elbow as I watched him pull on his boxers and jeans.
“Yeah, fine. I’ll be right back,” he said again, sliding his phone into his pocket and heading for the door.
I sighed, looking up at the ceiling, at the wispy white fabric wrapped around the tall canopy posts. I could smell us, the sweet scent of sex, the most delicious perfume, far better than the Chanel Number Five I was wearing. Closing my eyes, I remembered Rob’s hands on me, his mouth, the feel of him inside. It was intoxicating. I could forget everything when he was with me, but now, when he was gone, when I was left alone again, the rest of the world seeped slowly in.
I found myself thinking about our meeting with Arnie the week before, signing with an agent, today’s makeover, the upcoming show, opening for Jimmy Voss. If someone had told me, back when I was an elementary school music teacher working in Detroit, I would be the opening act for Jimmy Voss, I would have laughed myself silly. Of course, if someone had told me I would end up married to Rob Burns, I would have done the exact same thing. Sometimes I thought I was still dreaming.
My stomach growled, and I made a face, remembering the dietician’s recommendations, which I’d followed at dinner—white meat chicken, vegetables and salad. Okay, so I cheated with a mojito and a little wine. But I didn’t have any of Daisy’s chocolate cake, which was like saying no to crack. But now my stomach was growling. Too much exertion and not enough dinner, I decided. Or, more to the point, no chocolate cake. That’s what I needed.
I threw on a robe—white silk, real, not the synthetic stuff, with a Vera Wang label—and tied it, opening our bedroom door and listening. I didn’t hear anything, not even the sound of a television. Rob said Sarah had texted and I wondered if she’d decided to go out after all. Maybe she needed a rid
e home? Jesse was out for the night, so that seemed likely. But Rob would tell me if he was heading out, wouldn’t he?
I crept down the stairs, feeling like a thief, knowing I should probably just grab an apple and not a slice of chocolate cake. Damn Arnie and that stupid dietician for making me feel guilty, I thought, padding down the hall toward the kitchen. I wasn’t fat, I was—curvy. I knew I’d gained weight with the baby, of course, but I’d lost that, plus a little more, because I’d just stopped eating for a while after we lost Esther.
But my appetite was back now. And what was one piece of cake going to hurt?
I reached out to push open the swinging kitchen door and stopped, hearing voices. They were low murmurs at first, but then I heard Rob’s voice rising in anger.
“Goddamnit, I told you, it’s none of your business!”
“Fuck you, Rob! It is very much my business!” Sarah snapped. “Why didn’t you tell me? If I hadn’t found that envelope under your plate…”
“Sarah, listen to me,” Rob said, voice lower now, but I could still hear him through the door.
“I think I’ve listened to you long enough.” Sarah sounded mad. Madder than I’d ever heard her before. They joked around and play-fought a lot, but this was different.
“Stop!” Rob insisted. “Sarah, it’s my job to protect you.”
“Who made it your job?” she cried. “You’re not my father!”
“Please, Sarah. Please just… listen.”
“Okay,” she said softly. “I’m listening. What do you have to say for yourself?”
It got quiet and I shrank back, but I couldn’t stop listening. Finally, Rob started talking again.
“Sarah, look… I’m sorry… I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I didn’t… I didn’t want you hurt.”
“Do I look like I’m not hurt right now?” she asked. I couldn’t see her face, but even I could tell how hurt she sounded.
“I know. I was… stupid,” Rob said. “Look, I’m sorry. I said I was sorry. I just… please, listen to me. Please don’t do anything stupid.”
