by North, Cara
He watched her neck arch and her head press back as she groaned out a guttural release of pleasure while her body clamped him from the inside so tight he wasn’t able to move until she released. Then the pulsations milked him of what he had left. He was surprised that his own release was as intense as it was. This was the third time he had come in a five hour time span. He was sure as his body ached in places he hadn’t ached in years. He thought they needed to give it another five hours at least before saddling up again.
Chapter 3
Ivy didn’t want to leave the hotel, ever. They had spent the entire day eating, sleeping, or having sex. She wasn’t sure she physically could leave the room. Her body was aching all over. Come morning the brief honeymoon would be over and they would have to step back into reality and face the world and each other with clothes on.
She had changed so much in such a short amount of time. Never in a million years did she think she would let that thing come near her mouth. She thought women were crazy for letting men put a penis anywhere other than where God intended it to go. Curiosity was getting the best of her. She was trying her best to remain ladylike during the activity, but it was proving to be more of a challenge than she thought it would be.
“What’s wrong?” he asked and shifted so he was on his side facing her.
“Just thinking about tomorrow,” she said with a sigh. She wasn’t about to tell him everything she had been thinking.
“There is a lot to think about. For example, where are you going to stay when we go home?” He looked at her neck and not her face when he asked. She suspected he was just as nervous as she was.
“I kind of assumed we would stay at my place. I have a house in a gated community. I feel safe there.” She added the last part so as not to kick his ego or manhood right off the bat. Sure, he had a luxury automobile, but if life taught her anything it was that guys would put everything they had into a car to impress girls.
“If you feel safer there, I can manage that.” He looked at her then. She tried to keep her expression of shock off her face, but really, did he think she would live with him in whatever home a grip managed to earn enough money to keep?
“I’m sure you have a nice place.” She tried to smooth the way. He half shrugged and nodded as if picturing it in his mind.
“You haven’t looked at your phone at all have you?” he asked.
She drew her brows together and said, “No! I hate that thing. Have you?”
“Once,” he admitted. “But then again, I don’t need to. It’s the weekend and my brother already saw the news and alerted my family to this situation. I noticed you didn’t bother to tell anyone or check to see if anyone had called you.”
She frowned. “I don’t owe anyone any explanations for my behavior. Not my parents, not my sister, not my agent, publicist, stylist, pool guy, or the lady who delivers pizza to my house once a month. I’m grown. I don’t need their permission to live my life.”
He kicked up a half smile and said, “Fair enough.”
“This sucks,” she said bitterly.
“Us?” He frowned at her.
“No,” she corrected quickly and placed her hand on his cheek. “Reality.”
“Nah.” He turned his head and kissed her palm. “You’ll see. It only gets better from here. Or worse, but I am hoping for better.”
She giggled. He smiled. He pulled her close and kissed her gently, briefly on the lips and then said, “I’m actually pretty anxious to take you out for dinner some time.”
A part of her worried for an instant that maybe that was all he wanted. To take her out in public meant being seen with her. She really hoped he wasn’t trying to attach himself to her for some career gain. She tilted her head back and looked at him. His eyes were soft and sleepy as he stared back at her. He asked, “Ready for sleep?”
She nodded. He rolled to his back and then reached for the light.
***
They were in the airport waiting for the flight to board when the true or false segment of an entertainment news program being played on a screen nearby showed a rather blurry photo of them heading into the wedding chapel. The sound was down, but the subtitles were on.
“Oh God,” she said. “That’s us.”
He nodded. He was focused on the subtitles. He sighed as the revelation of his true identity came across the screen as ‘Did Ivy Mills elope in Las Vegas this weekend with multi-millionaire Bo Bliss of Blissful Sound? This one is so true!’
He could feel every muscle in his back tense. She studied the television and then looked at him. She opened her mouth but the announcements to board the plane interrupted her.
He was ever so grateful to stand up and head down the walkway. He needed a moment to get his thoughts together. He rushed them to prevent her from saying anything as they boarded.
They took their seats and as soon as she strapped in she said in a hushed yell, “What are they talking about?”
He lifted his shoulder in a half shrug and said, “I own Blissful Sound.”
“The recording studio? I thought you were just a grip!” She folded her arms and frowned at him.
“Well.” He didn’t like her attitude. “I’m not just a grip. I do grip work because I started as a grip. I enjoy working. I miss the time on set. The studio doesn’t really need me anymore. I get bored.”
“That’s why they knew who you were. Jed knew you. Dahlia…ugh!” She practically shook with anger.
“Why are you so pissed?”
“I thought you were…”
“Ah,” he nodded. “You thought you were going to have all the cards in this deck. You thought that if I was just a poor little grip I would be grateful for whatever scraps you through my way. Well, well. It is nice to meet you. I had no idea.”
Now he was pissed. Her eyes rounded in surprise. He was right. He was disappointed, but he was right. Maybe she wasn’t the sweet and innocent woman he admired after all. She sat back against the seat and pouted. He wasn’t about to coddle her, not after that revelation. She wanted to be treated like an adult; well, here was her first wake-up call. He might adore her on most days, but he would not be treated like a doormat. He did that once in a relationship and would never walk that path again.
The flight was the longest hour of his life. She simmered in her own thoughts and he began creating a plan that included a particularly vicious lawyer he happened to be related to in the event that this marriage cost him a fortune to dissolve should it come to that. Asking Alex for help would be more painful than he cared to consider. The sad part was he didn’t want it to come to that. He was struggling to put the Ivy he thought he knew and the one beside him together. One of them he wanted desperately, and the other he wanted to spank for being such a heartless brat. He really hated that she looked so adorable in that dress. He really did not want to be attracted to her right now, but he was.
***
Ivy was stunned. She was angry that he didn’t tell her…what? That he made just as much if not more money than her. She was mad at herself for being such a bitch about it. Really, she hadn’t asked him if that was his only job. She assumed he was just a grip and that he put all of his earnings into that car to impress women. Her older sister, Maybelline had really messed up her mind.
May had convinced their parents when she entered middle grades to let her attended public school. When May got into high school she convinced Ivy it would be fun for them to go to school together. Their parents moved and they entered into the same school for the first time. People confused them all the time because when it came to features, they were practically twins. The only noticeable difference was the nose.
May was a bit of a diva that year. She had come into her own in the thespian driven, high profile school. It was a ridiculous place. Ivy was invisible because she was so shy and quiet. She always waved when people said hello, even when they called her May. After all, she didn’t want people thinking her sister was rude. When May got pregnant and their parent
s pulled her out, Ivy received the brunt of the decisions her sister had made. Her father made her promise to remain a virgin. He became so strict she had no life much less a boyfriend.
The theatre teacher thought she was May, so Ivy switched classes so she would be allowed stay in public school. It was the only chance she had. Even if it meant pretending to be her sister and outgoing for that one class, she took it. Eventually, May faded into the backdrop and finished high school the home school way, and Ivy stepped into the spotlight. When she got her first agent he suggested using her mother’s maiden name because the team liked the sound of it better than Ivy Milner. The team included Dahlia who later became her ‘adult’ agent.
She puffed out a breath. Her mind was racing again. He looked at her and she realized he probably thought she was still huffing and puffing at him. She had to get it together. She needed to stop worrying about everyone else.
Whatever! She was Ivy Bliss now.
She looked at Bo as they walked to baggage claim. He was everything she had ever imagined the right man should be. She was starting to worry about whether or not she could live up to his expectations.
He hadn’t said another word to her since making it clear he was on to her plan. It was her plan before she chose him.
Before she almost killed him.
Before he had done so many things to her body she was feeling addicted to his touch.
The camera flashes started and she took a chance. She didn’t want it to be all over the place that they were already on the way to divorce court. It was bad enough everyone thought she had gone crazy for walking out on Sleepers.
Maybe she had. Maybe she still was. She sure felt a little crazy, at least about him.
She slipped her hand into his. He looked down at her. She hoped her eyes communicated the need to pretend they were happy right now. He heaved a heavy breath and then smiled. Not her smile, a fake one, but it worked for the time being.
Once they were in his car he said, “Why don’t I drop you off at your place and give you some time to think about things.”
Her heart lunged to her throat. She was crushed. “You’re…dumping me?”
“I’m asking if you want to go home while I go get some of my things.” He started the car and said, “Where to?”
Ivy was suddenly afraid to let him out of her reach. He could easily drop her off and escape forever. She had promised that she would give it an honest try. She wasn’t doing a good job at that. “Your place. I have a few things already.”
“You sure you can handle my meager dwelling over your house in a gated community?” he said dryly.
Ivy had to face this head on. Louder than she intended she burst out, “Okay! All right. I get it. I know that you think I was trying to take advantage of you, but I wasn’t…at least not like that. Yeah, I thought you were just a grip. I imagined you dumped all of your cash into this car, and that you lived in an apartment somewhere accessible to any and everyone around. I thought by having more you would stay around longer…”
“What?” He briefly looked from the road to her.
“I’m not great at relationships. I didn’t have any through high school because my dad was so protective. Then I started working. My sister had been such a disappointment to my parents. I threw all of my energy into going after her dream…except it was really our dream. I just…” She looked out the window at the familiar scenery. He didn’t say anything. She knew he was waiting for her to finish it.
“I just got absorbed in it. Then I tried to find someone, but it’s not like guys who have girls falling in bed with them are too interested in PG relations with a woman in her twenties, then thirties. I thought if I could just get someone who wanted me to give me a chance, I could make it worth his while for a while and then…”
“Then what?”
“Then let him go,” she admitted.
“That’s fucked up.”
She was a bit surprised at his language. Bo had never cursed in front of her before, even when she almost killed him. Her thoughts flashed back to that moment, the prayer of desperation, the hours in the hospital, and the hours of lovemaking once he recovered.
Her body remembered the lovemaking too and it warmed as thoughts of his lips, his hands, his cock flashed through her brain. She was warm, getting wet, and growing desperate to let him know that her plans had changed when she married him.
“It was. Then it was you. I’ve always been attracted to you. I didn’t trust myself or my emotions in that department. I let my agent help me decide, I let my sister guide me, and even a few friends threw their two cents in from time to time. I thought they knew best. My gut was right, Bo. I should have asked you out three years ago when you wore that t-shirt with my favorite band on it.”
“You remember that?” He softened his expression just a bit.
“Yes,” she admitted. “I do. I remember talking to you about music for a good hour while waiting for them to repair something on set. I remember the talk about old movies and sound effects back then. I remember most recently the conversation you had with Jonas about surfing. I didn’t say much because I don’t surf, but I remember imagining what you would look like out on the waves. I remember that assistant flirting with you and it drove me crazy to see you smile at her the way I wanted you to smile at me.”
“Uh huh.” He sounded doubtful.
She looked at him. His eyes darted to her a moment and then back to the road. She bit into her bottom lip and slid her hand across the seat to his thigh. Her fingers touched then slowly moved up until her hand rest on top of the hard muscle.
“What are you doing?”
“Trying to say I’m sorry. I’m trying to let you know that what I thought I could do, I can’t. I don’t think I would have made it to a chapel with anyone else, Bo. I was worried that you would change your mind once we left Vegas and I was trying to keep you with whatever I had to give that might be worth something to you. Everyone wants something from me. My family, my agent, my fans, they all want something from me.” She took a fortifying breath and asked, “What do you want?”
“I just wanted to take you out to dinner.” He let out a breath of frustration.
Her heart warmed, soothed by the simplicity of the answer. “I think I’m available tonight.”
A wry smile crossed his lips and he said, “I might have other plans.”
“Oh.”
He groaned out loud and said, “I don’t know, Ivy. My head is messed up with this. One part wants to believe you. The other part…”
“Forget the other part.” She said quickly. He let out another breath, his cheeks puffing as he did. She knew he was struggling with trusting her. She didn’t blame him. As they pulled into his gated community, she understood why.
Ivy tried not to gawk at the place. Her neighborhood was nice, filled with celebrities and others in the industry. The homes were too large for an average family, but not extravagant. His home was ridiculous. She knew the neighborhood immediately. It was exclusive, old Hollywood mansions filled with mega stars and industry owners. It would suffice to say that Bo didn’t need anything from her.
“How much does your brother make as a lawyer if this is what she walked away from?” The question came out before her brain could filter it. They pulled into the garage and he parked the car.
“I don’t know. She left me when I was just a grip. I guess it’s funny in a way. She left me because what I wanted to do wasn’t good enough for her, and you married me because you thought what I did wasn’t really good enough for you.” He looked at her sincerely.
Ivy gulped down the lump that had formed in her throat. She squeezed his thigh. His hand moved to cover hers and then lifted it away. He got out of the car. She sighed and opened her own door. He was on his way around. When she got out he moved back towards the trunk and retrieved her bag.
He looked at her and said, “This way.”
***
Bo wasn’t expecting her to want to come to his h
ouse. He couldn’t very well refuse her because she was, after all, his wife. He had purchased this home out of spite. He wanted to show his ex-fiancé that she had made a huge mistake when she chose his selfish and robotic older brother over him. It wasn’t long after the dust on that family conflict settled he realized he didn’t really want such a grand place.
It was home, though, and he was glad to be there. He needed a nap. Ivy was more exhausting than the allergy pills he still had to take for another day or two. He sat her bags down as they entered the kitchen.
“Do you want something to drink?” he asked as he made his way to the refrigerator.
“Sure.” She stood there a bit bewildered. “Did this house belong to…”
“Yes. He didn’t die in it. I asked.” Bo grabbed the pitcher of water with cucumbers suspended in the diffuser. He sat it on the counter and then moved to get two glasses. He poured her a drink and then sat it on the counter. He poured his own and walked to the kitchen table. He looked at her. She stood in the large open space a bit bewildered. “Did you want something else?”
She shook her head no.
“Are you just going to stand there?”
She bit into her lower lip and looked at him. He could tell she was unsure, nervous, but hell, so was he. She picked up the glass and moved to sit next to him at the table. “All this space and you want to sit there?”
“In the hotel room we were always so close together. I like being close to you.” She looked at him with those puppy dog eyes and he struggled to remember he was really mad at her right now.
His phone rang and it provided him the break from her spell that he needed. It was Dale. His family was anxious to meet her. After his brother gave him a lecture he told him, “All right we will be there. I didn’t ask you to come in from Vegas, or to take vacation this week. I told you I would let you know about all that so don’t push it.”
