Love After War

by Cheris Hodges

  “You’re all I’ve ever needed,” he whispered, his head thrown back in pleasure as her mouth replaced the stroke of her hand. The heat of her breath, the wetness of her mouth, and the lick of her tongue made Adrian’s knees quake and bring him to the brink of an orgasm.

  He placed his hand underneath her chin, silently telling her to stop. “Damn, baby,” he moaned, then gripped her hips.

  Dana licked her lips and smiled at him before planting herself on his lap. Adrian stroked her face before pulling her in for a kiss. Their tongues danced together as she spread her thighs. Without a thought of protection, he entered her valley, thrusting his hips against hers as she rode him. He grabbed her breasts, massaging them before sucking her erect nipples. She tightened her thighs around him, crying out as ripples of delight flowed through her body. Dana and Adrian locked eyes as she felt the waves of an orgasm wash over her. Adrian leaned her against the sofa cushions, diving deeper and intensifying her second orgasm.

  The blissful look on her face took Adrian over the edge. As much as he wanted to, needed to, he couldn’t pull out before spilling his seed inside her. A moment passed before either of them moved. Adrian glanced at her belly, wondering what kind of father he would be if she happened to get pregnant. Would he be a coward like his biological father and walk away, or would he be like the man who raised him—strong, responsible, and caring?

  “What’s that look?” she asked.

  “We were reckless.”

  Dana nodded. “But I’m on the pill. I’m not trying to be a mother anytime soon and I’m sure you’re not trying to give up your LA lifestyle for fatherhood.”

  “But I would.”

  Dana raised her eyebrow as if she didn’t believe him. She had no cause to, especially since he never wanted kids when they were together. What had changed? she wondered as she caught him looking at her stomach again.

  “Relax, Adrian,” she said. “I’m STD free and—at this moment—not pregnant. Should I be worried about you?”

  “No,” he said. “Listen, I’m just . . . We’ve never been careless like this and I don’t want—”

  She placed her finger to his lips. “Can we cross that bridge if the time comes? Are you sure you don’t have something you need to tell me?”

  Adrian kissed her finger, smiling at her warmly. He had a lot he had to tell her. He had many things to say to her; he owed her the truth about his father and how he wanted to bring his family to their knees. But instead of answering her, he simply gave her a deep kiss.

  “Adrian,” she said when their lips parted.

  “Umm . . .”

  “The omelets are cold and I’m still hungry.”

  Smiling, he lifted off her and said, “Let’s get dressed and go to Roscoe’s. I don’t think I can pull that off a second time.” Adrian nodded to the oddly shaped omelets. “And”—he ran his index finger down her thigh—“I’m too distracted to cook.”

  “Well, Roscoe’s it is,” she said, then looked at the clock above the TV. “Damn. I can’t. I have an early morning and my body still thinks it’s on the East Coast.”

  “Thank God it isn’t,” Adrian ribbed. “I guess it’s room service, then.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I don’t care where we sleep as long as we do it together,” he said as he reached for his pants.

  Dana started to say something sarcastic, but she wanted to wake up in Adrian’s arms and feel the warmth of his breath against her neck as they slept. So she just smiled. “Let’s get dressed and go, then.”

  About thirty minutes later, they were headed to Dana’s hotel. As he drove, Adrian glanced at her, wondering again if he should tell her the truth. Was he afraid that Dana would talk him out of his anger or was he afraid that she’d be angry with him?

  When Dana caught one of his awkward looks, she shook her head. “I’m going to ask you for the last time, what’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. I can’t look at you?”

  “I guess,” she quipped, then fingered her thick hair. “I hope you don’t mind if I edit some pictures before bed. I want to stay ahead of my deadline.”

  “Not at all.” But Adrian didn’t want to see pictures of Ian Kelly and his ilk. The pictures he wanted to see would be plastered all over the papers tomorrow—protest at the Crawford construction site, Solomon getting smacked by Heather, and possibly Richmond’s mug shot. He gripped the steering wheel tighter and forced himself to concentrate on the road and push the thoughts of his family out of his mind. He could hear Dana talking about the Crawfords, but he refused to allow the words to seep into his brain.

  “I’m sorry,” she said when she noticed the look on his face. “I’m going on and on about work and that scene in your club and you zoned out.”

  “It’s okay.”

  “I get the feeling that you’re not fond of the Crawfords. Did your business with them not work out?”

  “No.” He wished she’d stop talking about those people. The more he answered her questions, the more he felt as if he were lying to her. He wanted to keep her away from his war. But how could he?

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” she said.

  “Don’t be. Shit happens.”

  “I guess you’re right. I can’t wait for this to be over. Maybe I’ll take a vacation in Los Angeles.”

  Adrian smiled broadly, genuinely. “That sounds like a good plan. I know where we can go to avoid the smog you hate so much.”

  Dana smiled and stroked his arm. “I thought you’d like that. Then maybe you can come to New York and hang out in my territory for a while.”

  He gritted his teeth. “I don’t understand why you love that dirty—”

  “Hey!”

  “You’ve been in LA long enough to know that this trumps New York.”

  Dana sucked her teeth. “It’s all right.”

  Adrian exited off the highway and headed toward the hotel. “Be honest.”

  “Los Angeles hasn’t always been good to me and you know that. You haven’t even seen New York. Nor do you know the greatness of a hot dog from a street vendor.”

  Part of him wanted to pour his heart out to her as he pulled into the parking lot of the hotel. He wanted to tell her that his mother loved and lost so much to that city, and if he had his way, he’d never set foot there. But then he’d have to tell her the rest of the story. The way Elliot Crawford broke his mother’s heart and banished them thousands of miles away.

  “I have the best part of New York right here,” he said, then stroked her knee.

  “As much as I want to bask in the compliment, there’s more to New York than me.” She grinned.

  “Not in my book.” Adrian climbed out of the car and crossed over to the passenger side to open Dana’s door. He took her hand in his and kissed it gently. “You know, I love you more than you know.”

  She paused and stared into his eyes. “Why do I feel like there’s a but coming?”

  Adrian tilted his head to the side and started to tell her what the but was, but he knew the main thing he needed to do was get her upstairs in that hotel room so he could kiss her without the prying eyes of security cameras or Imani.

  Too late. “Dana,” she called out. “Where have you been?”

  Dana raised her eyebrow as Adrian wrapped his arm around her waist, as if he were bracing for Hurricane Imani.

  Adrian glanced at the man standing beside her; he looked as if he wanted nothing more than to go upstairs and go to sleep. How in the hell did he deal with this woman? Actresses were his least favorite people in the world, because they always seemed to have to be on. Imani, he’d surmised, was no different.

  Imani cut her eyes at Adrian and then sidled up to Dana. “You’re kind of losing your mind. Ian was looking for you.”

  “Did he sober up any?”

  Imani held her index fingers a few inches apart. “But how drunk are you?”

  “We’ll talk later,” she said, glancing over her shoulder at Adrian. He kissed her on the b
ack of her neck.

  “In other words, we’ll see you in the morning,” Adrian said, then offered Imani a sly grin. Just as she was about to respond to him, the man Adrian assumed was her husband grasped her elbow.

  “Good night, adults,” he said, looking pointedly at Imani. “Let’s go.”

  Imani glanced at Dana and Adrian, then turned to her husband. “Whatever,” she whispered, and followed him inside without another word.

  Adrian made a mental note to send that man a case of his favorite drink.

  “We should go too,” Adrian said to Dana. “Since you have work to do and I want to distract you.”

  She shook her head and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Let’s go.” They dashed inside and decided to take the stairs to her room rather than wait for the elevator. Adrian took the steps two at a time and Dana laughed while struggling to keep up.

  “Slow down,” she said, pretending to be out of breath. “I’m going to be so tired when I get to the room that I’m going straight to sleep.”

  He stopped, turned around, and scooped her up into his arms. “I don’t think so.”

  With Dana in his arms, Adrian bounded up the remaining steps until they reached her floor.

  “Whew,” he said.

  “Hey! No one told you to play Mr. Fireman.”

  “There’s a hose joke in there but I’m going to let that go.”

  Dana burst out laughing as he lowered her to the floor so that she could open the door. “Remember, I need to do a little work.”

  “Fine, I’ll order room service since we didn’t get to eat at my place. Well, food anyway.”

  She glanced at him over her shoulder as she crossed to her laptop. “You are so bad,” she said as he perused the menu. Booting her computer, Dana plugged the memory card from her camera in and Adrian took notice of a picture that had nothing to do with Hollywood or the movies. It was Elliot Crawford. She didn’t notice Adrian glaring at the screen over her shoulder as she edited a picture of Elliot and his granddaughter standing in front of the construction site. He got a brief view of some of the protesters standing behind the grandfather and granddaughter. Elliot looked like he was pointing out points of architecture to the little girl.

  As if she understands what the hell he’s saying. I wonder if that baby understands that the man holding her is a lying asshole. Adrian turned away from the picture, feeling ridiculous because he was jealous of a baby. He crossed over to the balcony doors and opened them. Taking a deep breath, he questioned his plan to bring his father down. His mother’s final wish hadn’t been for war; she wanted him to know who his father was and possibly get to know him. Looking back at Dana as she plugged away on the computer, he smiled, then turned his eyes upward to the sky.

  “You’re behind this, aren’t you,” he whispered to the heavens. “She brings out the best in me. You’ve always said that.” Adrian sighed. He’d been so angry that he had allowed his emotions to take him down a dark road. Now he was regretting what he’d done to Solomon. His brother wasn’t his enemy and he shouldn’t have set up that photo. Just as he was about to reach for his cell phone, he felt Dana’s arms wrap around his waist.

  “Room service just arrived. What are you doing out here?”

  “Thinking, talking to Mom, and thanking God that you came back to me.” He turned around and kissed Dana on the forehead.

  “Adrian.”

  “Listen,” he said, cutting her off. “I made the biggest mistake of my life when I made you believe that I was with those women. I should’ve been open and honest with you about how I was feeling.”

  “Adrian, that’s the past, but if we’re going to have a future, you have to be honest with me about everything.” She stroked his cheek. “Come on, let’s eat and crawl into bed.”

  Chapter 11

  The next morning, Dana woke up nestled in Adrian’s arms and she didn’t want to move an inch. The heat of his body felt so delicious and comfortable. Just five more minutes, she thought as she snuggled closer to him. He brushed his lips against her neck and she smiled. “I thought you were sleeping,” she said as she felt the hard thickness of his erection against her bottom.

  “Sleep is overrated,” he whispered, then nibbled her ear.

  Dana wanted to give in to the passion, to the heat and desire bubbling inside her belly, but she had to pull out of his embrace.

  “I have to shower and get to work,” she groaned. “I have to meet with Lois from the publicity department for breakfast.”

  “Lois can eat without you,” he said, stroking her hip. “Take the day off.”

  “Says the man who works all night.” She reluctantly moved his hand from her hip. “The sooner I finish with this meeting, the sooner we can link up and get right back into bed.”

  He gently bit her shoulder. “How much longer are you going to be working on this assignment?”

  “Well, technically today is my last day. But I was going to start on a new project, something more personal to me.”

  Adrian propped up on his elbows. “What’s that?”

  “My photo book. I want to look at more than the glamour and glitz of Hollywood and Broadway.”

  “So this means you’re going to be in LA for an extended period of time, huh? How much of that time do I get?”

  She turned around and faced him, tilting her head to the side. “Well, I’ve been trying to figure that out myself. Do I have a reason to spend more time with you?”

  Adrian chuckled as he took her right hand and placed it on his hardness. “Here’s one reason.” Then he took her hand and placed it against his chest. “But here’s the main reason. You can’t take my heart to New York and if you leave me again, it’s going to break.”

  Dana shook her head. “Cute but corny, Mr. Bryant. I could stay, but I know I don’t want to spend the next few weeks in a hotel.”

  “I know exactly where you can stay,” he said.

  “Will there be omelets?”

  “Every day.”

  She kissed him and hopped out of bed. “Then I guess I’ll be staying in LA. And I don’t want to hear one word about my bike.”

  Adrian groaned and flipped over on his stomach. “I still don’t think that thing is safe. Especially since you have this need for speed.”

  Dana grabbed her toiletries from the dresser and turned to Adrian. “Explain this to me—if you’re so worried about my need for speed, what was the purpose of buying me a Corvette?”

  “Four wheels instead of two,” he said matter-of-factly. “I know motorcycles are your thing, so I’m going to try and accept it.”

  “I appreciate that because you don’t have much choice in the matter, sweetheart.” She dashed into the bathroom before Adrian could muster a reply.

  Sitting up in the bed, he listened for the shower to start. When he heard the water going full blast, Adrian picked up his cell phone and called Elliot.

  “Son,” the older man said, forgoing a hello. “I have to say this is a surprise.”

  “Are you always so damned smug?” Adrian gritted out.

  “I hope you didn’t call me for an argument.”

  Adrian sighed. “No, I didn’t. I want to meet with you. We should talk. Face-to-face.”

  “When would you like to meet, Adrian? We have a lot that we need to discuss and clear up.”

  “Yes, we do. I have some time this morning around eleven. Where would you like to meet?”

  “There’s a Japanese restaurant on Wilshire— Takami Sushi and Robata. We can meet there at noon.” Adrian wasn’t going to allow Elliot to schedule what time they’d meet. He’d been waiting on his father for years, Elliot could wait for him now.

  “That works for me,” he said. “I’ll see you there.”

  Adrian ended the call at the precise moment that Dana finished her shower. If he left when she did, he’d have time to go home, shower, and mentally prepare himself to forgive his father. Dana walked out of the bathroom wrapped in a white towel and all Adrian
wanted to do was pull the towel from her body and make love to her for the rest of his life.

  The rest of his life. That’s how long he wanted to be with Dana. And in order for him to be with her and love her the way she deserved, he had to bury his anger and hatred toward his father. Maybe there would come a time when he’d think of Elliot as family. Maybe making peace with him today would be the first step in the right direction. He couldn’t help but wonder if his father would apologize for what he did to his mother. That’s what hurt Adrian the most, the fact that his mother died thinking of a man who seemingly didn’t give a damn about her.

  Thinking about Pamela’s last day wasn’t helping him.

  “Adrian? Did you hear me?” Dana asked, snapping him back to reality.

  “No, what did you say?”

  Dana rolled her eyes. “I asked if you wanted to meet for dinner around seven.”

  “That’s fine. Do you think you can meet me at the club? I have to go over my books, and since we’re closed tonight, this is the best time.”

  “All right,” she said. “I’ll pick up some takeout and Starbucks.”

  Adrian climbed out of bed and crossed over to her. She had pulled on a pair of black lace boy shorts and a matching bra. Damn, how had he missed that? She looked delicious. Those hips were calling his hands. He heeded that call and pulled her into his arms. “Do you really have to put clothes on and leave?”

  “Yes.” She leaned back against his chest, not wanting to leave at all. “And if you don’t let me go, it’s going to be that much harder for me to leave.”

  He thrust his hips into her backside. “It’s already hard, baby.”

  Dana pulled away from him. “Hold that thought until I get off work and I will make it worth your while.”

  He winked at her. “I know you will.”

  Dana quickly dressed, grabbed her camera, and gave Adrian a slow smoldering kiss, then dashed out the door. Once he was alone, Adrian started thinking about his father again. Would he get the answers his inner little boy needed? Did Elliot think Adrian wasn’t good enough for him to love? Adrian pulled his clothes on, shaking his head. “I don’t have time for this.” He headed to his car and drove home so that he could shower and make it to the restaurant.