She looked toward the backyard doors where she could vaguely hear a rock song playing from outside. “Where are you taking me?”
Adam pulled her through the foyer, past the family and living room and through the French doors that led into his kitchen. Shaun was breath taken at how beautiful his home was. His kitchen was huge and scattered with various alcoholic beverages, snacks and homemade dishes in aluminum cookware. It looked like a tornado had hit it, but Shaun could still see how beautiful it must have been when it wasn’t being overrun by party-goers.
“Do you cook in here?” she asked.
“When I’m home. When I have time.” Adam continued to pull her through the kitchen and into a small room. Two stainless steel Whirlpool washing and drying machines sat stacked in the corner next to a large white counter housing an iron and various cleaning supplies.
He closed the door behind them.
“You’re showing me your laundry room? Uh, it’s beautiful?” She joked, turning towards him just in time to see him lock the door to the room and turn towards her. She only had time to say his name before his lips were on hers, backing her up onto the dryer. As he kissed her his hands traveled greedily down her body and cupped her ass, lifting her off of the floor and onto the counter behind her before crashing his body into hers.
She anchored her knees on his hips, gasping against his lips when she felt him pressed against her, hard. Ready.
His lips left hers and traveled down her cheek and to the sensitive skin under her ear. “You drive me so fucking crazy, babe.”
Her eyes fluttered shut as she enjoyed the sensation, her body flowing with warm chills as he lapped at her neck. He cupped the side of her head to hold her in place, moving slowly as he swirled his tongue against every inch, sucking, biting, taking his time. Her eyes began to roll and her head fell back as the languid assault he was giving her neck seemed to travel all the way down to her center. She was so ready for him, even then. Her hooded eyes took in his tousled black hair and she scraped her nails down his shadowy skin, reveling in the slightly sharp hairs that dusted his jaw.
“Adam,” she whimpered as he moved his kisses down between her collarbones, looking up at her with those green eyes. He smiled while his lips continued to work at her skin. Without thinking Shaun took his hands from where they were clawing at the skin under her top and placed them on her heaving breasts, grinning when his lips froze in mid kiss at her ribcage. His eyes widened in question for only a moment, then they were closed again. He wasted no time pulling the oversized plaid shirt down her shoulders, revealing the black lace bra underneath, before taking her breasts in both his hands, again.
“Oh my god, you’re so beautiful,” he whispered feeling the weight of her pert breasts was almost too much to bear. He licked at the swell of her breasts, creating a slow trail down to the lacy lining of her bra. He took it between his teeth and tugged, revealing a tiny hint of her dark nipple. Adam released the lace from his teeth before biting at her nipple through the fabric. When Shaun reached between them and slid her hand into his jeans, cupping his hardness, he hissed and stood tall, her nipple falling from his teeth as he took her hand in a fierce grip.
“Wait, wait, wait…” he breathed, on the very edge of losing complete control. He placed delicate kisses on her parted lips and brought her hands up next to their faces, intertwining her fingers with his. He took a deep breath as he slid her hands behind his waist, smiling against her lips when they immediately cupped his ass. “Slow, babe. Go slow.”
Shaun whined in protest, but surrendered at the soft feel of his tongue parting her lips, once more. She’d only had a few seconds to feel what he’d had to offer down there but, from what she could tell, she had both something to look forward to and be worried about. She was still a virgin, after all.
She let him lead the kiss, tilting her head in time with his as it slowly grew in intensity. She was so wet for him she could feel it without having even been touched. She slid her tongue past his lips and tucked her hands into the back of his jeans, pushing them down past his ass.
Adam’s kisses slowed to a stop, again, and he chuckled softly. “Slow, slow.”
“No, I don’t want to go slow,” Shaun mumbled against his lips.
Adam pulled away completely this time, holding both of her hands in a tight grip for fear that if she touched him again he would end up fucking her senseless right there on his Whirlpool. He knew he would end up hurting her. That was the last thing he wanted.
“Not like this, though.” He took in the sight of her, curly hair tousled, brown eyes aglow with desire and knew that he would hate himself for this later.
“Well, when?”
“It’s not something you scribble into the calendar babe.”
“My thoughts exactly so let’s go.”
“I’ve never been with a virgin.”
“That you know of.”
“Believe me,” Adam persisted.
“Are you afraid you’re going to hurt me or something?”
Adam looked off.
“I got news for you, babe, it’s gonna hurt no matter what. Get back over here.”
He didn’t move an inch, fiddling with his fingers as his eyes bore into hers.
Shaun realized that he probably was afraid of hurting her—he was definitely afraid of something—and found it rather endearing. “Just think of it as a teacher student kind of thing. Are you into that kind of thing?”
Adam looked off, again, his cheeks growing pink once more.
Shaun adored the sight. “You teach me everything you know and then, later, you can give me a skills assessment. You know, just to be sure I’m proficient in all things Adam Brand. How does that sound?”
If his wide open mouth, big hungry eyes and hand cupping his chin were any indication, he liked what he was hearing so much it had driven him speechless. She had a tendency to do that to him.
“Good. We’ll start now…” She tilted her head. “Come show me something.”
Adam took a slow step forward, then another. “You want me to show you something?”
“Yeah, I do.”
He retook his spot between her splayed legs. Staring into her eyes intently, he tucked his finger between the delicate front-latch of her bra. When she suddenly jolted out of her skin Adam froze, worried that he’d gone too far. He sighed in relief when he saw her pull a vibrating cell phone from her back pocket.
“Scared the crap out of me,” she said, tossing the phone down on the dryer next to her.
“Wait a minute, wait a minute …” Adam had caught a glimpse of the name on the caller id. “Answer that.”
“Adam, you’re killing me.”
Without another word, Adam reached past her and answered himself. “Shaun’s phone. Yeah.” He looked at her stunned face and couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah she’s right here.”
Shaun shook her head. “Who is it?”
“It’s talent acquisition at Victoria’s Secret. It’s the phone call that’s about to change your life.”
Then why did it feel like it was falling out right from under her? Shaun bit her lip. Shit. “Did you set this up?” she accused.
An excited smile grew slowly on his face. “No babe.”
Shaun’s mind raced. “What do they want?”
Adam didn’t understand the question. “You,” he finally responded.
“But why?”
“When Victoria’s Secret calls you don’t ask questions. You say thank you and proceed to break every traffic law in Los Angeles getting to them on time, now take the damn phone.”
Shaun begrudgingly took the phone from him while hopping off of the dryer. After saying hello she listened to the woman on the other end of the line explain that they’d been following her work and would love to have her come in and talk about a possible future with the company. When Adam’s hands enveloped her from behind and began travelling her body Shaun struggled to focus. The warmth of his lips and tongue sucking at her shoulder-b
lade left her mind blurry—she hadn’t even heard the last few words that the woman on the line had said.
At the end of the call, Shaun hung up the phone slowly, having lapsed into a zombie like state. “They want me to come in and talk about stuff. They want me to come in today. Like right now.”
“Let’s get the fuck outta here,” he said immediately. “I’ll drive you.”
She began making her way slowly passed him, still in a bit of a trance. “This is unreal.” What the fuck was happening to her life?
“Right?”
“This is so not the way this is supposed to be,” she puffed.
“But it is!”
“So I just made out with Adam Brand in a closet and now I’m going to audition for Victoria’s Secret? If I’m not a total statistic I don’t know what is.”
“Hey, don’t be crass.” Adam mocked offense. “It’s a laundry room. Now move your ass Green.”
--
The meeting with Victoria’s Secret had been quick—so quick that Shaun wasn’t sure why they’d had Adam race her down there the way they had. They were very interested in doing a few test shoots with her for their catalog the following day. With a heavy heart, Shaun had accepted. She felt like she was finally waving the white flag in a war she clearly wasn’t going to win. Perhaps a career in modeling wouldn’t be the worst thing. It was getting easier and easier for her with each day that passed. She didn’t love it the way she loved writing—never would—but it was doing wonders for her confidence and her pocketbook.
Adam, of course, had been over the moon. The friends and family that surely had to be tearing his house apart at that point had been completely forgotten. All he cared about was getting her back to her place for some privacy.
Shaun had let Adam drop her off at her apartment—but alone. She used schoolwork as an excuse since the past had proven that finishing school was the one thing that worked with Adam. He wanted her to finish school.
If he only knew what finishing would entail.
The moment he’d dropped Shaun off at her place she made a beeline for the offices at Cosmopolitan Magazine.
This entire day had opened her eyes so widely that it almost scared her--how blind she had been this entire time. She couldn’t write the article. She just couldn’t.
The offices were dark when she arrived, as it was well past 11pm. Shaun remembered that Jackson had a habit of staying late so, when she knocked and slowly opened the door to his office, she was sorely disappointed to find that he was gone. No jacket hanging off of the back of his chair, no papers strewn about, no signs of life. Even though the light to his office was the only one on the floor that was illuminated, it was clear that Jackson had already made his exit.
Shaun’s heart hammered as she took one small step into Jackson’s office, then another, until she was speed walking to his computer.
What the hell am I doing? She thought, frantically, as she woke his sleeping computer.
It immediately prompted her for a password.
“Shit,” she whispered, typing in the names of Jacksons’ two kids, his favorite color, his birthday, any and everything she knew about him. She even tried ‘asshole’ and ‘disgusting pig’, the words she herself most commonly associated with her boss. Nothing.
She groaned. All she wanted to do was get into his computer and delete every email she’d ever sent him with an update of her article, anything with her name on it, and most importantly, anything with Adam’s name on it.
This wasn’t a game anymore. She had to end this, but it clearly wouldn’t be tonight.
Maybe, she thought, Adam would never have to know. If she could just find a way to erase this whole thing maybe they could work. Just maybe.
As her mind raced with ideas Shaun finally accepted that she wasn’t going to get into Jackson’s computer tonight. Plus, she really didn’t see herself as the type of girl who would do well in prison. She had no doubt in her mind that Jackson wouldn’t hesitate a second to press charges against her for trespassing if he knew she was snooping around in his office.
She had to think of something else--she would think of something else. Everything suddenly seemed so clear. She wanted to meet Adam’s family, she wanted to give them a real chance, she wanted it more than she wanted to be a famous writer. Even if it meant losing everything, it was a risk she was now willing to take if it meant being with him.
Shaun crept out of the office backwards, slowly closing the door to Jackson’s office as quietly as she could. Once the door was safely closed she turned on her heel with a sigh of relief—but her lightheartedness was short lived.
She screamed at the top of her lungs when she came face to face with Veronica. The sight of the blue-eyed blonde shocked Shaun so much that she gasped, so loudly that she felt it all the way in the back of her throat, before throwing herself against the wall behind her, as if to escape some terrible monster.
“Veronica,” Shaun gasped with bated breath, wide-eyed.
“Shaun,” Veronica said with a hint of cheer in her voice. The blond stood displaying her signature sly smile. Her hands were placed on her hips, making her long milky arms seem almost spidery. As Shaun broke her neck looking up at Veronica all she could think was that this was what a real model looked like. All legs and arms, with a permanent scowl plastered across her flawless face.
“What are you doing here?” Shaun asked, still struggling to recover from her shock.
Veronica raised a perfectly threaded eyebrow. “I could ask you the very same question.”
“Oh…” Shaun looked behind her at the door of Jackson’s office. “Oh, I just had a photo-shoot here a couple of days ago and was just stopping by to say thanks.”
That blonde eyebrow remained raised. “To the editor and chief?”
“Yeah,” Shaun mumbled.
“At eleven o’clock at night? On a Saturday?”
“Yeah.” Shaun’s heart began racing. “Yep.”
An icy silence passed as Veronica slowly looked her up and down. “I knew there was something off about you. I knew it.”
Shaun was suddenly no longer afraid, but irritated. “You don’t know a god damn thing about me.”
“I think I’m going to go ahead and find out, Shaun Green.” Veronica sneered at her before turning on her heel and stomping away.
“And just what are you doing here at eleven o’clock at night?” Shaun called after her, frantically. She jammed her eyes shut when Veronica was out of sight, cursing softly under her breath.
She had to end this, before someone else ended it for her.
Thirteen
Tiny beads of sweat swam across Shaun’s forehead. Her feet--on the floor, and her fingers—on her keyboard, were doing an incessant musical dance as her eyes moved across the screen of her laptop. It was done. The article was done. She couldn’t believe it. Never in her life had she begun a piece of writing that she hadn’t finished, and this article was no exception. Though she’d decided the night before that she had absolutely no intention of submitting it, some powerful tug inside of her had to finish the article. She wasn’t the same woman she had been when she’d started it, and she felt, if anything, finishing it was an exercise in realizing just how much the last month, and Adam Brand, had changed her.
For the better? She wasn’t so sure. Even if it wasn’t for the better she knew that she was making the right decision in deciding not to publish it. So, if anything, she’d be able to sleep at night for the first time in four weeks.
While she re-read her words, sporadically shaking her head at the content she’d managed to get down on paper all those weeks ago, she was also listening to the angry voice of her editor Jackson as she played his voicemail for what had to be the fifth time that sunny Saturday morning.
“Shaun it’s Jackson I still don’t have your finished article and we go to press in twenty four hours it would be great to know where the fuck you are thanks.”
Jackson never spoke in full sentences, just a
ngry run-ons. The sound of his voice alone was enough to solidify to Shaun that not sending in the article was the right way to go. Even so, she couldn’t stop playing his message. As she went to replay it, again, the sound of her friend groaning from the living room couch stopped her.
“No… no more,” Celia slurred, from where her lips were muffled into one of Shaun’s many throw pillows. “Stop it… evil man.”
“Go back to sleep,” Shaun said. She decided to spare her hung-over friend the sound of Jackson’s voice for the millionth time and instead read over the last rule of her article, again.
Rule #10: No More Games
So… with a little wit, a little savvy, a little charm and a lot of very strategic hair flips you’ve managed to land your rock star. Congratulations are certainly in order as this is no small feat. Like all manipulative and devious things, however, the games must come to an end. Just like you, your friends, your family and anyone who’s ever touched you in your life… rock stars are people, too, with feelings, hearts and souls. It is important that you don’t lose sight of the humanity in him--the good. If your rock star has no humanity or good in him then please run for your life, as no amount of money or fame is worth your sanity. But if he or she is anything like my rock star—who has become much less my ‘star’ and much more my ‘rock’--if there is anything even remotely real between the two of you, drop everything and let the universe do the rest of the work. You deserve that and if he’s even an iota the man that my rock star is, then I’m sure he does, too.*
*As of press time I will not be publishing this article and will surely be fired because of it. None of that matters to me, however. All that matters is that my rock star knows the truth. My rock. My shining star. Adam. I’m not sure if there’s anything I could ever say that would make him forgive me for even fathoming writing this article, but I have to try. I have to.
Stereo Page 22
