“I would hope it knows what it’s doing. It’s certainly had plenty of practice.”
Blaise ran his hands over his face, clearly frustrated. “Ava, we really need to work on your pillow talk.”
“We do?”
“Yes.” He held up his hand preparing to count down. “Rule number one. No discussing past penises. Rule number two. No discussing past pussies. It’s just bad form.”
I nearly choked on the water as I gulped it down to keep from spitting it in his face. Then, to make sure I wouldn’t spill, I set down my bottle on the bedside table. After that, there was nothing keeping my laughter at bay.
“Bad form? Really?”
“You’re not taking this seriously.”
I couldn’t even force a straight face. “Am I supposed to be?”
In one smooth motion Blaise had grabbed my waist and slid me down on the mattress before leaning over me, his body weighing down on mine in all the right places.
Then he grazed the tip of my nose with his lips as he moved down to my mouth, where he hovered, teasing me and staring me square in the eyes the entire time.
“Still don’t think this is serious?” His voice was so low it was barely above a whisper.
I couldn’t even answer. Just shook my head from side to side.
He lingered a moment longer and I could feel his heart beating in his chest, vibrating into mine, torturing me like drumroll building up to the big finale. Then finally his lips captured mine and I could feel myself get lost in him. I didn’t care. I wanted it. Wanted him. Wanted to be melted into him, him into me.
With only the thin cotton of my shorts separating us, I could feel him pressing against me. Taunting me. Blaise played dirty. Well, he wasn’t the only one.
I let my hand travel down his chest, my fingertips caressing his skin as they went until I reached my destination. I let the tips of my fingers explore him briefly, before taking him into my hand and closing it around him tightly. He moaned against my lips.
“Ava, don’t,” he whispered.
“Why not?” I started moving my hand back and forth, gently applying pressure every time I reached the tip.
“Because, I want you too much to do this right if you keep doing that. Shit,” he groaned loudly. The fact that he was coming undone by the touch of my hand was only turning me on more. I had no intentions of stopping.
“You’re acting like you’re only going to get one shot at this,” I murmured, the lobe of his ear between my teeth. I could feel his hot breath on my shoulder, growing more and more rapid as I moved my way down his neck with my mouth, kissing and licking every delicious part of him until I had worked my way back up on the other side.
“Would it help if I said, please?” I slid my tongue into his ear.
“Fuck, Ava, you’re killing me.” He was pressing his hips down into me harder, pinning my hand down in an effort to keep my advances at bay.
Using my free hand, I pushed onto his chest moving him off of me and placing him on his back. He didn’t say anything, just laid there and watched, curious to see what I would do next.
I slid my leg across his hips and straddled him, pulling my tank top over my head, completely baring my chest for him.
“Still want to tell me no?”
“Alright, that’s it, Ava,” he growled. “Just remember, you asked for this.”
He came up to meet me, kissing me, devouring me with his lips, while his hands explored every last inch of me, working their way down until they reached my shorts. Then, holding me on top of him, he laid back down until he could shimmy my bottoms down my legs, before kicking them over the edge of the bed.
All the while, his kisses never stopped. One after the other, he took me further, deeper into him until I couldn’t take it any longer. Every part of me was pulling him to me, desperate to get closer and closer because suddenly I could never be close enough.
Feeling that same urgency, Blaise rolled us over and he was back on top of me. There was a moment. A pause. Our eyes met and for one second, the world stood still. Then, it exploded all around us. He was inside of me. Filling me up. It was like our bodies had been formed to fit each other perfectly as we moved together. Every part of him had a home in a part of me. And for the first time I understood what it meant when two people loved each other so insanely they became one.
***
I was breaking my own rules for the second time already and this after making all my grand speeches of waiting and proving myself. If it hadn’t felt so damn amazing, I might have actually felt bad about it. But there was no feeling bad about this. Experiencing her this way. Who needed booze or pills when I had access to this all-consuming ecstasy? I could easily get addicted to her love. Maybe I already was.
“So this is spooning.” Her bare ass was tucked up against me. “I like it.”
“Mm-hmm.” She was still swirling in the aftermath of our first time together. It was nothing like how I’d imagined it. Any of the times I’d imagined it. And there had been plenty. Fantasies ranging from slow romantic lovemaking to passionate, spontaneous sexual combustion. Only thing I’d never counted on was her being the one making the moves on me. In the end, that had made it better than any of the scenarios I had envisioned.
I let my fingers graze across her soft skin, moving along the length of her arm, down her hips and thigh. She was spectacular. Every inch of her was total perfection in all of its completely imperfect ways. And I knew every detail. Every freckle. Every scar. I knew them all. Including the ones below the surface. I was desperately in love with every last bit of her. But I couldn’t say it. Not because I wasn’t ready. Because she wasn’t. I’d told her once already. I’d have to wait for her to say it, too. Then, after, I’d tell her. I’d tell her often. In a million different ways.
Chapter 12
Lying there in Blaise’s arms I felt like my heart might explode in my chest. Being with him, that way, it had changed everything. There would be no going back now. And that scared the fucking shit out of me. This was Blaise after all. A ticking time bomb if there ever was one. What kind of an idiot would fall in love with him? And how stupid was I to do it knowing all that I knew about him?
But it was too late. My heart was his. Maybe it had always been his. Maybe I’d just never trusted him with it before. Maybe I’d been right not to.
“Ava.”
“Huh?” I could feel his face nestled in my hair close to my ear.
“Time to come out of your head,” he whispered.
I turned around to face him. “I’m scared.”
He gently kissed the tip of my nose. “I know.”
“You and me, we’re all kinds of fucked up. What if we end up hurting each other more?”
“We won’t.” He sounded so sure.
“Blaise…My heart’s been cracked and chipped away at so many times, some days I’m not even sure how much I’ve kept of it and how much I’ve left behind in pieces. It’s fragile and frankly, handing it to you feels a lot like inviting the bull into the china shop.”
There was something almost painful in his eyes. “Your heart will never be safer than it is with me, Ava.”
“How can you say that?” My voice was all croaky from the lump in my throat which was getting harder and harder to keep down.
“Because, I’m the only one who knows how to put the pieces back together.”
Tears erupting from the corners of my eyes, I squeezed them shut and fiercely pressed my lips to his. For all the times he’d said all the wrong things or been too fucked up to say anything at all, he certainly always came through when I needed him to most.
He held me tight for a long time, not saying anything, just keeping me steady against his chest where the rhythm of his heartbeat slowly found mine and brought it back down to a normal pace.
“You know it’s your fault I’m freaking out like this.”
He chuckled softly. “How’s that?”
“Because. You had to go and throw all this
falling in love shit into the mix. What was I supposed to do? Not fall for you in return?”
“It was certainly an option.” He was talking into my cheek, leaving tender kisses behind as he spoke.
I shifted my head to meet his gaze. “No, it wasn’t.” I sniffed. “But it’s done. You’re stuck with me. Hope you’re happy now.”
“Are you?”
I closed my eyes and felt the smile slowly stretch from one side of my face to the other. “Yes.”
I fell asleep still enveloped in his arms and when I woke up the next morning we made love all over again, settling the matter of what to do with the last two days we had in Bora Bora. By the last morning, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever feel comfortable with the restraint of clothing ever again.
“This being naked twenty-four/seven business is going to be really hard to give up,” I said, casually grabbing his bare ass as I walked by.
“Who says we need to give it up?” He snagged my hand before I made it very far. Next thing I knew I was face to face with him and our bodies were falling perfectly into place with each other as if they’d always been intended as a set rather than two separate pieces.
“Um, I don’t know. Angel and Derek would probably prefer we did. Royce we might be able to sway.”
I could feel his hands trailing down my back, playing with the ends of my hair.
“Well, we’ll just have to work around them. It’s not like they’ll be around all the time.”
“Yeah, they kinda will be. Do you remember what it’s like to record an album?”
His face was already buried in the nape of my neck, caressing my skin with his lips. The feel of his stubble tickled my skin.
“To be perfectly honest I don’t remember much of anything that happened before two weeks ago.” His breath only added to the swirl of sensations already dancing across my skin and I was quickly turning to Ava putty.
“If we’re going to do this, we gotta make it fast. The water taxi will be here in thirty minutes and we still have to pack.”
Blaise didn’t even wait for me to stop talking before he had me up off the ground and on the nearest available surface. The dresser. Pretty sure this is the only place we haven’t been naked on, so it only seems like the right thing to do. Wouldn’t want it to feel left out. Because furniture does that.
The inner ramblings quickly gave way as my mind turned into something I assumed was the equivalent to what people experienced when on a mad dose of hallucinogens.
One romp on the dresser later and we were ready to leave behind whatever wasn’t already in our bags. No need to end our trip in a crazed rush with a deadline when I was still happily staggering along with a massive post sex buzz.
Something about stepping onto the private jet brought reality back in an instant. Not in a bad way, but in an ‘oh shit I haven’t checked my emails in two weeks’ sort of way. So, with Blaise’s head resting in my lap while he dozed off and on throughout the flight, I dove headfirst into my laptop and began catching up via the airplane’s Wi-Fi. Technology was a marvelous thing.
When we finally landed back in L.A. a car was waiting for us to take us home, up to Santa Monica. Blaise’s house reminded me of something you’d expect to see showcased on the cover of architectural digest or something. As houses went, this place was a freaking masterpiece. An oasis-like compound set in a jungle of a garden complete with water features. Anytime I stepped out into the courtyard I felt compelled to search the area for vine hopping monkeys. I had yet to spot one, but I was sure it was just a matter of time.
We were barely walking through the front door when Blaise playfully tossed me over his shoulder and started moving through the house like he was on a mission. A mission to get laid, to be specific.
“Time to christen this place,” he announced as we went flying through the living room. “Where do you want to start?”
“Not the kitchen.” A man’s voice reached us from somewhere inside the house. Likely the room reserved for cooking.
“Shit.” Blaise stopped so abruptly my face nearly collided with his ass. He made no attempt to lower me back down to my feet as he started moving again, this time headed toward our mysterious houseguest.
“Royce?”
He came promenading out into the living room, moving with an unusual air of confidence and ease for someone who was covering his eyes while he walked.
“Am I going to see vajayjay if I lower my hand?”
“It’s not some mythical creature, Royce. You won’t be petrified if you make eye contact.” I slid down from Blaise’s shoulder and hit the ground with a disappointed thud. “But no, you won’t be seeing my hoo-ha anytime soon.”
Blaise made a face. “Um, ever would be preferable.”
Meanwhile, Royce was clearly amused by our unexpected encounter. “So…how was Bora Bora? Anything interesting happen while you were gone?”
Blaise shrugged, trying to play it casual. “Not really.”
“No? Ava’s clothes didn’t just happen to evaporate into thin air prior to her stumbling and falling onto your dick?”
“Holy shit, Royce.” I was sure my face had turned into one gigantic tomato. I could feel the heat glowing on my cheeks like they were hot coals. And I knew my reaction would only increase his level of entertainment.
“Whatever happened between Ava and my dick is none of your fucking business.” Blaise looped his arm around my waist, further solidifying the fact that he and I were now officially an item, and not a fake one like we’d been before we left. Incidentally, this gesture all but confirmed Royce’s suspicions about my interactions with Blaise’s penis. “What are you doing here, Royce?”
“I was out of coffee. Your place was closer than the store.” A common side effect of living next door to one of your best friends. At the time Royce had bought the place it had seemed convenient. Now I was starting to think it might turn out to be a nuisance.
“Well, did you get your coffee?” Blaise spoke slowly, like he was talking to a child.
“Oh yeah, hours ago,” he nodded, still grinning broadly.
“Then why are you still here?” I sounded slightly less calm than the boys did, still reeling from the embarrassment of his last blow.
”No real reason. Just wanted to see if I could catch you guys doing something I could use for blackmailing purposes later. Since my work here is done…” He tipped his head at the both of us and began to leave. “I suppose I’ll have to start bringing over my own chair from now on. Just a guess, but I’m thinking it’s safe to assume no surface will be sacred around you two fuck bunnies.”
“First place we’re doing it is next to the coffee maker. So, you know…start making more frequent trips to the store while you’re busy carting around your own chair.” Blaise looked to me like I was supposed to back him up or something. I did the best I could on a moment’s notice and a ridiculous argument.
“Sounds convenient actually. I’ll probably want coffee after anyway.”
Royce just shook his head at us in disgust and walked out.
Two seconds later I was back over Blaise’s shoulder and staring at his sweet ass while he made a mad dash for the master bedroom.
***
We worked our way through four rooms in the course of our first day back home and I was giving myself an imaginary pat on the back by the time we wound up covered to our necks in a hot bubble bath. So not my thing, but I’d seen that shit pop up often enough in those damn movies Ava’d had me watching since I was eleven and I figured it would be an easy way to score some points in the romance department where I was so sorely lacking.
We’d been lying there for less than five minutes, when she sat up straight in the water.
“I’m not sure I’m digging this.”
“What?” How was that possible? I’d lit candles and everything. And they hadn’t exactly been easy to find. Most of them I’d had to confiscate from Royce’s house after promising never to attempt to bring them back.
; “It’s just…I don’t know. It’s hot. I feel like I’m sweating even though I’m sitting in water. Which kind of makes me feel like I’m sitting in a hot pool of my own sweat. Which wouldn’t be so bad if I wasn’t thinking about you sitting in a pool of my sweat.” She lifted her hands from the suds and let them fall back into our sweaty bath making a splash. “Plus, something about this reminds me of being four and taking a bath with my little brother. And there just isn’t anything sexy about that.”
No shit. “Alrighty then. No more baths for us.” I stood up and reached down for her hand. “How about a shower?”
I could see the mischievous gleam flash in her eyes. It’d been making a regular appearance ever since she’d first climbed on top of me and dared me to tell her no. I was starting to think it might be her sexiest feature yet.
Chapter 13
Three days after arriving home in L.A. and we were back at the studio to meet with the rest of the band. From that point forward, everyone went straight into work mode which was nice and annoying at the same time.
On the one hand, I loved working. On the other, I loved spending time holed up with Blaise in his house more. Regardless, things were moving forward and the one undeniable plus was that Blaise was keeping busy and staying sober.
While most of our time was now being spent at the recording studio day in and day out, it didn’t mean the band wasn’t still required to make appearances at a variety of events around town. Since most of those would mean exposing Blaise to booze and who knew what else, I had put off committing the boys to attending anything as long as I could. But eventually, I couldn’t avoid it any longer.
It had been forty-seven days since Blaise had gotten sober when he and I attended a charity gala together along with Royce and Angel who had both chosen to go solo, and of course Derek who was there with Sammy. Things started out fairly normal. We did the schmoozing and posing as we made our way down what seemed to be an endless red carpet. For the most part, Sammy and I kept to ourselves while the guys did their thing until we finally reached the doors and went inside. That’s where things got a little more hazardous.
Lost Avalon: A Finding Nolan Novel Page 9
