I’d never been so excited to hear that news.
What are you still doing up?
As I texted back, I tried to picture her in her apartment, laid out on her bed wearing something ridiculously sexy – or maybe nothing at all. Damn, that was a hot image.
Trying to get up the courage to invite you over, she sent back, and my stomach flipped as other parts of my anatomy started to get excited.
There was only one reason a girl invited a guy over at two in the morning, and holy shit, was Nora actually booty calling me?
Yes, please, I texted back, grinning at my screen.
She sent back a smiley face and her address and then said, Get here quick before I lose my nerve.
She didn’t have to ask me twice. I had the valet hailing me a cab within seconds, and before I could process anything, I was barking out Nora’s address and we were speeding off toward Westwood.
I paused in front of her door and knocked. Within seconds, Nora whisked the door open and wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling my mouth to hers so fast I barely had time to respond, but I did register that she was wearing my hat. And she tasted like tequila.
Before I knew what was happening, she’d kicked the front door closed, was walking backward, kissing me and somehow navigating us through her apartment. I pulled back to catch my breath and look at her for a moment. My hat was lopsided on her head, and she was grinning up at me, but below her smile was nothing but a lacy dark purple bra and matching panties.
My eyelids lowered as I drank her in, her body looking as incredible as it had the day we’d been in my hot tub. I met her gaze, as I ran my hands down her sides, over her tiny waist to settle on her hips.
“Damn, girl, you’re too much.”
“You like sexy, so I wanted to be sexy,” she said, and I suddenly pulled back.
“What do you mean?”
She bit her lip and took a deep breath. Then she stepped close to me once again.
“Ethan,” she said, as she ran her hand through my hair, her fingers lightly raking my scalp and making me feel like I just wanted to sink into her. “You like sexy girls. I wanted you to think I was sexy.”
I could smell the alcohol on her breath, not that I could talk, because I wasn’t exactly sober, but she was drunk. I could see her insecurities coming out, and as much as I wanted to do really dirty things to her, I wasn’t going there when she was drunk and acting on instinct that wasn’t natural for her.
Damn, she was looking up at me with such longing, her eyes so wide and vulnerable that I wrapped her in my arms and pulled her against me which knocked my hat off of her head.
“Babe, you’re sexy as hell,” I whispered in her ear, and she giggled. Nora wasn’t a giggler.
Then her hands that had been splayed on my hips started to move south, so I backed out of her reach. I stopped when the backs of my legs hit her desk.
“No, come back,” she said, reaching for me, but I kept my distance, knowing if she started, I wouldn’t be able to tell her to stop.
I shook my head. “Sweetheart, have you been drinking?”
She nodded. “Yeah. My roommate, Rena, had some people over tonight, so when I got home we sort of did some shots, and then I got some liquid courage, in addition to getting really horny, so I decided to text you.”
I smirked at her. She was sort of cute when she was smashed and talking dirty. I was fairly certain she didn’t do that in her normal life.
“How many shots did you have?”
She screwed up her face in question and looked up at the ceiling. “Um, I don’t know, but they made me brave enough to booty call you, so a few. Now, are you going to come over here, or are you going to stand against my desk all night?”
I shook my head. “It’s late. Why don’t we go to sleep?”
She looked crushed. “Sleep? Don’t you want to have sex?”
Hell yeah, I do.
“Not tonight, babe,” I said, as I took her hand and led her over to the bed, doing what I knew was the honorable thing.
She stopped and pulled her hand out of my grasp. “But, you always sleep with girls. It’s what you do,” she said, making me sound like a complete man-whore. And maybe I was, but not anymore. Not with her, at least.
I noticed her lower lip start to tremble, so I shook my head again and stepped closer to her, wrapping my arms around her waist so I could pull her against me.
“See, you want me,” she said, her voice cracking as she indicated the mild erection I was sporting.
I sighed, because I did want her, but not in the state she was in.
I leaned my forehead against hers. “Babe, I want you really bad, but not while you’re drunk and I’m drunk. Let me take you on a date first. I want to do this right, okay?”
“But why?” she asked, her voice sounding strained.
“Because I like you a lot. You’re cool and sexy and fun and smart and you make me smile. This is more for me than just sex.”
She smiled at my words. “It’s more than just sex for me too, but I also want to be enough for you.”
I smiled. “Sweetheart, you’re more than enough for me.” I pulled back and stroked her hair. “Now let’s get in bed, because I want to hold you and fall asleep with you in my arms, okay?”
Definitely a first for me.
She nodded and looked up at me with those wide green eyes that were like pools of mesmerizing light that just sucked me right in.
“I’d like that.”
I leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Good. Me too.”
* * *
I woke up disoriented the next morning until I remembered the night before and felt Nora’s body pressed against my back, her arm draped over my stomach. I smiled. I liked that – a lot.
I laid there for a few minutes, not moving until I felt her stir behind me. Then her lips pressed against my bare back in three spots.
“Good morning,” I said, startling her as I rolled over so I was facing her.
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t think you were up.”
I smiled a small smile. “I was just enjoying what you were doing there.”
She returned my smile. “Sorry about last night. I’m not a big drinker, and I sort of lost my mind, I think.”
I shook my head and reached for her hand under the covers, linking our fingers together when I found them. “It’s fine. You were actually quite adorable.”
She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I was a hot mess. I’m so embarrassed.” She tried to pull her hand from mine, but I wouldn’t let her.
“Don’t be embarrassed,” I said as I leaned forward to kiss her.
She hesitated at first before finally opening her mouth to me. And when I pulled back, she smiled at me from where her head rested on her pillow. I brushed her hair off of her face.
“You’re sweet, Ethan Lewis, and I wasn’t expecting that.”
Yeah, me neither. Normally it was only Logan who saw this side of me. For some reason, Nora was bringing it out in me.
“I’m a nice guy. I told you that,” I said, fudging the truth just a little because it wasn’t like I was going to turn around and start treating her like shit. I liked and respected her too much for that.
“Well, nice guy, would you like to buy me breakfast?”
I smirked at her suggestion that our time together continue. “Sure, I’d like that.”
“Great, give me five minutes to get dressed,” she said, and I became well aware that she was still wearing just her bra and panties. As she hopped out of bed, giving me a prime shot of her perfect ass, she turned around and looked over her shoulder. “Try not to look, okay?”
But I knew she was just teasing me, so I kept my gaze on her the entire time I watched her slide on a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt. When she was fully clothed and the temptation was minimized, I slipped out of bed. I had on only my boxers. My clothes were draped over her desk chair, and I took notice of the fact that she drank me in as I crossed the room and got
dressed.
I wondered how long we’d be able to hold off having sex since even in the light of morning and sober, we were having trouble not jumping each other. But I was standing firm in my rule that I wanted to take her on a date first before we slept together.
I could tell she was thinking the same thing, but she wasn’t going to broach the subject. Then her stomach grumbled and broke the sexual tension that was engulfing both of us.
“I guess I should feed you,” I said.
She smiled. “I should warn you I’m like a little kid. If I don’t eat on a schedule, I get very cranky.”
“Well, we can’t have that happening,” I teased, as I took her hand and led her out of the room.
Because we were both starving, we settled on a diner that was around the corner from her apartment where we both ordered coffee and pancakes, and I held her hand across the table.
“We have so much in common,” I said, as I flirted my fingers against her palm. “We both like pancakes.”
I was teasing, but she smiled, not taking it as a joke. “We do. I like that.”
“I like you.”
She blushed and looked down. “Ethan,” she said, shaking her head in embarrassment.
“What? I do. Is that such a bad thing?”
She looked up and met my gaze, then shook her head. “No, it’s not. It’s a really good thing.”
“Good,” I said, grinning at her. “Then I want to spend the day with you. You said you don’t have to work, are you free?”
She nodded and smiled. “I am.”
“Good, then you’re mine.”
Her smile got even wider. “I like the sound of that.”
Yeah, I did too – probably more than I should have.
Chapter Thirteen
Logan
The first pictures of Jase and Chloe surfaced almost a week after I got back from New Orleans. I was at my internship, doing one of the things I was responsible for each week which was reviewing competitor marketing like a college student would, i.e., surfing certain websites and recording what ads popped up, what types of social media was being used, and then writing down my thoughts.
It was mindless work, and I’d wanted something a little more challenging, but at least it beat what I did almost all day on Tuesday which was organizing two large filing cabinets and boxing up anything that was more than two years old to send to an offsite storage facility. Talk about boring. At least I got to listen to my iPod while I worked.
I was suddenly stopped short when I logged on to the Internet and one of the headlines that greeted me was ‘Jason and Chloe: Are They Back On?’
I guess it was my fault since I had my default home page set to an entertainment news site, but it was like a car crash. I couldn’t look away. I clicked on the story and was greeted with a picture of Jase and Chloe sitting very close together in a darkened restaurant. His head was ducked against hers.
He was smiling and looking like he didn’t want to be anywhere else in the world. It was an old picture, I knew that because Jase looked younger, but the image of them still squeezed my heart and enflamed my insecurities.
The article went on to say that they had been spotted together at several New Orleans hot spots in the past few days and went on to list things that insiders had shared about Jase’s initial reluctance to let Chloe back into his life, but after a disappointing visit from his on-again/off-again girlfriend, Logan Kessler, he was starting to look at Chloe differently, and they were talking about rekindling their relationship.
On-again/off-again? What the hell was that?!
I should have stopped reading, but I couldn’t. The whole thing just pissed me off, but it was like I had to digest all of it before I could stop. I read every last word. Then I immediately picked up my phone to call Jase.
“Hey baby,” he said, his voice warm and buttery.
I would see him the next day since he was flying home for twenty-four hours for the Oscars, but I couldn’t wait to talk to him. I had to hear it from him that the rumors weren’t true. I hated that I was even doubting him, but I couldn’t help it. My mind was racing with a million possibilities that all made me want to vomit.
“Hi,” I said, my voice losing confidence with him on the other end of the line.
“What’s up?”
“Nothing. What are you doing?”
He sighed. “Just practicing. My scenes tomorrow are of me playing, so I wanted to make sure I don’t screw them up.”
I softened immediately. He was working so hard. There was no way he had time for anything with Chloe. I just needed to trust him. I didn’t need to burden him with Internet rumors that were just that – rumors. I knew my relationship better than anyone, and I had to go with that.
“What are you practicing?” I asked, instead of picking a fight.
He hesitated before saying, “I’m working a new song.”
I could hear the apprehension in his voice. I knew that in addition to learning what he had to for the film, he was also trying to really learn to play the guitar. He’d been impressed by my dad’s skills when we’d been home, and I think he was hoping to emulate his talents. I knew he was partially doing it to impress my dad, but the other part of me knew it was also to impress me.
“Oh yeah, which one?”
When we were home, he and my dad had played some of the easier songs that Jase knew, and my dad had started to teach him some more complicated songs over the week he’d stayed with us. Jase had been practicing those songs, and when he felt like he’d mastered them, he’d play them for me.
“Um, it’s actually for you,” he said softly, not telling me the name of the song. I was pretty sure it wasn’t one my dad had given him.
“Really?”
I glanced around to see if anyone was watching me. I wasn’t sure if my employer would be cool if I was on the phone with my boyfriend while I was supposed to be working, but to my credit, I continued to search the web while I talked to Jase, so I was still technically working. And really, a monkey could do this job.
“Yeah, I wanted to play it for you when I saw you this weekend.”
Okay, now I was really going to keep my mouth shut about the Chloe bullshit.
“Aww, Jase, that is so sweet. Which song?”
He hesitated before saying, “Hear With Me, by The Killers. I thought it was sort of appropriate.”
My jaw felt like it had dropped to the floor. No one had ever done something that thoughtful and so personal for me before, especially since Jase knew how much I liked the soft ballad. He’d heard my dad play it at Christmas.
“Jase,” I gasped, because I wasn’t sure what else there was to say. I was touched.
“I don’t know,” he said, sounding frustrated. “I’ll probably mess up the chord changes, and it won’t sound good, but I wanted to do something to show you how much I miss you.”
I felt my eyes suddenly fill with tears that blurred my computer screen. The song was so appropriate for our situation. I knew in that moment that I shouldn’t worry about what the Internet said. Jase loved me, and he would be faithful. I had no doubts about that.
“It’ll be perfect, babe,” I told him, not caring in the slightest if it sounded like crap. I’d love it no matter what. “I’m going to call you later when I get off of work and have you play it for me, so practice hard, okay?”
He laughed. “I’m not sure that’ll do much, but I’ll work on it all afternoon.”
“I love you,” I told him softly, just in case anyone was nearby and could hear me.
“Love you too,” he echoed and we hung up.
I went back to my research but was interrupted a few minutes later.
“Logan?”
I turned around to see Elyce, my supervisor for all intents and purposes, standing behind me. She was only a few years out of college, and I was the first person she’d ever managed, so it was an interesting dynamic. I wasn’t sure if she knew what to do with me most of the time. But I was a fairly
independent thinker and a self-starter, so what I didn’t get from her, I figured out on my own. And I only worked on Tuesday afternoons and Friday mornings, so it wasn’t like she had to babysit me constantly.
“Hey Elyce,” I said cheerfully. “I’m just working through this research.”
I didn’t want her to think I was slacking or anything, and I hoped she hadn’t hear my conversation with Jase. Ever since the shoot the week before, Gretchen had been telling everyone who I was. Some people already knew, but now it was well-known around the office that I was Jason Brady’s girlfriend. The good thing was that most people didn’t really care. Most of them had met their share of celebrities at different events, so it didn’t faze them. But I also didn’t want anyone to think I deserved preferential treatment because of who my boyfriend was. I would work hard because it was who I was.
“Great,” she said brightly. I think she was relieved she didn’t have to assign me something to do. “Gretchen and Suzanne want to see you in the conference room in ten minutes? Cool?”
I smiled brightly at the same time I was hoping I hadn’t majorly screwed up anything.
“Yeah, sure. I’ll be there.”
“Great thanks! Do you, um, have any questions about what you’re doing there?” she asked then, probably feeling like she had to ask.
I shook my head. “Nope, I’m good.”
She smiled in what I thought was relief. “Okay, great. Well, I’ll just be in my office if you need me.”
“Sounds good.”
And then she was gone.
Ten minutes later I walked down to the conference room to meet with Gretchen and Suzanne, who was the head of the marketing department, and who I’d only talked to once on my first day when we’d been introduced in passing. She was tall with bright red hair, and I’d heard rumors that if she actually smiled at you, you were golden, but she didn’t do it very often.
The two women were deep in a whispered conversation when I walked into the room, and it took a minute before they looked up and acknowledged me.
“Logan, please come in,” Suzanne said curtly, and I didn’t know her well enough to know if that was her normal tone.
I smiled at Gretchen as I took a seat across from them and waited, not sure what was to come. Gretchen gave me a tight smile back.
Gravity Happens (Forcing Gravity) Page 14
