by Bella Andre
"Now? You actually want to do this now?"
He threaded his hands into her wet hair and lowered his mouth to hers. "Always."
Her lips were too cold against his, but only until she began to kiss him. "This is crazy," she murmured as he ran his hands over her curves, shoulders to hips, then back up along her belly and waist until he was cupping her breasts. She moaned, "Crazy," again as he played with the tips of her breasts first with his fingertips, and then with his tongue.
He couldn't argue with her about crazy, given how consumed he'd been since the moment he'd first set eyes on her. All his life, he'd tried to keep crazy out, thinking it would protect him from sharing his father's fate.
But Drake was no longer convinced that crazy was a bad thing.
As he rained kisses down her body, he lowered himself to his knees until he could center his kisses over the sweet, addictively soft flesh between her thighs. Her hands bunched in his hair as she let him reposition her legs so that one was propped up on the built-in tiled seat.
"You make me lose control," she said as she looked down at him through long, wet lashes. "You make me forget why we shouldn't do this. Why I shouldn't let you be with me."
"Good."
His response, raw with possession, continued to reverberate in the shower as he found her again with his tongue, his control as far gone as hers. For the moment, at least, she was no longer fighting him--trying to fight what had always been between them--as she rocked her pelvis into him, truly the most sensual creature alive.
He needed more. Needed to be closer. Needed to be completely connected with her when she let herself fall.
Thank God, when he stood again he found one more condom left on the shower ledge. He wasn't sure he would have been able to stop even without it. Not when making love with Rosa--and becoming one with her--had become as deep a necessity as breathing.
Seconds later, he had on protection and reached for her hips to lift her so that she could put her legs around his waist. In one gorgeous movement, she sank down onto him, taking him so deep that his vision actually went black for a moment.
He'd initially been the one kissing her after she'd come in from the cold, but now she was devouring his mouth, nipping over his jaw, sucking at his neck. They rode hard and fast against each other, but even in the midst of crazy he made sure to cradle her head and hips against the tile. Made sure to keep her safe, always.
"Drake."
When she gasped his name into his mouth, he knew she was close. But it wasn't enough just to make her come, just to give her pleasure. Not this time. He needed to make sure the physical was completely entwined with the emotional so that she couldn't forget so easily what was between them.
He drew back so that he could look into her eyes. Her cheeks were flushed, and her lips were full from his kisses.
"I." He thrust hard and deep on the word, and her lids fluttered half closed with pleasure.
"Love." He took them both higher again, felt her inner muscles grip him so tightly he could barely hold on as she exploded around him and sent them flying together.
"You."
Chapter Twenty-Three
Drake's SUV had a big backseat, but Oscar insisted on sitting in Rosa's lap. The entire car smelled like dog, and his panting steamed up the windows, but with every mile they drove, Rosa welcomed his warmth more and more. Especially when he periodically lifted his head to lick her cheek as if to say, Everything's going to be okay. You've got us.
Drake hadn't said much during the six hours they'd been driving, only checking in a couple of times to see if she was hungry or thirsty. Not because he didn't care. On the contrary, she now knew exactly how much he cared.
I love you.
Three little words that kept playing over and over inside her head.
I'm with you now. And we'll deal with the pictures together.
Just like always, he'd stood by his words, not only by working to break her out of her panicked state by taking her into the shower and loving her brainless--but also by barely taking the time to stack his canvases in the back of his car before he checked her out of the motel and set off for his father's house in the Adirondacks. And, just like always, he knew she needed some time to process the most recent twists to her scandalous week. Not only that there were new pictures...but also that he loved her and was clearly planning to stand by her, no matter what. Even if it meant changing her hiding place to a different forest six hours away.
At the same time, this road trip wasn't merely about finding a new refuge so that the paparazzi wouldn't swoop in before she was ready for them. It was also about Drake going to see his father.
He was so close to his siblings, his cousins. Only with his father was there a fracture. One she would give anything to help patch up.
It seemed telling--in a positive way--that the first safe place he'd thought to go had been his father's house. No matter what else happened--and even if her own relationship with her mother remained a mess--she vowed to help him.
Thankfully, with every mile they covered, she felt more of that strength she'd started to build coming back. Panic had been her first instinct outside the cabin when she'd heard about the new pictures, but with Drake as steady as ever beside her, she was able to remember that panic wasn't her only option.
No, she was game for plenty of other emotions now, including fury that the creep who had taken the pictures of her had held some back so that he could get even more money for the second round.
"I'm going to take him down."
Drake didn't seem surprised that this was the first thing she'd said to him in hours. He simply smiled and said, "I know you are."
Rosa leaned over to give him a kiss, then bent to give Oscar one too. "Can I have your cell phone again?"
Though Drake immediately handed it to her, he said, "You don't need to see the new pictures, Rosa."
"I do." She willed her hands not to shake as she pulled up a browser and typed her name into the search box. "I need to know exactly what I'm up against instead of continuing to bury my head in the sand."
But, strangely, none of the sites that had run the first set of pictures had anything new up. In fact, as far as she could see, none of the previous pictures were still running either.
"What are you seeing?" A muscle jumped in his jaw, and his hands tightened on the steering wheel as he waited for her answer.
"They're not here. I mean, there's a story that says there are new pictures, but--" She couldn't believe what she was reading. "But no one is running them."
Drake turned from the road to look into her eyes for a split second. "Smith."
Thinking the same thing, she scrolled back to the search box and typed in Smith Sullivan's name alongside hers, then read aloud from the first story that popped up.
Smith Sullivan has taken a major stand this morning against cyber-attacks and the exploitation of women as he weighed in on the Rosalind Bouchard nude photo scandal. "If this happened to your sister or girlfriend or daughter, would you run the pictures and call it news? No, you'd do everything in your power to get them taken down and convict the person who took and sold them." Sullivan has made it clear that he will no longer work with any media outlets that continue to run the photos.
Rosa clicked on a follow-up link and told Drake, "Evidently, the pictures were pulled from every major site within the hour. No one dares defy him, even for click bait like these pictures."
"He always was a good guy. Fame and Academy Awards haven't changed him one bit."
She'd swung in so many emotional directions today. Waking up joyful, then slamming into deep, dark panic. And now, utter gratitude.
But as she read on, some of the panic rose again. "It also says they've been trying to reach me and my family for comment with no luck so far, but that they've heard a rumor that I'm vacationing in the Hamptons." The trees had been getting thicker and thicker since they'd crossed into Adirondack Park, thick enough now that before she could read too much more
, the phone lost its signal entirely. Relieved to be able to turn it off, she had to tell him the final thing she'd read before the phone had gone dead. "My connection to the Sullivan family also seems to be a big question right now. It doesn't look like Mona's granddaughter named you in any of her tweets, but they're not going to have to look far to realize you've got a place in the Hamptons."
"Good. Everyone should know you're mine. Ours," he amended as Oscar licked her cheek in a nonverbal echo of his owner's statement. Before she could respond, he said, "We're here."
The driveway to his father's house was long, at least a quarter mile, and Rosa gasped when they got to the end. "It's so beautiful." She'd never seen water so blue or that looked so pure and soothing as it lapped against the golden sand. A couple of ducks swam near the shore.
Drake turned off the engine, but stayed behind the wheel. "It is."
She reached for his hand, sensing the tension thrumming through those two little words--and knowing that this time it stemmed from his wariness over seeing his father. "I think you're right."
"About what?" he asked.
"Do you remember asking me why I thought starting over had to be hard?"
She was glad when his mouth quirked up a little at the corner, even though he obviously knew she was talking about him and his father.
"Turns out it's a hell of a lot easier to dish out advice than to take it," he said.
It felt good to laugh. Felt even better to pull him in for a kiss. "Thank you for bringing me here, Drake, and for being so great during my freak-out this morning. In fact, I think I'd probably better thank you in advance for my next one. I have a feeling things may keep being messy and complicated for a while."
"I love you." He kissed her again. "It's as simple as that."
*
"It's so great to meet you!" Suzanne Sullivan threw her arms around Rosa the moment they walked through the door.
Drake's sister had looked beautiful in the photograph hanging in his cabin, but in person it was like staring straight into the sun. Suzanne's eyes were so bright and intelligent and full of laughter that Rosa promptly fell in love with her second Sullivan. Third, actually, since she was head over heels for Smith after the way he'd gone out on a limb for her.
Drake pulled his sister in for a hug, then asked, "Is Dad here?"
"He had to go take care of a foundation problem at one of the properties he and Jean are working on."
Drake took Rosa's hand and brought her close, tucking her safely beneath his arm. Suzanne beamed at them as he explained, "After Dad built this house and moved permanently from the city, he started working with a couple of local builders--Jean and her son Henry."
As Rosa took a few moments to appreciate the contemporary yet rustic-style house, she wasn't surprised by the career he'd switched to. "This house is incredible. And it fits so well with the natural surroundings."
The proportions of the home were big all the way around, with ceilings that she figured must vault up at least sixteen feet, and plenty of space. Room enough to hold four kids easily. Which, to her way of thinking, meant that Drake's father had planned--hoped--that his children would one day come and feel welcome. Whether he'd actually done a good job of expressing that to his kids was another question entirely, but it made Rosa feel more hopeful for Drake than ever.
Suzanne spent a good minute or so giving Oscar some love before standing and saying, "I've got coffee on if either of you wants some."
Rosa's coffee need roared to the surface. "You're a lifesaver." Just like Suzanne's brother.
With Drake still holding her hand, Rosa followed Suzanne into the kitchen--a perfect rustic kitchen built entirely of knotty pine, with green granite counters--where a steaming mug was soon pressed into her free hand. She barely kept herself from taking a too-greedy gulp of it and scalding off the top layer of her tongue.
"I'll take our bags into the bedroom I usually use." He kissed her before leaving the room.
Unable to stand letting the thousand-pound elephant in the room crush everyone, Rosa decided to be as direct as possible. "I know you're probably really worried about your brother being with me."
"I'm not."
These Sullivans kept flooring her with how steady, how strong-willed and confident they were. Then again, she remembered being confident like this once. Before she'd let the show change her. Then the horrible pictures had been released, and shame had taken over absolutely everything.
It was that very shame, in fact, that had her saying, "You should be."
"Why? He's happy. Happier than I can ever remember him being. Both as a man and a painter, judging by the paintings he did of you. And even though I know none of this can be easy for you, it seems like he's making you happy too."
"He is." Rosa couldn't hold back from his sister what she felt. "I never thought I'd find anyone like Drake. He's been amazing. The calm in the storm. The light in the dark. But..." She needed his sister to understand. "That doesn't mean there isn't still a huge mess to deal with. It doesn't mean I'm not still a huge mess. This morning, when I found out there were more pictures, I kind of lost it. I wanted to run again, needed a better hiding place than the Hamptons. So here we are."
Suzanne moved closer and reached out to take Rosa's hand. "Who wouldn't have lost it? Who wouldn't have wanted to run and hide, at least for a little while? Drake was right to bring you here, to bring you home."
Rosa was struck by the way his sister said the word home--and how, after only a few minutes here, it resonated with her too.
"Have you seen this?" Suzanne picked up the paper on the counter and handed it to Rosa. It had Smith's face on it, and a quick scan confirmed it was what she'd read on Drake's phone in the car.
"I'll never be able to thank Smith enough for this. He doesn't even know me."
Drake's sister grinned. "You've got us on your team now. In fact, I wanted you to know that I've been thinking more and more about your situation. Especially about the fact that it isn't just your situation. So many women, and men, are finding themselves in a similar position, with pictures being stolen or taken against their wishes and ending up on the Internet."
"I did some research," Rosa said. "It made me sick to realize how much this kind of thing happens."
"Not usually on your scale, but yeah, it's happening a lot. I don't know if Drake told you, but Internet security is my specialty."
"He did. He's your biggest fan. And I can see why."
Suzanne grinned again. "It goes both ways. I'm really lucky to have such great brothers. But anyway, what I was going to say is that I've been looking for a new challenge, and I'm thinking this is it. Take your situation, for example. Smith has convinced most of the major media outlets to take down the pictures and not run them anymore. But most people won't have Smith on their side, and there's still a need for software that can actually erase them--or block them--completely, or you'd still be able to search on the pictures and find them pretty easily."
When Rosa cringed at the reminder, Suzanne said, "Sorry, Rosa, I'm just thinking out loud. I didn't mean to upset you. Sometimes I say more than I mean to. Especially when I get all up in my head about something."
"Actually, it's nice to be so straightforward about it all." Rosa was surprised to find that it really was, especially with another woman. "Drake and I have talked about the pictures, but he always gets so upset."
"It's because he loves you and he hates that you're being hurt."
Rosa couldn't stop her eyes from growing huge. "Did he actually say that to you?"
Suzanne cocked her head. "Of course he doesn't want you to be hurt. Oh, wait--you mean the part where he loves you." She smiled. "I could see it in his paintings, see exactly what he feels for you."
Rosa was still speechless, her mouth likely hanging open in surprise, when Drake walked back into the kitchen. Maybe he could see that she was out of her depth--yet again--because he crossed straight to her, put his hands on either side of her face, and kissed h
er. His kisses had always been the one surefire way to ground her. And, she thought as she kissed him back, to send her flying.
"What's going on here?"
Rosa pulled away from Drake at the sound of the deep male voice, her heart hammering as if she'd been caught doing something wrong. But he wouldn't let her go too far, keeping her hand in his tightly enough that she couldn't possibly slip away.
She recognized the two men who walked in as his brothers, Alec and Harrison. Alec was flat-out gorgeous--tall and broad-chested, with tanned skin and well-groomed dark hair. He was the kind of guy women gravitated to in droves. Polished and obviously wealthy, but still all man. She could easily imagine just how charismatic he could be when he felt like turning it on.
Harrison was as good-looking as his brothers--just as tall and broad and masculine--but that wasn't what hit first. Rosa was struck, instead, by his academic air. The impression that he was currently working through some complicated puzzle in his head. His dark-framed glasses might have been geeky on anyone else, but on him they only seemed to up the sexiness quotient.
Of course, to her eyes, neither man held a candle to Drake. Then again, she wasn't exactly objective where he was concerned, was she?
She should have thought this might happen, that everyone in his family would have been summoned to his father's home to collect the paintings of their mother. But she hadn't been able to think beyond running from discovery in Montauk--and also hoping Drake could patch things up with his father.
Suzanne had been immediately welcoming, but since she'd seen the paintings in Drake's cabin, she hadn't been blindsided by their relationship. His brothers, on the other hand, clearly hadn't heard word one about her. And, judging by Alec's expression at least, weren't necessarily impressed with their brother's choice of women.
"Alec, Harry, this is Rosa."
She couldn't miss the you'd better be nice to her or else tone of his introduction. It was clear, however, that Harry didn't have the first clue who she was as he walked over to shake her hand. The only surprise seemed to be that Drake had a woman with him at all.
"Great to meet you, Rosa."
