LIE (Right Men Book 1)

by Mayra Statham

  “I know I have something he wants. He wants the rights to Beyond the Stars.”

  “Sign them over.”

  “What?”

  “You said that was your plan anyway. So sign them over and see what he does.”

  “You mean before the week is over?”

  “Why not?” She shrugged, and my stomach dropped as I looked away from my older sister and stared at the television set. I knew the conversation was over when she stood up and walked to the kitchen, asking over her shoulder if I wanted wine.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Marcus

  “That’s a wrap!” Jamie Stein said as she smiled at him. He tipped his head at her. “I don’t know how you do this shit, Marcus.”

  He laughed and shrugged at the beautiful, blond photographer. “Practice.”

  “I guess.” She shook her head. “I heard your schedule is insane this week. I appreciate you slipping this in to work with me.”

  “You kidding? You know I enjoy working with you. I’m glad we were able to get this done.” He smiled at her and meant it. Jamie Stein was the epitome of professional and easy to work with. She smiled back at him before waving good-bye.

  After changing, he walked into the hotel restaurant and sat at the bar. He looked at the menu. He ordered and looked down at his phone to pull up his contacts. Scrolling past Garrett, he reached Grace and stopped. His finger hovered over the contact information for a few second before he shook his head and set the phone to the side. He needed to get his shit together.

  Grace was beautiful, smart, and funny. All great things. But she lived in a different world than he did. An untainted one. If he went there, he would bring nothing but the chaos of the paparazzi trying to piece her together and tear her apart all at the same time. Not only Grace. Lexi’s life would be shaken up as well, and that was the last thing they needed.

  A tall brunette slipped into the barstool next to him, brushing her arm against his, and he fought from rolling his eyes.

  “Oh, excuse me.” He looked at her. She was pretty, in a completely made-up way. He’d been with her type before. The type that was completely unrecognizable the morning after.

  “No problem,” he politely told her as he looked away, his eyes searching for the bartender.

  Maybe a drink would help him figure out what his attraction to the sexy writer was all about. Falling for Grace would be a complication he didn’t need, nor had set out for. Frankly, if he were honest, he was already a goner.

  “Can I buy you a drink?” the brunette asked, and he looked at her. She was pretty but too thin for his taste. Probably an inch or two shorter than his own six feet. Before he darkened Grace’s doorstep, he would have been up for it. Now, as he studied the woman in front of him, he realized her brown hair didn’t seem to shine like Grace’s did or make his hands itch to touch it. Her brown eyes seemed muddy and didn’t seem like the deep pools he liked to drown in.

  “I’m good, thanks,” he graciously answered.

  “You sure?” she asked, her hand covering his, and he looked at it. Her light skin was almost pale compared to his, and cold. Too cold. Not the warmth of Grace’s hands. Being touched by another woman felt wrong, so he pulled his hand away.

  “Positive.” He smiled, and she tilted her head and crossed her long legs as she leaned her thin, toned body toward him.

  “That’s a shame. I think we could have had fun,” she whispered in his ear. He looked into her muddy brown eyes again, then his phone beeped and he picked it up.

  Grace: Hope you had a good shoot. Have a good night. xoxo

  He smiled, and without a second thought, he called her.

  “Hey,” Grace’s voice whispered into his ear, making his dick come alive. Just one word from her made his dick start to harden. Shit, he was in trouble. When had she got under his skin?

  “Hey. You in bed already?” he asked, needing to talk to her. He’d been away from her for only a couple of hours, but it was as if he needed a fix and she was his drug of choice.

  “Yeah. It was kind of a crazy night.” He stilled, a need to protect her rushing through him.

  “Oh?” He felt the brunette come closer and shifted his body away, finally catching the bartender’s eye for the check.

  “Lexi has a cold, and she gave it to Gloria.”

  “She okay?” Worry hit him instantly.

  “Gloria? I guess. She’s actually less bitchy than usual, so Gabby and I were talking about how we could get her to keep the cold,” she answered like the smartass she was. He chuckled in relief.

  “I meant Lexi,” he clarified, getting out cash to pay for his dinner and a tip, deciding he didn’t need a drink. He needed Grace.

  “She’s okay. Living on the high of the baseball game with her favorite superhero, so a cold is nothing to her.” He shook his head even though she couldn’t see him.

  “Babe.”

  “Are you in bed?” she asked as he slipped off the barstool, ignoring the brunette’s huff as he walked out of the restaurant.

  “Just had dinner. Heading to my room now.”

  “Oh! Do you want me to let you go so that—”

  “No.” He hopped into the empty elevator. “She have a fever?”

  “Lexi?” God, he loved how there were moments when she was on the pulse of everything, then how at others she almost seemed aloof.

  “Yeah, baby.”

  “A small one. I sent Gabby to get medicine, and she took it fine. Last time I checked on her, she felt cool.”

  “Good. Is she going to school tomorrow?”

  “I’m going to play it by ear. See how she feels in the morning.”

  “That sounds like a good plan.”

  “If she stays home, I don’t think I can shadow you, Marc.”

  “That’s fine.”

  “Marc, I was thinking…” He didn’t like the insecure tone to her voice.

  “Hold that thought, babe,” he said as the elevator doors opened and he power walked to his room. Sliding in his key card, he slipped into the room and locked it behind him. “In my room.”

  “That’s good. Did you guys get the shots you wanted?” she asked, and he smiled.

  “Yeah. She seemed happy with them.”

  “She?”

  “Jamie Stein, the photographer.” Her silence made him elaborate, “I’ve worked with her on a couple of things before. The shoot had originally been canceled because her wife and her had adopted a baby and she was going to be on maternity leave.”

  “Had?”

  “The birth mom changed her mind at the last minute.”

  “That’s so sad,” she quietly murmured as he unbuttoned his shirt and took it off, then kicked off his shoes and lay down in bed. “What are you doing?”

  “Getting comfortable.”

  “More three-piece suits and Italian shoes?” Her sassy tone made him smile.

  “Something like that. So, what were you saying?” He wanted to know why she’d sounded insecure.

  “I… I think you need to cancel that movie premiere. I mean for us to join you. Lexi would love it, but just to be on the safe side, you know?”

  “Okay,” he cautiously agreed. “Is it just Lexi having a cold or is something else on your mind, Grace?”

  “Gloria said I should just sign off on the rights to the book. Like right now,” she blurted, and his heart dropped to his toes. He sat up straighter in bed, a scowl on his face, feeling as if a rug had been pulled from under him.

  But wasn’t that what he wanted?

  He wanted her to sign. He wanted to make Beyond the Stars come to life more than anything he had wanted professionally. But if she signed, would she still give him the time of day? Would she still want him around? Though, if he thought about it, he had been dragging her about with him. He had been keeping her away from the things in her life.

  “Marc?” she called, and he snapped out of his thoughts.

  “Are you behind on work?” he randomly asked, wondering what
her reasons could be to cut their time short.

  “What?”

  “Work and Lexi… I mean, have I kept you away from things and that’s why she said you should sign now?”

  “No, not really. I mean, I work at my own pace really, and I have two girls who help me out to stay on top of other things and commitments.”

  “Then?”

  “I’m just…” He heard her take a deep breath. “Forget I mentioned it. I was just sharing,” she muttered. He stayed quiet, leaning his back against the mountain of pillows while resting his free hand on his stomach.

  He wanted this time with her. He needed it. He was falling for her in a way he hadn’t seen coming. For a moment, he let himself feel, waiting for the panic, the anxiety to set in, but it didn’t. Shit. He was fine with how he felt about her. More than fine, actually. He just didn’t want to give her up. He didn’t want her to give up on him.

  “I wish you were here,” he confided and heard her breath hitch. He closed his eyes.

  “You’re trouble.” The smile in her voice made his chest tighten.

  “Hardly.”

  “If I were there, we would…” The honeyed tone to her voice made his dick even harder.

  “What?” he quickly asked, wanting to know what his dirty little writer had in mind.

  “Hmm?” she murmured, trying to deflect the question.

  “Grace,” he pressed, not about to let it go.

  “Yeah?” she asked in a whisper.

  “You said if you were here, we would, what?”

  “Marc,” she breathed, and his free hand undid the clasp of his slacks. They might be miles apart, but the phone lines seemed to crackle with sexual tension, and his body was feeling it.

  “You in bed, baby?” he asked, his voice low and deep. Every nerve in his body somehow came awake, tightening and tingling, warming his body from the inside out.

  “Yes.” He could imagine her in bed, her pretty face make-up free, her hair down.

  “What are you wearing?”

  “Marc, what are we—”

  “Shh… go with it.” He couldn’t help but goad her, and when her silence mixed with a slightly rapid breathing on her end, he gently called out to her, “Gracie?”

  “A white tank top,” she quickly answered in a hushed tone, probably so that no one else could hear her talking to him.

  “What else?“

  “Marc, I’ve never done…”

  “Trust me. I’ll walk us through it. I’ll make it good for both of us. White tank top. Tell me what else. No bullshit. Just the truth.”

  “It’s not very sexy—” she tried to argue with him, but he didn’t let her finish speaking.

  “You have no fucking clue how wrong you are.”

  “Black cotton boy shorts.” He had to bite his lower lip at the vision he was imagining in his head.

  “That it?”

  “Umm…” Shit! It wasn’t. He felt a bead of pre-cum at the tip of his hard cock. He could only imagine what Grace in lingerie would do to him.

  “Please.”

  “It’s kind of dorky,” she whispered, and curiosity sparked in his mind. “Knee-high superhero socks. My feet get cold and—”

  “Take a picture,” he almost begged, and she giggled. How the fuck he was this worked up over a white tank top, boy shorts and knee socks, he had no idea. But it worked for him. It worked a lot for him, because it was all Grace.

  “No pictures. Pictures are trouble.”

  “Good point,” he muttered. He knew they were. Especially for someone in his business, but he wanted to see her like that. The image in his mind, he couldn’t help but wrap his hand around his fabric-covered shaft, trying to seek some damn relief. “I get to see you like this one day.”

  “Maybe,” she flirted back. He swallowed hard.

  “Fuck.”

  “My turn,” her throaty voice retorted, and he licked his lips, wondering what she had in mind. “What are you wearing?”

  “I’m shirtless and my slacks are undone.” His voice was hoarse. Fuck, he wanted her so damn badly, his dick strained toward the sound of her voice.

  “And below that?” Her usually soft voice went lower, and he swallowed.

  “Black boxer briefs.”

  “We match,” she sighed, and he laid his hand flat at his navel.

  “Lie on your back, Grace.”

  “I already am.” Suddenly, he was the one slightly nervous.

  “Touch yourself, over your pretty panties, baby,” he croaked as his own hand moved lower, down to his shaft, and he held it.

  “Mmm…” she softly moaned, making his hand tighten over himself.

  “You’re wet,” he stated. He didn’t have to ask, he just knew.

  “Yes.”

  “Do you have any idea how fucking bad I want to be there right now?”

  “Mmm,”

  “To watch you, touch you…”

  “I’d much rather be there with you,” she surprised him.

  “Why’s that?”

  “You’re in a hotel room.” Her hushed tone drove him crazy.

  “Yeah?” He stroked his shaft through his pants, his eyes shut, enjoying the soft hitches to her voice.

  “We could be a lot louder there than we could be here,” she intimately shared, the smile in her voice clear as fucking day. He groaned.

  “Are you loud?” he asked gruffly.

  “I have a feeling I would be, with you.”

  “Fuck,” he growled, “I want to see you. Do you know how unfair this is? I know what you feel like on my hand. I know what you smell like. But I haven’t been able to devour the sight of you. I haven’t had a taste.”

  “Baby…” she whimpered. His chest puffed like a peacock’s at her soft ‘baby.’ He knew she was waiting for him to give her directions.

  “Slip your fingers into your panties, feather-light touches, baby.”

  “Marc.”

  “Shift to your side,” he ordered as he kicked his fucking dress slacks off, dragging his boxer briefs along with them. “Blanket on or off?”

  “On,” she breathed, and he got under his, lying on his side.

  “Close your eyes, Grace.”

  “Okay.”

  “Imagine me right behind you. Can you feel me?”

  “Yeah. Oh, yeah,” she sighed, while his hand stroked his dick lightly.

  “I’m so fucking hard.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. I’ve been a fucking walking erection since that damn elevator ride.”

  “I wanted to go down on you.”

  “I wanted to let you. One second longer in the darkness, and I would have let you, Grace.”

  “I’ve never been this ummm… worked up….” He smiled

  “My girl getting shy on me?”

  “No,” she stubbornly answered.

  “Slip a finger closer to that pretty clit of yours,” he directed and knew she had when she let out a soft moan that made him hold on to his dick with a tighter grip. “Rub, baby.”

  “I’m so wet,” she shared in that damn hushed tone, and not for the first time since she had left his side, he wished she was next to him.

  “Imagine my body behind you, touching you. It’s my fingers working that pretty pussy. Can you feel me, sweetness? Slip a finger inside, baby.” She mewled, and he let out his own groan while he worked himself.

  “Marc…”

  “Keep fingering, baby. Imagine my breath on your neck. Whispering about all the dirty things I’m going to do to you.”

  “Mmm…” she purred, and he spit on his hand; wetness surrounded his straining dick.

  “Breathing you in. Feel me, baby?”

  “Marc…”

  “I’m going to have you, Grace… soon…” His voice was like gravel.

  “God, yes…”

  “You want that? You want me, baby?” he asked, his heart racing so fucking hard against his chest as he stroked himself.

  “So much. I want you,
Marc…” she confided, and he shut his eyes tightly, enjoying the sound of her voice while he stroked his length, his balls tightening. “When I’m around you…”

  “What, baby?”

  “You make me want so much,” she panted. “Never wanted anyone like I want you. God, Marc… I’m close.”

  “Not yet… wait for me…” he ordered and heard her take a deep breath.

  “I want to get on my knees for you, Marc.” It was his time to swallow hard.

  “Tell me more, baby.”

  “But I like your voice.”

  “More,” he huffed, his breathing doubled.

  “Watching you today. All I wanted was for everyone to disappear so that I could lick you. Like a lollipop. Base to tip and back again. I want to taste you too, Marc,” she shared. The image ingrained in his brain. Her pouty lips with that damn pink tint taking him. Her mouth warm and wet. Shit. He started to feel a familiar tingling sensation at the base of his spine. “I want you so much…” Her breathing picked up, and he knew she was on the edge. He wanted front row seats to the sight of what she would look like. He shut his eyes tight, the images bombarding him, one after another.

  “I’d let you do that for a minute before I got my face between those sexy as fuck thighs of yours,” he huffed and heard that sexy hitch at the back of her throat.

  “I would lick you until your legs trembled, baby. I want to have your taste flooding my mouth, so that when I make you come and pin you below me, you can taste how fucking delicious you are.”

  “Shit…” He could hear the strain in her voice.

  “Don’t stop, Grace.”

  “Marc.” Her voice was hushed but slightly higher than usual, her breathing just as heavy as his.

  “Sliding in and out of you would be like heaven on earth, Grace,” he gritted. The idea of what she would feel and look like below him soft and warm did the trick. The tingling at his spine got too much.

  “Marc,” she softly cried just as everything below his eyelids turned white and he grunted loudly.

  His release flooded over his hand. He kept stroking his still hard dick lightly. Imagining softly sliding in and out of her afterwards until he couldn’t handle the beauty of the sensation. Both their breathing was back to normal, though neither said a word, and he wondered if she had fallen asleep.