He takes a sip of his coffee and then rubs his eyes with his free hand. “Okay, tell me again why you ran out of Sean Lindsey’s bed, because right now I’m thinking you are bat shit crazy.”
“Because he’s going to break my heart,” I say, looking at him seriously.
“One night of sex and you’re that attached?” He looks at me incredulously, like I am the pathetic little fool that I feel like I am right about now.
“We haven’t even had sex…just oral sex,” I clarify, blushing from embarrassment at the memory from this morning. I wasn’t planning on revealing that information to Robert, but I didn’t want him to think I was a little tart for sleeping with Sean right away either.
“He must give some amazing oral sex for you to have a premonition of him breaking your heart.” He raises his eyebrow at me, itching for me to give him the full details of this morning. No one has ever made me come that hard and fast from their mouth. I don’t even want to think about how Sean got so talented with his tongue.
“Robert, I don’t want to be the rebound girl.”
“Technically, you wouldn’t be since he and Cora were never officially dating.” I roll my eyes at his technicality since he knows exactly what I mean. “But honestly, Izzy, I think he’s getting over her. I see the way he looks at you and it’s completely different compared to how he looks at Cora.”
“Yeah, he looks at me like his play toy and Cora as his forever,” I pout, wishing for once that Sean Lindsey was not back in my life.
Liar.
“Iz, you’re sounding like an annoying little girl with a high school crush. You are an adult, who should be able to handle a little oral sex now and again. Let’s just rip the Band-Aid off, shall we? You’re still in love with him. You don’t want to be, but you are. Your heart wants him, and so does your vagina, so why don’t you satisfy both organs by seeing where this goes?” I start choking on my coffee from the shock of his bluntness. Jenna warned me that Robert is into tough love, but I was not prepared to be slapped with it so early in the morning.
“Oh, my God, I think you made me just get coffee up my nose,“ I wheeze out in between coughs and I get up to get a tissue from the kitchen.
“Why does this all of a sudden feel like déjà vu?” Robert playfully looks up to the sky while tapping his index finger to his lips. “Oh, I know! Because I had the same freaking conversation years ago with Jenna when Cal came into her life and look where they are now.”
“Cal is completely different from Sean,” I counter back, the situations being vastly different with zero comparison.
“No shit!” Robert says sarcastically. “Cal was never in love with a sociopath. But guess what, I don’t think Sean is either. I think he has always been enamored with the idea of being her knight in shining armor, saving Cora from her miserable life and hoping they live happily ever after. Despite Cora’s beauty, because let’s be honest, she is beautiful, she’s rotten to the core and will never change. I think Sean sees what his best friend has and is starting to want that for himself.”
I listen carefully to Robert’s words, wishing they didn’t make as much sense as they do, because it makes me have sympathy for Sean and his good intentions that were never rewarded by the one person he wanted.
“You wouldn’t be his rebound, Isla. You might be the woman who teaches Sean Lindsey what true love is really supposed to be about. Do you think you are up for that challenge?”
“That challenge comes with a huge risk, one that I don’t know if I am willing to take just yet,” I whisper as I sit down next to him. I’m past the point of staying away from Sean and if I feel this way just from oral sex with him, I’m going to be a complete goner once we do have sex. I’m not strong enough to deny him, and I want him just as badly as he seems to want me. But am I willing to risk my heart just to be tossed aside once it’s time for him to leave in a month?
“Love is a risk, Izzy. If you want to be loved, then you have to take that risk. Otherwise, you’ll live with regret.”
God, he’s right. I have been telling myself that I need to live life without regrets and I know that if I don’t take that leap with Sean, it would be one of the biggest regrets in my life.
“He wants to take me to dinner tonight and discuss how his meeting with Cora went today. That’s the thing though, is he always going to be at her beck and call? Because I don’t know if I can handle that.” I don’t care how long they have been friends for. If Sean puts Cora first, then that’s a deal breaker.
“Wait, hold up. Sean asked you out on a date and he’s meeting with Cora today? That’s some very important information that you have left out, young lady!” Robert rubs his hands together, his eyes taking an evil shine to them. “I hope he’s ripping her a new one for her behavior last night. Knowing him, he probably isn’t, although I did get a glimpse of him when he was sitting with her and he looked fierce. I took note never to get on his bad side. What time are you meeting him tonight?”
“I don’t know, I haven’t responded back yet.” I give him a sheepish smile, knowing he is going to yell at me for not already responding back with a yes.
Just as I predict, he rolls his eyes at me and throws his hands up in disgust. “What is wrong with you? A big time Hollywood actor has asked you out and you haven’t responded yet?”
“He’s not a big time Hollywood actor to me. In fact, I want no part of that life.” I shake my head in disgust, hating that fame has to come with his job. I always get nervous when I’m out with Jenna and Cal and the paparazzi stalk us. Even the crazy fans that come up to Cal make me uncomfortable. No amount of money is worth that invasion of privacy to me.
“Okay, Jenna from years past, keep dreaming of a life without the man you love. See where that gets you. In the meantime, confirm with Sean that you will go out with him so we can find out where he is taking you.” He points his finger at my phone, waiting to watch me send Sean a text. I stick my tongue out at him and comply.
“Let’s go get breakfast and then go shopping. I’ll go wake up sleeping beauty.” Robert gets up to go into his bedroom to wake up Kellan, but stops short when we hear shouting coming from the room.
“Sleeping Beauty is awake because you two can wake up the dead with those loud ass voices!” Kellan walks out of the room, only wearing his boxer shorts, his beautiful dark skin contrasting against the whiteness of his shorts. He gives Robert a kiss and heads straight for the coffee maker. “You better be treating us to a hearty breakfast this morning, Isla, because we’re going to need all the energy to speed shop for something fabulous in order to get you ready for tonight.”
“You’re going to go shopping with us?” I ask in excitement, because I’ve never been styled by a professional stylist before.
“Of course, I am! I can never say no to getting Cinderella ready for her ball.” He winks at me and I squeal with glee as I hug him. He sticks his finger in his ear and wiggles it to try to regain his hearing that he has seemed to have lost from my sharp pitched tone. “Just promise me you’ll never do that around Sean ever in your lifetime.”
I sit nervously in my car in the parking lot of the restaurant, taking one last look at my appearance before getting out to meet Sean.
I had the best time shopping with Robert and Kellan today. While I have been shopping with Robert before, shopping with Kellan is a whole other experience. Because of who he is in the industry, we were escorted to all of the private rooms, having our very own personal shopper at our disposal with rows and rows of outfits picked out, specifically for me. Sean sent me the place and time of our destination and we looked it up online to see that it’s a trendy Asian fusion restaurant downtown. Once we found the perfect dress and shoes, Kellan arranged for my hair and makeup to be professionally done while he picked out some jewelry. After seeing the brands he was looking at, I was adamant that he stop due to how expensive everything was getting. He told me to relax and not worry since he has it all taken care of, which makes me quite suspicious
as to who is really footing the bill for my outfit.
I take a deep breath and exit my car, grateful that there was a parking lot exactly next door to the restaurant so that I didn’t have to walk far in these heels. I can already see that Sean is waiting outside for me by the amount of flashing light bulbs from the paparazzi taking his photo. Despite dusk settling onto the early evening sky, Sean wears his sunglasses to help protect him from the glare of the flashing lights. He looks between the paparazzi and sees me walking towards him. He moves past them and reaches for my hand, leading me in silence to the restaurant. I cast my eyes downward and avoid answering the questions that are coming from them of why Cal Harrington’s nanny is having dinner with Sean Lindsey.
Once inside the safety of the restaurant, Sean takes off his sunglasses, confirms our reservation with the hostess and turns his full attention on admiring me from head to toe. I see the heat light up his eyes and I can’t help clenching my thighs together as the sight of him overtakes me.
“You look stunning,” he murmurs into my ear and kisses my cheek. I feel like he branded me with the heat that’s coming off of his soft lips. I want those lips for dessert, and with the way he is looking at me, dessert is definitely in my future for tonight.
As the hostess leads us to our table in the back of the restaurant, I can feel the buzz of chatter in the air of people recognizing him. All eyes are upon us and even some cell phones are out with people taking videos. That uncomfortable feeling starts to arise, but I try to squash it when I’m seated across from Sean. He takes off his black leather jacket and drapes it around his chair, giving me the opportunity to appreciate how his black button down shirt molds to his muscular arms, the top two buttons opened enough to give me a peekaboo viewing of the top of his chest. My eyes make their way back up to his, where I see a devilish smile on his lips as he caught me checking him out.
“With the rate that we’re going, this will be the fastest dinner date in history, because I can’t wait to get you in the privacy of my room.” He gives me one more searing look with his eyes before turning his attention to the drink menu. “What would you like to drink?”
“Wine, please.” And lots of it! I have no plans on getting drunk, but wine is needed to take the edge off of my nerves. We order a bottle of white wine and a couple of appetizers to share.
“Before I ask how your day was, I’m dying to know why you took off so quickly this morning after we had such an amazing experience together.”
My eyes go wide as I was not expecting that to be the first thing he asks me, but what’s most shocking is for him to think giving me oral sex was an amazing experience for him.
“I’m sorry,” I stammer as my cheeks heat up in mortification. “I um… well, I have never experienced such an intense orgasm from someone’s mouth before and it made me embarrassed by how I reacted to it.” I nervously laugh and take a big sip of my wine that the waitress just put down on the table. As soon as she leaves, Sean leans closer toward me, his eyes intense with longing.
“Don’t ever be ashamed of your reaction. It made me harder than I already was with anticipation of when I finally get to be inside of you.”
His words just destroyed my panties.
“Keep looking at me like that, Isla, and we’ll be taking a trip to the restroom together.” I watch as his hand disappears underneath the table to adjust himself and snap my gaze back up to his eyes in realization of why it went down there in the first place.
“I’m sorry!” I say a little too loudly, wishing I could be one of those girls who can play cool and be flirty at the same time. Instead, I’m a train wreck of balled up nervousness. I’m not comfortable in this public element when all I want to do is crawl into his lap and hump him.
“Don’t ever be sorry for making my dick hard for you.” He gives me a wicked smile, leans back and takes another look at the menu before shutting it closed. “Now that we got that out of the way, tell me how your day was?”
“Oh, it was just another fun day off shopping with Robert. This time Kellan joined us, giving me a sneak peek at what it is like being in your world.”
“It can get very pretentious, but also quite accommodating having everything ready and picked out for you. Sometimes I do miss being able to just pop into a mall and go shopping without having to stop and take pictures with fans. But it comes with the territory and I’m very blessed.” He smiles politely as the waitress returns to take our order.
“How did your meeting with Cora go today?” I ask as soon as the waitress is out of ear shot. Curiosity has been killing me all day to know what was said between them regarding last night.
“She knows she has fucked up. Cal won’t even talk to her. She says she has realized that she has anger issues stemming from childhood and will be seeking treatment for it when she gets home to London.”
My mouth drops open in shock as that is the last thing I expected to hear. Cora Gregory has never taken responsibility for any of her previous words or actions. I narrow my eyes at him, doubt creeping in my bones. “Do you really believe her, Sean? That sounds very uncharacteristic of her.”
“I don’t have any reason not to believe her this time since Philip confirmed that he’s looking for the treatment facility for her.” He shrugs his shoulders while he swishes his wine around his glass before drinking it. “I honestly think she has hit rock bottom. We’ll see how she does when we see her for the press tour.”
My stomach starts to feel queasy at the thought of him being alone with her in all of those different cities together. Yes, it’s for work and there will be other people around, but that has not stopped Cora Gregory in the past from getting what she wants. “When does she go back to London?” I ask nonchalantly, hoping he doesn’t hear the hope in my voice at her being far, far away.
“She leaves tomorrow.”
We end our discussion on Cora and fill the rest of our evening with easy discussions about the status of our families and stories of our time away from each other in our respective boarding schools. Sean knows how to put you at ease with his charm and funny storytelling. Before I realize it, we’ve been at the restaurant for three hours and he managed to pay the bill without my knowledge.
“You ready to go home or do you want to go somewhere else for dessert?” He stands up to put his leather jacket on and all I can think about is how I finally want to taste those lips for myself.
“I think I want dessert at the house… preferably in your room.” Three drinks later and apparently my filter got destroyed along with my panties. I laugh at the look of shock that just came over his face. It’s nice to know that I can keep him on his toes just as he does with me.
“Let’s go,” he growls with desire and grabs my hand to lead us out of the restaurant. As soon as we walk out that door, the paparazzi start taking our photo, blinding us with their flashes.
“Where’s your car?” He shouts over the loudness of the paparazzi and their questioning. I point to where it is and give him the keys when he asks for them. He opens my door first to make sure I get in safely before coming around to the driver’s side to drive us home. I am thankful he is driving, because the paparazzi have surrounded my car, the flashes of lights seem to be lighting up the night’s sky.
“How do you get used to this?” I question as I cover my eyes while Sean honks the horn and slowly eases into traffic once the paparazzi let us through.
“You don’t really. The life of a famous actor is one of a hermit’s life. You tend to become a homebody because everything you need can now be delivered to you without having to deal with this every time you need something. It also depends where you live. Here in the States, it seems to be much worse than back home in Ireland.”
This information makes me feel better knowing that it’s not always like this. I can deal with it if it’s once in a while, but would not sacrifice my freedom if this was an every day occurrence. “Do you think they are following us?” They always follow us whenever Jenna and I are downt
own together, so I can only imagine that being with Sean would bring out even more photographers.
Sean looks in the rearview mirror a couple of times as he drives and nods his head. “Yeah, we have a couple of tails, but they can’t get into Jenna and Cal’s neighborhood and they know that. Once they see we’re heading there, they’ll turn around.”
The rest of the drive is in compatible silence, with Sean grabbing my hand and holding it while we cruise on the highway. I look down at our entwined hands, admiring how long and strong his fingers are. Those same fingers that were inside of me this morning. I squeeze my legs together and the movement grabs Sean’s attention. He looks down at my legs briefly and nestles our joined hands right onto the top of my mound. He frees his pinky from my grasp and starts to rub against me. I open my legs wider and lean down into the car seat for him to have better access. I grip his hands tighter when I feel he has connected with my bud through the layers of my dress. As he starts to rub harder, his slow motion precisely hitting its mark, I loudly moan out as pleasure starts to mount within me.
“That’s my girl,” he purrs as he flicks the turn signal on, indicating we are getting off the highway. “I can’t wait to taste you again.”
Not thinking that it’s fair that he’s doing all the work, I place my hand on his groin and feel it stiffen underneath my touch. I start to rub, pressing my fingers against the fabric of his jeans so he can feel the friction. It continues to grow underneath my touch, making my eyes water with need of him inside me.
“Isla,” he groans out, his breath starting to hitch as I increase the speed of my hand on him. “You need to stop or we might get into an accident. We’re almost home.” I see that he’s right as I recognize the street we just passed and remove my hand from his erection in disappointment.
A few minutes later, we are pulling into the guard gate at the front of the community entrance. He untangles his hand from mine to retrieve his ID from his wallet. As soon as we are cleared through, he speeds down the street to the house and punches the gate code in when we arrive. We pull through the gates and park the car, Sean turns off the engine and looks at me.
Edge of Desire Page 13
