by Thorpe, Elle
All thoughts of playing hard to get flew out of my head as he slid his hands along my sides to my waist. A yearning had opened up deep inside me. It had been so long since I’d been this close to a man, and Damien’s scent and the way he’d been nothing but a perfect gentleman all evening was driving me mad.
“How do you want to kiss me then?” I whispered
His lips crashed down on mine, hot and demanding, while his fingers simultaneously gripped my hips and lifted me off the floor. I snaked my arms around his shoulders, finding the back of his head with my fingers as I instinctively wrapped my legs around his waist. My back slammed into the wall of the elevator, my head cracking on the polished mirrors, but I didn’t care. His tongue ran the seam of my lips, and I opened for him, a moan escaping me when his soft tongue tangled with mine, and something much, much harder pressed between my legs.
The elevator bell dinged, signalling we’d reached our floor, but neither of us stopped. He ground against me, his kiss making me hot all over. I ripped my head away from his lips to gasp, “Doors!” as they began to close. He shot a hand out, while supporting my weight with the other and the pressure of his body. I gripped him like a monkey as he found my lips again and walked us down the hall, past his apartment to my own. My feet slid to the floor, but I couldn’t bring myself to stop the kiss. His lips were warm, and our tongues moved in unison, our fingers roaming each other’s bodies. It was a long time before I pulled away, breathless, his shirt half undone. I hadn’t even realised I’d been undoing it. In the middle of the hallway.
“Fuck,” he muttered, stepping back from me, breathing hard with his eyes slightly unfocused. He ran a hand through his hair before shaking his head, a grin spreading across his face.
I leant back on my door and laughed. Fuck indeed.
“That was some kiss.”
I bit my lip. It was. And it was only a first kiss. I wasn’t sure I’d ever been kissed like that in my life. I could only imagine how he’d kiss me once we’d had some practice together. And how it would feel to have his lips on other parts of my body… We stared at each other for a long moment while I fought with myself. This was where I was supposed to invite him in for coffee or a nightcap. Or as anyone under eighty knew, sex.
“I have to tell you something,” I confessed.
He waited.
“First. Stop looking at me like you want to devour me.”
“I do, though.”
Frig. That was hot. But… “That’s not helpful. Because the second thing I need to tell you is that I’m celibate.”
“You’re what?”
“Celibate. You know, I don’t have sex.”
His eyes widened. “You’re a virgin? Holy shit, I just nearly tried to have sex with a virgin in an elevator. I’m going to Hell. Why didn’t you tell me? I would have been more of a gentleman!”
I burst out laughing. “I’m not a virgin. But it has almost been a year. I promised myself I wouldn’t for twelve months.”
He winced. “I’m afraid to ask how much of that twelve months is left.”
“About three weeks.”
He closed the gap between us, his hand finding the small of my back and tugging me towards him until my chest hit his. “Thank god for that. Because I don’t know how long I can kiss you the way we just did and not want to get you naked. You sure you don’t get an early mark for good behaviour?”
I laughed in his hopeful face and tried to fight off the urge to pull him inside. My breasts pressed against his chest, and the friction made me want to rip my shirt off right then and there. “Not tonight. I have a four a.m. on-set start time tomorrow that I’m already going to be late for, considering it’s nearly one a.m. now. I should go.”
He nodded and brushed his lips over mine again. “Go sleep. But tomorrow…”
“Tomorrow you’re my fake date and I call the shots. Remember?”
He groaned. “I’m going to really regret saying that, aren’t I?”
“Maybe.”
8
Bree
Working on a Saturday morning sucked. But it happened regularly in TV. Certain scenes had to be shot in certain places at certain times of the day, and wherever the cast went, the makeup team went. We were on location this morning, but thankfully we weren’t far from home.
I clomped blindly up the stairs of the makeup trailer, five minutes late, with a coffee in each hand. One for now, and one for immediately after. Because a four a.m. start when you’d been up all night thinking about the man in the apartment next door was a recipe for disaster.
A long, low wolf whistle greeted me as I slumped into one of the makeup chairs. “Girl, you look like shit! What the hell were you doing last night? That coffee for me?”
I practically growled at Bianca, and she pulled her hand back, laughing. “Okay, okay, I guess not.” She swivelled her chair around so we were face to face instead of talking to each other in the mirrors. She was entirely too chirpy for this time of the morning. I’d met Bianca, or BB as she went by these days, awhile back. She’d worked at a bar with one of my exes, and we’d gone out clubbing a few times together. It had been a surprise when six months ago, I’d found her sitting in my makeup chair, after having nabbed a recurring role on the show. She’d only just begun acting, but even I could tell how good she was. After watching one scene from the side of the set, I’d known exactly why the show had hired a complete newbie for such a big role. She was a natural. And she’d been in my makeup chair every morning since.
I glanced at myself in the mirror. She was right. I looked very average. Tired and makeup-free.
“So, you gonna tell me what you did last night?”
I put my coffee cups down on the bench with a warning look before I began smothering Bianca’s cheeks with lotion. “I had a date.”
She raised an eyebrow. “But you don’t date anymore.”
“I know. It was a fake date.”
Her brow furrowed.
“That kind of, somehow, turned into a real date.”
She clapped, bouncing on her seat. “Was there not fake sex, too? Cos you look like you’ve been awake all night. Tell me everything.”
“Sit still and I will.”
I filled her in on all the details of the previous night, laughing at her open mouth when I said I hadn’t invited him in.
“So, the celibacy vow. You’re still running with that?”
I shrugged. “Close ’em. I need to do your eyes.”
She huffed out a sigh and closed her lids so I could apply eyeshadow, but that didn’t stop her mouth from running. “I can’t believe you had a sexy doctor falling at your feet. A doctor, Bree! With tats and glasses who practically dry humped you in an elevator…”
I let her go on and on with a little smile on my face because reliving last night, through her excitement, wasn’t the worst thing in the world. Weirdly, I was already missing Damien. I couldn’t stop thinking about the way he’d touched me…the feel of him beneath my hands…
A shadow fell across Bianca’s face, and I turned to see what was blocking the light. Only to find Damien leaning on the makeup trailer doorway, holding two steaming coffees. My mouth dropped open.
“What are you doing here?”
“Hey?” Bianca asked, opening her eyes, then doing a double take when she realised I hadn’t been speaking to her.
“I brought you coffee,” he said, holding one out to me. “Though I see you already have one.”
It wasn’t even five a.m. and he was only wearing a hoodie with jeans, but damn. I’d spent all night wondering if I’d made up exactly how handsome he was. I hadn’t. And now his face had an adorably disappointed expression on it.
“These are mine,” Bianca said, pulling both my cups toward her.
“Both of them?”
“Yep.” She nodded so vigorously I wondered if she actually had already drunk a few.
“How did you even get on set?” I asked.
Damien turned his attention bac
k to me and chuckled. “I just showed the security guys my ID and told them I was the onset doctor.”
“Geez, we need better security around here,” I muttered, but I couldn’t help grinning at him as I reached to take a coffee.
“Not that one. This one is yours,” he said, handing me a tall paper cup with a plastic lid.
I took it, appreciating the steaming warmth. When I lifted it to my mouth, I noticed writing in thick black marker on the side of the cup and paused to read it.
“You are brewtiful,” I read out loud. I glanced up at Damien while Bianca made swooning noises from her chair. “You have a thing for puns, huh?” First the pizza box. Now the coffee.
“Depends. Do you like it?”
I didn’t hate it. “You may be kind of cute.”
He smiled, and something about that smile made me really damn happy. Sure, he did things to my libido, but he was also kind of sweet, bringing me pizza and sneaking onto my set to give me coffee. I was beginning to think this thing between us was something more than smoke and mirrors.
I might have been catching a case of feelings.
“Well, I’ll make more of an effort in future then. Cos truthfully, the barista wrote that. I think he might have had a crush on me.”
Bianca bust out laughing while Damien grinned. I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped my mouth.
He pushed off the trailer door and crossed the space, leaning down so his lips brushed my ear. “For the record, though, I don’t just think you’re beautiful. I think you’re the most stunning woman I’ve ever seen. And I can’t wait to be your fake boyfriend tonight.”
Shivers spread down my neck where his warm breath tickled over me, and I closed my eyes for a moment, tempted to turn my head and find his lips with mine. But if last night was anything to judge by, letting those primal instincts take over was not a good idea around him. I was at work, and although it was just Bianca, who had become the closest thing I had to a friend, I still wanted to be professional. Damien pulled back, while I tried to steady myself.
He left the trailer, and I watched him go, my breaths coming too fast. Bianca fanned herself dramatically.
“Holy shit, Bree. That was the hot doctor you turned down last night? I would have been all over that like white on rice. You have a willpower I certainly don’t possess.”
That was just it, though. I was pretty sure I didn’t.
9
Bree
Damien insisted on picking me up for our fake/maybe-not-so-fake date that night. Though all that meant was him walking the two steps to my front door and knocking on it. But still. He picked me up and offered me his arm which I took, even though he was being over the top. Truthfully, I was happy for the opportunity to feel his biceps.
We stood side by side in the elevator, my arm pressed against his as we travelled down to the parking garage, and I couldn’t help but remember the last time we’d been in here together. Beside me, Damien’s breath came out in a forceful hiss, and I had no doubt he was thinking the same thing. But neither of us made a move to pick up where we’d left off last night. I was too damn nervous about seeing my sister for the first time in years. My sister and Tim. The man who’d taken my virginity then tossed me aside for the more experienced model.
Damien drove us in his sleek BMW across the city to a more suburban area. I’d never been over this way, but the houses were new with manicured lawns and parks. It was nice. The sort of area I’d wished I’d grown up in.
We drove in almost total silence, and my nerves got the better of me, street by street. This was going to be a freaking disaster. My sister and I would end up in a screaming match, and my ex or my brother-in-law, whatever the hell he was, would be an asshole. No good was going to come from stirring up old memories like this.
Eventually, Damien pulled the car to a stop. My sister’s house was a grey brick home with a shining black door which matched the roof tiles. A gold door knocker sat proudly in the middle, and I tried to imagine myself walking up the neat little path and using it. I couldn’t do it.
“We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, you know. What do shrinks know anyway? Even us gynos laugh at them. They’re bottom of the pecking list at work. Not speaking to your family is no biggie.”
I gave him a weak smile. He was trying to make me laugh, and I appreciated it. But laughter wasn’t going to get me through this night.
“Do you remember how I told you someone hurt me once?”
He nodded.
“It was them. My sister and her husband. He was my high school sweetheart. He ran off with her, and I didn’t hear from either of them again.”
He seemed stunned, and it took him a moment to find the words to reply. “That’s some seriously shit behaviour on both their behalves.” He squinted up at the house. “That really pisses me off actually.”
Lights shone in the windows behind closed blinds, and I wondered if they realised we were here.
“So, we’re walking into a war zone?”
“I’ve no idea. Maybe.” I forced a laugh. “If it turns into anarchy, I’ll understand if you want to bail. There’s only so much a fake boyfriend should have to put up with.”
“What if he were a real boyfriend?”
I shook my head slowly. “You aren’t though, are you?” I didn’t give him a chance to answer before I opened the car door and stepped out into the night air. I gulped in a lungful and tried to calm the shaking in my hands. I wasn’t sure if it was because of nerves over seeing my sister again, or because things with Damien suddenly felt like they’d stepped up a notch.
Boyfriend? I couldn’t do a boyfriend.
I’d only just begun to consider having casual sex with the man. This morning, I’d thought I maybe had some sort of feelings for him, but I hadn’t had time to work out what they were. All my relationships sucked and just ended up with me sad and lonely.
I wasn’t ready to give Damien up yet. I wasn’t ready for him to leave me. So, no. Boyfriend was out of the question. And if I was smart, I’d stick to my celibacy vow and keep him on the line a little longer before giving it all away for free. Enjoy him chasing me.
I didn’t want him to be like all the others, but my track record showed that once a guy had slept with me for a while, they lost interest and moved on to shinier, prettier, nicer things. I liked the way he looked at me right now and I wanted that to go on as long as possible.
Damien followed me out of the car, his fingers finding mine as we walked up the path to the shiny door. And dammit, a little of my resolve crumbled less than thirty seconds after I’d found it. I was hopeless.
The door opened before I could even knock.
My sister looked exactly the same. It was as if no time had passed. The same shoulder-length brown hair and blue eyes. Long legs, making her the same height as me. She even wore an ankle length dress that was similar to her high school favourite.
“You came. I wasn’t sure you would.”
I forced a smile, hoping the wobble in my bottom lip wouldn’t show. I couldn’t cry.
Then a hand on my lower back reminded me I wasn’t the only one standing at my sister’s front door, and I stepped to the side. “Sorry. Lou, this is Damien, my ah, boyfriend. Damien, this is my sister, Louise.”
Louise turned to greet Damien, but then her eyes widened as she took him in. Something flickered in her gaze, but I couldn’t read her anymore and I didn’t know what to make of it. She couldn’t seriously be checking him out, not while I was standing right here, holding his hand and calling him my boyfriend.
Surely not.
Her gaze scanned over him, and in morbid fascination, with a sinking feeling in my stomach, I turned to face him. His expression was blank.
“Do you two know each other or something?” I asked slowly.
Damien opened his mouth to answer, but Louise cut him off. “No,” she said too loudly. Then she lowered her voice. “I mean no. I’m sorry, I just wasn’t expect
ing you to bring a date. You didn’t mention you were seeing anyone on the phone.” She stuck her hand out in Damien’s direction. “It’s lovely to meet you, Damien.”
I watched the exchange curiously as he took her hand and shook it. “You, too, Louise.”
She stepped aside and indicated for us to follow her down the hall, but Damien walked slowly, giving her time to move away before he pulled me to his chest. “You okay? You look like you want to vomit.”
“I’m fine.” I tried to push him away as we walked into the kitchen area of my sister’s house, but he pulled me right back.
“I’m supposed to be your boyfriend, remember?”
Right. That was why he was here. I relaxed my posture and let him drop a kiss onto my bare shoulder. It was such a boyfriend thing to do, and I had to admit, I liked the way it felt. Especially when I realised Tim was watching us from the corner of the room.
I coughed to clear my throat, but the fact that Damien’s hand was splayed over my hip did make facing my ex that little bit easier. Tim had put on a few kilos since I’d last seen him, but he was still the man who had broken my teenage heart. And a vindictive part of me wanted him to know what he’d missed out on. I’d dressed to impress, in a skirt with a long slit, showing off my best feature. A feature Tim had always liked. I knew it was catty, but I’d never claimed to be totally reformed.
I was always going to be at least a little part bitch and I wasn’t going to apologise for that.
The four of us took our places around the dining room table, and I sat expectantly, waiting for a big, please forgive us Bree speech, but it didn’t come. Instead, Tim put his arm around Lou as she talked about her job at a local primary school, and how she’d taken up cross fit. Damien quickly joined in, charming as ever, revealing he was also a cross-fitter. Tim let on that he was now a registered nurse, and that sparked a long discussion about medicine and health, which drew me in. Damien, Tim, and I all argued our various specialties with passion, but it broke the tension, and we were all smiling by the end of it. Lou had sat back with satisfaction on her face, as if she’d planed the whole thing.
