“Did you intentionally ask that question to try to score?” I narrow my eyes at him.
“Actually, no, but I am glad it worked.”
“Why would you ask me that?”
“I am just trying to understand how someone like you is still available.” He shrugs.
“What do you mean, someone like me?” I ask defensively, not really knowing if I want to continue on with this conversation.
“A beautiful, sexy, independent woman who is intelligent, self-sufficient, caring and witty.”
“You have only known me for four days. This might all be a facade,” I joke.
“I doubt that.”
“I have my idiosyncrasy. I can be cold and aloof sometimes. When you wrong me, I tend to not forgive so easily.” I look down and play around with the mallet. “I am trying to work on myself though. To answer your original question if I miss my ex-husband, no, I actually don’t. I don’t miss being ignored, nor do I miss walking on eggshells. Only thing I miss is sharing my life with someone.” I look back up at him with a sad smile. No one tells you how lonely divorce can be. You get used to sharing your life with someone, whether that life together is good or bad and when that ends, the silence is deafening. At first you don’t feel it because you are angry and hurt, and you keep telling yourself that you made the right decision. When those emotions finally calm down, silence fills the void. I work as late as I can, trying to avoid feeling destitute.
He walks around to my side of the table, pulls me close, and forces me to look into his eyes by lifting up my chin. “Jenna, you were disappointed by someone you loved very much. It’s understandable to be guarded. Just don’t let it prevent you from ever finding happiness again.” He kisses me softly on the lips. I close my eyes and relish the feel of having strong arms around me, making me feel protected.
“Let’s go to bed.” He takes my hand and leads me to the bedroom. Sex this time is more tender and loving. He holds me close in his arms afterwards and while he falls asleep, I can’t help but hope I will one day soon feel this way again.
12
The next two days fly by, my mind occupied by business during the day, while my body is occupied by Cal at night. After today’s closing ceremonies, I say goodbye to all the wonderful new contacts I made at the conference and go back to Cal’s place, hoping to get a couple of hours with him before Layla arrives. I have no idea if we’re going our separate ways tonight and if we are, I would like to be packed up and moved back into my old room before her arrival. Despite multiple sessions of sex into the early hours of this morning, he seemed to be distant at breakfast. I wasn’t interested in asking, not really wanting to believe our time together is almost up. I knew this was only going to last for the week, and I have enjoyed every single minute of it. Maybe it is better if it ends today. Layla deserves my full attention anyway as we have not had a girl’s weekend in a very long time.
I open the door and deep, masculine laughter greets me. With my curiosity peaked at the unfamiliar sound, I follow it to the media room. I look in to find Cal engaged in a game of pool with the infamous Sean Lindsay, international mega-star and known womanizer. Famous for his piercing green eyes and making women drop their panties with his wicked smile, he has found much success being the guy you fall in love with in rom-com movies.
“Well, who do we have here?” Sean sees me first and flashes me one of his famous smiles.
“Jenna, you’re back. Come meet my best mate, Sean.” As Cal comes towards me, I realize that despite Sean’s good looks, he pales in comparison to Cal. Both men ooze sex appeal, but Cal is more primal. He kisses me hard on the lips, his mood much better than it was this morning. I shake myself out of the trance his kiss puts me in while he pulls me with him to meet Sean.
“Sean, this is Jenna, and before you get any ideas, do not flirt with her as she is off limits to you.” Sean laughs and takes my hand into his stronghold.
“So very nice to meet you, Jenna. I can now see why it has been so hard to get him on the phone all this week as I, too, would ignore the whole world if you were gracing me with your presence.” He leans in to kiss my hand, but Cal intercepts and removes my hand from Sean’s grasp with a menacing look. I can’t help but laugh watching the two of them.
“Since we usually aren’t together during the hours of 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., he has no excuse to not call you back.” I give Cal a teasing smile, busting him on his lack of calling his friend back. I can relate though as I, too, have been lax with calling Layla back.
“That’s it - we must keep you. I need a partner in crime to call out Cal’s bullshit.”
“You are out of luck as she refuses to give me her phone number,” Cal says with a pointed look in my direction.
“Technically, you haven’t even asked for it,” I remind him and that is the truth. While I am very hesitant to give it to him in order to keep things casual, he has not needed to have my number ,as our schedules have been in sync with each other this week.
“Wait, how do you get a hold of each then?” Sean asks, skepticism lacing his voice.
“Easy, he moved my belongings in here without my permission, so I had no choice but to come back,” Sean throws his head back and laughs while Cal looks quite proud of himself. I am happy I can now laugh at this without getting mad at the memory of him not asking me.
“Yes, but you chose to keep your belongings here, which I am so happy you did.” Cal wraps his arms around me and hugs me.
“Great, now I know I’ll be sleeping with my noise cancellation headphones on.” I blush at Sean’s implication and decide to study my heels instead of looking at him.
“Even the best headsets won’t muffle out the loudness of how hard I make her come.” My mouth drops open in shock at Cal, and I hit him in the chest. They both laugh and he hugs me tighter. I bury my face in my hands, my mind reeling from embarrassment.
“I can’t believe you just announced that!” I whine into his chest, which rumbles harder with laughter. “Is there nothing that you guys don’t share with each other?”
“We haven’t shared women yet, but that can be negotiated if you are up for it, Jenna?” Sean winks at me, and I immediately shake my head no. “That was just a test on your part. Cal would never share you and has never shared in the past.” Relief spreads through me at this revelation. Some people might find that sexy, but it would make me uncomfortable knowing they’d shared a woman at the same time.
“What kind of mischief shall we get into tonight?” Sean wiggles his eyebrows up and down while looking between Cal and me for an answer.
“My best friend, Layla, arrives at 8 p.m. I’ll meet her in the lobby and take her back to my old room. If you guys are wanting a night out to yourself, she and I can just go to dinner and do our own thing.”
“You will absolutely NOT be going out without us,” Cal demands. “I think ordering in and hanging out here sounds just fine, right Sean?”
“Um…well, we are in Vegas…” Sean rubs the back of his neck, looking slightly uneasy.
“We can go out tomorrow night. Let’s have a good time here tonight. We have everything at our disposal here. Besides, we have to be up early for training.”
“Why don’t we wait to see what Layla wants to do before deciding?” I suggest, as I know she is going to want to go out.
“Sean and Layla can always go out. You and I are staying here.” Cal gives me a heated look that makes my insides quiver. I would love nothing more than to stay here with him, but I also cannot ditch my best friend.
“Jenna, I think Cal is missing his balls and they might be in your hands.” Sean laughs while Cal gives him a look of disgust.
“My balls are right where they need to be and are ready to resume kicking your ass in this game of pool. Jenna, you’re in charge of making us some drinks, please.” They head back towards the pool table and I head to the bar.
Two hours later, I am waiting for Layla in the lobby, slightly buzzed and trying to contain the ridicu
lous smile that won’t stop forming on my face. I’ve never had so much fun watching two people play pool as I did with Cal and Sean. They reminisced with funny stories about their time together in boarding school, and laughed about some of the pranks they have pulled on set. Every time I heard Cal’s deep, sexy laugh, my panties seemed to get wetter and wetter. He must have sensed how my body was reacting to him, because he wouldn’t stop teasing me any chance he got. When Sean would be concentrating on making his pool shot, Cal would stare at me with hooded eyes, stroking the pool stick slowly up and down. If he needed to walk by me, he would caress my thigh. I was getting so turned on that I kept getting up to make more drinks for myself, downing them to try to keep my mind from not thinking of what he feels like inside me. I was getting so uncomfortable, that before I left to get Layla, I had to change my underwear and pants. When I came out with my new outfit, his eyes lit up, and that damn mouth of his gave me a slow, devilish smile. This man has completely overloaded my senses. It’s a good thing this is about to end, because he’d completely consume me if I let him.
And I most certainly would.
“JENNA!” My name brings me out of my trance, and I turn to see Layla moving towards me, rolling her luggage behind her. We hug each other tight and squeal like little girls at the excitement of being together. We do a little dance together, chanting ‘girls trip’ and laugh at our silliness, not caring about the stares we are getting.
“Damn girl…you are glowing.” She stops laughing and stares at me.
“Of course I am, I am in Vegas with my bestie!”
“No…you look different.” She gets closer to me, looks me up and down, and then sniffs me.
“What are you doing?” I lean back from her, trying to regain my personal space back.
“That is an interesting concoction of perfume you’ve got going on, Jenna. Mixture of your usual Tory Burch perfume, mixed with some alcohol and SEX!” She practically screams it out at me and places her hands on her hips with an accusatory stare.
“Not possible since I showered since my last sex session,” I laugh when I see her mouth drop open in surprise. I sniff my shirt and it smells just like Cal. His cologne must have rubbed off onto me when we were hugging. “C’mon, let’s talk about this in the room.” I lace my arm through hers and guide her to the elevators.
“I cannot believe Robert knew all about this and I didn’t,” she pouts.
“He doesn’t know anything - he was hoping what he was guessing was true. Only thing I ever confirmed was that I met new people.” Layla gets extremely jealous if Robert knows something about me that she doesn’t. Robert works with me, so I can’t help if he learns something before she does.
“Nice room,” Layla says as we enter the room. She rolls her suitcase through the living room and into the bedroom. “I love how the bedroom is separate. Is that a pull out couch? Because you are going to need a place to sleep if I bring a hot piece of ass home.”
“Ha, yeah…um, about that…”
“Jenna, I am not following that stupid rule you had on our last girls’ trip of no men. This is Vegas, where all the good looking people come out to play!” She goes into the bathroom before I respond, but comes right back out.
“Where are your things, Jenna?” Her eyes narrowed, she walks to the closet, opens the door, and then looks backs at me with her hands on her hips and a questionable stare once she finds it empty.
“You get to bring whoever you want here this weekend, as I won’t be sleeping here with you. Yeah for you!” My words come out quickly as I hold my breath, waiting for the explosion of her temper as I know she is going to be upset.
“So basically, you are ditching your sister from another mister for a penis?”
“Let’s not play victim as we both know if the roles were reversed, you would do the exact same thing. In fact, you HAVE done it!”
“It’s not a true girls’ trip if one of us can’t hear the other one shacking up.” So delusional is her definition of a true girls’ trip that I start to laugh.
“I am pretty confident that most girls’ trips do not involve friends bringing random strangers back to their rooms for sex. The last time I heard you with someone, I had nightmares for days due to the animal noises that were coming out of your room.” I met up with her in Miami last year, and it was one of the worst girls’ trips we have ever had. I was on my own the whole weekend as she chose to stay in bed with a guy she met at a party. Hence why I had to make up a rule of no more bringing men back to our rooms if we were ever going to go on another trip together.
“I need to meet your mystery man first before I decide how to feel about this. When am I meeting him?”
“He and his friend are waiting for us now back at their place.”
“He has a friend?” Her eyes light up at the thought of a prospect for her. She walks back into the bathroom to freshen up, and I follow.
“Listen, I need you to be cool though when you meet them,” I tell her as I watch her apply some lipstick. Last time Layla met a celebrity, it was two soap opera stars in a bar in Nashville and she went completely crazy, talking to them as if they were in character.
“Why are you telling me to be cool? I am the mother-fucking queen of cool!” I roll my eyes at her as she waves her arm in the air and snaps her fingers.
“I don’t want you to flip out if you know them.”
She drops her lipstick in her bag and turns to me. “Jenna, if this man turns out to be your ex-husband, I am locking you in this room and beating some sense into you.”
“Trust me when I say that this man is definitely NOT my ex-husband.” After this week, I realize my sex life with my ex-husband was nowhere near the level of intensity as it is with Cal. No second thoughts on ever wanting to go back to that! “I only said that you might know them because they are both actors.” Layla watches more television than I do, so she might recognize Cal. I know she will recognize Sean Lindsay since we saw his last movie together, and I completely expect her to throw herself at him.
“Seriously? You are banging an actor?” She looks at me in total disbelief.
“Seriously, I am having sex with a human being whose occupation happens to be an actor.” I always try to point out to Layla and Robert that celebrities are regular human beings too…just more popular than the average person. It’s almost as if the whole planet is in high school and the celebrities are the cool clique that everyone knows of, just are not friends with.
“Enough with the suspense already! Who is the mystery man? If you don’t want me to embarrass you, it’s best if you tell me upfront.” I consider this as I don’t think I want a repeat performance of the behavior she displayed with the soap opera hunks.
“You’re right, I don’t want you to embarrass me or yourself.” I take a deep breath. “The mystery man is Cal Harrington.”
She tilts her head to the side with a puzzled look on her face, “Cal Harrington?” It seems that her brain only needed the words to come out of her own mouth, because her facial expression changes to recognition, and then shock. “The hot Viking guy?”
“Yes.”
“Shut UP!” she yells excitedly. “Wait a minute, is this the guy Robert said you met on the plane? I was half listening to him when he told me that story.”
“Yes, we sat next to each other on the plane. We had a scary incident with turbulence, and you know how I am not good with that!”
“Did you throw yourself at him while the plane was rocking back and forth?”
“No, I didn’t throw myself at him. The turbulence was BAD - the worst I have ever been through. He saw my distress and offered me to hold on to him. It was really quite nice of him.”
“Then what happened?”
“He offered me a ride to the hotel, and we went our separate ways, but saw each other again later on that evening in the lobby where he asked me to dinner.”
“Then what happened?” The look in her eyes was starting to get far away and dreamy.
“And here we are, five days later,” I say with a bright smile, hoping to move on with the conversation.
“You have spent every single day with him? You little hussy!” She jumps up and down in excitement.
“I didn’t sleep with him on the first night! It was the third night,” I reveal, my cheeks feeling hot with embarrassment.
“Way to put out. I totally would have given it to him the first night.” Layla has always been more sexually confident than I have. She never has worried about what people think of her when it pertains to her active sex life. She’s always said that it isn’t fair for men to have casual sex with whoever they want, but women get labeled horrible names if they do. She is right, it is completely unfair, but Layla has always been better at emotionally turning her feelings off and sex is just that to her - sex. Sex has always been something intimate for me and until this week, I have never had casual sex.
“Proud bestie here. Our little Jenna is no longer a one night stand virgin.” She wipes away at an imaginary tear.
“Technically, I still am because it hasn’t been a one night stand,” I correct her, because for some reason, I don’t want to label this a one night stand.
“You know what I mean!” She huffs. “I cannot wait to meet him, and I will try my best not to stare at his crotch to try to determine his dick size.” She imitates a dog sticking out his tongue, huffing, and I burst out laughing.
“I have a feeling you are going to be preoccupied by his friend.” I tease, wondering if I should keep him a mystery.
“Who’s his friend?”
“Sean Lindsay.”
She stares at me, speechless, which is a rare occasion for Layla.
“Do not even mess with me.”
“I am dead serious,” I say, with the best serious face I can muster since it’s really hard not to laugh at the hysterical expression on her face.
She grabs her more than a handful of breasts and starts to rub them. “Well, ladies, it’s time for you to come out and play with the new boys tonight!” With that, she goes into her suitcase to find a more revealing outfit for our evening.
Heartbreak Warfare (Let Me In Book 1) Page 10
