Cris was quiet for a moment and I cringed, awaiting her reaction. Even though I liked Cris and she was always great to me at the club, I’d never said no to her before. “Well, good for you,” she said quietly. I could almost hear her smile on the other end of the line.
“Yeah?” I asked, hopeful. “You’re not… mad?”
“Mad? Are you crazy? I mean, I’m mad at Kitty for canceling with an hour’s fucking notice… but not at you.” Her voice lowered, even though there was no one around for her to hear and she was on the opposite end of town. “Is it a guy? Please tell me it’s a guy…”
I laughed as the front door opened and Reid tossed my keys onto the coffee table, carefully setting two bottles of wine on the counter. “Gotta go, Cris…”
“Aw, c’mon, give me something!”
“I’ll see you Tuesday.” I hung up and spooned the beef filling into the squash cups.
Reid brushed my hair away from my shoulder, exposing the skin at my neck before pressing his mouth there. “It smells delicious,” he whispered.
“Mm,” I moaned arching against his lips. “If you’re not careful, I’ll lose focus and the whole meal will burn.”
He nipped my shoulder, then grazed his teeth up the curve of my neck, resting his mouth against my ear. “There’s always pizza delivery.”
I swatted his hip behind me with the spatula. “Not a chance. I’ve been cooking for thirty minutes. We’re eating this tonight and if it’s charred, you only have yourself to blame.”
His laugh was low and husky, and I felt his chest rumble with it. “Wow, you are cranky when you cook.”
I pointed the spatula at him. “Don’t make me have to use this on you again!” I threatened but was unable to help the grin edging my lips into a smile.
He grabbed the bottle of wine to open it and poured us each a glass. “I wouldn’t dream of it.” He handed me the first glass and I took a sip. Leaning over me, Reid inhaled. “Holy shit, that smells amazing.”
I scooped a bite onto the spatula and held it up to him. “Here, try a taste. Let me know if it needs anything… more salt or whatever.”
He took the bite and threw his head back. “Wow. That’s incredible. Who knew behind all those ramen cups and mac and cheese boxes was a girl who could actually cook?”
“Well, cooking takes time. And time isn’t something I tend to have in excess. Between my hours at the club, and homework, and classes.”
Reid cleared his throat and took a big sip of his wine.
“Speaking of, I probably shouldn’t tell you this,” he paused, clearing his throat again and coughing into his fist. “The writer of the show was really impressed by you.”
My brows lifted. “Oh yeah?” Two nights together and this was the first mention of this I’d heard. “Why shouldn’t you tell me that?”
“Because…” he paused again and undid top button of his polo shirt. “I’m pretty sure after this workshop, he’s interested in working with you. Don’t tell your classmates, though. Can’t let them know I’m playing favorites.”
My heart nearly burst out of my chest when he said that, but my excitement was quickly overshadowed by Reid coughing… again. “Are you okay?” I asked, filling a glass of water and handing it to him.
“Yeah…my throat feels a little...” Another cough. “What’s in that ground beef?”
“Onions, peppers, salt, pepper, mustard seed—”
His eyes shot open. “Mustard?” He repeated and the one word sent him into another coughing fit.
“Y-yeah. Is that okay?” He didn’t answer, instead, coughed into his fist.
“Allergic…” he managed to get out amidst his coughing.
“Oh, fuck. Fuck!” I rushed to grab my phone, ready to call 9-1-1, but he quickly put his palm over top of mine, shaking his head.
“Epi pen…” he pointed toward his bag. “Briefcase.”
I ran to Reid’s briefcase and in the front pouch found two epi pens. Grabbing them both, I rushed back over to where he had sat down on my couch with his pants down and boxer briefs pulled up high on this thigh.
He took one of the epi pens from me, not coughing as much as before, but I noticed his breath was heavy and wheezing. He took the cap off the end and, clenching the pen in his fist, looked at me quickly. “Look away if you’re squeamish,” he managed to say and paused just a moment to give me the opportunity to avert my eyes. Instead, I sat down beside him and put my hand on his shoulder.
“Are you seriously worrying about me right now?!”
Through his wheezing breath, he chuckled and pushed the orange side of the epi pen against his thigh with a wince and held it there for about ten seconds.
His breath slowed, deepening and after a couple moments, he took my free hand, squeezing it. “It’s working,” he said. “I can feel it working.”
“Oh my God, I am so sorry. I didn’t even think to ask about food allergies!”
He chuckled quietly, “It’s not your fault. Mustard isn’t a common allergy. I should have been more proactive. I always forget because usually it’s a condiment that I can easily steer clear of.”
I dropped my head into my hands, desperately trying to ignore the wave of hot tears brimming against my eyes. “You almost died. I almost killed you!”
“Hey, hey,” he curled his arms around me and pulled me into him for a hug. “You didn’t. I always have two epi pens on me for this reason. I’m fine.”
Tears fell down my face and I hiccupped, burying my face in his shirt. “I’m so sorry.”
“Hazel, look at me.” He pulled me off of him and cupped my face, bringing my eyes to meet his. “I’m okay. I’m breathing. I’m going to be fine. And you did nothing wrong.”
“What if you didn’t have the epi pen on you? Your apartment is all the way uptown and this stay at my apartment was a surprise for you…”
He brushed his thumb below my eyes swiping clean the tears. “I always have them with me. Always. You don’t have to worry.”
I sniffed and stood up, stomping over to my fridge and spice cabinet. My knees were shaking, but I’d be damned if I let Reid see that. Yanking my fridge open, I grabbed the two kinds of mustard I had in there and tossed them in the garbage as well as the ground mustard seed spice I used in dinner.
Reid stood and crossed slowly to me. “You don’t have to get rid of them, Hazel. I can be in the room with mustard, I just can’t eat it.” He chuckled as he spoke.
“How can you be so blasé about this?” I shrieked. “I am throwing away any trace of mustard in this house. As God as my witness, I will not be responsible for fucking killing a genius, Tony-Award winning Broadway director! And I don’t want to take any chances. Not tonight or any night after this—” The words cut off in my throat as I realized what I was saying.
Reid leaned casually against the counter, watching me, a cocky smirk on his face. “Any other night after this, huh? Does that mean you don’t want this to end with tonight?”
My eyes drifted closed and I silently took a deep breath in through my nose. Of course I don’t want this to end tonight. “I…” Words strangled at the back of my throat. Why couldn’t I say it? Why couldn’t I tell him that I didn’t want this to end? Deep down, I was falling for Reid and that was more terrifying than any audition I’d been to in the last decade of my life. “I…I think I’ll still owe you a home cooked dinner since tonight is a bust.”
His smile remained in place, but something shifted in his demeanor. Like a shield going up. Or rather… a wall. The same wall he’d claimed I was tearing down brick by brick. “So I get at least one more date night with you after this weekend? I’ll take it. I’ll take whatever Hazel Moon is willing to give me.” He licked his lips and cleared his throat—and that simple noise now had my adrenaline spiking into overdrive.
“We should go to the hospital still,” I said. “Make sure everything is okay.”
“I’ll be okay,” he said. “This isn’t my first rodeo. I’ll pop a Bena
dryl—”
“Reid Bradley, we are going to the damn hospital!”
He jumped a little at my sudden shout—and if I was being honest, I surprised myself with that, too. Putting his hands up, he said, “How about, I do a quick teleconference with my doctor. If he suggests we go to the ER, we will. But if he thinks I’m okay, we’ll stay here and have a nice, quiet dinner.” He slid his still full wine glass into the sink. “I will probably have to forego the wine tonight, thought.”
I nodded. “Okay.” If his doctor said it was okay to skip the ER, that was good enough for me.
“Okay,” Reid repeated and bent to lightly kiss me on the lips. “Hazel… I really am fine, okay?”
Tears filled my eyes once more as I looked up into his, but I nodded all the same. He seemed okay. His breathing was mostly back to normal and he was smiling. Smiling at me. “I was really scared.”
He nodded. “I could tell. You did great, though. Responded quickly. Kept calm… well, up until I was okay, you kept calm.” He spoke through a quiet chuckle and I playfully smacked his arm.
“Don’t make fun of me.”
“I’m not, I promise.”
“Are there any other allergies I need to know about?”
He shook his head. “Not a single one. I’m not even allergic to cats.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “Let me go get Dr. Moore on the phone.” He grabbed his phone off the coffee table, eyebrows creasing as he looked at the home screen.
“What is it?” I asked.
“My university inbox has dozens of new emails,” he muttered. “And my voicemail is full.”
I swallowed, unsure why he seemed so unnerved by that. Didn’t professors get tons of correspondences? “Do you need to check them?”
He sighed and shook his head. “I was warned by other professors that after posting a cast list, the last thing I should do is check student voicemails and emails.”
Ahhh. That made more sense. It was students who were pissed off about the casting choice—ie, his choice to cast me. And by “students,” I had a pretty good guess which one took issue with me getting the lead. Jenna got practically every part she ever went for, and I doubt she was handling this with grace. “Is that who keeps calling this weekend?”
“Yeah,” he grumbled, “I’m not getting paid enough to deal with that bullshit on the weekends.” He paused, a smile curving on his mouth as he pointed at me. “You know what I just realized?”
“What?”
“Looks like we will be ordering pizza tonight after all since I can’t eat that squash.”
Normally, I’d toss back a teasing retort to that kind of comment. But he was right—no way in hell was I even taking that squash out of the oven in Reid’s presence. I grabbed my phone to order. “Pepperoni or cheese?”
“You choose,” he winked as he dialed his doctor.
Chapter 16
Reid
The next morning, I woke up in the most delicious state. Naked. With a gloriously nude Hazel spooning in my arms, her smooth, toned back facing me and my hard cock nestled against her ass.
After the mustard debacle last night, my doctor told me the signs to look for that would indicate a negative reaction to the epi pen… none of which was new to me. I’d been through this rigmarole before. But for Hazel’s sake, I took extra caution.
It also took a whole lot of persuading and another call to Dr. Moore to convince Hazel that it was safe for me to have sex. Finally, she let me make love to her… and I swear, we didn’t stop. We had sex several times before finally falling asleep only a couple of hours ago. Even though it was only 6:30 a.m., I felt more rested than I had in years.
I stretched, sliding my finger over the dismiss button for my alarm as Hazel moaned and stretched beside me, spreading those supple breasts with the movement. “It can’t be time to get up already,” she groaned.
I leaned over her, cupping her jaw, and pulled her in for a deep kiss, ignoring the way my stomach flipped as our lips touched and her tongue parted my mouth.
I sat up and she followed me, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “Shhh,” I hushed her, guiding her to lie back down. “You have time to go back to sleep before class…or should I say, rehearsal.”
“No,” she muttered, and I swallowed my laugh. She was clearly not a morning person and it was adorable. “I’ll get up too.”
This time, I didn’t stifle my laugh and chuckled against her mouth as I knelt over her and kissed her once more. “It’s six thirty in the morning and I still need to go uptown to change before class. Go back to sleep, Hazel.”
She blinked, moisture filling her eyes as she tugged the sheet up around her breasts. “If I go back to sleep,” she whispered, “then I’ll wake up alone. And our one weekend will officially be over.”
The vulnerability in her voice was refreshing and raw. She wouldn’t look at me. Instead, she cast her eyes down at her wringing hands in her lap. “Hey,” I said quietly, tucking my finger below her chin and drawing her gaze back to mine. “It’s only over if we want it to be.”
“But…school. Their policy would never allow—”
I cleared my throat and felt her immediately go tense in my arms. “That was just a morning throat-clearing,” I said. “Not the allergy. As for the school’s rules… I’m teaching as a favor to… to a friend.” I swallowed the word ex-fiancé, unsure of why I wasn’t being completely honest about my previous relationship with Faith. Even yesterday when we talked about Faith right here in this bed, I couldn’t bring myself to tell Hazel that the woman who broke me was her previous teacher. Like I feared that somehow saying Faith’s name would give her power over me, over us, and this weekend. “Right now, I’m more concerned with getting to know you than a gig I care very little about.”
She blinked so rapidly it would have been comical if I hadn’t been waiting on eggshells for her response. “But—”
“I won’t do anything without you making the final call. But if we go to the department head together…”
Hazel’s eyes went wide as saucers and she shook her head, her mouth dropping. “We can’t. Professor Dercy already hates me. She thinks I’m a lazy slacker.”
“If Dercy thinks you’re lazy, she clearly hasn’t taken the time to get to know you.”
“She actually used to be my biggest supporter in the program. But after I failed Professor Lewis’s class, it was like her entire opinion of me changed.”
“Because she doesn’t know the truth of why you failed. You should tell her.” I didn’t want to push Hazel too hard. This was ultimately her decision. Whatever she chose, I would support her, even if I wanted something different.
Hazel shook her head. “If learning I’m a burlesque dancer isn’t enough to get me fired and lose my scholarship, then our relationship would definitely get me kicked me out of the department.”
“Okay,” I said. I understood where she was coming from. And if we were going to try this…truly try this…it had to be her call. In every possible way. “What if I quit this teaching job? Then we’re not doing anything wrong.”
She sighed, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. “You can’t quit. Then me and my classmates are without a professor for the semester.”
“They would find you all another professor,” I said. It was true. There were adjunct professors and plenty of people in New York City dying to get their hands on a teaching opportunity.
“Even so…that professor isn’t going to be a Broadway director who is planning to workshop a new show with us.” She stood, slipping her arms into a robe and tying it around her waist before padding into the kitchen, filling the coffeepot with water. Shaking her head, she spun, finally facing me and leaning against the counter. “It wouldn’t be fair to the class to lose that opportunity because you and I had one amazing weekend.”
Her words stabbed me in the chest. I didn’t think she meant that the way it sounded, but it hurt all the same. I took a step into her, resting my hand on her hip. The silk of her
robe wrinkled beneath my rough palm and I squeezed her gently. “The weekend was amazing,” I said, smiling. “But who says it just has to be the one? Think of all the amazing weekends we could have together. Besides,” I gently poked my index finger to her button nose, “you still owe me a home cooked dinner. One that doesn’t try to kill me, preferably.”
She blew out a breath through tight lips, giving a small chuckle. “I just…I don’t see any good way this can end. Some love stories are long. Like three-book-trilogy-series sort of long. And…some are short novellas. But just because it’s short doesn’t mean it’s any less epic.”
I inhaled a sharp breath through my nose, my chest rising with the movement. “Love story?”
Her eyes darted to the right, and she spun around to prepare the coffee. Or maybe to escape my inquiry. My gaze. “Not love. That’s not what I meant. Just, like, you know, a whirlwind romance thing that’s in every romance novel.”
“But that’s not what you said.”
She slammed the coffeepot against the counter. “I know what I said. I’m explaining what I meant.”
Fuck. Her words, her decision was like a hot blade slicing through to my core. It hurt a hell of a lot more than I expected it to. “I hear you,” I said. “Loud and clear. But if you change your mind…you know where to find me.” I leaned forward, sliding my hands around her waist and dropping my mouth to her neck. I licked my tongue across the gooseflesh rising up her shoulder and nipped at her ear. “And for the record…given enough time, I think our whirlwind romance could be love. Someday.”
Her ribs expanded beneath my hands with her sudden, deep breath as I stepped back and slipped out the door. “I’ll see you in class,” I said, closing it behind me.
Nine a.m. came all too fast and also not soon enough. When Hazel entered the theater in her jeans and black tank top, my pulse raced faster, slamming against my throat. She looked disheveled in a way that only I knew was her post-coital glow. When her eyes met mine, her mouth lifted in a coy smile that left my dick twitching behind the zipper of my pants.
Directing You Page 11