by Adele Buck
Alicia realized she was gripping her phone so tightly that it was digging painfully into her hand. She forced herself to put it on the coffee table. A brisk knock on her front door made her jump, and she dropped the envelope on the floor. Taking a deep, shuddering breath to calm herself, she picked up the letter and placed it on the table next to her phone. Walked to the door. Opened it. Colin’s broad shoulders filled the doorway. Her eyes roamed over him. His face had a sheen of sweat. His tie was loosened, and the top button of his shirt was unbuttoned.
“You cut your hair,” she said, blinking at her own absurdity.
“Was it a yes? Sonnet twenty-three? A yes?” Colin’s voice was harsh.
Not trusting her voice, Alicia nodded.
“Thank God,” he said, stepping forward to fold her into his arms and kicking the door shut behind him.
Chapter 22
Colin crushed Alicia to him, resting his cheek on her head and inhaling deeply. Her hair smelled different—some sort of new hairspray or something—but otherwise she felt exactly as she should. Her arms wrapped around his waist, and she clung to him just as hard. Pulling back a bit, he cradled her face in his hands, stroking his thumbs across her cheekbones. Her eyes looked a bit tired and hollow, and her makeup seemed…not her somehow. Too formal, too glossy for the casual shirt and skirt she was wearing.
The TV show. Of course. That explained the strange makeup and new smell to her hair. She must have just come home from work where others would have done her face and her hair.
“How have you been?” His voice was practically a croak.
Her lips pressed together, and her chin trembled. “Awful. You?”
“Wretched. Rubbish.”
“Is that British for awful?” A slight smile quivered on her lips, but her eyes were shiny with unshed tears.
“It’s British for worse than awful,” he rasped.
“Oh.” Her voice was very small, and a tear trickled from one eye. Leaning in, he pressed his lips to the droplet, the taste of the salt making him want to weep as well.
“Don’t cry, darling.”
“Saying that just guarantees I’ll cry.” Her mouth went square, and her eyelids squeezed together.
He pulled her against his chest and held her there as she began to sob. “Shh.” Stroking his hand up and down her back, he said whatever soothing nonsense he could think of.
“I’m ruining your tie,” she mumbled against his chest.
“It doesn’t matter. Use it to blow your nose for all I care.”
This produced a watery chuckle, and Colin pressed her more tightly to his chest for a moment before releasing her, using his tie to wipe at her tear-stained face until she laughed weakly and batted him away. Looking at the ruined length of silk he shrugged and pulled it off, dropping it onto her coffee table as Alicia composed herself, running her fingers under her eyelids to wipe away the smeared makeup. Her face looked more normal, more her without it.
Glancing back down at the table, he saw the letter he had sent. A rushing surge of emotion swelled in his chest as he remembered the laborious drafts he had gone through, peeling away layers of caution and reserve until he had the essence of his feelings for her and his hopes for them both distilled to a single page.
Wiping her eyes again with careful fingertips, Alicia felt exhaustion overtake her. It had been a long day and a very long time since she had been this emotional.
“Are you all right? When was the last time you ate?” Colin’s eyes were shadowed with concern.
“Do I look that bad?” Her voice scraped, her throat swollen from crying.
“No, you look beautiful. Just a bit peaky. Are you…eating properly?”
Alicia’s breath caught a bit, remembering their last argument. How it had all started with him asking her what she wanted to eat, her disclosure that she had the upcoming nude scene. His expression told her he remembered too.
“It got cancelled, you know. The nude scene.” Her jaw set slightly as she blurted the information and watched his face for a reaction.
His eyebrows lifted. “Ah. Is that a good thing for you?”
She nodded, her chin jerking. “Yes. I didn’t really want to do it, and definitely didn’t think it was necessary, but didn’t think I had a choice. But the director is a woman. She didn’t want it either and fought to have it taken out.”
“Isn’t the director the boss? Doesn’t she get to say whether something stays or goes?”
Alicia chuckled at his naïveté. “You have a lot to learn about the TV and movie business.”
Fine lines fanned from the corners of his eyes as he smiled at her. “I’m sure I do. Are you willing to teach me?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Now can I take you out to dinner? I’m starving.” He ran his hand over his now closely-cropped hair, and Alicia felt a pang of loss for the shaggier locks she had loved to run her fingers through.
“In a minute. There’s another thing. Gracie got in touch with me.”
His expression went from puzzlement to enlightenment as he remembered. “Your sister. What did she say?”
“I don’t know yet. She contacted my agent, asked Melissa to pass along her contact info, to tell me that she got out. I guess she got away from our family. I haven’t called her yet.”
“Why not?”
Alicia laid a hand across her fluttering stomach. “Because I had just gotten your letter and I knew there was nobody else in the world I wanted to tell. There’s nobody else who knows what this means to me.”
His beautiful lips curved in the tiniest smile. “You have no idea how honored I am to hear you say that. But it doesn’t explain why you haven’t called her.”
Alicia swallowed. “I’m scared of what she might say.”
“Why are you frightened?” he asked, stepping toward her and running his large, warm hands up and down her bare arms. Paradoxically, the contact made her shiver.
“What if she hates me?”
“Why would she hate you?” Concern and tenderness shone out of his eyes as he looked at her.
“Because I ran. I left her behind.”
“It sounds like she ran too. I would guess she has more empathy for you than you can guess.”
“Maybe.”
“Call her. Then I’m taking you to dinner. Then I’m shagging you silly. How does that sound?” Colin’s pupils had expanded so only the barest sliver of deep brown iris was visible.
A zing of heat flared through Alicia. “That sounds just perfect.”
Colin traced Alicia’s lower lip with his index finger. “Do you want me to go somewhere while you call your sister? If we decide on a restaurant I could go first and you could meet me.” The last thing he wanted to do just now was let her out of his sight, but he knew offering her privacy to make the call was the right thing to do.
“No. I want you here. I’m…not sure I can face this on my own.” She picked up her phone from the coffee table and looked at the black, blank screen.
“You don’t have to. If I have my way, you’re done facing things on your own.”
Her eyes flicked up to his, uncertain and slightly wary.
“But you get to choose,” he said, his voice low and earnest. “Are you sure you want me here?”
She nodded, her mouth tightening. “Yeah.” Squaring her shoulders, she unlocked her phone, found her sister’s contact information and tapped it. While she waited for an answer, Colin took her hand and pulled her over to the sofa. Sitting next to her, he twined his fingers in hers, holding gently. She stiffened, her fingers gripping his almost painfully tight.
“Gracie?” her voice cracked. A pause while she listened. “Sorry…Grace. It’s Alicia. Your sister.” Another pause. “Yeah, she did. Where are you? Are you okay?”
Colin watched Alicia’s face as tense worry was slowly replaced by cautious optimism and outright pride as she listened to her sister, interjecting occasional questions and what he assumed were answers to questions Grace posed
to her. After a much shorter time than he had counted on, she was ringing off, after promising to talk soon.
“Well?” he prompted.
Alicia turned to him with shining eyes. “She’s in Wisconsin. She’s about to start college. She got a full scholarship.”
“That’s quite something. Those are rarely granted anymore.”
“Aren’t they?” Her expression of wonder intensified. “She’s apparently really good at chemistry. She thinks she might want to be a doctor. My Gracie—Grace.” She corrected herself with a blink.
Colin smiled, squeezing her hand. “She objects to the childish nickname?”
Alicia nodded, her eyes serious. “She does.”
“How is she?”
“I think she might be okay, if that’s possible.” Alicia’s dark eyes flicked up to his face, then unfocused in the middle distance as she thought.
“You’re okay. You’re better than okay. I think it’s very possible.” Colin rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand.
“I wasn’t okay when I was her age and only just on my own,” she said.
“She’s a different person. She’s in a different situation. Hell, maybe even your family is different now.”
Alicia’s eyebrow arched, her expression disbelieving.
“Or maybe not. Don’t decide. Let it happen. Even better, invite her to visit before the school year gets started. I’ll see what I can do for her, see if some of my contacts can help her.”
“You’d do that? For Gracie?”
“I’d do it for you.”
Chapter 23
After dinner, Alicia let Colin persuade her to spend the night at his house. Not that I needed a lot of persuading, she mused as she waited for him to unlock the front door, admiring the set of his suit jacket across the breadth of his shoulders. The relief that coursed through her at being here, the need she felt for Colin’s presence, was almost frightening.
As if he could hear her thoughts, Colin reached back and took her hand, drawing her out of the muggy evening air into the cool stillness of the foyer.
“I’m so glad you’re here. So glad you said yes,” he whispered in her ear as he cradled the back of her head in his hands.
Taking a deep breath that hitched in her chest, Alicia nodded, running her palms under his suit jacket and around his waist, her hands skimming over the smooth cotton of his shirt, feeling the heat of his body under the fabric. “Me too.”
“Are you sure? You seem…fragile.” His voice rumbled in his chest and against her body.
“I am sure,” she said, surprised at how much she meant it. “It’s just been a long, eventful day.”
Colin drew back, stroking his hand across her hair, looking seriously at her eyes. “Do you just want to sleep?”
Alicia huffed a surprised laugh. “Hell no. You promised to ‘shag me silly,’ and I’m calling that debt due.”
A slow, sultry smile spread across Colin’s face, his full lips curving. “Consider it done.” Bending, he scooped her into his arms as she yelped and wrapped her arms around his neck. Taking the stairs without apparent effort, he charged into the bedroom and dropped her onto the bed. Laughing in helpless relief, Alicia slapped her hand over her eyes as Colin pulled her shoes off and threw them into the corner of the room, then inhaled sharply as he grasped her ankles and pulled her toward him, her skirt riding up around her thighs.
“How does this thing undo?” he grumbled, tugging at the waistband of her skirt. Smirking, she lowered the side zipper and then laughed outright as he tugged her panties off with it, flopping onto her back and lifting her hips to help. She heard the soft sound of her skirt hitting the floor, then gasped as Colin’s hands slid under her ass and tilted her hips toward him, licking and nuzzling. Her hands windmilled behind her, seeking purchase on something, anything to anchor her as her body responded to his erotic onslaught, rapidly torqueing with tension, only to release almost immediately, a wail ripping from her throat as she came apart, the sudden orgasm rippling through her with shocking force.
His tongue continued to caress her as aftershocks thrummed through her body, his hands skimming up the insides of her thighs, the slight roughness of his wool jacket cuff tickling.
Lifting her head, she took in the sight of Colin, rising from between her bare thighs, his office attire only lacking a tie, and collapsed back on the bed, her hand over her eyes again, laughing at the wonderful absurdity of it all.
Colin wiped his hand over his mouth as he stood, beginning to laugh, snared by Alicia’s hilarity. She removed her hand from her face and rose up on her elbows, glancing as she chuckled at her half-clad body, then at him, still fully clothed.
“You’re dressed a little formally for cunnilingus,” she observed.
“If I hadn’t left my tie at your place, I could have put it to good use,” he said with an expressive lift of his brows as he shrugged out of his jacket and began to unbutton his shirt.
“Let me,” she said, getting to her feet, her nimble fingers slipping buttons through their holes and pulling his shirttails free of his trousers. Taking advantage of his hands being free, Colin cupped her bare bottom and pulled her hips toward him, bending to capture her lips with his own and trapping her hands against his chest.
“You’re not making this easy,” she mumbled against his lips, then shivered as he abandoned her mouth to trace the curve of her ear with his lips.
“But is it fun?” he whispered, nipping her earlobe gently as she nodded.
“You know it is,” she said, leaning back to push his dress shirt off and tug at his undershirt. “I have decided that men wear way too many clothes.”
“Agreed,” Colin said, releasing her to raise his hands over his head and help her with the undershirt. As soon as his head was free of the cotton, he kissed her again, his fingers tracing her waist underneath her shirt and pulling upward until they had to break the kiss to lift her shirt over her head. Free of this, her fingers sought his belt as his reached behind her to unfasten her bra. He managed the tiny hooks before she could get his belt unbuckled, and she clamped her elbows to her ribs to keep him from fully removing the bra and distracting her hands from their purpose. He chuckled and traced the column of her neck with his tongue as she continued to work by touch alone, head thrown back, pulling the belt free of its buckle, unfastening his trousers, and easing them around his insistent erection.
“Fuck. Shoes,” he muttered in Alicia’s ear, rewarded by her low laugh as he knelt to untie the laces of the offending footwear and divesting himself of the rest of his clothes. Rising to his now-bare feet, he saw she had tossed her bra aside and stood waiting for him, a half-anticipatory, half-shy smile quivering on her lips.
Settling his hands on her waist, he pulled her to him again, skin to skin finally, his eyes closing at the pleasure of feeling his cock pressed against the satiny skin of her belly. Her fingers skimmed up his jaw, his cheeks, into his hair, pulling him down to join their lips in a kiss. Their mouths opened in tandem, faces tilting, tongues tangling as they sank into each other.
Alicia inhaled, a deep shuddering breath that was full of the scent of Colin’s skin and her own arousal on his mouth. Colin’s lips tightened against hers, smiling, then softening again, claiming her mouth in a deep, languorous kiss. Feeling the mattress against the back of her legs, she realized he had walked them back to the bed. Sitting, she pulled him down with her, leaning back and turning slowly until they were both lying on the duvet, his body bearing deliciously down on hers. Her leg hooked over his, toes tracing light patterns on the back of his thigh.
Colin lifted his head and looked down at her, his dark eyes roaming over her face. “God, I missed you so much.”
Unexpected grief twisted her gut, and her eyes prickled. “Me too,” she croaked.
“No, my darling. You’re not going to cry again. I can’t stand it.” Tunneling his hands into her hair, he kissed her mouth, her eyelids, her throat, her forehead in light, teasing caresses th
at turned the incipient tears to reluctant laughter.
“That’s better.” He regarded her for a moment, then reached over to open the bedside table drawer and draw out a condom. Rolling it on, he positioned himself, sliding into her in a torturously slow glide, nibbling along the side of her neck until she shivered with pleasure, sliding her hands down to caress his ass, the muscles a hard curve under her hands.
“Mmmm,” she groaned as he pressed inside her.
“All right?”
“More than all right. Delicious. Full.”
“Is that right? How full?”
Winding arms and legs around him, Alicia said, “Don’t fish for compliments.” Then she smiled, eyes half closing as he began flexing his hips in small, gentle pulses, the constant pressure of his hips against her clit causing her to writhe and tighten the grip of her legs. “Okay. Very full.”
“That good?” he asked, his breath hot in her ear. “Or is that fishing for compliments again?”
“God. So good. Fish away. Go fish.” She groaned, turning her head to capture his earlobe between her teeth, gently worrying it and flicking her tongue along the edge of his ear and chuckling when he moaned and began to thrust harder.
“I’m trying…” he gasped, hips slowing again to their gentle rock, “…to make this slow. To make it good for you.” Rising on his elbows, he traced his thumbs over her temples.
“It is good for me,” Alicia said, her voice breathy, moving her hips in opposition to his, lengthening the stroke and making his eyes flutter closed. Placing her hands on his cheeks, she looked steadily into his face. “You. You’re what makes it good.”
Colin’s eyes opened as his thrusts picked up speed and his breath caught suddenly, his hips stuttering into her own. And when he collapsed into her, Alicia hugged him to her with arms and legs.
Later, when Alicia was tucked into the curve of his body, Colin let his hand play up the softness of her belly to toy with a breast, smiling as he felt the vibration of her chuckle against his chest.