by S. L. Scott
The TV drowns out my hard swallows, fortunately. I watch as her hands run the length of her torso and over her beautiful tits. “Difficult indeed,” I mumble, following her hands until she stops one between her legs while one remains on her breast.
I only look up when she says, “I’m yours. This is all yours, Luke. But never forget, you’re mine, too. You’ll always be mine.”
Panting, I mutter, “I won’t. I never have.” My cock is straining against the denim that’s become too tight in the inseam.
“Do you see this wall?”
“Yes.”
“I want you to fuck me against it. Will you do that for me?”
“Yes,” I respond again, feeling a lot like that’s the only word I’m currently capable of.
“Come here.”
When I do, the palms of her hands run over my chest before tugging at my shirt. I take it off, and then watch as she kisses where her hands were. She works on undoing my jeans. I step out of them and watch as she slides lower, taking my boxers with her. My hands tangle into her hair as her tongue tangles with my cock. When she takes me in her mouth, my back hits the doorframe. “Fuck.”
Cold air swallows me instead when she stands up and nips my jaw. Pulling my hair, she’s up on her tiptoes, my head jerked to the side, my ear to her mouth. “Talk to me.”
Taking hold of the hair at the nape of her neck, I pull her head back until she releases mine and our eyes meet. “Get back on your knees.”
“Say my name.”
“Get on your fucking knees, Jane.”
The smallest of grins passes quickly across her lips before it’s gone and she’s on her knees again, taking me wholly between those sweet pink lips. With one hand at the base of my cock, her other hand finds mine woven into her hair. She adds her own pressure, so I do as she requests and add mine to the back of her head, pulling and pushing likes she wants.
She moans, the vibration and the tightness of her hold around me, causing me to react. My head hits the wall as she fucks me with her mouth.
I’m close. Too close. Too soon.
My thoughts go fuzzy as my body reacts, fisting her hair, and thrusting. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” Breathing comes hard after and I open my eyes. Leaning back, Jane looks up at me. Our eyes are on each other until I say, “Get on the bed.”
And she does.
I never thought the girl I once knew—her body, her mind, her everything—would ever like being commanded. But maybe like me, she’s changed and more open to what we like now instead of what we were then. Maybe we needed the time away to allow us to change things up. Had we fallen into habits in our sex life? I don’t think so. But this? This is hot, and well worth the wait.
She is every fantasy I’ve ever had rolled into one. She always was, and remains the center of every fucking sexual thought I have. No other woman stood a chance against her memory. No matter if their name started with J or any other letter of the alphabet. No one was ever going to replace Jane.
I walk to the bed, her naked body lying in the middle. Her face set on mine, waiting for the next command. With the real thing before me, I waste no time. “Spread your legs for me, baby.”
Her knees butterfly open and I lick my lips when I spy her pink pussy. A fucking flower with the sweetest of scents, I debate if I want to fuck her, inhale her, or eat her.
“Luke?”
Looking back up at her, I ask, “What?”
She takes a deep breath, and says, “I missed you. More than you’ll ever know. More than you’ll ever believe. I did.”
Kneeling before her, I breathe out my own deep breath. “I know, baby. I know.” I make love to her with my mouth, and then fuck her into ecstasy.
Time has passed, but I have no idea how much. I watch Jane with her eyes closed, the moonlight falling beside the bed. I know she’s not asleep by her breathing and reach my hand over, holding hers. “I thought you’d be mad at me,” I whisper in the dark.
She rolls onto her side, resting her head on my chest while her hand runs over my stomach. “Why would I be mad?”
“Because of what she said.”
“I’m not mad because of what you said.” Looking up at me, she smiles lightly, thoroughly worn out, and I mentally high-five myself, pride from putting that relaxed and happy expression on her pretty face. “You told me to trust you. I do.”
“Thank you.”
“Let’s go to sleep before I say something I shouldn’t.”
“So you are mad?” I ask surprised.
“No, quite the opposite, in fact. And we shouldn’t be going to that opposite yet. It’s too soon.”
Now I’m smiling but it’s not small. It’s big because I’m wide-awake and happily in opposite for her. I’ll take it slow because slow with her is better than fast with anyone else.
I kiss her forehead, and then she slides her head back down. I kiss the top of it, right in the middle of her gorgeously messed-up hair, and whisper, “I feel the opposite of mad for you too.”
CHAPTER 19
~Jane~
LYING IN THE dark I stare at him. With the curtains open, I see every little freckle, scar, line of his body, remembering each as if I never left. The outline of his muscles has changed some. They are more defined, more solid, but I guess that’s what happens when you’re playing the field. All the love pounds you once had, all the softness that came with romance hardens, building solid walls of muscle to protect a heart once broken.
That happened to me. I know it well. I’ve never been in better shape. I’ve also only loved, truly loved, once. I had fooled my heart into believing it could replace that four-letter word with someone else’s name. It couldn’t. I still can’t. I owe Lawrence an apology just like I owe Luke a lifetime of them.
Leaning forward, I kiss Luke on the cheek. I love him. So much. So much it makes my heart hurt sometimes. Actually all the time. I continue with a kiss to his shoulder, then his chest. Soon he’s waking to kisses elsewhere, receiving instead of controlling. His confidence in giving and taking power is attractive. I can dwell on how many women he was with to pick up such tricks, but I don’t want to think about that.
None of them matter.
I see how he looks at me. I know his heart. He’s not shy about reminding me who he was always meant to be with, who owns the heart that the hard muscle stands in guard.
His large hand covers my cheek and slides to my neck. “Why aren’t you sleeping?” His voice is groggy. Four a.m. will do that to you.
Moving closer, he holds me to his chest as I snuggle against him. Tucked beneath his chin, I whisper, “I’m happy.”
“I am too.” He kisses my head. “Get some rest. We have a long day tomorrow.”
“I’m not mad at you anymore,” I say, meaning so much more than I can express in those six words.
He lets me off easy and makes me smile when he says, “I’m not mad at you anymore either.”
I kiss his neck, and then cuddle back down, and close my eyes.
* * *
“JANE?” I LOOK over my shoulder, adjusting my glasses to the top of my head. Ian comes toward me from the shadows of the set, smiling too confidently to be trusted. “Wow, I’ve never seen you in glasses?”
He poses it as a question, making me feel self-conscious. “My eyes were tired today, so I didn’t put my contacts in.” Trying to move him along to whatever he originally wanted, I ask, “What can I help you with?”
“Let’s have lunch together. There’s something I want to discuss with you.”
I look at my watch, and then glance around looking for Luke. I haven’t seen him in a few hours. Wishing I knew what his plans were, I hesitate. “What about?”
“Privately. We’ll talk privately,” Ian insists. “Okay?”
Now he’s got me worried. “Um. Sure.”
“Meet me outside in fifteen. I rented a car. I’ll drive.”
“All right.”
As soon as he leaves, I get up and start searching for Luke
. Unfortunately, I find Ian waiting by his rental before I find the man I’m looking for. He holds the door open. I get in and buckle up. “Where are we going?”
“A taco place I keep hearing about. Are tacos good with you?”
“Yep. So what did you want to talk about?”
“Let’s just enjoy the ride and we can talk over lunch.”
“You make it sound serious. Is it?”
He laughs. “No. I’d just rather not talk while driving since I don’t know the streets here and need to listen to the GPS directions.”
I don’t say anything more, and watch the world go by outside, wondering what I’ve gotten myself into.
When we walk into Torchy’s Tacos, we order and find a table. I’m even more nervous about this conversation by the way it’s been built up. I get right back to it. “So what’s up?”
“I was part of a meeting this morning and it was decided we have to cut two scenes.”
“What? No.” I wasn’t physically slapped but it feels like it from the emotional hit.
“I didn’t want to. I fought for them. I need you to know that.”
“What’s happened?”
“Money and time. Isn’t that always the problem?”
“Luke promised all the scenes were safe.”
“Well I can’t speak for Luke, but it was a producer decision.”
“A producer decision or a decision a producer had to deliver?” I try to clarify before jumping to conclusions. It would be easy to make Luke the bad guy before having the facts, but I don’t want to do that. I trust him.
“It’s circles. At the end of the day, it came down to them. I’m sorry, Jane.”
Silent while the tacos are delivered, my leg begins to bounce. As soon as the waitress leaves, I ask, “Which scenes?”
“Luke has a list of potentials. We’ll be deciding tonight.”
I feel sick, not hungry at all, so I push the basket away.
“I’m sorry, Jane. It guts me too, but this is how the business works. Two is better than five. I’ve been on movies that had fifty percent of their budget cut after it started filming. Sometimes money falls through, but we’re ahead of the game here. We just need to find two scenes that fix the budget issue and don’t change the integrity of the project.”
“You make it sound so easy when deleting more scenes at this stage will change the final movie. It might not even make sense once completed. This story builds. Each scene matters because each is a piece fitting together for the final puzzle. If we start tossing out the pieces, what will be left will be a story full of plot holes.”
“You’re emotionally attached. I understand how you feel, but it will be okay.”
“You aren’t emotionally attached?”
“I am, but like I said, it’s just two scenes. I’m going to—”
My anger and hurt get the best of me. “You are or you and Luke are?”
“Luke and I will find the scenes and cut them. Hopefully we’ll be in the clear the rest of the shoot.”
I want to call Luke, but I’m still in shock that he didn’t tell me first. Feeling trapped, I look across the table at Ian while he eats, suddenly suspicious. “Why did you tell me if it was a producer decision?”
“And not Luke?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know why he didn’t tell you. I only knew that you weren’t aware and thought you should know. We need to get ahead of these changes so they don’t affect the shooting schedule.” He starts eating his taco as if we’re talking about the weather. With a bothersome tiny piece of lettuce hanging from his lip, he adds, “The movie is still going to be amazing.” He swallows the food in his mouth, then wipes it with a napkin, but the lettuce is still there. I’ve officially lost my appetite. “My name’s attached, so I’ll make sure of it.”
Eventually I give in and eat the damn tempting taco in front of me. It looks too good not to and it tastes even better, but my mind is a lost cause to the disappointment I feel inside from the news.
As soon as we arrive back on the lot, I look for Luke again. I’m not sure what to think about what Ian said at lunch, but I don’t want to jump to conclusions. I find him sitting on set with Ryan. It doesn’t look to be a rehearsal, so I go over and tap him on the shoulder lightly. “Hey.”
They both look up, and say in unison, “Hey.”
Luke adds, “I looked for you before lunch.”
“I went with Ian.” He stops blinking at the mention of Ian and I nod my head to the side, I ask, “Can I talk to you real quick?”
“Sure,” he replies, standing up and following me outside. “What’s up?”
I’m not sure if I feel hurt that he made the decision without telling me or upset that they’re cut without giving me a chance to fight for them. Since this is the first time I’ve had a movie made from a script I’m not sure if this is the norm. I tamp my emotions to give him the benefit of the doubt and hear his side first. At the corner of the building, I stop and turn around, trying to steady my voice. “Two scenes need to go?”
He sighs, and crosses his arms defensively. “There is no other way around it.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried. I looked for you as soon as I left the conference call. I see Ian beat me to the punch.”
“Because he cares about the film.”
His jaw tenses, then he asks, “And I don’t?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“No, you inferred it instead.” As if he’s trying to solve a riddle, his eyes narrow. “What I find interesting is why Ian rushed to tell you before I could. Look at his motives, Jane.”
“What are yours?”
His eyes go wide in disbelief. “What’s really going on here?”
“I don’t know,” I answer honestly. “It just hurt to hear it from him.”
Leaning against the building, he shadows me. His voice softens, matching his expression. “This is business. Whether I tell you or he does, it is what it is, but I’m sorry I didn’t tell you first. Didn’t seem I was given the chance.”
“You promised back in that conference room in LA that there would be no more cuts.”
“That was based on the financing at the time. One investor pulled fifty percent of his funding this morning. I wasn’t hiding this from you. I was dealing with it, hoping to get it back.”
“Ian said it was a producer decision.”
I watch his Adam’s apple bob, then look back at his eyes as he tries to find the words he’s looking for. His arms relax to his side, and he reaches for me. Taking my hand in his, he says, “It was, but there was no good choice. We either lost a whole storyline or cut a few scenes. I made the content decision, so if you’re looking for someone to blame, you’re looking at him.”
“You tried?”
“I tried my best to save them.” When I rest my forehead on his chest, he moves us around the corner and wraps his arms around me. “If I could pay the difference, I would. For you, I would.”
“I would too.”
“Are you still mad at me?”
I back up, but still struggle to smile. “I wasn’t mad. I just didn’t like hearing it from Ian.”
“He’s the director. A lot of money is resting on his shoulders. But I have no doubt that he had ulterior motives.”
Hitting him on the arm, I tease, “Then don’t give him a reason next time.”
“Lesson learned.” He takes a step back, and says, “I need to get back. We still have to cut those scenes. I’d like your input if you want to be a part of the meeting. I’ll understand if you don’t.”
“I’ll go.”
Before he walks away, his eyes fix on mine. “I can’t make anymore promises regarding the movie, Jane. Our investors are looking for gains, not losses. Things are tentative.”
“Could more be cut?”
“I don’t think so and I will fight for every penny and scene. I promise you, but next time I ask that you please hear all the arguments befo
re waging a war. I have a feeling Ian made his move today, but don’t think for a second it was professionally motivated. I’m usually the one who talks to the screenwriter.” He looks over my shoulder, then back. “Okay?”
“I promise.”
“We should get back.” While walking, he nudges me with his elbow. “See? We don’t have to fight as long as we talk.”
“Maturity looks good on us,” I reply proudly.
He eyes my breasts, waggling his eyebrows. “It does indeed.”
I roll my eyes, and laugh. “Ignore that maturity comment.”
* * *
IT’S AS IF I accepted a prom date from Ian. He’s been walking around all afternoon with some pep to his step and talking about how we went to lunch together. I have no idea what that’s about, but it’s becoming obvious that people are seeing us more as a couple now… to Luke’s and my dismay.
Luke’s chest presses to my back, and while we pretend to watch them rehearse in front of us, he whispers, “I’m going to fucking punch him.”
I smile, and then whisper, “Let’s finish filming first.”
“Only a few weeks to go.”
A laugh bubbles out. “Yep, two to be precise.”
Hands grip my waist and I’m pulled back to close the small space, my ass against his—I cough. “Why are you hard?”
“Because you look so damn sexy right now in those glasses. You’re giving off sexy librarian fantasy vibes.”
“Oh good Lord. I was too tired to mess with my contacts this morning. Who knew glasses would garner so much attention?”
“Me, and every other guy in the place. You’re gonna have to wear them later.”
“Later?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.
“Yes, I’ve got big plans.” He rubs against my ass again. “Big—”