Out for the Holidays

by Cara Dee

  I was about to kiss him, but Henry had other plans, mainly beating himself up.

  “For chrissakes, when I first spotted you and Noah, I smiled.” He took a step back and rubbed his jaw, visibly frustrated. “You were enjoying yourself, and you’re so incredibly sexy when you laugh. I was happy—it filled me with this surge of pleasure because I know you value the friendships you’ve created with Noah and Julian, and then I let Joseph destroy it.”

  “For a minute or two,” I reminded him. I couldn’t let him take this too far. We were good now. That’s what I wanted him to focus on. It’d only been a hiccup, and Joseph was on his way out of our lives. “Come back to me, Henry. We should focus on ending this night on a better note. Yeah?”

  He sighed once more, slowly giving up on the fight, and the tension disappeared from his shoulders. “You’re right again.”

  “Come here,” I whispered. Drawing him close, I reached up and covered his mouth with mine, leaving brushing kisses until I felt him relaxing against me. “I love you.”

  “I love you too.” He deepened the kiss, sweeping his tongue into my mouth with sensual strokes. “You have no idea how much.”

  I wanted to spend the rest of my life figuring it out. How was that for devotion?

  The man better propose to me soon. I wanted his ring on my finger and to see mine on his.

  I backed Henry up against the nearest car and squeezed his firm ass. Possessiveness mingled with the relief at not having to convince him we were perfect together. He knew like I did. It was us two, no one else. Henry seemed to catch on, putting up less of a fight to be in control, and I angled my head for a deeper kiss.

  His surrender was always so fucking heady.

  “Your ass is mine as soon as we get back to the hotel,” I said, breathing heavily.

  “Anything you want.”

  Good, because he owed me a dance first.

  Five minutes later, I got what I wanted. Henry took control as we found ourselves in the middle of the back terrace with dancing couples surrounding us. We danced to slow songs and upbeat ones, never moving far away from each other. He guided me like a god and made me lose sight of everything that wasn’t him.

  The storm wasn’t gonna miss Cancún at all. Thunder rolled in, and the first raindrop landed on my nose.

  Henry pulled me close and brushed the drop away with his thumb. Our labored breaths mingled, and his gaze was so intense I couldn’t break it.

  I could get sappy when I wanted to, and though I didn’t believe the eyes were the windows to our souls or whatever, I could see my future in his.

  A slower song began, the enticing notes of the guitar trapping us in another rhythm. I slid my hand up to his neck, his skin hot and damp, and he hauled me flush against his body. Our lower bodies moved in tune with the music in unhurried figure-eight motions, making it impossible to stay unaffected.

  “You’re killing me.” I grinned, breathless.

  He brushed his nose to mine. “Quiet.” The tip of his tongue flicked my upper lip, and I shuddered. At the same time, the rain picked up.

  “But I’m hard—”

  His swift kiss cut me off, and I took the command seriously this time.

  As the rain morphed into a full-blown downpour, people started rushing inside.

  Not us. The tension thickened with every heartbeat, and I groaned as he squeezed my ass. The heat was becoming unbearable. Rain clung to my eyelashes, and I blinked the drops away. Our clothes were bordering on soaked, and my need for him was one move away from turning into a frenzy.

  Henry spun me around, then gripped my hip tightly and pulled me back. His mouth latched on to my neck, and he sucked lightly at the wet skin.

  “Henry,” I panted.

  “I know, baby.”

  We had to get out of here.

  Chapter 5

  We Have Trust And Sluttery

  “I hate these situations,” Brooklyn said bluntly. “What you did could’ve cost Rob his job, but because the results were so good, it’s pointless to bitch about it.”

  “I understand.” I shifted the phone from one ear to the other as Henry handed me my wallet. I tucked it into the back pocket of my cargo shorts. “I knew the risk, Brooklyn. I was also ready to take the fall for it.”

  “That doesn’t matter, hon,” she sighed. “Rob was responsible for your shoot yesterday. It reflects poorly on him if he can’t stand up against a couple models.”

  “I think I’m insulted,” I said halfheartedly. “Henry says I’m charming as fuck.”

  That earned me a what-am-I-going-to-do-with-you look from him.

  I gave him my best smile.

  To be honest, I was relieved. I’d witnessed Brooklyn tear into people, and when I woke up to Joseph’s text about a breakfast meeting in his villa, I’d assumed it was related to my stunt with chucking the script.

  “That’s called bias,” Brooklyn replied wryly, “but unfortunately, he’s right. I skimmed through the footage, and you just became the comic relief that pokes fun at the company. People love that, and if they didn’t love you already, they will now.”

  Okay, I’d just wanted to be myself, not some scripted version.

  I felt better about going to this breakfast meeting now, though. I’d been cleared by the boss lady, and the man who wanted my man better keep things professional.

  Brooklyn and I wrapped up the call, and Henry walked out onto our balcony, which struck me as odd.

  “We gotta go, baby.” I pocketed my phone and followed him.

  He’d taken a seat in one of the two chairs, and the table between them had the paper, a cup of coffee, and his iPad.

  “Breakfast’s in five minutes.” I frowned.

  “Oh. I’m not going with you.” He shed his tee, and I ogled his chest for a beat. I’d raked my fingers through his sparse chest hair hard enough to leave some marks. Hot. Wait, what was he saying? “I have a Skype breakfast with Martin, and I thought I’d check in with the pet sitter and the boys. And Ruth, of course.”

  Chatting with Nan had become an of course thing, evidently.

  “So you’re gonna let me face Joseph alone?” I asked.

  He smiled and flipped open the paper. “I’m trusting you, darling. As far as I’m concerned, he’s no longer part of our lives.”

  Sure, great, awesome, but I liked having Henry with me.

  “I’m disgruntled,” I decided.

  He chuckled and peered closer at the balcony railing, probably estimating when the sun would reach him. He had another hour or so, I guessed. “You’ll be fine. I figured I should enjoy some time off. I’ll be here when you get back from work.”

  Well, fuck. He wasn’t even tagging along to the shoot?

  “You’re gonna sit here all day?” And not be with me?

  “No, I thought I’d go for a run later. I have to stay in shape.” He patted his stomach, and I rolled my eyes. I was the lazy one in our relationship, yet he had this obsession with exercising and eating well because he thought he’d fall behind if he didn’t.

  There wasn’t a whole lot to keep up with, that was all.

  “All right…” I realized I was being childish, and I didn’t care. “I guess I’ll go, then.”

  “Without giving me a kiss?” He lifted a brow.

  “Well, no.” I was so whipped for him.

  The breakfast meeting was nothing but a way for Joseph to assert his authority. He reprimanded me in front of the others for going off-script, and I let him have his little moment. I did mention I’d talked to Brooklyn and that she liked the result, after which Joseph said stiffly, “Yes, well, you’re sticking to the program now.”

  I had no intention of doing otherwise.

  With that out of the way, we were once again whisked away for filming, and Joseph had decided to work on my team today. He’d also decided to host a dinner at his villa tonight, and everyone was required to attend.

  I was paired with Maliah, so Noah was with us.

  �
�Where’s Julian?” I asked.

  He took a sip of his coffee. “He wanted to do some Christmas shopping. Think he was asking Henry to join him for lunch, too.”

  “Ah. Cool.” I stifled a yawn.

  Today’s work was gonna be mentally easy and physically taxing. We arrived at a beach that was famous for its caves and rock formations, and basically, all I was going to do was execute dives and swim underwater. We were filming inserts that would be added to the videos, so there was no talking or anything.

  The crew was bigger today, including two guys on a boat and one beefy dude playing security detail. It was mostly to keep vacationers away from being in the shot.

  No makeup for me today, which suited me perfectly. Instead, I got to chill with Noah for an hour while Joseph got Maliah ready.

  Paulie was putting on scuba gear to film us underwater, and another cameraman was gonna film us from above.

  I relaxed back in my director’s chair and listened with one ear as Noah talked about the lighting. I supposed being an actual Hollywood director, he’d have opinions on a low-budget set like this one. Or maybe it wasn’t low-budget, but there was very little direction involved.

  “Hey, Joseph!” Noah hollered. The man in question was standing some twenty feet away, waterproofing Maliah’s makeup. “You guys might wanna hurry up. The rocks over there will shield your diving spot from the sunlight within the hour.”

  I snickered at his anal-retentiveness.

  Joseph squinted, holding a hand up for the sun. “Does that matter?”

  Noah shrugged and leaned back in his own chair. “With videos titled Never Shadowed and A Day in the Light, you tell me. But that’s none of my business.”

  “Oh God,” I laughed. “There’s a Kermit meme out there with your name on it.”

  He winked.

  “Okay, let’s get started, everyone!” Joseph felt the urgency suddenly, and he gave Maliah a last touch-up on her bronzed cheekbones. “Zach and Maliah, we’ll do half a dozen dives and go from there.”

  “Jesus,” Noah muttered under his breath. “That makes no sense. Unless he’s gonna haul out a hairdryer and fix Maliah’s hair before every dive, the first take won’t matter if you don’t nail it.”

  I’ll give him that one. We could only go from dry to wet once.

  I got up from my chair and tightened the drawstrings to my standard black trunks.

  Time to dive.

  I was exhausted and slightly sunburned when we returned to the resort.

  Henry was in a good mood.

  I crash-landed facedown on our bed.

  “And Tyler’s professor used his work as an example in a workshop, so he was happy,” Henry went on, giving me a recounting of his day. “Hmm…what else…oh, Martin says hello. He dealt with your agent, and I told him you don’t need a new one since you’ll only be taking work from Brooklyn.”

  “Okay…great…” I yawned into the pillow and didn’t move as Henry began pulling down my shorts.

  “I had lunch with Julian,” he mentioned. “We went to a lovely place that served the best tempura shrimp I’ve had in a long time.” He removed my flip-flops, then rid me of my shorts and underwear. “Which reminds me. We have a connection in LA on the way home, so I told Martin we’d go out for sushi.”

  “Umph…all right. You know what I like.” Fuck, I was tired.

  “I’ll make sure they have spicy tuna, baby boy,” he promised and smacked my ass. “You go take a shower. Julian told me we have dinner at Joseph’s.”

  “Can’t we just fuck and nap?”

  “No, you can look alive and go take your shower.”

  I didn’t whine or nothin’.

  The showering and getting dressed for dinner took twenty minutes, and Henry picked up the conversation as if there hadn’t been a break when I exited the bathroom.

  “Ty told me he’s a little concerned about Mattie.”

  That made me look up from zipping my shorts. “Why, what’s wrong?”

  Henry picked out a new shirt for me. Apparently, my button-down was wrong. I smiled when he handed me a tee, one that said “His Personal Fluffer.” It was one of my favorites, and he was specific about when I could wear it because it embarrassed him sometimes. For instance, I wasn’t allowed to wear it when seeing Nan. He thought it was entirely inappropriate. I just loved it when he got that invisible flush, his expression screaming of self-consciousness but lacking the actual blush.

  “He’s not sure,” he replied pensively. “It could be nothing, but Tyler wonders about Mattie’s new friends. He’s out late and is often tired.”

  I nodded slowly and changed clothes. “We’ll talk to him. I can call him tomorrow.” Though, having heard he was tired more than once now, it could be a conversation best had in person.

  Akira and Noah found my T-shirt hilarious, and my mood had brightened after sneaking a quick attack on Henry before we left our suite. I hadn’t given him much choice, to be fair. He’d been coming out of the shower when I’d stolen his towel and sunk to my knees. By the time he’d wanted to come, I’d spun him to face the counter and bent him over so I could tongue-fuck his ass until he shot his load. A rim job always got him where I wanted him when I was the top. And now, he was my sweetheart.

  Dinner was served both on the modest terrace and in the living room. A buffet of sorts, consisting of appetizers and delicious carbs, was set up on a table inside the sliding doors, while the barbecue area was stocked with skewers, grilled chicken, steak, and burgers.

  “Save us some good seats, love.” I kissed Henry’s jaw. “I’ll get us food.”

  While he found seats on one of the couches, I went outside and filled two plates with everything that looked amazing. So…everything. The sound of Joseph’s laughter rang above the dinner conversation, and I looked over my shoulder to see him chatting up one of the assistants. Someone was looking to get laid.

  My one goal was to avoid him as much as possible and enjoy myself tonight, so I returned back inside and added to the mountain of food. Maliah and I trailed the length of the buffet table together.

  “Is it just me or does Joseph want us to see how nice his villa is?” she wondered.

  “It’s not just you,” I laughed under my breath. The way I saw it, this dinner was no different from the breakfast meeting. Here, he was the star of the show. The work crew who made less money sucked up to him; it was how the entertainment industry worked. You sussed out the person with a better position, and you kissed ass.

  Joseph needed an ego boost.

  After dumping a selection of dipping sauces on the plates, I made my way to where Henry was talking to Noah. There was a mention of vegetarian lasagna, and it was all I needed to hear to zone out.

  “Thank you, darling.” Henry accepted his plate. “Noah’s going to send me his recipe for vegetarian—”

  “Yeah, I love meat,” I said. “Red meat, white meat, man meat, and whatever you call fish meat.”

  Julian snickered.

  “Hey.” Noah nudged Julian. “You love my lasagna.”

  “True,” Julian conceded. “It’s still funny.”

  Noah smirked and shook his head, then refocused on me. “Tell us more about this man meat you love.”

  I rested my plate on my thigh and pointed to my T-shirt. “I’m lucky enough to be his fluffer. His name is Henry Jonathan Bennington, and he’s about eight or nine inch—”

  “Zachary.” Henry stared at me, half horrified, and I guffawed like a loon.

  “I haven’t even gotten to the girth yet!” I protested. Noah and Julian cracked up at my silliness—and possibly at Henry’s expression. Ruffling his feathers was just too funny. For as filthy as he was in the bedroom, he was a real proper gentleman in public. “Oh God, I’m Martin,” I realized with a laugh. “First time he and Henry invited me for brunch, Martin was demonstrating the size of his hookup’s dick.”

  “We clearly hang out with the wrong gays,” Noah joked.

  “And you blushe
d then,” Henry told me, still affronted. “Now look at you.”

  I shrugged and grinned. “I guess, like Maliah, I learn from the best. I’m a power slut for you, man.”

  “That’s priceless,” Julian laughed.

  I finally got Henry to crack a smile, even as he tried really hard not to.

  “I think that may have been the sweetest thing I’ve ever said.” I bit into a piece of buffalo chicken and licked some sauce off the corner of my mouth. “I need that printed on a T-shirt.”

  “Are you high, Zach?” Noah chuckled.

  “No, I’m in love, dude!” I exclaimed. “This chicken is really good too.”

  Henry let out an affectionate laugh.

  “Anyway.” I waved a hand. “Enough about my sluttitude. Anyone up for some Christmas shopping tomorrow?”

  Chapter 6

  Ha-Ha, Henry’s High

  Joseph probably didn’t anticipate that his dinner would turn into a party. It just happened naturally when you invited LA people who smoked weed for every meal except brunch. We didn’t mess with brunch. Brunch was sacred.

  By ten thirty, music was pouring out of the villa, and Akira and Tyrese were jumping into the hot tub. Room service delivered alcohol that was gonna set Joseph back a pretty penny, and Julian, of all people, was the weed connection. I knew he smoked on rare occasions, but it was just one of those things that didn’t really add up when you met him. He was soft-spoken and sweet, saving the unrestricted humor for when he was truly comfortable. Or when he was getting high, evidently.

  Noah took a quick break to be a disciplinarian and escort Maliah back to her suite.