by Morgan
When he entered her, David closed his eyes and gingerly pushed in until he was as deep as he could go. His face was next to hers, and she sighed with completeness.
David opened his eyes and found a spot on her neck to kiss as he began moving his hips up and down with passionate thrusts that threatened to tumble his kisses into her ear—something he knew she loved.
Shaunna let her head drape over the side of the bench, and she peered at the paintings upside down as David’s body spoke to hers. She was already close to climax, and when he grabbed her breasts and squeezed, she knew her orgasm was going to be especially overwhelming. David had learned well what made her body rush, and she was often seeing stars mere minutes after they began.
“Just like that,” she murmured and tensed the necessary muscles to help facilitate the exquisite explosion. David maintained his movements, complete with kneading her breasts, until she filled the room with relentless gasps of his name.
Her reward for such a quick climax was David’s gentle kisses on the hairline of her scalp before he redoubled his efforts and sent her over the edge again. He knew that with her, the first one was just the beginning. Where there was one, there were four.
He lowered his body to hers, and they kissed while their fast heartbeats pounded in and out of sync. David then gently placed his hands on her hips and pulled her body toward him so that her head came back onto the soft bench. He sat up then and lovingly placed one hand on her stomach, swaying his fingers back and forth in a stroking, tickling fashion.
She looked at him with soul-touched love in her eyes. “I’d do anything for you.”
“You already do,” he responded with sweet sincerity.
Shaunna sat up and regarded his arousal. “Lie back.”
He did as she commanded, and as she straddled him, the shadow of her leg swept over him like a shiver. When she slid him back into her waiting warmth, he arched his back and whispered her name.
It began slowly, exquisitely so, and David murmured as she moved. He stretched his arms above his head and turned his face to the side. It was something she liked to do when he was above her because she knew he liked it. He was just trying to be cute by imitating her, but it was working. Shaunna gazed down at his submissiveness and began to understand why he stared sometimes.
Shaunna picked up the pace, encouraged by his sighs of satisfaction, but it was she again who cried out before she even got up to full speed.
David was, of course, invigorated by the sight of his lover’s nearly continuous climaxes, knowing his own was a race horse still trembling in its gate. Shaunna leaned forward, and he watched her breasts dance before his eyes as she gyrated and grinded him into a frenzy. Her hair fell down and tickled his face, but he didn’t dream of brushing it away.
He slid his hands down to her hips, savoring the feel of her power as Shaunna began lifting herself up a few inches and then dropping onto his body with taut, wet ambition.
His voice leapt out at last, and his eruption made his ears ring and his hands tingle.
She slid herself gingerly up and off of him and curled up on the bench. He immediately spooned up behind her and draped his arm over her waist. She took his hand and guided it up to cup her breast.
David had not had any idea how erotic the environment could be, and judging by the force of his sizable orgasm, he knew that something extra special had just taken place between them. Still, in that moment, the frustration of not being able to tell anyone the truth about his love for Shaunna seemed to bubble into genuine rage. He felt like a child, helpless to control not only the situation, but his reaction to it. He began to tremble.
“Are you cold?” Shaunna asked.
“I’m okay,” he answered.
In response to what she perceived as a peculiar answer, Shaunna turned completely around and held him with her chin resting on top of his head and his warm cheek resting on her chest. She felt him begin to tremble even more.
Shaunna recalled one of the few memories she had of her mother. She’d been no more than five years old and sad about something. When her mother knelt down to pick her up, she began to cry harder, even though she was instantly comforted by the loving embrace. It was as if she hadn’t allowed herself to fully absorb the whole emotion until she was safely in her mother’s arms.
David’s body communicated that he was being comforted by Shaunna. He let his sorrow out in the security of her arms before allowing himself to accept the relief they held.
“What is it, David?” Shaunna asked in a voice that softly commanded an honest answer.
He kept his eyes closed, sinking into her scent. Lately, there had been more and more of these frustrations for him. It felt like what he imagined a panic attack would be. He’d suddenly feel overwhelmed and consumed, like he was buried under miles of earth. The sensation came complete with a tightening chest and watering eyes.
“I’m sorry,” David began. “This has been wonderful, and I don’t want to bring us down. I’m just looking forward to when we can finally be a real couple.”
“We are a real couple.”
“You know what I mean. I’m just sick of all the lies.”
“What lies? You don’t have to lie to anyone, David.”
“Easy for you to say,” he responded quickly. “Every day on-set, I had to answer the same questions twenty times. ‘How’s Michelle?’ ‘How are you and Michelle doing?’ ‘What are you and Michelle up to this weekend?’ My whole life outside this house is a lie!” He didn’t mean to raise his voice, but he had, and the raw emotion made him quiver all over again.
“I know exactly how you feel,” Shaunna soothed. “I cried in the shower this morning for ten minutes.”
David immediately stiffened. “You did?”
“I’m fine, and so are you. It’s just getting to us, that’s all.”
David sighed, and Shaunna slid her hand up his back and began rubbing his neck.
“You’ve been through a lot,” she continued. “I admire the way you’ve held up, but it’s okay if you’re mad and want to vent to me. I understand.”
“No, I’m all right, really. Making love with you was just so intense, and all my emotions rose to the surface.”
“That’s a good thing,” she reminded him. “You can always be completely free with me.”
“I know, and I’m glad I can trust you so effortlessly.” He sighed again. “But that just makes me want to tell even more people about how I feel. I want to take you out and hold your hand on the beach, or make out at the movies. I mean, I haven’t even been to Disneyland with you yet.”
“I know,” she agreed reluctantly. “I miss you every time I go.”
“See? You have to go without me! Wait…you go without me?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “Dude, it’s Disneyland!”
He laughed and finally began to feel the tension melt away. “I’m just selfish, Shaunna. I want to have my cake and eat it too and tell people how delicious it was.”
She pulled back and admired his prone body. “I agree completely.”
Shaunna rose gingerly to her feet and stepped into the downstairs bathroom. A few minutes later, she called to David, reminding him of the large marble shower in the lavish room.
David strolled in, and Shaunna giggled at the fit naked man with a mess of twisted hair pushing out from his head in all directions. While she appraised him, he studied the flecks of turquoise and gold in the midnight blue marble. It could only turn his attention from her for so long before she was back in the center of his gaze.
“Are you ready for round two?” he asked as he stepped into the chamber with her.
She was.
They washed each other’s hair, then let the warm water rush between their bodies as they held one another in steamy silence.
David kissed her heated neck and smelled the shampoo in her hair. There was something nice about knowing that they’d both share the same scent for the rest of the day, even if it was strawberry.
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When Shaunna leaned forward and set her hands on the bench, David didn’t think he would actually be able to accommodate her. But to his surprise, and with only a slight ache, he rose at the sight of her inviting body. Her round cheeks were streaked with water that cascaded up her back and down her firmly planted legs.
David slid his ready length into her and proceeded to give them both the hardest, deepest sex of their lives. His hands were on a fervent expedition of her wet skin, and she came quickly. At first, she could barely breathe, but before long, she filled the shower with echoes of delirium. Her passionate cries only encouraged David. He had a good hold of her hips and moved his own in and up with each thorough penetration.
He was still holding back, though. He wouldn’t dream of hurting her, but since she seemed to enjoy his efforts, he decided to give her a taste of his full strength. He used his arms to pull her to him as he pumped with hard resolve. He started grunting with the exertion, and Shaunna only screamed louder.
When they were spent, they simply stood there, holding each other until the water began to cool.
Chapter Thirty-Six
SHAUNNA WAS IN HER CAR by the time the street lights sprang to life like electric fireflies. With Michelle away for the evening, it would not look good for her to remain in the house alone with David after the dinner hour. They all wanted to find a way out of the situation, but Shaunna’s spending the night wasn’t the play to make.
She was feeling strong, yet sensitive, and chose to listen to her favorite Eartha Kitt album as she made her way toward home with the sun’s last traces dwindling in her rearview mirror. She was singing along with “Sell Me!” when her phone out-buzzed her duet. She pressed a button on her steering wheel, replacing the music with the caller’s timid voice.
“Miss Noble? Hello. Uh, this is Heather Lentz, Kyle Petersen’s publicist.”
“Hello, Heather.” Shaunna was surprised, but not suspicious.
“I’m sorry to bother you,” Heather said quickly. “But I was hoping we could speak.”
“It’s no bother at all. What can I do for you?”
“It’s actually about what I can do for you, but I’m not sure how long I can do it.”
Shaunna got a bad feeling about what was coming next. Heather’s statement descended like a shadow that carried the weight of a horse blanket. “What do you mean?”
“Kyle knows about you and David.” Heather delivered the news flatly.
“You mean David and Michelle,” Shaunna corrected automatically. She assumed that the girl had gotten it wrong.
“No. You and David are a couple, and he wants to expose you.” Heather sounded apologetic, but certain.
Shaunna was in denial. “Well, he’s just grasping at straws. Kyle has—”
“I know it’s true. I’ve seen it.” Heather’s voice was soft, but effective enough to stop Shaunna’s words. “I don’t expect you to trust me, Miss Noble, but I won’t make you lie. He has footage of you two on his computer. He was going to leak it this afternoon, but I stopped him.”
“How?” Shaunna’s mouth went dry.
“I convinced him that the tape was worth too much money to just give away. He’s letting me shop it around, but he won’t give me much more time.”
“Oh my God,” Shaunna almost whimpered. She felt foolish for having almost convinced herself that the threat was finally behind them. She found herself wanting to ask Heather how she looked and then laughed with a bitter bark.
Heather finally spoke again. “I just wanted you to know that I’ll stall as long as I can. But I can’t stop him.”
Shaunna sighed heavily. “All this time, and he can still reach into my life and hurt me.”
“Does Michelle know?” Heather asked. “I don’t want to her to find out this way.”
“She knows everything. Michelle and David have only ever been friends,” Shaunna admitted.
“Okay. Good.” Heather sounded relieved. “I’ll let you know if anything changes.”
“Thank you.” Shaunna was taken with how genuine Heather was. She had an admirable morality which Shaunna fully understood could sometimes be a liability in Tinsel Town.
Heather was about to hang up when she heard Shaunna say something else. “What was that?” she asked.
“I could help you get out,” Shaunna repeated.
Heather was silent.
“I know what you’re going through,” Shaunna continued. “I know Kyle. You have been doing a good job of protecting him and remaining respectful of Michelle. Don’t think I didn’t notice. If you want out, I can set you up with a few lower-level, but very sweet clients.”
“Why would you do that?” Heather asked.
“For the same reason you called me,” Shaunna told her.
“I called you because you deserved a warning.”
“Actually,” Shaunna stated patiently, “you called me to give me a chance. That’s what I want to give you.”
Heather swallowed. “What do I have to do?”
“What do you mean?” Shaunna asked.
“Do I have to steal his computer or something?”
“No!” Shaunna said quickly. “I’m not trying to bribe you, Heather, and besides, taking Kyle’s computer wouldn’t guarantee anything.”
“You’re right,” Heather said. “And I’m sorry. I just wasn’t expecting you to spend your time worrying about me, after what I said.”
“Do you want to set up a meeting at my office?”
“No. I want to stay right where I am for now. I’m the only thing keeping him from sending the video to TMZ.”
“Maybe you could just sell it to me?” Shaunna inquired.
“Maybe I can,” Heather mused. “But that would only buy you another week before he knew something was up. He wants to see this video everywhere. He wants the world to see you two.”
“I bet he does. And if that’s the case, I wonder how much we can really do to stop him.”
Heather was silent.
“I’ll be in touch,” Shaunna said at last. “And thanks again. It was a big help that you called.”
“You’re welcome,” Heather said as her goodbye and then hung up.
Shaunna pressed the button on her steering wheel, and Eartha Kitt’s voice filled the car once more. She quickly turned off the music and found a place to turn around.
She might as well spend the night in Malibu now.
When Shaunna pulled back through the mansion gates, she noticed that the paps had all gone home for the night. It was ironic, since she didn’t care at that moment how they discovered she and David were a couple, just as long as it wasn’t Kyle’s way.
David was in the living room, reading a Jeffrey Ford book that may or may not have been spooking him at the moment he heard someone enter the house. He definitely wasn’t expecting Michelle, and Shaunna had just walked out, so it was Kyle’s name that flashed through his mind like a movie credit.
Armed with a hefty but slender vase that sat on a lighted shelf near the television, he crept around the corner, but the entry hall was empty.
“David?” Shaunna’s voice came from upstairs.
“Down here,” he answered and put the vase back, relieved that he wouldn’t have to explain to the cops why he broke it over Kyle’s head. He assumed that Michelle would forgive him.
Shaunna came into the room and rushed into David’s arms. She was relieved as well. For a time while she was driving back to Malibu, she worried that being close to David now would only exacerbate her paranoia and discomfort. She was thankful to discover that his arms offered her only peace.
“Kyle found the footage of us.”
“What!” David stepped back and blinked once. “It’s been months. How could he still even have it stored?”
“I don’t know,” Shaunna said, stepping back into his reach. “Heather called me on my way home, and it sounds like he just stumbled onto it this afternoon.”
David didn’t know what to say.
&nb
sp; “She convinced him to shop it around instead of just leaking it, but that will only give us a few days, maybe a week.”
“What should we do?”
“We need to talk to Michelle, but I think it’s time for you two to break up.”
They went out onto the balcony and sat in canvas chairs that tilted their views skyward. David was thinking about how, since he was the celebrity in the relationship, it would become his sex tape if it ever got out. On the one hand, he was glad that the charade that was never meant to be a charade was coming to an end, but his ultimate goal was to protect Shaunna, and he felt as helpless about that as a frog on the freeway.
“You don’t really think we need to fake a break up, do you?” David asked.
“It wouldn’t be very hard, and the media would do most of the work for us.”
“Yes, but we haven’t lied to them yet, and I don’t think we should start now. What about just going out on a double date with Michelle? We talked about that once, and it still seems like the best way to go.”
“It is,” Shaunna admitted. “But now we have to do something in the next few days, and I’m just not sure it will have a big enough impact if we don’t coax a little drama out it.”
David shook his head. “Sorry, but we need to end this in the same way we began it, by going out and having fun together and letting them take more pictures. Except this time, we’ll make sure that they get more pictures of you and me than they get of me and her. We could even go to Disneyland.”
“No,” Shaunna stated quickly and a bit too loudly. “I don’t want any of this touching Disneyland. It’s my special place, David. Hopefully it will become our special place, and I don’t want the bad association.”
“I get that.” David had still never been to the famed park, but Shaunna promised him an inaugural trip that would blow his mind.
“If we do it your way, we just need her to agree.”
“And her date?” David asked.
“With any luck, we’ll see him before we see her again, and maybe we can appeal to his chivalrous side.”