A thank you?
“You helped me with one of the issues I was dealing with.” He looks down. “Enormously.”
My eyes flick to his enormous erection. No way can Brandon Taylor, the sexiest man alive, be suffering from erectile dysfunction. He’s sex on a stick.
Trembling, I look back up at him and mumble one word: “Sure.”
“Do you want to share some wine with me?”
My heart skips a beat. He’s never asked me to share anything except those fries earlier tonight. I glance down again at the mega-tent between his legs and decline. I don’t trust myself. I don’t trust him.
“Brandon, I think what you need is a hot bath.”
His smoldering eyes stay glued on me. “Then, draw one for me.” Another order.
“No.” My voice is shaky. “I don’t do baths.”
“I suppose that clause is in your contract too?” A layer of sarcasm laces his voice.
“Correct.” Another white lie, though personally I’ve never taken one since Mama’s drowning.
Silence. The Titanic theme segues into “Going Home.” My cue.
“Well, I’d better be going.” While I put the bottle of oil back into my tote, he stays put on the massage table.
I move back to the table. I need to fold it up. Except he’s still on it. His bulge hasn’t budged either. “Um, uh, would you please—”
He cuts me off and clasps my hands in his. He raises them close to his lips, so close I can feel his warm breath skim my knuckles. Every nerve inside me is buzzing. His eyes stay on my hands and then they hold me fierce in his gaze.
“Zoey, your hands are magical. And they’re beautiful.”
“Thanks.” My voice is so small I can barely hear myself. It doesn’t help that my racing heart is pounding loudly. I’m sure he can hear it.
“That massage really helped me.”
“I’m glad I could help.” I learned in my massage classes about the power of touch. It can arouse feelings. Even bring back memories. In fact, just a single caress can become a symphony of passion, an unquenchable desire to possess.
“You’ve made me feel something I haven’t felt for a long time.”
My chest is tightening. And my heart’s beating so hard it may burst right through my bra. I force myself not to look down at his straining erection. “Feeling is the gift of touch,” I say softly.
Suddenly, his eyes flutter madly. Like he’s having some kind of seizure.
“Brandon, are you okay?” I ask anxiously. Maybe it’s associated with his head trauma.
A smile curls on his luscious lips. His violet eyes light up. “Yes! I’ve remembered something.”
A sinking feeling eats at me. I’ve aroused both his cock and his memory. He remembers how much he loves Katrina.
“What?” I ask with hesitation.
“The day I hired you.”
My eyes widen with surprise. “You do?”
“Yeah. Like it happened only yesterday. It was raining and you crashed your car into my garage.”
I screw up my face. He’s right! I’ve tried not to think about that little incident. Sometimes forgetting is better than remembering.
“I was a nervous wreck.” Just like I am now. A hot wet bundle of nerves. I was in love with his character, Kurt Kussler, but I wasn’t prepared for the shock of meeting Brandon Taylor in person. He was even more gorgeous than I’d imagined. The most gorgeous man I ever met.
Brandon chuckles. “You were quite amusing.”
“I was?” My hands tremble in his.
“Yeah. When you got out of the car, you dropped your purse. All your tampons came flying out. I had to help you pick them up. If I recall correctly, they were the easy-to-insert brand.”
Mortification races through me. I chew on my lip. That episode plays in my head like a scene out of a sitcom. Yeah, I was a total spaz. That’s because I was shaking all over. And it didn’t help having Mr. Gorgeous squatting next to me and trying to look up my skirt. Making me wetter than the pouring rain. And then our fingertips accidentally met, and it was as if a bolt of lightning had zapped me.
I’m not going to tell him about the effect he had on me. “I was freaked out. It wasn’t exactly a joy ride driving up to your house in the pouring rain with all those narrow, winding, dimly lit streets and those crazy drivers whipping down them.”
“I would imagine you’re very good at them now.”
“I’m very good at a lot of things, Mr. Taylor.”
He smiles seductively. “I’d say you are. Are you sure you don’t want to have some wine?”
The word “yes” is burning on the tip of my tongue, but just as I’m about to say it, his cell phone rings.
“Would you mind getting me my phone? It’s on the coffee table.”
He lets go of my hands. Wordlessly, I retrieve it and hand it to him. He hits answer.
“Hi, Katrina.”
My stomach twists.
He listens intently and then says, “Love you too.”
The three little words have a massive effect on me. The ache in my chest overtakes the ache between my thighs. It hurts to breathe. With an avalanche of tears forming behind my eyes, I pass on the wine.
“I’ve gotta go.” I rush the words.
“No, Zo. Don’t go!”
Leaving my massage table and a miffed Brandon behind, I hurry back to my little guesthouse. I don’t even say goodnight.
CHAPTER 9
Brandon
Thank you, boner gods, Lords of the Universe, for restoring my potency. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get it up again. I’d done some online research and it didn’t look good. Lack of libido was a common aftereffect of a traumatic brain injury and could last longer than amnesia. While I’m not pleased the last ten years of my life are still stuck in some neverland, I’m ecstatic my cock’s memory has come back. But now, I have a new problem.
Damn my assistant. She took off like the wind, leaving me horny as sin. My cock’s so hard it hurts. And don’t even get me started on my swollen balls. They’re probably so sore because I haven’t had an orgasm for ages. I still can’t remember the last time I did.
In retrospect, I should have knocked down the door of her guesthouse and given that girl what she deserved. A good spanking. Slapped some sense into that ripe ass of hers. Reminded her who’s the boss. But instead, I’m doing what the cock tease told me to do—soaking my body in my whirlpool tub.
My cock sticks up in the waist-high water like a rocketing torpedo. I stare at it. It’s big. Really big. Bigger than I remember. It belongs in a cock museum. Or The Guinness Book of Records—“The Monster of All Cocks.” I could seriously be a porn star.
The jets of bubbles gurgle in my ears, and curls of steam shoot up from the hot, sudsy water. Yeah, thank God, I can get it up again. I was worried. Worried sick. While a big flaccid dick gives a man confidence, a big erect one gives a man power.
Except my smartass assistant gave me a serious case of blue balls. She knew exactly what she was doing. And I think she did it on purpose to show me she has bigger balls than me. From the minute she showed up, she’s been fucking with my head. No pun intended. I don’t need this. With my damn amnesia, my head’s fucked up enough as it is.
My memory’s coming back slowly but surely. So, now I remember what a monster boner feels like. Or should I say, a neglected one. My raging cock is mad as hell. Berating me. “I woke up. Now, asshole, you better wake up and take care of me.”
Katrina’s going straight to her condo after she and her mother have cordials at the Polo Lounge. And that little minx assistant of mine would rather see me suffer than comply. Tomorrow, first thing in the morning, I’m going to ask Scott to bring over her contract. I bet wanking me off is written in stone. But then again, what does it matter? I’m engaged. For some reason, I keep forgetting this or at least wanting to forget.
My throbbing cock shouts out to me again. Christ. It’s threatening to fall off. I have no choice. I’ve li
terally got to take matters into my own hands. Desperate for relief, I wrap my fingers around my thick shaft and begin to slide my hand up and down. Harder and faster. I shut my eyes tight and imagine her magic hands following mine, picking up speed, pumping me just right. Oh, yeah! So fucking good! And then she grips the base, squeezing it while her mouth descends on the crown. She parts her full lips and covers it. Sucking and humming. The erotic sounds in my head mix with the gurgling bubbles, creating a heady symphonic combination. She goes down on my length, taking me to the hilt, and in a heartbeat, she’s bopping up and down in sync with my hand movements. I hear myself groan. She’s bringing me to the edge. Pressure is building in my groin. My cock is pulsing. Ecstasy is just a few strokes away. “Come for me, Brandon.” Her raspy voice sounds in my head, coaxing me to climax. I pump harder. Faster and more furiously. My breathing grows labored. Colors swirl behind my eyes and every muscle tenses with anticipation. Yes! I’m about to have an orgasm of epic proportions. Finally! But just as an eruption is about to rock my world, another voice interrupts my fantasy.
“Brandon, what are you doing?”
Katrina.
My cock sinks like the Titanic. I wince. The pain. The humiliation. It’s like I’ve been attacked by a weapon of mass destruction.
I snap my eyes open. She glowers at me.
“Oh, so I’m not good enough for you?” With a fling of her head, she stalks off.
Jeez. You’d think she’d be happy to see my cock at attention. Take advantage. I mean, she’s been begging me to take Viagra. Complaining about my ED. Shit. Maybe she’s the source of it. The truth: It wasn’t her hands and mouth I was fantasizing about.
They belonged to someone else. My infuriating assistant.
Zoey.
What the hell is wrong with me? I stare at my deflated cock. I’m engaged to a woman who loves me and I’m fantasizing about another who loathes me. Maybe I am the biggest dick in the world.
CHAPTER 10
Zoey
Fighting back tears, I head straight to the bathroom. I rinse my oily hands and then shower. Letting the needles of water pound on me, I stay in longer than I should, given LA’s current drought conditions. I need to wash him away. Get him out of my skin. After the lengthy shower, I towel dry myself and throw on my pajamas. Running a comb through my wet chestnut locks, I take a glimpse of myself in the mirror. My reflection makes me more depressed. I’m nothing like Katrina. I’m not supermodel beautiful nor will I ever be. At best, I’m cute with my button nose, big chocolate brown eyes, and my dimples—that is, if I ever smile again.
I look glum. The shower has done little to quell my emotional or physical pain. Giving Brandon massages has always been a struggle. When I touch him, I want to touch myself. I feel things in forbidden places. “Feeling,” said one of my massage instructors, “is the other side of the coin for touch.” But tonight was different. I aroused him. And he aroused me in another forbidden place. My heart. It was my own fault. I let myself get carried away by a fantasy. But now reality has set back in. I’m just his Plain-Jane assistant and always will be. Men like Brandon Taylor don’t go for girls like me. I’m a far cry from his type. And besides, he’s engaged…in love with someone else. America’s It Girl, no less.
Forget about him! Get him out of your head! No matter how many times I’ve said these words both aloud and to myself, I can’t. On the wall, facing my bed is a life-sized framed Kurt Kussler poster. Brandon—or should I say, Kurt in his signature pose—all six-feet-two of his superstar gorgeousness. His fingers, aimed like a gun, point at me. Get it. Got it? Good.
Brandon gave me the poster the first Christmas on the job. Please don’t think it came with any meaning. It’s what he gave to all his employees as well as fellow cast and crew members, and I was the one who had to get them gift-wrapped and delivered. All two hundred fifty of them. That was a bitch. And it wasn’t easy to get Brandon to sign each and every one of them. In one of his bad moods, he stopped after the first fifty and made me forge his signature and sign the rest. I never bothered with mine.
So the poster’s nothing special, yet it’s special to me. I wake up to it and go to sleep with it. Brandon’s in my dreams every single night. Even before I close my eyes, he’s in my mind, watching me finger myself to a state of delirious bliss.
Sitting up in my bed, I shift my vision to my hands. I study them. Brandon called them magical and beautiful. The truth is they are. They don’t even look like they belong on my body. Unlike the rest of me, my fingers are long and slender. Elegant. I inherited them from Mama. They’re definitely my best feature and the most useful. They’ve been many places.
My eyes return to the poster. My pulse quickens. My skin heats. How could one man affect me so much? The ache in my clit is greater than the ache in my heart. I can’t take it or shake my basest desire.
Desperate, I thrust my hand beneath the waistband of my pajama bottoms to that place that’s crying out to be touched. I stroke my sensitive tissues. They’re so hot and wet. I close my eyes, but Brandon’s beautiful face occupies the space in my head. What would it feel like if he touched me? Spreading my legs, I imagine his hand between them as my fingers move to my throbbing clit. I rub it vigorously, making ragged circles like a finger-painting child. My breathing grows heavy, my temperature rises, and my heartbeat accelerates. I circle harder, faster, and as I get closer to a climax, I break out into a sweat. Vibrations flood me. Behind my eyelids, violet lights strobe as I work myself more urgently. I fantasize his mouth all over my pussy, sucking, licking, flicking. Talking dirty to me. Telling me I’m sexy. Telling me: “You’re mine.” He plunges two fingers into me, his warm tongue still loving me, fucking me with relentless licks and flicks. And then in my head, I hear him whisper, “Come for me, baby,” and I fall apart at his command. Shatter into a million little pieces. My whole body trembling with spasms, I collapse back against my pillow and keep my eyes closed and my hand beneath my pajamas until I catch my breath and my heartbeat calms down. Slowly, I remove my fingers from my still pulsating pussy and peel open my eyes. My magic hands can fix my aching clit, but they can’t soothe my aching heart. Rage fills me.
Goddamn fucking poster. Jumping out of my bed, I march over to it and yank it off the wall. Mustering all my strength, I fling it across the room. It crashes on the hardwood floor with a clamorous thud. Tears blur my eyes. Shit. What the fuck did I just do? I should have just taken it off the wall and turned it around. I stumble over to it and crouch. I’ve all but destroyed it. The metal frame is dented, and the glass is shattered. Shards surround me. A fat tear falls through a crack and lands on the poster. And then I notice that except for the blistery mark my tear makes on Kurt’s lips, the poster itself is intact. I run my quivering fingers over the splintered glass, almost caressing it, and then, one by one, I gather up the shards.
“Ow!” I yelp. One of the sharp pieces digs into my middle finger—the finger that just brought me to orgasm. I watch the blood trickle down my digit to my palm. The pain is nothing compared to the pain I feel in my heart.
I used to think a girl can dream. But now that Brandon’s engaged to Katrina, it’s futile. But why am I still fantasizing about him if he’s not available? They say you want more of what you can’t have. The truth cuts me like a piece of glass: Brandon Taylor will never be mine. My heart’s bleeding too.
CHAPTER 11
Zoey
My routine with Brandon returns to normal the next day. While he swims early morning laps, I fetch him his Starbucks—an iced Grande Caffè Americano—and a hot Venti version for me. When I get back to the house, he’s already at a poolside table, wearing a thick terrycloth robe and his favorite pair of Ray-Bans. His jet-black wet hair is slicked back and his face glistens in the sun.
Setting the coffees on the table, I take the empty seat opposite him and hand him a manila folder with his schedule. He likes it printed out. I act very business-like—as if my emotional and physical breakdown didn’t happen l
ast night. My minimal acting skills have come in handy. I refrain from asking him anything more about his dinner with Katrina and her mother or the rest of his night. To my relief, he offers no information. I’m glad the bitch is nowhere in sight, and I don’t press him for her whereabouts. If she’s not rotting in hell, I don’t want to know.
I latch onto my coffee and take a sip through the plastic flap on the lid. The rich, steamy brew seeps into my veins. Brandon eyes me. My skin prickles. It’s like ultra-violet rays are shooting out of the dark lenses of his shades and penetrating me.
“What happened to your finger?”
I’m in shock he’s noticed the Band-Aid on my middle finger.
“Nothing,” I reply, trying hard to eradicate last night’s breakdown though my finger’s still throbbing. “Just a paper cut.”
“You should be more careful.”
His voice is cold, almost reprimanding. I didn’t expect him to say, “Can I kiss the boo-boo?” but yes, be a bit more compassionate. He’s for sure in one of his bad moods.
His gaze stays fixed on my finger. “It’s still bleeding.”
I glance down. He’s right. Blood is oozing through the Band-Aid. It’s a bloody mess.
“Don’t move,” he tells me. “I’ll be right back.”
I sip my coffee and in five minute’s he’s back, holding a box of bandages and a tube of Neosporin. Setting the first aid treatments onto the table, he unwraps my nasty Band-Aid. I grimace. My jagged cut looks worst than I thought. Fiery red and inflamed.
“A paper cut?” he asks.
I splutter. “It was a thick piece of paper.”
Unsure if he believes me, I hold out my quivering finger while he squirts some of the anti-bacterial ointment onto the wound and re-bandages it. One Band-Aid over my fingertip, another around it.
I wiggle my stiff finger. Not too much motion. But he’s made it feel better. “You’re good at first aid.”
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