Something Better

by Gail R Delaney

  Wake up! This is a dream! This is not going to happen!

  David's tongue dipped into her mouth as he tipped her back slightly. Everything tingled, and her ankles where hooked behind his legs before any intelligent and sensible brainwave could find a functioning synapse long enough to warn her that she was losing control. Her body hummed with vibrations, and as his mouth shifted its attention from her lips to her throat... he stopped.

  Vibration shifted through her again, and through the pounding in her ears, she heard him whisper hoarsely, "Do you need to get that?"

  Andi blinked and slowly uncurled her fingers from his shirt, leaning back to look at his face. Every inch of her skin was flushed, and even the simple sundress felt restrictive and smothering, especially when his large hand rested on her thigh, and the pad of his thumb brushed the inside of her knee. It took everything she had to focus on his face to realize he'd asked her a question. His eyes were dark, his irises large and intense, and his rapid breath warmed her already-fevered cheeks.

  Vibration again... Andi blinked again... Work, brain! Work!

  "Your phone... do you need to answer it?"

  Reality clicked back into place, and Andi looked slightly behind her to the small folded phone on the table that now bounced and slid on the Formica as it vibrated again. David's hand left her thigh -- that spot suddenly feeling cold and abandoned -- and picked it up, holding it up so she could see the small LCD screen.

  MAGS

  "Do you need to answer it?" he asked again.

  Andi shook her head. "No."

  He set the phone down, but by then she had been given the two whole seconds needed for her brain to work again, her heart to slow just a few beats so it wasn't going to break free of her chest, and her breathing to catch up with the severe lack of oxygen in her lungs. She watched him set the phone down as if that single action were the most important thing in the world and clenched her hands in her lap. David shifted his weight so he could rest his hands on the edge of the table on either side of her legs and lean down so their faces were level.

  "Andi--"

  Before he could complete whatever he wanted to say, someone rapped on the trailer door and Andi jumped with a short yelp. David's hands slid to her hips as she hopped off the table, steadying her. Which was good since her knees seemed to no longer have functioning ligaments.

  "Yeah?" she called out, her voice croaking. She cleared her throat, and tried again. "Yeah?"

  "It's April, I'm looking for David. Benton needs him. Do you know where he is?"

  "I'm in here," David answered, and Andi shot him a shocked look.

  Why not tell the whole crew we were just making out like hormonal teenagers, whydontcha?

  He grinned, almost as if he knew the reality of her horror. "I'll be right there."

  "'Kay," April called back, her voice already distant as she walked away from the trailer.

  "Y-you should go," Andi stuttered out, the heat of embarrassment quickly smothering the heat of arousal. Her cheeks burned hot, and she had the almost uncontrollable desire to cross her arms over her body and scurry into the far corner of the table banquette.

  "Yeah." He touched her cheek, stroking her skin before nudging her chin up so she had to look at him, or close her eyes in denial. Since she couldn't stand there all day with her eyes closed, Andi met his gaze. And the smile on his face made her breath catch all over again. "Probably not the best place for this, huh?"

  "Ya think?" she said with a wry chuckle.

  He curled a bit of hair behind her ear, the smile never leaving his face. "I believe you, by the way." Andi frowned and his grin widened as he shook his head. "You can't act."

  Before she could come back with some buffering, sarcastic one-shot he kissed her again. Simply this time -- just a pressing of their lips together but he hummed softly and the contact ricocheted through her. His hand slid down her spine to rest on the curve of her backside and Andi couldn't breathe.

  "I'm glad," he said against her mouth.

  He stepped back, and the air around her was suddenly cold and gooseflesh popped up on her bare arms. Andi wanted to say something -- anything -- but nothing would form clearly enough in her head to make it to her throat.

  He made it as far as the door, stopping when his fingers curled around the handle. David looked back at her, his eyes skimming from her face to her sandals and back, and Andi held her breath. With a small sound in the back of his throat, he tilted his head to the side with a small jerk and pivoted back to her. "Not yet," he mumbled before coming back to her.

  He raised his hands and enveloped her face as he reached her, and Andi only had a split second to take a breath before his open mouth covered hers. Energy and electricity rolled through her, curling in her stomach and she moaned against his mouth. She gasped when he pulled his lips free of hers, only to plant a trail of forceful, almost rough kisses down the side of her throat to her shoulder. He pressed his face into the hollow where her neck and shoulder met, his teeth gently abrading her skin, his fingers pulling aside her dress collar to expose more skin.

  Andi whispered his name, not even realizing she wanted to until it passed her lips. One arm tightened around her, pulling her hard against him. Then he let her go, and yanked the door open with a hard jerk, bounding out of the trailer. The small structure shook in the wake of his departure.

  Or, maybe that was just Andi's legs finally giving out. She slouched against the edge of the table and pressed a trembling hand against her hot forehead.

  The phone on the table vibrated again, and Andi looked down to see Maggie's name on the screen. That conversation would have to wait.

  Besides, what would she say?

  Sorry I didn't answer, Mags. You see... David Bishop... yeah, that's right David Bishop... yep, the guy voted Number Seven on the Hollywood Top Ten Hottest Men of the Year last year... yeah, him. Well, I'm pretty sure we were about to either have sex or something similar right here on my little trailer table. Yep, you heard me right. No, I wasn't asleep. At least, I don't think I was a sleep. Stop laughing, Mags, I mean it.

  Andi sighed and covered her face with her hands. Holy Crap!

  Chapter Two

  Andi groaned low in her throat when he moved his body away from hers. In a fluid motion, David's hand slid over her hips to the back of her thighs and he lifted her the few inches needed to set her bottom on the table, his hands branding her bare skin when the hem of her dress shifted beneath his touch. With a gentle, but insistent, jerk he brought her body flush against him so she balanced near the edge and his denim-clad jeans pushed between her thighs. Andi gasped, her head tipping back as reality flashed like a neon sign in her head.

  Wake up! This is a dream! This is not going to happen!

  "Just how much coffee do you intend to make?"

  Maggie's voice behind her made Andi jump, and she nearly dropped the coffee carafe she was filling. Her heart thudded harder in her chest and an embarrassed flush crept up her neck, blooming hot in her cheeks for being caught in her daydream. Okay, reliving a fantasy, but that's just nitpicking. She glanced over her shoulder as Maggie took a seat at the small table near the patio doors, and looked away when her best friend and housemate set her inquiring gaze on her. Andi poured out most of the water in the carafe and finished making their coffee, keeping her back to Mags as much as possible. But, pouring the water in the maker and setting the filter in place only took so long.

  All the while, Mags sat silent, watching her with a smile that would have made the Cheshire Cat jealous. It was unnerving! Man, was this what Jake felt like when she gave him the 'stare down' until he confessed? Andi wasn't sure she'd be able to pull it off anymore... now that she'd been on the receiving end. She'd seen hardened businessmen and unwitting waiters crumple into whimpering, spineless piles of nothing under Maggie's scrutiny.

  "So..."

  Andi set down her empty coffee cup with a loud clack and spun around, her nerves snapping. "Fine! Yes! It was him, okay? He c
ame to my trailer and... and..." She stuttered to a stop, pressing her lips together to keep from saying too much.

  Maggie just sat silent, grinning.

  "What?" Andi snapped.

  Maggie chuckled, her shoulders bouncing. "Nothing. I was just going to comment on how much I really like that new hair cut."

  Andi huffed and spun around, busying herself with making Jake's toaster waffles. For two days, she'd managed to avoid answering any questions Maggie asked over the phone, either claiming she had to go or just outright refusing to offer up any information. But, Maggie was home, and she was a powerful inquisitor when she was face to face with her target.

  Just when she thought maybe she might avoid the Great Inquisition, Maggie slid in "I'm guessing David likes it, too".

  Andi groaned and slammed her elbows down on the counter, holding her head in her hands. This time, Maggie didn't even try to be subtle. She laughed out loud, her cackle echoing off the high ceilings of their shared home.

  "Stop it," Andi begged, her voice too low to be heard over Maggie's laughing. "This is bad. Very bad."

  Maggie pushed her chair back, her legs scraping the tile, and came to her side, draping an arm across Andi's shoulders to give her a quick squeeze. "Aw, come on. What's so bad about making out with one of the hottest leading men in Hollywood? Doesn't sound all that bad to me."

  Andi groaned again.

  "So you did make out with him!"

  Andi whimpered.

  "Was it good?"

  From her toes to her cheeks, Andi flushed hot and tingly. Except this time it wasn't embarrassment. She remembered every moment of their kiss, every touch and every squeeze. How he tasted and how his lips had felt... how could she not? She'd been reliving the kiss all nigh, every night, for the last three days. What use did it do to deny anything? Maggie would hound her and poke at her until she 'fessed up, and then would probably offer her a shot of amaretto in her coffee.

  "It was better than good," she finally admitted, and straightened to face Maggie, leaning her hip against the counter edge. Maggie was smiling again, her arms crossed, her eyebrows arched waiting for details. "I don't think I've ever been that--"

  "Hot? Horny? Turned on?"

  Andi chuckled. "I was going to say aroused, but I guess you covered it."

  "Tell me everything." Before Andi could protest, Maggie whined and gripped Andi's arm. She actually whined! "Oh, come on, Andrea. Let me live vicariously through you."

  "Oh, please." Andi shrugged her arm free of Maggie's grip and shook of her head, pouring the coffee that was finally done. She inhaled deeply of the fragrant steam before dumping in three calorie-free sweetener packets. "You're the one going out three nights a week with your hot Italian lover. What's his name? Nicco?"

  Maggie sighed and looked off toward the ceiling, a wide grin -- one that spoke of deep, and probably frequent, satisfaction -- bowing her lips. "Ah, yes. Nicco. My Italian Stallion."

  Andi groaned and took her coffee to the table, hoping that she'd sufficiently distracted Mags with memories of her latest lover. Her reprieve lasted for about 10.2 seconds before Maggie followed her to the table and into the seat beside her, leaning in conspiratorially.

  "Oh, come on. You haven't done anything more than go to dinner with anyone since coming out here. Honey, that's one hell of a dry spell. And the first guy you decide to make out with is David Bishop?"

  "Shhhhh!" Andi hissed through her teeth, glancing quickly toward the stairs that emptied into the kitchen. Jake was due downstairs any second. "And for your information, I didn't decide anything. It just..."

  "Happened? Andi, that is the oldest and most worn out excuse that has ever been used. Usually it's by cheating husbands--" Andi shot Maggie a sharp look, and Maggie had the good grace to wince. "Sorry. But, honey, things like that don't just happen. Okay, so maybe the kiss on the stage just 'happened'." Maggie made quote marks in the air with her bent fingers. "But, him coming to your trailer for make out session number two--"

  "Do you have to call it that?"

  "What? Making out? Okay, fine... was it more like foreplay?"

  Andi immediately remembered -- with almost painful clarity -- the tumbling heat in her stomach when David groaned against her mouth and lifted her onto the table. The way his tongue slipped past her lips, and the way he moved his hips against hers, rhythmically imitating an even more intimate action. She'd wrapped her legs around him and wished he'd do more than just slide his hand along her thigh. She'd wanted --

  "I'll take that as a hell yeah."

  Andi blinked and brought Maggie into focus again, knowing full well she was bright red all the way down her throat from the burning throb just beneath her skin. She laid her hand against her heated forehead, but didn't try to suppress the smile that almost made her cheeks hurt. "Okay, fine. Call it whatever you want, it was... intense. More intense than..." Andi shrugged and shook her head. "More intense than anything I can recall ever."

  "Not even Eric your junior year of college?" Mags asked with a bob of her eyebrows.

  "I knew telling you that story would come back to haunt me."

  "Too late to take it back now," Maggie said smugly. "So, better?" Andi just nodded, but couldn't quite drop the grin on her face. "Question is what are you going to do about it?"

  That killed the smile and gooseflesh broke out over her skin. She looked down at her now-lukewarm coffee. "Nothing."

  "You can't just do nothing. What are you going to do the next time you see him?"

  Andi stared into her coffee, swirling it with her spoon. "Nothing. I'm going to do nothing, and hope he's forgotten about the whole thing. Or, that he wants to forget it as much as I do."

  "Why would you want to forget it? And more importantly, why do you think he would want to forget it?" Maggie's voice had lost its teasing lilt, and when Andi looked up, Maggie stared at her hard, her mouth turned down in a frown.

  Be real was her first thought. Hello? He was David Bishop... David Bishop! A week didn't go by that he wasn't on the front of some gossip rag, usually with the headlines reporting his most recent affair or naming him one of Hollywood's Top Ten 'whatevers'. He was young and good-looking -- scratch that -- gorgeous -- no, wait... beautiful. That's what David Bishop was. Beautiful.

  "Tell me something," Mags ordered, leaning in close again. "When he kissed you -- not on the set, but in your trailer -- when he kissed you, was it just one kiss? Did he kiss you and step back. Let you go? Head for the door?"

  Andi swallowed hard, her throat suddenly as dry as the desert. "No," she managed to croak.

  "Did he hold you against him like he couldn't get close enough?"

  Andi sucked in a shaky breath and closed her eyes against the flash of awakening just beneath her skin. Mags was trying to kill her... set her on fire, it'd be quicker.

  "Did he make any of those sexy 'I could eat you alive and still not be satisfied' little hums in the back of his throat you're always writing about in your books?"

  Andi huffed and dropped her head back. "You're not playing fair, Mags."

  "I'm your best friend, I don't have to play fair. I just have to make sure you're happy," Mags said with a wink and a smirk.

  Before Andi could sum up her arguments, she was saved by Jake's loud descent into the kitchen. He made a beeline for Andi, nearly knocking her off her chair when he threw his arms around her, planting a loud kiss on her cheek. Not to be discriminatory, he turned and did the same to Maggie before shouting "Good morning," on his way to his toaster waffles.

  "What are you doing today, honey?" Andi asked, sipping her cooling coffee. Good... that's what they needed, a new line of conversation. And a cold shower. She definitely needed a cold shower. In Antarctica.

  He shrugged as he tore his waffle into bite-sized pieces and drowned them in copious amounts of syrup. "Aunt Maggie brought me some new books. I might read them. Are you gonna be here, Mom?" he asked over his shoulder.

  "I sure am. I don't have anywhere else to be.
"

  Maggie squinted her eyes at her. "I thought today they were shooting--"

  Andi shook her head, not taking her attention off Jake. "I don't need to be there." Maggie leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest. Andi refused to look at her, but felt her friend's eyes staring at her. Might as well have had hot pokers jabbing at her head. She cleared her throat and scooted closer to her son. "What books did--"

  "You're a chicken."

  Both Andi and Jake turned to look at Maggie, but Maggie still glared straight at her, not looking away.

  "Excuse me?"

  "You. Are. A. Chicken."

  "Why is Mom a chicken?" Jake demanded, and Andi already recognized the bristle in his tone. It didn't take much.

  "Nothing, honey. Aunt Maggie is just teasing me."

  She barely got the words out before Maggie started with "Bock-bock-bock..." She even mimicked a chicken, waving her bent arms like wings and letting her cheeks puff out with each 'bock'.

  "Maggie, stop it."

  Maggie huffed. "You're scared spitless that a man wants you."

  "He doesn't want me," Andi snapped, shoving her chair back from the table.

  "Who?" Jake asked around a mouthful of waffle.

  "Why wouldn't he want you? You just admitted--"

  "Who wants what?" Jake asked again. "Mom?"

  "A man your mom knows thinks she's pretty, and your mom doesn't agree."

  "You're pretty, Mom. You're really pretty."

  The conversation came at Andi rapid-fire, making her head spin. And her son's final words were enough to push her over the edge. Tears prickled behind her eyelids and she pressed her eyes shut, gripping the edge of the counter. "Can we please not talk about this right now?"

  The phone rang, and Andi lunged for it, hoping to God and Heaven above that whoever it was would rescue her from this disaster of a conversation.

  *****

  David pushed his sunglasses up so he could pinch the bridge of his nose, rubbing the inner corners of his tired eyes as he climbed out of his car. When the bright sunlight nearly burned through his tired retinas, he let the glasses fall back into place before slamming his car door shut. His head pounded like he had one heck of a hangover, without the night of drinking. Never had he been so thankful his call time wasn't until ten that morning. He'd had a rough, sleepless night. Again.