Something Better
Page 15
She hummed... whether it was in answer to his question, he didn't know.
David massaged her shoulders, working his thumbs in small circles on the back of her neck, for a few minutes before sliding his hands down her bare arms to her hands. He raised her right hand from where it rested and sandwiched it between his hands. Her fingertips were cool, but her palms were warm. David massaged her hand between his, rubbing gently from her wrist toward her fingertips. Pinching the soft skin between her thumb and index finger, he worked the flesh between his fingertips until he found what he needed.
This had always been the telling point whether the massage would work or not... at least with Caroline. He never quite understood why it worked so well, but the pressure on the hands did the most to relieve the pain. David shifted so he could look at Andi's profile without disturbing her position, and applied the pressure. She already understood the rhythm of the breathing and drew in a long breath. As she released it again, he took away his fingers.
Andi gasped and her eyes flew open. "What was that?"
David smiled, allowing himself another small indulgence of smoothing his hand across her stomach, pressing her back against him. "Accu-pressure. Don't ask me how it works, I don't know. I just know it does. Give me your other hand."
He repeated the massage on her left hand, garnering almost the same reaction with just a little less surprise. With each new spot he worked on, the tension abates from her body. Where her spine had been almost rigid when they first settled, she now let her body relax against him. She drew up her knees, matching his position, but in doing so the hem of her sundress slipped up her legs, giving him a temptingly pleasant angle of view. After repeating the course of pressure points two more times, her breathing had deepened and he suspected she was either near sleep or already there.
When he finished with the second hand, he draped her arms across her body and wrapped his arms around her. With just the slightest shift, he settled down into the pile of pillows he'd situated to support them, giving him the chance to let his head rest back on the stack. She sighed and turned within his embrace onto her side, tucking her hand between his chest and her cheek.
The room was in almost complete darkness. The sun had set and the only light came from the crack in the bathroom door and the nightlight Maggie had left on. In the darkness, unable to see her face, David closed his eyes and smoothed his hand up and down her bare arm. Gooseflesh rose under his fingertips and he tugged at the blankets until he could flip them over the two of them, wrapping her in a cocoon.
It had been a very long time since he'd held a sleeping woman in his arms. Rachel had probably been the last since Josie didn't like being touched when she slept, let alone being held. David rolled his head against the pillow, forcing aside the thoughts of old girlfriends and past mistakes. Right now, Andrea Parker slept against him, the smell of her shampoo drifting around him and the warmth of her body sinking through his clothes.
David brushed her hair from her cheek and pressed a kiss to her forehead before he closed his eyes.
*****
The first sense that registered for Andi was the unfamiliar but pleasant weight of an arm draped over her waist, and the warmth of a hand against her stomach. The second was the whisper of a warm breath against the back of her neck, and the slightly rough bristle of an unshaved cheek just touching the side of her throat.
The third was the distinct lack of a headache, or the muzzy, groggy, thickheaded feeling she always woke up with after drugging herself into healing sleep.
She blinked her eyes, but tried to stay as still as possible, not wanting to move away from David's embrace. The sun had come up again, shining in a thin slit down the crack in her drapes, but the room was still mostly in darkness. They were curled together at a strange angle across the bed, almost horizontal to the headboard. Instead of being beneath the blankets, David had managed to flip the duvet around them, wrapping them together inside it. His back was to the pile of pillows and she was nestled against him, his chest expanding against her spine with each breath he took. His extended arm was her pillow, and the sleeve of his short-sleeved shirt had shifted up so her cheek rested on his upper arm. Andi was bundled and warm, and the scent of David wrapped around her.
She closed her eyes again and drew in a slow breath, smiling.
She could get used to this.
Very used to this.
And that was probably not a good idea.
Oh, who cares? You're here now!
Andi slid her arm from within the warm cocoon of blankets to touch her fingertips to the inside of his exposed elbow. A prominent vein ran from his triceps to his lower arm, and fine light hairs flecked his skin. Just a few inches from his wrist there was a small scar, no more than half an inch in length, slightly paler than the tan skin of his arm. With a smile, Andi wondered what he might have done to earn it.
David stirred, sucking in a deep breath through his nose, inhaling the morning. His hand splayed against her lower stomach and pulled her firmer against him, and Andi's eyes fluttered closed. She barely stifled the low moan that purred in her chest at the flutter that spread beneath his hand.
Apparently, she didn't stifle it nearly as well as she thought because she heard his low chuckle and his lips brushed her shoulder. The arm supporting her head curled around to cross her chest, and he wrapped his fingers around her shoulder, wrapping her in his arms as snugly as the blanket.
He ran the tip of his nose along the side of her neck, brushing her hair aside, making her shiver, and his lips brushed her ear when he whispered, "This could be habit forming".
Andi turned her head toward him, able to focus on his face without her glasses because he was so close. "I was just thinking the same thing--"
Before she could finish, he raised his hand to her cheek and turned her into him, his open mouth covering hers. Just like every other time they kissed, everything inside Andi came to life in a dizzying flash that stole her breath and made her heart pound. She rolled within his arms to face him, never breaking contact with his lips and he shifted over her, the weight of his hips against hers enough to make her groan against his mouth.
He rose over her, bearing his weight on his elbows, and his leg slid between her thighs, sending an erotic rush through her. A silver chain slipped free of the shirt, a Star of David dangling between them. Andi curled her fingers into his shirt, tipping her head to follow his kiss. The blanket twisted around them, finally falling away, and the brush of cooler air on her bare legs made Andi gasp. They'd been so cocooned in the covers that the room air felt almost chilly.
All thoughts of a chill vanished in a flash when he laid his hand on her leg and slid it up her thigh, taking the hem of her dress with it. His fingers curled against her hip, scorching her through the thin fabric of her cotton panties, and Andi instinctively raised her knee, curling her foot behind his knee. The warmth of his calves, and the bristle of sparse hair against her ankle, brought images of him over her -- skin-to-skin -- making love to her, and she closed her eyes, clinging to fistfuls of his shirt. David shifted over her, his hips bucking against her, his teeth grating gently against the skin below her ear.
The cool air of moments before was now stifling, and her clothes restricted every breath. His kisses were both rough and soft, his morning beard abrading her skin, but making her nerves come alive. Andi couldn't breathe right, couldn't pull in enough oxygen to abate the dizzying effects of his body over her, couldn't get enough or touch enough.
David growled, the vibration shifting over her throat, and pushed his hands into the bed, sliding his body down hers. His lips still brushed her skin from her throat to the 'v' of her dress, but he didn't kiss. Andi opened her eyes, watching him, trying to make her brain work past 'want' to catch up with the change in him.
David rose over her, bracing himself on his arms, and looked down at her. Even that movement, his body brushing her in all the best places, sent shivers of arousal skimming over her and melted her in
sides. Heavy lids hooded his eyes and only the tiniest of grins touched the corners of his wet lips.
"I'm sorry," he said, taking in deep breaths. "I can't seem to control myself with you."
"You make it sound like a bad thing." Andi couldn't control her urge to shift beneath him, tilting her hips against the not-so-subtle sign of his arousal behind the zipper of his shorts.
David groaned and dropped his head forward, resting his perspiration-slicked forehead against her lips. Andi kissed him and raised her arms to push her fingers into his mussed hair. Slowly, by degrees, her breathing leveled until she felt less like she'd been dropped at the top of the Himalayas without an oxygen tank.
"Oh, it's not a bad thing at all," he said, his breath skimming across her throat. "It just makes it very hard for me to be the gentleman my mom raised me to be."
Andi smiled, combing his hair with her fingers. He settled his weight, partially on her still but mostly on the mattress beside her so they were nose to nose. Her skin still craved him, her body still screamed to shift against him and pull at his clothes until she found more of him. But, she drew a long, slightly shuddered breath and tried not to think about how much she wanted him to...
"Every time I kiss you," he said softly, drawing her away from her dangerous thoughts. Sometimes it didn't pay to have a vivid imagination. Didn't pay at all. "It's like..." David laughed and curled his hand against his temple to support his head, tucking her beneath him just a little. "I can't think of any way to say it that doesn't sound stupid."
"I'll forgive you," she encouraged with a grin.
He slid his hand over her hip to the small of her back, pulling her against him. His small grin had grown into a full-fledged smile -- dimples and all -- that made her heart jump all on its own.
If she wasn't careful, she could fall completely and totally in love with this man.
"Okay," he grinned. "You asked for it."
"I did. Tell me."
David's gaze shifted down to focus on her lips, and Andi's breath caught at the way his eyes darkened. She saw it happen. That was another one of those turn of phrases she -- and half a gazillion other authors of romance -- used in her writing... the way arousal darkened his gaze. Another one of those things she wrote, imagined, but never experienced.
Until right now.
"I want you."
The simple statement sent butterflies free in her stomach.
"It's not just... I don't just want to make love to you. I do, believe me. I do want to make love to you."
Andi smirked, feeling just a little devilish. "Oh, I believe you..." She settled her hand at his hip and slid it back to rest on his backside, tugging him just a little closer.
David growled low in his throat and kissed her. But, this time he pulled away before neither of them were thinking clearly again. He laid his palm against her cheek, his thumb stroking her lip.
"I want to be with you, Andi. Just with you. Around you. Near you. I want to touch you all the time." He looked down their bodies, where they touched almost everywhere from chest to knees, and curled his fingers around hers. David lifted her hand to his mouth, kissing her fingertips and her palm. "I want to hold your hand. I want to feel your skin. I want..."
He trailed off, finally lifting his gaze to look at her.
Tears prickled in her eyes, and Andi had to swallow against the intense rush of emotion -- what emotion was this? -- that hit her. She blinked harder because she knew what it was... love. It was too late. She had already fallen in love with him.
It might have happened... right then... right there... at that moment.
"So far, I'm not hearing anything stupid," she whispered through her tight throat, and blinked hard against the tears she didn't want to fall.
But they did, sliding from the corner of her eyes across her temples. David smoothed his thumb across her skin, wiping the tear away. Andi curled up to press her lips to his this time, cradling his face in her hands as she held the simple kiss. When she settled onto the bed again, his eyes held an almost-mischievous twinkle. She loved it when he smiled and his eyes sparked like that... it was the smile that inspired her to outrageous things. It probably should worry her that he could get her to do things she never would have done before with just a smile, but it didn't worry her. It thrilled her.
Just as easily, his face sobered and the smile relaxed without completely disappearing. "Do you remember what you said in your trailer last week? What did you call it... TS... TS..."
"TSTL," she provided. "Too stupid to love. I was rambling."
He grinned again. "You said you weren't going to assume anything, that you would ask me if you wanted to know something. And you didn't want me to assume anything."
Andi nodded against the pillow. "I remember."
"Okay..." He huffed a breath and took her hand, holding it against his chest as he stared down for a moment. When he looked up again, Andi knew instinctively by the intensity of his eyes that whatever he had to say was important. Her nerves tingled, anticipating either something good... or the worst.
"Every time I kiss you... well, you know how it is every time we kiss."
She nodded.
"Andi, I don't want..." He stopped again, and smiled -- but it was a self-deprecating kind of smile that spoke of uncertainty... something she'd never seen in him before. "I don't want to ruin this."
"If we made love, we'd ruin it?"
David shook his head. "No. Not if we..." He laughed, humorously, and rubbed his hand over his face. "I've never had a conversation like this. I feel like a teenager--"
"That seems to happen a lot with us," she said, letting her voice stay light.
This time, when he laughed, she knew he meant it.
"Yeah, it does."
She waited for him to continue. Andi was fairly sure what he wanted to say, what he was trying to say, but like she'd promised him... she wouldn't assume anything.
"Andi, I want this... us... for a long time. And, I don't want to rush into -- even though it probably seems that way because we've been going at top speed since that kiss in your trailer -- I don't want to -- It's too important, you're too important to me to--"
Andi took pity on him and laid her finger against his lips. "I understand."
"I don't know how long I can hold out," he said against her touch, pulling her hand away so he could lean toward her, his lips hovering over hers when he spoke again. "Especially if I wake up again with you in my arms."
"I don't know... I kind of like tempting fate."
She felt his smile just before his tongue slid past her teeth to tease the inside of her mouth with a slow, seductive kiss that instantly revived every butterfly that had fallen dormant during their conversation. But as he pulled back from the kiss, he shifted onto his knees and backed off the bed, offering her his hand. Andi took it and let him draw her to her feet.
He rested his hands on her hips, drawing her against him. "There's tempt, and there's waving a steak in front of a hungry lion," he said with a smirk.
Andi pulled a face. "Are you calling me a piece of meat?"
Before he could defend himself, he was interrupted by a knock at the door.
"Everyone decent?" Maggie called.
"Yes."
Maggie opened the door, peering cautiously around the edge before stepping inside. David didn't try to move away, and Andi was fine with that.
"How are you feeling?"
"I probably should have asked you that," David said with a chuckle against her temple. Then with comical interest, he dipped his knees and looked her level in the eyes. "How are you feeling?"
"I feel great, actually." Andi smiled, turning to Maggie but looking at David from the corner of her eye. "David is very good with his hands."
"Oi!" Maggie declared, throwing up her hands. "I just asked if your headache was gone, not about anything else that might have happened! Besides, that's a conversation for later over Cherry Garcia and hot fudge." Maggie wagged her eyebrows.
"You still feel up to the book signing this afternoon?"
Andi slapped the heel of her hand against her forehead. "Oh, crap! It's Monday! I completely forgot with--" She stopped short, not even wanting to mention his name.
He was like the evil wizard in Harry Potter... He Who Shall Not Be Named.
"I can still cancel if you're not up to it."
"No, it's fine."
"You have a book signing?" David asked, looking between Andi and Maggie.
"In Valencia," Maggie provided. "She's got them scheduled all over Southern California over the next few months, helping to hype the movie a little. When the studio starts running trailers, she'll be doing a book tour. Nationwide."
"Mind if I tag along? Today... can't promise the nationwide part."
Andi looked up at him, squinting because she hadn't put her glasses on yet. Lying nose-to-nose in bed, she didn't need them to see his face... but now, both he and Maggie were kind of blurry. Without her saying a word, David took a sideways step and picked up her glasses from the bedside table, handing them to her.
"Thank you."
He just grinned.
"Are you sure you want to come? They're not all that exciting. I've sat at a book signing for two hours before without a single person coming to the table."
"What she doesn't tell you is that was three years ago, before anyone knew the names Andrea Parker or Rise of Dawn. Nowadays, people get in line hours before she shows up."
"It's not--"
Maggie silently cut her off with a high arch of her eyebrows... all but daring Andi to argue with her. Andi sighed and turned to the bed, tossing the blankets back into some semblance of where they belonged.
"Okay, fine... they can get crowded. But, there wouldn't be much for you to do but--"