Something Better

by Gail R Delaney

  David stepped closer, tipping his head back to look up into her face. His hand slid further beneath her sweater until his palm pressed hot against her spine. "Trust me," he said, his breath skimming over her chin. "That fact didn't escape me."

  Andi drew in a long, deep breath intended to force down the quaking nervousness in her chest... but she found the nervousness was gone. Why should she be nervous? What did she have to fear? Nothing... this was David. He wasn't David Bishop -- movie actor. He wasn't David Bishop -- the object of women's fantasies. He was David... her David. She took the final step, and he stood so close the motion brought her flush against him. Andi slid her fingers through his short hair and drew him down to her. He didn't hesitate, his mouth covering hers in the kiss she'd been thinking about for the last hour.

  David's free hand moved to her face, holding her jaw as he angled his lips and deepened the kiss. His tongue slipped into her mouth, and Andi groaned at the shock of sensation and heat that filled her from her nose to her toes. Not once, not ever, did she feel this kind of all-consuming hunger when Lawrence Butthead touched her or kissed her. Not the first time, not any time.

  Andi gave any thought of Lawrence a hard mental shove, and punctuated the thought by sliding her hands down David's chest to the first button of his shirt. She'd reached the third before he stopping kissing her, still holding her chin as he rapid breath warmed her skin. Andi looked up at him, but didn't pause working the buttons.

  David looked down, watching the progress of her fingers releasing each button until she reached his waist where the tails of the shirt were tucked into his pants. "Andi..." Her name was rough, ragged as he raised his eyes again to look at her.

  Andi gave the shirt a solid tug, pulling it free from the belted pants. With the front open, she indulged in something she'd wanted to do for a very, very long time. She ran her palms over his stomach -- relishing in the rush of empowerment when his abdominal muscles tightened in reaction to her touch -- before sliding her hands up his chest to his shoulders. Her fingertip caught the simple chain around his neck, shifting the Star of David he always wore when not filming. Andi pushed the shirt away until it slipped down his arms. He stood still, his eyes closed and his head bowed so his nose brushed her hair as she released the shirt from his wrists. It dropped to the floor with a whisper.

  Seeing him bare to the waist on webcam, or even on film, was nothing compared to the toned, solid, heat-radiating body beneath her touch. Andi's insides shook as the old panic tried to surge forward, but despite the tremors in her hands, she refused to let it win. She raised her arms to skim her hands along his shoulders to his neck. Andi brushed her cheek and nose against his skin, loving the warmth and the scent of his body. David wrapped her in his arms, his fingers curling tight into her sweater to pull her closer.

  With her cheek skimming against his skin, Andi reached around behind her back until she covered his hands with her own. Tipping her head so their gazes met, Andi guided his hands along her sides until he took over sliding the sweater up her body. She raised her arms, her ribs aching with each rapid breath. David tugged the sweater free, tossing it on the stairs behind her. He brought his hands back to her raised wrists and slid his palms all the way down her bare arms, along her sides, until his large hands spanned her ribcage.

  He bent his head and brushed his lips over her shoulders, nipping gently at the flushed skin at the base of her throat. His fingers curled into the strap of her bra, tugging it slightly until it slid off her shoulder. "David," she whispered softly, the heat of her breath coming back to her as she spoke against his skin.

  She raised her head and looked into his face. His own breath came in ragged, short bursts and his gaze shifted over her face. His attention settled for only a moment on her lips before he looked into her eyes again.

  Andi smiled.

  His only response was a low, rough growl from somewhere in the center of his chest before his arms wrapped around her hard enough to lift her off the floor, and he spun them toward the bed.

  *****

  The muffled sound of Meredith Brooks singing nudged David from his deep sleep.

  I'm a child. I'm a mother. I'm a sinner. I'm a saint...

  He blinked his eyes open, trying to focus in the semi-darkness of his bedroom, the only light coming from the moon through the patio doors and the glow of a light he'd left on in the bathroom. The faint music stopped.

  By then, David was awake and smiling.

  Lying beside him, curled into his chest, Andi slept. Her cheek warmed a spot over his heart and her hair brushed against his chin, filling his senses with the scent of her shampoo. He raised his head off the pillow enough to take in the sight of their bodies tangled together in his bed. The sheet covered Andi's body, except for her bare legs that stuck out, one draped across his thighs. She had a fistful of sheets in her hand tucked beneath her chin. Moonlight glowed off her bare arms and shoulders.

  Before he could really enjoy the reality of the moment, Bitch started again and he squinted at the clock beside the bed. 11:37. Just as the music stopped, his brain engaged enough for him to remember to whom that particular ringtone belonged.

  Maggie.

  Reluctant to leave her, David tried to ease himself away from Andi until she released a long, shuddered sigh and rolled away. The sound of her skin against the sheets had to be one of the most erotic sounds he'd ever heard.

  No, he took that back the most erotic sound was the one she made when he--

  His house phone rang. David stumbled away from the bed, snatching up the phone before it had a chance to ring a second time and wake Andi. "Hello," he said as he stumbled in the semi-darkness to the adjacent sitting area, yanking on a pair of pajama pants as he went.

  "About damn time," Maggie Connelly shouted so loud he had to take the phone from his ear. "I've been calling Andi's cell phone for an hour. You damn well better tell me she's with you and she's okay or I'm launching a manhunt on Larry Bonherre's ass--"

  "She's with me, Maggie," he interrupted. "Her phone is probably upstairs. I'm sorry. I know she meant to call."

  "What the hell is going on?" For the first time, he thought he heard the crack in Maggie's voice. "Is she okay?"

  "Yeah, she's okay. Now. I hope, anyway." David glanced around the staircase to make sure she hadn't been woken. She was stretched out on her stomach, the sheet down to her hips. She was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen...

  "Now?"

  David blinked and focused on the conversation, and the strain in Maggie's voice. Full of snark and sarcasm, it wasn't often David had seen anything get to Maggie enough to chip at her veneer. He sank onto one of the chairs he had facing another sliding door. "Maggie, she's okay," he said, doing his best to say with his tone that he meant it. He took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. "She didn't tell you what happened." It wasn't really a question.

  "No," Maggie ground out, and he could almost imagine her clenching her teeth to keep from shouting... or keep Jake from hearing. "She flew out of here when I got home from lunch, wouldn't tell me what was wrong or where she was going, and I haven't heard a word since. Probably because she knew whatever it was, I wasn't going to like it." There was only a moment of pause. "So, you're the lucky one who gets to tell me, boyo. Where did she go?"

  Her tone brokered no argument. "She came here." He paused, for a second the sick panic he'd squashed that afternoon hit him full force in the chest. Then he looked at his bed, and it eased. "To break it off."

  Silence hit the line, and for a moment he thought they'd lost connection.

  "Maggie?"

  Maggie hummed. "I'm assuming that since it's nearly midnight and she's with you, that you convinced her otherwise."

  David slouched back in his chair, giving him a clear view of his bed and the amazing woman sleeping in it. He smiled. "Yeah," was his simple answer.

  "I'm also going to assume that since you're whispering, and since you haven't offered to put her on the phon
e, she's... what..."

  "Sleeping," David said, clearing his throat.

  "As much as I would love to know more about this -- and trust me, boyo -- she's going to tell me all about it later -- I need to know what had her tearing out of here bent on tossing you out of her life."

  "I give you one guess."

  Maggie growled. She actually growled. "What did Boner do now?"

  David relayed the details as much as he knew them, based only on what Andi had told him. The silence on the phone was unnerving, but he had no doubt that he was better off here and not within one hundred yards of Maggie Connelly. It didn't take long to tell her everything, but he concluded with saying Andi had made her decision.

  "Well, that's obvious..." Maggie said with a chuckle.

  He knew what she meant, and didn't even try to suppress his smile. Why should he? At the end of the day, Andrea Parker was with him. He'd spend the rest of his life making sure it stayed that way. Lawrence Bonherre Esquire be damned.

  "It also explains the cryptic message Bonehead left this afternoon."

  David sat up. "What'd he say?"

  "Just that he'd be here tomorrow morning, and expected to 'resolve their issues' once and for all," she explained, mocking Bonehead's words.

  "Did he say what time?"

  "No."

  David stood and walked to the edge of the sitting area, leaning against the corner of the wall to study Andi. He took a deep breath. "We'll be back to the house before Jake gets up. Is he worried?"

  "Some. But, he also figured she was with you. And he trusts you."

  Her tone was dead on, her point absolutely clear. David nodded, even though he knew she couldn't see him. "He can continue to trust me. You, too."

  "I hope so. I'll see you in the morning." Before he hung up, she said his name. "For what it's worth, I'm really happy you convinced her otherwise."

  "Me, too."

  He hung up the phone and padded back into the bedroom. Andi hadn't stirred, and as he stood beside the rumpled bed he took a few minutes to study her in the moonlight. Not even the most talented photographer could have posed her more beautifully or more sexy. She was a study in the female form. Lying on her stomach, she had her bent arms tucked against her side and her golden red curls fanned on the bed. The duvet had slid completely to the floor, leaving only the sheet to cover them. It draped her hips, allowing him to see the curved line of her spine from shoulder to gorgeous backside.

  David crouched beside the bed. He didn't know what had happened to bring them here, what about the day had released whatever held her back before, and he wasn't sure he dared ask. All he knew was that he'd never felt so content in his life. Not 'satisfied', not physically sated. Yes, he was definitely satisfied... and figured Andi would tell him he was quoting a bad novel if he said he'd never felt so complete with any other woman. But, he figured even the corniest lines in a romance novel were based on some grain of truth.

  If asked right now, he'd willingly admit that he'd found the other half of himself.

  Yeah, corny... she'd be proud.

  David shifted to his knees and leaned his arms on the bed, watching the slow rise and fall of her body as she took each breath. Eventually the need to touch her won out, and he reached out a hand to run his knuckles down the sway of her back to the dip of her waist. Her skin was silky-smooth, pale in the moonlight. He traced her spine and leaned in to press a kiss to one of the dimples below the small of her back. Andi drew in a deep breath, shifting slightly beneath the touch. She turned her face toward him, her lips already bowed in a smile. Curls framed her face and fell across her forehead and she looked at him with half-closed eyes.

  He rested one arm on the bed, his head on his arm, so they were eye to eye and he was close enough that she could see him without blur. "Hey, beautiful," he whispered.

  She smiled. "Hey. What are you doing out of bed?"

  "Phone call." She arched her eyebrows in silent question. "Maggie."

  Andi jerked her upper body off the mattress. "Oh, crap!"

  "It's okay." He laid his hand on her back, sliding his palm to her shoulder until she relaxed. "She knows you're here and you're okay."

  She covered her face with her hand, the shift in position giving him a blood-warming view of her breast pressed against the bed and the subtle ridges of her ribcage along her side, muted by the soft curve of her body. He finally understood the attraction to the 'artistic nudes' when the focus was on the curve and sway of the female body and not about being naked... guess he just needed the right model.

  "I can't believe I forgot," she groaned. "Was she ticked?"

  "Ticked? No. Worried, yes."

  "I should call her now."

  "You don't need to, I took care of it." David curled his fingers around hers and brought her hand down from her face. Before she could say any more, he kissed her. It only took a heartbeat for her to return the kiss. David rose off his knees to move over her and she rolled beneath him onto her back, wrapping her arms around his neck. With his weight supported on his elbows, David leaned over her, looking into her beautiful eyes.

  "I love you," he said as he brushed his lips over hers. "Kind of hard to believe it's been less than twenty-four hours since I wised up and said it."

  Her fingers skimmed over his neck and shoulders. "A day of firsts..."

  David smiled and kissed her again. "But not lasts. I intend to tell you I love you..." He punctuated the words with a kiss. "And make love to you..." Another longer, deeper kiss. "For a very..." Kiss. "Very..." Kiss. "Long time."

  Her hands slid down his back, and with a look of mischief, Andi dug her nails into the cotton pants covering his backside. "I like the sounds of that."

  David groaned and stopped talking, letting himself get lost in Andi once again.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The echoing slam of Lawrence's car door bounced off the exterior of the house as Andi stepped into the driveway, leaving the house door open behind her. The slight squeak of brakes and the less angry open-and-closing of a vehicle door followed. Andi kept walking, forcing herself to keep her arms loose and relaxed at her side. She would let everything about her, right down to her body language, tell Lawrence that his threats meant nothing more to her than a nuisance.

  "Why the hell are you following me?" Lawrence demanded, his voice carrying to her. "What is this bull? I'll have your job for holding me at the security gate like some damn criminal."

  With one final swallow and intake of air, Andi stepped into Lawrence's line of sight. "They held you at my request," she said, using every ounce of will power she had to keep her voice strong. Lawrence spun on the balls of his feet to face her, his features twisted in an angry grimace. "I told them you weren't allowed near my home without my explicit permission."

  "Did you tell them to follow me all the way up here?" he snapped, pointing at the security truck parked behind him.

  Tony Espinoza, chief of security for the gated community, stood between the truck and Lawrence's rental. Beside him stood Horatio Salizar, another long time security guard for the gated community. Neither smiled, and both stood with their feet apart and their arms crossed over their bodies. Whatever her body language said, theirs screamed loud and clear that they'd take no crap from Lawrence Bonherre.

  "Yes, I did. They're here to make sure you leave."

  "And to make sure there's no problems," Tony said, his thick borough accent making him sound like an Enforcer for the Godfather.

  Andi liked it. She smirked. Just a little.

  Lawrence stormed toward her, crossing the distance in three long, angry strides. If he expected her to be intimidated this time, he'd be sorely mistaken. This time, Andi didn't flinch and didn't move when he invaded her personal space. She practically saw the fangs as he spit his venom.

  "This is between you and me, Andrea. Tell them to leave."

  "No. They leave when you leave. Get over it."

  He huffed a breath out through his nostrils, and in her per
ipheral vision she saw him clench his fists at his side. "Fine. You want to make this difficult, Andrea, we can make this difficult."

  "You decided on the game, Lawrence. I'm just changing the rules."

  The more she spoke, the stronger she managed to keep her voice. Her insides shook, but she was done. Andi had told herself she was strong because she'd left him and left the life he'd destroyed. But, in the last twenty-four hours she'd realized that while she had taken that first step, she hadn't done enough. She hadn't made it painfully clear to her ex husband that he had no say, no control and no right to take her happiness.

  She was done.

  "And you're wrong," she said before he could throw out another demand. "This isn't between you and me. You may want it to be about you and me, but it's not. It's between you, me, your son, Maggie, David--"

  "This right here, right now, is you and me, Andrea. You tell me your choice, and I tell you whether you get to keep your--"

  "No!" Her shout, right in his face, made him lean away. His eyebrows arched in surprise, and before he could recover, she plowed forward. Lawrence Bonherre had her 'Irish Up', as Maggie liked to say, and he wasn't going to walk over her anymore. Andi raised her hand and held Theresa's business card beneath his nose. "You can take your 'choice' and shove it, Lawrence. This is my attorney. All future communications with me will go through her."

  With a scowl, Lawrence snapped the card from her fingers. The edge cut a shallow line in the side of her finger, but she refused to even wince. Lawrence's attention shifted for a split moment from the card to a point past her. She didn't have to look to know David had come out of the house. The firm tread of his shoes across the cobblestone driveway grew louder by degrees as he approached them.

  Lawrence's lips tightened. He snarled and shook his head, looking at her again. When he spoke, his voice was low -- intended as a threat, and too low for David to hear. "I have to say, you surprised me, Andrea. I didn't peg you for the selfish bitch--"