Beauty Shot (Hope Parish Novels Book 5)

by Dawson, Zoe

  My mouth fell open.

  Minnie’s face darkened and she scowled. “That’s not funny, Angela.” She put a hand on her momma’s arm and dragged her away from me. “Deke, you’d better go.”

  “Minnie.”

  “Please, please,” she said, squeezing her eyes shut. “Go.”

  I had to admit as I walked out of her office and into the street that I was pretty damned disappointed with the way the afternoon had turned out. There was something powerful and strange going on with her momma. I had heard about the scandals, because my momma loved reading them stories in the tabloids, but I’d thought most of that stuff was made up. Now I was pretty sure it wasn’t, at least in Angela’s case.

  Welcome to New York City.

  The next day I went to class, and when I came out there was a woman standing there in a business suit. She handed me a card. “Deke West?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “You are a tough one to track down and I’ve been looking since the fashion show.”

  I walked a few feet away from the curious eyes of my classmates. “Who are you?”

  “Susan Carter.”

  I just stared at her blankly. It was clear to me that she expected me to know who she was. “I’m sorry. I’m new to all this.”

  “Oh, I own Models Elite. We are the premier agency, and I’d like to represent you.”

  The back of my neck got hot and all those feelings from high school rushed back at me. The unhappiness of being treated as just a pretty face. This was totally not the kind of business for me. “Um, I’m not interested.”

  “As a college student, I bet you’d love to have some spending money. I can make that scholarship obsolete.”

  “I already have a gig with Minnie Tattersall.” I was thankful I’d said yes to her.

  She looked me over and smirked. “I could negotiate a better contract for you. What is she offering?”

  “Look, I appreciate you coming down here and all, but I’m just not interested.” I went to hand back her card and she shook her head.

  “Keep it. I hope you change your mind.”

  When I got back to my dorm, there were several people milling around outside, one with a camera. I made it clear to all of them that if they didn’t leave me alone I would call campus police. That sent them packing. But I had a feeling it was only the beginning. It was. The next day there were more and more people until finally campus police came to break it up and send them home.

  Someone knocked on the door and I was ready to put my fist in the face of whoever was on the other side. The guy backed up at the scowl on my face, holding up his hands. “Wait, Ms. Tattersall sent me. I work for her. Here’s the schedule for the campaign shoots.”

  I accepted the stapled pages and said a quick sorry before he scurried down the hall and disappeared. This was it? Just a cold, impersonal delivery by a stranger? I got steamed and slammed my door. Fortunately I was alone, since Travis and Emmie were off playing kissy-face somewhere.

  After doing my homework, I spent the rest of the day surfing the net, getting angrier every minute I didn’t hear from her. I clicked on the Times to get the news, and my eye snagged an article that said, Tattersall’s Gamble Pays Off! I scrolled down to the article and started to read. They said some really flattering things about Verity’s influence and about Minnie’s vision and talent. When the interview got to me, Minnie’s reply pissed me off.

  I jumped up and grabbed my jacket, snatching up the paperwork Minnie had sent by a complete stranger. I’d had enough of waiting around. I jumped in a cab and headed over to Minnie’s penthouse, where I couldn’t get past the doorman. He stopped me and had to call upstairs. Finally he got the word to send me up.

  As soon as I got off the elevator, I stormed into her penthouse. She was sitting on the couch looking elegant and untouchable. It pissed me off even more.

  “Why the hell did you send an errand boy? You could at least have called and warned me about the damn Times article.”

  “Deke, sit down.”

  I paced. “I don’t want to sit down.”

  “It’s obvious you’d rather yell at me.”

  “I have plenty of excellent reasons to yell at you. I’m not just some easily dismissed, empty-headed, slack-jawed hick!” It hurt what she’d said online.

  “I know that.”

  “You dismissed me in that article like I was just some nobody that happened to stumble onto your runway,” I shouted.

  “Deke—“

  “Well, you can take your empty fucking job and stuff it.” My voice shook. “I deserve respect, and I demand it. I’m not an hollow shell, Minnie, so don’t treat me like one.”

  I threw the sheaf of papers into the air and stomped off toward the elevator. But there’s a problem with elevators…no grand exits, no satisfaction from slamming doors. I mashed the button repeatedly while I waited, feeling humiliated and demeaned. Everything that I hated about being stuck in this pretty-boy package.

  Arms came around me and tightened. “Deke, please. Let me explain.”

  I didn’t want to soften. I had principles, dammit. And they flew right out the window when she pressed her body against mine.

  “Please. I’m so sorry I hurt you. You’re wonderful, warm and engaging, sweet, and I’m at a loss how to deal with you.”

  I leaned my forehead against the cool metal. “You feel you have to deal with me?” I snapped.

  “That’s not what I meant…I’m handling this all wrong. It’s my mother. She’s…horrible, and I didn’t want to subject you to her any more than I had to. I can’t say how much I care about you to the press. They would crucify me, and it could ruin my reputation, which would in turn ruin Verity. Do you understand?”

  I sighed because, dammit, I did understand. I’d experienced the woman up close and way too personal. I turned and she lowered her gaze for a second, before bringing it back up and looking guilty and thoroughly upset. She was pale, and I couldn’t stand it.

  “You said I was just someone who worked for you.”

  “I know. I didn’t mean it in a bad way. I can’t afford the scandal. I’m trying to spare you, too, Deke.”

  “I don’t want to be spared. I don’t care what people say about me. It just hurts to be referred to in those terms by you. I didn’t like it.”

  “I respect you so much. You’re incredibly intelligent. I’m blown away by you almost every second I’m with you.”

  “Keep it coming,” I said, sending my fingers into her hair. “I’m feeling a little better.”

  “I love when you smile, your eyes light up like sun on the ocean.”

  I kissed her mouth and murmured, “And?”

  “You are beautiful to me. Every part of you. I’m so, so sorry I hurt you.”

  “Okay, I think I’m much better…” I got lost in the way her mouth roamed over mine and our breaths mingled and our breathing quickened. Her hand slipped over me. I groaned. “Oh damn, I can’t think with you doing that.” I grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand away and said, “You don’t feel sorry for me, do you? This isn’t a mercy fuck…”

  She smiled provocatively and met my eyes boldly. “Something tells me you know exactly what this is, and it doesn’t have anything to do with mercy.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, I’m not inexperienced, just never done it yet. Believe me, I know my dick intimately. It’s just the first time…I don’t know how that will go.”

  “I’m gobsmacked that you’ve never had sex.”

  “I was waiting for the right person.”

  “Deke…”

  “You’re the right person. I know that. Knew it from the moment I saw you. Even if you can’t ever let go of this age thing, I still want to be with you.”

  She smoothed her hands over my chest. “How did I get so lucky?” I ducked my head, a fire burning my cheeks. “You don’t have to be so embarrassed.”

  “You’re a grown-ass woman, and I’ve never done it. It’s a little embarrassing for
me.”

  “Why did you wait? Most guys would have gone for it by now.”

  “I grew up with great parents. They always worked things out, took great care of us. It was really my momma who made me want to wait for that right person.”

  “Your mum told you about the birds and the bees?”

  “Yeah.”

  There was that blush again. “Oh, Deke, you’re melting my heart.”

  “Good. She explained to me that sex was both a biological and an emotional process. She reminded me that animals do it, that all creatures reproduce, but she said that humans have a choice. They aren’t just ruled by their hormones. They’re ruled by their hearts. Sex can be mindless and about gratification, especially when you’re a guy and all you think about is sex. And believe me, that’s true. It wasn’t easy to curb my appetites. I jerked off a lot. But I made the decision to abstain until I found someone who meant something to me.” He looked deep into my eyes. “That someone is you, Minnie.”

  I kissed her.

  “You make it impossible to resist you.”

  Her kiss…God, tonight her kiss was enough to undo me. We’d barely begun, and she was already primed to take me to the edge, and I realized I’d never been there before now. I might have thought I was, but I couldn’t remember any encounter, any other woman, any other kiss. She made a sound in the back of her throat, the kind certain to draw a man’s attention and get him hard, and my body heeded the call. She felt so good.

  Instinct slid my hands up under her shirt, one smooth sweep of my palms up to her bra, and for a second she stopped breathing. I rubbed my thumbs across her nipples, making them hard and feeling the wonderful soft weight of her breasts in my hands and the amazing texture of lace over silken skin. She groaned into my mouth.

  The sound shot through me like wildfire. Geezus. I didn’t question it any further—nothing had ever felt more right.

  I recognized lust, and it was running hot through my veins, but there was something more. Something beyond the burning ache I felt for her. Something fiercer, something with an edge of desperation I was trying to ignore and could barely comprehend. If this was love, I didn’t want to know. It was too soon. The emotion was too heavy and too demanding, too seriously naïve, and it made me a little crazy.

  Kissing her was already making me crazy. Her mouth was hot and wet and had gone from sweet to demanding. She wanted more, and I obliged, gently sucking on her tongue, setting a rhythm I matched with my hips. If she’d had any doubts before, she knew now what I wanted from her.

  Everything.

  I wasn’t ignorant about what to do. I had read up on it. I had wanted to find out how a woman responded to a man, what kinds of things turned them on, and there was a wealth of information about it on the net. I paid special attention to that soft, hot core of her that was the very source of her pleasure.

  “I’m going to take you upstairs. That damn elevator opens right into your place. I don’t want to be caught with my pants down.”

  She giggled and I smiled down into her face. I didn’t want to let her go, so with a quick movement, I swept her up against me. Her eyes widened and she laughed again, her face relaxed and so, so sweet. I went up the stairs and kissed her when we hit the hall. I was still kissing her when I entered her room.

  #

  Minnie

  I was losing it. Sinking into desire and confusion—and desire kept winning, every second, every heartbeat.

  I wasn’t proud of how I had behaved, what I had said to the press. I’d hurt him and I’d never forget his eyes and how they had wrecked me. I wished I could take it all back, but it wasn’t possible.

  When his lips lifted from mine, I said, softly, “Again, I’m very sorry, Deke.”

  “Accepted,” he said with that devastating grin, and his mouth lowered again to mine.

  I kept trying be very peeved with him for being so irresistible. But what he was doing with his mouth made anger a slippery emotion. The taste and smell of him made a muddle out of my attempt to do the right thing. Who wanted to be right when he was kissing me like this?

  I’d lasted merely seconds when he looked at my mouth, but had truly been lost the minute he’d said he’d been waiting for someone special.

  I was older than Deke and thought we weren’t compatible, but he was changing that every minute I was with him. He wanted me. He wanted me passionately, with his tongue halfway down my throat, his hands all over me, his breathing ragged. No rules, and nobody in control.

  The realization added a dark thrill to the whole heart-stopping experience of having Deke make love to my mouth. There was no other explanation of how he was kissing me. It was beyond my experience, transcending even the word. His slow, deliberate thrust of his tongue was simply intimate-speak for something much more daring.

  He released me, let me slide against all that brilliant muscle, and I groaned when he trailed his hand up under my skirt, and a moment’s panic stirred to life in my veins—too late. He had been unerring, his hand moving between my legs, where he cupped me with his palm, and at that point he knew as well as I just how much I wanted him.

  I had a moment of doubt. Not because I thought he would be clumsy or inept, but because he was so earnest, and I was so damned vulnerable, and everything I’d worked for, everything Verity had worked for, was on the line here. I didn’t want to be like Angela. I was too deeply into Deke to pull away, especially when his fingers slowly slid beneath my panties and began moving over me so very, very gently. The kiss came to a sudden, heart-catching stop, leaving both of us standing very still, breathing into each other’s mouths, hardly daring to move.

  “God, you are so soft,” he murmured against my lips. “So beautiful.”

  His words were hushed with emotion, charging my senses, and I knew the touch of his hand would not be enough, would never be enough. I wanted him the way I had him in my most carnal fantasies. I wanted him filling me up, driving me to the satisfaction of release. I wanted him to make me feel more like a woman than I had ever felt with a man my own age—and had no doubts he would be even better.

  #

  Deke

  I felt the surrender in her body, felt her soften against me in so many stirring ways, and I knew the battle had been won, if there had even been a battle. She was so feminine, sublime, the kind of woman who drove men mad. She was where the Wild Things were. Living up to that concept with every cell of her being just as I expected.

  Breaking off the kiss, but holding her where she stood, I murmured, “There’s something wild in you, Minnie. I want that.” The truth put a fierce edge on my desire. I reached for my jeans and pulled out a few condoms.

  “No surprises, Minnie.” My voice was husky when I held them up. “I want to be inside you and feel you come all over me.”

  “No surprises?” she said softly, her hands slipping up under my T-shirt as her gaze slid away from mine. “I don’t usually have an orgasm with a man inside me. So, I’m letting you know so you don’t think it’s you. All right?” Her confession was barely a whisper, and it was with obvious effort that she lifted her eyes back up to meet mine. “All I have to do is look at you and you…”

  Turn me on. She didn’t have to say it. I knew. I got exactly the same way, hot all over.

  She wasn’t blushing. Bold and fearless Minnie. Geezus, I wanted to be deep enough inside her to reach everything she could give. She didn’t come with a man inside her? She’d all but said her sex life was uneventful—and although I was experienced with my own dick, I had never touched a woman, or pleasured her.

  So, uh, no pressure.

  I wasn’t one to worry about getting her off with my dick. If that didn’t work, I would be inventive. The internet was a powerful learning tool for just about anything.

  I was also a very fast learner.

  Holding her gaze steadily with my own, I gently rubbed my thumb across her mouth and said, “No worries. I made sure one of my surfing projects was a woman’s anatomy. I was fascin
ated, turned on, and attentive, shug.” Then I leaned down and sucked on her neck.

  Then I moved to her jawline, her throat, across her collarbone, and all the while I was pushing her shirt up under her arms, exposing her breasts. When I got to her nipple with my tongue, she stiffened on a gasp, then melted on a groan when I pushed the cup up and covered her with my mouth and began to suck.

  Her reaction was erotic as hell, but not as erotic as having Minnie in my mouth. The taste of her skin was incredibly good. I devoured her with the gentle suction of my mouth.

  “The bed…I want to feel you on top of me.”

  I slid my hands up under her skirt again, cupping her bottom and stripping her underwear off her, then lifting her against the wall. Stepping between her legs, I pulled her against my crotch, seating her firmly against me. I pumped my hips uncontrollably, and she gasped, no doubt from the rough fabric of my jeans against my hard-on. I couldn’t handle direct contact right now. My mouth settled back on hers and I took it without control. I kissed her and we breathed each other in for a few minutes.

  “Back up,” she said softly and as her feet touched the floor, I reached for my belt buckle. I needed some relief; I needed her.

  When her hands came down to help, I let her take over and moved my hands back up to caress her breasts and take her mouth in another soul-shattering kiss.

  Oh, yeah, this was how it was supposed to be—her small hands working my belt buckle, unbuttoning my jeans. Her fingers pulled the tab on my zipper, grazing my erection, every move she made turning me on and winding me up tighter.

  When she pushed my pants down low on my hips and took my dick in her hand with languorous, rhythmic strokes, I groaned with the pure, mindless pleasure of it. Sliding my hand back up between her legs, I returned the favor, playing with her ever so gently, teasing her and exploring. It was heaven.

  Her soft, swollen, slick core was just how I wanted her, her most primal response in readiness for me—just because I was touching her. I knew we would be great together. I’d known it back in Suttontowne.