That killed the laughter in the air.
Leah shifted. “That’s not the only reason I came. I’m sorry that I reacted the way I did the other night. I know you are doing everything you can, and it wasn’t your fault, any of the things that happened. I just want you to promise me that you won’t do anything stupid and go after Derek and his friends.”
“You’re right,” I said. “I was a dangerous person to be around. But it’s too late—I’ve already gone after Derek. I went to the warehouse and confronted him yesterday. Made him confess what he did, and I got to knock him out.”
“You what?”
“I wasn’t going to knock him out. But he ran at me. I got the entire conversation on tape, though, and gave it to the cops. He’s toast, Leah. Clark, too.”
“You didn’t kill him?”
“No. That isn’t me. Not anymore. Not since you changed me.”
Her eyes closed and she took a deep breath. I couldn’t know how much it had been hanging over her head that the men who had tried to rape her were still at large, but when she looked at me her eyes were bright.
“Thank you, Chris.”
She hugged me.
I pulled her tight, savoring the feeling I didn’t think I would ever have again. “They deserved it, for what they did. And a lot of other things besides that. Derek was a terrible person, and he had a way of making everyone around him worse. That included me for a long time, but you helped change that.”
She looked up at me, and I couldn’t resist. I kissed her.
It was soft, sweet. A desperate fire burned inside of me for her, but no hint of it made it into the kiss.
I brushed her cheek with my thumb. “I love you, Leah. I think I always have.”
Her eyes grew wide. “Chris, I…”
I shushed her. “You don’t have to say it back, especially not now. I just had to tell you.”
Leah shook her head. “It’s not that. I love you too.”
The way she said it made it clear it wasn’t all she had to say.
“But?”
“But I’m leaving for Los Angeles.”
“What? When? Why?”
“Tomorrow. I have an audition for a movie. And if I get it, then I stay there for a month or two for filming. Chris, I love you and I want to work on whatever this is, but it will have to wait for now. I can’t say no to my dreams.”
Chris’ eyes were dark, unreadable.
I hadn’t lied. I wanted to try things with Chris and see how they worked out. And I was going to Los Angeles no matter what.
But I didn’t want to wait. Not when I was here, in his arms.
“You love me,” Chris said. It was a statement. I nodded anyway.
The next thing I knew, his lips crushed mine in a bruising kiss. The last one had been soft and sweet, but this one blazed with passion.
I’d tried to stay away from even thinking about Chris after the assault, but it had been next to impossible. He was like an addiction I couldn’t shake, and I finally had to admit the truth: I didn’t want to.
“Yes,” I whispered when his mouth dropped to my collarbone. His tongue teased the skin in between playful nips, each bite sending heat straight between my legs.
He only wore a simple shirt and jeans. I pulled his top off in a hurry, eager to see his body once again. I only had to unbutton his jeans and unzip them before they fell to the floor.
He attacked my clothes with a similar determination, and soon I was down to only my panties as he covered my breast with his mouth, his tongue swirling around my nipple and making me throw my head back in pleasure.
I found myself back in his arms and wrapped my legs around him as he carried me to the bedroom. His manhood was hard against me through the thin lace of my panties, pressing against me with his need.
Within seconds of my back hitting the bedspread, he tore my panties off and tossed them aside.
Chris crawled after me, on his elbows between my legs.
“You are such a gorgeous creature,” he said, eyes intense as his gaze warmed my skin. “Every part of you.”
With that he dipped his head down and I felt his hot breath between my legs as he gently licked me all the way from the bottom to the top.
He took his time, first tasting, then eating, and then devouring. My passions rose with his intensity, energy crackling along my fingertips as bursts of sensation drove me higher.
The thing that pushed me over the edge wasn’t his tongue. It was his groans, the audible sign of how much what he was doing turned him on.
I clutched his hair as I came, his lips surrounding my clit and tongue giving it long, steady strokes.
“Chris! Don’t stop!” I shook as wave after wave overtook me, muscles contracting in their wake.
I pulled him up toward me and kissed him hard. His efforts had turned me on even more, and I wouldn’t be satisfied until I’d experienced all of him.
He held me close as he entered me, his cock filling me deeply. I’d missed the feeling, like a missing piece of me had returned.
“Make love to me,” I asked him. I wanted more than just sex. I needed him to show me how much I meant to him.
We kissed as he moved within me, his lips gentle, playful. He took my bottom lip between his teeth and held it there for a second, and I returned the favor.
He buried his head beside me as I kissed his neck and ran my hands along his muscled back. I encouraged him with my mouth, hands and body, showing him my love.
The climb to climax was slow and luxurious. Chris and I completely wrapped each other up, conscious of every breath, every heartbeat.
I could sense him getting to the edge, his hips moving more urgently, his manhood grew even harder and larger inside of me. His passion sparked my own, and as he came, I followed him off the ledge into a long, drawn-out explosion of pleasure.
He groaned and stilled as we caught our breath. My hands stroked his back, content to lie there and be in the moment, enjoying his presence.
“I love you,” I said the words again, getting that thrill, like I was doing something wrong. It couldn’t be wrong, though, because it felt so right.
He lifted his head back up so he could stare into my eyes. “I love you too, Leah. Now and always.”
“I’ll miss you.” I didn’t know how I would get through a couple months without him. Would we grow apart if I got the role and stayed in Los Angeles? What if there was another part after this one and I stayed out there?
“It’s just for a short time. We’ve survived worse.”
I smiled. “I hope you’re right.”
It’s a hell of a lot warmer here.
I’d never been to California before. I’d never been much of anywhere outside of New York. It was tough to justify spending money going on trips when you had to help support your mother and three little brothers.
The cabbie pulled to a stop. “Here’s the studio. That’ll be thirty-four bucks.”
I nodded and handed him two twenties. “Keep the change.”
As he sped away, I noted how easily I already threw away money. It was a bad habit to get into.
The studio was a big place, with lots of different buildings. I stopped in at the security booth.
“Hi, I’m here to see Leah Allen.”
He looked me up and down. “Does she know you’re coming?”
I grinned. “No, actually. But I’ve arranged it with Deborah, Herschel Drummond’s assistant. There should be a pass for me.”
“Chris?”
“That’s the one.”
“Can I see your ID, please?”
I passed it over.
“Here you are, sir. You’ll find them shooting in lot thirty-two.”
I thanked him.
It was a good walk to get there, but thankfully there were signs pointing out which direction to go. Once on the property with a pass around my neck, no one gave me a second look. I wasn’t able to say the same.
Was that Jennifer Lawrence?
When I got to the lot, they were in the middle of a shot. I crept in.
Leah stood at a bar with a handsome actor whose name I couldn’t recall. There were a bunch of extras milling around, pretending to have conversations as the cameras rolled.
“That’s the thing you’ve got to understand about me, Rick. I’m a woman with a lot of secrets.” Leah had on a stunning red dress that accentuated her curves.
The man leaned forward and put his hand on her arm. “I only care about one.”
“Cut! That’s the part we were missing. Take a break, everyone.” Herschel himself stood up from his chair and walked away from the set, holding his phone to his ear.
I edged closer to the actors standing on the set. The extras made actual conversation now, and it was impossible to hear anything over the general cacophony.
The male lead and Leah remained where they’d finished the scene, chatting. I snuck up behind her.
“I should give you one of my boyfriend’s songs. They’re amazing. It’s like the music just reaches inside of you and sets your heart racing.”
I placed my hand on her elbow. “Now, that’s nice of you to say. Do you always talk about me like that when I’m not there?”
She spun. “Chris!” Her arms came up around my neck and pulled me to her for a quick, deep kiss. “What the hell are you doing here? Did you get time off from the studio?”
I wasn’t able to give her the answer; she didn’t give me a chance. She kissed me again, this time long and slow enough to savor.
“Actually, I’m out here for good,” I said. I nodded toward the actor, who looked a bit sheepish at having a front row seat to our reunion. “I convinced Trevor to give us time at the Los Angeles studio instead.”
“You’re staying?” Leah’s green eyes lit up like Christmas morning. “For real?”
I wrapped my arm around her and brushed her hair back from her face. “I’m all yours."
I took Chris on a walk around the campus to show him some of the more interesting sights. There was a gigantic tank that held millions of gallons of water for shooting scenes as if they were at sea. At the moment two Spanish galleons stood off on the waters, cannons smoking as if they had shot actual cannonballs.
“This is so unreal,” he said, gazing at the tank. In real life, before the computer magic happened, it was obviously fake.
I smiled. There were two ways of looking at it. “We create dreams here, and weave stories from thin air. Even if the props aren’t real, the emotions they generate are.”
Those dark eyes sought my own, and as always my pulse pounded in my chest when he looked at me that way. “I guess that’s what we do, the two of us. My music and your acting… we try our best to make people feel emotion. We do what we can to pull people out of their day to day lives and make them a part of something bigger, if even for a moment.”
“Are you getting philosophical on me?” Chris had become more serious than I was accustomed to, and I couldn’t resist a chance to bring attention to the fact. We kept each other grounded.
“Maybe it’s just the moment,” he said.
“The moment?”
What is he talking about?
“I didn’t want to wait.” Chris took my hands in his and kissed me deeply. It wasn’t the bruising, passionate kiss that set instant fire to my loins, but rather the slow, deep kind that flooded me with love for him. The kind that showed me how much he cared for me.
He knelt down in front of me.
“Leah, I have never felt this connection, this fire with anyone else in my life. I know I’ll never feel anything like it except with you.”
He pulled a little box out of his pocket. It opened to reveal a sparkling ring, not small, but not ostentatious, either.
My breath caught in my throat. My heart hammered a crazed beat in my chest as my mind refused to connect the dots.
“Chris, what are you doing?”
He kissed my hand.
“Leah, will you marry me?”
I had thought of it—daydreamed about it. But I’d never in my life imagined that Chris would ask me, especially not this early in our relationship.
We had so little time together as a couple, but months of denial in which we’d discovered that no matter how much we tried to resist the temptation, there was an unstoppable pull that drew us together. An unlikely match, we perfectly balanced and complemented each other.
There was only one answer I could give.
“Yes. With all my heart, yes.”
When he slid the ring onto my finger and pulled me into an embrace, I kissed him with everything in my body.
Caught in his spell, I could hear his music in my pulse as it carried us away.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
D.G. Whiskey is a world traveller who uses experiences earned and relationships forged on the road to create vivid portraits of humanity. Number of countries visited is at 18 and rapidly climbing, with innumerable friends made along the way.
The heroes are always hot alphas and the heroines are clever and independent. The writing is confident, sexy and layered.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to take this opportunity to thank my editor Amber and all of my beta readers. This book would not be what it is today without your advice, guidance and input.
L.J. at Mayhem Cover Creations deserves massive recognition for designing a truly unique and eye-catching cover. I’ve fallen in love with it and so have many of my friends.
Finally, to every reader who has reached this point, I want to say thank you. Writing stories has been my passion for almost my entire life, and thanks to you I have a chance to live my dreams. I hope you enjoyed Pulse, and if so please review and share with family and friends!
I’d love it if you came along with me on my next adventure! Make sure you follow me on Facebook and sign up for the mailing list so you don’t miss the cover reveal and launch date of my next novel!
Pulse: A Stepbrother Romance Page 16