Embraced by a Donovan

by A. C. Arthur

  She’d ordered a mojito and he’d gone with his favored cranberry and vodka. He waited while she lifted the glass to her lightly glossed lips and took a sip.

  “It’s not good?” he asked in response to her immediate frown.

  “No,” she said quickly. “No. It’s fine. I just haven’t had a drink this strong in a long time.”

  Parker nodded, not sure he believed that excuse but determined to press for answers to the bigger questions. “So you were finished with modeling, after how long? Ten years? You’re the most famous supermodel I know and you walked away from that altogether without blinking an eye. I’ve got to wonder why.”

  “No, you don’t,” she replied frankly. “I was ready for a change and I made it. I’ve always wanted to act, so I finally decided to go ahead and take some acting classes.”

  “Which was a really smart move, by the way. A lot of people believe because they’re successful in one sort of creative position that they can easily transition to another. You would be amazed at how many singers wanted to read for the part you snagged.”

  She tilted her head at his words, her eyes assessing him. “Actually, I’m sure there were lots of very talented actresses in addition to the singers that were interested in the part. So, something I’ve wondered on and off for the past year is, did you give me the job simply because of who I am, or did you really believe I had something to bring to this show?”

  Cards on the table, Parker thought, remembering what his grandfather Isaiah Donovan used to say to him. ‘Don’t play games with a woman unless you’re willing to at some point put all your cards on the table, because that woman will beat you, and beat you good if you don’t’.”

  It was a little early to be thinking along those lines with Adriana, still, as Parker took a drink and set his glass back on the round paper coaster, he decided what the hell. “The meeting with Jaydon came as a favor to your family. My cousin Trent is more than pleased with his partner Sam Desdune and Sam said you were much more than a looker. Both he and his sister Bree made calls on your behalf, so that Jaydon felt a little more than obligated to meet with you.”

  She nodded and then sighed, as if she’d known all along. But she didn’t know, not all of it, Parker thought.

  “I had to reschedule our meeting twice,” he reminded her. “Scheduling conflicts since all of the family were headed to the reunion in Sansonique. I was the only one to stay here, so I was juggling a lot. But I knew I had to meet with you. Jaydon kept calling me. She’d sent me your headshots and a long memo she’d written about her meeting with you. I must have looked at those pictures a thousand times before we actually met.”

  At his last sentence her eyes had widened, her hands going still on the napkin that she’d been unfolding and re-folding since she’d put her drink down.

  “I’d seen you before,” he continued. “I mean, how anyone blessed with sight could not have seen a picture of you at some point in the last ten years, was totally unreal. But these pictures seemed different, more personal I kept thinking. Possibly because I wasn’t looking at them as a bystander anymore, but as a potential employer. And even, as far removed as a few states and family members, as a close family friend.”

  “I take a lot of pictures,” she said, licking her lips nervously.

  His gaze followed the movement of her tongue, the quick flickering as it came out, touching every crevice of her lips, only to slip back inside the warmth of her mouth. He’d resisted the urge to moan, and shifted slightly in his chair in an effort to inconspicuously adjust the position of his growing arousal.

  “You do and I’d seen a good number of them. I knew I finally needed to see you in person the first night I dreamed about you.”

  There, he thought, come back with something quick and witty this time. He dared her.

  She stopped fiddling with the napkin, letting her hands slip slowly from the table to sit in her lap.

  “Do you think you’re the first guy to say they’ve dreamt about me after staring at my pictures?” she asked, her voice eerily quiet. “When I was nineteen after I’d already been to Milan, Prague, Venice and back to New York, I received a box in the mail. The card was nice enough, saying he was thinking about me and stuff like that. I was flattered at first. Then I opened the box and lifted the vial out. For endless seconds I simply stared at it. My brother Rico was the one who snatched it out of my hand, cursing as he then grabbed the box and the card tossing all of it into the trashcan. It took me another couple of hours to digest that this guy had thought about me so much he’d jacked off and thought it made sense to send me a souvenir of his efforts.”

  She looked up at him then and try as he might, Parker didn’t think he was doing a good enough of job keeping the stunned look from his face. An elegantly arched brow lifted as she settled her gaze on him, the corner of her mouth tilting slightly to form a smirk instead of a smile, even though she’d chuckled wryly.

  “Dreaming about me doesn’t impress me, Parker. Anyone can dream, it doesn’t mean I’ll like or even appreciate what they’d managed to come up with in their mind. Besides, I try to live in the here and now. Not much room for dreams in my life anymore.”

  Parker felt like kicking himself. No, actually, and for the first time in his life he felt like crawling beneath the table and hiding until she’d finished her dinner and left without him. Of course, none of that was something he seriously considered doing, because that just wasn’t him. But he did understand what she was trying to tell him. If he wanted to get to her, he had to come better than that.

  Well, he’d never backed down from a challenge in his life, so he wasn’t about to start now.

  “Maybe what you need is someone to show you that dreams—some of them, the really good ones that linger in your mind for hours and even days after you’ve awakened—can come true,” he told her, pausing as their food was delivered.

  She bowed her head, praying quietly over the chicken quesadillas she’d ordered. Parker had watched her, saw the close of her eyes, the fanning of long lashes against her cheeks. He waited while she lifted her head slowly, until her gaze came back to him.

  “I don’t think you need me to tell you that you’re beautiful or that with just the blink of an eye you do something that has the ability to take my breath away. No,” he said with a shake of his head. “I won’t tell you any of that. Instead, I’ll say your food smells delicious, but doesn’t look like hardly enough. Here, have some of mine.”

  He dug into his bucket taking out a lobster claw and an ear of corn, placing them both on her plate before bowing his head and blessing his own food. She didn’t speak but Parker figured she wanted to respond. She wanted to argue, to say that she had enough to eat, that she didn’t need him to make any of her dreams come true and probably some more of the independent thoughts that she liked to fill her mind with. But he didn’t give her the chance.

  The second he’d heard her stomach growl back at the studio he’d been pissed that she’d been worked so long with nothing to eat. The haunted look in her eyes when she’d relayed that story about some pervert sending his semen in a vial to her as some sort of token of adoration had made him want to find that guy and bust his nose for being such an ass. But that silent, resigned tone she’d spoken in of not being impressed by dreams had scraped across his chest like heated blades and he knew without any doubt at all that whatever he had to do, to say, to make her happy, he would.

  He cracked his lobster perfectly, dipping the chunk of meat into the melted butter and put it in his mouth. “Mmm, this is so good. You have to try it.”

  When she only blinked back at him, he reached over once more, taking the lobster claw he’d put on her plate and performed the same motions he’d just done with his own. This time he held the meat dripping with butter close to her mouth.

  “Taste it, Adriana. It’s delicious,” he said, his voice thick.

  Her lips parted slowly, her head moving forward until her teeth sank down into the meat. He did
groan this time, couldn’t help himself as she took the bite and licked her lips once more. Lips that he fully planned to kiss sooner, rather than later.

  #

  As if he’d made a silent plea, the rest of the dinner with Adriana passed with pleasant conversation. On his part there was nothing more about making her dreams come true, although he was hungrily consuming every word she spoke, and the ones she didn’t, for ways to eventually prove his point to her. As for Adriana, she’d eaten her quesadillas, and the lobster claw and the corn. She’d only drank half her mojito but sipped more on the iced water instead. Her shoulders had relaxed and she’d even laughed when Parker had told her the story of Regan and his cousin Bailey catching him video-taping them dancing and rapping a Queen Latifah song. He’d figured she would find it funny since the story ended with Regan and Bailey pushing him onto the bed and rolling him in the sheets, then down the hallway where they knocked on his parents’ bedroom door then ran, leaving him there bundled up too tightly to break loose on his own.

  If his pride had been bruised, it was immediately soothed by the deep, rich laughter that came straight from her gut, and shining in her deep brown eyes.

  They’d shared an ice cream sundae for dessert, dripping in caramel because she said she liked that. Parker had quickly taken the cherry and ate it the moment the sundae was delivered because if he’d had to watch her eat it he might have broken all the Donovan man rules by coming in his pants. No, he shook his head at the memory as he followed behind her in his car, on his way to her apartment, he couldn’t even bring himself to think about that now. His body was still too tense with desire.

  She lived in a high-rise apartment building on South Biscayne Drive. It looked descent enough from the outside, but Parker was certain he wanted her someplace better, safer, and possibly closer to him. He was smart enough not to verbalize any of that as he parked his car right next to hers in the garage.

  “I don’t really think it’s necessary for you to escort me all the way to the door,” she said when she’d walked to the end of her car where he stood waiting for her.

  “Nonsense,” he replied, taking her elbow in hand and leading her towards the elevators. “My mother taught me to always walk a date to the door and see her safely inside.”

  “This wasn’t a date,” she quickly said, not looking at him as she reached to press the elevator button.

  “Okay, I’ll give you that one. But you’re a woman and I’d actually rather ignore your insistent remarks about being independent enough to do everything on your own, then the wrath I’d endure from Carolyn Donovan if she ever got wind of the fact that I’d let you walk up to your apartment by yourself.”

  She opened her mouth to speak as he led her onto the elevator, then replied, “Yeah, I guess I know what you mean,” once they were inside.

  “I guess that means you get the wrath from your parents too,” he said leaning back against the wall as the elevator began to move.

  She shook her head. “My mom and my dad, each on different subjects, each equally as annoying.”

  “Is that why you’re so intent on doing things on your own?”

  She stood about two feet away from him, leaning against the wall as well. She thought it was a safe distance. She had no damned idea. He could be on her in seconds, his fingers itched to run through the length of her hair, scraping along her scalp spreading all that lustrous length out behind her. It would take a second to simply pull her in front of him, locking his arms behind her, palms on her ass, lips…

  “I always feel like I’m proving myself to people. My parents, my agent, the world.” She stopped and sighed, letting her head fall back. “Now you and your family.”

  He thought about simply answering her, telling her she was wrong, he didn’t expect her to prove anything to him. Then she would get off this elevator and go into her apartment and he’d be stuck waiting until tomorrow or possibly even the next day to see her again.

  Parker had never been very good at waiting.

  He moved quickly, until the second she lifted her head and looked up, he was right there, his face only inches away from hers.

  “You don’t have to prove anything to me, Adriana. Not a damned thing.”

  His voice was husky, his body tense and ready to actually combust if he didn’t just touch, just taste…and so he did.

  “Not one thing,” he whispered again, his lips coming down slowly over hers.

  Chapter 5

  Here it finally was. The moment she’d been contemplating for months, the second when their lips collided in a kiss that she’d imagined would be explosive, when really, she had no idea.

  He’d taken her by surprise, coming to stand directly in front of her, one hand grasping the back of her neck, the other slipping seductively to the small of her back. It was a firm grip he had on her, a dominant and totally alluring one that immediately set her heart to racing. She’d only had enough time to blink in the quick seconds that passed from the time he’d touched her, to when he looked down at her from hooded eyes, his words whispered and lost somewhere in the flurry of anticipation.

  She’d watched as he’d closed in, his lips parting just before they touched down upon hers. There was no use at that moment to try and keep her eyes open because the connection instantly felt like a drug being administered through the quickest way possible. An immediate burst of desire shooting through her body as if she’d had some sort of transfusion. This wasn’t soft, nor was it romantic on any level. It was hot, pure and simple.

  The quick thrust of his tongue making contact with hers sending tendrils of pleasure up and down her spine. Her knees went instantly weak and her hands quickly clasped his shoulders as she leaned forward to keep from falling. But she wouldn’t have hit the floor because he held her firmly. Her breasts pressed against the hard board of his chest, his thick erection prodding against her mound. He tilted his head, deepening the kiss, pushing her back to the wall while his mouth expertly maneuvered over hers.

  There was a loud ding and the sound of the elevator doors opening and Adriana’s heart lurched once more. Parker, however, moved at a slower pace now, pulling his mouth away from hers in a motion that seemed almost regretful. His eyes opened as their connection was severed. They were darker now, a gray and green mixture that was both intense and alluring. Her fingers still dug into his shoulders, but this time with the urge to bring them upward, to touch the chocolate-hued skin of his cheeks. She would hold right there, and this time kiss him, taking her time to explore and enjoy once more. It wouldn’t be like she was being greedy because he’d started it. And there was no sense in denying that she wanted…quite, possibly, needed more.

  “We should go,” he said softly. Yet, he didn’t make any motion to move. To the contrary, he dipped low again, this time his lips barely brushing along hers.

  She tilted her head, puckered slightly, loving that whisper-soft motion. Her tongue darted out, stroking his thicker, lower lip, and she was rewarded with a deep groan from him that was further signified by his hips thrusting forward, his length pressing harder upon her. Adriana gasped as her center pulsated, her vaginal lips throbbing.

  “Yes,” she replied in a breathy whisper. “We…um…we should go.”

  He did move away from her then, turning quickly to catch the elevator doors just as they were beginning to close again. He put a hand up between them and they re-opened. With a nod of his head he signaled for her to move and she did, getting herself out of that elevator and what she thought was a safe distance from Parker. But when he stepped off the elevator he resumed his place right next to her, this time lacing his arm around her waist, keeping her close as they walked down the hallway toward her apartment.

  “It’s 409, near the end,” she said before cleaning her throat. She thought about pulling away from him but figured that would be silly since the terrific lip-lock they’d just shared a few seconds ago. Instead, she straightened her back and let the warmth continue to move through her as they
walked in silence.

  At her door he simply held out a hand and she, after a couple seconds of wondering why, Adriana finally reached into her purse and handed him her keys. He opened the door, pushing it wide and when she took the step to go inside, looked up and was about to thank him for the evening, found herself being drawn up against him once more. This time it was with less strength, less impulsivity, she figured. He’d moved just a fraction slower than he had in the elevator, tilting his head until his lips were again on hers.

  She laced her arms around his neck this go round, letting him pull her until she was up on her tiptoes, his hands both cupping her ass tightly. Hungry, no doubt, they devoured each other this time, heavy breathing competing with dueling tongues. His hands squeezed her cheeks tightly and her nails dug into his shoulders in an equally primal mood.

  Adriana felt like she was drowning, as if her legs were steadily treading water, trying desperately to keep her head afloat while the magnificent ministrations of his hands and tongue, the deep guttural moans and the rhythmic thrusts of his hips against hers, wanted only to drag her down to the point where he would undoubtedly conquer all. It would be glorious, she knew. Having sex with Parker Donovan would be perfection. It would be better than the dismal sexual exploits she had under her belt so far—the ones that were quick and sweaty and left her wondering what the hell all the fuss was about in the first place. Was it sad that she was twenty-seven years old and had yet to enjoy an orgasm as earth-shattering as she’d read about? Hell yeah!

  Did she think Parker Donovan had the goods to shatter the earth, the planets in orbit, the moon and back? Most definitely!

  But she wasn’t ready to find out. She couldn’t be. This was more complicated than just one night of pleasure. There was so much more at stake, for both of them.

  This time she pulled away, quickly and totally, dropping her hands to her side and hurried into her apartment.