by Pamela Ann
Oh, I never knew that. Trista was going to spend time with him...
Taylor came back and handed the phone to Trista. “He wants to say hi.”
Now, I was jealous. I wanted to scream “what about me?” just as Trista greeted the love of my life. “How’s Canada treating ya, BC?” She then laughed at something he said. “Nah… he’s dressed as Scarface. Yeah, you bet! Of course, Bass. Yes, thank you. I’ll ask them tomorrow. Awesome! See you in six weeks, sweetie. Bye.” Trista was grinning like an idiot as she handed the phone back to its owner.
“Do you always have to blush when you talk to Bass?” Taylor shook his head in confusion.
Trista gave him a big kiss whilst slapping his ass. “Baby, I adore every single part of you, but what kind of question is that?” she asked it like it was already a given since it was Bass Cole and every damn woman on the planet would’ve reacted the same.
“Women,” Taylor murmured before he excused himself to get another beer.
“Hey!” Trista stopped him before he managed to enter the house. “Let’s take a picture really quick before we end up all drunk tonight!”
So, we posed for a picture with a drunk Magneto as our cameraperson. “One. Two. Three. Say, bitch please!”
After a few clicks, Magneto and Scarface strode inside to get some booze, talking about hair gel?
Word.
“Hey, hey, heeeeey! Here’s my pussy dolls!” Lindsey sashayed her way towards us, obviously tipsy. “What y’all doing here, hmm? Let’s see!” She snatched Trista’s phone before giggling, hard. “Trista! You bad, bad, naughty you.” Then they both started laughing.
But the joke was lost on me. “Okay, care to tell me what is in her phone?”
Lindsey shoved the phone at me before laughing again.
“YOU FUCKING DIDN’T! TRISTA!!!!!!!” Sent. I stared at that word, aghast and about to have a panic attack.
“Oh! COME ON! It’s just a little, nice, harmless reminder.”
Harmless? Seriously? A collage of me with my costume on, another with a zoomed capture of my cleavage, another of me with my naked backside and lastly, another picture of me making out with Bass while we were on the yacht that summer. With a caption: Miss me yet?
She sent it to Bass. He probably thought it was me who sent it.
Oh, God! Oh, God. How embarrassing.
“He wanted a picture of Taylor dressed as Scarface and I ended up sending more than intended,” Trista explained as her phone beeped. She checked the damn thing, knowing it was Bass who was sending her a message.
“What’d it say?” Lindsey curiously asked.
“You guys look great together. Enjoy Carter’s party. I’ll see you both in six weeks,” Trista spoke whilst reading the message.
Ouch. I flinched inwardly at the blatant rejection.
Fucking ouch.
“Well, that sounds gay.” Lindsey pouted as she slung her arm around my neck. “It’s not the end of the world, babe. Let’s go back inside and see Austin Powers for some booze. I think it’ll do us both a world of good if we could just dance the night away.”
“A shot would do.” Or a dozen.
One hour, two shots of Patron and two sake bombs later, the four of us—along with Taylor—hovered around the bar area. The alcohol was taking forever to work and I needed it to work like right the fuck now.
When I ordered another shot, Austin Powers suggested a boob shot.
Eh?
“It’s easy! You can try it on me.” Lindsey suggested, in her dominatrix, sexy cop outfit.
Meh. “Why the fuck not? Let’s do it.”
Lindsey dipped her finger in my shot and wetted her cleavage before sprinkling it with salt, while Amber had a piece of lemon atop her breasts.
“I swear my friends aren’t usually this kinky!” I could hear Trista making excuses for us to Taylor.
Bending over, I stuck my tongue out and licked all the salt from her cleavage before my teeth caught the shot glass. Pulling it slowly before tipping it with swift succession and launching myself at Amber’s boobage, then biting into the lemon slice with a shiver coursing through me.
Lemon.
A fucking lemon!
Fuckity-fuck-fuck.
“What the fuck’s going on here?” Carter. “Don’t give anymore body shots to my fucking sister and my girl. They’re causing a scene,” he barked at someone. Possibly at Austin Powers and Dr. Evil who were behind me.
“Sorry, sir,” someone apologized, but I didn’t glance to check who it was.
Because Carter had just found me, I saw the change of annoyance to the primal hunger in a second as he slowly scrutinized me from head to foot like I was a mirage or something.
My girl. I wasn’t his, but he still called me that.
“Damn, am I the only one getting excited here? Is it hot or what?” Trista interjected, but Carter was too focused on me to hear her.
The heat from his gaze turned me on—a tad. When Carter didn’t say anything, I strode towards him and stuck my tongue down his throat. Okay, maybe I was more than a tad turned on, but hell, I missed having someone look at me that way. I vowed then that I was going to enjoy single life to the maximum.
Carter and I were so consumed with each other that we forgot we were in the middle of a party, his party, until Amber reminded us that the auction was starting in ten minutes. “You need to let go of the prize, please?” Amber cleared her throat as she tried to unclasp Carter’s grip from my hips.
“I’m not letting go, Amber.” Carter kissed my forehead before we joined the rest with a frowning Lindsey.
“Really? Of all the guys to choose from, you had to choose him again for your rebound? Don’t you want variety?” Lindsey clearly wasn’t all too happy about the make-out session.
Carter groaned in exasperation at his sister. “Are you insinuating that Emma should sleep around? Are you freaking kidding me! You’re my sister for crying out loud! A little support would be nice.”
She just rolled her eyes at him. As always, when it came to her brother, Lindsey loved him, yeah, but she was pretty harsh when she dished out her opinion of her brother.
“Well, if it makes a difference, I’m actually going on a date with Jeremy from the Lacrosse team on Monday,” I announced to my friends, but Taylor’s disapproval didn’t go unnoticed.
I get that he was Bass’s friend, but a little support would be nice since I now considered him a good friend, too.
“Jeremy Long? Damn, girl. Work it!” Amber cheered me on while I saw a smile break from Lindsey’s face.
“Thank Heavens! You need to date as much as you can. Jeremy Long would be a nice start.”
Yes, he definitely was, I silently agreed as I remembered the guy in question.
“Date as much as you want, as long as you don’t kiss or do anything else with any of these guys, I can be somewhat okay with that,” Carter leaned into me, whispering into my ear.
I was more than taken aback. Did he just say that?
I gave him a look, as if mishearing him.
“As long as I get to be the only man to kiss you,” he then added in a husky tone that made me think of the other places he wanted to kiss.
Trista blatantly started clearing her throat loud enough for the entire area to hear. “I’m taking it that you’re going to outbid anyone at the auction?” Trista inquired, her tone was back to business.
“That’s already a given, Tris.”
A sweet smile plastered on her face. “How about we make a deal, Mason. You get to have your prize this very second, if you promise to write a check ten times the amount of the winning bid.”
Devious… she was making me her bait to raise more money. Smart, but fucking devious.
“Sold.” Carter then focused on me, holding me close. “And as for my prize, I want you in my bedroom, away from all these men checking you out.”
Bedroom? Yes, please. I was more than ready to be kissed all night long. I may be in my alcohol-induce
d self, but I wanted to be wanted tonight. Especially after being humiliated earlier with that stupid photo. TLC was in order.
“Eww… Carter.” Lindsey made a disgusted sound before her brother led me out of there and up towards his bedroom.
The second the door was shut, Carter roughly threw me on his bed, got on top of me as he splayed my legs open, nestled directly against my mound before he made a sexy growl and ravished my lips.
“I knew you’d come back. I just knew,” he whispered in between kisses before cupping my latex-clad butt cheek as he rubbed his hardened length against my core.
“Carter—”
“I know… no sex, just foreplay, but with no penetration until you give me the green light. I’m okay with that, Em, as long as you promise that no guy gets to touch you.”
“Are you sure? I mean, I don’t want you to think that I’m using you because, let’s face it, I sort of am. Besides, I don’t want you to think that this will be a surefire approach to getting me back as your girlfriend. I don’t want anything holding me down. I just don’t want complications, that’s all.”
“Emma, I know all of this already, but thank you for giving me a warning anyway. Let’s face it, baby, I’m already yours. If this is the direction you’re heading, then I will support you as long as you promise to tell me the moment you let another man kiss you. Deal?”
“Will you be seeing other women? Like Amanda and Cece with ménages on the side?”
The moment I mentioned their names, he tensed up, still I felt his heartbeat against my breasts.
“I’m sorry, Emma. I’ve been paying every single day for cheating on you. No, there won’t be any woman on the side, front, or back; there will only be you.”
I don’t like sharing and I knew we weren’t exclusive, but I’d appreciate the same courtesy as he requested himself of me.
Smiling, I wrapped my legs around his backside. “Okay… so we’re…”
“Cruising, Emma.” He licked my earlobe, rolling his hips simultaneously. “Gliding slowly, gently; calmly cruising. Until you find your way back to me.”
For a month, I sort of avoided him. Now that he knew the score with me, knew where I stood, then I was okay with this semi-friends with semi-benefits relationship.
Cruising, I liked that.
Chapter 19
February
Dallas, Texas
“One thing you can’t hide—is when you’re crippled inside.”
- John Lennon
Bass
It was the fifth night out on location. I was still drumming from my memories of Greece. It’s been five months, two weeks, three days and twelve hours since I last saw her.
Not a day passed that I woke up and thought of her. She was always there—smiling, laughing and waiting—calling out to me to come back.
Memories were all I had left.
The urge to buy that island was so prevalent on my mind as the days passed. That place held something special for me and I wanted to keep it, even if she wasn’t a part of my life anymore.
I spent Christmas with Trista’s family and Taylor in my cabin in Interlaken. Whenever Trista mentioned her, I pretended that I wasn’t interested to hear them.
But one night, curiosity won me over as I shared a drink with Taylor, catching up as we did so.
I swirled my cognac as I watched the flames in the fireplace dance before my very eyes. “How is Emma?” I distractedly asked, trying not to sound desperate. From the Halloween picture Trista sent, she looked—I think she simply looked like—home. I didn’t know how many hours I spent staring at that picture collage Trista sent, getting drunk with it, sometimes even talking to it as if it was really her in front of me. Deep down, I knew, I had lost it then.
Taylor eyed me for a moment, knowing it was the first time I had said her name after that day we broke up. “She’s great. She got offered a small part in the new film that stars Chris Mallory. She’s supposed to be his ex, or something along those lines.”
I was pleased that Barbara followed through with my request to put Emma in another film. She needed exposure. Even though that provocative (too provocative that it made me almost fire Barbara for going overboard) GQ shoot provided enough, she still needed more solid acting chops to back her up. A small part here and there would give her credibility. Add in her main role in Blasphemous, I had no doubt in my mind that she was going to be high on demand—after Blasphemous was out in theatres. She had a few more months to go. It was enough time to build her portfolio and I ordered Barbara a week after we broke up to make sure this was going to happen.
I was one of her main top clients and the easiest one to work with. I didn’t demand much, but when I did, Barbara knew I meant business.
Even though we weren’t together, it didn’t mean that I wasn’t going to help her get to where she needed to be. Emma admitted that she wanted to act, so I was going to help her get there.
“Is she dating anyone?”
“Anyone? Nah, she’s dating everyone. She goes on dates almost on a daily basis. The girls are merely having a blast with it. The stories Trista shares sometimes are really fucking funny.”
What the fuck happened to Carter Mason? “Carter’s done with her?”
“Carter?” Taylor shook his head with a ‘pft’ sound before he continued talking. “He’s around because he’s so crazy about her. I swear, each time I see him look at Emma, I always get reminded of how you guys looked at each other.”
Yes, that was before I found out she kept things from me. I bet it didn’t take her long to seek Carter’s bed after we broke up. The thought of it brought bitterness back to surface. “He’s around while she dates? How’s that possible?”
“Those two have a thing, but Emma remains single.”
They always had a thing. It was the reason why I couldn’t stay with her. Even that scream—the one after I told her to leave my house—randomly still wakes me up in the middle of the night. Even when consumed with demonic rage after learning about that ring, I actually stopped in the foyer, contemplating if I should head back upstairs to soothe her before leaving. That meant that I had to be close to her again, though, and I simply couldn’t take the chance because, when it came to Emma, I turned into a besotted, pathetic fool.
I loved her, with no design or embellishments.
Just her.
Emma.
It was past one in the morning, yet I was wide-awake, thinking of her again. One would think that after months of doing the same thing on a daily basis that one would be past nostalgic. It was never the case, sadly. Though I wished it was so.
I was out on the balcony, enjoying a drink, when I heard someone knock on my door.
“Nikki?”
The raven beauty gave me an easy smile. “I couldn’t sleep. I’m glad you aren’t either. Want to enjoy a drink and exchange gossip?”
I shrugged, grinning and opening the door wider to let her through. “Sure. I have tons of secrets that you might find shocking.” A frown creased my face when Nikki stopped mid-step. “Something wrong?” I looked around, hoping I could see the reason as to what made her halt.
“You’re tidy. I don’t see any socks on the floor or any empty bottles sitting around.” Nikki spun around, smiling and looking like the beautiful woman that she was. “I’m impressed.”
Nikki was flirting and, for the first time in months, I didn’t mind that a woman was. “Not all men are alike. You should know that by now.”
“Yeah, I know now.” She gave me a sultry smile before she strolled towards the balcony, admiring the view of Dallas below.
Inserting my hands in my pockets before leaning against the sliding door, my eyes took her in. Nikki was pretty and had a nice figure, but she wasn’t Emma. Deep down, I knew no one would ever come close, but Emma was the past. And the Russian beauty was here, in my room, waiting on me to make a move.
We were working on our second bottle of wine together when she blurted something out of the blue. �
�Do you remember the first time we met? The MTV Video Music Awards?”
I nodded and took a lengthy sip, my eyes trained on her.
She purposely bit her lip as she seductively looked at me. “I was so nervous that I stuttered when we were introduced. I had this huge crush on you and, when you were right in front of me, I was just speechless because you were so much hotter in person.”
Yeah, I remembered her stuttering. I thought it odd since I didn’t recall her doing so in any of her films. Yeah, her blatant admission made me smile. “Is that so?”
“Yep. It is so.”
Women… always giving themselves away. Well, all but one.
Nikki kept her eyes on me, giving me lingering glances while I took a lengthy sip of my wine. “How do you find me now?” I flirted back automatically.
“I want to fantasize about you all night long,” she delivered without hesitation. Nikki knew what she wanted and she went after it. That it was me.
I leaned back, studying and measuring her, a little curious. “What’s in the fantasy?”
She tsk-tsked before batting her lashes with those big brown eyes. “I’m not going to tell you. You have to find that out for yourself, Bass. Even though you’re so fucking hot I can’t think straight, you still have to figure some things out on your own.”
Ahh… she was playing me out, to see if I really was going to bite the bait she was offering. “Don’t get too confident there, I may not be interested to figure you out.”
“Bite me, Bass, because that day will come.” Nikki immediately stood up, came towards me and kissed my cheek. “Sweet dreams… or do you want those dreams turned into reality?”
“Goodnight, Nikki. Dream sweet.”
“I will dream, but I haven’t tasted how sweet you are. Goodnight, Bass.” She brazenly planted a simple kiss on my lips before leaving me. I watched after her retreating form as she strolled out of my room.
She wanted me to fuck her. Nothing new there.
If I was horny, I just might, but I wasn’t. I haven’t touched a woman since Emma and I had no idea now how long this celibacy was going to last.