The anger lifted from her but she still wasn’t sober enough to have her brain-to-tongue filters back in place. “If you don’t mind me asking, what the fuck are you doing drinking in a VIP room by yourself?”
Elijah laughed at her emboldened drunken state. “Are you always this forthright when you’re drink?”
Lucy shrugged. “I guess so, yeah.” It didn’t even occur to her to try and pass herself off as not drunk.
He grinned with amusement. “I come here alone sometimes when I need to think. I know the owner and like I said, I love the drinks here. And the VIP area usually ensures that no one will bother me.”
“Most people go to the beach when they need to think.”
“There’s no alcohol in nature.”
Lucy chuckled and toasted him with her glass. “Touché.” She downed the last sip and stood abruptly.
He frowned. “Where are you going?”
“I have to get back to my friends.”
“Oh.” He licked his lips. He seemed suddenly fidgety and nervous. “I was hoping you would stay and keep me company for a bit.”
A part of her felt a little sad for him at that moment and she was about to say yes right before he added, “And then maybe we can go back to my hotel room for the night.” He winked, his confidence coming back in full swing.
“You were, huh?” Lucy leaned over and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Not this time, Elijah Redford,” she whispered in his ear. “You don’t always get to dictate the terms.”
She lingered for a moment before walking away. She didn’t look back, but she could feel his gaze on her all the way out the door.
As she walked downstairs, she was flush with excitement. She was incredibly proud of herself for standing up to Elijah Redford. She still couldn’t believe she had turned him down. But then again, she also couldn’t believe he had the gall to think that she’d actually sleep with him again after everything that went down.
There’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance, and Elijah Redford had crossed over that line some time ago. Lucy was done letting him make the rules.
When she returned to the bar table where she had left Beth and Michael, she was relieved to find that the hipster dude was gone. They had probably scared the poor guy off.
“You were gone for quite some time, little missy.” Michael announced suspiciously as she sat back down. “We were about to send out the search party for you.”
Lucy smirked. “You guys looked pretty occupied with Mr. Bushy Beard Hipster Dude.”
Michael rolled his eyes. “Oh, him.”
“So who got his digits?”
“And that would be me!” Beth raised her hand and let out a victory cheer, “High five!”
Lucy met her hand mid-air while Michael scoffed, “Straight people.”
“Oh, relax, you’ll get yours, Mr. Snarks-a-lot.” Lucy poked Michael in the ribs. “I’m sure the guy must’ve been totally flattered having the two of you clamoring for his attention.”
“He just doesn’t know what he’s missing.”
“You’re just a sore loser,” Beth teased.
“It wasn’t exactly fair. She picked him.” Michael rolled his eyes and pointed a finger at Beth.
“Yeah, right.” Beth gloated. “If you think that’s it, you pick the next guy and we’ll see who’s got more game. I betcha double or nothing that I win again.”
“You’re going down, girl!” Michael said jokingly as he started scanning the room for another eligible bachelor to hit up.
“You guys have fun with your game. I’m gonna finish my drink and then call a cab.” said Lucy.
Michael stopped what he was doing and looked at her with concern. “Are you sure, honey? You don’t want us to come with you?”
“I’ll be fine. You guys are on a roll. Besides, who am I to get in the way of some lucky dude from finding true love with the likes of one of you.”
Michael beamed at Lucy and leaned in to press a gentle peck on her cheek. “Thank you, dear. You really are the best!”
“You are!” Beth gushed while leaning in to give Lucy a hug.
“Michael, if you win, don’t feel obliged to come home for the night,” Lucy called out playfully to them.
Michael gasped, pretending to be outraged. Lucy couldn’t help but burst out laughing. She watched them carry on with their antics with a sense of satisfaction. She truly was on fire tonight.
She finished the rest of her cocktail just in time to see Elijah walking down the stairs. Their eyes locked instantly from across the room, and in that instant Lucy knew that soon enough she would be on fire in a whole different way.
* * *
It was another hotel suite, of course. The room had a spectacular view overlooking the whole city, and the Hollywood Hills were so close they almost seemed within reaching distance. But once again, Lucy hardly noticed the surroundings.
Elijah was every bit as passionate as he had been in Ojai, and Lucy was more than happy to return his affections. There was no doubt that there was a fire between them, and she was quite content to let herself burn.
As soon as Elijah was naked, she pushed him onto his back on the bed. She ran her fingertips lightly along the smooth skin of his torso and felt the shape of his muscles underneath her hands. Being on top was quite a powerful sensation for her. She leaned in to capture his mouth in a hungry kiss. She tugged lightly at his bottom lip before pulling away to map out the whole of his body with her mouth just like he had done to her that first night in Ojai. He was much taller than she was and it was a long affair, but she thoroughly enjoyed every single second of it.
When she got to his pelvis, she ran her tongue lightly along his shaft and circled the head of his already enlarged cock with her tongue. She watched as he gasped when she took him between her lips. She teased the tip gently before she took his entire length deep in her mouth. In a matter of minutes, Elijah was all but writhing underneath the touch of her mouth on his erection. She cupped his testicles, and he groaned with delight.
She stopped her ministrations just before he was about to come and climbed up the length of his body to kiss him on the mouth again—long, hard and eager. He wrapped his powerful arms around her waist, lifted her up and flipped her over so that now she was underneath him. She was so enraptured by the moment that she barely noticed when he paused briefly to slip on a condom.
Elijah entered her almost immediately. Lucy gasped, enjoying the rough contact. Her whole body arched against his. She wrapped her legs around his waist and made sure she was the one to set the pace this time. She wanted it fast and she wanted it hard. He thrust his cock deep inside of her and she cried out for more.
Their bodies matched each other’s rhythms perfectly and soon enough Lucy found herself again on the brink of orgasm. Nothing mattered but the feeling of their bodies entwined. Their hands roamed over each other’s bodies, feverishly starved for the touch of each other’s skin. Their mouths kept coming together—again and again and again.
Neither one lasted as long as they did in Ojai, but they didn’t care. This time, it wasn’t about prolonging the pleasure—it was about the quick-burning and all-consuming fire that inside of them. It was about raw satisfaction.
Afterwards, they lay side by side on the giant bed. They didn’t speak. There was no need to. Elijah pulled the sheet up over them and turned on his side so he could watch her.
“Will you stay the night?” he asked.
Lucy turned her head to look at him. “Do you want me to?”
“I think so.” He rolled his back and looked up at the ceiling.
Lucy arched an eyebrow. “That’s not much of an invitation.”
He chuckled. “Fine,” he huffed in mock defeat. “Yes, I’d like you to stay the night.”
Lucy grinned. “If you put it that way, then I will.”
To her surprise, he leaned over and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer to him. She stiffened for a moment, but she then relaxed i
nto his embrace almost immediately. She reached past his shoulder to turn off the light, plunging the room into darkness—or as dark as it could be in L.A.
Lucy lay awake and listened to Elijah’s breath as he slept. She didn’t drift off as easily, especially in a strange bed. Her mind was reeling and her body was still alive with the sex they just had.
She hadn’t expected this last turn of events, but she wasn’t entirely surprised either. It was as if whenever they were within a certain proximity of each other, they couldn’t stay away. It was like they were magnets constantly being pulled toward one another despite their best efforts to stay apart.
Lucy sighed and yawned hugely in the dark. She rested her head against his chest and closed her eyes. Unwittingly, she tried to picture what this would feel like on a regular basis—not just the sex, but everything else, including the tender parts and the comfortable parts where she felt safe and at ease.
She tried to imagine what Michael’s reaction would be when she told him about what happened. Lucy thought he would probably warn her against getting involved with Elijah and he’d probably be right. There was no denying that after all that had happened, it was not the smartest move she could possibly make. But she had the feeling that what she had with Elijah was bigger than herself—maybe even bigger than Elijah. There was definitely a physical connection between them, but there was something else too. She was pretty sure that he also felt it and it scared the hell out of her.
When Elijah moved in his sleep, shifting ever so slightly, Lucy caught herself following his movements with her own body, as if by some inexplicable, irresistible reflex. As he settled, she did too, burrowing a little closer to him.
Yes, this definitely wasn’t the smartest move. But it was three in the morning, and Lucy decided that “smart” would have to wait until tomorrow.
CHAPTER FIVE
WHEN LUCY WOKE UP it took her a minute to orient herself and realize where she was. There was light streaming through the window past the white curtains. That was her first clue that she might not be at her apartment. In her bedroom, there were no curtains because she liked to wake up and go to sleep with nothing between herself and the sky.
She stretched languidly and rolled onto her side. Elijah was deep in sleep, sprawled on the bed next to her. She smiled and suppressed a shiver as the memories from the previous night came rushing back—wave after blissful wave. Lucy still couldn’t quite wrap her head around the fact that this was happening to her. She was in bed with Elijah Redford again!
Only this time it was different. She had always been far from a pushover, but she hadn’t known she had it in her to be quite so assertive, especially in bed. Still, her newfound fierceness seemed to appeal to Elijah as much as it appealed to Lucy herself, judging by the way he looked at her long after they had their fill of each other. Maybe it was the sex, or the way she stood up to him at the bar. Whatever it was, something had definitely changed in their relationship. The power wasn’t all his anymore. He seemed to view her in a different light now—like she was a woman and not just a girl.
After they had sex, he surprised her this time by seeking her touch in a way that was different than he did in Ojai. It revealed a gentleness and vulnerability to him. Even now, that tenderness was still there as he slept on his stomach with his face turned toward her and an arm slung across her stomach, keeping her close to him.
He was most likely completely unaware of the fact that he was revealing so much of his softer side to her. Lucy, on the other hand, couldn’t say that she felt completely safe to let her guard down. There was still a thick layer of armor between Elijah and herself that she wasn’t sure he would ever let her penetrate.
When he tried to explain his douchey behavior to her, he said he did it because he had to “be careful” but Lucy’s gut reaction was more inclined to believe that his defenses would always be up no matter what happened. It was in his nature to be careful and to not let anyone in. She couldn’t decide whether or not she minded. If she were to be entirely honest with herself, she wasn’t quite sure she was ready for Elijah’s defenses to be down around her either. After all, her own walls were still firmly in place and she wasn’t exactly ready to let go.
Still, it was hard not to feel attached. Her gaze ran along the length of his body, her eyes drinking in the sight of the flawless lines of his exposed back. She caught the glimpse of the dimples in the small of his back before they disappeared underneath the thin sheet. Elijah’s hair was sticking out in all possible directions, even more so than usual, and his features were relaxed in sleep as they never were when he was awake.
He seemed younger when he slept, somehow. And he certainly seemed more human. Lucy suppressed the instinct to press a kiss to his shoulder, because that was what couples did—steal sleepy touches in the early hours of the morning. But Lucy and Elijah weren’t a couple, and she had no interest in tricking herself into believing that they were anything other than just a fling.
She gently dislodged herself from underneath his arm and slid out of the bed. She padded to the bathroom silently. Her bare feet made no sound in the plush luxurious pile of the carpet. She made herself as presentable as she could with the few supplies she had in her purse. When she walked back into the bedroom she picked up her clothes and quickly got dressed. She scribbled a message for Elijah on the hotel stationery she got from the desk and left it on the nightstand, underneath his cell phone.
Lucy allowed her gaze to linger on his sleeping naked body one last time. Damn, but he was fine. She wished she could wake him up and have another go (it certainly would make for a great start to the day) but quickly discarded the idea and let herself out of the room quietly. She breathed a sigh of relief when the door clicked shut behind her. Lucy didn’t look back as she made her way down the hall.
When the elevator doors sprang open, she hopped in. She leaned back against one of the mirror-covered walls as the elevator lurched into motion. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. The truth was, she secretly wished she could put Elijah behind her. She was painfully aware of how dangerously close she was to falling for him. Granted, the sex was mind-blowing, but emotions had come into play. She had felt it from Elijah’s end too, and it made her uncomfortable.
Neither of them had any intention nor the desire to commit and if she tried to predict the outcome, she couldn’t come up with anything other than heartache and heartbreak in the long run.
Her phone beeped. She hastily took it out of her bag. She found herself torn between relief and disappointment when she saw that the text wasn’t from Elijah, but Michael.
“Headed home. I’ll bring breakfast. I have so much to tell you! ;)”
Lucy smiled as she texted him back. “Hold on, cowboy. I’m already out. Where are you?”
“Sunset. Doing some early morning sightseeing while I clear my head.”
“Meet me at the Cafe de La Presse for breakfast. I’ll be there in 30!”
Michael texted back a thumbs up emoji. Lucy let the phone fall back into the depths of her bag. Outside the hotel, the sun nearly blinded her it was so bright. She inhaled the crisp morning air and smiled.
The thing was, no matter how hard she tried to deny her growing feelings for Elijah—she would have been lying if she had said the weather wasn’t more than just a little sunshiney inside as a result of it too.
* * *
Cafe de La Presse was a coffee shop on Sunset Boulevard that Lucy absolutely adored. It was a quaint little place with wild flowers on each of the wooden tables and indie music playing quietly in the background. It was hipster before the world even knew what “hipster” was. The place had a hippie-crunchy granola-esque type vibe reminded Lucy a little bit of home. She was such a regular that the owners and staff knew her by name.
When she got there, Michael was already waiting for her at a table. He stood up as soon as she entered. He looked positively radiant. His short wavy strawberry blond hair was slightly disheveled, and she had to suppress
a grin at the pair they made.
He hugged her tightly and only released her after quite a few moments.
“How’s it going?” she asked as they sat down.
“Great! More than great if that’s even possible,” he said, grinning from ear-to-ear. “Just want to say thanks for everything. I owe you one.”
“Just one?” Lucy teased.
The waitress, a thirty-something woman named Camille, walked over to their table. She greeted them with a warm and welcoming smile. Camille was one of Lucy’s favorite staff members at the Café—wise beyond her years and always ready with a kind word for everyone she met. Camille was one of the first friendly faces Lucy had encountered in the City of Angels, for which she would always be grateful.
After they placed their orders, Michael and Lucy waited in companionable silence. They always did this when they had something important to discuss. It was a ritual for them. They would wait to share any juicy details, whether good or bad, until the food and/or beverages arrived. Luckily for them, Camille was fast so they didn’t have to wait long.
Lucy wrapped her hands around her mug of dark Ethiopian blend coffee. As the fruity and slightly nutty smell of caffeine wafted up her nose, she took a sip and watched as Michael enthusiastically bit into a massive blueberry scone.
“So,” Lucy said as she peered at him from over the top of her coffee mug. “You had a good night, then?”
“The best. His name is Jeff and I think I’m in love!”
It turns out that after Lucy left the bar, Michael won the second round of competition with Beth. He not only managed to get the guy’s phone number, but he went home with him too. According to Michael, the two of them stayed up all night talking. They apparently had so much in common that they practically could’ve been twins separated at birth.
Sweat It Out: A Billionaire Love Story Page 6