Rise

by Piper Lawson

  The smile fell away. “No. I don’t.”

  I started to close in. Her hands found my chest, pushing away, but I insisted.

  “But you want this.” I didn’t wait for her to respond before my mouth claimed hers, triumphant when she relented and her fingers finally twisted in my shirt.

  Unfinished business. If anything the need burned hotter, brighter inside me now that I'd had a taste of her.

  We were both breathing hard when I pulled back.

  “That’s what I thought,” I murmured, satisfaction filling me. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  21

  The right call

  “I hope everyone had a relaxing holiday,” I started, taking a seat in the conference room the next morning for our staff meeting.

  When the door opened and Max came in, shifting into an empty chair, the chatter died down.

  Since Tristan had been born, we’d settled into a groove at work. I was taking a tighter hand than the coders were used to, but it seemed to be helping. There was less slippage in schedules, and we were making up timing.

  “I was going to do an update on Omega,” I told him. “But since you're here, if you want to do the honors…”

  He launched into a rapid-fire discussion that would sound like a foreign language to most people on the street.

  When it finished, the developers started to rise from their seats.

  I held up a hand. “One more update. On Phoenix. As I mentioned in my email this morning,” I started, “Epic has secured a director. Next they'll be on to casting. I'll be coordinating with their team to ensure Titan gets the most out of this film. Any questions?”

  Everyone dove in at once.

  I answered what I could, deferred what I couldn’t. After the first five or six questions, Max nodded.

  “That's all for now. Back to work.”

  When the team filed out, I raised a brow at Max.

  “We have a game to finish,” he said by way of explanation. “I don’t see where it gets us, distracting people with this movie.”

  “Nice to see you too,” I offered. “Have a good visit with your parents?”

  He shot me a look. “Tristan was actually a welcome diversion. They spent four days mooning over him.”

  “Leaving you to slink around in the background,” I finished. “Come on. It must have been good to see your family.”

  “It was alright. Now I’m glad they’re gone and I can get back to focusing on the game. Just like those guys need to focus on the game,” he said pointedly, nodding to the Pit beyond the glass walls.

  I lifted my notebook computer, tucking it under my arm. “Max. You can’t blame them for getting excited. Besides, this is part of our business now. We need to explore more of these options, not less, if we want to offset the costs of this development.”

  There was no one with better vision of a game, no better coder, than Max Donovan. In his world, he was the king.

  But even the strongest king could be taken over if he didn’t look beyond his walls.

  My friend reached for the glass door, his hand pausing on the handle. “If you want to sink time into the movie, make it work for us… that’s your call. But I need those guys to focus on this game.”

  I watched him leave, wondering what the hell had gotten into him.

  “I know I said you could come over tonight. But the offer’s improved.”

  “Is that possible? I didn’t even put in a counter offer.” Sam’s voice on the phone had me grinning.

  “That’s how good I am.” Anticipation buzzed through me. “I’m going to Hollywood. Tomorrow. Come with me.”

  “What?”

  “For two days. Epic needs some papers signed, and I want to check up on the movie. So I offered to do it in person.”

  “Riley, I don’t think that’s a good idea. The insurance paperwork finally went through and I want to put it all behind me. But now I have almost nothing to sell. Everything went into that gallery show. I need to focus on making art.”

  I sighed. “I didn't want to have to do this but our contact at Epic also promised two passes to the Ninja premier. New Years Eve in LA, Sam. I’ll take care of the flights.”

  “Riley—”

  “Come on. People in LA love your art too. They’re making a movie based on it. And aren't you a little intrigued about Phoenix?”

  “The other day was…unexpected,” she said on an exhale, “but what are we really doing here?”

  I could hear her shutting me down.

  “You're overthinking this,” I said immediately.

  “Am I?”

  “I'm not asking you for anything but a weekend.”

  “Then why are you pushing this.”

  Why was I?

  There were a lot of things I could say in answer to her question. That I wanted to show her LA. That I wanted to lose myself in her until we got sick of each other. That I wanted to escape reality, and there was no better way to do it than with her next to me.

  Sex had always been a fun distraction, a perk of any relationship.

  This was different. Partly because we weren't in a relationship. But more than that, I told myself it was because I'd waited a dozen years for this.

  “Because if I go to LA, you’ll be a million miles away. And all I’m going to be thinking about is you.”

  Silence came down the line.

  “I’m leaving in the morning. There’ll be a ticket with your name on it. Think about it.”

  22

  Reckless

  “Is the car even on? I can’t hear anything.”

  “It’s on. You’re driving it. We’re moving down the road.”

  I grinned at Sam, sitting across from me in the Tesla I’d rented at LAX. “Can't you feel it? This place is full of possibility. Do you have any idea how many movies were shot within twenty miles of exactly where we are? It’s mind-blowing.”

  “And you want to be a part of that.”

  “Yeah. This is where the magic happens, Sam. It’s where dreams come to life.”

  “Ten years ago we were watching movies at the cheap theater. Now you’re making one.”

  “I’m kind of a big shot.”

  Sam’s snort made me want to tackle her, tickle her, and eventually fuck her until she admitted I was, in fact, a god.

  “So are you going to the studio this afternoon?”

  “Tomorrow. David promised to give me an update. But he did hint that they were courting someone for the lead.” I waited a beat. “Jane Casey.”

  Sam’s eyes widened. “Seriously? She doesn’t do action movies.”

  “I was surprised too.” I glanced over to find Sam lost in thought. “What is it?”

  “She’d be perfect. Did you see her movie from two years ago? Not the wide distribution one, the indie one. It was nominated for awards and Cannes and TIFF.”

  I raised a brow. “Hello, festival buff.”

  “A lot of the best stories are low budget. They’re not the blockbusters, they’ll never be made in 3D.”

  “But they could be,” I insisted. “Those are the stories people need to see.”

  “The money’s in movies like Phoenix. Where there’s more on CGI than on actors and writers. The people with the most compelling stories to tell are usually the ones without the money to tell them.”

  “That’s not fair,” I argued. “What we love most about superhero movies isn’t the super part. It’s the hero part. Everyday people who’ve faced extraordinary things. Sometimes the studios lose sight of that. But Jane Casey could help make sure that doesn’t happen with Phoenix.”

  The ocean whipped by as we drove up the coast toward the hotel, and I buzzed down my window, hollering into the breeze. The heat, the energy, the sunshine… all of it came together like an orgy of possibility.

  The hotel was a brick Renaissance affair with an ocean view. I put the car in park and slid out of the driver’s seat, handing the valet my keys as we made our way up to the hotel lobby to c
heck in.

  Sam stepped into our suite first, craning her neck to look around the high-ceilinged room. The double doors opened into a massive foyer and living room. She took a left to the bedroom, and I followed as the bellhop delivered our bags.

  She flopped down on the four-poster bed and I put my suitcase in the corner. Unzipped it to hang my clothes in the closet. “We have an afternoon of freedom. Any requests?” I asked.

  “Does this place have a pool?” She tugged a blue one-piece from her own bag.

  “It does. Though for what it’s worth, you could just go naked.”

  She dropped the suit, sizing me up. “Isn’t this weird? The whole hitting-on-each-other-thing.”

  “No. Because there’s no way we’re going back to a time before I saw your O-face.”

  With a huff, she shoved the suit into a beach bag and I tossed her my shorts to add to it. “If guys always prefer ‘nothing’ to ‘something’, no matter what the ‘something’ is, what’s the lingerie industry for?” she challenged as we took the elevator down to the ground floor. “Or does lingerie not affect you. Because you’re all boyfriendy and in it for the birthday, anniversaries, dates…”

  “My supreme decency notwithstanding, I’m still a guy. And guys are visual creatures. A little red fabric here and there?” I shrugged. “It reminds me a woman’s not totally naked and makes me start thinking about when she will be.”

  She shot me a look across the elevator. “I used to think you were so deep,” she accused. “You were really walking through the halls undressing senior girls with your eyes, weren’t you?”

  “Not just senior girls. Also Miss Ryerson.”

  Her mouth fell open. “Is that why you took drama?”

  “Hell yes.”

  Glass sliding doors opened to reveal a sprawling patio with a dozen cabanas and a restaurant on the other side of a massive sparkling blue pool.

  She pulled up short to admire the view and I shot her a grin.

  We walked to the poolside restaurant to grab a drink, and a waiter came to take our order as we relaxed into our chairs.

  “I was surprised you showed at the airport this morning.” I lifted an ankle over my knee and replaced my napkin on my lap.

  She took a deep breath. “I was surprised to be there.”

  I glanced out over the patio. “I’m tired of doing the right thing with you, Sam. I don’t want to think about how I hurt you, or how you hurt me. I want to do the things I used to lie awake imagining doing to you. Because you’ve got me imagining them again.”

  The napkin twisted in her hands but she didn’t break eye contact. “Sometimes I wish we didn’t have all this history. It would be easier.”

  “Easier than what.”

  “You’re thinking about the past, or the future. About things we screwed up. I can see it in your eyes.” She glanced toward the pool, her gaze scanning the handful of people lounging and laughing and flirting. “I don’t want to make you think. I want to make you reckless.”

  Her low voice made the hairs stand up on my neck despite the heat.

  “You do make me reckless, Sam. It’s your power. All you have to do is take it.”

  She shifted in her seat, drawing my gaze down her body.

  She’d stripped off the sweater after the plane and the tank top underneath skimmed her breasts, her stomach. It left her arms bare, had me picturing them wrapped around me.

  “I’m going swimming,” she said, pulling me from my daydream.

  I wanted to drag her to one of the cabanas, pull the curtains, and fuck her until the ache in my groin relented.

  But we’d come down to swim and I owed her that. “I'll meet you after.” I nodded to a free cabana by the side of the pool.

  I left a bill for our drinks before crossing to the loungers as she went to change. I pulled out my computer and started reading tech blogs.

  A shadow fell over me. “Hey Sam, can you pass me my—”

  I looked up and forgot how to breathe.

  The bikini was red and covered only a few of my favorite parts. Her legs were strong and curvy and the cleavage exposed by the triangle top had me longing to put my mouth on her skin.

  “Where did that come from?” I managed.

  “Hotel gift shop.”

  “Huh.”

  “You sure you don’t want to swim?” She shot a look over her shoulder as she started toward the pool.

  “No…”

  Her ass as she bent over to drop to sitting on the edge of the pool had me hard again.

  I held in a groan and forced my gaze back to the computer.

  I couldn’t tell what offended me more, the fact that Sam had turned me into a mute moron with a flash of skin, or that she’d done it deliberately.

  I snuck a look at her over the top of my computer. She looked every bit a mermaid, smoothly cutting from one end of the pool to the other in easy strokes.

  Her suit was bound to fall off. I watched, partly because I wanted to see when it happened and because I wanted to be ready to scoop her out of the pool so no one else did.

  By the time Sam emerged, dripping with water, her hair soaking down her back, I’d shifted the computer off my lap and given up work altogether. I watched as she showered off the chlorine.

  She returned to the cabana, dropping onto the lounger next to me and reaching for the towel.

  I got up and shut the curtains, casting us in shadow except for the sunlight streaming in from above.

  Sam dried her hair, oblivious to my inspection.

  She finally looked up at me and I crooked a finger, holding out my other hand for the towel. “Up.”

  Sam’s gaze darkened, and her shoulders squared as she rose.

  I took the towel and, without breaking eye contact, rubbed it in slow circles over her stomach, her thighs. I bent to dry her calves, one at a time. Her feet.

  I straightened, drying her breasts, taking my time on the curves exposed by her bikini top. Her breath stuck in her chest and the hard peaks of her nipples rose through the fabric.

  I wanted to suck them until she begged me to stop.

  I dropped the towel on the lounger behind her and stepped closer, grazing my hand down her bare waist to her hip.

  “Sirenita,” I murmured, playing with a damp piece of hair that lingered on her shoulder as I remembered another day I'd dried her off.

  The look in Sam’s eyes said she remembered it too.

  “You're doing it again. Making this personal.” But her words were a whisper.

  I thought of the way she’d traced my scars when we were lying on the floor in her bedroom. I reached for her hand, pressed it under my shirt to my stomach. “If you don't want personal, what was this?”

  “It didn’t mean anything.”

  Frustration rose up. It wasn't like I was asking her to marry me. I was angry and turned on, and I didn't hide either.

  “Fine. Let's do this, Sam. No past. No future. You and me, right now.”

  She dropped to her knees in front of me. Her hands found the waistband of my shorts, tugging them down.

  I should’ve insisted on finishing what we’d started the other day. My mouth on her, making her soar.

  But right at that moment, I was pissed and a little hurt and if all I had to soothe both was those cherry lips wrapped around me, by God I’d take them.

  My breath lodged in my throat when I felt her fingers brush the underside of my cock. I fought to keep my eyes open. She sucked a finger into her mouth, then circled the head.

  Her finger slid over the metal in my tip and I jerked in response.

  I placed a finger under her chin, lifting it and leaning down to press a hard kiss to her wet lips. Her eyes flickered with desire and the first hint of uncertainty.

  I wanted to make her stop. To make her admit this was all wrong, that it was about more than just skin and sweat.

  “What are you waiting for? Fuck me, Sam,” I murmured. “Because when you're done, I’m sure as hell going to
fuck you.”

  The first touch of her tongue melted me, her lips gliding over my swollen skin. Her tongue played with the metal in the tip.

  My fingers twisted in her hair, tugging and stroking in turn as her tongue wrapped around me.

  It was a good thing we’d never ended up together senior year. Neither one of us would’ve graduated.

  When she stroked my balls with her other hand, my head fell back on a groan.

  She worked me with her mouth and I guided her with increasingly impatient hands. Glancing down to see her red lips wrapped around my cock, those eyes looking up at me with need had me forgetting my damned name.

  Gorgeous, sexy, fascinating Sam.

  My fingers twisted in her hair. Soft at first, then harder, until I had enough grip to push her away. “What are you doing to me,” I muttered.

  “Making you reckless,” she responded.

  Fuck, she was too.

  Riding a shot of adrenaline, I pulled her hot mouth down on me until I hit the back of her throat.

  I’d pictured us like this but the reality blew my fantasies out of the water. I hadn’t known it was possible to feel this powerful and powerless at once at someone’s hands.

  I rode the edge, for minutes, fucking hours, using every ounce of control I had to prolong the pleasure. Because standing here, my legs shaking as Sam swallowed me, her fingers digging into my ass and her body tempting me, just out of reach, was something I wanted to memorize.

  “I’m going to come, Sam,” I rasped when I finally felt my control slip.

  She took me deeper, sliding her tongue down the sensitive underside of my swollen cock as her throat worked.

  “Oh shit. I can’t…”

  I felt it shoot down my spine before my muscles clenched everywhere. My release barreled into her wet mouth.

  Sam took all of me, struggling to swallow fast enough and fuck me if that wasn’t the hottest thing I’d ever seen.

  I knew we’d signed on for sex—and apparently the less personal, the better.

  But somehow this felt hotter, more intimate, than what we’d done at her house.