“That’s right, Lil’ Donnie,” Fred said. “You just go and be the biggest Lil’ Donnie in the world.”
I sneered. “Oh, I do enjoy our little playful rivalry, but just so you both know, if I do find out either of you were in any way responsible for those pictures…”
“Dax!” Fred gasped.
“No, let him finish,” Ayda said, her expression stiffening, her faux-smile transforming into a smirk. “I want to hear what he’s going to do to us if he finds out the truth. Steal an account out from under our noses?”
I could read their guilt all over their arrogant expressions, and I wanted to fucking give them a piece of my mind, though I recognized this wasn’t the time or place.
“I’ll get the last laugh, you guys.”
“Well, we’ll enjoy ours while we can,” Ayda said, and she and Fred shared another. “Lovely catching up.” She winked, and they headed on their way.
“Fucking assholes,” Carter muttered as he perused his phone—no, my phone!
“What the hell are you looking at?”
“You left your messages with Jace up. What the hell? It’s only been two weeks. Are you checking up on each other on the reg?”
I snatched my phone from him. “Yes, we’ve been chatting ‘on the reg.’ What about it?”
He stared me down, simpering. “I’m not saying anything.”
“You don’t have to. You’re wearing it all over that goddamn smug face of yours.”
“Donnie and Fireman sittin’ in a tree…”
“Carter.”
“K-I-S-S-I-N-G…”
“Stop it right now,” I said through my teeth.
“…first comes love, then comes marriage…then comes little Shar-Pei in a baby carriage.”
He burst into a laugh as I finished rolling my eyes as overdramatically as possible.
“Daxy Boo.” My muscles locked as the sound hit my ears.
“Four o’clock,” Carter said. “Wait, no, maybe eight…or ten.”
I kept glancing in the wrong direction. “Jesus Christ, Carter, how bad can a person be at this game?”
I finally spied Serena at my “Two o’clock,” I stressed, annoyed.
“Oopsies.”
Serena pushed a hug on me. She was dressed to the nines in a red gown that matched the bright lipstick she wore, and her dark hair was done up.
“I thought you said you weren’t coming,” I spit out.
“I said I wasn’t invited. But then I thought, Oh, they’ll let Lil’ Donnie Gibson’s mom in.”
“You always knew how to work an angle. Just like old times,” I said, not intending any sort of nostalgia as much as digging at the way she used to take advantage of my success.
“You look fantastic, Serena. Love the dress.”
“Oh, thank you, Carter. It’s so good to see you again. Looking as dapper as ever.” She must’ve noticed my expression because she quickly changed her tune. “Oh, Dax. Don’t act so upset that I’m here. I won’t be in your hair. You know Mommy has to do her own schmoozing.”
I rolled my eyes at the thought of her running around, trying to impress all the a-holes she’d want to help her nab a new part in some crapshoot TV or streaming movie.
“But I do want to meet this Hottie Firefighter you haven’t told me anything about. You should have brought him with you. This would have been a great place for him to get some more exposure.”
“I doubt he needs any more exposure right now.”
“Well, I guess you would know, seeing as how you’re the bigshot PR guy,” she said, an obvious dig, considering she must’ve known she was right about the exposure. “I swear, you’re acting like all the attention is a great imposition, but you just need to play it to your advantage. Make hay while the sun shines.”
I’d called her after everything went down and discussed my predicament with Jace, but being who she was, she was more interested in me finding the angle that would benefit my career most.
“I’m clearly just getting under his skin, Carter, so I’ll be on my way, but, Dax, we need to have lunch and catch up.”
“Of course,” I said, realizing how much tension filled me since she’d started chatting with us.
She offered another hug before heading on her way.
Carter started to say something, but I blurted out, “Just leave it.”
We finished up at the party, and I grabbed an Uber back to my place, texting Jace: Gala went amazing.
Which outside of Freyda Inc. and the run-in with my mother, it had.
JACE: I expected no less. :)
DAX: Heading home, but good luck saving the world tomorrow, Batman.
JACE: Night, Hollywood.
DAX: Night.
It wasn’t the first time we’d texted each other good night, and I didn’t imagine it would be the last.
* * *
We continued our occasional texts over the next few days, and soon enough, I was at LAX, searching for my big hunk of Jace in the arrivals lane. He was impossible to miss, standing on the curb next to a rolling bag with a duffel bag strapped to his shoulder, tucked close to his waist. I pulled up alongside him, and as he spied me in the car, the corners of his lips perked right up, which made my dick twitch.
I opened the trunk for him to load his bags, and then he slid into the passenger seat. “Hey, man,” he said, draping his arm around my shoulders, moving in for a hug, which I awkwardly accepted.
Then he changed his trajectory, his lips mashing down on mine. Instinctively, my hand found its way to the back of his head, keeping him close, tasting that mouth and those lips my body apparently had missed even more than I’d figured, his sweet smell igniting those familiar sparks that had me itching to get him out of those goddamn clothes.
He leaned back and inhaled deeply. “Wow,” he said, making me feel like he had missed me just as much.
And I shouldn’t have liked it as much as I did.
He gazed at me, and my attention was captivated by his dark blue irises, their appearance mesmerizing as ever. The way he smirked at me, it was like he had some secret on me…or maybe he knew the power he possessed over me. It was beyond his confidence when we’d initially met. Although, I wondered if that was all in my head.
We swung by his hotel to drop off his bags, then headed to my place. We spent most of the time catching up, him telling me stories about Nance and Keegan, about the guys at work, elaborating on the adventures we’d already discussed via text message. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed the resonance of his voice, the way he said his words through the corner of his mouth. Every movement was something worth cherishing all over again.
30
Jace
I was nearly as excited to see Dax’s place as I’d been to see him.
That potent passion erupted once again as our lips locked, my body ravaged by the intense stirring of sensation that always seemed to accompany my time with him. And even as he showed me around his place, I was struggling to keep my distance, knowing the moment I caved to him, I would easily want to lose myself to the curiosity Dax had stirred, the same curiosity I’d been experimenting with on my own for the past two weeks since he’d returned to his place in West Hollywood.
“And here’s the upstairs,” Dax said as he guided me up the spiral staircase to the second floor. “This is my office.”
“You just trying to sneak me closer to your bedroom?” I teased.
He spun around before the office doorway and sized me up.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked.
“How am I looking at you?”
“Like you’re trying to figure me out. I feel like I’m pretty easy to figure out at this point.”
I kept stepping closer to him but then stopped myself short, batting off my desire to have those lips, not on my mouth, but around my dick. To have his body pressed up against mine…that cock, to see that cock again, to feel it for the first time inside me.
His gaze shifted to my lips.<
br />
“I think you need to give me that tour of your bedroom.” I took a step, and it was all that was necessary for my chest to be pressed up against his, to be staring into his hungry eyes. “I do owe you something, after all.”
A lock of his dark hair curled over his forehead, the way it did sometimes. He tilted his head, his smile expanding. “Well, aren’t we suddenly greedy for it?”
If only he knew about the preparations I’d made for that moment. It made me smile, knowing he didn’t have a fucking clue.
“Maybe a little bit, so what are you going to do about it?”
“I’m gonna take you out to eat.”
“What?” I asked, surprised by his response.
“I’m gonna take you someplace nice, fill your belly, and then I’ll feed your hole.”
“You trying to wine and dine this ass?”
“I can get to know your ass later. But right now, I’d rather take you on a…” He hesitated for a moment, but then went on. “A date.”
“A date?” I was so shocked, he might as well have decked me.
“Surprised myself too with that word, but is that a terrible thing? I mean, if you don’t want that, then we can just go in the bedroom. I’m totally fine with leaving things where they are, but also, I acknowledge that…since I left Fever Falls, I’ve kinda missed you, minus the kinda part.”
I raised my hand to Dax’s face and stroked the back of my thumb down his scruff. “I’ve kinda missed you too, Dax, minus the kinda part.” I winked at him, then kissed him again.
He slid his hand around my waist, tugging against my back as I wrapped either arm around his shoulders, reeling him right on in as we embraced.
His words confirmed what I’d been feeling too, and one of the reasons I believed I was so willing to hand my ass over to him, to offer it up at his convenience.
I liked Dax Munro a hell of a lot. I’d never met anyone I liked the way I liked him. Never enjoyed a mouth the way I enjoyed his. The text-message exchanges over the past two weeks hadn’t been nearly enough to sate my interest.
No, I wanted him in my arms, clinging to me like he did as we savored each other’s mouths outside his office.
Dax cupped his hand against my face, and as our lips pulled apart, I didn’t budge, just stayed right near him, enjoying the sound of his breath as I rubbed the tip of my nose against his. As I pulled back, I noticed his eyes were still closed, and he must’ve sensed my movement because he opened them and seemed surprised at my catching him in such a vulnerable state.
“Only missed me kinda, huh?” I asked.
He laughed, slipping past me. “Okay, tour’s over. There’s a great steakhouse not far from here.”
“This is already starting off as the best work trip I’ve ever been on.”
He stopped on the steps. “Where would a firefighter take work trips?”
“We have training and conferences we get to do around the country sometimes.”
“Learning something new about firefighters every day.”
We hopped back in his car and headed to the steakhouse, where we ordered drinks and food as we continued easing back into our conversation, this time about our itinerary for the rest of the week.
“We’ll have an acting coach on set to help you for the commercial, just in case you need it, but we’re obviously going for the same cute type of stuff we did in that initial video we recorded. So be yourself.”
“You’ve said that way too many times, almost like you’re worried I might be someone else.”
He laughed. “It’s just something we usually have to tell talent.”
“Oh, now I’m talented?” I winked.
“Well, I’ll be the judge of that later.”
Again, I found myself eager to show him some of the talents I’d discovered since we’d last seen one another. Of course, I appreciated that he didn’t just take advantage of my offer, that he cared enough to bring me out on a date first.
“So you go on a lot of dates?” I asked. “Is this what they’re like?”
“I don’t date much. I dated mostly in my early twenties, so it’s been a minute.”
“Yeah, I don’t do this much either. Ever, really.”
“Ever?”
“In high school, of course I did, but outside of that, not really. As you know, I’ve had plenty of fun, but I like to keep it that way. You?”
“I had a few guys I was into, but usually they were model/actor/celebrity types. We’d keep it a secret, and since they were as ambitious as I was in this industry, it seemed perfect because it meant I could be as career-oriented as I wanted to be without any consequences, but it was always just fun. As soon as one of us got bored, which usually happened pretty fast, the other was already out the door. So I never saw a point for anything more than that.”
“It’s a hell of a lot easier that way than the breakups I see go down with my friends. Not saying with all of them, but when it happens, it can really pull people apart, you know?”
“You say that from experience?”
“Not with breakups, but…”
“Oh,” Dax said, and his expression sobered, as though he knew I was talking about Crawford. “Sorry.”
“I didn’t mean to take things to such a serious place.” I opened my mouth to go on, when someone—I assumed our waiter—approached the table.
But it was a young guy in jeans and a polo. “Uh…hey, you guys mind if I take a picture with you?” The guy was practically shaking, as though he’d had to work up the courage to approach us.
Dax and I exchanged a look, and I could tell Dax was no more ready to deny this guy his selfie than I was, so we took a break from our conversation for the picture, and afterward the kid thanked us and left.
“I’m not taking you to Sunset Strip or Rodeo Drive, by the way, just in case you were hoping to swing by either,” Dax teased. “No need to get all the tourists worked up like that.”
“Aw, come on. You gotta take me to the touristy stuff.”
He smiled. “Of course I will. Just giving you shit. I think we can tolerate a little selfie/signing appearance.”
“Better than them finding us out at Fever Creek.”
“Well, I wouldn’t have skipped out on Fever Creek for anything,” Dax offered, that beautiful smile plastered across his perfect face.
“I should have guessed you were some kind of star.”
“What?” he asked, his expression twisting up.
“You look like a movie star more than some slick PR guy.”
“Well, it’s in my genes. Didn’t ever get around to telling you about my dad.”
“No, you haven’t mentioned him.”
“Gotta keep a few secrets up my sleeve, Batman.”
I was intrigued, but didn’t push. Like all the best things that seemed to happen with Dax, they happened in their own good time.
We got to talking about Elliott and Carter, what they were up to and when I’d see them again. Dax filled me in on some of the latest industry gossip he seemed particularly excited by, and I did my best to act interested since I could tell it was what he dealt with on a day-to-day basis. We shared some vanilla ice cream with hot fudge, and I noticed Dax didn’t fight me the way he had before. I didn’t make a big deal of it, only enjoyed the way he closed his eyes and relished it, tongue running up the side of the spoon as he savored it the way I wanted him savoring my body that night.
After we finished, we drove back to his place. I could tell by the way he kept glancing over at me that he was thinking about what I’d offered him earlier. That he couldn’t get my ass off his mind any more than I could get the idea of him taking it off mine. He took me up to his unit, neither of us seeming confused about where this was leading.
“You want a drink?” he asked as we stepped inside.
I closed the door behind me and shook my head as I approached him. “Thanks for the—”
Before the word date could escape my mouth, his lips were on mine, and I strug
gled to recall what the fuck I was even about to say.
He spun me around, guiding me into the living area and shoving me back onto the couch. I sat so willingly, shifting and lying back as we made out, his tongue a wild fit in my mouth.
His knees depressed into the leather cushion beneath me as he seized hold of my face, offering me a taste of all I’d been missing. As I felt him unbuttoning his shirt, I assisted, and we worked together until he leaned back, the shirt falling open. The room’s lighting cast sharp shadows under his pecs and abs, leaving me to enjoy the fruits of his labor in the gym.
I slid my hands around his hips, massaging my thumbs against his body as he removed the shirt and tossed it onto the other end of the sectional. I leaned up and hooked my arms around him once again, seizing his lips, and he released a soft moan that only intensified the feelings surging through me.
“Okay…we need to…get to the bedroom,” I said when the words could find their way free of his mouth. “Otherwise, I’m gonna fuck you right here.”
He slid off me and stepped onto the floor. I followed suit, but I couldn’t help myself. As he waited, I moved forward quickly, wrapping an arm around him and hoisting him into the air, throwing him over my shoulder.
He was laughing all the way upstairs.
“I thought you wanted me in your ass,” he said.
“Well, no need for either of our asses to be neglected.”
Dax continued laughing as I hurried into the master bedroom and threw him down on the sheets. We stripped down, watching each other like we each wanted to take in the show. Dax leaned back and opened his nightstand, retrieving the condoms and lube. I enjoyed the curvature of his ass, his skin tight against his muscles as he stretched before rolling back and setting the Magnums and bottle beside him.
His hard girth lay angled against his stomach, and I went right for it, as though my mouth was fucking magnetized to that thick shaft. It filled my mouth right up, and I enjoyed his taste and the way he ran his fingers through my hair.
“Fuck,” he moaned.
I grasped his shaft and pulled back to release a groan, my frustration with how much I’d missed having him in my mouth.
#BURN (Fever Falls Book 2) Page 19