November 2011 - Present Day 6 страница

With an equally raspy-sounding morning voice, I smile at him and gaze into his eyes, while indicating first the bathroom, then the window. “To the bathroom and then to watch the sunrise from this beautiful view.”

As he nods his head in response, I wonder how it’s possible that someone can look even sexier in the morning. Then he kisses me softly on the nose and releases me. “Coffee or tea?”

Pouting my lips and furrowing my brows, I wave my finger from head to toe, pointing to my very disheveled self. “Do I look like a girl who drinks tea in the morning?” And for added drama I say, “And please God, don’t tell me you drink tea!”

Leaning back on the headboard, he puts his hands behind his head, his naked body shadowed by the faint glow of the bathroom light. He’s shaking his head and chuckling as he responds. “I’m not sure you need to know that information. Right now I’m still trying to figure out if you’re a stalker.”

I slip on his button-down shirt. I laugh at the words he just spoke that mimic my own from so long ago. Shaking my head, I turn and see him laughing just as hard. Oh yeah, add makes me laugh often to my list of endearing River qualities.

Entering the bathroom with none of my toiletries in hand, I sit for a while and just

think. Having decided to at least wash my face before going to get my bag, I look in the mirror and run my fingers through my hair. Then I see his toothbrush. Why not?

Coming out of the bathroom, I grab my phone and give Aerie a quick call.

“Why haven’t you called me back? I must have called you ten times,” Aerie answers the phone as her greeting, and I know a quick call is out the window. I was hoping she’d still be asleep and I’d just leave her a message.

In a low tone I answer, “I’m sorry. I’m calling you back now.”

“Dahlia, where are you? Why are you talking so low?”

“I’m in Las Vegas. You know that.”

“No. Where are you right now?”

Knowing it’s easier to just tell her, I whisper, “In his suite.”

“River’s?! You are? Really! And?”

“Umm... Well it’s kind of a long story and I will tell you later but,” I say, trying to choose my words carefully. Then I just blurt out the rest. “We went out to dinner and then I spent the night with him.”

In a cautious tone, she says, “Are you telling me you had sex with River Wilde?”

“Yes Aerie, that is what I’m telling you.”

“You’re shitting me,” she says, her voice full of skepticism.

“No I’m not. What? Is it that hard for you to believe he’d be interested in me?”

“Of course not Dahlia. Men are always interested in you. It’s you I’m surprised about.

You’re not exactly a Miss One-night Stand. Were you drunk?”

“No Aerie. Can we talk about this later please? Like I said it’s a long story.”

“Well at least tell me how it was? Was it good?”

“Aerie I’m hanging up now.”

“No, Dahlia wait. Are you okay?”

“Aerie I had sex, not surgery. Of course I’m okay.”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it. We both know you had a crush on him. I just want to make sure you’re in the right frame of mind. Having sex with someone is one thing, but having sex with someone you already know gets around is another.”

“Aerie how do you know he gets around? And anyway it was one night. We’ll say goodbye, and I’ll never see him again I’m sure.” I decide not to tell her I haven’t even done the interview yet.

“Okay Dahlia girl I get it. And I don’t know he gets around, I’ve just heard he doesn’t keep a girlfriend for long.”

“Aerie I’m fine, and I’m hanging up now. I’ll call you later. Goodbye.”

“Bye Dahlia, and don’t forget to call me this time.”

I hang up the phone and ponder Aerie’s comments a moment before glancing over to the open sliding glass door where the sun is starting to rise. Pink and purple waves of color paint the horizon over the mountains and I really want to see the beauty of this new day, so I decide to get my toiletry bag later.

My pulse quickens as I see him sitting in a chair, wearing only his jeans; his leg over one knee. Walking toward him, I see a pot of coffee and croissants sitting on the table

beside him. He grins at me and pours two cups of coffee. “Cream and sugar?”

Standing at the door, watching him, and smiling larger than life I say, “Cream only, kind sir,” and then with my hand on my hip I continue, “And I’m so glad you’re a coffee- drinking kind of man, now that I know, I can stop stalking you.”

He winks at me while pouring cream into one of the cups and he quips, “Oddly enough, a sexy woman with stalking tendencies doesn’t seem to bother me.”

Crossing my arms and leaning a hip against the doorframe, I can’t help but laugh. “I just bet.”

He smirks and says, “And here I thought you’d be a cream and sugar kind of girl with all your sweetness in the morning.”

I move my hands to my hips and say, “What, I’m not sweet enough already?” Then throwing caution to the wind, feeling so comfortable with him, experiencing not an ounce of unease or pretense, I stroll over to him as he motions me to sit on his lap.

The early dawn turns into a hazy morning, light streams from the beautiful yellow glow to my east. I sit on his lap with my knees bent and feet resting on his knee. We drink our coffee as he feeds me pieces of a croissant since one of my hands is glued to my morning coffee and the other is wrapped around his neck.

We continue to kiss and talk even after the sun has fully risen. Dazzling beams of sunlight reflect in his tousled hair and it takes on a multitude of shades from blonde to brown. I look at this incredibly attractive man in awe. He catches my gaze and kisses me a little longer and a little deeper. His touches also become more intimate. I try to calm the overwhelming feeling of desire creeping throughout my body. As his fingers drift up my leg, I suddenly become fully aware that I’m pantiless. I grab his hand and say, “Come on, we have to do the interview,” then pull him through the door heading toward the living room.

Stopping in the bedroom, he grins and nods toward the bed. “You can interview me while we lay in bed.”

Looking at his gorgeous smiling face, his smooth chest, well-defined abdominal muscles, and gleaming green eyes now ablaze, I know I should say no, resist the temptation, but I can’t, so I shake my finger at him in warning. “Okay, but you better behave, I need to finish this interview.”

Walking into the living room to get my small portable notebook, I hear him mutter, “I promise nothing.”

I can’t help but smile at his remark as I reach for my things. I’m in awe of how his charming smile makes me smile. Before going back to the bedroom, I walk over to the kitchen counter, press play on the docking station, and hit the room change button directing the music to the bedroom. Immediately, I hear the band Fuel singing I Should Have Told You. I love this song.

When I walk into the bedroom, I see River lying on his side, leaning on an elbow that is propped on the pillow. His head resting on his hand, his other arm is slung loosely over his hip. His legs are slightly bent with one propped up, and he’s watching me intently. He is so hot. He starts to anxiously bite his thumbnail and I can’t look at this complete vision of perfection any longer, so I avert my eyes. I know I won’t be able to concentrate if I’m

too close to him; I decide to sit at the foot of the bed.

Taking my portable notebook out of my bag, I turn it on and pull up the list of questions we started on yesterday. He takes the thumb he was just biting and starts rubbing circles up my legs. His still moist touch sends shivers up my spine. I can’t even think about focusing on my list of questions.

“Behave,” I admonish as I glance at him from my computer screen. Putting my hand over his wandering one, and in a more playful tone, I say, “Sound Music paid me to come to Las Vegas and do an interview, not do you, not to have a one-night stand and get on the plane empty-handed.” I say the last few words in a much more teasing tone to help lessen the blow of the truth in the reality.

Removing his hand from my hold, he quickly sits up and he grabs the notebook from my lap, placing it on the floor. Wrapping his fingers around my wrists he pulls me right up to him, face-to-face, eye-to-eye. He slides his nose across my cheek to my ear, and with a low, quiet, but almost harsh tone says, “Dahlia this is, was, in no way a one-night stand on my part. Is it to you? Because if so, I totally misread this, you, us.” As he says this, he continues resting his cheek and his lips against the side of my head.

His words momentarily take my breath away as emotions surge everywhere, in my mind, throughout my body, and within my soul. I’m not sure what to say or what to do, but I feel strangely at peace. So tugging my arms from his grip, I grab his face and look into his eyes, knowing I can make this better, that I can take the sting out of my words. Words only thought, only spoken, to protect myself, to guard myself from what I thought was only a night of casual sex.

With my heart beating faster than the music playing, I respond with only fragmented thoughts. “I’m sorry, I just thought… No not a one-night stand on my part. I wasn’t sure…” Then sitting up straighter, gently sweeping the hair from his eyes, I point between him and me. “I just thought you did this kind of thing all the time.”

A frown appears on his face. He shakes his head no as Coldplay’s song Yellow starts to play throughout the room.

Hovering his lips over mine, he lightly brushes them across each corner of my mouth.

“No I don’t do this all the time,” he says while gliding his lips to my neck. “In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever spent the night in a hotel room with a girl and shared breakfast with her the next morning,” he continues as his lips start to make their descent. “And I’m glad we feel the same way,” he finally whispers before pausing his kisses and directing his gaze at me. Then with a huge grin, he finishes the conversation. “So now is it okay if I misbehave?”

Placing both my hands on his strong jaw, it’s my turn to rest my head on his, and in an effort to right my wrong, I say, “You know every time you move your nose to my ear like that, it drives me crazy.”

Pulling back, softly gripping my arms with his hands, he nods and a slight grin appears, a smirk really, and he says, “Yeah, I know that.”

 

 

LIVING FOR THE FIRST TIME

 

 

As our bodies move across the bed

We look out the window into the brightness The doubts that clouded my head are gone They have all faded away

And I’m living for the first time in a long time.

 

 

The throbbing pulse that travels through my body every time he kisses me continues to increase as his kisses turn into more, and his lips meet my most sensitive spots. Every time he touches me, he makes my breath quicken, my heart beat faster, and my temperature rise. Never have I felt like this before.

We didn’t finish the interview. My plane departure time came and went. We fell asleep sometime in the late morning. After more amazing, can’t-get-enough sex, River asked me to stay the weekend with him, and without any doubts, I agreed. How could I not? I feel alive again—living, breathing, and experiencing life like I never had before—because of him. He took me to places within my body and my soul I’ve never been, and I wanted to discover more.

Something happened within me when he asked if I considered our night just passing casual sex, because he clearly didn’t. The sorrow, grief, and sheer loneliness I was carrying with me for almost two years passed much quicker than seasons change. I feel a sense of new beginnings, hope sprung alive. It’s as if I’m heading into spring, and winter is finally fading behind me. My mind begins to see the leaves turning green; no longer are they brown and lying lifeless on the barren ground. I can hear the chirping of the birds, they are no longer flying south, and as the harsh cold winds of the Santa Ana morph into gentle cool breezes, I can say I’m alive once again.

Hearing the music change from Glory Box to Tell Me I’m A Wreck as I wake, I glance to look at the clock; it’s almost noon. Lifting my head from its very comfortable position, I look up and see River. He’s awake and grinning at me. His hair is a mess, but still so

sexy, and my stomach flip-flops from his sheer raw attractiveness. He nods his head toward the nightstand. “Your phone is vibrating over there,” he says in an almost wicked way as his gleaming eyes divert back to mine and then down the bed.

Smiling, I lay my head back down and snuggle into his chest. I glance up at him, sighing and nodding my head, wondering how it is he can take an ordinary sentence and turn it into something sensual, almost erotic. I mumble, “Yeah, it’s probably Serena, I really should call her back and check on her son. He was sick before I left.”

Shaking his head, he sits up and pulls the sheet from our naked bodies as he leans over and softly kisses my stomach, gliding his hand all the way up my chest with his fingertips as he stands. Reaching for my phone and handing it to me he say, “Text her fast, you can call her later.”

I sit up and sneak a quick peek at his bare ass as he walks toward the end of the bed. It is perfect, and I just smirk at him. I can’t help myself. Sliding the unlock bar on my phone, I send Serena a quick text.

 

Sorry I haven’t called. Been busy. How’s Trent? Let me know. Kiss him for me.:-* <3

:)

 

I finish, adding a virtual kiss, a heart, and a smiley face to the end of my text and press send.

Having pulled on his boxers, River walks back over to me and takes the phone. He sets it back on the nightstand. Gesturing toward the bathroom, he says, “Come with me.”

I snatch his shirt from the floor and shrug into it, leaving it unbuttoned.

Cocking his head he watches me, his eyes scanning my body. Goosebumps emerge everywhere. Taking his extended hand, he leads me into the large spacious bathroom. The floor is black marble with his and her sinks to the right and a large open glass shower to the left with a huge Jacuzzi tub in the center. I immediately head to use the restroom, which is in its own separate room next to the sinks.

While in there, I hear River softly humming a song. I can’t quite make it out over the sound of the water flowing from the sink. When I open the door, I stop and observe. He’s singing and shaving like the two were always meant to be done together, like hugs and kisses or rock and roll. He doesn’t notice me standing there as he abandons his singing and starts brushing his teeth. Gazing at him, I can’t help but think again about how attractive he is, and I laugh out loud at the thought of using that same toothbrush this morning.

I walk over to him and lean against the counter. I cross my arms and bite my bottom lip as I stand next to him, grinning.

Turning his head, while bending over the sink, he pulls the toothbrush from his mouth. “What’s so funny?” he manages through a mouth full of foaming toothpaste.

Giggling uncontrollably now, I manage to answer, “I sort of used your toothbrush this morning, hope you don’t mind.”

A devilish grin appears on his face, his eyes narrowing as he sets his toothbrush on the counter while the water continues to run. “Oh, yeah. Then you shouldn’t mind this.”

Before I can move away, his arms encircle my waist and reach down to my backside. He lifts me up as his lips crash into mine, and he sets me on the counter. His tongue jets back and forth over my top teeth, then he does the same over my bottom teeth before his tongue finds the roof of my mouth. Desire flows through me as easily as the water streams from the faucet trickling into the sink.

Shifting his taut body slightly, he spreads my legs further apart and presses into my core. He moves his mouth to suck my bottom lip before he starts kissing me hard and wildly. True undaunted yearning cascades through my body as fast as the water ripples around the basin and down the drain. The toothpaste is now dripping from both our mouths as the water continues to fill the sink, but neither of us cares.

Finally, I nudge him in the shoulder and he steps back. “Hey. That’s not playing fair. I didn’t say I wanted you to brush my teeth. I...” but I don’t get a chance to finish. As his eyes flicker to my lips and down my open shirt, his breathing labors as his lips part and he bows his head forward. The tip of his tongue finds the small swell of my breast where some toothpaste has dripped and as he starts slowly dragging his tongue up my chest, an unstoppable moan escapes my mouth.

As his lips slowly and seductively slide from my chest to my neck, I wipe the toothpaste from my mouth with the back of my hand and try to stop panting as my body heat rises from his touch. When he looks up at me, his eyes are full of passion. Licking the edge of his bottom lip, he propels his hard body back into mine, but this time I wrap my legs around him instead of pushing him back, welcoming the feel of his soft skin against mine.

With a quick intake of breath and toothpaste still dripping down his chin, he says, “What were you saying?”

Moving toward him, I slide my tongue up his chin, licking all the toothpaste off before wielding a simple, “Nothing.”

With his taut body crushed to mine, he reaches and turns the water off. The only sound that can be heard in the room now is our increasingly heavy breathing.

“Actually,” I moan as my lips drift down his cleanly shaven chin. “I was wondering.” I pause to inhale deeply as my hands slip into the waistband of his silky black boxer shorts, “Why haven’t you sang for me yet today?” I barely get my words out between trying to catch my breath and shoving my hands down his boxers to grab him.

With a sharp intake of breath, he pulls me forward, my behind barely resting on the counter. My hands fall from his hardness and he exhales deeply as he rocks his hips into mine, his hands travel down my spine, pushing me even closer. Crying out, I scratch my nails down his back before arching so I can grind my hips further into his.

As his hands travel around my waist and rest on my lower back, he takes a step back. He stares at me with desire clear in his eyes, the same eyes I used to be afraid I would jump into and never get out of, but now so happy that I did take the leap.

“You want me to sing something for you?”

Nodding my head, I feel his hands travel right to my sex. He slides them between my legs and trails his fingers up and down my inner thighs, teasing me, almost torturing me. “Let me turn the music on,” he breathes out. But he doesn’t leave the room, he doesn’t

leave me, instead he glides his hands around my hips and lifts me off the counter, carrying me to the shower, pushing me up against the wall. He turns the water on before setting me down and I get the feeling the water is our music.

He grins and asks, “What do you want me to sing?”

“Anything by Maroon 5 of course.”

Showering with River is intimate, very sexy, —almost carnal. As he lathers the soap all over my body, he sings She Will Be Loved. And even though he frowned when I answered Maroon 5 to his question, he sings it anyway. I reward him generously when he sings, “It’s not always rainbows and butterflies it’s comprise that moves us along.” My favorite line in the song.

When he finishes, he whispers seductively into my ear paraphrasing the same words he spoke last night but also divulging his sexual desires. He tells me how much he wants to taste me everywhere, describing what he wants to do to me with his body. Feeling unabashed and very comfortable, completely connected in this man’s arms, I detail what I want to do to him, with him, freely, with no walls and no barriers between us.

My brain feels as if it’s in overdrive, but my body is invigorated as he steers me down the road I so desperately want to be on. With every shift of gear, my body quickens over and over again. I feel like a car accelerating too fast, and my body is driving into oblivion. God this man is... is... I can’t even think as he slowly moves his hands up and down my sides, reaching behind me, lifting me and backing me up against the shower wall.

When we finally emerge from the shower, both sated and satisfied, he wraps a towel around me, and then his waist. I run my fingers through his wet, messy hair. I shake my head and grin at how attractive, charming, and just adorable he is before I turn and head into the bedroom. I can feel his stare as I leave the room, so I shake my ass a little, giving him a show, and I hear his chuckle.

Heading to the living room, I grab my suitcase and bring it back to the bedroom. I set it on the bed just as River comes out of the bathroom buttoning his jeans with a towel around his shoulders. He looks overwhelmingly attractive.

He sweetly says, “Why didn’t you ask me to get that for you?” For some reason his gallant, chivalrous gestures do something to me. I’m falling for this guy, a guy I hardly know.

With an enchanted smile on my face, I conjure as strong of a southern accent as I can muster while pretending to fan myself and say, “Why kind sir, do you think I’m a helpless maiden?”

Laughing and smiling that huge dimpled smile again, he comes over and draws me into his arms; shaking his wet head of gorgeous light brown hair against the crook of my neck.

“No, I don’t think that,” he says, biting my shoulder, “I just wanted to help.”

River’s phone chimes from the dresser, but he ignores it. He slowly reaches over, grabs a lock of my hair, and tucks it behind my ear. Sending shivers down my spine. He circles his index finger around my ear and lightly tugs on my lobe, which sparks a heat in my body.

Grabbing his towel, I pull it off his shoulders and use it to dry his hair while massaging

my fingers on his scalp. The rumbling of my stomach stops the emotion sticking in my throat from his pure sweetness. He braces his hands on my arms and leans back, his smooth chest glistening brightly in the sunlight, and asks, “Hungry?”

Pushing back comparisons to Ben or thoughts of how Ben may have lacked a good portion of the sweetness gene, I say in a trifling tone, “You know how to work up a girl’s appetite. I’m starving,” and I let his towel fall to the ground.

Pulling the fluffy-white towel off my body, River grins and swats my behind with it. “If you’d stop being so sexy and put some clothes on, we could get the hell out of here and get some food,” he says as he turns and heads back into the bathroom, leaving me gawking once again at his fine backside view. When he enters the bathroom he says, “I know you’re watching me,” and he also shakes his ass at me.

I laugh out loud, and I begin rummaging through my suitcase. I put my last clean pair of panties on. They are plain white ones with a little black bow on the back. Then I slip on the matching bra. This lingerie doesn’t exactly scream sexy.

He emerges from the bathroom and stands in the door. “I like your bow.”

Turning to look at him and meaning to answer sarcastically, I gasp. He’s wearing a black AC/DC Back in Black Tour concert t-shirt. My dad loved AC/DC so of course I do too.

“Well I like AC/DC, now get out and let me get dressed.”

Strutting, he crosses the room. He passes by me then stops and takes a step back as I continue pulling the messy heap of clothing from my suitcase. He places a kiss on each of my shoulders, and then tugs on the black bow on the front of my bra. “Thank you, Dahlia,” he says as he saunters to the bed, sits down, and puts his socks and black boots on before falling back against a pillow and kicking his feet up.

“I’m not giving you a show, you know,” I say while slipping on a black lace camisole and pulling my gray long-sleeve Coldplay Viva la Vida concert t-shirt over my head before knotting it to the side. I quickly pull up my faded black jeans and while looking at him I start to think about the Coldplay song, Green Eyes. I think it must have been written for him with words like green eyes and the spotlight shines upon you. I can hear the song playing in my head and it reverberates through my soul.

Drawing me from my thoughts, River chuckles as he asks, “Am I making you nervous?”

Swinging my hair over my head, I bend over and brush it. “No you’re not, why would you think that?”

I throw my head back and meet his gaze as he says, “I don’t know. It just seems like it. It’s good that I don’t because I shouldn’t, you’re much too sexy not to be adored.”

Grinning hugely, he puts his arms behind his head. “I really like your shirt. Did you go to...?”

As he speaks, I remember my ring. Where is my ring? I start to feel dizzy as I grab my neck, running my fingers back and forth, but I know it’s not there. River sits up immediately as I frantically say, “Oh no, I have to go back to my hotel, my necklace is still in the room!” I’m trying not to panic; really I am, but my necklace, my ring from Ben, I have to have it.

River gets off the bed and heads over to me with concern etched on his face. He pulls the hair from my eyes and tucks it behind my ear before cupping my cheeks with his

hands as his eyes examine mine for the depth of my worry. “Okay, we can head over there now.”

I try to calm myself, but I can’t, and tears start streaming down my face. With his thumbs, he wipes the tears away. He doesn’t ask why and he doesn’t shrug off my concern. He just kisses my forehead and leads me toward a journey that can only end with some sort of uneasiness. At the very least, a pained conversation about the man I loved with the man I... I don’t even dare think about the word I was going to use.

Feelings are swirling through my body like a tornado. But unlike Dorothy, when the tornado ceases and the damage is assessed, I’m not going to land in Kansas wearing ruby red slippers in a land full of happy people. No, my aftermath will include the Hard Rock Hotel where I must tell the man I’m starting a new relationship with the reason I’m in a panic. I must tell River the reason he’s taking me back to my hotel is so I can get back the most significant reminder I have left of Ben. The man I had, only recently, finally been able to mentally let go.

As we wait outside the hotel for his car, he turns to me and takes both my hands. He looks at me like he knows he can make everything better. “Baby don’t cry, I promise I’ll fix this for you. Everything will be all right,” he says, drawing an X over his heart with his right hand. Baby? Did he just call me baby?

It is in this exact moment, standing at the valet stand with rows of cars behind me waiting to be parked, that I know. I know I’m not just falling for this attractive, charming, and captivating man. I already fell.

We drive over to the hotel in silence. It really is beautiful in this sinful city, but the strip is so different during the day. It doesn’t have the allure it does at night. The lights are on, but aren’t shining brightly, not lighting the way. I hope they at least lead me back to the item I need to find.

I’m feeling a little lost sitting in River’s car going to get my engagement ring from Ben. Fidgeting in my seat, I keep grabbing for the necklace that isn’t there. He isn’t holding my hand and he hasn’t as much as glanced over at me since we got in the car. I know he must be curious as to why possibly losing a necklace would make me this emotional. I just can’t talk about it right now. I need to get the necklace back first and for the lump in my throat to go away. Only then can I allow the words to flow.

I wish it were that easy to shut my thoughts off. Did I betray Ben by taking his ring off? What kind of betrayal took place by sleeping with River? Was it even a betrayal? How long should one grieve? How long should one wait before engaging with another? Are there even any right answers to these questions?

When we finally arrive, the valet opens my door before River gets out of the car. I wait for him, and he takes my hand, leading us straight to the front desk. I know housekeeping must have already been in the room and apparently so does River since we don’t bother going up there. There is a rather long line at the front desk, but River doesn’t acknowledge it. Stepping right up to the desk, he nods his head at the gentleman who just handed room keys to a couple and waits for them to leave. Moving to where the couple was standing, he clears his throat to get the attention of the clerk who is looking down at a computer screen under the counter. I’m sure the line of people behind us is not

pleased by our blatant disregard for waiting-in-line etiquette.

When the man refuses to look up, River drops my hand and leans forward, placing both elbows on the counter, his forearms down, as he clasps his hands into a V to inch a little closer. “Hey man, I have a situation that needs to be taken care of immediately, and I was hoping you could help me out,” he says in his smooth easy voice. The front desk assistant, obviously impervious to River’s charming ways, doesn’t even look up as he says, “Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to wait in line like everybody else.”