Second to None, page 13
I poured myself a glass of water. As I went to return to the room, I heard his voice say softly in the dark, “Josie?”
I jumped, and water sloshed onto the rug. “Shit.”
“What are you doing?”
“Getting water.”
He sat up on the couch, shifting enough to reveal that he was in nothing but boxers and a loose T-shirt. My throat bobbed. God, he was handsome in a completely unruffled way. The opposite of every guy I’d met since moving to LA.
“Want something stronger?”
I bit my lip, wondering what the catch was, but still, I nodded. He got to his feet and went into the kitchen, appearing a minute later with two glasses of amber liquid.
“Thanks,” I said, taking a sip from the drink. I winced. “Whoa, what is this?”
“Whiskey and Coke. Marley only has cheap whiskey and brandy.” He shrugged. “Best I could do.”
I remained standing as he plopped back down on the couch. I was shivering where I stood in shorts. The California girl who had forgotten how cold Massachusetts winters were.
“You don’t have to stand there and freeze. I won’t bite.”
“That’s debatable,” I said. “You sure had some biting words to say about my career.”
He sighed and tipped back the drink. “Yeah. I guess I’m bitter.”
“For being wrong?” I shot back.
“For losing you.”
The malice left my voice at that admission. I walked the few steps to the couch and took a seat next to him, stealing the blanket and wrapping it around my bare legs.
“I know what you mean,” I finally said.
His eyes were still locked on me, almost as if he couldn’t believe we were sitting here. “Is that so? Off dating the man of your dreams and you want me to believe that you’ve thought of me?”
“I thought you weren’t going to bite.”
“Yeah. I guess I sort of hate Martin Harper.”
“That’s fair,” I admitted.
He’d been our joke. A hall pass if I ever met him. And while he wasn’t the reason Maddox and I had ended, it had to be salt in the wound that I was with him now.
“Marley mentioned you were seeing someone,” I said softly.
He shook his head. “Nah. We’ve gone on a few dates, but I don’t know. Nothing special.”
“I see.”
“And Martin?” Maddox forced out.
“He’s great. We’re great,” I said, but even I could hear the fake sound of my voice. The charade was so hard to keep up with someone who knew every crack in my heart.
Maddox looked confused. “What’s going on, Josie?”
My shoulders slumped forward. “I was dating Martin. Or whatever.” I bit my lip. “You know, we were sneaking around. But then the pictures were out in the tabloids, and suddenly, it became … work.”
“Work?” he asked in confusion.
“It was more a publicity stunt than anything.”
Maddox’s eyes widened. “You’re not really together?”
“We were. But when it became work, I don’t know … it felt so Hollywood. Like another thing that I had to put on a smile for. We started planning our appearances, and Martin is a nice guy, but he’s not …” I shrugged, not even sure how to finish that sentence.
“You shouldn’t have to act in your personal life, Josie.”
I shouldn’t have to, but I had been my entire life. It was only in Savannah that I felt like I could really be myself. Hollywood didn’t want small-town Josie. They wanted Josephine Reynolds.
“Easy for you to say,” I said with a laugh as I set my empty whiskey glass down. “Ratings for Academy were through the roof when they caught us. More people watch every time we’re photographed together. Being with Martin, whether real or not, helps my career.”
Maddox downed the rest of his drink and put it next to mine. “The show had record-breaking numbers before this. Don’t sacrifice your happiness for a TV show.”
As much as I wanted to listen to him, it was that simple.
“Hey,” he said, taking my jaw in his hand and turning me to face him.
Blood pounded in my ears at that one touch. My body waking up after a long sleep. Only his hand on me could make me feel this immediately desperate for more.
“Listen to me. You don’t have to be with anyone to help your career. That is Hollywood getting to you. What would you say to Marley or Lila if something like this happened to them? You’d go to bat for them. I know you would.”
“True, but …”
“You’re the star,” he said softly, mesmerizingly. “Be with whoever you want, Jos.”
And that nickname on his tongue undid me. I crushed our lips together. He made a small noise of surprise and pulled back slightly.
“Are you sure?” he asked, as if he were the one to force himself on me and not me jumping him.
“Please,” I whispered.
“Fuck.”
Then, his hands were in my hair, dragging our lips back together. He tasted like whiskey and smelled like home. Kissing him felt more right than anything else I’d ever done in my life. I’d forgotten that anything could feel like this. That Maddox could make everything disappear.
He pushed me down into the couch. His body covered mine. The solid weight of him as I wrapped my legs around his waist made me shiver with need. I could tell through the thin material of his boxers how much he’d missed me. Our limbs tangled, our tongues volleying for control, our hips meeting like they had so many times in the past.
“Oh God,” I gasped as he pushed his pelvis against me.
His hand came to my mouth. “Shh,” he breathed.
And somehow, that one command made me even wetter. I’d forgotten where we were. That his sister was one door over while we christened her couch.
“Are you going to be quiet?” he asked with a gleam in his eyes.
I nodded my head, and he slowly removed his hand, dragging it down my body.
“I have doubts about your ability to be silent,” he said with a smirk. “We’ll see how good you can be.”
Before I could say anything at all, he slid down my front, gripping my tiny shorts and ripping them down my legs. His mouth fell on my pussy. And I had to clap a hand over my own mouth to muffle my moans.
His tongue laved over my clit as he swirled two fingers through the wetness at my core. And fuck, he remembered exactly how I liked it. He sped up the tempo of his tongue as my breathing turned labored. He slowly eased two fingers the rest of the way inside of me. I arched backward on the couch. A flush started at my neck and flooded down the rest of my body.
He sucked my clit into his mouth as he started a tempo, in and out. I’d forgotten how attentive he was to every hitch in my breath and shift of my hips and curl of my toes. He sped up when my breathing began to even, forcing me to teeter on the edge of an orgasm.
“Oh,” I gasped as he roughly forced my legs wider.
“Shh,” he said, looking up at me from between my legs.
My body heated up just at the sex-crazed look in his eyes. Then, he dipped his head back down to his mission and didn’t stop until my muscles contracted and I came on his fingers and into his mouth.
I turned my head into the pillow to try to keep my whimpers to myself. I had no idea how successful I was.
Then, Maddox was stepping out of his boxers and sliding on a condom. “That was good,” he said, and I shivered.
“It was amazing.”
He sank back down onto the couch and pulled me up. “Come get a taste.”
I stood on shaky legs as I arranged myself on his lap, poised over his cock. His lips found me, and I tasted my own come. We both groaned as he sank me inch after inch onto him. When I was finally seated on him, I released a sharp breath.
“There you are,” I sighed. I rested my hands back on his knees and tipped my head back. “That’s the spot.”
His hands ran up my sides, under my shirt, and over my breasts. My cardigan was loose, falling off my shoulders. My long black hair fell like a curtain behind me.
“You’re a vision,” he murmured as he shifted a little further up into me, causing me to gasp softly.
I rolled my hips, undulating on him as temptingly as possible. It was his turn to dig his hands into my hips.
“Tease,” he said.
I looked into his eyes with a smile. “Is it a tease if your cock is currently inside of me?”
“Absolutely.”
“Would you have it any other way?”
“This way.”
And then he used the grip on my hips to lift me off of him and slam me back down. It was not a quiet sound, but at this point, I was already back on the edge. I hoped Mars was fast asleep and couldn’t hear what we were doing, because I was enjoying myself too damn much to stop now.
The years had separated us. Pride and ego and far too much judgment. But we were here, in this place, together again. And I couldn’t think of anywhere else I’d ever want to be again.
“Fuck, Josie,” he said, tugging me close against him. Our chests pressed tight. His eyes looking up into mine with adoration on his face.
I met each thrust with a forceful downward motion. Our slaps were definitely louder than they should have been. My orgasm rushed up to my body without warning.
“Oh God,” I whispered.
“Yes. Now,” he commanded as we came together.
I gasped into Maddox’s shoulder. My body trembled, and I shuddered on top of him. His grip tightened around me, holding me close as we both came down.
I found his lips and pressed a delirious kiss on them. “Wow,” I whispered.
“Yeah.” He kissed me again.
I slowly eased off of him. We both used the bathroom, and when I returned, he opened his arms wide, and I slid into place in front of him.
“I missed you,” he said against my ear.
“I think that was obvious.”
“You missed me too.”
“I did,” I said.
“What are you going to do when you get home?” he asked as if it physically pained him to do so.
I turned to face him and let my hands run through his curls like I’d wanted to do when I first walked in. “I’ll talk to Martin. You’re right. It’s my life, right?”
“It is.”
“And you?” I asked, biting my lip.
“I’ll be in LA in the new year for a movie.”
“Yeah?” I asked, hope rising in my chest. “I’ll be in Georgia, filming again, in April. We could … we could see how it works.”
He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “You don’t know how much I want that.”
I released all the tension in my body. I’d come here, expecting Maddox to hate me. For me to hate him for what had happened in the past. And in the end, I’d realized what I’d always known … that he was the one for me.
20
MALIBU
DECEMBER 22, 2012
I had no idea how I was supposed to break up with Martin.
I’d tried to convince him to delay our big publicity shoot at Moonshadows in Malibu, where I was currently pacing the restroom. But he wouldn’t hear of it. He was back in town and wanted to celebrate with his girl. His words.
There had been no way to decline without breaking up with him over the phone. And he deserved better than that. I hadn’t seen him since before I’d left for Thanksgiving. He’d been filming in Croatia. The time difference between that and the West Coast was terrible. It had been hard to find time to talk, let alone break up with him.
I’d promised Maddox that this was our last event. That I would get through dinner and then break it off once we left.
Not that Maddox was particularly pleased that I was still attached. We’d been talking most nights. I’d been tempted to fly out to Savannah to see him, but I needed to handle Martin first. God forbid the press found out that I was seeing someone else. It would be a nightmare.
So, I’d gone along with Martin’s plan. My stylist had sent over a stunning champagne dress that highlighted my tan skin and fit my body like a glove. I was in thousand-dollar shoes. My hair and makeup had been professionally done. Photographers would be on standby to snap a picture of our perfect moment. I had to make it through one little dinner, and then this would all be over.
With a breath, I pushed through the restaurant and out to the ocean-view dining. Heat lamps were on for the chilly December evening. Martin stood as I approached the cabana-style bed he’d reserved for us. Or more likely, his assistant had reserved for us. A perfect place to be seen.
“Darling,” Martin said, drawing me in close and pressing a hungry kiss on my lips.
“How was your trip?”
Martin grinned, taking me in. “First, look at you. Jesus, Josephine, did you get more gorgeous since I left?”
“Hair and makeup,” I assured him with a laugh.
He moved his finger in a circle, and I turned for him, giving him a private show. We settled onto the cushions, and he snapped his fingers at a waiter.
“French 75, right?” he asked, remembering my favorite drink.
I’d fallen in love with the drink the night we’d gone skydiving and he’d insisted we try this speakeasy in the middle of nowhere. He ordered me one everywhere we went from then on. It was something about the gin and champagne, mixed with the sweet lemony flavor, that brought me right back to why I’d fallen for Martin in the first place … and not just the boy I’d swooned over on the television in high school.
As soon as my drink arrived, Martin launched into the most fascinating tale of the new film he’d spent the last two months working on.
And that was the thing about Martin—he was fascinating. Everything he did was a fun, new adventure. He wanted me to be part of every one of those journeys too. It was how we’d started. He’d gotten me to go skydiving with him. Then, we’d surfed on a private Malibu beach. Then, he’d flown me to Hawaii on a whim to snorkel and see a waterfall. It was a miracle that our first appearance together had been here in LA. We’d lived a crazy, private life before then. That was the Martin that I’d seen myself falling in love with. Not the one who acquiesced to see me when his publicist could fit me into his busy schedule.
By the time the first course came, I’d forgotten my earlier apprehension. Martin talked enough for the both of us. I didn’t even have to pretend to enjoy his company because I did. He was charming, personable, the heart of any party. In fact, he was my perfect complement.
Anyone would think I was insane for giving him up for the guy who’d broken my heart in college. And yet I always had this suspicion that Martin couldn’t love anyone more than he loved himself.
“My sweet,” he said, tipping my chin with his knuckles.
“What was that?”
“You went somewhere far away.”
I laughed to cover my discomfort. “Sorry. It’s hard to believe you’re home. It’s been so long.”
“I’ve been monopolizing the conversation. Tell me what you’ve been doing. You visited your little friend from home while I was gone, yes?”
I bristled at him describing Marley as my little friend from home but didn’t let that show. “Yes, Marley. We grew up together. She had Thanksgiving at her apartment in Cambridge with her brother and friends.”
“That’s adorable,” he said. “Thank God we’re not apartment living anymore, eh?”
I laughed softly. “Absolutely. I don’t miss that at all.”
Which was true. But I hated that he always put down people who made less than us. Marley was going to change the world. Who cared where she lived?
“Well, I’d like to meet all of these childhood friends of yours.”
“You would?” I asked skeptically.
That didn’t sound like Martin. He was all about the next big and better, not about the past. It was why he had no idea that the brother that I’d mentioned was Maddox or any of our history. It didn’t concern him, so it didn’t matter.
“Of course. Maybe after the holidays, we can go visit, and I can meet these mysterious friends. Marley, and the other one is … Delilah?”
I blinked in surprise. “Uh, yes. Delilah. We call her Lila.”
He snapped his fingers. “I knew it. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
“I would,” I said uncertainly.
But I was also confused. As much as I liked Martin, I’d always felt like our lives were separate. There was a line in the sand that was before and after Academy. And the before had never mattered to him.
“Good. Good,” he said. “I want everything with you, Josephine Reynolds.”
I narrowed my eyes. He was repeating those words to himself, like he did on set when he was remembering memorized lines. Was this whole thing just an act for him? What the hell?
But before I could ask what was going on, Martin slid off of the cushion and dropped to one knee before me.
My mouth popped open in shock. “Martin!”
He withdrew a red box with a Cartier diamond inside. My hand flew to my mouth. Oh my fucking God, he was proposing. This couldn’t be real. We had never discussed the future. I couldn’t believe he was doing this. Had this even been his idea?
“Josephine, would you make me the happiest man in the entire universe and marry me?”
I wanted to make a scene. I wanted to storm off, caught in this riptide of confusion. Truly, I had no idea how any of this was happening. What had made Martin decide to take this step? We’d been seeing each other for almost a year, but I’d never had the inclination that he wanted to settle down. That we were serious enough for this.
But I could do none of what I wanted. There were cameras everywhere. He’d picked this very public display to get the best angle on his proposal. It was why he wouldn’t listen to me asking to meet before we had this big, fancy dinner. He’d planned this.
“Josie,” he said softly when I stared down at him in shock.
And in those eyes, there was real emotion. Martin hadn’t been talking relentlessly tonight because he wanted to hear himself speak. He’d been nervous. He’d been preparing himself, and he wanted this. It might look like a stunt, but I could see the sincerity in his eyes.
