Then his smile fades and his mood grows intense once more.
“A long time ago I fell hard for you, Loren Savage. I never really got up again. I don’t want to rehash how we hurt each other and why. I just want us to have a future.”
He holds my gaze while he slowly runs his hands up over my belly and over my breasts, gently tugging the straps of my bra down before nimbly unhooking the back.
“Our future is here,” he whispers, leaning forward and lightly kissing my chest, just above my heart. “And here.” He moves up to my mouth and kisses me with furious passion. When my arms pull him closer he backs off, grins at me wickedly and moves down my body. He slides my shorts off with excruciating leisure before tugging my panties down with his teeth. While I’m biting my tongue and trying to stifle the urge to buck my hips like a lust-starved nympho, he flashes me a grin that says he knows all about my desperation.
“And here,” he whispers before sliding his tongue inside me for one final, unbearable torment. I nearly scream when he withdraws. But screaming won’t give me what I want.
Instead, I get right up on my knees, flatten my palms against his chest and push him back. Since Oz is likely ten times stronger than I am he could stop me easily but he lets me straddle him. He also lets me do whatever I need to do to get his pants open and his dick released. We lock eyes and I bend forward. When I get my mouth on him a groan rips out of his throat and his hands press the back of my head. I lick the shaft and teasingly suck my way to the sweet spot. Slowly I slide my lips over him until the tip of his cock touches the back of my throat. That’s when he stops me.
“No,” he demands in a half strangled voice. “I need to watch your face, Ren. I need to watch you the entire time.”
Oz lifts me with one hand while searching through his pants with the other. He extracts a condom and gets it rolled on before pulling my legs around him once more and gripping my ass, kneading the flesh.
Our bare chests press together and we stare into each other’s eyes. He isn’t inside me yet. I feel him; so hard, impatient, ready to enter. I’m just as impatient. I’m aching to stretch wide enough and take all of him inside.
We pause in the same breath. We are frozen together, an inch away from joining. His heartbeat is right there, right on the other side of mine.
My fingertips trail lightly along his square, rugged jaw.
“I love you, Oz. Not just for what we were. But for what we are now. For everything we’re going to be.”
He grabs my hand and kisses it lightly, the sexiest of gentlemen.
“I love you too, Ren. I never stopped. I never will.”
Then he drops my hand, grips my hips and slides into me hard. I’m wrapped around him so tightly I can’t imagine ever letting go.
We go slowly the first time. We ravage each other the second time and the time after that. We fall sleep in each other’s arms.
And when we wake up we start doing it all over again.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
OZ
They are leaving. I’d be a two-faced prick if I said I was sorry to see them go. I’m not. I’ve been counting down to this day. Since the crew seems a little behind schedule, I join Monty in scouring the property for cameras, screwdriver in hand. Cate Camp does her bouncy-titted run over to the house, trying to stop me.
“Don’t rip them out, Oz! Just cover them with something for now. Remember, Season Two is likely to start in the spring.”
I ignore her and successfully remove the camera mounted on the wall behind the kitchen sink. She scowls when I hold out the electronic souvenir so I just toss it on the table and move on.
The rest of the crew really isn’t so bad. They’re just guys with cameras trying to get a job done. It’s just that I don’t like being the job.
Rash is carefully packing up the van. He waves as I exit the house and head for the barn. I wave back. We already did our handshake thing. I don’t see any reason to do it again.
Sometimes I get an uneasy feeling about what’s still on the horizon. After all, Gary and friends can do whatever they want with all this footage. That’s what it means to be at the mercy of someone else’s project. I remember scoffing to Brock that I couldn’t give a wad of armpit hair what they turned me into for the sake of ratings. I feel differently now. Not because I’m looking out for my reputation. But because I don’t want this whole thing to kill theirs. I’m not just talking about Ren. I’m talking about the rest of them too. In a roundabout way I’ve finally started thinking of them as my family.
Ava and Alden are out in the yard feeding the chickens. It’s the kid’s favorite thing to do. I stop by and throw a fist full of cornmeal in the air. It scatters everywhere, the chickens lose their peck-happy minds and Alden laughs so hard he plunks right down in the dirt. There’s no other option but to laugh just as hard.
“Best sound in the world.”
She has managed to sneak right up on me. She has a talent for doing that. Ren stands there on the other side of the chicken coop looking like a million gold bucks with loose hair, cutoff shorts and a peasant-style top that has just enough of a see-thru quality to get my gears moving.
“Best view in the world,” I counter, joining her on the other side of the gate. We start walking hand in hand and when we’re beyond the caretaker’s house, no one else in sight, we stop.
When I get my arms around her she melts right into me. It’s good. I’m holding my dream girl close and neither of us cares who knows about it. At this point I actually have a grudging kind of affection for the whole stupid show. God knows it gave me the push I needed to reclaim what I’d lost.
“Oh!” Ren exclaims suddenly and pulls away. “Gary called. He called my cell phone which I thought was a little weird but it turned out to be a suspiciously nice conversation.”
“Oh yeah?” I turn her around so her back is against my chest and my arms are crossed over her body. We stare out at the mountain views while I breathe her in. “How’s that?”
“He started off by telling me he’ll arrange a private screening in L.A. so we can see the episodes before they air. He’s expecting the show to be a huge deal. I warned him that people want scandal and dirty laundry. They don’t want to see a happy ending. He just chuckled and said, ‘Very wrong. That’s exactly what people want, Miss Savage.’ I don’t know, maybe he’s right after all. We’ll find out soon enough. That screening he’s talking about, that’s supposed to be in August. Next month.”
“Hmm, that’s nice. Too bad we won’t make it.”
She runs her fingers over my forearm. “No? You told me that despite all the places you’ve been, you’ve never managed to set foot in California, let alone Hollywood. Don’t you want to view all the decadence of our family origins up close?”
“Hell no. I want to be holed up deep in the Smoky Mountains wilderness with you, no one around for miles. I have my own plans you see and quite a few of them involve the cooperation of your body.”
She looks amused. “My body would be pleased to comply. I can’t quite abandon modern feminism though. My mind would like some attention too.”
“You’ll have it.” I turn her around and take her face in my hands. When I cup my palms together her face fits there perfectly, like it was sculpted for that purpose. “I want to show you the caves and the mountains. I want to get you underground and see the look on your face the first time you get a load of the Round Room. Remember the first time I brought you into a cave, Ren? And when I’m done showing you everything I know, I’m going to take you with me and we’ll explore the rest of the world together. That’s a promise.”