“Worse?” he asked.
“Sounds stupid, doesn’t it?”
He leaned in and whispered, “Just think of it as fuel.”
“Beau,” she chastised, but she was smiling.
“All I can think of when I’m near you is how to get closer.”
“You’re practically on top of me. You just fucked my tits for God’s sake.”
He nipped her earlobe. “And you just turned me to stone again with one sentence.”
“Already?” Lola asked.
“I’ve wasted enough time, don’t you think?”
“Room service will be here any minute.”
“Then we’d better be quick.”
He rolled her over and lay on top of her. He swept his hands over her hairline and his lips over her nose and mouth.
“This isn’t quick,” Lola said, but her sentence ended in a sharp gasp.
He’d reached down and slid his fingers into her. “Just let me appreciate you. That sound you make.” He kissed her neck. “The way you feel in my hand,” he said against her skin. “That birthmark above your hipbone.”
It seemed her mind had turned to mush—she could only answer him in moans. But you barely know me, she meant to say. She put her arms around his back.
“Could you see yourself with me?” he whispered, as if someone might hear. He kept stroking her.
“Don’t.” She closed her eyes. Her voice sounded far away. “Not right now.”
“Right now,” he countered. “You can’t lie when I’m inside you.”
When she swallowed, she did it quietly, even though Beau could see her throat. “I don’t even know what you’re like.”
“I’ll tell you. Morning is my favorite time of day because it’s quiet and no one needs anything from me. So I wake up early and either use the gym or run in the Hills where I live. At work I mostly meet with investors or founders or wherever my secretary sends me. Some nights, more than I’d like, I attend events or parties. Other nights I come home and work more, which I prefer. I don’t get a lot of time alone at the office.”
Lola had been looking between his eyes and his mouth as he spoke, but her mind was spending the day with Beau. In a way, the complicated life she’d imagined h
e’d have was even simpler than hers. There was no emotion in his routine, and that made it too easy to stay detached.
“I could ease up on the work,” he added as an afterthought. “I’ve just never had a reason to.”
Lola dropped her gaze to his neck. That life didn’t appeal to her, but Beau did. Those early-morning or late-night moments when they could intertwine like they were now. He needed that. She didn’t. She already had it. Johnny and Beau were miles apart, but even so, one person’s taste couldn’t be so divided. Lola and Beau were miles apart.
“Maybe if things were different,” she said. “But they’re not.”
“Like what? Give me one reason aside from the obvious one.”
“The obvious one is a pretty big one,” she said. “But okay. I sleep until around noon, so…”
He chuckled. “That’s easy. Get a job with regular hours. I’d help you find the right thing. Next?”
“Next?” she asked. “That big reason. Johnny.”
He tilted his head at her. “You really think he’s the one you’re meant to be with?”
She bit her lip when he crooked his fingers inside her and massaged. “I don’t believe there’s only one person out there for each of us.”
“You’ll change your mind when I go down on you.”
She laughed breathily. “I don’t even know what that means.”
“It means…I’m confident we’ll find that my mouth is made for your pussy.” He flashed her a smile. “You’ll see. They’re meant to be.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said, also grinning.
“Ah, Lola. I don’t know what’s better, your eyes or your smile.”
“You don’t have to seduce me,” she said. “I’m already in your bed.”
“I have to say,” he pulled his fingers out and slid them all over her, “I like having you in my bed.”
“It’s not, though…” The ache in her built again, spurred on by his fingers. “Not your bed. Why would you stay here again tomorrow night?”
“What makes you think I am?”
“You said on the phone.”
“Ah,” he said. “I just like to get out of my house sometimes.”
Her bullshit radar went off. It wasn’t even a decent lie. “You’re bringing someone else here,” she guessed. The words came out sour. Not all of what they’d just done was pretty. Some of it was crude, but those were the moments Lola had submitted completely. Because nobody else could do those things to her that way and make them so good she could’ve screamed. Her mind flitted between the bedspread underneath her, the mouth above her, the warmth surrounding her. Could he so easily turn around and share that with someone else? She couldn’t. “I don’t want you to,” she said abruptly and unprompted. “I don’t want you to do these same things to someone else right after I was here.”
“I’m not bringing anyone else here,” he said, but it felt as if he was placating her. “Hey.”
She’d been staring down again, avoiding him.
“Don’t look like that,” he said. “It’s the truth.”
She lifted her eyes again. She was ridiculous for letting her mind go there. It wasn’t like her to act jealous. “Okay. Sorry.”
“You know what I liked tonight?” he asked. “You on that stage. Asking me to send those women away. I lost it after that. God, you were sexy on that pole. Where’d you learn to dance?”
He was still coaxing her, not enough to get her off, but enough to charm words out of her. She was tempted to tell him the truth—I used to take off my clothes for money. There was the risk he might see her differently, though. She didn’t want that for the little time they had left. “Ballet,” she said.
“Ballet?”
“Classes.” She moaned. “In middle school, I took a year of ballet, and we had this…this…,” she swallowed, “teacher…”
“Yes?”
She breathed in and out. “I can’t think when you’re touching me like this.”