“Fast and furious sounds perfect,” she said breathlessly, helping him push his shirt over his head. It sounded necessary, she added to herself before she planted her face against his hard, warm chest, her mouth avid for his texture and taste.
A frantic moment later, he sat on the couch naked, his cock rigid between his thighs. He pulled her down onto his lap, holding it up for her.
“I don’t want to be in you any way but raw right now,” he said tensely as he guided her onto his cock.
“Yes,” Gia agreed, wholeheartedly. She didn’t want anything separating them right now either, not even that small barrier.
They stared at each other as she slowly sank onto him. A convulsion went through his rigid face. He held her bottom in both his hands and pushed. She moaned shakily as she sat in his lap, his cock pulsing high inside her.
“This is the way you first made love to me,” she said in a tight voice near his ear, her arms surrounding his head so that she felt his ragged breath against her neck. Her fingers delved into his thick, silky hair. “I remember thinking you overwhelmed me. I loved it.”
“I want to make this work, Gia.”
She leaned back and looked into his rigid, determined features. “We will make it work,” she assured. “For each other. Only for each other.”
He tightened his hold on her ass and began to move her over him. Her head fell back and she gasped, overwhelmed by Seth all over again.
Epilogue
SIX MONTHS LATER
Joy and Seth were the only ones left with Gia in Daphne DeGarro’s gaudy, mirror-filled dressing room. Both Seth and his niece were staring at her fixedly.
“Well?” Gia asked anxiously. “How is it?”
“Eerie,” Joy whispered in awe. “I feel like I’m staring at Eleanor Roosevelt when she was twenty years old.” She glanced at Seth, who still was peering at Gia with his typical razorlike focus when he was in work mode. “Seth, you’re a genius.”
“Oh, I can’t stand it anymore,” Gia said, springing up from the chair. “I need a mirror!”
“You have your pick,” Seth said dryly, setting down the makeup brush he held in his hand.
Gia flew over to a nearby gilded mirror. Shivers prickled up and down her limbs at the vision she saw in it. After a few seconds of staring in incredulous excitement, she spun around and smiled at Seth, the sensation strange with the custom-fitted mouth insert she wore.
“She’s right. My husband-to-be is a bona fide genius. I can’t wait for everyone at the benefit ball to know it tonight. Not that they don’t know already,” Gia added wryly.
It had been three years since Seth and she first laid eyes on each other in this very room. They’d come back for the Cancer Benefit Ball tonight, Seth’s staff working feverishly to do makeups and costumes for over two hundred and fifty benefactors of the cause. Gia had just recently finished filming on Interlude. Once the McClarin affair had come to a satisfactory conclusion after a hectic, frenzied trial and McClarin’s conviction, they’d gone full steam ahead on filming.
The media flashfire regarding her involvement with Seth, Seth’s supposed harassment of Tomoriv and the vague connection between Tomoriv and McClarin, had been just that: a high, sensationalistic inferno that quickly died out when there were no solid facts to fuel it. Seth had calmly but forcefully made a public statement, stating the facts about his brief, one-time meeting with Tomoriv. Tomoriv quickly went into hiding when questioned about his lack of proof of Seth’s harassment or any solid connection between Tomoriv’s organization and McClarin’s. No tangible ties of causality could be made period between Seth, Dharma Jana, Tomoriv and McClarin. The lies evaporated beneath Madeline’s fierce, relentless challenge for proof from any naysayers and her ruthless determination for justice in the courtroom.
Knowing for certain that Seth was solidly behind her had steadied Gia. She’d taken the stand and told her story with a calm confidence that McClarin’s defense attorneys couldn’t dent, no matter how hard they tried.
She and Seth had gone more than full steam ahead in their relationship once the legal proceedings had concluded. It’d been so hard, to have only a few furtive meetings during the agonizing monthlong trial.
It had been nirvana, after the conviction of Sterling McClarin, both of them defying the tabloids and appearing in public whenever they chose . . . making a point of assuring each other that their reality was the only one they’d abide by. It had been a challenging few months of dating, but rewarding too. They’d made mistakes and faltered a few times. Both of them had to make their share of compromises. Neither of them had ever given up, and the lessons they’d learned had only firmed their resolve to make the relationship work.
Last month, Seth had asked her to marry him during one of their many compromises—this one about a vacation destination. He’d proposed to her beneath a midnight dome of stars during a luxury glamping trip near the Sierra Aguilada Mountains in New Mexico. She’d agreed ecstatically. It had been the happiest night of her life. Gia had been walking on air ever since Seth had shown up in the disguise during the trial.
These days, she was soaring in the stratosphere.
The producer who wanted to make the Eleanor movie had decided to proceed. In a move that both shocked and pleased Gia to no end, he’d asked Rill Pierce to be the director, and Rill had agreed. Gia had insisted upon having Seth do her makeup exclusively for the film. Tonight they were trying out the new makeup for the first time at the Cancer Benefit Ball.
Joy hid a smile and replaced several hairbrushes and a container of hairpins into a bag. “Things certainly do change. I can’t believe my big, bad uncle is volunteering to wear a tux and escort you to a glitzy Hollywood ball,” Joy said. She caught Gia’s eye and the two women shared a grin. Gia had found Joy Hightower to be a delight and very easy to get along with. They both loved Seth, and that commonality had been enough to quickly cement a relationship between them.
“He’s escorted me a lot of times to big events,” Gia said lightly. “He’s really starting to love them, I think.” Joy and Gia both laughed at Seth’s “you’ve got to be kidding me” look. “Okay, so he’s extremely forbearing and patient and can’t wait until it’s all over, but at least he’s getting used to it. And I try my best to keep it at a minimum, right?”
Seth grunted an assent.
Joy wished them a nice time at the ball and said her good-byes. After she’d left and closed the door behind her, Seth gestured for Gia to come over to him.