“Another upside to being famous. You want more champagne?”
“You trying to get me drunk?” I held out my glass.
“Will it make you easy?”
I tried to keep my hand steady as I laughed. “I’ve slept with you already, so I think it’s well established I’m easy.”
“I only wish that were true.” He set down the bottle and crawled toward me. “You have a little something”—he licked the corner of my lip—“just there.” He pressed his mouth against mine, and I dropped my champagne glass to wrap my arms around him. He pushed me back onto the sand and covered my body with his.
I wasn’t sure he’d gone ten minutes without kissing me since he’d parked the car, and though I pretended he was such a bore, I loved it. I hadn’t made out like this since high school.
We’d not seen a soul and it felt as if we were in our own private bubble so I hadn’t fought off his kisses.
Matt was nearly a foot taller than me and so hard and muscular, I felt like a doll when he touched me. His hand slid up my thigh. “I want to make you feel so good.”
He found the elastic of my underwear and slipped his hand beneath. I squirmed, trying to wriggle free.
“Hold still. I’m going to make you come.”
I braced my hands on his shoulders. “Matt, no, not here. Anyone could—”
“We haven’t seen a single person since we arrived. I need you to come.” His fingers trailed up my folds and rounded my clit.
My body went weak at his touch. There was no saying no to him. I wanted to feel his fingers, wanted him to lift me higher and higher. Even though we’d only had one night together, I’d missed what he could do to my body.
“Oh yes, baby, I knew you’d be so wet for me.” He abandoned my clit and I gasped at the change of sensation as he smoothed down my slick folds.
How could I be anything else but ready? The way he looked at me when he’d arrived, as if he were imagining me naked . . . I’d half expected him to push me against the wall and fuck me before we’d even gotten into the car. I’d been only slightly relieved that he hadn’t. Was that how all those women who worshipped him from his movies felt?
His fingers circled my entrance, teasing out sensation from every limb, encouraging my pleasure to build and build.
“Matt,” I whispered.
“I love seeing what I do to you move across your face. I love how your body tells me how much it wants me.” He slipped two fingers inside me as far as they would go and rumbled, “You’re so tight, Lana. So desperate.” He thumbed my clit, circling and pumping his fingers in and out as he did.
“I can’t,” I gasped out. “I can’t.”
“Yeah, you can. Let it go. Let me give you what you need.”
As if his words gave me courage to step off a cliff, I tumbled into free fall, arching my back and digging my fingernails into his shoulders.
My body sagged and Matt pulled me on top of him. “You look fucking astonishing when you come. I want to video it and have it play on a loop in my shower.”
I tensed and pushed myself off him. “Hey,” he said, trying unsuccessfully to pull me back. I sat, drawing my knees up to my chin. “Are you okay?” he asked, settling next to me and smoothing his hand over my back.
“No videos. No photographs. Not ever,” I said, staring at my toes poking into the sand. The image that Bobby had plastered around campus flashed in front of me every time I blinked. “I don’t do that.”
“Okay, I’m sorry.”
“I think we should leave.” I started to stand but Matt pulled me back into his lap. “Let me go.”
“Not until you tell me what’s wrong.”
I sat, stock-still, but desperate to run away. But I didn’t. Couldn’t. I wanted to feel the heat of his body more than I wanted to escape.
“I had an ex who took my photo. It ended badly,” I said eventually.
Matt brought his arms around my waist and pulled me closer. I took a deep breath, then exhaled, my body molding to his.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered into my ear.
I hadn’t given him any details, but it was almost like he was saying no matter what had happened, he was in my corner. I wanted Matt to know that I trusted him.
“When I broke up with him, he plastered pictures of me, naked, all around campus, sent them on email to the whole school. It was just . . . the worst thing that he could have done. It was such a violation.” I took a deep breath, which evened out my pulse. “Ruby was amazing. She tore them down and sat with me while I cried.” I paused, enjoying the heat of Matt’s arms around me. “I never went back to class. I couldn’t face it. Couldn’t see all those people who’d seen such intimate pictures of me. It was . . . difficult.”
I uncrossed my arms and placed them over his as he burrowed his face into my neck. “I’m so sorry. If I ever meet the weak little asshole, I swear I’ll kill him.” He pulled me closer.
“It was a long time ago.” Five years was a lifetime, but every now and then, like now, it didn’t feel that way.
“But not so long ago that it doesn’t still bother you.”
He was right. The memories of that afternoon were as fresh as ever today. As long as I boxed them up and shut them out it was fine, but even the smallest crack would have them back—bright and vivid.
“Is that why you don’t like the city?”
“I love Worthington. Of course, like you I dreamed of leaving but, you know, you gotta be careful what you wish for.”
“God, Lana, I want to make it better for you,” he said, and I twisted in his lap to look up at him.
I smoothed my palm over the rough stubble on his jaw. “Holding me like this is good.” I couldn’t remember a time since my dad died when I felt so protected.
“Then we’ll stay here all night.”
I laughed. “It’s not that good. I like my bed a lot.”
“I can’t wait to see what’s so great about it.”
I slapped him on the back of his hand. “Easy, Mr. Movie Star.”
“Admit it. You’re counting down the minutes until you can get me naked.” He stood us up, holding me against him. “But not in public. You value your privacy. I get that now. I’m not going to put that at risk. Let’s go home.”
I smoothed my hand over his jaw. Wasn’t he supposed to have the world at his feet? Have everything he’d ever wanted with the snap of his fingers? And yet here he was, comforting me, worrying about me. It seemed that Matt Easton was exactly what I needed in my life right in that moment.
Thirteen
Matt
I checked my watch as I opened the door of the makeup trailer. I’d barely made it on time. Lana’s warm body had been almost too difficult to leave this morning.
“Hey, Matt,” Jenny said, patting an empty chair. “You’re mine today.”
I grinned. “Perfect.” The head artist was quick and friendly, which worked for me. I took a seat.
“How’s it going up the coast? We haven’t seen you in Portland at all,” Jenny said.