After the tickling (which finally ended in a long, slow, lingering kiss), we lay in each other’s arms for awhile.Then he leaned up on one elbow and looked at me.“I need a shower. You want to join me?”I nodded. He rolled off the bed and got to his feet, then pulled me along with him and led the way to the bathroom.“Hmmm… I changed my mind. How about a bath instead?” he asked.“Fine by me.”He turned on the extra-large faucet for the jacuzzi bathtub, which was set into the floor. The faucet spewed water so fast that a fireman could hook up his hose to it.That’s a bit of an exaggeration, but not much.“Hold on, I’ll be back in a minute,” he said as he grabbed a robe and padded out into the main room of the penthouse.I walked down the steps into the jacuzzi and sat on one of the little ledges as the deliciously hot water began to fill up the tub. It was up to my waist when Connor finally returned, carrying a bowl of fruit and two glasses of orange juice from the breakfast table outs
“You’ve never wanted to go to any of those parties before,” the ultra-gay voice said on speakerphone.It was Sebastian on the line, Connor’s personal assistant in New York.“Well, there’s always a first time for everything, isn’t there?” Connor said, and winked at me.We were dressing in the bedroom. Connor looked incredible in a dark suit with a light blue shirt. I was putting on a little black dress from the rack of clothes, and fretting about how tightly it hugged my curves.“I suppose,” Sebastian sniffed, then said disapprovingly, “I just wonder if it’s your idea… or someone else’s.”Meaning me. I stuck out my tongue at the phone.Connor laughed.“What?”“Nothing. And what do you care?” Connor asked as he tied his necktie. “You’ve been after me forever to get out and enjoy myself. You should thank Lily for being a good influence.”“I suppose…” he grumbled.“Does he ever get a day off?” I whispered to Connor.“I heard that – and no, I don’t.”“You do, too,” Connor said. “Don’t be
“I am not happy about this,” Johnny glowered as he held the rear door to the Bentley open.“So you’ve said a dozen times already,” Connor said as he helped me inside. “But I’m not going to turn into a hermit just because some thug from Central Casting lobbed a nondescript threat my way.”“I still think – ”“Yes, yes,” Connor said as he got in and closed the door in Johnny’s face.“That was rude,” I frowned. “He’s just looking out for you.”Connor groaned. “Not you, too.”“You said earlier that you should remember why you hired him.”“So what, you want to stay in the hotel room all night?”“I can think of worse things.”Connor grinned and put a hand on my leg. I pointedly took it off and put it back on his knee. “But we’re not going to do any of them if you’re not nicer to the people trying to keep you safe.”“Who died and made you Miss Manners?”“I just remember a charming, wonderful man who made my boss apologize to me Friday night. I’d hate to think he’s not around anymore.”“Yeah,
“Enough about me,” he said. “I’m sick and tired of me. Tell me about you. I hardly know anything about you.”I looked back up at him. He was smiling again.“Yeah, I guess we kind of skipped the chit chat, didn’t we?”He laughed, back to his old self. “Yeah, we kind of did.”“What do you want to know?”“Who you are. What makes you tick.”“That’s not exactly something I have figured out yet.”“Alright, let’s start with basics. Parents? Siblings?”“My mom and dad still live in Charlotte, North Carolina. That’s where I grew up. I have an older brother. He’s at a software company down in Florida.”“What was your major in college?”“Business, with a psych minor.” I winced. “This is… kind of weird.”“Too much like a job interview,” he agreed. “Alright, tell me this: what did five-year-old Lily want to be when she grew up?”“Oh, that’s easy – a ballerina.”“Really.”“And six-year-old Lily wanted to be a scientist.”“Those are kind of opposite ends of the spectrum.”“They are. But it gets bett
I was buzzed from two glasses of wine as the limo headed into the Hollywood Hills. The lights of Los Angeles spread out below us as we twisted and curved up into the darkness, and I could see the Dubai standing taller than all the other buildings around it, outlined against the night sky.The houses started off very expensive at the base of the hills, then moved into ‘extremely expensive’ range, and from there blasted off into the stratosphere. It was easy to tell when we were getting closer to the party: a long string of BMW’s, Mercedes, Aston Martins, Ferraris, and Porsches lined the narrow street as white-jacketed valets parked new cars at the base of the hill and then hustled back up to the main house.It was an enormous mansion, very Mediterranean, like it had been airlifted in by a multi-millionaire from the coast of Greece. Johnny drove us up to the front, a valet opened the door and helped me out, and then Johnny grudgingly surrendered the car and followed us inside.I stayed
We entered another room where two bartenders were mixing drinks at a full bar. I suppose Connor had just been playing the odds when he made the crack about being there for the food, but there was indeed a spread that would have made the Dubai Hotel jealous. Mildly, anyway. Displays of exotic fruits and tiny pastries, more decadent desserts than I had ever seen in my life, and a small army of waiters walking around offering people bacon-wrapped scallops, chunks of seared ahi, bits of filet mignon, and the usual hors d’oeuvres and canapés.“You were right about the free food,” I marveled. “We should have skipped dinner and eaten here.”“I liked eating with the person I had dinner with.” While I beamed, Conner turned around. I followed his gaze to the corner of the room, where Lewis Vonder smiled widely and toasted us with a glass of champagne. Connor gave a fake smile back and muttered between his teeth, “Here, not so much.”“You afraid it’s like fairyland?”He looked over at me. “Huh?”
I so didn’t belong here.“And who are you?” a woman’s voice asked.I whirled around to see a gorgeous blonde, probably about my age, with upswept hair and a shimmering red dress that showed off her rather large boobs. If they were fake, her surgeon had done an incredibly good job at disguising it.“Um… Lily Ross,” I said shyly. I felt like a little girl, and she was a va-va-voom Woman.I was glad Connor wasn’t here to see her.She was holding a champagne glass in the air, and she cocked her head slightly to the side as she looked me up and down. “And what do you do?”“I’m a… a secretary.”“Oh.”Her voice was full of polite disdain. Besides being threatened by her, I started to actively dislike her.“Why, what do you do?” I asked, more out of social habit than anything else.One hand fluttered to her cleavage, and she looked soooo happy I’d asked. “I’m an award-winning photographer, but I just co-wrote a screenplay with a good friend of mine who writes for TV. His agent at CAA is takin
We arrived safe back at the hotel, much to Johnny’s relief. He made us promise not to leave the room without telling him, then said goodnight and went into his room across the way.“It’s early, only ten o’clock,” Connor said. “What do you want to do?”“Dessert.”“Literal, or figurative?”“Mmmmm. Both.”So we ordered up room service: a bottle of champagne and a selection of lovely things – the most perfect creme brulee I’d ever tasted, strawberries in whipped cream… and more chocolate.We sat on the sofa in the main room, lit only by the lights of the city, and alternated between kisses and feeding each other bits of the desserts.I was tipsy again when I purred suggestively, “Well, we did what I wanted to do… so what do you want to do?”“Well… we could get that camera and – ”“NO.”He laughed. “What was your list again? The list of ‘don’ts’? Nothing painful… nothing degrading…”“No ‘in through the out door,’” I said.“I don’t recall movies being on that list.”“And nothing that can go