THIRTEEN
Bella
We make it all the way into the darkened cinema without me being recognized. It’s like some kind of dream, walking around in Will’s old clothes pretending to be someone else. Pretending to be his girlfriend.
If I’m honest, that’s the fantasy I’ve been playing through my head all day. A dream of cozy evenings by the fire in his terrace house, of me curled up in his lap. They’re not even especially sexual, though there’s always an undercurrent of need that switches into passion as I shift position in the fantasy to find he’s hard, or when he sets aside the book and pushes me onto my back by the fire.
In the fantasy, I alternate between imagining rough, animalistic coupling with sweat trickling between my breasts as he fucks me roughly, and slow, gentler lovemaking where he strokes and touches me tenderly and tells me how beautiful I am.
I want all of it. I want every single part of the life I imagine we could have if I wasn’t famous. If I wasn’t Bella Owens.
Quiet weekends browsing the local markets, walking hand in hand in a park, or running his shop together. It’s a life I’ll never have, but I’ve never wanted it more than I do right now.
So it’s thrilling to me just to hold his hand and sit next to him in the dark. I can’t even concentrate on the film, though it’s one I haven’t seen. I’ve worked with director Gareth Marlowe before and I love his work. I was excited to see this reimagining of Bonnie and Clyde, but now we’re here, Will is all I can think about.
I pull our joined hands onto my lap and hold him there like I’m never going to let him go. My phone buzzes and I hurry to switch it off, which means I’m forced to let go of Will’s hand. His stays on my knee, though, and I’m sure I hear a little growl when I can finally sit back and it slides higher.
Suddenly, all my senses are alive. All I can think about is how close his hand is to my pussy and how much I want him to slide it higher and rub me. Of course, it doesn’t help I had no clean panties to put on today. Will loaned me his shirt to put on over the dress I wore to dinner. But beneath the form-fitting skirt on my bodycon dress, I’ve got on absolutely nothing, and I’ve never been more aware of it.
My clit throbs for attention and I’m in very real danger of leaving a wet patch behind me if this keeps going. I really want this to keep going.
Will squeezes my thigh. His breath is audible above the sounds of the cinema and I’m sure mine is, too. My heart is doing its best to burst from my chest as I think about how good it would feel for him to touch me.
I spread my legs wider, praying he gets the message.
He growls again, louder this time, but his hand stays where it is.
Oh god, please. I feel like screaming. My pussy is soaking wet. My toes curl and uncurl in my shoes.
On impulse, I place my hand over his and move it until his fingertips graze my wetness.
It’s all I can do to smother the moan that tears from me. Luckily, there’s a car chase on the screen. Tires screech and an explosion covers my gasp when he finally takes over, sliding his hand until one finger rubs across my clit.
“Fuck!” Will’s curse is loud in the suddenly quiet room. Someone in front of us looks around with a glare. He leans close to whisper. “No pants, Bella?”
I squeeze my legs tight, trapping his hand there. “Please!” I mouth the word against his ear.
Next moment, he pushes apart my legs. I expect him to withdraw, but he does the opposite. A thick finger spears deep into my sopping pussy and I throw my own hand over my mouth to keep from giving myself away.
Oh god. How is it possible I need to come so badly already, when he’s only just touched me?
I slide lower, hoping no one looks around. I dare to spread my legs a little wider, silently begging him not to stop.
Will thrusts his fingers in and out of my pussy, the tiny motions driving me out of my mind.
Deeper! I want to scream. Harder.
At the same time, I stare at the backs of the heads of the people in front of us, expecting them to turn at any moment and notice what we’re doing.
Will’s other hand slides into the hair at my nape and he directs my face toward his. His expression is intense, eyes boring into me in the darkness. “Look at me, Bella,” he says in a rough whisper. “I have you. I won’t let them see.”
It’s everything I need right now. The command in his tone. The change that seems to have come over him. Here is the raw need I’ve caught a glimpse of all those other times. This time I won’t let this opportunity go to waste.
I nod. “Don’t stop.”
His mouth crashes against mine in a brief kiss before he pulls back. All the while his hand works my pussy, drawing moisture from my cunt to swipe in circles around my clit until I’m ready to burst.
He leans in close. His breath is hot and ragged against my ear. “Your cunt smells so bloody sweet. I’ve wanted to do this for hours. Come for me. Go on. Come.”
Awareness erupts in an explosion that swells through my body. I gasp. I squeeze my thighs tight around his hand. My body bucks and shakes and the orgasm spreads all the way from my pussy to my toes.
When I can breathe again, he has slowed the motion of his hand, but he’s still cupping my pussy. He strokes in languid circles that draw aftershocks from me until I’m ready to melt into a puddle on the cinema floor.
I only hope I didn’t leave a wet patch because I had zero control over the strength of my body’s reaction to him.
A low rumble comes from deep in Will’s chest. He withdraws his hand and brings it to his mouth. While I watch, he licks each of his fingers clean, as if he’s savoring every drop of me.
It’s the single sexiest thing a guy has ever done in or out of bed with me, and my clit gives another determined throb.
I grab his face and kiss him. His lips and tongue still taste of me. Salty, sweet, tangy. Heady with sex and desire and passion. It’s beautiful. When I pull back we both look at each other with a sheepish grin.
He tucks me against his side for the rest of the film and strokes my hair. I don’t know when the last time anyone stroked my hair, but it’s magical. This whole day has been magical, and I never want it to end.
When we leave the cinema, Will leaves me for a moment to find a restroom and I’m waiting outside. I smile to myself, reliving the moment, when the conversation of a group of guys behind me catches my attention.
“Kate Lansborough was hot in that, but in that sort of girl next door way.”
I turn slightly, until I can see them out of the corner of my eye while it still seems as if I’m only looking at my phone. I’ve worked with Kate. And, yes, she was hot in that film, but something about the tone of their conversation suggests they’re not going to leave it there.
Sure enough, a shorter guy with his back to me says, “Oh, what, you think she wouldn’t suck cock like a slut given half a chance?”
The others laugh. “Nah, I bet she would. Don’t they all? I heard that’s what most directors expect from these top tier actresses. The ones earning millions each film.”
“All I’m saying,” says the original guy; his gut is hanging over the front of his jeans like an avalanche waiting to happen, “is that she plays the part well, you know? Some of them can do that. Now, Bella Owens on the other hand—”
His friends make lewd noises and I freeze.
Heat creeps up the back of my neck. I’m not sure I want to hear this, but I can’t walk away. I have to know.
“Yeah, you’re right,” says another. “You could dress her up like a nun and she’d still look like she wanted to swallow a bag of dicks. There’s just something about her—” He is cut off by a terrifying growl.
A tall brown blur sweeps past me and charges straight into the group of guys. There are shouts. Will snarls. The guy with the gut ends up slammed against the wall of cinema four with seven foot of ferocious werewolf glaring at him like he’s going to eat him.
With a gasp, I hurry over, grabbing Will’s arm. “Will.”
He growls, but doesn’t budge.
I tug harder. “Will!”
Some of the guys have vanished. Two of them are shouting at Will, phones out, filming the whole thing. Their friend’s face is growing redder and redder.
“Will, you have to stop.”
Finally he turns to look at me down the long muzzle of his shifted face. His eyes are so expressive in this form, searching mine, as if checking to make sure I’m all right.
“It’s OK,” I say gently.
He lowers the guy to the floor, giving him one more low growl before releasing him and stepping back.
The guy stumbles back toward his friends. “Fuck. Did you see that shit?”
I pet Will’s furry arm and he leans down to press a kiss against my cheek. I laugh when it feels like a lick. It still gives me shivers.
He’s clearly still on edge. He hasn’t shifted back. When we turn and walk toward the exit, he clings tightly to my hand and I feel the strain of him holding back.
We’ve taken three steps when I hear a male voice say, “Fucking hell. Someone needs to put it down.”
Oh, no, he didn’t!
I spin, pulling away from Will and stepping back toward the three guys. I pull the cap off my head and let my long hair tumble down my back. I can see the moment recognition dawns on their stupid faces. Their mouths drop open.
“Hi,” I say sweetly. “I couldn’t help but overhear what you said, and I wish I hadn’t. I wish for your sakes my friend hadn’t.”
The tall guy with the gut swallows, looking over my shoulder where I know Will is hovering, ready to defend me.
I point my finger in the guy’s face. “You’re an idiot, clearly. I’m not sure why I’m bothering. Only, since we don’t put down people ”—I hit that word with emphasis—“I thought I’d better come over here and educate you. You’re the real monsters here, and you want to know what else? Oh, look. There’s a bag of dicks right in front of me.” I gesture to the group of guys, in case they can’t figure out what I mean.
By this point, I’m speaking loudly. A crowd has gathered. I know people are filming. I hear someone whisper, “Is that actually her? Like for real?”
“And I have no desire to suck you,” I continue, ignoring them. “Any of you. What I would like very much, though, is to make sure you know that Kate and I—and any woman for that matter—are far too good to even look at your worthless dicks even if you begged us.”
I go to walk away and then think better of it. I turn and wave an angry finger in their faces again.
“And for the record, the last film I worked on was directed by a woman. Funnily enough, she did not ask me to suck her dick. And critics are saying it’s going to win more Oscars than any other film this year. So, yes, there are assholes out there who try that on. And you know what? One by one, we will expose them all for the conceited, misogynist frauds they are. Because the world has changed. You’re the ones stuck in the past.”
Someone starts clapping. A whole lot of people.
I look around at the whole crowd of people clapping for me. I flush. I wasn’t really trying to cause a scene.
The three guys look around, too. One opens his mouth to speak. Someone throws a soda cup at him and it splashes all down his front. “Go suck a bag of dicks,” another person jeers at them.
“Bella!” A woman with a pink sweater rushes over. “Bella, can I take a photo?”
Will snarls. His large arm wraps around me and he pulls me away. “No.”
Before I have time to think, he whisks me away, pushing carefully through the crowd of people until we’re on the street. Then he simply lifts me, scooping an arm beneath my legs and tucking me against him.
“Let’s get you out of here.”