Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Dash had seen beauty. As a director, it was what he did: searched out the perfect shot, the best lighting to frame the moment up there on screen. That split second when the image right in front of you told a thousand stories, conveyed more emotion and passion than words ever could alone.
But he’d never seen anything as stunning as the sight of Ellie’s face as she came undone. The light, dazzling in her eyes, the flush of her skin, and the slow aching part of her perfect lips as she exhaled a silent cry of ecstasy.
He wanted to capture it, frame it. Burn it into his memory for the rest of his life—and make her look at him that way all over again.
Right now.
He shut off the water and gently guided her from the shower. Dash wrapped them both in fluffy towels as Ellie seemed to surface back to reality. She gave him a breathless smile.
“Hi.”
“Hi,” Dash echoed, dropping a kiss on her lips. He was so turned around—and turned on—he couldn’t think straight. “Bedroom?”
“That way.” Ellie led him down the hallway to her room, shutting the door behind them. Right away, he peeled her towel off again, revealing that gorgeous expanse of smooth, damp skin.
Dash didn’t know what he’d done to deserve this moment, with this woman, but whatever twist of fate led him to this woman, it was a goddamn miracle.
God, he could lose himself in her and never come up for air.
“Condom?” he panted, before he lost all sense of reason.
Ellie retrieved one from her dresser, and then they were tumbling back onto the bed, kissing and touching and making Dash lose his mind at the slide of their bodies. “God, I want you,” Ellie breathed, moaning in his ear, the most perfect sound he had ever heard.
Still, he took his time, worshipping her incredible body with his mouth and hands until she was squirming beneath him, gasping in breathy little pants that made him ache to have her. “Please,” she gasped, arching against him. “Dash.”
He couldn’t hold back any longer, not with her eyes so bright with desire.
And when he finally thrust into her, hearing her moans of pleasure, feeling her body welcome him deep inside, meeting his rhythm and driving them on…
Dash had never known anything like it. They moved together, gasping, as the world disappeared, and all that mattered was right there, in her arms.
“Dash!” Ellie came apart with a cry, and God, the sound of his name on her lips took him over the edge. With a final thrust, he let go, drowning in the explosion of pleasure. It ripped through him, a tidal wave destroying everything in its path, and building him back up, a new man.
Her man.
Dash didn’t know how long he lay there, but damn, if he never moved again, he would be just fine with that.
He rolled over. Ellie was lying collapsed, half under the covers, her eyes closed and a look of sheer bliss on her face. Dash felt a surge of manly pride. He’d put that smile there—and he was going to do it a dozen more times before he left.
He leaned in and kissed her bare shoulder. She answered in a muffled voice.
“I’m hungry.”
Dash chuckled. “This is the part where you’re supposed to be murmuring sweet nothings in my ear.”
Ellie turned her face to him. “You’re right.” She grinned, then dropped her tone to a seductive whisper. “Baby, I’m hungry.”
“Better.” He gently brushed hair from her cheek. The silky strands were tousled around her face like a halo on the pillow. “You got any food here?”
“Leftovers, in the fridge.” Ellie groaned, and half-heartedly tried to sit up. “It’s so…far…away…”
He laughed. “Is that a hint?”
She grinned and collapsed again. “You writers, you’re so perceptive.”
Dash swung his legs down and winced as his bare feet hit the cold floorboards. “What do you want?”
Ellie yawned. “Chips, and dip… And there’s some cake too, in the bread bin. Tea, ooh, and ice cream.”
He arched an eyebrow.
“What?” she protested, giving him a good-natured shove. “I worked up an appetite.”
“Yes, you did.” Memories of that work flooded Dash’s brain—and rushed south too. He got up before he had second thoughts and pinned her down for another round. “You’ll need your energy back soon,” he warned her. “I’m just getting started.”
“Promises, promises.” Ellie laughed, giving him a playful spank as he reluctantly pulled on a bathrobe, and left her gorgeous and naked in her warm bed.
The things men did to provide for their woman.
Dash made his way to the kitchen and hunted down her requests. His stomach rumbled loudly, approving of the fuel break. Still, food was a necessary evil right now compared with gorging on Ellie’s delicious body. He couldn’t wait to go back and finish what they’d started—over and over again.
She drove him crazy, a desire like nothing he’d ever felt before, but it was more than that too.
She was fascinating, captivating, and he would do anything to figure out what made her tick.
Just like unraveling a character in one of his movies, Dash wanted to know what drove her, what excited her—and how he could make it happen and put that irresistible smile on her face every damn day for the rest of their lives.
Hold up.
He stopped his renegade thoughts from running away from him.
Take it slow, figure it out, he reminded himself, but still, he couldn’t help wondering what came next.
This wouldn’t just be a one-time thing, a vacation fling; there was no way that would ever be enough.
Already, he could picture her in LA, soaking up the sunshine—taking off on those adventures she’d been planning so long, showing her all his favorite haunts by day, and exploring her gorgeous body every night.
Dash had never been reckless when it came to women, but right now, he was ready to take a shot and do whatever it took to make this chance encounter something real.
If there was one thing he’d learned from spending his life absorbed in other people’s stories it was this: you could sleepwalk through your entire life waiting for something more; an extraordinary moment; an undeniable connection.
And if you were lucky enough to find that special something balanced on a stepladder hanging tinsel on a Christmas tree?
You grabbed hold tight, and you didn’t let go.
He put the water on to boil for tea, then assembled a tray with the rest of her requests. “You better get ready for a sugar crash,” he called ahead, maneuvering out of the kitchen. “Because this lot will wipe you out.”
He headed back towards her bedroom, but a flash of color made him turn.
Ellie was in the living room, wrapped up in a massive red toweling robe.
Dash changed direction and set the tray down on the table.
“You got the fire started, perfect,” he said, looking forward to getting her out of that robe once it warmed up.
Ellie didn’t reply. She was sitting on the couch—and he realized she had a laptop open in her lap.
“Hey, no work, you’re officially off-duty,” Dash scolded her.
“You’re not.”
Her words were brittle and ice cold, and they stopped him in his tracks. Then he realized, it wasn’t her computer she was looking at—it was his.
“What are you talking about?”
“The camera zooms in on ALLY, twenty-five, a flame-haired siren with a secret sweetness.” Ellie’s voice was scathing. Accusing.
Dash felt a chill.
The words were familiar. He’d written them only a couple of days ago.
She was reading his script.