Chapter 23
TWENTY-THREE
SAWYER
“You’re early.” I didn’t even try to hide the way I smiled when I opened the door and saw Lukas standing on the other side of it.
He was supposed to come over after he wrapped up filming, but I wasn’t expecting him for another couple of hours.
He stepped close, greeting me with a kiss. “I hope everything went well.”
“The shoot was really great. Better than I’d expected actually.”
He shrugged out of his jacket, and I took it from him, hanging it in the closet by the front door.
“Today was Ash’s shoot, right?”
“Yeah. He did great, though. Sometimes the new guys can be a bit awkward, or the chemistry just isn’t there, or people’s bodies don’t cooperate the way they want them to.
There are a million things that can go wrong, but none of them did.
” As Lukas spoke, he stepped close to me and wrapped his arms around my waist. I looped my arms around his neck and tried to ignore the way my heart raced when he looked at me.
A smile tugged at his lips. “I let River loose on the footage so I could get over here and spend the rest of the night with you. Tell me about your day.”
“Well, after I woke up, I worked for a few hours and made some great progress on your book. Then I met my friend Yvette for lunch. I made a few stops on the way home. I did a bit more work, and then I was getting things ready for you when you showed up early.”
“Things?” Lukas asked. “What things?”
“Remember when we were talking about shit we didn’t get to do as kids?” I pulled away from him, grabbing his hand so I could lead him deeper into the house. “It wasn’t really planned. It was kind of spur of the moment.” I studied Lukas’s face for a reaction.
I’d decorated my house in birthday decor. I’d bought cake and ice cream for us to share. And gifts. The Happy Birthday banner was the first thing that caught Lukas’s attention, though, and he turned to me with a confused expression.
“It’s not my birthday.”
“There’s no rule that says we can’t celebrate anyway. We have cake and ice cream, and I bought you something.” I pulled out a chair and motioned for him to take it. “Sit. We can unwrap presents; then maybe later we’ll have cake. And no birthday party is complete without hot dogs.”
Lukas lowered himself into the chair and kept looking around the room like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. His eyes widened when I produced a package in bright, birthday-themed wrapping paper.
“You’re not serious.” He took the gift and looked at it for a moment. I had no way of knowing what was going on inside his head, but then he looked up at me and grinned. “This is completely unnecessary, but… thank you.”
“Thank me after you open the gift.”
Lukas tore into the gift the way a kid might, with unbridled enthusiasm. He tore the paper down the middle then worked at getting it off the box.
“I hope it’s not stupid, and it might be a little selfish, but I figured you might not have had one, and I wasn’t allowed to play with these kinds of toys.”
He stared at the toy guns, the kind that shot foam darts. My parents hadn’t wanted me playing violent games or games with toy guns. And knowing the way Lukas had grown up, I doubted there was any money for things like this.
“This is fucking cool.” Lukas tore into the box, carefully stacking the trash in a pile on the table. Once he freed the guns from their packaging, he loaded them up with their foam bullets and handed me one. “I’ve never had one of these before.”
He fired off a test round, hitting me in the chest.
“I’ve been hit.” I covered the place where he shot me and pretended to stagger. “Run. Save yourself.”
Lukas picked up the dart and put it back in the gun, then handed me the other one. “I assume you got two for a reason.”
I took the toy gun from him and grinned. “You assume correctly.” I didn’t give him a word of warning. I just pointed the gun at him and shot him in the chest. Lukas gasped and aimed his gun at me, but I dodged out of the way, cackling with laughter as his bullet whizzed past me, missing entirely.
I heard the chair scrape across the floor as he got to his feet and chased me down.
I dove into the living room, ducking behind the couch.
Crouching low to shield myself, I popped up and fired a shot at Lukas.
I missed but he didn’t. The rubber tip of the foam dart smacked into my neck and I reached up with my free hand to rub the tingle out of my skin.
“That kind of stings,” I told him. My words gave him pause, and I used that to my advantage and fired off a shot that did not miss.
“That’s dirty,” Lukas said, ducking around the corner to take cover as I fired off another shot.
“All is fair in love and war!” I called out as I shuffled along the floor, circling around to the other end of the couch, hoping to be able to peek out and pop off a few shots from a different angle.
“You better remember those words because you’ll be eating them later.”
“Ha!” I yelled, popping out and firing off a few quick shots. “I’d like to see you try.”
Two of my three shots missed, but the third one hit Lukas on the thigh. He fired one off at me, but I’d ducked behind the couch just in time for it to miss me.
“So much for eating my words.” I only had a few darts left. I regretted not buying more ammunition for the guns. I popped out again with the intention to fire off the rest of my bullets, but Lukas wasn’t there.
Well, shit. Someone had gone into stealth mode. I crept out, staying in a low crouch as I scanned the area for any sign of him. To the right was the empty kitchen, but he could be hiding on the other side of the counters. To the left was more living room, which he wasn’t in.
My heart pounded in my chest. This was the most fun I’d had since… maybe ever. After that day on the swings, I’d been reminded of things that I used to do. Or never got to do. Lukas was a great inspiration, and I loved that he threw himself into it with as much eagerness as I felt.
That wouldn’t stop me from shooting him on sight, however. If only I could find him.
I tried to keep as quiet as possible, but as I approached the hallway, Lukas jumped out of the bathroom and riddled me with bullets.
They smacked into my chest, my shoulders, and one got my cheek.
I fell backward, a move that wasn’t planned, but served me well because Lukas saw an opportunity and took it.
Rushing over to me, he dropped down on top of me in a straddle, and aimed the gun at my chest. Point blank range.
“Do you surrender?” he asked, his face alight with joy.
“You’ll never take me alive.” I tried to get another shot off, but he grabbed my gun and then pointed both at me.
“Do you surrender?” he asked again, clearly pleased with himself and the current turn of events.
“I surrender.”
“Good.” Lukas smiled, and then emptied the guns, pummeling my chest with foam bullets. From up close, the impact was a little more intense, and maybe I shouldn’t have liked it as much as I did, but it was hard to dislike anything that made Lukas sit on me.
“You won. You may now collect your prize.”
“What’s my prize?” He let his arms relax at his sides, but he still kept a hold of the empty guns.
“Well… me. I’m the prize.” Heat rushed through me, and I fought off the urge to hide my face in my hands.
Being around Lukas drove me crazy because I wanted to always be touching him.
I’d already gotten addicted to the way it felt to have his attention on me.
The way I felt seen and valued. And desired.
I was aware of his erection as much as I was aware of my own. My cock had been throbbing since he arrived, and the little game we’d played had only made my situation even more dire. Lukas shifted his weight, pressing down on my cock a little and a slutty-sounding whimper escaped.
I started to apologize, but Lukas did it again, this time with a grin on his face.
He dropped the toy guns and put his hands on the floor on either side of my head.
Feeling a little brave, I put my hands on his knees and slid them up his thighs.
Leaning down, he held my gaze as he brushed his lips against mine.
“I believe you mentioned cake,” he said as he ground his groin against mine one last time before he climbed off of me. I let out a breath and closed my eyes for a second. When I opened them, he was standing over me, offering me his hand.
“I went for the classic Funfetti with vanilla frosting.” I took his hand and he pulled me to my feet.
Yanking me close, he kissed me again. This time it lingered.
He took his time exploring my mouth, tangling our tongues together until I was ready to faint from lack of blood to my brain and oxygen to my lungs.
Lukas pulled away and my heart stopped when he reached for my face. Cupping my cheek, his thumb brushed along my lower lip. “I can’t believe you did all this for me.”
“Everyone deserves to be celebrated. And I chose today because your real birthday is too far away.” From doing the biography with him, I’d learned that his birthday had been just a couple of months ago, back at the beginning of March.
I hoped that I’d still know him come time for his next birthday, and if I did, I planned to throw him the biggest, best, birthday party I could think of.
“When’s your birthday?” Lukas asked as I pried myself away from him and pulled the cake out of the fridge.
“October seventh.” I winced as I pulled the plastic dome off the cake. “Sorry, these things are impossible to open quietly. I swear they make them loud on purpose.”
“They do it to prevent cake theft.” Luke reached out and swiped a finger through the frosting on the edge of the cake and popped it in his mouth.
From the kitchen drawer, I produced a candle and a lighter. “I would sing to you, but I actually really like you, and I don’t inflict pain on people I care about.” I lit the candle and then looked at Lukas. “Make a wish.”
He leaned down, took a breath, and blew the candle out. “You know, I think I’ve got a pretty good chance at my wish coming true.”
He ignored the cake, took the knife out of my hand, and set it on the table before pulling me in close to him.
“Yeah?” God, my kingdom for lungs that worked and drew in a proper breath around him so I didn’t always sound like a breathless waif.
But that must be what Lukas was into because he held my face in his hands and slanted his mouth over mine.
I thought maybe we’d forget about the cake, about the movie, about everything else I had planned and just make out in my kitchen until I melted into a puddle of sexually frustrated goo, but then Lukas pulled back and looked me in the eyes.
“It’s cake time,” he said.
Releasing me from his grasp, he picked up a fork and stabbed a chunk of cake off the top edge.
He popped the bite into his mouth, then went back for another forkful, which he brought to my mouth instead.
He looked at me expectantly, lust flashing in his gaze when I opened my mouth and let him slide the fork inside.
Who knew eating cake could be so arousing?
Not me.
But maybe it had less to do with the cake and more to do with the company.