Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Sophia
I go to stretch but find that my body is encased by heat and muscle again. My eyes blink open to see a tattoo. I grin. I’m face to…chest with Tate Anders’s tattoo. I haven’t really spent time admiring it yet and now’s my chance.
Every ending is also a beginning.
The words are in a scrolling cursive text that looks like it’s riding a wave. My finger lifts to trace the lines. Tate’s arms tighten around me.
“Good morning,” Tate says, his voice gravelly from sleep.
“Good morning,” I reply, wishing we could stay in the cocoon of these sheets for at least seven more days.
“We should get up,” Tate declares as he rolls us over so he’s hovering above me. He peppers my face with kisses, and I giggle. Shit, why do I feel like a schoolgirl with her first boyfriend?
His final kiss is a gentle one on my lips. He hovers there for a long moment before pulling away and getting out of bed. I watch his sexy ass walk to the bathroom.
“You coming?” he asks as he turns his head to look over his shoulder.
I shrug. “I’m just admiring the view,” I tease as my eyes land back on his ass.
He wiggles his butt and I laugh as I get out of bed. He doesn’t move, his eyes slowly roving over my body.
“What?” I ask as I look down, suddenly self-conscious.
“Just admiring my view,” he says with a wink. I blush as I meet him at the bathroom door.
He leans in and turns on the shower, checking its temperature with his hand before pulling back the curtain and holding the same hand out to assist me.
I take his hand and climb over the side of the tub. He joins me under the spray as we slowly wash each other. I keep wanting to pinch myself. How is this happening? Millions of women would give their left ovary to be here right now. I feel like I just won the lottery.
“Stop looking at me like that, M,” he laughs.
I blush again. “Like what?” I ask, playing coy.
He leans down so our wet foreheads are touching. “Like I’m some sort of superhero or Greek god.”
I giggle. “I mean…you are sort of.”
He rolls his eyes. “There is nothing special about me. I promise.”
I glance down at his semi-hard penis and bite my lower lip.
He chuckles. “You really know how to stroke a man’s ego.”
I reach out and wrap my hand around his dick and he groans. “What? I thought you wanted me to stroke your ego,” I tease. I feel like this silly discussion of egos has become our thing and I secretly love that.
He presses me against the tiled wall. “If you keep doing that, I’ll be forced to give you shower sex,” he says with a wicked grin.
Now it’s me who rolls my eyes. I look around us. “Have you ever noticed that shower sex in real life is never really…sexy?” I ask, thinking of every shower sex scene that I’ve ever written.
“I beg to differ,” he counters.
I put my hands on my hips. “Seriously? I mean, first of all, this tub”—I look down at our feet—“is too small and it’s slippery in here, and there’s, like, no room, and one of us is going to get waterboarded at some point. It’s just…logistically not sexy unless you have some enormous shower with, like, seats and various showerheads.”
Before I know what’s happening, I’m lifted off my feet. I squeal as he lifts me, and I wrap my arms and legs around his body like a monkey.
“Hold on, M,” he whispers as he lifts me a little and I feel his erection at my entrance. He slowly lets my body slide down him and I moan.
“It’s not going to work,” I grit out as he thrusts up while holding me.
“Never doubt me, Sophia,” he grunts as he grips my ass harder, moving me up and down on him. I have no control over this game. It’s all him and he’s determined to prove me wrong.
* * *
We’re sitting in the way back of the car. He’s arranged me so that my head is in his lap and he’s playing with my hair. I pull the seat belt to adjust my lower half.
“I told you it would work,” he teases for the tenth time since we left the hotel. I slap his leg and he laughs.
“What are you two talking about back there?” Penn asks.
“High-level mathematical theorems,” I say.
“Microeconomic theories,” Tate teases.
Penn groans and turns in his seat. “So…this is happening, is it?” he asks as he motions between us.
“Yes,” Tate says emphatically. That blush rears its ugly head again as I shrug.
“About damn time,” Rex mutters.
I lift my head and stare at him, our eyes meeting in the rearview mirror. “What does that mean?” I ask.
He groans. “It means, we’ve all seen how you guys are basically two halves of a whole this entire week. I’m surprised it took you this long to figure it out.”
“He has a point,” Jordan adds.
“Guys…I…Tate and I just met, so this is…and besides, we were on this trip because of…Lacey,” I stammer as I try to find the right words.
“Uh-oh, Tate, your magic dick has made our resident author speechless. She’s lost her words!” Penn says, slapping the sides of his face in mock surprise.
I glare at him. “Haha,” I say sarcastically.
Penn turns to look at Jordan. Jordan reaches into his wallet and pulls out a hundred-dollar bill, handing it to Penn.
“You guys bet on us!” I yelp.
Penn looks over at me. “Uh, yeah, obviously. I said you’d all shack up before we got back. Jordan here said maybe later this year and Rex thought once we got home.”
I look at Tate and he laughs. “I mean…” He looks torn between laughing with his friends and pretending to be as offended as I’m pretending to be.
I lean back against Tate who wraps an arm around my shoulder while I lean on his. It feels so natural as if we were always destined to be like this. I’m playing with a loose thread on the neck of his t-shirt. He grabs my hand and brings it up to his lips, planting a gentle kiss on the tips of my fingers.
I smile, feeling contented for the first time in a long time. I listen to all the banter between the guys. Part of me doesn’t want to leave this cocoon, this bubble of happiness that we’ve created. The real world awaits. And the plan is that we’ll get in late tonight or early tomorrow morning. I swallow hard at that thought. Am I ready to face my new reality? It’s a lot to take in. And shit, what do I tell the kids?
I feel like Tate and I have some things to talk about but I push aside that thought for later. I don’t want to consider real life until at least tomorrow. It’s been so long since I felt like this, I want to relish it for a few more hours.
As the day ticks by, I feel myself growing more anxious. I feel the panic start to set in when we stop for lunch outside of Chicago. We decided to take a more northern route back.
“What’s wrong?” Tate asks as we eat at a park bench. I had secured us all sandwiches, so we could eat out here away from prying eyes.
“I…” I pause as I consider my words. “We’ll need to figure out a lot of things when we get back,” I admit.
He presses a kiss to the side of my head. “And we will. Let’s just enjoy our trip, OK?” he says, trying to reassure me. He’s so calm as though he has relationships with non-movie stars all the time.
“Right,” I mutter, biting into my sandwich because I’m more rational when I’m not hangry.
Penn clears his throat, and we look over at him. “Sooo,” he starts.
“This should be good,” Rex teases.
Penn grins. “I mean, I think it’s good.” He pauses which feels more like he’s building anticipation than trying to collect his thoughts. He turns his phone over and shows us a map of our route home. “When I was filming outside Cleveland, there was this state park on the lake with a nice beach. I thought maybe we could take one extra night so we could be there at sunrise,” he says.
We all look at each other and no words are spoken but it’s clear what we’re all thinking. “If it means we get burgers from that local drive-up place, I’m in,” Rex says.
“You had me at one more night of escaping real life,” Jordan jokes.
Penn shoves his shoulder. “Whatever, at least you have Alisha to go home to.”
Jordan cocks an eyebrow. “Well, well, well. It sounds like we have a topic of discussion for the afternoon car ride.”
Rex chuckles as he finishes his sandwich. “Which topic is that? You wanting to go home to your wife? Or Penn suddenly deciding monogamy is good? Or Tate and Sophia finally seeing the light?”
“What about you finally deciding to commit to that girlfriend of yours?” Penn questions.
Rex flicks him off.
“Well, this should be an interesting ride,” I say as I look around at the new men in my life.
“Why do I feel like you just became the Dr. Ruth of our trip?” Rex asks.
“Because,” I answer, “writers are also great listeners.” I give him a wink.
“They’re good at some other stuff too,” Tate teases as his lips touch the shell of my ear, making goose bumps spread up my arm. Holy fucking hotness! It’s going to be a long afternoon sitting next to him in the car without jumping him.