Chapter Twenty-Two
Appa
It’s been weeks of bliss since Napa. Quiet evenings with just Robby, watching as he used my kitchen, leaving my refrigerator full of leftovers for once.
Weekends spent in bed. All day and all night.
It’s thrown off my filming schedule, but I try to film more during the week to leave my weekends free.
I put my phone on the bathroom counter, and Robby’s face comes up on my phone screen with a video call, making it chime and buzz against the hard surface. It bumps into my acrylic makeup organizer. I slide the bar to answer.
“Hey, baby,” his raspy voice says.
“Hi, babe,” I reply. I squirt my nighttime toner onto a cotton round and start gently scrubbing my face with it.
“Sorry, I had to work late. This program is driving me nuts. Getting ready for bed already?” he asks, and I glance down at my phone resting on the counter, and I can tell he’s still sitting at his work desk. The skin under his eyes is dark, and the blue light reflecting in his warm eyes dulls them.
“Not quite. Gonna take a bath first.”
“All I can see is your ceiling. Are you naked yet?” he asks.
A pulse of fire rushes through me, and it’s not embarrassment. “Robby!” I call out.
“What? I miss you.”
I roll my eyes, but I know he can’t see me do it. “You were here last night,” I remind him. I pick up my phone and switch the camera to the back one. “But since you miss me.” I use my free hand to loosen the sash of my robe, making it fall open to reveal my chest to him and slide down my arms.
Robby groans. “Fuck, I wish I were there.”
“Me too.”
I switch the camera back around to the front-facing one, switching my phone to my other hand to take the robe off altogether. He can only see my face and bare shoulders now.
“You’re so fucking beautiful, Apps.”
“And you’re tired,” I say.
Robby runs a hand down his face. “Ugh, I am, but I could find a second wind.” He smirks a little in his cute boyish way, but one of us has to have self-control. He usually does, but it’s okay if he stays home tonight. I’ll see him in a couple of days when the week is over.
I smile at my phone. “No, no, go to bed. I’ll see you Friday?”
“That sounds so far away.” Robby is clingy sometimes, too, and I secretly love the attention. Maybe not so secretly. “I’ll let you go, so you can do your thing.” My eyes dart away from my phone, and I bite my lower lip.
I don’t want to hang up yet.
“Yeah, I’ll talk to you later.”
“Okay. Goodnight, baby.”
I turn on the bathtub faucet to begin filling it with hot water, and I pour in some bubble bath, creating a fragrant abundance of bubbles as the soap blends with the water.
Stepping into the hot water washes away the day.
It’s been a busy day for me, too, between filming, sponsorships, and taking photos to use on my story over the weekend in case I’m too wrapped up in Robby… which is likely.
Despite the lavender-scented bubbles soothing my body, something inside me still aches that Robby is staying home tonight.
He didn’t spend every weeknight here, but it was always my preference when he did.
He kept my bed warm, leaving his cologne embedded in his pillow, and his arms felt safer.
It never bothered me living alone until he came into my life, and I realized how dreadful my empty bed was. And how vulnerable I was at home.
I could go to him and spend the night at his place.
I lift my arm from the water and tap my bottom lip with my finger.
Maybe I’ll surprise him and wear something sexy under an ordinary T-shirt dress.
Like that black lace bodysuit stashed in my closet with the tags still attached.
It would be okay if he were too tired for sex; we don’t need to do it every time we see each other.
Sleeping in his arms was enough, but I’d be a sight for sore eyes.
Okay, talked myself into it.
I unplug the tub drain and step out, burying my toes in the fluffy bathmat next to the porcelain bathtub.
I reach for my towel and wrap it under my arms, tucking it in the front to keep it in place.
My blonde curls fall around my shoulders as I release them from the claw clip nagging at my scalp.
I reach for my nighttime moisturizer, taking my time to massage it into the delicate skin of my face.
I’m rubbing lotion onto my arms when the power cuts out, leaving me in the dark and hushed silence of my bathroom.
Moonlight streams through the small window above my bathtub.
My heart pounds. Robby’s tired. Too tired for games.
Yet he hasn’t unleashed Rook since I found out his true identity.
I’ve gotten used to Robby’s softness but miss Rook’s roughness, too. I tighten the towel under my arms.
What if it’s a copycat, and I’m in actual danger?
I obviously never shared anything publicly about how Rook came into my house, but Robby figured out how to cut the power. Someone else could do that, and he’s thirty minutes away, at least. I should do something—run?
But I’m frozen, standing in the middle of my bathroom with a racing heart and a pit in my stomach. I reach for my phone on the bathroom counter after my call with Robby. I hit the phone icon and tap Robby’s contact as fast as I can. A call starts…
Pick up. Pick up. Pick up.
“Hey.”
Oh, thank God.
“This is Robby. Leave a message.”
Straight to voicemail. The beep and subsequent silence on the line sink my heart into my stomach. What do I do now? Call LAPD? How do I not have location sharing with Robby?
A shadow fills the doorway with a familiar set of broad shoulders and height. I let out a scream of surprise, but I know that body.
Relief hits harder than fear.
He rips the towel from me, tossing it to the side. “Knees,” he instructs. “Now, Baby Girl.”
Ugh, the baby girl name that makes me cringe.
But Robby doesn’t call me baby girl.
“I thought you were too tired?” I ask as if I’m talking to my boyfriend.
“You need to be taught a lesson. Knees. I won’t fucking ask again.”
Mm, happily.
Thank God he can’t see the mischievous smile I have right now. I settle onto my knees on the cold bathroom tile, sitting on my crossed heels. I hear a zipper, and he rests his cock on my face. He’s as long as my face but always fits perfectly.
“Remember, I respect the hell out of you, but it won’t look like it tonight,” he whispers.
Sir, what?
“Open.”
Before I can argue, he hastily slips himself into my mouth as far as he’ll go, and he tastes yummy. My eyes tear as my gag reflex tries to reject him, but I don’t want him to pull out until my tongue memorizes every vein.
This is starting like last time.
That thought causes me to tremble, but I’m not sure if it’s good or bad.
He grips the curls at the back of my head and holds me in place, forcing himself down my throat.
I breathe through my nose as tears track down my cheeks.
He knots my hair in his hand and moves me back and forth on him, and I get acclimated and fall into his rhythm.
If this were Robby, I would tug on his balls or touch his thighs, but I don’t know what Rook wants.
Hmm, maybe I do need to be taught a lesson.
I move my hand from my thigh and reach for his balls. Robby likes them rolled together a certain way, so that’s what I replicate now. I gently roll the perfect, heavy spheres together, and I hear him groan.
Knew it.
He withdraws from my mouth. “I didn’t ask you to do that,” he says.
“I know.”
He grabs my upper arm, hard enough that I’ll find fingerprints tomorrow, and brings me to my feet. He clears off the bathroom counter, making bottles and jars crash to the floor. Nothing should be breakable, but who cares? Rook’s here!
He bends me over onto the bathroom counter, pressing my cheek into the biting cold granite. He’s between my legs before my head stops spinning.
“Don’t move,” he warns.
Rook runs his fingers through my slickness, dipping them inside and making that ‘come here’ motion that makes me squirm.
I try to hold still, but my knees weaken whenever he pulls that move.
His two fingers inside me are filling, but I can think of something even more so.
I wiggle my butt, wanting him to take me.
“I said, don’t move.” His hand contacting my butt cheek makes a loud slap noise, and the sting makes me gasp. “Will you behave?”
“Probably not,” I quickly answer.
“Bad girls don’t get fucked.” He removes his fingers and presses one against the resistance of my other hole. I take in a sharp breath. He could take it there if he wanted to, and I couldn’t do anything about it.
I push back against him. “Yes, they do,” I cry out. “I know you’re going to fuck me.” I’m acting out on purpose. Maybe I want him to try something new tonight.
His hand is back on my head, holding me down. “Robby’s been too easy on you. You got fucking spoiled.”
Mm, don’t I know it.
He removes his finger and grabs my hips to flip me over, so the back of my head and back are resting on the counter now. The edge of the counter bites my lower back. He loops his arms around my thighs and spears me onto his dick to the hilt.
“Ah!” I cry out. The first thrust is always my favorite, especially when I’m still sore from the night before. Pleasure needs a little pain, too. Like dark chocolate covered in sea salt. And I’m sore thanks to Robby. I smirk in the darkness that I’m the reason he’s so tired tonight.
Rook thrusts hard and fast, pacing faster than Robby usually would.
The bathroom counter is hard on my back, and I angle my neck to prevent my head from hitting the wall.
I might have to call the chiropractor tomorrow, but Rook just fucks differently.
He snakes his hands under my bottom, lifting me to his chest without pulling out. I wrap my legs around his waist.
“I got you,” he whispers.