Chapter 22
DANNY
There is no other way I want to wake up. With Anya’s smooth leg slung over my hip and her hair tickling my nose as she buries her head in my neck. My limbs are stiff from the position I have refused to move from all night and the rounds we went through before collapsing out of sheer exhaustion.
I play with the ends of her hair and breathe her in. Soon she starts to stir, her breathy moan as she wakes immediately sending blood rushing to my cock. I rest my palm on her thigh, pulling her tighter into me.
She blinks up at me with sleepy eyes.
“Morning,” I say, unable to stop myself from pressing a kiss to her nose.
“Hello,” she says softly, so different from the frantic evacuation the last time we woke up together.
“What time is it?”
“Just gone seven.”
She takes a breath and detangles her limbs from mine. My heart drops at the thought of her leaving the bed but she turns onto her side, pulling me by the forearm. I let her manhandle me until she is curled on her side and I’m curved around her back. I don’t stop myself from grinding into her ass and pressing a kiss to her neck. I’m delighted when I’m rewarded with another breathy moan for my efforts.
She arches her back, pressing her ass into my groin. My hands wander along her skin until I cup her breast, my fingertip grazing her hardened nipple. I’m half expecting her to stop me, for her to tell me we haven’t got time but she opens her legs, hooking one over my thigh. Taking the invitation, my hand travels down her smooth stomach. My fingers trace the outline of her underwear, sliding under the elastic.
Her phone buzzes on the nightstand, freezing both of us in our tracks and dissolving the moment into the air. I rest my head on her shoulder and try to control my erection.
She pulls her legs back together and reaches for her phone, curving her back in a way she must realize drives me wild.
Anya flops onto her back with a yawn as she checks her phone. I rise on my elbow as I study her sleepy face. She rubs her eye and says, “I need to go back to my place and get changed.”
“Okay.” Neither of us move. She turns her head into my chest and presses a kiss to my skin.
“I think I’ll just meet you on set, just to assuage any suspicion.”
“I don’t think anyone will have any suspicions, freckles.”
“Better safe than sorry,” she says as she leans into me. It’s the easiest thing in the world to press my lips to hers.
She squirms against my mouth. “Morning breath.”
I ignore her and open wider for her, the hint of her tongue forcing me to push her back against the mattress, hands wandering.
“Get it out of your system now,” she says, pulling away. “We’re not doing this on set again.”
“Not even to repeat what happened yesterday?”
By now, I think I would have fucked the blush out of her but she loves to surprise me. Pink splotches appear on her cheeks, telling me exactly how she feels about our impromptu session.
Her fingers come between our mouths, as if she needs to physically peel herself off me.
“We’ll only meet at the hotel then,” I say, placatingly.
“What if people see me coming and going?”
“People have already seen you coming and going.” I flop down beside her, clasping her hand in mine and playing with her fingers. “Usually dragging me out by the ear.”
Anya scoffs and gives me what I will now and forever call a ‘loving tap’.
“We should mix it up. Keep them on their toes.”
“Who is ‘them’?” I laugh.
“Shut up.” She bites her lip. “You can come to mine sometimes.”
My smile pulls at my cheek. “You’re so cute when you get shy.”
“I’m not shy.” She gives me a shove. “You don’t have to come to the apartment, gosh.”
I raise my arm and squeeze her to me. “I want to come to your place, Anya.”
I kiss her forehead.
She eventually pulls away from me and picks up her clothes. “I’ll go home and get changed, and I’ll meet you at work. Can you get there okay without me?”
“Can I go downstairs and get in the car without you?” I sit up, resting my arms on my bent knee. “I think I can manage, freckles.”
“Very funny.” Anya pulls her shoes on before she leans down and presses a final kiss to my mouth before heading out the door. I get a vision of the future, her coming to kiss me goodbye every morning before she leaves. I shake it off. Just yesterday we agreed we would keep it casual, see where it goes. It’s way too soon to be imagining a future of lazy mornings and goodbye kisses.
But as the door closes behind her, I can’t stop the grin that pulls at my mouth.
***
There is nothing that could happen today that would ruin my good mood. I finally got the girl I can’t get out of my mind, into my bed, with an understanding that she would return. I try to contort my face into my regular blasé expression and not the dopey grin I know I currently have.
Anya’s waiting for me when I step out of the car a few hours later, handing me my sides and a coffee. If I let my fingers linger on hers when I take the cup out of her hand, that’s our business.
I watch her bite the corner of her plump lip as she breaks our connection. “Straight to makeup today.”
“No down time?” I throw her a cheeky grin.
She narrows her eyes at me. “Not today.” We fall into step as we head to the makeup trailer. “You can have some time after wrap. Back at your hotel.” It’s adorable that she thinks her little code is subtle.
I throw her an incredibly subtle wink in return. She rushes to open the door to the trailer ahead of me. I hold the door open over her head and usher her inside. Keeping things low-key is one thing but my girl being my personal doorman makes the gentleman inside me wince.
We step into the makeup truck and my good mood plummets like a lead balloon.
Sat in the chair next to mine, a white makeup bib around his neck, is Callum McBride. He looks over at me and greets me with an overly enthusiastic,“There he is. The leading man.”
My teeth clench together and I am frozen to the spot. I feel Anya’s hand flutter at my back giving me a gentle nudge to move.
Sally gestures for me to sit in the chair next to McBride. I stare straight ahead. Unfortunately, that requires me looking at my own face. I would much rather see the dopey grin I’ve had since this morning than the dark scowl I currently can’t budge. Refusing to let my eyes flicker to McBride, I instead fix my gaze on Anya who warily leans against the opposite wall. I know her tension is due to the blond asshole sat next to me, currently charming the artist who is attaching his ridiculous fake beard to his jaw.
Still, the sight of her relaxes me into my seat.
“Haven’t seen you around much Daniel. Not like you, party boy, eh?” McBride goads.
I take a deep breath. “I have better things to do with my time than sniff coke with you, Callum.”
McBride bleats a laugh. “Since when?”
My teeth grind together. Anya steps forward and unfurls my fingers. To my surprise, I let her drop my wireless headphones in my hand. I glance up at her but she ignores me and heads back to the wall.
“May I?” I ask Sally, gesturing to the headphones.
“Go for it,” Sally replies, focusing on mixing her various potions.
I place the headphones in my ears, effectively stopping any other attempts by McBride to distract me. I quickly realize Anya has my phone. I look up at her and watch as she connects to my headphones and immediately Leon Bridges plays in my ears.
I huff a laugh and run my fingers across my mouth to hide the smile. God, she’s amazing. She’s given me a way to ignore McBride whilst distracting me from my irritation. I let the music play in my ears, ignoring the man next to me and resting my eyes on the only person in the room who understands exactly what I need.
***
I should have known my good day wasn’t to last. Despite Anya’s intervention in the truck, McBride has already pledged to make my life as difficult as possible. Today, I haven’t made it easy for him. I’ve ignored every incessant attempt to trip me up during a scene. I’ve kept a cool head.
It’s when we’re getting our mics taken off that he strikes.
“Like the hotel?” he asks, innocently.
I ignore him.
“Those suites are pretty nice,” McBride continues.
My shoulders tense. “What floor are you on?” I ask pleasantly.
“Seven.”
Two floors below me. I relax knowing that the prospect of him seeing Anya coming and going is pretty slim. Unless he sees her in the lobby. No, even if he did see her it would just look like she’s coming to get me for a work related reason, so unless she emerges with sex hair and rumpled clothes, we’ll be fine. Anya’s concern from this morning suddenly becomes a little more worrisome. Maybe we do need to switch up our schedules.
McBride is prattling on in my ear but I’ve got what I need from him. Patting the sound guy on the shoulder in thanks when he releases me, I walk away.
Anya is waiting by the car, her nose buried in her phone. She looks up as I approach, her face brightening with a smile that almost takes my breath away.
“Good day?” she asks, straightening.
I reach around her, crowding her against the car. “Yeah.”
Her eyes drop to my mouth, her pink tongue flicking against her lip. Teasing Anya is quickly becoming my favorite part of the day. I open the door and gesture for her to enter.
Once we’re on the move, Anya glances at Jaques before turning to face me. “Did the hotel speak to you about the linen?”
I’m confused for a second until I register her just to go with it expression. “ Oh , no?” I ask, innocently.
She nods. “I’ll come and speak to them for you.”
Ah. “Yes, I really need my linen seen to. My whole bed actually, definitely needs a work over.”
She rolls her eyes but she can’t hide the grin on her face from me.
After saying a quick goodbye to Jaques, we bypass the lobby and any hotel staff who probably could advise on bed linen, heading straight to the elevators.
I take her hand in mine as soon as the doors close, tugging her into my space. She leans in expectantly, but I quickly relay my McBride woes.
“Oh,” Anya tries to take a step away from me but I pull her back into my arms.
“He’s not in the elevator with us freckles, we’re fine. It’s the communal areas we need to be wary of. No fondling me in reception.”
She snorts a laugh and presses a kiss to my lips. I chase her as she pulls away, the ping of the door forcing me to drop her hand.