Chapter 16 #2
Before I could talk myself out of it, I climbed into the car.
He followed right after, shutting the door behind us.
Being confined to the back seat made me immediately hyper-aware of everything—his scent, his warmth, the way my body wanted to lean toward him on its own.
My hands sat tightly in my lap, willing myself to stay put.
“So… are you going to hide me from everybody forever?” Chris asked, breaking the silence. It sounded like a joke, but there was something serious underneath it.
“A bit presumptuous of you to think we’ll meet again after today.” What was I even doing in this car? He was engaged, for crying out loud. I wasn’t supposed to be here. “And we’re not talking about everybody. We’re talking about my kids,” I continued.
The words felt heavy coming out, but it didn’t change the truth of them. My kids were off-limits. Even though there was a tiny voice in my head wondering what the fact that he’d been dreaming about them meant, I didn’t want to get them involved in something so… chaotic.
“Fair enough,” Chris said, nodding slightly. There was the faintest hint of a smile tugging at his lips, and I hated that I found it so damn charming.
His hand was suddenly on my thigh. I froze, my breath catching as heat spread through me from that one slight touch.
It sent a wave of longing crashing through me, making me want more of his touch.
But I couldn’t. Not now, not here, and definitely not after the stunt he’d pulled this morning.
Under normal circumstances, I would have gone inside the house the second I saw him and slammed the door in his face.
Letting him talk to me at all was already being generous.
I shifted uncomfortably, breaking the spell. He got the message and pulled his hand back, looking almost apologetic. I exhaled, trying to get my body back under control. I couldn’t trust myself when he touched me. Chris quickly changed the mood.
“How was the rest of your day?”
“Normal,” I said, shrugging like none of this was affecting me. “How was yours?”
“Come on. I’m really trying here.”
I crossed my arms tighter, not ready to let him off the hook.
“What exactly are you trying to do? Pretend like this morning didn’t happen? Because I’m not doing that.”
“No.” The confidence drained from him in an instant. “I’m sorry. I’m an asshole.”
“Correct,” I said flatly.
For a second, he almost smiled, but the regret on his face stayed front and center.
“It’s my default mode at this point,” he admitted. “I just… I thought you were going to leave before I woke up, and… I don’t take rejection particularly well.”
“Well, I can be an asshole sometimes too, but you were, like, a premium-class asshole. Your manager tried to pay me after we slept together like I was a hooker.” I kept my tone calm, even classy—well, as classy as I could manage while admitting that still made my blood boil.
“I know.” He winced like the memory physically hurt. “And I’m so, so sorry. Vanessa is… she’s a bitch. But in her head, she’s doing what’s best for me.”
I shook my head. “I can handle bitchy women, and it’s not like I need you to defend me. It’s just—”
“I get it,” he interrupted gently. “It won’t happen again.
I’ll do my best to keep my asshole tendencies at the lowest possible level.
” He gave a small, self-deprecating smile.
He moved, almost like he was going to reach for my hand, but then he stopped halfway, pulling back, probably remembering the way I flinched earlier.
I had two options: believe him, give this thing a chance, and see if the real Chris and the dream Chris actually had anything in common, or stop whatever this was right here, right now.
The latter would save me from heartbreak, sure.
But at what cost? Was I really okay with living the rest of my life knowing that the man who haunted my dreams might’ve been more?
Before I could second-guess myself, I went for neutral.
“Work was insane. Had lunch with my grandma. Some guy filled my inbox with messages. Annoying,” I joked, forcing a smile. Guess I was giving this a try.
“What an asshole,” he quipped. “Did you tell your grandma you slept with a movie star?”
I smirked, glancing over at him. The way he could flip so easily from sensitive and regretful to big movie star energy was honestly stunning.
“I did,” I said. “She was excited until I told her your name, and then… she had no idea who you were. She thought I made the whole thing up.”
He clutched his chest dramatically like I’d stabbed him. I couldn’t help it—I laughed.
“I’ll have to introduce myself then.”
“Oh, she’ll love that,” I replied sarcastically. “She actually wanted me to invite you to lunch with us tomorrow.” The words slipped out before I could stop them, and I immediately regretted them.
Fuck. Why did I say that?
Chris’ eyes lit up, his grin widening as he leaned in. “And are you going to invite me?”
“Do you seriously want to have lunch with my grandmother?”
“I would love to. Yes,” Chris said without a hint of hesitation. It threw me off balance.
A laugh escaped me. The thought of him and Nana in the same room was impossible to picture.
“Okay…” I muttered.
“Text me the address, and I’ll be there,” he said, as if it were no big deal.
I felt myself smiling so wide it actually hurt, and as my eyes found his again—those ridiculously blue, ocean-deep eyes—something inside me softened.
“Okay,” I said again, quieter this time, as if agreeing with him was inevitable. His eyes had that effect on me, making me feel like I was floating in calm, endless blue.
Neither of us moved like we were daring the other to give in first. And it was Chris who broke, his eyes dropping to my lips, lingering there like it was his next destination. I bit my lower lip slowly, fully aware of what I was doing. Playing with fire? Absolutely. But God, I loved the burn.
For once, I wasn’t second-guessing myself; I wasn’t pulling back. I let myself lean into the moment. I could feel his eyes traveling lower, to my chest, then my thighs, before they found their way back to mine.
“Are you going to kiss me now or pretend you don’t want to for a couple more minutes?” he asked.
A smirk tugged at my lips as I forced myself to keep cool. “That confidence must have been helpful in Hollywood, huh?”
“I’m a very realistic, no-bullshit kind of person,” Chris replied, inching closer with every word.
“Oh, is that what we’re calling it now?” I shot back. “Some people would call it delusional and self-absorbed.”
His eyes darkened. His body was so close now—though we’d already been near, two tall people crammed into the back of a car, it felt different this time.
Like his skin was radiating heat, like that invisible pull tethering us was about to yank us forward, taking over our bodies completely. There was no stopping it.
“I don’t really care what people say or think,” he murmured, his breath brushing against my lips. “Although I caught myself caring a lot about what you thought of me today…”
His words knocked the air out of me. If I was holding back before, I wasn’t now.
“Did you?”
Chris’ lips curled into that slow, devastating smile that promised trouble and made it impossible to resist him any longer. He leaned in and brushed his lips against mine in a kiss so slow, it felt like the world had come to a complete stop.
The kiss deepened, and before I could think, I was in his lap, straddling him.
My hands were tangled in his hair, and his arms wrapped around me, pulling me closer.
His hands slid up my thighs, taking my skirt with them as they moved higher.
He gripped both sides of my ass so firmly I knew I’d have new marks to join the ones from yesterday.
He broke the kiss just enough for our lips to barely touch while we gasped for air.
“I’ve never been so grateful for skirts,” he whispered, and a soft laugh escaped both of us.
His hands continued their exploration, one sliding down between my thighs.
His long fingers brushed over my underwear, feeling how damp it already was.
The combination of last night’s memories and the way he had me now?
It wasn’t going to take much to push me over the edge.
“Is this all for me?” he murmured against my lips before trailing kisses along my jaw and down my neck.
I could only manage a nod as I closed my eyes, feeling his tongue drawing a line from my neck back up to my ear and his fingers teasing my core.
He nipped delicately at my earlobe, making me gasp before whispering, “I have something for you, too.”
With his free hand still gripping my hip, he pulled me against him, letting me feel his length pulsating over the fabric. I moaned softly, instinctively rolling my hips forward and backward, feeling him grow even harder under me.
I couldn’t take the teasing anymore. My hands moved down his chest, unbuckling his belt and opening his pants.
He let me take over, his hands sliding back to my waist as I wrapped my fingers around him, shifting my underwear to the side.
I teased myself with the tip of him, my body practically begging for more.
Our eyes locked, mouths still so close I could feel the heat of his breath on my lips. His hands came up to my face, holding me steady so I couldn’t look away. Not that I would dare to.
“I can’t believe I finally found you, Blaze,” he said. I froze, lost in his words and his eyes. “Nothing has ever felt so right as being with you,” he added, and I had to fight back the tears threatening to spill down my cheek.
Instead of answering, I gave him a slow, soft kiss. As I lowered myself onto him, letting him fill me whole, a shiver ran through my entire body.
“Or inside you…” He murmured with a small, wicked smile on his lips as they brushed against mine. We both chuckled before getting lost in a hungry kiss. My hips moved instinctively, and his hands found their way back to my waist, guiding me and holding me close.
I couldn’t believe I was having sex in the back of a car with the literal man of my dreams. But I got where he was coming from. I felt it too. Nothing had ever felt so right.