FOUR
“PEOPLE MAKE ASSUMPTIONS,” he said. “You didn’t look like you were making assumptions.”
“Assumptions like the woman upstairs?”
“What woman?”
Lying down, she tucked an arm under her head and adjusted each of the gummy bear piles so she could rest on his jacket.
“The woman, the model, who brought you off stage. What were you whispering about?” He didn’t respond. “Sex… you were making arrangements to sleep with her.” When he didn’t say anything, she tipped her head to peek at him. “I told you I’m not just adorable.”
“You’re a sexpot too?”
“In my head sometimes anyway,” she said, stretching her legs to point her toes. “I know what a woman in heat looks like… She wanted you.”
“Did you see me talk to her?”
No, now that he mentioned it…. “I looked away, I didn’t want to intrude.”
“Well, you didn’t. I don’t have any interest in women like that.”
Oh, now, that was something. “What’s a woman like that? Are you assuming she’s loose because she propositioned you? If a man asked a woman for sex, you’d think he was amazing.”
“Want to have sex with me?”
The question was so abrupt that she stopped organizing her bears to blink up at him. “Right now?”
He laughed. “Babe, I don’t judge anyone for being direct. Games piss me off. I meant I’m not interested in what looks good. I won’t lie, yeah, she invited me to her bed.”
That was just confusing. “And because she’s pretty, you don’t want to be intimate with her?”
“Looks aren’t nothing. How could she know she wanted to sleep with me when we hadn’t exchanged two words?”
Rolling onto her back, she tossed a bear into her mouth, chewing as she talked. “I thought there might be something between us in the elevator.” She shrugged. “You have an energy about you… I’d be upset if you judged me for experiencing it, please don’t judge her…” She pulled the pins from her hair one at a time. “You must be used to it. It can’t be new.”
Once all the pins were out, she straightened her arm to lay them on the bed. Something warm touched her knee. It ascended in a tingle that put a smile on her face. His fingertips. Getting higher. Higher. She clamped her thighs together, stopping his tickling in its tracks.
Tucking her chin down, she crooked a brow in question. “What happened to three or four dates?”
“We had a drink, that’s one. We’re eating, so that’s our second.”
She sat up without freeing his hand, though he didn’t seem to mind being so close when she rose to the optimum position to be checked out.
“You have access to some of the most beautiful women in the world, don’t you? Women who’ll come for you on call.” His lips stayed shut. “Women who’d do anything to please you… I’m not one of those women, Mr. Lowe.”
She flopped onto her back without loosening her legs.
“You don’t prefer direct?”
“There’s only one man I’d be on sexual call for: one committed to me. A man committed to our relationship.”
“Fidelity’s a prerequisite?”
When she relaxed her legs, he dropped an elbow to the mattress, holding his head on his palm, only the gummy bears between them.
“You think that’s how to take the small town out of the girl?” she asked. “Promiscuity?”
He picked out the rest of the red ones to add them to her pile, eating the white ones as he went along. “You’ve got to do what makes you happy.”
“What if I don’t know what that is?” she asked. “Is that too deep for a third date?”
A smile quirked his lips and he rolled away to retrieve something. When he flipped back to face her, he showed her the marshmallows. “Third is the dessert date.”
“You have a routine? A tried and tested route to seduction?” she asked. “I bet you’ve done this a thousand times.”
“Found myself locked in an isolated corner of a hotel with a beautiful woman? This is my first time.”
“It’s drama though, isn’t it? I bet your whole life is like a movie… Wild parties, jetting all over the world. Beautiful women on yachts in the Mediterranean, the Bahamas, the South Pacific… You must have lived some life.”
“Don’t count me out yet, Fawn. I plan to keep going another few years.”
“On your show,” she said. “Is that how you plan your future? Contract to contract? How many seasons are you tied in for?”
Damn, if only she could remember the show’s full name.
“Leads of Undercover Ops ? Four.”
Phew, he’d clued her in without need for the question. “You have another four years… Do you love it?”
“Working on the show?” He shrugged. “It’s work.”
“I would think you’d have to love it.”
“Do you love what you do?”
“Not yet,” she said, shifting to get more comfortable. “I’ve only been doing it a few weeks. I haven’t signed a four-year contract either. If I don’t grow to love it, I can always move on. It’s not like what you do. You have a whole cast and crew depending on you… and legions of fans you can’t disappoint.”
“What I do has its moments.”
“You’ve been doing it a long time.”
He opened the marshmallows and plucked one out for her. “You ever had a one-night stand?”
She laughed. “What is this? Deflection Derby? Yes, I’ve had a one-night stand. No, I don’t plan to have one tonight.”
“Just trying to figure you out.”
“That’s why people date, isn’t it? To figure each other out. But it goes both ways.”
He popped the mallow between her lips and scrutinized her as she lingered over chewing.
“I’m tired of talking about me,” he said, grazing his thumb over her lower lip. “I don’t want to talk about me. Tonight’s about you, Fawn. Have you got kids?”
“No. Do you?”
Knowing so little about Lowe worked in her favor. She’d learn about him the old-fashioned way.
“Not yet.”
That answer led to a natural next question. “Do you want them?”
Laying a forearm on the mattress, he descended toward her. “One day.”
Her smile grew. “This is a little intense for a third date… shouldn’t dessert come after a movie or something.”
“You wanna break up the conversation,” he asked, brushing a fingertip across her brow. His digits seemed drawn to her. “Or want something to make out to?”
“I thought you said no more kissing.” The smirk that lit his eye came closer; kissing was exactly what was on his mind. Just before he got to the end zone, she drew back. “You’re squashing our bears.”
He retreated, giving her room to gather the pile of multicolored gummy bears into her palm.
“Care for the bears, huh?”
“I care your jacket’s worth more than I make in a year.”
She wriggled closer, pushing him onto his back with a forearm, resting it on him, holding the handful of bears above his mouth.
“I care that you care,” he said, his arm creeping around her shoulders. “There aren’t many left.”
“Only these and the red ones.”
Taking hold of her wrist, he guided it down and opened his mouth to consume all the bears in one shot. Oh, wow… His lips lingered on her palm, parting hers in anticipation of… something. Mmm. Just watching him eat churned her hormones, quickened her heart.
“I’ve never been jealous of gummy bears before.”
His head bobbed as he swallowed them down. “Anything else you want to put in my mouth…”
Sitting up before she was tempted to do just that, the red bears were a better, safer, point of focus.
“Did you always want to be an actor?”
“No,” he said, linking his fingers behind his head.
“How did you get into it? You started young, didn’t you?”
“I bet I’ve got something downloaded on my phone,” he said, shifting to fold the jacket over to retrieve the device from his pocket.
“Something?”
“A movie. You wanted to watch a movie.”
“Don’t you like to watch movies?”
“I’m trying to see what I’ve got,” he said, scrolling, swiping. “Something date worthy.”
“No chick flicks,” she said, reaching over him. “Can I have some more liquor, please?”
He got the bottle and handed it over while still looking on his phone. “Only if you promise not to take advantage of me.”
She left the mattress to wander across the room. “I’m not that easy, Mr. Lowe.”
He glanced from the screen. “Where are you going, Fawn?”
“I want to know what’s in the boxes,” she said, tiptoeing toward them. “There could be a steak dinner in there for all we know.”
Doubtful, but she was still curious. She swigged from the bottle and slid open the flap of the one on top.
“What’s in them?” he asked when she peered inside without enlightening him.
Pulling one out, she showed him. “Wine glasses.”
“That’s an anticlimax.”
“Glasses could mean wine.”
“Whisky and wine? You said no more kissing, right?” he asked with a smile.
She maintained her search. Each one held a surprise. “I thought you were looking for a movie.” Opening another box, she grabbed out the package on top. “Blankets!” Snagging a couple, she removed the plastic and opened them over him on the bed. “Will they get mad at us for opening them?”
“Not if you come lie down with me.”
Scurrying underneath, she lay on her side with him behind her. “Cozy.” Thick, luscious, these were good quality fabrics. “We could get up to anything under here.”
“You said it, baby. No take backs now.” He switched his focus to his phone. “Unfortunately, no horror.”
“Why would I want to watch horror while locked in a scary red room?”
“Some people are into that.”
“How about something with a little action?”
“And maybe we’ll get a little of that ourselves?” he asked, selecting something and leaning over her to prop the phone up in front of her. He kissed the side of her neck and gathered her closer. “You drive, baby.”
With him, she’d ventured into brazen. By her standards anyway. If he gave her the keys, she might just be tempted to use them.