He leans in to brush his knuckles along my cheek. “This is you screaming my name as I find new ways to fuck you every night,” he says.
A fog of lust wraps around me, and I give the only possible answer. “Yes.”
He shifts back in his stool, looking terribly pleased. “Good. Then, we’ll do this for the week, and you’ll be my date at your aunt Tilly’s big birthday party on Saturday.”
I smack his shoulder playfully. “Shut up!”
“Ouch,” he says, wincing playfully as he rubs his shoulder.
“Gabe! I was going to ask you to go with me. My mom is threatening to set me up with other guys from our hometown.”
He narrows his eyes. “Nope,” he says in a stern command.
“Nope what?”
His brown eyes darken. “You’re not going with someone else from our hometown.”
“I’m not?” I ask, feigning innocence.
“No fucking way,” he says.
“Why not?”
“You’re not going with someone from an app. You’re not going with someone from your show. You’re not going with some other guy. Case closed,” he says, then moves off the stool and wraps those strong arms tight about my waist. “You’re mine this week. You go with me. Only with me. I don’t want any other man even looking at what’s mine.”
What’s mine.
I ache from this possession. “I’m yours this week,” I murmur.
“You fucking are, Ellie. Mine, only mine. And I will treat you that way.” He slides a hand down my throat, over my chest, then squeezes my right breast. “Don’t want another man thinking he can have you.”
But Gabe can’t have me either. He’s not available, nor am I. We might be screwing, but we’re not truly dating, so it’s best to put all our cards on the table. “So, I’m like a one-week girlfriend?”
He seems to think about that, then says thoughtfully, “A fake real girlfriend.” Then he adds, “How’s that for a dating challenge?”
I smile. “Perfect.” But I want to be clear on what this means, so I ask, “At the party, we’re sort of pretending we’re together?”
He tilts his head. “The party where our book club moms will be serving apple pie and lemonade? Where our dads will be making barbecue? Playing lawn croquet? No, we’re not pretending we’re together.” He lets go of my breast so he can wrap a big hand around my ass, then he smacks my cheek, and I shudder. “We’re pretending we’re wholesome,” he corrects as he swats the other.
I gasp. “Can we practice being wholesome this week in public?”
He dips his face to kiss my neck. “We need all the practice we can get. So we’re gonna date publicly like we’re good, and privately I’m going to fuck you senseless,” he says as he kisses me.
My breath catches in excitement. “I’m a very good actress.”
“You are. But you’ll never need to act in bed with me. In fact, we’re going to practice coming in a few minutes. This time you’ll be crying out my name while you’re sitting on my face.”
I’m ready to ride him into the night. But I do want one more thing from him. “Gabe?” I ask coyly, twirling my hair. “There’s something I want too.”
“Name it,” he says, retaking his dominant tone. “And I’ll see if you deserve it.”
I bat my lashes. “That thing you promised me earlier if I didn’t make it to bed on time.”
The facial.
His smile is filthy as he strokes my cheek, then runs his thumb over my mouth. “You want that, sweetheart?”
Breathlessly, I say, “I do.”
“Then you’ll get it. But only after you fuck my face. So, go,” he says, waving me off. “I’ll clean up the kitchen. You get naked. When I walk into the bedroom in a couple of minutes, I want to find you with your legs spread wide and you playing with your pussy, getting yourself nice and hot and wet for me. You better be fucking yourself when I find you in there.”
“I promise,” I say, and I race to the bedroom.
WEDNESDAY
A Nice Day for a Stroll along the Greens
12
A BOX FOR YOUR BOX
Ellie
The bright Los Angeles morning streams through the window and wakes me up.
That’s weird. Usually Gigi wakes me up with her tongue on my face.
Dog kisses are a sign she needs to go out. Where is my little lover?
I blink my eyes open. Gigi’s nibbling on a stuffed giraffe at the foot of the bed. She’s wearing her black harness with skulls on it. Well, she’s a smarty pants, but with no thumbs, she can’t dress herself.
“Did Gabe take you for a walk, girl?”
She growls around the giraffe’s neck, then shakes it again.
But there’s no sign of Gabe. The pillow’s fluffed and his side of the mattress is empty. I push up on my elbows.
I swing my legs over the edge of the bed, then head to the living room. No shoes, no phone, no man.
In the kitchen, I find a sheet of paper on the counter. It’s from a notebook Veronica gave me that says to-do list.
Dear Ellie,
I took the liberty to work on a to-do list. How’s this?
—Practice for the lawn croquet appearance.
—Wear seersucker shorts to play the part? A flower dress for you. With a bonnet?
— Bake a cherry pie?
In other news, I took Gigi for a walk this morning. She was kissing my face, and I took that to mean she had to pee. Guess I’m learning dog language. I have to take off for a morning run with Drew and Carter.
By the way, since I was so bad when I fucked you on the first date, tonight we can role-play being good. Like how they did in that scene you read to me last night.
Incidentally, you reading in bed, squirming over the spicy parts, gets me hard.
You’ve been warned.
If you’re up for it, meet me at six.
See? Six is too early for sex.
Gabe, the good guy
I read it a few more times, smiling. No time is too early for sex. I grab my phone to reply. Tell me where to be at this supposedly sexless hour of the day.
He shoots me an address, and when I Google it, I laugh, then write back. I’ll be there, and thanks for walking my girl.
Then I shower and do my best to put thoughts of Gabe aside as I head to my Webflix meeting. When I meet with the execs, I can’t spend my time lingering on how deliciously sore I am, or how much I like that he took care of my dog.
I go into the meeting like a badass boss lady in charge of a new TV show.
After my morning meeting, I head to a lunch spot in Venice. Veronica’s Date Night for One party will be held on the back patio of a trendy sandwich joint this afternoon. Sexy sunshine music drifts from the shop, and I head to the back to help my friend set up.