“Are you fucking serious?” I groused throwing my head back.
Simone brought my face close to hers and dragged her lips over mine before hopping off the bed and rearranging her clothes.
I fell onto the bed and scraped my hands over my face.
This has got to be a fucking joke.
“Don’t move,” Simmy commanded me, throwing me the discarded t-shirt. “I’ll just see what she wants and send her on her merry way.”
I wanted to protest. I wanted to do more than that – I wanted to put Dinah on the nearest train with a one-way ticket to whatever the final destination was going to be.
Calm down, Jaxson. It’ll happen. Just be patient.
Simmy pulled the door open and I sat up on the bed, trying to act normal, but when Dinah pinned her eyes on me, I knew I’d failed in my attempt.
“Storm, you good?” she asked, still glaring at me.
“I would have been a lot better had your timing been different,” she snapped playfully, but there was a definite edge in her tone. She pulled the edges of her shirtdress together. “This better be life or death, Dinah.”
“It’s life,” she replied, taking authoritative strides into the room. Finally, she took her eyes off me and looked at Simone. “I just got a call from LoveTalk Radio. They know you’re in town and want to interview you on their show tomorrow night.”
Simmy’s eyes widened and I feared she’d forgotten all about me and the things that had been just about to happen. “Dinah, are you serious?”
“Dead serious.”
Simmy beamed, trembling with excitement. “That’s freaking amazing!”
“It’s more than amazing,” Dinah clarified. “LoveTalk is only the hottest romance talk show on the air. I took the liberty of telling them you’d be there.”
“With bells on!”
The women squealed and tittered, then Dinah looked at me again. “How was your date?”
“It was incredible,” I answered lifting myself from my position. I walked up to Simmy and put my arms around her waist. “And you’re right. Being featured on LoveTalk is a great opportunity. Simone Storm is amazing. She deserves it.”
Simmy’s eyes smoldered and for a second, Dinah’s presence diminished. Our bodies pushed against each other and our mouths drew like magnets.
When Dinah cleared her throat, we stood up straight. “Well, I don’t want to ruin the vibe, so I’ll let the two of you get back to whatever it is you were doing.” She flicked her hair. “Don’t have her out all night, Evan. She needs her beauty sleep.” Dinah didn’t provide a space for protest. She disappeared the way she’d arrived – in a flash.
When the door clicked closed, Simmy spun around in my arms and ran her hands up the length of my chest, forcing me to shudder. “Good, she’s gone. Where were we?” she asked rhetorically. “Oh, I remember.” Her eyes glinted as she parted the shirtdress revealing her round breasts, and just like that, my breathing turned rapid.
Simmy reached up on her tiptoes and kissed my lips. I took the sides of her face, consuming her, needing her; but then I eased off. “Simmy, let’s wait,” I suggested.
Her brows pulled. “Wait?” she parroted. “Do you really think I can wait after the way you’ve got me all fired up?”
“I’m a fucking idiot, I know,” I agreed gazing into her brown eyes, “but I have a special scene we can write.”
This made her face light up.
I caressed her cheek. “It happens after Evan and Simone go to the jazz club. They come back to her hotel room and the place is drenched in red roses: the bed, the floor, the tub…” I lowered my mouth to hers but stopped when I was inches away from her parted lips. “Simone is wearing a champagne cocktail dress that holds onto her curves in a way that makes Evan insanely jealous.”
“A champagne cocktail dress?”
I pushed the material of her shirtdress to the side and trailed my finger around her areola. Her nipples stiffened and peaked. A desirous moan came off her lips in a breath, replacing her words.
“He undresses her,” I continued, “takes off the dress and then her panties. Then he makes love to her all night, until she falls in love with him and tells him that she never wants him to leave.”
Simone’s lashes fluttered. When I finally touched her mouth with mine, they closed completely.
“I like that scene,” she whimpered.
“Me too.”
“Only thing, Evan isn’t in love with Simone.”
My mouth stilled, but Simmy deepening the kiss forced me to attend. When the kiss was over, she swiped her thumb over my mouth, erasing the trail of red lipstick she’d most likely left there.
“That’s a kink we can easily work out,” I decided to say, diminishing her comment.
We smiled at each other and that was when I knew it was time to leave.
Simmy followed me as I grabbed my leather jacket and headed for the door. “You’re leaving?” she complained.
“Gotta’ go,” I said offering her a smile of sympathy and yearning. “Evan has to get the dress and arrange for the flower delivery.”
She laughed and shook her head at me. “You’re crazy, Jaxson.”
“I am,” I agreed. “Crazy about you.”
Her mouth pressed together. Simone walked up to me and kissed my lips. “Hurry up and come back to me,” she whispered.
Her words slammed me.
I’m trying, Simmy. On God, I am.
Chapter Eight
Jaxson
I left Simmy in the hotel and called the florist, making sure to tell them exactly what I wanted and the required timeframe. They wouldn’t have much time and they’d have to work after hours, since Simmy and I would be leaving for Blue Note in the evening; but they guaranteed me that it would be done to perfection. Then, I headed to the Gucci store and stayed in there for just over an hour, trying to find the exact thing I wanted to see her in that night.
I’d given the clerk a description of the dress I wanted Simmy to wear. It was the same dress the female lead had worn in Chapter Twelve of her first release. In the novel, Evan had taken her out for a night on the town and she’d worn a champagne Gucci cocktail dress. Simone had been meticulous in her description of the way the heroine looked, the way the dress danced about her thighs, the way it shimmered under the recessed lighting of the club they’d attended. That was what I wanted to see Simone in, and I’d wait until the clerk found it, even if it had to be delivered from another store. I wondered if she’d put two-and-two together.
The minute I’d secured the garment and matching shoes, I dropped it off at the concierge desk at Simmy’s hotel and ask them to deliver it to her room. Then, I turned on my heel and headed back to the car, but my pace slowed when I saw a black, tinted out BMW pulling out of the lot.
I recognized the car. It looked like…
I squinted, trying to grab the license plate details before the car peeled out of sight, but by the time I could make anything out, it was gone.
I ripped my cellphone out of my pocket and dialed Emma’s number. Her voice was the last thing I wanted to hear, but what I’d seen had me curious. And pissed off. The phone couldn’t even have rung a complete time before she was picking it up.