Follow My Lead (11 page)

“I know,” he said, his cock pulsing thickly against his zipper. “I want you, too.” He kissed her and, this time, he didn’t even try to hold back. His tongue plunged into her mouth, taking it, claiming it. Claiming her. A taste of honey among the bitterness he hadn’t even realized had been eating him alive. This business had gotten to him—the people, the wants, the demands of money and fame. Darla had broken through all of that and she hadn’t even tried. She was just herself—and that was unique in his world.

He reached under the silk of her tank, pulled down her bra and fingered her nipples. She shuddered with pleasure, her nails digging into his shoulders. He pushed the shirt upward. “Take it off before I get impatient and ruin it.”

She tugged it over her head, leaving her with only her pale pink bra and rose-tipped nipples peeking out. “We can’t be late back to set.”

“We won’t be,” he promised, unhooking the front clasp of her bra. “Hard and fast.” He teased her nipples, sucking them lightly. “But next time we’re going slow and hot. You have my word.”

Her hand went to his zipper, tracing his throbbing erection. “Who says there’s going to be a next time?” She unsnapped his jeans and the next thing he knew she had her hand on his cock.

He groaned, both from her touch and the way she challenged him. Lust jolted him. He pressed his hand to the wall above her head. “There’s going to be a next time. You can count on me doing whatever is necessary to convince you of that fact.”

She massaged his shaft, her fingers trailing along the top, spreading the dampness gathering there. “Not if you manipulate me to get me to my room, or anywhere else, ever again.”

“We needed to talk,” he defended. “And you wouldn’t have come any other way.”

“Your talking isn’t a good idea,” she warned, pressing his boxers out of the way and freeing his cock. It jutted forward, thick and pulsing, and she lowered her lashes, inspecting him, stroking him, driving him freaking wild, before her gaze lifted. “Talking is just going to make me mad again. And before you say you like me mad, you should know that mad may or may not include me kicking you out of my room.” She slowed her movements, then sped up again.

He barely contained a groan. It felt as if liquid fire was burning through his veins. “Though I do think you’re insanely hot when you’re mad, I sure as hell don’t want to get kicked out of the room right now.” He closed his hand around hers. “Keep touching me just like that and I’ll shut up.” He moved against their joined hands. Her lashes lowered again, her attention on his cock, her tongue biting her bottom lip. It was official. She still hated him and was tormenting him to death. Death by lust. She stroked him harder, faster, and he quickly realized he was further gone than he thought. Too far gone to have her touching him like this if he was going to last—and that sure wouldn’t get him a take two. And he wanted a take two, three and four—and whatever and wherever that led. He
wanted
this woman in his life. But he couldn’t convince her by pushing her. Not now, at least.

He brought her to the foot of the bed and held her tight, pressing his lips to hers, her bare breasts teasing his chest. He would convince her with pleasure. The kind two people who felt something special for each other could make. “You have on too many clothes.”

“So do you,” she murmured just before his mouth came down on hers in a searing kiss that burned with a possessiveness so new to him, it threatened to unravel any control he still possessed.

She lifted his shirt upward, scraped her teeth across his nipple, then tongued it softly. “Take this off before I get impatient and ruin it,” she ordered, repeating his command. “This time you’re not getting away with leaving anything on.”

“Believe me,” he assured her. “I want nothing more than to be naked with you, sweetheart.”
Naked and tearing down your walls,
he added silently. He kissed her and then set her away from him, immediately tossing his shirt aside.

They stared at each other a moment, stared at the clock, then back at each other. One hour left. One hour would never be enough. In silent agreement, there was a frenzied rush of undressing. Blake made it to his socks and then forgot everything but Darla—standing before him gloriously naked. Her breasts were high, full, with pebble-tight cherry nipples. Her hips were slender, her skin ivory perfection. Every second he was with her, she seemed to grow more beautiful. He stepped toward her.

“Wait,” she said, holding up a hand then pointing at this feet. “I said everything off this time.”

He didn’t argue. He was too hot and too ready for her. He had his socks off in seconds and pulled her into his arms, lifting her. Her legs wrapped around his waist, the wet heat of her core warming his stomach. Lust tore through him, the desire to bury himself inside her and get lost was almost too much to resist.

“Tell me you have a condom,” she panted, apparently feeling what he was.

“A half dozen,” he said, carrying her to the dresser.

She pulled back and gave him an incredulous look. “Pretty sure of yourself, aren’t you?”

“It was one or six. I chose six. But yeah, I’m hoping you’ll let me convince you we need all six sometime in the near future.” He settled her on top of the dresser and slid his fingers into her hair. “What do I have to do to make that happen?”

She pulled back and stared at him, more of that raw innocence he found so appealing swirling in the depths of her stare. “I don’t know… I…”

He leaned in and gently kissed her neck. “We’ll talk about that later.”

He inched her knees farther apart, skimming his palms up her thighs, taking in the blond curls and pretty pink flesh, glistening wet with desire.

“You’re beautiful,” he said, his gaze lifting to hers. “Perfect.”

Her cheeks flushed. “Blake,” she whispered shyly. He loved that about her. The way she ordered him around one minute, and then turned sweetly vulnerable the next.

It was the vulnerability in her in that moment that got to him, that had him cradling her face and lifting her face to his. “Whatever you’re doing to me, keep doing it. I like it.”

The way she seemed to have no idea how much she affected him, no intent to use it against him. It only made him want to please her more.

Confusion knitted her brow. “I’ve pretty much been mad at you the entire time we’ve known each other.”

“Are you mad now?”

“Yes.”

“Why?” He caressed her breasts, pressed her backward, her weight on her hands behind her. He licked one pretty pink bud and then the next.

“We never made up,” she claimed breathlessly.

“We seem to be getting along pretty well to me,” he said, licking her nipple again.

“If you don’t get that condom—”

He kissed her. “I don’t have to be told twice.”

Blake grabbed his jeans, digging out his wallet. He fumbled for the condom. He wanted her so bad he was trembling. That was a first. There were a lot of firsts with Darla. That seemed good. He hoped. He didn’t know. He didn’t know much of anything right now, except how badly he wanted to be inside her.

She leaned back on the dresser, her breasts thrust high. For a moment, he went still, his throat dry. His cock got impossibly hard. He sheathed himself in seconds as she watched, and then wasted no time returning to her. Wrapping his arm around her slender waist, he slid his fingers in the wet heat of her body to ready her for him. He wanted to be in her, he wanted to feel the wet wonder of her body clenching him tight and holding on. But he wanted this to be good for her. He wanted there to be a reason to use those five other condoms.

“I’m way beyond waiting,” she said hoarsely, closing her hand around his shaft and guiding the blunt head of his erection to where she wanted it—telling him she was ready. She was driving him out of his mind with desire. She was hitting all the right marks.

He parted her with his fingers and entered her. She was tight and hot, and he groaned with the pleasure of her muscles contracting around him. An intense urgency built inside him. He thrust deeper inside her and swallowed her gasp with his kiss, a wild, ravenous kiss. Too wild for the dresser—he struggled to fully reach her.

Blake lifted her again and carried her to the mattress. He placed her on the bed beneath him, and she opened for him like a flower—a jasmine-scented flower that he couldn’t get enough of. He raised one of her legs over his shoulder and pressed his palm under her perfect ass. He swiveled his hips and drove into her, right where he wanted to be. She had him all now.

He lingered a moment, his eyes searching the depths of hers. He wasn’t quite sure what she might see in his eyes, but he couldn’t look away. Her fingers traced his lips and he kissed them, then kissed her. He lost himself in the seductive bliss that was her taste, her body. He started to move, to pump into her. What started as slow and cautious quickly became fast and confident. And she met that uncontrollable need—her hands were all over him, her body rocking with his.

He palmed her sweet ass and thrust again and again. Her hips lifted on a moan, her body stiffened. “Blake I…” Her body clenched around him, pulling the pleasure from him, taking it from him. Blake shuddered with his release until his muscles relaxed. He eased her leg down and buried his face in her neck. Long seconds passed and he forced himself to consider time, and work and things he’d rather forget. He had to talk to Darla about why he was here—why they were here—in the first place. He would upset her and he could think of a lot of things that he wanted to do and with the soft and willing female beneath him, and upsetting her wasn’t on the list.

11

B
LAKE LIFTED UP ON HIS ARMS,
his elbows framing Darla’s face. “What time is it?” she asked urgently.

He checked the clock. “We have half an hour. We should get dressed.” He didn’t move.

“Yes,” she said, but she didn’t move, either. “We should get dressed.”

“For the record, I could stay in bed the rest of the day with you and be a happy man.”

She reached up and touched his face, her small fingers gentle. The touch sent a rush of renewed heat down his spine. “I’m still mad,” she said.

He smiled. He couldn’t help himself. He loved the way she dueled with him, the way he knew he had to work to earn her. He loved that she didn’t want him just because of who he was or what he could give her.

“In case you missed basic emotion 101,” Darla scolded, “anger is not a reason to smile.”

“Be angry. Be whatever.” His voice sounded gravelly, affected. “Just tell me you don’t regret this.”

“Blake, I… No. No, I don’t.” Her tone shifted from a mix of sultry innocence to a stronger one. “Not yet, that is. Not unless you make me late to the set.”

Darla scooted to the edge of the bed and he resisted the urge to reach across and shackle her wrist in a gentle hold. He turned to face her, unconcerned about his nakedness. He liked being naked with her. But she wasn’t in such a receptive mood. She kept her back to him, as if debating a run for the bathroom.

“Just tell me this,” he said, baiting her to turn around, to talk to him. “Why are you so damn feisty, and in my face, but you let Lana run all over you in that audition room?”

She whirled around, her breasts bouncing in a way that he couldn’t help but admire. She yanked the sheet up around her, obviously noticing. “Lana isn’t running over me.”

“Says who?”

“Blake—”

“Meagan noticed. She said you weren’t acting like yourself. She’s the one who gave me your phone number.”

She paled instantly. “What?”

He shook his head. “I was standing at the monitors when you argued with Lana and then walked out of the room for the break. Meagan heard the entire exchange and she commented about you backing down.” She ran her hand through her hair, her bottom lip quivering as if she were fighting tears.

He softened his voice. “If this is about us, about Lana’s threat—”

“It’s not.” She swallowed hard. “Not really. I mean, yes, I’m worried about her causing trouble for us, but I’m not sure I’m rational about it, either.”

Us.
He didn’t miss the choice of words, and it pleased him.

Darla continued, “I know I’m not myself and I certainly wasn’t myself in that audition room. I hate that Meagan noticed. I hate that I’m letting her down.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. You aren’t letting Meagan down.” He was both surprised and impressed that she was self-aware enough to know when she wasn’t in the right mind-set, that she was open enough with him to say so and to share her fears. “Meagan just wants the real you in that room and on the show. The same you who came storming down the hallway not so long ago, ready to lay into me.”

She studied him a long moment, her green eyes glistening with a story he wanted her to tell, but he had a good feeling she wouldn’t. Not now, not yet. “Most people in competing time slots wouldn’t have told me about this,” she finally said. “They’d hope I would fail.”

She was right. “I live in this world, Darla. I don’t
live
this world.” He drew her hand into his. “Talk to me, Darla. Is there something going on with your studio? Did they put some condition on you doing
Stepping Up
that you’re struggling with?”

“No.” She shook her head, her fingers curling beneath his, telling him he’d hit some sort of nerve. “It’s just that…it’s complicated.” She glanced at the clock. “Oh, God. It’s later than I thought. I have to go. We have to go.” She dropped the sheet, making a mad dash for the bathroom. Blake tried to catch her, but his damn feet got stuck in the sheet. He had no chance to stop her. No chance to talk to her about the show, about him hosting it or about the next time they could be alone together.

The bathroom door shut with a decisive thud. Blake was shut out. Of everything. She was running from something and he had somehow become a part of that that. Which meant he had to find a way to help her if he wanted a chance with her. And he did. In fact, for a man who hadn’t been looking for a woman, he was remarkably ready to do some fighting of his own for that chance—
for her.