Get a Grip (Hollywood Nights) (17 page)

             
“Oh, whoa, whoa.” Jed was standing before anyone else could move. He was an imposing man and the beard and a well-worn hoodie did nothing to make him look like the celebrity he was. He looked like he could sit with the bikers at the bar if it wasn’t for the rest of the people at his table. “Come on guy, give them some space. You don’t want to come between a man and his wife.”

             
“I didn’t know…I just…wanted an autograph. She’s the reason I made it through my surgery.” Ivy heard him say.

             
Ivy watched Bo clench his jaw. It ticked. He took a deep breath and then another. She had never seen him like that before. No one would want to be on the receiving end. Bo wasn’t small. He wasn’t quite as tall as Jed, but he was just as wide in the shoulder and lean, lean muscles. Most of them hidden under the clothes he was wearing. He did not look like he belonged in a bar. He looked like a gentleman in his slacks, a button down shirt, and a thick, woven sweater on top of that.

             
Ivy considered the situation. She didn’t want that guy thinking she didn’t care that he made it through surgery. She held up her hands asking Bo silently to wait right there. She watched his head nod stiffly. Buddy Junior broke free of his mother and ran up to Bo. He looked down at the kid and his body language changed instantly.

             
Ivy followed Jed and the young man back to his table. She apologized and explained she didn’t mean to be rude. She took a picture with the whole table and signed the guy’s cast on his right arm. He was twenty and had suffered an injury playing college football. He had almost died. His parents were there with him and so grateful to her. They said they played her movies while he was unconscious for a week so he could hear them. She was his favorite actress.

She felt like
such a bitch.

             
When she returned to their table, overcrowded with men, women, and children she found Bo sitting. Buddy Junior was perched on his knee talking about the cars he had. Jed Gunner was still standing. He put his hand on her back and leaned in to whisper, “I know he has allergies. They don’t have bowls of nuts here. I’ve known him for years. Stop freaking out like that. He won’t like it, and he won’t put up with it for long.”

             
She nodded. Whispered, “Thank you.”

             
He motioned for the waitress to pull up a chair. The girl looked sad to see everyone in her section. She stared at Frankie and the baby for a long time then looked at Jonas who was also staring at Frankie and the baby. Ivy knew instantly the girl’s heart was broken. It was written all over her young face. She said, “I’ll make sure he leaves you a nice tip.”

             
The girl looked at her, recognized her, and smiled. “This is the best day of my life. Jonas Gunner and Ivy Mills both in my section.”

             
“Bliss. I’m Ivy Bliss now. I got married, too.” Ivy winked.

             
The girl sighed. “I guess if you can move on from him, I can too.”

             
Ivy laughed as the girl left to grab more drinks.

             
She pulled the chair up next to Bo and Buddy Junior and looked at him. He was a bit distant, but they managed to play it off in front of everyone. Soon enough the awkwardness was past.

             
Once the babies had been passed around, the beers, soda, and tea drank, the appetizers eaten, it was time for all to disband only to reunite again for the premiere. Once everyone was gone and it was just the two of them on the sidewalk he said, “Hotel’s not far, wanna walk?”

             
She nodded. They began the stroll towards the hotel. They were several paces when he finally broke the silence. “I shouldn’t have reacted that way.”

             
She was surprised. He was apologizing when it was her fault any of it happened at all.

             
“I shouldn’t have freaked out when you didn’t answer the phone. I knew you were with them. I just…they said bar…I…”

             
“Sweetheart, I have survived almost forty years with this allergy. I have had two severe reactions in my whole life. Once when I was a kid and Alex dared me to eat a peanut, and well, the second was when you ate peanuts and kissed me.” Bo stopped and looked at her. “You have to stop worrying about me. I’m sorry I didn’t hear the phone. I’ll put it on vibrate along with the ringer okay?”

             
She felt the tears sting her eyes but tried to hold them back.

             
“Agh,” he groaned as he came to a stop. “The tears. You’re killing me with those.”

             
“I’m sorry.” She sniffed. Wiped.

             
He chuckled. “Come here, sweetheart.”

             
He wrapped her in his arms and hugged her close. The first snowflakes began to fall. 

             
Everything was perfect about this apology; the night, the city, the snow, and the man she loved as he leaned in for a kiss. The moment his lips met hers a familiar sound echoed through the air. Shutterbugs, another name for the paparazzi, were taking pictures and ruining her moment with him.

             
The walk to the hotel, which was in view from where they were standing, became out of the question as more and more people came to see who and what was being photographed so obviously. In the city a crowd can gather quickly. The people who live in the big apple could care less about the celebrities co-existing with them in the small space. The tourists were another animal all together.

             
Ivy spent most of their time in New York in the hotel room with Bo. They went to the play, which Shay was fabulous in, and to dinner after. They enjoyed time with friends but she wanted him all to herself. He offered to take her shopping. He offered to go to more shows. She didn’t want to do anything. “I just want to stay here like this.”

             
“I thought you might be ready to pick out a piece of jewelry,” he said and kissed her forehead.

             
“Surprise me.” She was snuggled up to him in bed, where she tried to keep him more often than not. Now that her feelings were clear as day to her she understood why something so simple could be so complicated. In the singular turn of emotion she began to worry about him in all new ways. The thought of losing him couldn’t completely cross her mind because it was unbearable to think of it.

             
“Okay then. I will.” He began to roll and she went with him. They were in the position she was familiar with, comfortable with. He had tried to move them a couple of times into new arrangements, but she would simply pull him back into place and he complied without much resistance.

             
Ivy didn’t want to end up in some degrading position. Her sister had talked in detail about sex and Ivy judged her for it. She could see why the temptation was there; sex was amazing. At least it was with Bo. She just wasn’t going to put herself out there like May had. He wasn’t going to do all of those dirty things she assumed men liked to do.

She was a virgin before she met him, but she had access to television and she had seen her fair share of s
oft porn. As Bo slid into her she decided it couldn’t get any better than this.
If it isn’t broke, don’t try to fix it
. That was her motto. The moment his lips met hers and he began the thrust and pull movements she wrapped around him and held on tight. She broke free and said, “You’re amazing.”

“I’m glad you think so.” He smiled mischievously and rolled them until she was on top. “Let’s see how amazing you are.”

Ivy decided that a few positions wouldn’t be terrible. She just wasn’t going to wind up face down and ass up like they were animals. She looked down at him and realized she liked the way he looked when she was riding him. He was more relaxed, he seemed to be able to touch her more places. It was good exercise for her legs. “Well?”

He breathed out a laugh. “You’re getting there.”

“Bo!” She held still at the tip of his cock. He lifted and she raised more to keep him from getting any deeper.

“Okay, so you are fantastic. Amazing. A Goddess.” She suspected he would have told her anything. He was close to coming and she knew it.

“Don’t you forget it.” She sat down on him completely. He sighed a long lusty sound of pleasure.

“I won’t.” He whispered and his fingers
sank into her hips to guide her. She watched as the waves of orgasm built, rushed, and then consumed him. She missed all of this when he was on top or when he was in her mouth.

Of course she had witnessed his expressions and knew his body language enough by now to know when he was ready to come, but this, to see it all was something else.
She was in control this way.

A slight tingle slipped up her spine and thoughts raced. She pushed them aside. She liked being in control, but she was not going to give in to every carnal thought she had.
He was interested in her to begin with because she was a good girl. Being bad almost killed him. She was not about to turn into a freak in the sheets, no matter how bad he tempted her to do just that.

Chapter 8

Los Angeles…

              Bo had settled into the nice domestic routines they had. Ivy took on an animation project and spent her mornings in the studio recording with the various actors playing the parts of various forest creatures and her afternoons and nights planning the wedding.

He discovered that her nephew,
Gordon, actually worked for his company. He was running errands during and after school as part of a work-study program and on weekends. Of course Bo asked him what he really wanted to do there and knowing he had aspirations higher than the coffee pot in the break room, Bo started going in to work to mentor him.

             
Soon enough others started showing up and the next thing he knew, he was staying later, working longer to prepare for the next day’s work with Gordon, a few other students in high school, a few interns in college, and a few people around the office that was interested. He was invigorated and reengaged in his company in a way he hadn’t been in years.

             
He made it home at the same time she did. He was surprised that she was getting there so late. She seemed a bit off when he approached to kiss her. He touched her hair and realized, “Your hair is damp.”

             
“I, uh, have been working out at the gym with my trainer again. I don’t want to come home all sweaty and yucky.” It sounded like the truth, but it felt like a lie. She had the fresh taste of mouthwash when he kissed her.

             
He hugged her close as a new worry set in. “Whatever makes you happy sweetheart.”

             
It went on like that for two weeks. He was getting a burning feeling in his gut that she was lying to him about where she was and what she was doing. The last time he felt that feeling, he found Adele fucking his brother.

             
Bo and Ivy were in bed together. They hadn’t had sex in a while. She was watching the television he had brought into the bedroom so she could watch it when she couldn’t sleep. He had come to realize when she was away from home she could sleep sound because she didn’t have a to-do list running in her mind. When she wasn’t home there was nothing she could do about it. When she was home, the list often consumed her, overwhelmed her, and kept her up at night.

             
He awoke because he heard her sobbing. “Hey, what’s the matter?”

             
He sat up quickly and cuddled her as she fell into his arms. “That commercial. I just…it’s so…”

             
It did take a minute to register that she was a sobbing mess because of a television commercial. “What?”

             
“The one for the Marines and the guy opens his hand and…” she broke off into tears. Since the holidays were around the corner he was sure that commercial would be playing a lot. He wondered how much sleep he would soon be losing.

             
“I think that’s enough TV for one night, sweetheart.” He stroked her hair and soothed her until she had cried herself to sleep.

             
A week later they still hadn’t had sex. Almost a month had passed. It wasn’t all due to his lack of trying to initiate the act. She just seemed off and he couldn’t get past the freshly showered Ivy when he came home at night. If it was for him, he would understand, but it wasn’t. She was hiding something and looked guilty as hell more often than not when he kissed her. His gut was boiling and no amount of meditation was helping him sort it through.

             
“Hey, can I schedule a session with Carlos?” Bo asked the lady at the counter at Ivy’s gym.

             
“Carlos tore his ACL skiing. He hasn’t been here in at least a month. I can put you with…sir?” She called as he left.