Playing For Love (18 page)

“Whoa. Wait! Are we really getting in his car?” Tara asked soberly as we walked her to the truck.

I took a deep breath. “Tara, this is my husband. Husband, this is Tara.”

David laughed, a low husky sound as a beautiful smile broke across his face.

“No, you didn't,” she said scandalized, looking between us, trying to figure out if we were messing with her.  

“Get in,” I said, as David opened the back door on the Range Rover.

“For real?” she whispered to me as she crawled into the back.

I shook my head at David's pleased expression, his big smile firmly in place.

When I started getting in the back, David purred, “Sit up front with me.” Effortlessly seducing me.

“Be our chauffeur for fifteen minutes?”

He huffed an exaggerated sigh and shut the door behind me. I settled next to Tara and saw that big smile break across his face again. It was a blend of sexy and so genuinely happy it made me hurt. And it made me want to ride his face until I came.

Now, all I want to do is fuck his face.

My thighs rubbed together, subconsciously trying to ease my throbbing sex.

When David got in, he glanced at me in the rearview mirror, his eyes knowing. 

I shook my head at him, grinning.

“What's your name?” Tara started interrogating David.

“Austin's husband,” he responded, looking at me in the rearview with that smile.

“No. Seriously—
wait,”
Tara cut herself off.
“
Don't tell me. I recognize you.” She turned to me but was talking to herself. “Not an actor. Not a musician...
Sports
.” She lurched forward between the seats.

This was typical Tara. Part of me felt like I should help David, but part of me felt like he needed a reality check—that he knew very little about me. And part of me wanted him to suffer whatever indignities she was about to make him endure, because I was not cool with his omission about
Dawn.
Hot sex had shut my brain off and I was avoiding dealing with it, but I was nowhere near okay about this Dawn thing. 

“The David!” she half yelled in his face.

“Just David,” he corrected quietly.

Tara sat back next to me. “Did you really marry him?
Oh. My. God
! I read something about him getting married.” 

“Yes, we're married. Wednesday night,” I confirmed.

“Oh, shit, is he your fame ticket?” she whisper-yelled.

My eyes darted to the mirror to see David quietly laughing.

“No.”

“It's real?” she asked excitedly. “Are you fucking him?”

“Yeah,” I laughed. 

“You better not fucking hurt her. Or I'll fuck you up,
The David
.” She jabbed her finger in the air toward him.

Her threat was comical, but extremely sweet.

“How's he? I bet he's good, right? I mean the athlete thing has to help, right? Is his dick big?” She seamlessly shifted back into girlie mode, bombarding me with questions.

“Okay,” David reprimanded.

“What? Is it tiny?” Tara was getting louder and more excited by the minute.

“Austin, where we goin'?” His annoyance was clear in his voice.

I wasn't sure what line was crossed, but I was a little shocked he wouldn't want to brag about the size of his dick.

“Universal city,” we answered simultaneously.

“Don't worry,
The David
.” Tara said “The David” in a pretty good imitation of a baseball announcer’s voice. “You are
not
my type. I like skinny rocker boys. All your muscles
gross
me out.” Tara was blunt and unthinkingly callous, which was why we got along so well.

“Good.” David's relaxed, sexy rumble was back, doing all kinds of things to my body.

“So his dick…” Tara prodded.

I bit my lip, glancing at the mirror. I kept my hands low in my lap as I showed her his size using my hands.

“I knew it,” she said far too loudly.

Glancing up again, I saw David glaring at me, but with his growing smirk, it lost its weight.

“
He
is so big. I knew it had to be huge
,
” she went on as if David wasn't sitting right there, as per usual Tara style.

“Where am I going after I get to Universal?” David uselessly tried to derail the conversation.

“The Warner Brothers side of Universal,” we responded in unison.

“The stop light up there?” he tried again.

“You got it,
The David
.”

I couldn't help but laugh at the way Tara said “The David,” and how annoyed David was by it.

“So Tara,” David started, “what exactly do you two do on girls’ night?”

I shouldn't have been surprised with his audacity, but I was.  

“Ohhhhh. We go—”

“David, just drive,” I interrupted.

“Did you have a bachelorette party?” Tara asked excitedly.

“No.”

“Yes,” David corrected.

“I’m throwing you one, with strippers and everything!”

“Fuck, no!” David interjected. “Austin, I’m—”

Ringing flooded the car.

“Is that my brother?” Tara leaned forward to read the name. “It's Mathew. Answer it.”

David gave me a look I couldn't read as he pushed answer.

“Are you back in town?” Mathew asked, not waiting for a hello.

I assumed he was talking to me, considering Tara's phone wasn't programmed to our cars, but she was too drunk to remember that.

“I didn't go anywhere, Mathew.”

“Tara? Where's Austin?”

“Oh, my God! Does it ever get old? Where's Austin? Is Austin with you? Do you know where Austin is? Have you talked to Austin? Are you and Austin doing anything tonight?” She made an exaggerated, guttural sigh noise. “We
all
know you're in
love
with her.”

“Tara, where is she?” Mathew sounded annoyed.

“Oh. My. God. You can't help yourself.” Then she started drunkenly interrogating Mathew. “How often do you jack off thinking about her? Have you ever come from just looking at her? I mean, sometimes I see you staring at her so hard I think you must be fucking her in your mind.” She paused. “Have you ever come in your pants thinking about her?” 

David looked over his shoulder at me, that eyebrow lifted saying,
I fucking told you
.

“Why do you have her phone?” Mathew demanded.

“I
don't
. I'm in a Range Rover with her and
The David
. Why are
you
calling at three in the morning?”

There was a long moment of silence.

“They returned yesterday. Austin told me Monday. I asked her to call me when she got back and I couldn't believe she would lie to me
intentionally
.” His tone was accusing and almost snide.  

David responded before I could. “
I
told her to tell you Monday. I want some time alone with my
wife.
”

“I don't want to talk to you,” Mathew snapped. “I want to talk to Austin.”

“Too fucking bad. You're talking to me.” David's voice was low and dangerous.

“Oh shit!” Tara whisper-yelled. “He has the dominance to back up that huge dick.” 

I loved Tara more in that moment.

“Mathew,” Tara said, being drunk-loud. “She
married
him. He has a
huge
dick. It's
so
over. You are never going to get her. Not that she ever
noticed
you. But it's game over, buddy.”

Part of me felt bad for Mathew. Tara doing this in front of David seemed wrong, but part of me was happy to have it out in the open, especially after this new behavior of his. 

Eventually, we heard, “Austin?”

“Yeah. I'm here.”

“Call me when he cheats on you like Zach did,” he spat. “I'm guessing maybe two months—at the most.”

Before any of us could respond, the line disconnected and the music cut back on.

“You have two I have to deal with. I just have the one,” David grumbled quietly. “At least you don't have to know what she looks like. I know what both these fuckers look like.” 

“Excuse me? I don't think either of them compare to her. She calls more than—”

“That was such a pussy move.” Tara's too-loud voice drowned us out.

We pulled into Tara's neighborhood a minute later. Directing him to her house without incident. I moved to the front seat when she got out. He looked over at me as we waited for her to get inside.

“We're not letting these people come between us.” He said it like a statement, but it was definitely a question.

“No.”

“Nothing has changed between us. I've been yours since the moment I saw you, and you're mine. The only thing that has happened, is we have people who don't want us together. That's all this is. Right?”

I knew he was still insecure about Zach, even though I still didn't understand it. The hot sex allowed me compartmentalize, shut off my feelings about the Dawn situation for now.

“Right.”

He looked into my eyes for a long moment, searching. Then he looked away and huffed out a breath. 

“Well, we're over here. And I'm awake now. You want to go to Bob's for pancakes?”

“Yes! I haven't been to Bob's in forever.”

I loved Bob’s Big Boy, it was a relaxed old fashioned diner. After the stress and drama, I really needed low-key.

He pulled out of Tara's driveway and expertly got us back to the main road. As we drove in silence, I turned my head, watching him. I couldn't imagine him cheating on me, but that's how those things got past you, right?

“What, sweet girl?” his deep voice purred.

“Just trying to decide if you could really cheat on me.”

He looked over at me, his hand gripped mine, entwining our fingers. He looked back to the road and swallowed thickly. “It fucking hurts more than you know that you could ever question that.”

“Is there anything else you're keeping from me?”

“Just your wedding present. I'm picking it up Monday.”

“Nothing else you're hiding?”

“No. I promise you. And you have access to my phone anytime you want.”

His hand held mine tight during the short trip to Bob's, like he thought I would slip away.

The parking lot was eerily empty as he parked by the front. He climbed out and was opening my door before I finished checking my unwashed sleep face in the visor mirror.

“You're fucking gorgeous, sweetheart,” he rasped softly. The sincerity in his voice soothed the deep ache inside I was trying to ignore. “Come on.”

He helped me out of the truck, then wrapped a heavy arm around me, tucking me close as we entered the historic establishment—historic for LA, anyway.

An older woman approached us, immediately leading us to a booth in the back. It was obvious she recognized him, but she said nothing, which was why I loved this place, they treated everyone the same.

As I scooted into the curved booth, David ordered.

“Can we get coffee and two orders of pancakes? And two waffles, both with sausage.”

He slid into the booth in one deft move, bumping into my side.  

“Want strawberries?” he asked suddenly.

“Mmm. No, but I want whip cream on my waffle.”

He was up, walking after the waitress before I finished my sentence.

Seconds later, he came back with a little bounce in his step. He looked so cute and carefree, like Thursday when we were alone—the day after our wedding. It was surreal, we had barely been married seventy-two hours, hadn't even been back in LA for two days yet, and I had already given divorce serious consideration. It was still a valid option.  

“Whip cream on the waffle, coming up.” He slid back in next to me. “Who's the best husband ever?”

I huffed out a laugh, his carefree mood was contagious. 

“Am I fucking up the husband job?” he asked quietly, suddenly serious. Obviously, picking up on my mood.

I didn't want to discuss any of our drama—specifically, Dawn. We'd be dealing with it soon enough.

“No. Definitely not.” I wrapped my arms around his thick bicep, leaning against his shoulder, wishing our baggage would disappear. His lips pressed to my head a second later.

“I'm sorry things have been so fucked up since we got home, sweetheart. I didn't think it would be this bad... You wanna buy an island and eat carbs all day?”

I couldn't help but smile at that.