Читать книгу Hollywood Hills Collection - Lynne Marshall, Amalie Berlin - Страница 12

CHAPTER FOUR

‘I SHOULD HAVE paid way more attention in science class,’ Freya said a few hours later as she woke to the thought of his last word and the feel of her loose, relaxed body in his arms as he spooned in behind her.

‘Oh, I’ll make you pay attention,’ he said low and deep into her ear. ‘Happy New Year.’

‘And you,’ Freya said.

‘It already is.’

Last night he’d barely been able to get the words out to his mother, knowing how pointless they were, but now Zack was happy, indulging in one of his passions.

The other was work and that was so intense that he lived for escapes like this.

‘Were you going to come to my room?’ he asked. ‘Honest answer.’

‘I was thinking about it,’ Freya said. ‘I wasn’t having the best night.’

‘What did you say to that guy?’

Freya frowned.

‘The one who walked off just before you saw me...’

‘Oh, that was Edward—’

‘No names,’ he interrupted, and Freya lay there, feeling his fingers gently kneading her stomach.

Freya wanted to know his name, she wanted to know more about him, and yet he’d reminded her that there would be no exchange of names. But as she lay there, enjoying the gentle massage of his fingers, and thought about it, she realised that it was actually quite freeing. There would be no I’m Freya Rothsberg. Yes, Aubrey St Claire and Michael Rothsberg are indeed my parents. And if he recognised the name, then he’d know about their messy divorce. And there would be no I’m thirty-one, single, perfectionist, infertile but trying not to be, recovered anorexic. She didn’t have to say she was a big shot in PR. Or that she was stressing about taking on the charity side of her brother’s medical centre. Or that, though she’d pushed James to let her, really she wanted to use her psychology degree.

No names didn’t mean no past but it meant she didn’t have to reveal anything that she didn’t want to.

Who was she without all of that? Freya lay there and pondered.

She.

The woman in his arms, and that was enough for him.

He.

Freya understood now the bliss of no names.

‘He’s an ex.’ Freya answered the question after a very long pause. ‘And he tried it on last night. Several times.’

‘I’d try it on again with you...’

‘He’s married.’

‘Bastard,’ Zack said. ‘Did you know that he was when you were together?’

‘He wasn’t married then,’ Freya said. ‘From the way we broke up it would seem he wanted a wife and children. He’s got what he wanted but his wife wasn’t there last night. He said he wanted to bring in the New Year with me up in his room.’

‘What did you say to him?’

‘I told him I hadn’t enjoyed sex with him the first time around and that I felt sorry for his short-suffering wife.’

He laughed.

‘You’re not married, are you?’ Freya checked.

He could lie, she guessed, but she felt he wouldn’t.

There was no point in lying.

‘Oh, no,’ Zack said. ‘And I have no intention to ever be. This is absolutely guilt-free sex, baby...’

Freya doubted this encounter would be entirely guilt free, no doubt she’d be crawling with shame a few hours from now, but that was her.

‘Do you have any New Year’s resolutions?’ he asked.

‘Many,’ Freya said. She had pored over them for hours and had them all written out.

‘Such as?’

They were mostly the same as every other year—unlike other people, who seemed to swear to go on a diet or exercise, Freya’s resolution was to not embark on a sudden diet or obsess over exercise. Not that she told him that.

Neither did she tell him about the baby she wanted and her dream of having her own little family.

Nor did she tell him that she was over men. Though perhaps not completely over them, given where she was.

So she just lay there, overthinking but oddly lulled by the soothing stroke of his hands and the nudge of his erection behind her. No, there was no need to tell him about the career she wanted to tackle but had been avoiding doing so.

‘I made my list of resolutions yesterday after my run,’ Freya said.

‘Do you run a lot?’ he asked, his fingers examining her slim, toned body.

‘On alternate days,’ Freya said.

‘And what do you do on the other one?’

‘I go for a walk,’ Freya said, and the threat of tears was back but she held them in, although she did admit a truth she would never dare to another. ‘And I try not to run.’ She was more honest with a stranger than the people closest to her and his response was kind.

He gave a light kiss to her shoulder.

‘It’s okay.’

He could feel her near to tears and he got that.

Anonymity at times came with deep trust, for you were at your most bare.

‘I ran,’ Zack said. ‘Well, I’m not a runner but I ran from all that was expected of me and I’m still running.’

She couldn’t imagine him running from anything.

He was so confrontational to all of her senses she could not imagine there were things he might not be able to face.

‘So what list of resolutions did you make?’ he asked.

She smiled as he ran a lazy hand down her body and pulled her into him.

‘Making more time for the things I like.’

‘And me,’ Zack said, and he started to kiss her neck.

‘Try new things...’ Freya said, and the arm under her moved and fingers came to her small breast and stroked it.

‘I like that one too.’

He pinched her nipple and she properly understood what he’d meant about him picturing her undoing his button flies because in her mind’s eye she could see those brown fingers squeezing her hard. Instead of slapping him away, she took a shaky breath as he squeezed it tight again and she felt like a bud bursting.

He took her hand and put it between her legs and then, still tweaking her breasts, his other hand met hers between her legs and they explored her.

‘Not that one,’ Freya said, and he laughed into her shoulder.

‘I’m just feeling you all over,’ Zack said. Working out boundaries had never been more fun. ‘I want to taste you all over.’

‘I don’t like oral,’ Freya said.

God, this was freeing, just to say it outright! To declare her needs and to state what she didn’t want.

‘You would.’

‘No, thank you.’

He took himself in his hand and aimed the head at her fingers and moistened them as she brought herself, with a very nice lot of help from him, right to the edge.

‘Not yet...’ he said.

‘You don’t dictate my orgasm,’ Freya responded in a brittle voice, trying to remember how she dictated her world.

‘Oh, but I do.’

He went against everything she believed in the bedroom but fantastically so.

He was right at her entrance and she refused to beg, she just lay on her side, hot with anticipation. The easiest thing to do would be to not play safe but he rolled away from her and she heard the tear of foil. Freya loathed the intrusion but then he was back, lifting her hair and warming up her neck again with his mouth.

‘Watch my neck,’ Freya warned.

‘Wear your hair down.’

‘Okay.’

They both smiled at the ease of the solution.

He was making a terrible mess, she was sure, and she was doing all she could not to beg when finally he slid in and she moaned because she was swollen from last night, and it hurt quite a bit.

His large thigh came over her and he took her very slowly, painstakingly so, and she pressed back, trying to hurry him.

‘What would you have done if you’d come to my room?’ he asked.

‘Guess,’ Freya said through gritted teeth. It was obvious to her they would have had sex, only he wasn’t letting her get away with that.

‘Would you have knocked?’

‘I don’t know...’ She was frantic, wanting to close her eyes and just focus on her building orgasm—not be dragged into conversation.

‘I’d left the door open,’ he said.

‘Faster...’ she begged.

‘Would you have knocked?’ he persisted, taking her at a slow, leisurely pace.

‘No.’ He gave it to her faster as a reward for her answer and then slowed when she didn’t elaborate.

‘I’d have come in,’ Freya said as he dragged out her fantasy, as he made her reveal her thoughts.

‘I might have been asleep.’

He rolled her onto her stomach and crushed her with his weight and the angle had him stroke her to the edge of bliss but he refused to push her over.

‘What if I’d been asleep?’ he asked.

‘I’d have woken you with my mouth,’ Freya said because, though she loathed the thought of it, she wanted to be the woman who could do that. ‘More...’ she now begged. It was like he had unbuttoned her.

‘More?’ Zack checked, and pulled out of her. She let out a sob of frustration.

He knelt up, pulled up her hips and Freya told him exactly where her thoughts last night had been.

‘I’d have got you hard with my mouth and climbed on.’

‘Dirty girl.’

‘Yes,’ Freya said. ‘I am.’

She could hear his ragged breathing and his hand hovering over her bare cheek before he gave her a light spank.

‘Yes...’ Freya whimpered, and she did not recognise her own voice, or her own requests. He spanked her harder and she just about came and as her hand shot between her legs to ensure she did just that, Zack spanked her again.

‘More,’ Freya said.

Oh, he would have loved to carry on with the spanking, but the sound of her moans and the sight of her meant he had to be inside her.

She asked for more but he told her to be quiet, disobeying her plea to spank her again as he took her.

He seared inside her and not gently.

God, she always held back now but she was asking for more, for rougher...

He just took over and she pressed her face into the mattress.

Freya came, choking out her sobs as she pulsed around him, but he did not relent and he did not come.

There was a slight curse from him and the condom was gone, she knew, it had to be. She had never had sex without one and this was amazing.

For Zack too.

The feel of her hot and swollen was more acute and the sound of her moaning. Her hand came back and she dug her nails into his thighs. He scooped an arm under her stomach and drove in harder.

She felt like a rag doll, limp everywhere except on the inside, where she was pulled taut by him.

Freya had never completely let go in sex, she had tried to and had thought she had in those little slivers of orgasm in days gone by, but she knew now she hadn’t.

Rude words were uttered and her head felt as if it had turned red as he swelled and shot into her.

Her orgasm was so sexy, a clutch of muscle that drew him in, and his warm come felt like ice seeping over her hot, swollen tightness.

And he pushed and groaned and let go deep into her until they were spent.

She listened to his long, pleasured sigh as he pulled out and then another sigh as he slipped back in to where it was warm and then out he went.

He joined her and they lay on their stomachs, facing each other, sleepy, satisfied smiles on their faces.

Freya had never had this moment where nothing else mattered than this bliss.

Soon other things would but for now nothing did.

God, she had spent most of her life trying to stay in control, only to find in some things she didn’t want to.

And for Zack, who, as fleeting as his relationships were, did his best to be considerate and hold back, now looked into the eyes of someone who didn’t need him to.

‘Sore?’ he asked, running a hand over where he had spanked her.

‘I’m still high.’

They lay there and Zack said something that he usually wouldn’t. ‘I wish I could be your alternate day...’ But that sounded way too much like making plans for Zack so he made light of what he’d just said. ‘Nope, you’d be hanging up your running shoes for good.’

And Freya too kept it light. ‘I don’t think I could deal with you even on alternate days.’ She smiled.

Freya actually meant it.

He had changed everything in her very ordered world and had awoken a side to her that she hadn’t been aware existed.

They were touching down on their real worlds, and, on a very clear day, flight-wise, it was a surprisingly bumpy landing that was to come.

Maybe paradise was hard to leave because, as it turned out, they did it terribly.

The buzz of her phone as a seven a.m. alarm went off was equalled by the chime of his and they both groaned.

‘I have to go...’ Freya said.

‘We need to talk.’

They really did, Zack had realised.

No names definitely didn’t mean no condoms.

‘Look, you don’t have anything to worry about from my end.’ Zack had his doctor’s voice on, not that she knew it. ‘I’m always careful and I’ve just had some health checks.’ He dealt with all this in a very practical, forthright way. He was completely in work mode now, and what Freya couldn’t know was that at work Zack was a very different man.

‘You don’t have to worry about me getting pregnant.’ Freya wasn’t going to go into detail about her fertility issues so she let him assume she was on the Pill, but his expression remained serious, even as they lay on their stomachs facing each other. ‘I had some blood work done this week,’ Freya said. ‘It was all fine.’ His expression was still grim and she was starting to get annoyed. ‘I can go and get my computer if you don’t believe me.’ Her voice was rising. ‘It was a torn condom, for God’s sake.’

Accidents happened!

Just never to her.

Freya made sure of it.

She sat up, not liking all she had told him.

This man knew more about her than she’d told anyone and it was getting harder and harder to look him in the eye.

Zack sat up, knowing he hadn’t handled that well. He tried to improve the sudden drop in atmosphere. ‘Let’s get some breakfast...’ He’d made her feel bad and that hadn’t been his intention, but in his line of work Zack had to be sure.

The snooze alarm went off and he swiped it and then picked up the hotel phone and ordered breakfast for two.

‘Coffee?’ he checked.

Freya shook her head. ‘I’ll have a green tea.’

He ordered and then climbed from the bed. ‘I’ll just have a shower...’ Zack said, and threw her one of the robes. ‘In case breakfast arrives while I’m in there.’

He turned on the cold tap and, apart from the issue that needed to be discussed, Zack felt amazing. So much so that he was considering not just explaining that his career was the reason he needed more information but breaking their game and finding out names.

Seeing her again.

Freya.

Just as he’d predicted it would, overnight her name had come to him.

It couldn’t be!

Zack turned off the shower and stepped into the bedroom, and saw that she had gone. The robe lay on the bed and her clothes and shoes were gone, and Zack let out a breath for his poor handling of things. He went into his laptop and pulled up the glossy brochure that had been sent along with the forms he’d had to fill in.

There was a photograph of the luxurious Hollywood Hills Medical Center, where he was to be interviewed this morning. He scrolled through several photographs of the doctors and nurses who practised there but Zack bypassed them and went to the section near the end.

He had already looked her up.

A few flirty emails had had him curious as to what Freya Rothsberg looked like.

Zack looked at the photo and remembered being in Nepal and checking out who the woman at the end of the emails was. It was a head shot and her long hair was blonde and straight in this image, unlike the curly brunette of last night. Here it was sleek and worn up and her make-up was neutral and she was wearing a dark grey dress with a high neck and capped sleeves.

She looked corporate and elegant and almost unrecognisable from the sultry beauty of last night.

Still, it explained better to Zack why they’d ignited on sight—for a couple of weeks up till Christmas they’d been flirting!