Page 47 of My Charming Rival (Stars In Their Eyes 1)
“What about the pictures someone doesn’t want out? The meltdown shot, the yelling at the front desk clerk shot, like Jenner Davies? Because you couldn’t miss that video. It was everywhere.”
“Sometimes, those are just sheer dumb luck. Or a series of tips, and you keep whittling them down and following someone till you finally get the money shot.”
“Speaking of the money shot, I’m guessing we should get going?”
“Yes, but you know how you said they’re going to be checking everyone for cameras at the wedding?”
“Right.”
“I think I’m going to need to check you right now.”
“What? You still don’t believe I am who I say I am?”
“I believe you, but that could be because you’re an incredible actor. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I need to be the only one getting pictures right now of Riley and her director.”
“You’re going to pat me down?” I raised an eyebrow and grinned, then held my hands up high and spread my feet wide. “Have at it, Doctor Leighton. Have at it.”
She looked at her feet. “I’m just being careful.”
“Please be very careful when you touch my stomach, then. As you know, I’m highly ticklish.”
Jess
I started by placing my hands on his shoulders. They were strong and firm. Running my hands quickly down his arms, I felt his biceps and triceps next, and they were so sculpted and toned to perfection that I did everything I could to catalog the proper names of the muscles so that I would only think about him scientifically, and not about the way he felt under my hands.
Because he felt fantastic. He had the kind of body I could hold on to all night long. The kind I wanted to explore with hands, lips, and tongue.
Moving quickly over his chest, then down to his flat belly, I pressed my lips tightly together so I wouldn’t make a sound, or release a breath, or even utter a word because his abs were so trim, defined, and neatly lined. If I wanted to, I could have traced the edge of each one, lined the contours of his smooth body. I closed my eyes for a second, inhaled sharply through my nose, and patted his hips, outer thighs, and down to his calves.
“There, done. You’re good,” I said as if I were a TSA agent finishing a pat-down.
“You didn’t get my inner thighs, Jess,” he said in a totally serious voice, egging me on.
“I trust you.”
“Are you sure? You don’t want to check my thighs? Just to be safe. I could be hiding something,” he said, raising an eyebrow.
“Are you? Hiding something?”
“Honestly, right now it’s not very hidden.”
I bit my lip, and tried so hard to resist. But I couldn’t help myself. I cast my eyes downward and caught a glimpse of the bulge in his pants. Restraint flew out the window. “You liked the pat-down?”
“I did,” he said, his eyes darker, wilder. His voice was huskier. “Is this all clear now?” he gestured to his crotch. “I’m not using you. I meant everything I said in Italian, and everything I said in English, too, about you being sexy, funny, and smart.”
Sharp, hot tingles took my body hostage. They demanded squatter’s rights in my heart. My brain was commandeered by a heightened desire that flooded every damn cell in my entire system. I wanted to climb on top of him and kiss him. Then strip him down to nothing and touch him all over. I wanted to lick him up and down. Hell, right about now I simply wanted to feel him against my body, clothed or unclothed. I craved contact, connection, and the purity of the chemical reaction we had. We were science, we were two substances in a lab that mixed perfectly, whether it was the banter or flirting or the way we seemed to want to pounce on each other.
Whatever it was, I found myself letting go of my worries over control, balance, habits. Gripping them less tightly the more time I spent with him.
I didn’t want to admit that I liked him, but I couldn’t keep it hidden any longer. “I feel the same about you,” I said. Giving voice to those words made me feel as if a superhero of vulnerability had bestowed me with her powers momentarily. “You make me crazy, but I like that you make me crazy, and I think you’re great, too. But we also really need to go. We should take one vehicle as we head to the stakeout spot.”
“Right. Two would be more suspicious.”
We strapped on helmets, then I hopped on his bike and wrapped my arms around the abs I’d felt a few minutes ago. As I pressed my chest against his back, I was close enough to sniff his neck and the ends of his hair and the clean, freshly showered, hot guy scent of him.
