Entangled (A Tryst Novel) (2 page)

Blake

I know the elevator ride isn’t long enough, but I allow my eyes to take a swift journey over the curves of Skyler’s tight body, and the moment she catches me staring, I react.

I rush her, pinning her to the wall with my hips, only able to cup her face with one hand, and the gasp of a moan that escapes her has my pants feeling tighter than usual.

She doesn’t hesitate tasting me as her delightful, sweet tongue dips into my mouth. I want so badly to feel more of her, and I’m tempted to let go of the wine in my other hand. Her skin against my fingertips is more valuable to me than a $150 bottle of wine.

My free hand trails down the nape of her neck, over the satin of her dress that hugs her flawless figure and has had me salivating nearly all night. I cannot wrap my head around how someone’s body
 
and mind
 
could have my own running at a mile a minute.

“Blake?” she moans against my mouth.

“Hmm?”

She tries to slow my lips with hers, but I don’t let her have any sense of control.
 
Nope, not right now.

Her smile against my mouth as she tries to push me away is making it hard for me to restrain my chuckles.

She claws at my chest, and her nails digging against the thin material of my dress shirt have me losing my train of thought. Knowing me better than I think she does, she takes it as her opening to pull her lips away from mine.

“Blake, the elevator is open.”

I take a deep breath, and commit to her unwavering crystal stare.

“You make me question everything.”

Did I just say that?

She gifts me with a curious smile, disregarding my comment to say, “So, now that we’ve left the restaurant, what’s next in your spontaneous plan?”

I pull away, making sure she’s following as I shoot her a wink. “There’s no such thing as a spontaneous plan, Skye.” I swivel around, swinging the wine too.

She bashfully looks down either side of the road, avoiding my stare, and for a moment I cannot fathom we’re together like this. Honest and out in the open. It feels like it’s been a long time coming. We no longer have to keep our trysts secret, especially since confessing our feelings for each other. Telling Josh about it was the hard part, but totally worth it. It’s hard to imagine that we went from me coercing her to fuck around and convincing her to keep it from her brother for months, to being in a committed relationship and having to convince him we’re meant to be. I never saw any of it coming, but now I can’t imagine it being any different. It’s like a sense of belonging I didn’t know I needed.

I try to keep still as I watch her, noting I want her constantly, but I try this whole “discipline” thing Josh, her brother and my best friend, has been harping on since we became friends.

“Are you in the mood for anything specific?” she asks, breaking my contemplation.

There’s a “Skyler smile” that I’ve recently become acquainted with, and it’s this devilish grin that is always something I don’t expect. It’s glorious and loud, and I love it.

Intrigued, wondering how this sheltered premed student became a temptress in her own right, I can’t help but want to pat myself on the back because I think I might have helped with that transition, but I probably shouldn’t be so smug about it.

“Anything you want particularly?” I ask, getting the sinking feeling she might have a plan of her own.

She slinks over to me, leaning into my body, peering up at me with those round, endless ocean eyes. “Let’s get a cab.”

I absentmindedly nod, finding that anything she might suggest I’d commit to without thinking.

She looks around, sighing. “I wish we drove. Cabs are a waste of money. They’re never around when you need them.”

“My car is on its last legs, and hell if I would let you drive on our date.”

She whips her head around to face me, her eyes alight with another plan, but her plump lips twist disapprovingly. “Boys are so stupid. C’mon, I see a subway stop!”

I leap back, tugging her with me. “Subway?”

She lets out a string of giggles that ignites my reflexive smirk.

“Yeah. Do you know
 
anything
 
about this city? Sheesh.”

I point to myself lazily, getting distracted by the short length of her dress again, but quickly correct myself. “I’m a Wisconsin boy, remember? By this time of year we’d be huddled inside watching the first snowfall.”

It takes me a mere nanosecond to imagine spending a Wisconsin snow day with Skyler, huddled close to the fire, wrapped around each other in front of the flames after a session of lovemaking.

Snap out of it.

She grins fully. Skyler always enjoys any information I impart to her about my Midwestern upbringing. She loves hearing of dairy farms and flatlands, which I don’t understand, but it has me remembering something.

“Skyler, I forgot, I’ve been meaning to ask you something very . . . very important.”

If her heels could come to a screeching halt, I think they might have. Her abrupt stop nearly makes her fall over, and she turns around to shoot me a curious glare, mixed with, dare I say, some fear.

“Yeah?”

My own rumbling anxiousness forms in my gut at what I’m about to ask, but some things just feel right, and knowing that this absolutely does has those nerves dissolving into a glowing sense of happiness.

“After filming, it’ll be around Thanksgiving, and I’m not sure what you have planned with Josh and—”

“He’s already mentioned doing something with Vanessa. He’s totally into her.”

I laugh at her sharp, slightly disdainful response, but still find the answer a good one.

“Oh, well, then . . . I was wondering, actually I was hoping, you’d come with me to visit my family in Wisconsin for the holiday?”

The silence hangs longer than I anticipate. I’m holding my breath while I watch her stare at me, mouth agape. I can’t tell how much time is stretching between us. My nerves are back with a vengeance as my eyes fall to the cement, prepared for defeat. Even if I do love her, maybe we’re moving too fast. I can’t tell, but the silence isn’t helping the cause.

It isn’t until I hear the rushed sound of clicking heels that I look up just in time to see Skyler leaping into my arms.

“You mean it?” she squeals.

I wrap my arms tightly around her waist, holding her close, and twirl her around before placing her back on her feet.

“Of course I do.”

“To meet your family?” she squeals at an even higher decibel level.

I smile, shrugging my agreement. It’s a big deal, but I try to play it cool. She doesn’t need to see my spastic excitement over this scenario.

“I’d love to,” she replies to my nonchalance, with a playful smile that hints that she’s probably as smitten by the situation as I am.

“Perfect,” I exhale. “After all the chaos, we’ll spend the holiday together, and I can show you a bit of snow and . . . whatever.” I shrug again. Lips twitching playfully, fighting the urge to take her here and now purely based on the fact she’s agreed.

“Whatever?” she repeats questioningly through soft giggles. I know she’s laughing at me. “I can’t wait,” she adds.

Even though I want to say
me too
, I keep those words to myself. I have to show a little dignity, don’t I? Instead, I release a long pent-up breath that I know she takes notice of.

She watches me with a winning smirk, complemented by an eyebrow raise, before standing up on her tiptoes to place a chaste kiss on my lips as if to say,
It’s okay, I know you’re being a stupid guy about this, but I love you anyway.

Reaching for my hand, she’s back to yanking me in the opposite direction. Moment over, I guess. Her steps transition into a jog, and I have to try to keep up with her long-legged strides.

With her eyes ahead, it gives me a moment to ponder what I’m currently coping with within me. My insides become the most interesting cocktail as the ocean of relief twists around adrenaline-spiked excitement, knowing as I do that Skyler is going to come with me to meet my mom. We’ve made it through the question, and she’s agreed. I’m on top of the world. I’d follow this girl anywhere, and it’s nice to know the feeling is mutual.

I know this particular thing is a fact when we reach a misplaced cement entryway along the city street. I give it a skeptical eyebrow raise as we approach it. I wouldn’t have noticed it on any normal day, but Skyler seems to know where she’s going. The opening in the cement reveals a long descending stairway that feels foreign as she slows her pace, taking each stair more carefully.

“How many times have you taken the subway?” I ask, following close.

She laughs loudly as she focuses on placing her slender legs slowly on each step as she goes. “Lots! When I was a freshman, and when Vanessa and Jennifer and I became friends, we used to get wasted in our dorm room, and then trek around the city, usually ending up on Hollywood Boulevard. We all had boyfriends at the time—well actually, Vanessa always had a boy of the moment, but there was a time Jennifer was in a solid relationship at the same time as I was.”

I grit my teeth. I don’t mind hearing about Skyler’s past, but when it comes to a life she shared with her asshole ex-boyfriend, Jason, I have zero tolerance. But I keep silent as I watch her stumble onto the bottom step.

“Uh-huh, sounds like crazy times. I didn’t know you had a party side.”

Her devilish smile is back, and it throws me.

“Blake, I was rebellious at one time. How the hell do you think I met someone like Jason? It wasn’t until school got hard, and my boyfriend turned into an overprotective jerk, that life forced me to slow down, and then everything got worse. The world became foreign after that. All I knew was Jason, school, and soccer. And, well, you know how that all ended up.”

I try to ignore
 
his
 
name. Normally, the topic is off-limits, and I find it strange that Skyler never asks or wants to talk about her abusive ex, but seems to always be willing to mention the happier times. My muscles in my gut tighten at the thought.

The bottle of wine weighs heavy in my hand, and I’m tempted to throw it out right then, but instead, as we approach the platform, I uncork it. The sound echoes in the empty basement, and Skyler lets out a guffaw as she watches me take my sip.

I’m about to bow my head in comical shame, but instead she extends her hand. “Let me have some.”

I lick my lips, and hand it over to her.

“Who are you, and what have you done with my Skyler?”

She pouts as she brings the bottle up to her lips, and I chuckle. She looks like a spoiled rich kid, slumming it in the City of Angels.

I watch her swallow a large gulp, and the movement mesmerizes me. She smiles as she pulls the bottle away from her lips, hiding her sour expression at its taste.

“You’d think such an expensive bottle would at least taste good.” She lets out a small chirp that resembles a laugh before handing back the bottle and running off to a machine set in the wall. Quickly she grabs us two subway passes with a credit card from her small purse. I’m ready to protest her spending any money, but as if she timed it, the screeching wheels of the train pull up just as she sprints back.

“Where are we going?” I ask, too stoked at the possibilities of the night.

“Hollywood Boulevard.”

We step onto the dirty, empty train, the doors squeaking shut behind us as I peer around at the graffiti on the metal walls surrounding us. “Okay . . .”

She giggles again, and steps up to me. Her eyes are hooded as she approaches with slow, sensual determination. Her mouth makes soft contact with mine, and the wine is still fresh on her lips.

When she pulls away I’m breathless, and I feel like releasing my own dumb laughter. “Hollywood Boulevard sounds perfect.”

Anywhere with her is perfect.

She shakes her head, grabs for the wine once more, and before sipping it says, “I don’t think anyone has called Hollywood Boulevard perfect. It’s grimy, dirty, and only a place for mischief.”

“Yeah, perfect,” I retort as I grab for the wine after she’s taken her sip, noting that nearly half of it is gone before I take my own large gulp, wondering what our evening has in store.

As quickly as we had stepped on, the doors spring back open, and a disembodied voice announces our arrival at our destination.

Skyler grabs for my free hand, yanking me onto the platform, and wastes no time bounding up the steps to the street. The quick movement has me losing a grip on the cork, and it falls onto the floor. I shrug it off as I swig from the bottle once more, finding the closer I get to the bottom the more forgiving I am of the taste.

As I watch her lean legs sprint up the steps, I wonder how girls do anything in heels. They seem like death traps women willingly put on. I can’t complain about the way they make a woman look, but I’m momentarily grateful that men are not held to such a ridiculous standard.

“C’mon!” she squeals, and the glint in her eyes wields more magic than I’d ever admit out loud.

As we join the throngs of people on the street, it becomes evident that the night is just beginning in this part of LA. However, Skyler tugs me farther, passing swanky nightclubs, shops that range from the high end to the touristy and the sleazy. Though the amount of people doesn’t necessarily diminish, the glitziness of the street does as we continue on.

I hear her small chuffs ahead of me, hinting that she’s out of breath from our rush up the street, but just as quickly as the idea pops into my head she stops, swiveling around to face me.

“We’re here!”

I grin, wrinkling my nose as I look over to the right. The black brick of the building offers a grungy vibe, and is lit up only by a bright red neon sign above the doorway. The neon spells out in cursive:
 
T
HE
O
RIENTAL
.
The red tube of neon trails farther in the shape of an arrow, pointing directly at the open doorway.

“The Oriental?” I whisper.

She grabs for the bottle of wine, taking another swig. “Do you know what it’s from?”