Fiona Love (3 page)

It was that he didn’t hesitate to check her when he thought she was out of line. That he felt comfortable enough to tell her what to do. He’d whisper something and look her straight in the eye as he said it, one side of his full mouth slightly raised as he waited to see if she’d comply.
Half the time she did what he wanted immediately and didn’t mind a bit, which was weird because she didn’t believe in following others rules if there was another option.

It was that he used little pockets of time while shaving
or bathing to handle business. She heard him talking to his brother and to his agent on speakerphone in the bath, approving or disproving their plans for him. Then he’d come out and test the smoothness of his cheeks against hers.

Daney radiated this down-to-earth-iness she wanted to snuggle up to. She felt comfortable enough to be herself, a
nd Fiona was a siren. But there was no insecurity on his part, so this did not cause problems. They connected very quickly. As though her spirit knew right away he’d be a memory she’d keep.

Daney gave her so much pleasure
– orgasms not withstanding – she stopped wanting him to leave and began to crave him. How the hell did this happen? She wondered, even as he kissed and teased and smiled her fingers into investigating his large, hot-skinned body, then sat back like a pasha and let her get on with it.
He was good
, Fiona thought, aware he’d bewitched her but unable to resist.

H
e made her laugh, and he had yet to show even a hint of impatience. Not even when she mumbled through a rather half-baked explanation of why she wasn’t working. She knew he didn’t buy her story about being on vacation. It was true enough, but he knew there was something more. Something she hadn’t even acknowledged to herself until she sat in stillness beside him: For the first time in her life Fiona had no ambition: she didn’t know what she wanted to do next.

Sure she could continue to do movies. She could even
make some more music, but she felt ambivalent about all of her choices. She didn’t care enough to do much of anything, yet she worried. She worried about her family – there were many people whose livelihoods depended on her – and she worried about her baby, when she let herself. Flora was a mental minefield she avoided damn near on pain of death. Her child was safe and well cared for with her mother, and for now that was enough.

Now
there was Daney and the spectacular feelings he aroused to add to her distraction. Even more perfect, he’d yet to try and take their relationship beyond the physical. He was content to enjoy their endless cuddling and fucking and playing as though it was his due.

He instigated most of it.
He’d squeeze her around the waist and rub his hard chest against her softness, or toss her gently about and pretend to growl while holding her down during their love play. He’d tickle her until she was practically peeing, then say something outrageous and nip her with his teeth. Ever ready to play her part, Fiona would whimper fearfully or widen already large brown eyes helplessly.

Their role playing was a fabulous prelude to the hard, sensation-rich loving that came afterwards. Maybe it
came from all the modeling, the patience, the ability to act a part, to unleash dormant sexuality so easily. Or perhaps it was those sisters he mentioned? Then again, maybe he was just lonely like her, happy to keep time with someone new and fun.

He told her
he’d come up poor, but indirectly, not saying, ‘Oh, we didn’t have shit growing up.’ He just mentioned he was discovered when he valeted his agent Paul’s car in New York. He was working as a valet to save money to go to college, and he had two other jobs on the side. He spoke fondly of his mother, who still lived in a brownstone he bought for her with one of his first really big paychecks, and of his baby brother Buck who he’d given a job as his assistant.

“He’s come a long way. He’s signed up for some kind of online business management class, if you
can believe that. Says he’s gonna help the team find me more high-paying gigs.”

“That’s the
kind of family you wanna have.”

He nodded, stretching with
quiet, lazy grace. “I’ve been lucky.”

Time slipped away from them. They ignored
their cell phones so completely Netty and the others were forced to act as intermediaries between them and rabid callers. After a while Daney put a stop to that. He left a message on his phone that said leave voicemail, call Buck or go to hell until such-and-such a date, then ordered Fiona to do the same.

Neither
was compelled to dress, though Daney fashioned a temporary bikini of sorts from the thick scads of lather her olive oil soap produced.

“I’ve got to get some of this st
uff,” he muttered, smoothing silky white suds over her back. He squeezed her ass meaningfully, then laughed when she flexed and playfully twitched her well-slicked flesh out of his hands.

Fiona showered once alone, right after the first time he fell asleep. She’d done a quick touch-up
cut on her pubes and shaved her underarms of their tiny stubble. He woke and knocked on the shower door.

She rinsed quickly and came out to find him
holding a bath sheet open. He gave her one of the best rub downs she ever had, massaging lotion into every inch of her skin except her face. When she stopped him, he went to her vanity.

“La Mer?
” he asked, reading a label.

She nodded, and reached for it, but he shook his head and held it out of her reach. That had been a rare treat, watching
him tongue in cheek as he gently rubbed moisturizer into her face. She put just a bit more on her mouth with his cream-covered finger then kissed it into his lips.

That time had been s
low. The urgency was gone. Or, it hadn’t returned yet. Their movements were languid and easy. They stretched over each others’ bodies like their skins were mildly electrified, and every jolt sent pleasure shooting right where it counted.

When t
he climax came it unfurled between them rather than popping and fizzing like their earlier sparks. But it was sweet. Fiona pressed her ear to his chest and listened to the muffled thump of his heart. It was special.

C
hapter two

“Daney still here?”

“Daney is
still here,” Sugar confirmed.

“Damn. What is it, day three? I can’t believe this. He has a fucking key,” Netty announced, knowing no one knew of this latest development. “I heard him go out early this morning, and he cam
e in without ringing the bell.”

“Word?” Sugar made a sound like disgust with the flat of her tongue. “I hope this
house ain’t gon’ get crowded.”

“Shut up,” Fiona told them both, sweeping into the room in a cloud of sheer lavender silk. “Daney don’t bother nobody. And don’t think I don’t see you hos askin’ him to open jars, and, can you reach that for me? And all this other
feminine wiles type shit. You just as attracted to him as me.” She laughed seductively. “More, ‘cause you don’t get to fuck him.”

“For a model with a billboard on Michi Ave he don’t seem
to work too often,” Netty said.

Sugar laughed. “Daney too fine to work. He probably got a sugah mama for every day of the week! Besides, didn’t you hear him say he takin’ a break like Fion
a?”

“Daney,” Fiona said, pausing in that well-timed way she had, “is perfect. He’s like a movie star stranded in my bedroom.”

“You the only movie star stranded in that bedroom. What he workin’ with?” Netty asked.

Sugar clicked her tongue
again. “Nosy!”

Fiona laughed. She washed her hands and began
to rinse oranges. “You think I’d be keeping him around if he was wack? People just automatically think white dudes have small dicks. I’ve met more small black dicks than I have white ones. It’s that kind of stereotypical bull shit that has helped keep niggas in bondage for centuries!”

“Okay, Sojourner Truth, but you’ve fucked more black dicks than you have white ones,” Netty reminded her. “
Can’t fool me. That’s just a numbers game. And must you drop the n-bomb while issuing your half-cocked proclamations? There is a Black man in the White House.”

“Thanks
,” she told her best friend in an extra dry champagne voice. “I’d forgotten.”

Daney’s dick
was, in point of fact, absolutely perfect. Perfectly shaped and sized, Fiona wasn’t about to discuss it with another woman. “Do you guys think coochie is a silly word?”

“Why, is that what Daney said, and why you’re trying out new pouts?” Netty asked, r
ecognizing her friends’ tricks.

“Yes. He did say that. Said he didn’t know why I found pussy so offensive since cunt’s the really bad word. And I’m up for a European vamp role, Ms. Bitch. I need Daney around to play off of. He’s French Algerian. His grandparents own a smal
l vineyard. He says next time I’m in New York I have to stop by this bar he’s part owner of and try the wine.”

“Y
ou don’t drink wine,” Netty said.

“How serend
ipitous,” said Sugar. She’d got herself one of those new-word-each-day calendars like in the movie Alfie and was now a vocabulary monster. “You always get the great dick.”

Netty looked at her like she was crazy. “She’s a fuckin’ movie star. Whatchu’ think she’s go
n’ get? A waiter from Denny’s?”

“Okay, kids. Okay. Yes
, Daney is beautiful. Yes, he’s got this wonderful pale olive skin, huge green eyes and jet black wavy hair. Yes, he’s tall, lanky and elegant. His hands are big, his lips full. He’s eminently fuckable,” she whispered, hand caressing her own throat. “But he’s also smart, and he’s sweet. He took me out to breakfast yesterday to a pancake house. We had apple crepes and corned beef hash. He insisted on paying then had no cash. The bill was $20, and he paid with credit.”

Netty whistled, remembering that black card. “Corned beef hash,
huh? Don’t let Cleo hear that.”

“Daney thinks I d
on’t eat enough.” Fiona glared.

Netty snorted. “You gon’ let Daney get you in trouble. What’s this?” She picked up one of the thick, folding note cards she’d had made w
ith a big curvy F on the front.

“Send that to Mechante. She wrote me recently, and I haven’t had anything interesting to write about until Daney.” Fiona wiggled her eyebrows, letting Netty know the let
ter was a scorcher.

“Who’s Mechante?” Sugar asked.

“She’s a model/actress, and one of our oldest friends,” Netty answered. “She grew up in the same neighborhood with me, Cleo and Feef.”

“I’ve heard of her,” Sugar said slowly. “Of course I have! She was in that huge trial about five years ago when that man who was managing her was caught after fleeing with all his clients’ money. She grew up with you? Whenever I saw pictures of her
I thought she was French.”

Netty laughed. “Nope. She’s from right here on the south side. She just always had a tendre
for that European sensibility.” She turned to Fiona. “How’d Daney know to take you out to that joint in the ‘burbs anyway? It’s not exactly a hot spot.”

“He asked a friend. Wanted to take me somewhere norm
al and quiet so we could talk.”

Netty watched her oldest friend glide back to her bedroom. “Talk,” she repeated. “Since when do you pick models up for the night and keep them to
go out to breakfast and talk?”

Sugar had no answer. She did however have a question. “I know the French do, but do Algerian peop
le think Americans are stupid?”

B
elly sated with fresh juice and a piece of toast, Fiona had planned to slip back in bed beside the delectable Daney when he crept up behind her.

“Boo,” he whispered, sniff
ing her powder-scented neck.

He even did that with flair
.

S
he closed her eyes and arched slightly to give him better access.

“I see you returned to your cage. Knew you couldn’t escape, huh?”

“From Daney-licious?” Fiona laughed and rubbed herself sinuously all over his front. “Don’t wanna escape.”

“I thought I was delectable D
aney. How quickly you forget.”

“Are you kidding? The girls were just complaining that you’re still here. I told them you were a dream come true,” she repeated, assisting his swelling dick with a few well-timed hip thrusts. “A movie star trapped in my bedroom
.” She offered a hot, deep kiss. “You hungry or thirsty? I got the juicer out.”

Daney shook his head and rumbled low against her ear, a
sexy, snuffly little noise he knew Fiona loved. One that never failed to set her pussy awash, he discovered, rubbing long fingers over her clit.

“P
rincess,” he said, ignoring her food question. He would play with her before he gave in to them both. “Since it is I who’ve been trapped, in a honey pot, let’s take these freedom negotiations to the next level.” He pushed her down on the bed so hard she bounced, and her long brown legs fell open like a gift.

Fiona smiled. The same smile that helped her last movie bring in $
48 million on opening weekend. The smile People magazine had dubbed
the
sexiest grin last year. She laughed softly when his green eyes narrowed. She turned onto her belly and looked at him over her shoulder as she slowly crawled to the head of the bed. He watched intently as her spine curved and the tight muscles in her thighs flexed. A flush built on his cheeks. He advanced, and her heart kicked up its beat. Yum. They were gonna play the little girl lost game.

“What should I do?” she asked breathlessly and bit her bottom lip. She lowered long lashes then raised them worriedly. “You
’re not gonna hurt me are you?”

“No, Daney won’t hurt you.” He walked to her dresser and removed a pair of black silk scarves from the top drawer. “Not so much you won’t like it,” he said, smilin
g wolfishly, and Fiona giggled.

******

“Is he still here?”

“He’s still here,” Netty confirmed. “He was supposed to
go back to New York yesterday.”

“Serious?
”

Netty snorted. “Don’t count on it.”

“Dane Craig is one of the top male models in the game. He was VH1’s male model of the year a few years back,” Andrea snapped.

She was Fiona’s hard-ass New York publicist. Since Fiona was currently the media’s new darling, Andrea was in Chicago regulating and fueling
the fires, and griping about it every chance she got. She wanted Fiona to accept a New York part she was up for just so she could go home.

“If you’re gonna have a steady fuck buddy, I don’t think she could have picked much better. This coupling is like liq
uid gold, are you kidding me?”

“How? Your thirsty ass can’t hardly get no good photos since she barely gets ou
t of bed. All they do is fuck.”

“Well,
all that sex had her skin glowing the few times she did show her face, and she’s getting some great scripts. After the next franchise installment she’s gonna have to make a decision about a project. I can’t believe she’s not trying to work now, while she’s hot. Maybe Daney is bad for her,” Andrea said, suddenly looking worried.

She’d had h
ot clients cool off quick ‘on vacation’, and six months later when the job offers dry up wonder what the hell had happened.

“You remember how she was when she found out she was pregnant with Flora. She didn’t get out of bed
for two weeks and barely ate.”

Netty snorted. “That didn’t bother you bitches one bit. Cleo’d go all the way to the fuckin’ north side to get her special soups. She lost like seven pounds. I had to h
ave all kinds of shit altered.”

“I know, stunning side benefit, but what I was referring to was the fact that she didn’t work. She refused to take any calls at all. I had to bust my way in here, and I’m the one who should have known first since I’m the one who has t
o spin this shit to the media. And she’s been acting weird lately. Clients can go through changes after they attain a certain level of success. They make stupid decisions, then they come to me like, ‘I fucked up,’ but by then it’s too late for me to do my job effectively.”

Netty laughed. “It’s all about you, huh Andrea? I swear, if it doesn’t involve a gift bag or some other
swag you’re fuckin’ clueless.”

The insult rolled off Andrea like wat
er off a duck. “Where’s Sugar?”

“Shopping. Fiona let herself get out of everything. Sugar had to bust her way in there this morning to give her
a facial. She ended up giving Daney one too.”

“He’s fuckin’ gorgeous.”

Sexy too. Netty’d caught him cooking earlier. Grilled cheese with a tomato salad. He hadn’t been wearing a shirt when she came upon him sliding the food onto plates. His back muscles had rippled, and he’d grinned like he was really glad to see her.

“Hey, Netty. I didn’t know you wer
e here. I didn’t make you any.”

Netty shrugged,
eying the big bowl of green salad like a mouse would a snake. She blinked in surprise when he held a half a sandwich to her lips. She tried to take it from him. He shook his head and held it out of her reach only to bring it back and bump it against her mouth.

“What the fuck are you doing?” she asked, laug
hing at his childish movements.

“Just bite, Netty,” he said, rolling his eyes like she
was the recalcitrant toddler.

She bit
. It was the best grilled cheese sandwich she could remember eating. Warm and buttery, the bread was perfectly toasted, and she was sure she could taste a little pepper. She reached for it, and her eyes got big when he held it out of reach.

He laughed at her and bit down where her lips had been. “I said bite
,” he told her and walked away.

“He’s a lot like Fiona.”

“How so?”

“He’s very seductive. So is she. They instinctively exploit their looks to get what they
want. They like to play games.”

Andrea n
odded. “They’re both Scorpios.”

Netty rolled her eyes. But later she looked up Scorpio on the Internet and discovered
that for once, the publicist actually had a good point.

“I hope he doesn’t c
heat on her,” Andrea whispered.

I hope she doesn
’t cheat on him
, Netty thought.