“I bet.”
“Skyler here was just saying how she was made for the role of Charlotte in our next movie.”
I swear they could hear my heart hammering in my chest as I took another sip of champagne. Trying to calm my overly stimulated nerves. That was the thing about this industry, they could smell fear and thrived on power. At the end of the day, only those who faked it until they made it were ones who stood out amongst the rest.
Bottom line.
I was faking the shit out of my confident demeanor, because this was just another role I perfected over the years.
Steven smiled. “Is that right?”
“Absolutely,” I boldly answered for myself.
“Well if Anderson says we need to give you a chance, then I definitely think we can work something out. We haven’t worked with a new actress in quite some time. As I’m sure you know, we stick with what works. Same actresses and actors that we know will bring in box office numbers. But, with that said, it might be beneficial for all of us to bring in a fresh face.
“I agree. I definitely think she has what it takes to play Charlotte. You’re young, beautiful, talented. How soon can you read for the part?”
“Skyler, there you are,” Keith chimed in, bringing our attention over to him. Handing me another glass of champagne, like he knew I needed it.
Thank God.
“Keith, good timing. We were just telling Skyler how we want her to audition for the lead in our next movie. How soon can we get her in?”
“Skyler’s booked in Miami for the next week and then she’s flying back home for a few days. She’s actually moving out to L.A. and she’s packing the last of her things. But once she gets to L.A., she’s scheduled out through the month. Everyone wants a piece of Skyler these days,” he replied in a proud tone, making me feel less nervousness, as if he knew I needed to hear that too.
“How about we step into my office and try to narrow down a date then?” Anderson responded, causing my heart to beat out of my chest.
“Sounds great,” I reaffirmed, smiling.
As we all walked back toward his office, my heart now felt like it was in my throat. And I did the only thing that felt natural to me when I was this overwhelmed. I went to my happy place inside of me, where all I heard was, “Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I love ya all of the days and nights of tomorrow!”
Except, I didn’t see my mom’s face this time like I always did.
The only face I saw…
Was Noah’s.
My lost boy.
Knowing, they were about to make me a shining star. Exactly the way my mom always wanted, costing her, her life.
Making me lose myself…
In the process.
TWENTY-SEVEN
NOAH
“Noah…”
I groaned, shaking my head. Stirring awake beneath my white tangled sheets as I faintly felt someone’s lips, laying soft kisses down the side of my neck.
“Noah, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
My eyes fluttered, trying to wake up, but my body wouldn’t allow it, and sleep won out. I was beyond exhausted from spending the day in the hot sun, working on the boat, falling asleep fast and hard as soon as my head hit the pillow. Dreaming only about Skyler. Even in my deep slumber, I could still smell her intoxicating blueberry scent, feel her soft lips along my skin while she pressed her tits against my chest. Her wet mouth making its way down my torso.
“Noah, will you be with me? Please, can you just be with me?”
“Mmm hmm,” I hummed, feeling her lips trail toward my stomach.
Kiss by kiss, she pecked every inch of my heated skin until she reached my happy trail. Making my cock twitch at the heady feel of her mouth so close to my dick. I fisted my sheets, wanting, needing, her lips wrapped around my cock.
When I felt her delicate fingers start to tug the waistband of my gym shorts down, whispering, “Please, just be with me.” My breathing hitched and my eyes snapped open, big and wide. Coming face to face with the last person I expected to see, hovering above me.
Skyler.
There was no way I was still dreaming, but if this happened to be a dream within a dream, then I never wanted to wake up. In that moment, the world stopped spinning, stopped moving, and time just stood still for us. It had been over a month since I last saw her, a month since she walked out on me, leaving me in her trailer with nothing but my love for her.
Even with the dim lighting in the boat, I could still see her glossy eyes like she’d been crying. Her sunken cheeks and dark circles were only emphasized by the moon casting shadows on her distraught expression. Her disheveled hair partially covering her face didn’t help.
She looked fucking beautiful and tortured all at once.
My demons may have been silenced by her presence, but Skyler’s were very much alive and present in the space between us. She was willingly showing me what she had been trying to hide for so damn long. For so many years, I wanted to see this side of her, and now that I finally was…
All I could feel was her agony, blocking out all of my other senses.
I couldn’t form words.
I couldn’t think.
Not when she was looking at me like that, scaring the fucking shit out of me.
Intently staring into my eyes, searching for something in my stare. As if she was looking for some recognition of who I was, or maybe traces of who she was when she was with me. Skyler may have physically been there with me in my bed, but emotionally and mentally, she was somewhere else entirely. Somewhere deep inside herself. A place she visited often. And without words, she was confessing all the broken parts of her, all the deepest wounds, all the oldest scars. Sharing her sadness and despair, and above all else, the damage it left behind.
Down to the bottomless depths of her soul.
“Baby…” I muttered, my voice laced thick with uncertainty and concern.
“Shhh…” She leaned forward, placing her lips close to mine. “Just be with me, Noah. Please…” Her eyes watered, fighting back the tears. “I just want you to be with me. Can you do that for me? Please…” It was her pleading tone that shook me to my core as a single tear slid down her beautiful face.
The next thing I knew, she was kissing me. Beckoning me to do the same. “Sky—”
“Shhh…” she murmured against my mouth. “Just be with me, Noah. Please, just do it for me.”
My mind battled my heart, raging a war I never had a chance to survive. It was her loneliness that was fucking eating me alive, swallowing me whole. Making me want to seek refuge within her, and that was when it clicked and I understood. She came to me for the same fucking reason.
So I did what I had to do, what felt right and so fucking true.
I kissed her back.
My heart breaking for her, piece by piece, crumbling to the ground as I made up for all the times I needed to feel my mouth against hers. For each tear, each regret, each moment we needed one another, but weren’t there for each other. For the past we couldn’t change and the future we so desperately wanted together, but there would forever be an endless number of obstacles in our way.
We kissed, and kissed, and kissed some more.
We kissed until none of that fucking mattered, until it felt like we were simply breathing for one another. Until all that was finally left…
Was us.
Noah and Skyler.
The way it was always meant to be.
Knowing deep down in the goddamn pit of my stomach this wouldn’t change anything between us. I wanted what she would never be able to give me.
Her.
All of her or nothing. And yet, here I was…
Chasing away her demons while she was just becoming another one of mine.
I grabbed onto the back of her neck, bringing her closer to me as if she wasn’t already close enough. Not having a fucking clue where this was going, but I was there for the ride nonetheless.
Sitting up gradually, I flipped our bodies over, so I was now ly
ing on top of her, yearning to feel her beneath me. Resting my arms by the sides of her face, I started lowering my frame onto her petite, trembling body. Cherishing every second our lips moved against one another. Our mouths starving for affection, aching for warmth, longing to lose ourselves inside each other.
“Be with me, please, just be with me, Noah,” she panted in between kissing, reading my mind.
I didn’t have to be told again. Reaching for the hem of her dress, I slid it off her body, leaving her in nothing but her panties and distress.
So exposed.
So vulnerable.
So goddamn afflicting.
With a predatory regard, I devoured every inch of her bare skin. From her rosy colored nipples, to her perky, supple tits, down to her narrow, slender waist, and her luscious ass and thighs.
“Jesus, baby, you’re fuckin’ beautiful,” I painfully groaned, slipping off her panties before crawling up her body. Spreading her legs for me, I laid in between them. Kissing her all over again.
Her lips, her cheeks, the tip of her nose, down to the sides of her neck. Kissing, licking, caressing my way toward her nipples, while my callused fingers coasted along her smooth, silky fucking skin, trailing all over her naked body. Following the moon’s light shining in the cabin, casting shadows over what was really happening here tonight.
The addictive fucking sounds she was making.
The way her body kept shuddering beneath mine.
The smell of her fucking arousal.
Had me losing my goddamn mind.
I flicked, sucked, slightly bit her nipples, driving her wild with need. Working my way toward where I wanted to be the most, I peered up at her through the slits of my eyes.
Rasping, “I’ve wanted to tongue fuck your pussy for as long as I can remember.” With a sly grin, I pulled down my gym shorts, freeing my hard, thick cock.
Her eyes widened, taking in the size of dick while I jerked it in my hand. Never once took my eyes off hers as I sparingly skimmed my lips over her bare heat.
“I been fistin’ my cock for years, just thinkin’ ’bout the way you’d taste, when I finally made ya come so fuckin’ hard in my mouth.”
She swallowed hard, her chest rising and falling, waiting, eager, ready…
“You gonna come for me, Skyler?” I taunted, drinking in her wet, pink flesh for the first time. “Prettiest fuckin’ pussy,” I breathed out against her clit.
Her thighs clenched and cunt ached.
Grinning, I nudged my nose along her folds, faintly blowing the entire time. Gradually, lightly, running the tip of my tongue over her clit. Hearing her breathe, heavy and deep. Feeling the sweat glistening off her roused body.
Her cunt was warm and so fucking soft.
I fisted my cock, faster and harder.
“I’ve barely licked you and your legs are already shakin’ for me. This what you want, Skyler? This what you came for?”
“Please,” she begged in a breathless tone.
“Here?” I baited, tenderly kissing her nub. Resisting the urge to growl when I tore my eyes away from her pussy to look up at her face. Huskily ordering, “Watch me, baby.”
Our eyes connected, and I let go of my cock and gripped onto her thighs instead. Locking them in place at the sides of my face, putting her exactly where I fucking wanted her.
“You gonna watch me eat the fuck out of your pussy like a good girl?” I licked my lips. “Yeah?”
She rocked her hips, arching her back. Making my cock twitch for what felt like the hundredth time.
“Say it.”
“Yeah…”
As soon as I sucked her bright red clit into my mouth, she moaned loudly.
“Good girl.”
I savored the taste of her, the feel of her, as her legs tightened around me. Sliding my finger into her tight little hole, I gently, purposely, started finger-fucking her sweet spot. Getting her nice and ready to take my cock.
I devoured her, lustfully lapping up and down, side to side. She’d be nothing after this. Exactly like me.
So fucking wet.
Tasting so fucking good.
Her pussy throbbed.
Her body shook.
“Noah,” she panted, over and over.
Coming in my fucking mouth, again and again.
“Noah, please…” she begged for mercy, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t.
She consumed me.
From my mind, to my soul, to my goddamn cock.
A rumble vibrated from deep within my chest, fully aware that this would never be enough for me.
How do I forget about her after this?
How do I let her go? I was finally making her mine.
I was trying to save her from herself, but I was fucking destroying myself in the end. It should have mattered, but it didn’t. Because I was taking what had always belonged to me.
Her.
“Noah… I can’t… I can’t come… any... more…”
“One more, give it to me, Skyler.”
And she did. Squirting down my face and chest.
But even that wasn’t enough for me. I was like a man possessed, licking her fucking clean. Thrusting my tongue into her opening, unable to get enough of her.
Craving it all.
Every last drop of her come.
I relentlessly kissed her overly stimulated clit one last time, causing her to shudder once more. Before I crawled my way back up to her lips, kissing her as if my life depended on it, making her taste herself. Needing her to realize that no other man would ever be able to claim her like this.
Snarling into her mouth, battling new demons. Conscious that these might actually have the power to take me under.
Finally put me to ground.
I imagined another man’s mouth on her, his hands on her, his cock inside of her.
“Skyler.” I placed my forehead against hers, gazing into her eyes. For the first time in my life, I couldn’t fight them on my own. “I can’t do thi—”
“Please, Noah… just be with me… please…” she urged, in the same yearning tone, with the same desperate look in her stare.
And I was a fucking goner.
There wasn’t a chance in hell I could say no to her.
I belonged to her.
She owned me.
Every last part of me was hers.
Taking a deep breath, I peered deep into her eyes. Searching for my girl.
My sunshine and happiness.
“Please, Noah… please.”
I hesitantly nodded. “I can go as slow as you need.”
She kissed me, lifting her hips. Silently demanding me to keep going. When I didn’t move fast enough, she reached for my dick and wrapped her hand around my shaft. Causing my breath to hitch against her lips and my dick to jerk in her grasp.
“Fuck me,” I scoffed out, biting her bottom lip.
“Just be with me, Noah. That’s all I want.” There was no hesitation on her part, placing my cock at her entrance. I slowly inched my way in.
Sliding inside of Skyler’s pussy was as excruciating as the realization that even after I claimed her innocence, there’d be no us.
“Stop thinking, Noah, and just be with me.”
My plaguing thoughts refused to let me go. I tried like hell to just get lost in the sensation of her by just taking a moment once I was fully inside of her. Paying close attention to the expressions on her face and the responses of her body.
They were so blinding and almost unbearable.
She was on the brink of tears, and I’d be fucking lying if I said I wasn’t there as well. Seeking the depths of her soul, I pleaded with no words for her not to go.
For her not to leave me behind.
I couldn’t make her stay.
I wasn’t enough to make her want to stay, and that hurt like a thousand fucking knifes slowly carving, “He’s nobody,” into my flesh, slicing away at my skin.
“Skyler…” I started thrusting in and out of her.
“I lov—”
“I know. Trust me, Noah.” She kissed me again. “I feel it all too.” Gradually rotating her hips, adjusting to the size of my dick. Shuddering in pleasure as I engulfed her body with mine.
She was so fucking tight.
So fucking warm.
So fucking perfect.
Something just took over me, my body completely moving on its own accord. Grasping that I was making love to someone for the first time, and a huge part of me knew it would be the last. Skyler mirrored my same thoughts, and our bodies began moving like we were made for each other.
While our new demons danced together in the room.
“My cock belongs inside of you. Promise me… please, baby… that no matter what happens or who comes along, you’ll always remember that you’re mine, yeah?”
Tears escaped her eyes, sliding down the sides of her face. She nodded, moaning, “Yeah.”
Our mouths parted, both of us panting profusely, unable to control the thoughts that were wreaking chaos on our souls. Frantically trying to cling onto every sensation of our skin-on-skin contact.
Never wanting this moment between two broken beings, connecting as one, to end.
We were two sweaty bodies, swimming in a pool of emotions, of mistakes and regrets, of the pain of tomorrow and every day after that.
She gasped the second she felt my fingers rubbing against her clit. While I picked up the pace of my assault on her core. Thrusting in and out, biting, nipping, tonguing her neck. Driving her further and further to the edge, about to fall over…
For me.
“Noah… right there.”
“Where baby, here?” I coaxed, my dick aching to come balls deep inside of her.
“Oh, God… yes… right there…”
Hitting her g-spot, her moans got louder and louder. I claimed her lips, muffling her screams as she came all down my shaft.
Squeezing the fuck out of my cock.
“You’re so fuckin’ wet,” I groaned, thrusting.
Harder.
Faster.
Deeper.
“You okay?”
“Yes… don’t stop… please don’t stop.”
“Come on my cock, Cutie. Come on my fuckin’ cock like you know I love.”
“Noah…” She pulsated, and her sweet pussy sucked my cock fucking dry.