Chapter 12
“I’m gonna take a shower,” he said as he leisurely lifted
himself out of the bed they’d ended up on.
“Care to join me?”
“When’s the dinner party?”
“Half hour.”
“You think we’d be there on time if I did?” she smirked.
“True… I’ll take a quick
one and then you can have the bathroom all to yourself.”
“Better make it quick, I need fifteen minutes at least!” she
said as he shut the door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They left the suite in a good, companionable mood for a dinner benefit
for better funding for school music programs.
It had surprised Vanessa about their evening plans; while she did not
think he was too arrogant or above charity, it hadn’t occurred to her that he
attended charitable events to lend his fame to a good cause.
She almost wished that he was a cruel, egotistical bastard—it
would help her build a defense around her heart from liking him anymore than
she already did.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“What’s on your mind?” he asked as they seated themselves in the
white limousine.
“Oh, hm, nothing.”
“Looked like it was somethin’
important.”
“It wasn’t,” she smiled reassuringly at him.
“It’ll take us at least twenty minutes to get there, with New
York traffic on our side,” he whispered as he slid
his hand on her thigh.
“Marshall,”
she admonished. “God, haven’t you had
enough?” she teased and shooed his traveling hand off her leg.
“I like your dress.”
“Hey! You dodged my
question. Flattery will get you nowhere.”
“I like how there’s this slit, right here,” he said, fingering
the material between his fingers, watching it expose the creamy skin of her
thigh. “How it’s so high…and the way the
front dips down here,” he murmured as his fingers danced along the tops of her
breasts. “You’ll be the most beautiful
woman there,” he finished.
“All right, so maybe flattery will do you some good,” she
replied with a blush and gave a chaste kiss on the cheek.
“C’mon, honey, that’s all I get?” he asked with puppy
eyes and a boyish frown that she couldn’t resist.
She touched his lips with hers gently, tentatively. Marshall
caressed her lips his tongue, coaxing them open, and dived in deviously. With a modicum of control, and a slightly
dazed mind, she pulled away slowly.
“We have to stop,” she muttered.
“You know, every time we start something, that
word comes up.”
“What?” she asked confused.
“Stop. Marshall,
don’t. Stop. Please stop.
We shouldn’t.”
“If it were a different place, I wouldn’t have said stop.”
“What’s wrong with here?”
“I don’t want you messing me up!
I got dressed up nicely, put on make-up, and everything to look good. You’re just going to make my lips puffy and
my cheeks red…and I know your hands are going to tangle my hair,” she
whined—which was completely out of character.
He laughed hysterically.
A frown came upon her face.
“What’s so funny?” she demanded.
“Oh, honey, I never thought you’d care that much about your
damned appearance.”
“It’s an important event,” she reminded him.
“Baby, you look good no matter what.”
She blushed. “You just
want to make sure you can get some later!”
“So what?” he grinned.
“You do, though.”
“Thank you,” she said quietly.
“But I don’t want people to go, ‘Oh, I didn’t know Marshall
did charity dates, too!’ when they see me.”
He couldn’t keep from laughing; he tried—really he did—but she
was acting ridiculous. She was gorgeous.
“I can have nearly anyone I want,” he said slowly. “But I’m with you. I may not be the best looking guy, but I can
find more than a pity date. So damn it, shut up about being ugly ‘cause you’re not. I wouldn’t be sitting here thinking about how
fast I can get that dress of you if you were.”
“That was…”
He kissed her before she said anything else. Marshall
was afraid of flowery words, despite having said a few himself
in the past few days. They were avoided
because romantic words led to a romance, which was indicative of real
feelings, like love.
“Sir, we should arrive in five minutes,” the driver said through
the intercom.
“See, we passed time and neither of us wound up half-naked,” she
teased.
“You’re already half-naked,” he pointed out.
She gave him a dirty look.
“I resent that!”
“I’m just kiddin’,” he teased back.
He stepped out of the limousine first and lent her his hand to
help her out. She walked ahead of him,
and his mouth gaped at how bare the dress left her back. Marshall
slammed the door as he thought of the long night ahead of them. Just how was a man supposed to survive with a
woman looking the way she did, wearing that?
Despite the flashing cameras, Marshall
placed his hand on the small of her back, and slightly smiled—the celebrity
smile, he called it. He wasn’t sure what
to expect of his date, whether or not she’d falter under the multitude of
photographers and paparazzi. What he
hadn’t foreseen was the natural poise that she exhibited, the small, feminine
smile that was plastered on her lips.
Her shoulders were held back, confident; as was her walk, with a slight
sway of her hips as she moved across the carpet laid out. It surprised him how easily she’d transformed
into what the media desperately wanted to see.
It also made him question whether she’d done it before. He started thinking about her snide remarks
in regards to the music industry and celebrities, which stirred up some of his
curiosity, but in conjunction with how at ease she was with the flashing lights
and questions journalists were hurling…it made him wonder what she was hiding.
But I’m going to find out, he decided and the two of them
disappeared into the benefit hall.