Chapter 21

MAC

The following Saturday, Elodie and I were in the car. I had no clue where we were heading because today was Elodie's turn to show me some of her favorite things. My phone buzzed, so I dug it out of my pocket. Finding a text from my lawyer reminding me to call him, I frowned. He'd left a message yesterday telling me he'd gotten Elodie's background check back. But I hadn't returned the call. I was busy and told myself it could wait. Or maybe I was just in denial that there could be anything I should be worried about when it came to Elodie.

But right now, I didn't want to think about background checks or contracts. I wanted to focus on the woman sitting next to me. So I stuffed my phone back into my jeans and tried to relax. Although when we pulled up outside a tiny theater in West Hollywood that looked like it'd seen better days, I was a little confused.

"Don't worry." She laughed. "It's nicer inside."

The theater was nicer inside—marginally. The old carpets were worn, and the floors creaked with every step. When I used the bathroom before we took our seats, it had one of those weird endless towels to dry your hands. I had only ever seen those things on the Internet. And it was pretty much a miracle that anything flushed in that bathroom.

Elodie and I took our seats near the front. Tonight was a showing of Hamlet, but a modernized take on it. Elodie had explained that this theater troupe was one of the best in the city.

"I didn't know you were a theater geek," I remarked.

"I don't know if I would call myself that, but I've always loved Hamlet . Don't give me that look. Shakespeare is mind-blowing for a reason."

I could recall attempting to read Romeo and Juliet in high school—or the CliffsNotes version. English literature had never been my strong suit. I'd wanted to be out on the ice, not trying to understand plays over five hundred years old.

The play began, and despite the strange language, having it acted out made all the difference. I was sucked into the story: Hamlet and his faux madness; Ophelia and her real madness; the treachery of Hamlet's mother and uncle; Polonius's absurd speeches.

The actor playing Hamlet somehow managed to imbue the role with a tragic regality. At least, that was how Elodie put it. To me, the guy was just interesting to watch.

During intermission, Elodie said, "Do you have any favorite authors?"

My mind went blank. Grimacing, I admitted, "Uh, Dr. Seuss?"

She laughed. "Mac. Come on now. Please tell me you've read a book in the last year." At my expression, she sighed. "What about in the last five years?"

Now, I was offended. "Of course I have."

I failed to mention that the last book I'd read was a biography of Wayne Gretzky. I couldn't remember the last time I had read something willingly that wasn't about hockey.

"I think I liked The Catcher in the Rye back in high school," I said. "Is that the one with Holden Caulfield?"

Elodie smiled. "Good job." She patted my shoulder, which just made me growl at her.

When the play finished and we headed to our next destination, Elodie told me about how she'd fallen in love with writing after reading Shakespeare.

"His plays have everything in them: comedy, tragedy, romance, mystery. If you don't like one play, there's another one you will enjoy. His characters are complex. I mean, look at Hamlet. Was he just acting insane? Or was he truly going insane? I wrote an entire paper about that."

"Like I said, you're definitely a nerd, Elodie Andrews."

She shrugged. "Maybe. But I bet I could get you going talking about hockey for hours."

"I didn't mean that as a diss. I love that you're passionate about something. Too many people aren't passionate about anything. They just go through their lives not caring much one way or another."

Elodie seemed to accept that, and when she parked her car in front of the Central Library in nearby downtown LA, I had to restrain a chuckle.

"The library?" I shot her an amused look. "Really?"

"Have you ever been here? It's gorgeous inside. Come on."

Despite having lived in LA for years now, I'd never been to any of its libraries. The Central Library was an imposing white building in the classic Spanish design. After entering and going up a staircase, we stood in a large, colorful rotunda. In the center was an equally impressive chandelier.

"The ceiling?" Elodie pointed. "It's all painted motifs. Amazing, right?"

I nodded. "Cool."

We then wandered around, the quiet of the huge building rather imposing. We eventually went into a part of the library full of books and almost void of any human beings.

"I can't remember the last time I was in a library," I said, touching the spines of books as we passed through various aisles.

"Really? I love libraries. They're so calming."

I suddenly remembered my parents refusing to get us kids library cards when one of my sisters had asked for one. They'd claimed that libraries were filled with ungodly books. We could only check out books from our church's library. The selection there had been limited; there hadn't been any Harry Potter , that was for sure. It was no wonder I never got into reading when my parents led me to believe that most books were bad.

"Are you going to check anything out?" I asked.

Elodie's smile was sly. "Oh, I was planning on it."

The only thing I checked out was her. When she took me to a dark corner, she planted a heated kiss on my lips. I laughed once my brain connected with what the hell she was doing.

"Elodie Andrews, are you trying to seduce me?" I growled. "In a library?"

"Yeah. Is it working?"

I pushed her against the wall, thrusting my tongue into her mouth. She moaned as we kissed like teenagers. The thought of getting caught was enough to make me rock hard, even if it was just getting caught making out.

"You're a naughty girl, aren't you?" I whispered. I sucked on the lobe of her ear.

She shuddered. "You like me naughty, though."

"Oh, that goes without saying."

I reached under her shirt and fondled her breasts, careful to keep her from being exposed. Although we were alone, I didn't want to take any chances.

I kissed her neck as I played with her nipples. She never failed to respond to me playing with her tits. It was one of the many things about her that I enjoyed.

We kissed until I was half insane with lust. I was about to pull her shorts and panties down when she froze.

"Did you hear that?" she whispered, her eyes wide.

I stopped and listened. That was when I heard faint footsteps. I quickly pushed off her and grimaced as I tried to hide my erection. Elodie covered her mouth to keep from laughing.

"I'm glad you're enjoying my pain," I growled.

She looked mussed, her hair a mess, and her lips were kiss-stung. "Come on." She grabbed my hand, and we hurried off to another dark corner.

The day ended with a hike. I had to admit, I hadn't expected this last activity. Fortunately, Elodie had planned ahead and had packed us a picnic basket full of food. I had to steal a few things to eat before we got started on our hike, though, since I was absolutely fucking starving.

"That's for later!" Elodie protested, laughing at me.

"Baby, you don't want to see me hangry." I tossed some almonds into my mouth before we headed out.

Fortunately, it wasn't a long hike to the Hollywood sign. Well, not for the experienced hiker. Elodie had chosen the more challenging climb, which took the least amount of time.

"I didn't know you liked hiking," I said.

"Oh, I do it when I can, but I'm usually too busy." She shot me a wry smile. "You good? Or do you need to take a break?"

I snorted. I'd just broken into a sweat. "Baby, I'm a professional athlete. I'm more worried about you."

"Don't worry about me. Worry about yourself."

I grunted. We eventually got to the section in the trail that made it difficult to keep conversation going. We passed handfuls of people going up and down, but there were sections where it was just us.

"You haven't taken me up this trail to murder me, have you?" I joked.

Elodie looked over her shoulder at me and just smiled evilly.

By the time we reached the top, I was starving once again. I downed an entire bottle of water, my muscles feeling the burn of the climb, but overall, I'd enjoyed the hike.

This was another classic LA thing that I'd never done. Did anyone who lived in the city care much about climbing up to see the Hollywood sign?

"It's not the sign," Elodie explained once we found a nice spot to sit. She motioned with her arm. "It's the view. And I just love watching sunsets."

The view was spectacular, I had to admit. Below us was the city, alight as always. And as the sun set, the sky color transforming from orange to red to purple, the moon peeking out from behind a few stray clouds, I couldn't disagree with Elodie.

We ate in companionable silence. Elodie had packed us sandwiches, fruit, chips, lots of water, and some homemade cookies.

I wrapped my arm around her as we watched the sunset together. "I think you might've won the challenge," I said.

"I didn't know our dates were a competition."

"Of course they were."

She smiled. "I don't know. Those chicken wings were pretty damn amazing."

We eventually packed up our picnic and made our way down the mountain. Elodie had packed flashlights, and by the time we reached her car, it was dark. Or as dark as it could get in a big city like LA.

Elodie took me back to her place. We burst inside, laughing like idiots, and began stripping each other's clothes off. I'd been tempted to seduce her on the mountain, but too many people were around.

"You've been fucking teasing me all day long," I said, unhooking her bra and tossing it into some dark corner.

She laughed. "Have I?"

"Yeah, you have. And you're going to pay for it tonight."

"You say that every time we have sex."

I spanked her, making her yelp. "Be a good girl, all right?"

Her eyes were wide with faux innocence. "I'm always a good girl!"

"No, you're not. In fact, you've been very bad all day long."

Even as I wanted to take control like I always did, I forced myself to hold back. This entire day had been about what Elodie loved. And if she had something particular in mind for tonight, I wanted her to feel like she could do whatever she wanted.

She took me to her bedroom. It was a small room, but it was neat and tidy. Elodie had even made the bed, and it was covered in throw pillows.

I picked one up covered in pink sequins. "What's even the point of pillows like this?"

Elodie clucked her tongue. "It's cute!"

"But you can't use it. Why have pillows you can't use?"

"It's for decoration." She rolled her eyes. "And you have no room to talk, Mr. I Bought A House And Didn't Even Buy Furniture For It."

"I was busy!"

"So says every bachelor."

That earned her a growl and a firm smack on her luscious backside. It took every ounce of my self-control not to throw her down on her bed and fuck her senseless.

She pushed me away. "I want to play a game," she said.

I narrowed my eyes. "What kind of game?"

"Who can hold off coming the longest."

I laughed. "Baby, you and I both know who'll win that one."

Elodie put her hands on her hips. "Who, you? Well, how about we play the game before we declare you the victor?"

"So defensive." I held up my hands. "How about we do this instead? Whoever gets the other person off the fastest wins."

Elodie narrowed her eyes. Then, to my amusement, she held out her hand. "Deal."

I shook her hand, forcing myself to keep a serious expression. Elodie had me strip naked, and then she was crawling up my body to kiss me.

"You're not going to get naked?" I asked, palming her ass.

She swatted my hand away. "No touching. And yes, I'm staying clothed."

I groaned, but I let her play. She kissed down my body, her mouth soft and sweet. She tongued my nipples, which just made me chuckle. When she poked me in my ribs, I nearly jumped out of my skin.

"Oooh, are you ticklish?" Elodie began tickling me in earnest.

I laughed, shouted, and then quickly overpowered her. Holding her hands captive, I growled, "New rule: no tickling."

She pouted. "That's boring."

"Elodie."

She thought a long moment, then sighed. "Fine, fine. No tickling."

I let her go. She kept her promise, although she looked a bit miffed. I just smiled darkly.

Then I was distracted because her mouth moved closer and closer to my cock. Her hair just brushed the tip, and when she finally gripped me in her hand, I sighed.I also made sure to glance at the clock on her nightstand. I wasn't about to let her win because I'd been too distracted to pay attention to how much time had passed.

Elodie stroked my cock, swirling her tongue around the tip. But she wasn't gentle for long. She soon had nearly my entire length in her mouth and throat. She sucked me hard at the same time she fondled my balls.

"Fuck," I hissed. There was a very good chance I could lose control.

She shot me a smile, even with me inside her mouth, and it only turned me on more. I could feel my balls already drawing up. Tightening my muscles, I willed my orgasm away.

How could this woman make me come this quickly?

I forced myself to think of anything else. England? No, something even more boring. Taxes. Coach Dallas. Worms?

I tried to keep my thoughts elsewhere, but then Elodie upped her game when she deep-throated me. She moved up and down my cock, her teeth just grazing the underside of my dick.

Her mouth was so wet and warm, her fingers gripping the base of me so firmly, that it only took a few more minutes for me to shout and start coming. Elodie swallowed every last drop.

And since I was never not competitive, I made sure to look at the clock right after I'd come. Seven minutes . I grinned inwardly.

No way in hell was Elodie going to last that long. I was pretty sure I'd always gotten her off in under five minutes, tops.

Elodie's eyes widened when she sat up. "I forgot to set a timer!"

"Don't worry." I winked. "I made sure to look at the clock."

Her eyes narrowed. "I don't trust you not to cheat."

"Me? I don't need to cheat, baby. Now, take off your clothes already so I can show you that I'm always a winner."

Elodie stuck out her tongue and made a show of starting a timer on her phone. For that, I grabbed her and ripped her clothes off for her.

Elodie giggled as I stripped her down. Then she was moaning within seconds after I put my mouth on her pussy. She was sweet and slick as always. I knew exactly how she liked it: two fingers inside, thrusting upward, with my lips sucking on her clit.

I could feel her start to tense within a minute. Her fingers grabbed at her comforter already. I smiled and increased the pressure on her clit.

"Oh!" Her eyes flew open. "Mac, that's not fair—"

I didn't care. I might not cheat, but I wasn't above playing dirty either. I finger-fucked her until she was arching off the bed. I could feel her orgasm coming with how tight her pussy got around my fingers.

I then pushed a third finger into her tight asshole, and Elodie screamed. A few moments later, she came hard, her juices flowing down my chin. I lapped them up, triumphant.

She was still trembling as I kissed my way up her body. I looked at her phone and grinned. Three minutes.

"I win," I crowed.

Elodie barely registered my words. "Whatever." She was breathing hard. "Do what you want with me. I'm done."

I just kissed her, loving how pliant she was in my arms. She was rosy and warm; a flush had covered her entire body.

She never failed to throw herself headlong into her own pleasure. It was one of the intoxicating things about her. I never had to worry that she was putting on a show for my benefit.

Although that hadn't happened since I was a teenager. As an adult, I knew my way around a woman's body too well. No woman needed to fake an orgasm when they were in bed with me.

"So what do you want?" Elodie asked.

"Want?"

"For your prize. You won, after all."

I kissed her palm. "Oh, I already won my prize. You, in my bed."

"Well, technically speaking, this is my bed."

"Sassy as always. I think that's something we should work on."

She just giggled, the giggles turning to moans when I started us on round two.

I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. I picked up, groggy with sleep, barely registering who was on the other end. Elodie yawned next to me and turned back over to keep sleeping.

"Mac, sweetheart." It was Mom.

I sat up, any grogginess fading quickly. "Mom? What is it?"

She sighed. "Caroline died last night."